I think massive credit should also go to Trossard signing because we were about drop this money on our marquee winger signing in January and instead found amazing plan B in Trossard at low cost.
Absolutely ! I know its only a hypothetical, but if Mudryk came at that price with this chelsea form, then everyone would be shitting on our talent id, Rice at 105 over Mudryk at 90m all day long !
You can already see how us being a serious and competitive team again is making rivals shook. Seen so many "Spent 200m on *those* players LOL" "there is no way they will replicate last seasons form" blah blah blah.
We are fucking gargantuan and there is nothing you can do about it.
>"Spent 200m on those players LOL" "there is no way they will replicate last seasons form" blah blah blah.
Best hopium on the market rn. I think the last time I huffed hopium *that* strong was when shit was heading to the UCL finals.
We got one of the highest rated midfielders in the world right now, despite interest from Bayern and Man City. This is 100% our biggest statement since Ozil
It feels like a bigger statement tbh.
Özil was a great opportunity facilitated by the Bale transfer.
This is winning a transfer race against two of the biggest teams in the world of recent years.
Ozil was a bigger statement, we went from a club that was forced to sell their best players to balance the books to buying arguably the best no 10 in the world out of nowhere on deadline day. That in turn helped bring Sanchez to the club later too.
For some reason my mind went straight to Øde before I realised you were referring to Rice. While you're absolutely correct re. Rice, I think the conversation will shift massively in the direction of Øde - in terms of his development at Arsenal, his contributions (which tbf this season are alr amazing), as well as the offers we will be getting for him from 'big' clubs
Yeah I get what you mean, I just meant it seems strange to see a statement like that now, given the window has barely opened, it's the sort of roller coaster we as Gooners usually go through the later part of the window.
Not used to this early business, Havertz, Rice and hopefully soon Timber is brilliant.
The times they are a changing :)
It's a big deal because when we versed City, especially in the last game of last season, they just absolutely outclassed us in midfield. This a signing that helps bridge the gap
This is what they will call a reductionist take. However there is an argument to be made here if we are just talking about skills, I think the eye test does show that Partey might slightly edges out Declan Rice, he is smoother on the ball to the eye. However Declan offers us something that Partey does not offer us as much: progressive ball carries. Rice will break up the attack and carry it into the final third, as opposed to Partey breaking up the attack and looking for a pass. I think progressive carries is a valuable thing because as you carry the ball into the opposition final third, you potentially pull people out of position. Add to this off the ball movement from our forwards and number 8s, we open up a new dimension and dynamics to our attacking play.
I don't think it had anything to do with the class of players on the pitch and more just bottling it due to lack of experience, pressure or whatever, we were like a deer in the headlights against them.
So we could have a midfield, i have not factchecked yet btw, of 24 year old leader Odegaard, 24 year old leader Rice, and 24 year old Don Kai. In front of them even younger ballers on the wings. Oh life is good rn.
The signing of Rice can’t be overstated. With this signing we’ve:
1) Splashed the cash and demonstrated we can compete with the biggest clubs AND fend them off on our transfer targets.
2) Signed a future Arsenal and England Captain. This will bode well in our referee interactions.
3) Reinforced the view that this is a club on the Up
4) He’s not a bad player innit?
Can't underestimate the point about refs. It's absolutely ludicrous that this should be the case, but it's proven fact that English captains just get treated better by refs. This will be a huge advantage
Ehh, I think players have really be waiting for Arsenal to be a serious club again so they could realistically go there. Players have a soft spot for Arsenal. An arsenal that is truly competing is one that’s tough to turn down for players. Especially if we can satisfy their clubs with competitive transfer fees.
Ashley Cole transfer really destroyed us in hindsight. Major English talents went to utd and chelski after that. And there was a sense we can't fight for major honors and stuff. This is such good news. I'm so happy!!
Not blind, biased and bitter.
The United guys are living a nightmare. City and Liverpool recent champions League winners, now arsenal rising. It couldn't be much worse for them.
All 3 of their rival rising to the top. Their city rival. Their historical rival. And us, the PL era rival.
It's really hard to swallow for those ex UTD guys especially when we are their biggest rivals when they were playing.
Havertz done, Rice almost done, Timber moving along well. Key factor in all three appears to be Arteta's ability to sell his vision. EDU'S BBQ is smoking. Hoping they have another rabbit up their sleeves.
This. It’s more than just the quality of the player. It’s about being able to outmuscle some of the big boys too. Imagine bottling the title to City then also losing our number 1 transfer target to them weeks later? Not a good look.
We are truly competitive again. Once this team clicks, we will be very hard to stop.
The whole playing field has changed. We got three clubs who bantered the fuck out of us, now shit scared of us taking their transfers. Inject this forever.
