SUMMER TRANSFERS - Your thoughts on who did and did not sign

[1989]

GOAL.COM

[flash gunner]

Been on holiday for a week and purposely didn't check football news. Have we signed Higuain yet?

[Cockerill's chin]

It may be goal.com but even a broken clock is right twice a day. The tone of the article feels instinctively right. It's not just supported by this transfer window but by evidence from previous (Alonso, Schwarzer etc). Rather than incisive moves in the transfer market we appear to negotiate with all the vigour of a sheep with dementia.

Wenger seems to feel safer packing his squad with French footballers of African descent. This is his default position which defined the end of his time at Monaco. He needs to move out of his comfort zone and start closing deals for recognised quality. I understand it isn't like going to the supermarket and saying "where are the strikers", but then again supermarket shoppers aren't paid 7 million a year and provided with an extensive scouting network.

We need 3 quality players minimum, with proven experience on the highest stage. If he fails us again his much heralded principles should prevent him from extending his lucrative contract.

[g88ner]

Been on holiday for a week and purposely didn't check football news. Have we signed Higuain yet?

Erm.... you're not going to like this, but we seem closer to signing Wenger than Higuain

[I Hate Hleb]

GOAL.COM

It may only be goal.com this time and so the natural instinct is to immediately dismiss it, but I've read similar claims against Wenger for a few years now. There was even the allegation (not sure if David Dein was quoted as saying this or I read it somewhere) that he was reluctant to sign Sol Campbell because of the high wages demanded but was persuaded into it by Dein.

[augie]

We all know that by and large goal.com is a pile of shite BUT this story has been doing the rounds for a long long time and as cockerills chin has already stated, all the evidence to back up this theory is right in front of us. The one thing the article does refer to, and it is often overlooked, is the lack of faith/belief that wenker has in his scouting staff - these are mostly wenker appointed staff so if he doesn't feel confident in their recommendations then why not relieve them of their duties and appoint somebody better ? I would not work as a scout for a man that constantly disregarded my opinions but that works for coaches as well as scouts and I find it comical that fans pick out coaches like rice or peyton and belittle their coaching abilities despite the fact that in every aspect of the club we see examples of wenker dismissing and overruling staff opinions so why would it be any different with them ?

Bottom line is that wenger surrounds himself with yes men be they coaches, scouts, players and of course the ceo (who wenker hand picked ) and he buys their loyalty with greater wages then they would earn elsewhere

[augie]

Just out of curiousity does anybody still believe that we will be signing a keeper this summer ?

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news ... -to-Napoli

Personally I am not surprised that we wont be signing higuain/suarez/shrek/jovetic etc cos they are top quality with a top quality price tag but I am surprised that we wont be signing cesar One of the best keepers in the world available at a knockdown price and sending out signals that he wants to stay in London and yet we sit on our thumbs doing fcuk all ? Another example of the c.unt in charge being unable to see the wood from the tree's

[g88ner]

Just out of curiousity does anybody still believe that we will be signing a keeper this summer ?

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news ... -to-Napoli

Personally I am not surprised that we wont be signing higuain/suarez/shrek/jovetic etc cos they are top quality with a top quality price tag but I am surprised that we wont be signing cesar One of the best keepers in the world available at a knockdown price and sending out signals that he wants to stay in London and yet we sit on our thumbs doing fcuk all ? Another example of the c.unt in charge being unable to see the wood from the tree's

Does seem an odd one, I must admit

He seems the perfect fit - a quality, experienced 'keeper who has played at the highest level and won some of the games biggest prizes. He's also available at a cut price and, at 33, wouldn't "kill" Chesney.

Strange.

That said, I've lost all confidence in the media now, as they report so much rubbish with an air of authority that it's impossible to trust anything they write any more. Sadly, their profession has become a joke... I guess the need for website hits has reached tipping point, and it's become more important than reporting the truth. It's sad really - even the broadsheets are at it

[kiwomya]

Just out of curiousity does anybody still believe that we will be signing a keeper this summer ?

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news ... -to-Napoli

Personally I am not surprised that we wont be signing higuain/suarez/shrek/jovetic etc cos they are top quality with a top quality price tag but I am surprised that we wont be signing cesar One of the best keepers in the world available at a knockdown price and sending out signals that he wants to stay in London and yet we sit on our thumbs doing fcuk all ? Another example of the c.unt in charge being unable to see the wood from the tree's

Does seem an odd one, I must admit

He seems the perfect fit - a quality, experienced 'keeper who has played at the highest level and won some of the games biggest prizes. He's also available at a cut price and, at 33, wouldn't "kill" Chesney.

Strange.

That said, I've lost all confidence in the media now, as they report so much rubbish with an air of authority that it's impossible to trust anything they write any more. Sadly, their profession has become a joke... I guess the need for website hits has reached tipping point, and it's become more important than reporting the truth. It's sad really - even the broadsheets are at it

Sky Sports reported just yesterday that Napoli had already signed a new keeper from Santos as well. Seems weird they'd sign another goalkeeper on loan.

I'll be a bit gutted if he leaves for Napoli considering our need for an experienced keeper. Saying that, the BBC reported about a month ago that Arsenal weren't interested despite all the paper talk.

[franksav63]

Just out of curiousity does anybody still believe that we will be signing a keeper this summer ?

