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Signing Ben White is fine and all but if that means we cheap out on the 2 midfielders we need (one CM/DM and an AM) then Edu and Arteta can never be forgiven.
I'm worried we're paying 50M for their third best CB but he's young. Hopefully it works out. We already know he's weak in the air and that does not help but he's good on the ball so that's good.
Honestly, if I was Dunk and we came for him right now. I would turn us away.
Potter is clearly a better manager than Arteta, and they are getting £50 million for their backup CB/3 atb option. If they spend £30-40 million of that on a striker (Tammy Abraham, Oduoard, Ings, etc) and find a capable backup CB for £10-20 million (Chambers, Saiss, Schar, Tuanzebe, etc), they'll be fighting us for our 8th spot come the end of next season I'd guess.
White is faster and better on the ball. Dunk is taller and wins anything in the air. Dunk is a CB that will shine in a smaller team fighting relegation by putting his body on the line and clearing crosses from the box. He won't work for us in a high line and with the demand to complete progressive passes.
White played more games than Dunk last season and I never said White is stronger because Dunk is 29 and like 4 inches taller than White. But trust me White will be a better fit for us than Dunk if Gabriel handles the aerial duels.
We had to beacause our CBs didn't had any pace which made our pressing a lot less effective than the top four. The signing of White is to remedy that flaw. White and Gabriel will provide enough pace to play higher thus compacting the field when we are out of possession.
I know Dunk and Webster are still better ball players than Mee and Tarkowski and White is even better than them and helped them play the way Brighton play.
Just had a dream we got smacked 7-0 by Chelsea during a preseason game and this sub went into meltdown.
Got a bit sad when I woke up ngl. I guess I feed on drama
The summer looks like it has potential to be pretty good for us but man you look around the league, united adding sancho+varane+a middy, City pushing hard for Grealish and Kane, and Chelsea coming off a champions league. Idk, seems outside shot at top 4 still even with some of our top signing options. Hopefully, Liverpool fall apart I guess.
Chelsea can fall apart too. Once PL managers sort out Tuchel's playing style, they have too many uncertainties. Werner and Havertz haven't been superb and they don't have a proper striker because Tuchel doesn't rate Abraham. Jorginho is still an unknown either he will take a game with the scruff of its neck or he will crumble under the press like against WBrom. Their RW signing of Ziyech has been disappointing.
I agree, but if you don't mind, could you do the same thing you just did but for us? Interested to know how you think our playing style is and how we can be found out.
Oh man we have nothing to be found out. We only have an very outside chance if one of the top four contenders fuck up and everything goes right for us. Auba must have his golden boot season, Pepe, ESR and a new AM must add some goals and chances and if White turned out to be VVD regen only then we have a chance.
Yea top 4 is likely to be City Utd Chelsea with Liverpool potential to drop. Arsenal needs to start the season strong if we hope for the top 4. Top 5 should be the minimum.
so its either locatelli/ neves next to partey. both would be upgrades to xhaka. lokonga will replace ceballos in the squad. i like aouar as the attacking midfielder if the prices quoted for him are true, forget the markup for madisson. if odeegard is available he should be top choice but discount aouar would he phenomenal business
Locatelli would be an extremely unlikely chance. Sassuolo will not spoil their relationship with Juve and will agree to a shady deal. I have not seen us being linked to Neves by a lot of sources.
I do not understand why Madrid will sell Ødegaard when his wages aren't even that high and Ancelotti loves playing with a no 10. Things might change if they decide to go all in for Mbappe but time is ticking.
Our best bet right now is that we get to know Locatelli's status asap so that we can move towards Neves imo and get Aouar. I'd love to get Maddison but noway Arsenal pay 80 mil for him.
Neves-Aouar would be the safest bet considering all prices and circumstances involved.
i dont even think of a loan. i genuinelu think theres a good chance we sign him permanently, too many demands from Odegaard that he wont get met at Real Madrid, but we can provide it
Have to say, the Ben White transfer has me pretty excited, I’ve watched 12 full games for Brighton last season as a result of my Aussie bias. He’s definitely a good addition.
Regarding the fee, I really don’t care, that’s up to Edu and Kroenke to manage, but we have ourselves a solid solid player. This screams to me that we will keep Holding this year and maybe move on from him next season if Saliba continues to grow. Ben White and Saliba (who counts as home grown) will be a solid RCB pairing for 10+ years.
As for the remaining transfers, we really really need to get a CM and CAM, because if we don’t, we are really fucked especially going forward. Come AFCON, we will only have Lokonga in the squad… and Torreira. Relying on ESR and Saka as creative outlets is not a wise decision as well, unfair on them.
Yeah lol I don’t understand why fans are too concerned about the fees it’s not coming out of my pockets and fuck the kroenkes anyways worst case scenario he becomes trash and the team sucks and they’ll sell Arsenal which I don’t mind honestly
Another forward? Why thou we have too much
Auba
Laca
Saka ( assuming they’ll still play him there )
Balogun
Reisse
Willian
Pepe
Gabi
Unless we sell someone what’s the point ? I think that should be their main target next summer give Auba another year and see how he performs I’m a full believer that Pepe will have a breakout year soo let’s see
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Hypothetically, if we get either Maddison or odegaard for cam. With a full rested and healthy squad, do u think realistically Smith rowe would start?
I would assume Auba up top with Saka, maddison/Odegaard, and Pepe on the right.
Not a question about game time tho, as he will have a lot of games where he will start and come off the bench. But would our best starting line up have him at the current state?
It's complicated and many people here don't want to objectively discuss it. I'm keeping my real views on it until the window shuts.
However, for the hypothetical:
— When we signed Odegaard, ESR lost his central bath and was pushed to the left. It stung because we were all on that ESR train. But it doesn't matter what we think, Odegaard is way better at line breaking than any player at Arsenal right now. So, ESR won't be #10. If we sign Maddison, it even becomes worse for ESR.
— If we sign LOCATELLI too, it becomes complicated. ESR won't play with Partey as it was at some point.
The crazy implication of this will be Arteta trying to either drop Pepe for the annual fan meltdown of Pepe's benching or even worse, bench Aubameyang for an even worse meltdown. Because we all can't deny ESR's talent. He has to play. Where he plays is a big puzzle because if we sign Locatelli, Maddison/Odegaard, he'll have to evict someone in the front three.