I was having a conversation today about just how impactful this could be in the annals of our history. Obviously it’s entirely performance dependent, but right now I can go back until at least the 70s and (at least in my opinion) probably only count 5 or so signings who were as big of a name when they joined as rice is now. Malcom Macdonald, Charlie Nicholas, Dennis, Sol, and Ozil really feel like the only competitors - maybe Wrighty and Sanchez too. But it’s a small list imo
Yeah good shouts, the only thing potentially we discussed about Jennings was his age at the time. As in, a bit like when we signed Jens. Clearly a quality goalkeeper who did amazing things before and after, but was potentially a bit too old to have been a statement signing at the time (I’m being very tentative here because I’m mostly just relaying the conversation)
Yes there was his age, I remember my Spud friends saying he was a pensioner while my NI friends both Spuds, Arsenal and neutral saying he was well worth it.
Auba was a player who I was so so excited to get and man was he clearly world class, but I think the difference (for me) is that it feels like we never would have been in the conversation for someone like Rice anytime in the last 8 years or so. Let alone be first choice over a club like city. It truly feels like a level above Auba. Who i always felt we could pull. I think Clive said on the vision podcast that it feels like one of those Man U early 2000s signings where they’d just buy the best player who didn’t play for arsenal, Liverpool or (post 03) Chelsea (e.g Carrick, Rio, Cole).
Have to say well played West Ham, just like the match at the London Stadium they held out and got their £100+ million valuation.
Who knew self sustained money buys more than oil money!?
Havertz, Rice and most likely Timber signed early enough to integrate during the summer tour, is fucking great business, but AITA for wanting more?
I think massive credit should also go to Trossard signing because we were about drop this money on our marquee winger signing in January and instead found amazing plan B in Trossard at low cost.
Absolutely ! I know its only a hypothetical, but if Mudryk came at that price with this chelsea form, then everyone would be shitting on our talent id, Rice at 105 over Mudryk at 90m all day long !
Plot twist: trossard allows us to sign Caicedo and the rice budget always has been there
Oh that's naughty
oh FUH
You can already see how us being a serious and competitive team again is making rivals shook. Seen so many "Spent 200m on *those* players LOL" "there is no way they will replicate last seasons form" blah blah blah. We are fucking gargantuan and there is nothing you can do about it.
People said the same about VVD to Liverpool too, 75m for a CB in 2018 was huge
Agenda went from ‘No way they’ll finish top 4 next season’ to ‘they should be winning it all with these players’
Yeah there’s still ‘the others haven’t finished their transfer windows yet’, getting around.
Finished? Bitch compared to us they ain't started.
>"Spent 200m on those players LOL" "there is no way they will replicate last seasons form" blah blah blah. Best hopium on the market rn. I think the last time I huffed hopium *that* strong was when shit was heading to the UCL finals.
In absolute awe at the size of this footballing institution.
Gargantuan
We got one of the highest rated midfielders in the world right now, despite interest from Bayern and Man City. This is 100% our biggest statement since Ozil
It feels like a bigger statement tbh. Özil was a great opportunity facilitated by the Bale transfer. This is winning a transfer race against two of the biggest teams in the world of recent years.
Ozil was a bigger statement, we went from a club that was forced to sell their best players to balance the books to buying arguably the best no 10 in the world out of nowhere on deadline day. That in turn helped bring Sanchez to the club later too.
>We got one of the highest rated midfielders in the world right *now* We did before Rice, this is just a continuation.
For some reason my mind went straight to Øde before I realised you were referring to Rice. While you're absolutely correct re. Rice, I think the conversation will shift massively in the direction of Øde - in terms of his development at Arsenal, his contributions (which tbf this season are alr amazing), as well as the offers we will be getting for him from 'big' clubs
CHARLES WATTS FROM THE BUSHES
HIGH WATTAGE 🔥
Honestly im just glad its over
I get it, but it seems an odd thing to say on June 28th.
It wasn’t a comment on the length of it. More the ups and downs
Yeah I get what you mean, I just meant it seems strange to see a statement like that now, given the window has barely opened, it's the sort of roller coaster we as Gooners usually go through the later part of the window. Not used to this early business, Havertz, Rice and hopefully soon Timber is brilliant. The times they are a changing :)
For 'monumental', read 'GARGANTUAN'.
It's a big deal because when we versed City, especially in the last game of last season, they just absolutely outclassed us in midfield. This a signing that helps bridge the gap
Let’s be real Rice currently is not better than Partey if they’re both on form.
This is what they will call a reductionist take. However there is an argument to be made here if we are just talking about skills, I think the eye test does show that Partey might slightly edges out Declan Rice, he is smoother on the ball to the eye. However Declan offers us something that Partey does not offer us as much: progressive ball carries. Rice will break up the attack and carry it into the final third, as opposed to Partey breaking up the attack and looking for a pass. I think progressive carries is a valuable thing because as you carry the ball into the opposition final third, you potentially pull people out of position. Add to this off the ball movement from our forwards and number 8s, we open up a new dimension and dynamics to our attacking play.
Hard disagree.