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news ... -to-Napoli

Personally I am not surprised that we wont be signing higuain/suarez/shrek/jovetic etc cos they are top quality with a top quality price tag but I am surprised that we wont be signing cesar One of the best keepers in the world available at a knockdown price and sending out signals that he wants to stay in London and yet we sit on our thumbs doing fcuk all ? Another example of the c.unt in charge being unable to see the wood from the tree's

Does seem an odd one, I must admit

He seems the perfect fit - a quality, experienced 'keeper who has played at the highest level and won some of the games biggest prizes. He's also available at a cut price and, at 33, wouldn't "kill" Chesney.

Strange.

That said, I've lost all confidence in the media now, as they report so much rubbish with an air of authority that it's impossible to trust anything they write any more. Sadly, their profession has become a joke... I guess the need for website hits has reached tipping point, and it's become more important than reporting the truth. It's sad really - even the broadsheets are at it

Sky Sports reported just yesterday that Napoli had already signed a new keeper from Santos as well. Seems weird they'd sign another goalkeeper on loan.

I'll be a bit gutted if he leaves for Napoli considering our need for an experienced keeper. Saying that, the BBC reported about a month ago that Arsenal weren't interested despite all the paper talk.

Why on earth would we be interested in improving the team/squad!!!

[augie]

Just out of curiousity does anybody still believe that we will be signing a keeper this summer ?

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news ... -to-Napoli

Personally I am not surprised that we wont be signing higuain/suarez/shrek/jovetic etc cos they are top quality with a top quality price tag but I am surprised that we wont be signing cesar One of the best keepers in the world available at a knockdown price and sending out signals that he wants to stay in London and yet we sit on our thumbs doing fcuk all ? Another example of the c.unt in charge being unable to see the wood from the tree's

Does seem an odd one, I must admit

He seems the perfect fit - a quality, experienced 'keeper who has played at the highest level and won some of the games biggest prizes. He's also available at a cut price and, at 33, wouldn't "kill" Chesney.

Strange.

That said, I've lost all confidence in the media now, as they report so much rubbish with an air of authority that it's impossible to trust anything they write any more. Sadly, their profession has become a joke... I guess the need for website hits has reached tipping point, and it's become more important than reporting the truth. It's sad really - even the broadsheets are at it

Sky Sports reported just yesterday that Napoli had already signed a new keeper from Santos as well. Seems weird they'd sign another goalkeeper on loan.

I'll be a bit gutted if he leaves for Napoli considering our need for an experienced keeper. Saying that, the BBC reported about a month ago that Arsenal weren't interested despite all the paper talk.

I understand that but what I am really asking is if anybody actually believes that we will sign any keeper at all ? Cesar would be a def buy if I was in charge but I suppose that we would have done that deal by now if we were really interested but does that mean that we will be going into next season with chesney, flaps and martinez as our keepers ? I actually half expected wenker to sign schwarzer when he became available which would have been madness imo but not as mad as going into a season with those 3 as our only goalkeeping options

[g88ner]

I understand that but what I am really asking is if anybody actually believes that we will sign any keeper at all ? Cesar would be a def buy if I was in charge but I suppose that we would have done that deal by now if we were really interested but does that mean that we will be going into next season with chesney, flaps and martinez as our keepers ? I actually half expected wenker to sign schwarzer when he became available which would have been madness imo but not as mad as going into a season with those 3 as our only goalkeeping options

I was convinced an experienced keeper would be signed, and I was sure that keeper would be Cesar as it makes perfect sense... but if it turns out we're not signing him, then my confidence in us solving this troublesome position will all but evaporate.

Nothing Wenger does (or doesn't do! ) surprises me anymore, and going into yet another season with a dodgy keeper will sink any chances we have of bringing in silverware. Too many mistake have been made to have any confidence in those 2 poles between the... er... poles.

It sounds silly, but it's almost as if Wenger enjoys being controversial. I'm half expecting him to bring Almunia back, talk up how much he's improved at Watford and make him captain again

[SteveO 35]

Again....why do people get 'convinced' that there's only one Arsehole Wenker will do the things that are obvious too us all? The keeper position is one he's neglected ever since Lehmann left. He chose to over promote Almunia, backed up by 2 even more useless *word censored* in Fabianski and Mannone that he awarded long contracts too......and was forced to play young Chesney only when that useless *word censored* Flapper got injured.

Since then he as stubbornly refused to sign a decent 2nd keeper to the point where Chesney's form deteriorated badly last season.

People must somehow forget about all of these things or just live in blind hope that Wenger will someday wake up. The same has true of the centre forward position and the CDM role. Everyone knows these positions are massive weaknesses in the current squad but just watch Shitforbrains Wenker go and sign another wide / attacking midfielder before end of August and leave our business done then

[afcforever]

I still believe we will sign a couple of proven quality players and a goal keeper.

[g88ner]

People must somehow forget about all of these things or just live in blind hope that Wenger will someday wake up. The same has true of the centre forward position and the CDM role. Everyone knows these positions are massive weaknesses in the current squad but just watch Shitforbrains Wenker go and sign another wide / attacking midfielder before end of August and leave our business done then

That's what I go with... what else is there? I'm an optimist at heart, and as Wenger is here to stay, I'm left with nothing but hope. Blind hope that flies in the face of all evidence.

And with that hope, I must admit I do still believe we'll sign 1 quality (£20m+) player and 1 or 2 decent players. That won't include Suarez or Rooney though.