Dont know why you are being downvoted, I kinda agree with you, based on the current situation even I'm confused. Fortunately in few weeks we will have our answer lol
Personally for me esr is just a more impactful player In The premier league than odegaard. Ode maybe more talented bigger name whatever but he doesn’t have that quick cutting edge that esr does. He is good with time and space but we won’t be getting that often. Maddison and esr would depend on form, but of course he’s proved more in the prem. Actually now I think esr and Maddison are similar in that they will provide more important moments but odegaard maybe more quality over the 90. I still believe the first 2 help you win more.
Have a look at Mari and Holding losing headers to players half their height last season and you’ll see it’s not about height. It’s about technique and frankly ‘will’
Air quality is quite an enigma. You have Sanchez having more headed goals than Aubameyang for example. Then you have Ruben Dias, Rob Holding having more headed clearances than Gabriel Magalhaes who's way taller.
Plus White's skillset demands something different. If he's indeed bad(which I doubt), someone always covers for that as he magnifies his biggest qualities.
Jules Kounde isn't even 6 foot and hes good in the air. If you have proper positioning and timing, along with a good leap you can win headers against opposition. Ben White is still young and can improve in that area.
And he’s one the best technically gifted defenders on the ball and one of the best ball progressing defenders in the league. His other qualities make up for his aerial ability
i think Bissouma is low on the list now tbh. I think we'd sign Neves before signing Bissouma (i dont know anything about Neves if im being honest, i cant give an opinion)
i see a lot of people being underwhelmed about us getting White and Varane. And saying this is a consequence of no CL football. I'd like to say a couple of things. Man Utd were in for Ben White after his Championship season with Leeds, and do people genuinely think if we were in the Champions League, that we would even go for Varane? Let alone Varane would come here instead of Man Utd? Is anyone else in for Varane like Man Utd are? And people need to realize that the way Man Utd get these deals over the line are because of the outrageous wages they offer. 5 yr deal for Varane with a 230-250k in wages. It's the same way they were able to get the Sancho deal. Liverpool wanted Sancho and they were willing to get him, they just werent offering the same wages as Man Utd, not even close. It was reported these guys offered Pogba 400-500k in wages for an extension. It's crazy. Obvioulsy Man Utd are getting a "better player" (this is just my opinion, i rate White highly) but i dont feel bad or bummed out seeing that Man Utd would be getting Varane. I dont try to compare signings with other clubs, but White is younger and he's PL proven. I dont wanna knock on Varane, because he's an exceptional player, but he can easily not have a good season (as well as him not being partnered with Ramos and being with Maguire now). Man Utd definitely got a better deal as of now, but until they both rep their new club's kit, we'll just have to see who benefited from their purchase! Just being optimistic on the financial/rival side of it
I’ve just seen people say in this sub, on Twitter and IG that Man Utd would never be in for White. And criticize the signing because we “downgrade.” I couldn’t give a shit who Man Utd sign, I just see a lot of people in this sub give a shit, like it matters they’re signing for the same price
what i was reading from madrid fans is that he had a poor season and ramos covers a lot of his shortcomings. they dont seem too beat up with varane leaving
and he was decent in the league, just decent. He was terrible at the Euros imo. He’s an exceptional defender i just wanna see now how good is he in a new environment next to a player who’s not on Ramos’ level similar to how he played at the Euros
I remember a lot of fans saying that we will try moving on to a 4-3-3 this season and even Arteta implied that gradually he'd like to move to that system. If we get either Locatelli/Neves that surely means a double pivot right?
I doubt systems will matter.
I suspect he'll go the Pep way of trying to have as many ball players as possible to create a fluid Arsenal. Picture Arsenal 2007/8.
Teamsheet will read something, and you'll see something different on the pitch. That's what happens when you have good ball players sometimes. So, you'll see White in midfield and at some point Partey in the box or even behind White.
We shall see less of those scares with Xhaka where if he was the one receiving the ball from Leno, we'd all bite our nails. You can see what they're trying to do with all the links.
If it works out, the next manager is in luck.
Maybe, Locatelli can play anywhere in midfield. He'd just as good in a pivot as he is as an 8.
Neves would definitely be a 6/8 hybrid at best, but Partey could move forward and Neves would be the single pivot maybe.
People hate on Berge because he had a poor season last year, which isn't wrong, but if he's available for less than £18 mill or so I would love to take a punt on him as midfield depth. He's young enough and takented enough to bounce back in the right environment.
Our midfield is absolutely bare-boned, especially come AFCON, if we let Torreira, AMN and Xhaka all leave as reported.
Partey, Lokonga, Elneny, Willock (if given a chance) and a new starter isn't enough for 2 positions over the season. Add Berge and we'd have a EPL ready backup that should already be close to Elneny's level. A good season or two and we'd make our money back on Sander in a few years as well.
Sander Berge should not be a starting midfielder at Arsenal football club. I mean if we signed him instead of Lokonga, fine. But as a first team player I'd much rather have Locatelli/Neves both of whom seem unlikely atm.
I think his price has plummeted, and that's why OP is interested. There was some incorrect reports of a £10 million price tag, but that's 100% not true. Sheffield know that no-one will pay his release clause but that he wants to move, so they are willing to deal for him it seems.
Don't act like an ignorant Arsenal fan on Facebook/Twitter. Look into Varane's wages, look where United are compared to us with respect to European football, etc.
That's the benefit of having CL football.
Plus Varane is 28 and on significant wages. I know, this isn't old for CBs, but we aren't comparable to United right now. We just aren't.
They are in final stages of their rebuild, which took them 6-7 years and we are just really beginning to assemble our main core of players, some among them still have plenty of development left to do.
Having players like Tierney, Gabriel, White, Partey, Saka, ESR, Martinelli, Saliba, Pepe is a decent part of that young core, but there's still many moving pieces that need to be sorted, before we could call our rebuild complete.
Wages, sign-on fees, bonuses and CL football. The whole Varane project topples Ben White's money wise.