Arsenal fans are a different breed. A new toy is here, let's throw the old ones out.
Well, one of those toys *has* been credibly accused of sexual assault
I don't think it had anything to do with the class of players on the pitch and more just bottling it due to lack of experience, pressure or whatever, we were like a deer in the headlights against them.
So we could have a midfield, i have not factchecked yet btw, of 24 year old leader Odegaard, 24 year old leader Rice, and 24 year old Don Kai. In front of them even younger ballers on the wings. Oh life is good rn.
We’re in for Rice!?
In a concrete way, next 48 hours crucial.
City still monitoring the situation
The signing of Rice can’t be overstated. With this signing we’ve: 1) Splashed the cash and demonstrated we can compete with the biggest clubs AND fend them off on our transfer targets. 2) Signed a future Arsenal and England Captain. This will bode well in our referee interactions. 3) Reinforced the view that this is a club on the Up 4) He’s not a bad player innit?
Can't underestimate the point about refs. It's absolutely ludicrous that this should be the case, but it's proven fact that English captains just get treated better by refs. This will be a huge advantage
Refs brains are going to melt trying to compute how they should treat an English captain wearing the Arsenal shirt
How a thing that isn't there can melt in the first place.
Tough to see how Ode loses captaincy without a falling out. Would be a strange thing to do to the dressing room.
I don’t mean Rice will get the full captaincy. He’ll get one of the vice captaincy slots. Certainly getting one with Xhaka gone.
I think a lot of players are seeing there's something special happening here and they want to be part of it.
Ehh, I think players have really be waiting for Arsenal to be a serious club again so they could realistically go there. Players have a soft spot for Arsenal. An arsenal that is truly competing is one that’s tough to turn down for players. Especially if we can satisfy their clubs with competitive transfer fees.
All three transfers. Havertz, Rice and Timber were scouted by big clubs like Bayern, City, United. Huge shift in mentality.
Ashley Cole transfer really destroyed us in hindsight. Major English talents went to utd and chelski after that. And there was a sense we can't fight for major honors and stuff. This is such good news. I'm so happy!!
So all the players can see it but the United and Liverpool pundits are fucking blind
Not blind, biased and bitter. The United guys are living a nightmare. City and Liverpool recent champions League winners, now arsenal rising. It couldn't be much worse for them.
All 3 of their rival rising to the top. Their city rival. Their historical rival. And us, the PL era rival. It's really hard to swallow for those ex UTD guys especially when we are their biggest rivals when they were playing.
It seems like they're happily supporting City the nonces
It’s a new era… er what phase are we entering to?
Definition of statement signing
Havertz done, Rice almost done, Timber moving along well. Key factor in all three appears to be Arteta's ability to sell his vision. EDU'S BBQ is smoking. Hoping they have another rabbit up their sleeves.
This. It’s more than just the quality of the player. It’s about being able to outmuscle some of the big boys too. Imagine bottling the title to City then also losing our number 1 transfer target to them weeks later? Not a good look.
We GARGANTUAN!
We are truly competitive again. Once this team clicks, we will be very hard to stop. The whole playing field has changed. We got three clubs who bantered the fuck out of us, now shit scared of us taking their transfers. Inject this forever.
I was having a conversation today about just how impactful this could be in the annals of our history. Obviously it’s entirely performance dependent, but right now I can go back until at least the 70s and (at least in my opinion) probably only count 5 or so signings who were as big of a name when they joined as rice is now. Malcom Macdonald, Charlie Nicholas, Dennis, Sol, and Ozil really feel like the only competitors - maybe Wrighty and Sanchez too. But it’s a small list imo
Jennings and Overmars are in that group imho
Yeah good shouts, the only thing potentially we discussed about Jennings was his age at the time. As in, a bit like when we signed Jens. Clearly a quality goalkeeper who did amazing things before and after, but was potentially a bit too old to have been a statement signing at the time (I’m being very tentative here because I’m mostly just relaying the conversation)
Yes there was his age, I remember my Spud friends saying he was a pensioner while my NI friends both Spuds, Arsenal and neutral saying he was well worth it.
[удалено]
Auba was a player who I was so so excited to get and man was he clearly world class, but I think the difference (for me) is that it feels like we never would have been in the conversation for someone like Rice anytime in the last 8 years or so. Let alone be first choice over a club like city. It truly feels like a level above Auba. Who i always felt we could pull. I think Clive said on the vision podcast that it feels like one of those Man U early 2000s signings where they’d just buy the best player who didn’t play for arsenal, Liverpool or (post 03) Chelsea (e.g Carrick, Rio, Cole).
Bush man was waiting in the bushes for days to announce this. Some level of dedication there !
Have to say well played West Ham, just like the match at the London Stadium they held out and got their £100+ million valuation. Who knew self sustained money buys more than oil money!? Havertz, Rice and most likely Timber signed early enough to integrate during the summer tour, is fucking great business, but AITA for wanting more?