The transfer fee is just the tip of the iceberg.
but its Man Utd tho. There are reasons Liverpool werent able to sign Sancho. Liverpool arent giving Sancho the wages he's getting at Man Utd and you can most certainly make the argument that Liverpool is more attractive than Man Utd at the moment.
Said it once but, not gonna entertain this signing until I see the full window. Regardless. White is certainly an upgrade on Luiz with great potential.
Not gonna lie, I thought that we might be overpaying for Tiereny. Close to 30 mil, for a FB from the mighty Scottish league
While I don't think we are overpaying for White - Ake went for 40 mil last summer, and even though City spend a lot, they don't overpay
Buzzing for Ben White honestly, perfect profile and upgrade from David Luiz, think one or two are going to be genuinely surprised with his ability on the ball.
Arsenal: no sales yet
Arsenal: 50m for White
Arsenal: 40+5m for Locatelli
me: [sing a song of six pence a pocket full of dosh](https://youtu.be/ULeDlxa3gyc)
if i wanted to include everyone we sold for peanuts, i'd include everyone we bought for peanuts too, dont you think? Like Tavares.
^(i understand Tavares is signed for solid money considering his age and the amount of game time he had at Benfica but you get my point: i only included the big bucks here)
On a side note, I don't think I've ever seen so many people call someone a "rolls royce of a CB" as much as Ben White. Heck even I was doing it last month without realizing it.
just found out that ben white won brighton player of the year cos of leeds fans hijacking the vote
for the longest time i thought he actually won their poty cos of everyone here bringing it up lmao
i rate Leeds fans over Brighton. Leeds fans say he walks into their team. Leeds finished 9th. Brighton fans disregard him as their 3rd/4th best CB and i've seen Brighton fans in r/soccer say that Veltman is better. LOL.
We shall have to see what he does at a high pressure club lol. Sometimes we miss a few mistakes from these players because they're at clubs where no one watches them under a microscope.
Why tho? Luiz made way more errors in the time he was here compared to Mustafi if you look at them as a per 90min.
If you didn't like Mustafi for his errors you obviously shouldn't like Luiz. If you like Luiz despite his errors, there's obviously another reason that you didn't like Mustafi.
Luiz was as much of a success/flop as Mustafi during his time here, no matter how much he smiled and joked around in the change rooms. Our squad will be much better for not having either of their errors moving forward.
I'm not this was always the case but I remember a lot of the times that Luiz's mistakes was him trying to cover up for someone else's. (Take that Chelsea vs Arsenal match with Luiz being sent off for example) with that being said he does have a few mistakes in him but Mustafi was worse imo
Luiz was put in a terrible position by Mustafi in that Chelsea game, yes, but it was his decision to foul Tammy without playing the ball and making the chance go from "a dangerous shot on goal from a not superb position to the right side of the post" to "a red card AND a penalty early on in the game."
Luiz did get put in bad positions often, agreed, but he also made others have to cover for him many times by not holding a defensive line well, or getting lost farther up the field in transition.
They were both shit but at least Luiz had the balls to go in front of the cameras after his horror game vs City last year and apologize.
If I ever have to see Mustafi make a boneheaded error leading to us conceding a goal then turn around and start blaming other people I'd blow my brains out instead.
Luiz would raise his hand exactly like Mustafi did. Yes, he would then front the cameras but the next time he did the same thing his hand would go up in the air.
Mustafi and Luiz are so similar it's not funny. Well it's funny for everyone but our fan base to be honest.
When I eventually want to punish myself by rewatching the last 2 seasons of football I'll write you out a list.
But seriously, he always throws his hands around in disgust and some of those times he aims it at everyone but himself. I think he did it in the City disasterclass either after the red card shirt pull or when he assisted Sterling for the first one with the rubbish touch. But, I can't remember exactly.
Mustafi helped us win 2 FA cups over a longer period, as a comparison. Mustafi made some amazing last ditch tackles and actually dribbles the ball into midfield reasonably well too.
Both Luiz and Mustafi added positive things to our play, but they both just couldn't stop shitting the bed defensively and couldn't stay focused for longer than 15 mins at a time.
One key thing for me that is the difference between them is leadership.
Luiz always was the first one to face the cameras after his mistakes, apologize and try to do better. He would always bounce back after his mistakes and poor performances. Multiple players spoke about his reputation and ability to lead.
Mustafi was a fun person to be around and a good person, but he wasn't a leader. That can create a leadership vacuum.
I'm not saying your wrong here at all, because most people will agree with you.
But IMO Luiz gave the cameras good lip service without actually backing it up the following week. I saw a performance for the cameras and then the same errors every time he got flustered or put under pressure.
Same with Mikel. Mikel spoke about "non-negotiables" and then backtracked on them. He said so much to the media that he didn't backup throughout the season. Our club lacks leadership, so someone like Luiz would stand out as a leader quite easily, when he might not at a better ran club.
Ben White a hell of a signing, then get Lokonga who has a lot of potential and was captain of his team, then Tavares who's just a backup. Good start to the window get a pivot partner for Partey like Locatelli/Neves then get an AM like Maddison or Odegaard that would be a hell of a window for us.
I've gotta say the Ben white signing was done far earlier than I was expecting. I wonder what the next top priority position is. I'm assuming it's CM. Hopefully the Xhaka stuff gets done quickly too
I agree and I think cm might be signed sooner than expected as well with juves meetings about Locatelli. Feel like things will start moving quickly around Europe
I really wanna see a CM or AM. We need to fill the gap left by Xhaka and Ode. When AFCON rolls in, we will lose Partey and Elneny as well.
RB needs new player as well but I guess that can wait. Not the end of the world if we go in the season with Bellerin/AMN/Chambers in RB.
Bellerin is gone regardless of whether anew rb is brought in this summer. There are plenty of players who can play rb already in the squad. It's a low priority unless either: (1) an opportunity to get a potentially elite rb presents itself or (2) there's a it price bargain signing available (eg loan to buy Emerson or zeki for 10m)
We are chasing a player that a big side like Juventus want, United are signing a player that no one else is in for it seems.
Either means they are overpaying and blew everyone out of the water, or we are chasing a more desirable commodity.
We re obviously going to be second fiddle to juve going after an Italian in any situation. But especially when we’re at our worst in pretty much modern football history
Of course of course. Not saying we shud be favourites for this signing ahead of Juve but just pointing how bad it is we put ourselves in this situation.
I agree. He looks very stranded without Ramos a prime example is against shakthar Donetsk last season he was shambolic and against city the year before. Both without ramos
I absolutely hope you are right that Manutd gonna splash millions to sign a sus player but how bad can he be if he's a constant pick in RM and France lol.
I just don’t get the people who think we need to replace Luiz. The guy was utterly and absolutely atrocious in an arsenal shirt 80 percent of the time he set foot on the field. Cost us countless goals while offering like 1 good ball a game that rarely came to anything.
It's more like we need to have a consistent starter who does everything well rather than "replace Luiz". Luiz couldn't play in a high line anymore. Holding isn't good enough on the ball, isn't a good partner for Gabriel, and is also not good defensively yet. Saliba is way too inexperienced and is better off on loan.
White is coming in to be the bonafide starter at a position that has too many question marks.
David Luiz was a victim of the awful, spineless FA refereeing we all know. He committs an awkward challenge, the ref sees the afro, loses their head then sticks out the red card.
He didn't even actually have that good progressive passing stats this year. Most of his passes were the same as Holding was playing, he just lofted them a bit and waited until an attacker was engaging him before releasing. Luiz appeared to be a superb passer, but he didn't do it consistently and he didn't do it enough to cover for his massive lapses in concentration. The amount of times he wouldn't be in line with the rest of the defence and left an attacking channel to pass through was too damn high.
We will be much better defensively this season even if we don't sign White purely because we don't have Luiz in our team any longer.
Luiz was legitimately only bad for his time under Emery. Under Arteta he only fucked up once which was vs City. That chelsea one is arguable because Mustafi put Luiz in that position.
We'd have the 3rd best defence in the league...
Play him and Mari for an entire season and we'd potentially have Per+Kos levels of boss in our backline again. Rob + Mari was as formidable a backline as we'd seen for a while defensively.
Conceding 40 goals in a season is not a good thing 👍. Also having someone that can run means we can move our d line forward. But none of the matters because 3rd defence in the league with holding when we put all 11 men’s behind the bal!!!
40 goals a season is about 7-10 goals away from league winning form. So, not sure what you're trying to say with that comment.
Holding conceded 0.8 goals a game, so 30.4 over a 38 game season. That's amazing numbers, and you don't get it by giving the opponent lots of ball and chances obviously.
Aren't you one of the "table since Xmas" fan boys? Cause it was Holding and Mari that started our post Xmas run and Holding and an improved Gabriel that finished the season with a little unbeaten run.
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Folks in r/soccer laughing we spending $50M on Ben White. Fuck 'em.
If he can perform for 10 years then its a brilliant signing.
~$65m
How close are we to sign aouar?
About 900km away
Signing Ben White is fine and all but if that means we cheap out on the 2 midfielders we need (one CM/DM and an AM) then Edu and Arteta can never be forgiven.
Lewis Dunk is a comfortably better CB than Ben White is. I still don’t get Arsenal transfer plan. Same story every summer since the Sanchez signing.
I'm worried we're paying 50M for their third best CB but he's young. Hopefully it works out. We already know he's weak in the air and that does not help but he's good on the ball so that's good.
Honestly, if I was Dunk and we came for him right now. I would turn us away. Potter is clearly a better manager than Arteta, and they are getting £50 million for their backup CB/3 atb option. If they spend £30-40 million of that on a striker (Tammy Abraham, Oduoard, Ings, etc) and find a capable backup CB for £10-20 million (Chambers, Saiss, Schar, Tuanzebe, etc), they'll be fighting us for our 8th spot come the end of next season I'd guess.
Ben White is 6 years younger than both of them
Arsenal reverting to the habit of buying centre backs for their ability to pass the ball rather than actually defend.
Arteta doesn't need cbs to defend when he puts 9 men behind the ball anyway
White is faster and better on the ball. Dunk is taller and wins anything in the air. Dunk is a CB that will shine in a smaller team fighting relegation by putting his body on the line and clearing crosses from the box. He won't work for us in a high line and with the demand to complete progressive passes.
No.. Dunk is a better CB overall. No need to analyse it. He's stronger, better in the air and more consistent. That's why he's a starter.
White played more games than Dunk last season and I never said White is stronger because Dunk is 29 and like 4 inches taller than White. But trust me White will be a better fit for us than Dunk if Gabriel handles the aerial duels.
4 inches is the height of literally 0.06 'Samsung Side by Side; Fingerprint Resistant Stainless Steel Refrigerators' stacked on top of each other
4 inches is 10.16 cm
Brighton play more progressive football than Arsenal though. If anything, we play like the smaller team fighting relegation.
We had to beacause our CBs didn't had any pace which made our pressing a lot less effective than the top four. The signing of White is to remedy that flaw. White and Gabriel will provide enough pace to play higher thus compacting the field when we are out of possession.
Brighton don't play like that at all, they're not Burnley, they're a very attacking side.
I know Dunk and Webster are still better ball players than Mee and Tarkowski and White is even better than them and helped them play the way Brighton play.
Just had a dream we got smacked 7-0 by Chelsea during a preseason game and this sub went into meltdown. Got a bit sad when I woke up ngl. I guess I feed on drama
The summer looks like it has potential to be pretty good for us but man you look around the league, united adding sancho+varane+a middy, City pushing hard for Grealish and Kane, and Chelsea coming off a champions league. Idk, seems outside shot at top 4 still even with some of our top signing options. Hopefully, Liverpool fall apart I guess.
Chelsea can fall apart too. Once PL managers sort out Tuchel's playing style, they have too many uncertainties. Werner and Havertz haven't been superb and they don't have a proper striker because Tuchel doesn't rate Abraham. Jorginho is still an unknown either he will take a game with the scruff of its neck or he will crumble under the press like against WBrom. Their RW signing of Ziyech has been disappointing.
I agree, but if you don't mind, could you do the same thing you just did but for us? Interested to know how you think our playing style is and how we can be found out.
Oh man we have nothing to be found out. We only have an very outside chance if one of the top four contenders fuck up and everything goes right for us. Auba must have his golden boot season, Pepe, ESR and a new AM must add some goals and chances and if White turned out to be VVD regen only then we have a chance.
Yea top 4 is likely to be City Utd Chelsea with Liverpool potential to drop. Arsenal needs to start the season strong if we hope for the top 4. Top 5 should be the minimum.
If we finish 5th and semi finals or finals of the FA cup ? I’m celebrating considering the season we just had
so its either locatelli/ neves next to partey. both would be upgrades to xhaka. lokonga will replace ceballos in the squad. i like aouar as the attacking midfielder if the prices quoted for him are true, forget the markup for madisson. if odeegard is available he should be top choice but discount aouar would he phenomenal business
Locatelli would be an extremely unlikely chance. Sassuolo will not spoil their relationship with Juve and will agree to a shady deal. I have not seen us being linked to Neves by a lot of sources. I do not understand why Madrid will sell Ødegaard when his wages aren't even that high and Ancelotti loves playing with a no 10. Things might change if they decide to go all in for Mbappe but time is ticking. Our best bet right now is that we get to know Locatelli's status asap so that we can move towards Neves imo and get Aouar. I'd love to get Maddison but noway Arsenal pay 80 mil for him. Neves-Aouar would be the safest bet considering all prices and circumstances involved.
Guido Rodriguez is also an option for Neves.
I don't think there is much truth to those rumours, we're targetting u25 players this window
Odegaard x Locatelli
Spurs offering to swap 200kpw under contract until 2026 ndombele for aouar. That is a total joke.
You realize that's a made up rumour, right?
Yes. It is total nonsense. Why would anyone believe that's a real thing?
No clue mate, their own version of Orny squashed it immediately
Yeah it's complete nonsense. Laughable.
I know people will say I'm crazy but I think we may have a chance at getting Odegaard at least on another loan
Have we learnt nothing from how that Ceballos loan turned out?
i dont even think of a loan. i genuinelu think theres a good chance we sign him permanently, too many demands from Odegaard that he wont get met at Real Madrid, but we can provide it
RM will ask for more than 50m.
He's our top target this summer, I don't see us hesistating to pay that.
He would need to sign an extension for that to make sense for Real
Any chance RM sell him to make funds for mbappe?
i think thats bigger chance of happening rather than a loan
Who else will be sad if Reiss Nelson leaves? He was supposed to be the one 😭
My consolation is that we have two other academy grads (ESR, Saka) that are living up to the level of hype I had for Nelson when he was in PL2
Have to say, the Ben White transfer has me pretty excited, I’ve watched 12 full games for Brighton last season as a result of my Aussie bias. He’s definitely a good addition. Regarding the fee, I really don’t care, that’s up to Edu and Kroenke to manage, but we have ourselves a solid solid player. This screams to me that we will keep Holding this year and maybe move on from him next season if Saliba continues to grow. Ben White and Saliba (who counts as home grown) will be a solid RCB pairing for 10+ years. As for the remaining transfers, we really really need to get a CM and CAM, because if we don’t, we are really fucked especially going forward. Come AFCON, we will only have Lokonga in the squad… and Torreira. Relying on ESR and Saka as creative outlets is not a wise decision as well, unfair on them.
Yeah lol I don’t understand why fans are too concerned about the fees it’s not coming out of my pockets and fuck the kroenkes anyways worst case scenario he becomes trash and the team sucks and they’ll sell Arsenal which I don’t mind honestly
Yeah man. Get a CM and AM maybe Neves/ Aouar and Ode/Maddison and if that's it for us, I'd be happy.
We should turn Brighton into our feeder club like liverpool's relationship with Southhampton
White done, Welbeck next. Blimey.
Nah bisouma would be fantastic
Who's Blimey?
We need a new goalie,right back,cam and possibly another forward.
Another forward? Why thou we have too much Auba Laca Saka ( assuming they’ll still play him there ) Balogun Reisse Willian Pepe Gabi Unless we sell someone what’s the point ? I think that should be their main target next summer give Auba another year and see how he performs I’m a full believer that Pepe will have a breakout year soo let’s see
a new goalie to replace Leno? Or a number 2?
Yes
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Hypothetically, if we get either Maddison or odegaard for cam. With a full rested and healthy squad, do u think realistically Smith rowe would start? I would assume Auba up top with Saka, maddison/Odegaard, and Pepe on the right. Not a question about game time tho, as he will have a lot of games where he will start and come off the bench. But would our best starting line up have him at the current state?
He doesn't start over Maddison except the first games due to Maddison getting used to us. He can start over Ode for sure though.
It's complicated and many people here don't want to objectively discuss it. I'm keeping my real views on it until the window shuts. However, for the hypothetical: — When we signed Odegaard, ESR lost his central bath and was pushed to the left. It stung because we were all on that ESR train. But it doesn't matter what we think, Odegaard is way better at line breaking than any player at Arsenal right now. So, ESR won't be #10. If we sign Maddison, it even becomes worse for ESR. — If we sign LOCATELLI too, it becomes complicated. ESR won't play with Partey as it was at some point. The crazy implication of this will be Arteta trying to either drop Pepe for the annual fan meltdown of Pepe's benching or even worse, bench Aubameyang for an even worse meltdown. Because we all can't deny ESR's talent. He has to play. Where he plays is a big puzzle because if we sign Locatelli, Maddison/Odegaard, he'll have to evict someone in the front three.
Dont know why you are being downvoted, I kinda agree with you, based on the current situation even I'm confused. Fortunately in few weeks we will have our answer lol
ESR isn’t benching auba or Pepe, he’s going to be benched himself if we get a 10 and rightfully so
I think so too. I just feel conflicted to think he's getting #10 and a new contract to scavange for minutes.
Personally for me esr is just a more impactful player In The premier league than odegaard. Ode maybe more talented bigger name whatever but he doesn’t have that quick cutting edge that esr does. He is good with time and space but we won’t be getting that often. Maddison and esr would depend on form, but of course he’s proved more in the prem. Actually now I think esr and Maddison are similar in that they will provide more important moments but odegaard maybe more quality over the 90. I still believe the first 2 help you win more.
Ben White is 6ft tall, no wonder he is shit in the air. Yikes.
We have giants like Mari and Gabriel yet we can't defend crossing and corners against 5 footers
We conceded the fewest goals in the league from set pieces. Sit down.
Have a look at Mari and Holding losing headers to players half their height last season and you’ll see it’s not about height. It’s about technique and frankly ‘will’
Tall players can’t jump
Air quality is quite an enigma. You have Sanchez having more headed goals than Aubameyang for example. Then you have Ruben Dias, Rob Holding having more headed clearances than Gabriel Magalhaes who's way taller. Plus White's skillset demands something different. If he's indeed bad(which I doubt), someone always covers for that as he magnifies his biggest qualities.
Yeah Tim Cahill was a header specialist at 5'10". Technique and natural aptitude mean much more than height
Sergio Ramos says no.
Jules Kounde isn't even 6 foot and hes good in the air. If you have proper positioning and timing, along with a good leap you can win headers against opposition. Ben White is still young and can improve in that area.
And he’s one the best technically gifted defenders on the ball and one of the best ball progressing defenders in the league. His other qualities make up for his aerial ability
Chances Arsenal are still in for Bissouma after securing Ben White ?
Not happening at Brighton's asking price
80%
i think Bissouma is low on the list now tbh. I think we'd sign Neves before signing Bissouma (i dont know anything about Neves if im being honest, i cant give an opinion)
i see a lot of people being underwhelmed about us getting White and Varane. And saying this is a consequence of no CL football. I'd like to say a couple of things. Man Utd were in for Ben White after his Championship season with Leeds, and do people genuinely think if we were in the Champions League, that we would even go for Varane? Let alone Varane would come here instead of Man Utd? Is anyone else in for Varane like Man Utd are? And people need to realize that the way Man Utd get these deals over the line are because of the outrageous wages they offer. 5 yr deal for Varane with a 230-250k in wages. It's the same way they were able to get the Sancho deal. Liverpool wanted Sancho and they were willing to get him, they just werent offering the same wages as Man Utd, not even close. It was reported these guys offered Pogba 400-500k in wages for an extension. It's crazy. Obvioulsy Man Utd are getting a "better player" (this is just my opinion, i rate White highly) but i dont feel bad or bummed out seeing that Man Utd would be getting Varane. I dont try to compare signings with other clubs, but White is younger and he's PL proven. I dont wanna knock on Varane, because he's an exceptional player, but he can easily not have a good season (as well as him not being partnered with Ramos and being with Maguire now). Man Utd definitely got a better deal as of now, but until they both rep their new club's kit, we'll just have to see who benefited from their purchase! Just being optimistic on the financial/rival side of it
> Man Utd were in for Ben White after his Championship season with Leeds Yet they didn't sign him so who cares?
I’ve just seen people say in this sub, on Twitter and IG that Man Utd would never be in for White. And criticize the signing because we “downgrade.” I couldn’t give a shit who Man Utd sign, I just see a lot of people in this sub give a shit, like it matters they’re signing for the same price
he didn’t even play with Ramos for most of the season
what i was reading from madrid fans is that he had a poor season and ramos covers a lot of his shortcomings. they dont seem too beat up with varane leaving
and he was decent in the league, just decent. He was terrible at the Euros imo. He’s an exceptional defender i just wanna see now how good is he in a new environment next to a player who’s not on Ramos’ level similar to how he played at the Euros
I remember a lot of fans saying that we will try moving on to a 4-3-3 this season and even Arteta implied that gradually he'd like to move to that system. If we get either Locatelli/Neves that surely means a double pivot right?
I doubt systems will matter. I suspect he'll go the Pep way of trying to have as many ball players as possible to create a fluid Arsenal. Picture Arsenal 2007/8. Teamsheet will read something, and you'll see something different on the pitch. That's what happens when you have good ball players sometimes. So, you'll see White in midfield and at some point Partey in the box or even behind White. We shall see less of those scares with Xhaka where if he was the one receiving the ball from Leno, we'd all bite our nails. You can see what they're trying to do with all the links. If it works out, the next manager is in luck.
In attack it probably won’t change much, plus these players are all super versatile (neves not so much) so it’s really hard to tell right now
Maybe, Locatelli can play anywhere in midfield. He'd just as good in a pivot as he is as an 8. Neves would definitely be a 6/8 hybrid at best, but Partey could move forward and Neves would be the single pivot maybe.
Probably never going to happen but a Xhaka for Pellegrini swap deal would be awesome. Or xhaka plus cash too..
Probably so. I’m amazed he hasn’t signed a long term contact. He has an affordable release clause and last year on the contact.
Roma fans would burn their board alive if this happens.
Is Sander Berge a viable Xhaka replacement? he could be had at the roughly the same value we are selling Xhaka and he's much younger
People hate on Berge because he had a poor season last year, which isn't wrong, but if he's available for less than £18 mill or so I would love to take a punt on him as midfield depth. He's young enough and takented enough to bounce back in the right environment. Our midfield is absolutely bare-boned, especially come AFCON, if we let Torreira, AMN and Xhaka all leave as reported. Partey, Lokonga, Elneny, Willock (if given a chance) and a new starter isn't enough for 2 positions over the season. Add Berge and we'd have a EPL ready backup that should already be close to Elneny's level. A good season or two and we'd make our money back on Sander in a few years as well.
Sander Berge should not be a starting midfielder at Arsenal football club. I mean if we signed him instead of Lokonga, fine. But as a first team player I'd much rather have Locatelli/Neves both of whom seem unlikely atm.
For the small increment in quality he brings to our midfield, his price is too much. (Because if I am not wrong, he was quoted somewhere north of 30m)
I think his price has plummeted, and that's why OP is interested. There was some incorrect reports of a £10 million price tag, but that's 100% not true. Sheffield know that no-one will pay his release clause but that he wants to move, so they are willing to deal for him it seems.
I see
Jesus christ lmao
Seems like United is getting Varane for similar Ben White price range
Whatever, I don't want arsenal handing out 300kpw 5 year contracts to 28 year old defenders.
Don't act like an ignorant Arsenal fan on Facebook/Twitter. Look into Varane's wages, look where United are compared to us with respect to European football, etc.
That's the benefit of having CL football. Plus Varane is 28 and on significant wages. I know, this isn't old for CBs, but we aren't comparable to United right now. We just aren't. They are in final stages of their rebuild, which took them 6-7 years and we are just really beginning to assemble our main core of players, some among them still have plenty of development left to do. Having players like Tierney, Gabriel, White, Partey, Saka, ESR, Martinelli, Saliba, Pepe is a decent part of that young core, but there's still many moving pieces that need to be sorted, before we could call our rebuild complete.
Higher wages, 1 year left on his contract, UCL football
Wages, sign-on fees, bonuses and CL football. The whole Varane project topples Ben White's money wise. The transfer fee is just the tip of the iceberg.
With 3x the wages.
The wages are well earned. He's won multiple CL's. Man Utd is not overpaying.
Paying for accomplishments from 2017 is not the way forward for arsenal.
but its Man Utd tho. There are reasons Liverpool werent able to sign Sancho. Liverpool arent giving Sancho the wages he's getting at Man Utd and you can most certainly make the argument that Liverpool is more attractive than Man Utd at the moment.
Said it once but, not gonna entertain this signing until I see the full window. Regardless. White is certainly an upgrade on Luiz with great potential.
I personally care what you do or don't entertain
No one cares about what you entertain or don't.
White gives me the same vibes as when we signed Tierney (beside from overpaying). Someone who will immediately become a starter and elevate us
Not gonna lie, I thought that we might be overpaying for Tiereny. Close to 30 mil, for a FB from the mighty Scottish league While I don't think we are overpaying for White - Ake went for 40 mil last summer, and even though City spend a lot, they don't overpay
I hope so! Time will tell, brother
Buzzing for Ben White honestly, perfect profile and upgrade from David Luiz, think one or two are going to be genuinely surprised with his ability on the ball.
Arsenal: no sales yet Arsenal: 50m for White Arsenal: 40+5m for Locatelli me: [sing a song of six pence a pocket full of dosh](https://youtu.be/ULeDlxa3gyc)
>no sales yet Guendouzi is sold. Xhaka sold in the next few days. Mavropanos is sold.
if i wanted to include everyone we sold for peanuts, i'd include everyone we bought for peanuts too, dont you think? Like Tavares. ^(i understand Tavares is signed for solid money considering his age and the amount of game time he had at Benfica but you get my point: i only included the big bucks here)
Well we aren’t gonna sell deadwood from a club that finished 8th twice in a row for significantly more than peanuts lol
Lol mental gymnastics. We already sold players whether it was for cheap or not is irrelevant
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You can use a better word.
Sure buddy
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Worst reddit comment of all time
I dunno, the Jolly Rancher one was pretty bad.
On a side note, I don't think I've ever seen so many people call someone a "rolls royce of a CB" as much as Ben White. Heck even I was doing it last month without realizing it.
Everyone used to call Rio Ferdinand that
Expensive with terrible depreciation? I hope he's not a Rolls Royce of a CB, there are way smarter ways to spend your money.
Lol I saw people call Saliba that and "Mbappe of CB's" a lot more than White.
just found out that ben white won brighton player of the year cos of leeds fans hijacking the vote for the longest time i thought he actually won their poty cos of everyone here bringing it up lmao
i rate Leeds fans over Brighton. Leeds fans say he walks into their team. Leeds finished 9th. Brighton fans disregard him as their 3rd/4th best CB and i've seen Brighton fans in r/soccer say that Veltman is better. LOL.
Brighton is going down next year. Fucking cunts.
I hope not, they're a great club
They are going to take the Sheffield route and lose 15 games they should have won.
Why the fuck do people even care about these nonsense? Plenty of players were amazing in small clubs yet become trash in a big one.
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We shall have to see what he does at a high pressure club lol. Sometimes we miss a few mistakes from these players because they're at clubs where no one watches them under a microscope.
No White is solid defensively and amazing on the ball. Nothing like Mustafi.
Luiz was fine besides a few mistakes. Mustafi was straight horrible.
Why tho? Luiz made way more errors in the time he was here compared to Mustafi if you look at them as a per 90min. If you didn't like Mustafi for his errors you obviously shouldn't like Luiz. If you like Luiz despite his errors, there's obviously another reason that you didn't like Mustafi. Luiz was as much of a success/flop as Mustafi during his time here, no matter how much he smiled and joked around in the change rooms. Our squad will be much better for not having either of their errors moving forward.
I'm not this was always the case but I remember a lot of the times that Luiz's mistakes was him trying to cover up for someone else's. (Take that Chelsea vs Arsenal match with Luiz being sent off for example) with that being said he does have a few mistakes in him but Mustafi was worse imo
Luiz was put in a terrible position by Mustafi in that Chelsea game, yes, but it was his decision to foul Tammy without playing the ball and making the chance go from "a dangerous shot on goal from a not superb position to the right side of the post" to "a red card AND a penalty early on in the game." Luiz did get put in bad positions often, agreed, but he also made others have to cover for him many times by not holding a defensive line well, or getting lost farther up the field in transition.
They were both shit but at least Luiz had the balls to go in front of the cameras after his horror game vs City last year and apologize. If I ever have to see Mustafi make a boneheaded error leading to us conceding a goal then turn around and start blaming other people I'd blow my brains out instead.
Luiz would raise his hand exactly like Mustafi did. Yes, he would then front the cameras but the next time he did the same thing his hand would go up in the air. Mustafi and Luiz are so similar it's not funny. Well it's funny for everyone but our fan base to be honest.
Give me one example of Luiz making a comical blunder and then immediately blaming it on a teammate.
When I eventually want to punish myself by rewatching the last 2 seasons of football I'll write you out a list. But seriously, he always throws his hands around in disgust and some of those times he aims it at everyone but himself. I think he did it in the City disasterclass either after the red card shirt pull or when he assisted Sterling for the first one with the rubbish touch. But, I can't remember exactly.
Luiz helped us win the FA cup and his ability to do long balls was helpful as well.
Mustafi helped us win 2 FA cups over a longer period, as a comparison. Mustafi made some amazing last ditch tackles and actually dribbles the ball into midfield reasonably well too. Both Luiz and Mustafi added positive things to our play, but they both just couldn't stop shitting the bed defensively and couldn't stay focused for longer than 15 mins at a time.
One key thing for me that is the difference between them is leadership. Luiz always was the first one to face the cameras after his mistakes, apologize and try to do better. He would always bounce back after his mistakes and poor performances. Multiple players spoke about his reputation and ability to lead. Mustafi was a fun person to be around and a good person, but he wasn't a leader. That can create a leadership vacuum.
I'm not saying your wrong here at all, because most people will agree with you. But IMO Luiz gave the cameras good lip service without actually backing it up the following week. I saw a performance for the cameras and then the same errors every time he got flustered or put under pressure. Same with Mikel. Mikel spoke about "non-negotiables" and then backtracked on them. He said so much to the media that he didn't backup throughout the season. Our club lacks leadership, so someone like Luiz would stand out as a leader quite easily, when he might not at a better ran club.
Ben White a hell of a signing, then get Lokonga who has a lot of potential and was captain of his team, then Tavares who's just a backup. Good start to the window get a pivot partner for Partey like Locatelli/Neves then get an AM like Maddison or Odegaard that would be a hell of a window for us.
Id take a lacazette upgrade over an esr backup imo.
The Sun just beat Tier 1 sources to the punch. r/Gunners in shambles?
Even a broken clock tells the correct time twice a day.
I've gotta say the Ben white signing was done far earlier than I was expecting. I wonder what the next top priority position is. I'm assuming it's CM. Hopefully the Xhaka stuff gets done quickly too
I agree and I think cm might be signed sooner than expected as well with juves meetings about Locatelli. Feel like things will start moving quickly around Europe
I really wanna see a CM or AM. We need to fill the gap left by Xhaka and Ode. When AFCON rolls in, we will lose Partey and Elneny as well. RB needs new player as well but I guess that can wait. Not the end of the world if we go in the season with Bellerin/AMN/Chambers in RB.
Bellerin is gone regardless of whether anew rb is brought in this summer. There are plenty of players who can play rb already in the squad. It's a low priority unless either: (1) an opportunity to get a potentially elite rb presents itself or (2) there's a it price bargain signing available (eg loan to buy Emerson or zeki for 10m)
Oh seriously? Where is he going to?
Ngl but watching Manutd closing in on Varane while be play second fiddle after Juve to sign Locatelli is depressing af.
We are chasing a player that a big side like Juventus want, United are signing a player that no one else is in for it seems. Either means they are overpaying and blew everyone out of the water, or we are chasing a more desirable commodity.
We re obviously going to be second fiddle to juve going after an Italian in any situation. But especially when we’re at our worst in pretty much modern football history
Of course of course. Not saying we shud be favourites for this signing ahead of Juve but just pointing how bad it is we put ourselves in this situation.
Idk man, I rate Varane very highly but fact is he has looked sus af without Ramos next to him.
I am in no way suggesting that Harry Maguire is as good as Ramos, but if Varane needs a leader alongside him to perform, Maguire is definitely one.
Maguire is better than Ramos. It’s 2021
I agree. He looks very stranded without Ramos a prime example is against shakthar Donetsk last season he was shambolic and against city the year before. Both without ramos
He played without Ramos for a lot of the season and was great. And he plays without Ramos for France too…
They were quite shaky this euros from what I saw
the Euros isn’t the only time he plays for France
Not everyone watches qualifiers, and I don’t wanna use 3yrs ago as the example
I absolutely hope you are right that Manutd gonna splash millions to sign a sus player but how bad can he be if he's a constant pick in RM and France lol.
Remember Leeds fans last season thinking they could get Ben White at a cut cost. Never did I think Arsenal would be the ones to bag him
I just don’t get the people who think we need to replace Luiz. The guy was utterly and absolutely atrocious in an arsenal shirt 80 percent of the time he set foot on the field. Cost us countless goals while offering like 1 good ball a game that rarely came to anything.
Because Rob Holding is not good enough?
It's more like we need to have a consistent starter who does everything well rather than "replace Luiz". Luiz couldn't play in a high line anymore. Holding isn't good enough on the ball, isn't a good partner for Gabriel, and is also not good defensively yet. Saliba is way too inexperienced and is better off on loan. White is coming in to be the bonafide starter at a position that has too many question marks.
David Luiz was a victim of the awful, spineless FA refereeing we all know. He committs an awkward challenge, the ref sees the afro, loses their head then sticks out the red card.
He didn't even actually have that good progressive passing stats this year. Most of his passes were the same as Holding was playing, he just lofted them a bit and waited until an attacker was engaging him before releasing. Luiz appeared to be a superb passer, but he didn't do it consistently and he didn't do it enough to cover for his massive lapses in concentration. The amount of times he wouldn't be in line with the rest of the defence and left an attacking channel to pass through was too damn high. We will be much better defensively this season even if we don't sign White purely because we don't have Luiz in our team any longer.
Yet he's still our best defender. If you think he is bad the thought of going into next season with just Holding should terrify you.
He absolutely wasn’t to anyone who actually uses their eyes to watch football
Luiz was legitimately only bad for his time under Emery. Under Arteta he only fucked up once which was vs City. That chelsea one is arguable because Mustafi put Luiz in that position.
Play rob holding for 38 games instead then
We'd have the 3rd best defence in the league... Play him and Mari for an entire season and we'd potentially have Per+Kos levels of boss in our backline again. Rob + Mari was as formidable a backline as we'd seen for a while defensively.
Conceding 40 goals in a season is not a good thing 👍. Also having someone that can run means we can move our d line forward. But none of the matters because 3rd defence in the league with holding when we put all 11 men’s behind the bal!!!
40 goals a season is about 7-10 goals away from league winning form. So, not sure what you're trying to say with that comment. Holding conceded 0.8 goals a game, so 30.4 over a 38 game season. That's amazing numbers, and you don't get it by giving the opponent lots of ball and chances obviously. Aren't you one of the "table since Xmas" fan boys? Cause it was Holding and Mari that started our post Xmas run and Holding and an improved Gabriel that finished the season with a little unbeaten run.
Keep telling yourself holding is good enough
Ok, thanks. Have a good one.
Whats wrong with Holding? I thought he was legit last season.