Morning all.
Alexandre. Lacazette isn’t going to sign a new contract with Arsenal. So say Football London. Not being funny but I think most people realised that a long time ago but there’s a good chance he can’t anyway because he’s not been offered one. Newcastle are going to try and tempt him up north if the Daily Star are to believed. If they’re prepared to stump up a few million for our Frenchman, then good news all round I reckon. Perhaps they’ll try signing Aubameyang too. Ready made players might improve the results for Newcastle and who better than those who know the Premier League inside and out?
In my opinion, Arsenal still have a number of players who don’t fit into the football plans of Mikel Arteta. Plus, come the end of the season, some of them will be walking away for nothing unless their contract situation changes. Lacazette, Elneny, Kolasinac and Chambers.
When Roman bought Chelsea, they stole Ashley from us, City did the same, signing Adebayor, Clichy and Nasri. They even took Toure and Sagna at some stage. As long as Arsenal check the quality of the notes handed over, why not let Newcastle buy players the club doesn’t want to keep, or can’t keep? Either that or offer them Lacazette and Aubameyang in return for Saint-Maximin. Lol
Where Arsenal have mucked up in the past is not always who they’ve sold but the amount they sold them for. Or, the two really bad swap deals, Cole/Gallas, Mikki/Sanchez. The worst deal was Cole, closely followed by Fabregas going to Barcelona for £30 odd million when on an open market I think he’d have gone for a lot more. If true, why turn down a £60m offer for Sanchez only to then swap him with a player struggling in the Premier League just a few months later? Didn’t a big offer come in for Ramsey too which was turned down during the Ivan Gazidis and Arsene Wenger days? If Ramsey didn’t want to go back then, that was the time to renew his contract, not just let it drift on to become someone else’s problem.
Hopefully, under Edu and Mikel Arteta, those days are over. Or at least once next summer has passed by, players leaving for free will be something we see much less of. Cedric and Aubameyang are the most likely candidates and perhaps the odd younger player too but I think most of our key players are tied down until 2024 at least. Mind you, 2024 isn’t that far away.
It seems the days of signing other club’s old has been’s could be over too as the club are more focussed on younger players who’ll grow together as a team and get stronger as they go. Or at least that’s the hope.
if Lacazette goes in January, which is far from guaranteed, Arsenal will need to sign a striker because with Aubameyang away at the ACON, the options for Mikel Arteta will be limited. Pepe will be away too so he’s out of the equation so either Balogun, Martinelli or Nketiah will be left to fill the void. Or Biereth. Logic alone suggests that Lacazette is likely to stay beyond January and walk away for nothing. It’d be better for Arsenal that’s for sure and certainly financially better for the player too.
As said yesterday, the midfield situation in January will be tricky as well. 6-8 weeks without Partey, Pepe, Aubameyang and Elneny is going to hit hard. I know Pepe and Elneny haven’t played much recently but in a flash, they could be needed. When they’re not around early in the New Year, who comes in? Who gives Saka, ESR or Ødegaard a break when they need it?
See you in the comments…
Morning
Not trying to say our transfer policy is spot on far from it.
But I just had a quick look at 1 of those transfer websites.
And stumbled across this lot.
Iwobi 34m
Ox 35m
Walcott 20m
Gibbs 7m
Vermaeien 15m
Song 15m
Eboue 3m
Hoyte 3m
Jeffers 3m
That’s 132 million, seems were not the only club with a bad transfer policy.
Or should I say we like ripping other clubs off, does anyone regret selling anyone of those players.
Mog, admittedly, some of our outgoing transfers have been good but the big ones like Sanchez, Ramsey, Fabregas and Cole for example, we sold on the cheap or gave away. I’m hoping those days are behind us though.
How much did we pay for Jeffers? 😆
Morning Boomers, good old Football.London, the ex-bloggers and Twitterers on F.L who hilariously call themselves journalists are just brilliant at putting up posts that are misleading, old recycled news or just plainly untrue, but they’re a part of the fabric of online footie fans so it is what it is, just don’t take them seriously or more to the point click on them if you can. If the headline seems vague then it’s almost always BS.
Great post Rico especially with so little to discuss, kudos to you, but yeah Lacazette.
As you so rightly say I don’t think that Arsenal have offered Laca a new deal even if there may have been some discussions so the fact that Newcastle may and that’s ‘may’ have an interest in Laca isn’t really a shock to anyone whose not been living in a cave for the last 18 months.
Of course interest from Newcastle could smoke out other interested parties like Juve or Atletico but I’d guess it’ll all come down to money as it always does, how much would Newcastle offer if they are actually interested to Arsenal for the remaining 6 months of his contract and would Lacazette and his agent want money from Arsenal to smooth the deal and would Laca want to move to Newcastle anyway?
And how would Arteta feel about going into the second half of the season with only Aubameyang as a quality option up front as it’s unlikely that Arsenal could sign a forward of the required level in January, that I’d guess is set up for a summer transfer?
I think we paid £8m for Jeffers.
Didn’t we sell Giroud for £12m?
And signed him from Montpellier for £10m
Morning Kev, thanks.
I don’t think Lacazette was offered a contract because of his age and because of how the Aubameyang deal turned out. Once bitten, twice shy and all that.
According to TransferMarket we bought Giroud for €12m and sold him for €17m. Lol
Didn’t say transfer policy spot on, just not all of them were badly managed.
Take sol Campbell for instance, didn’t a small club miss out on a transfer fee for him.
I’m sorry I can’t recall the club involved, must be small and run by fools who think there big.
Morning Rico and all
The worse part about the mistakes we made when selling players in the past was we never learned from from our mistakes.
Lets hope things change and we get a decent amount for any one we sell.
I don’t think Newcastle will come for Laca or Auba as they both getting on in age. if they were to look at any of our players it would be the younger one’s.
Good afternoon Rico and all
A good post Rico…..not that there is much to say atm but some good questions to ponder.
The question of who replaces the midfielders who depart for ACON has long been something I have been banging about. That is why I dont like signing African players….I dont have anything against them but it irks me that they depart in the middle of the season . Its already bad enough having international breaks but having ACON as well stinks the place down. SAF did not enjoy it either…..and he refused to sign African players after Djemba Djemba I think.
I feel that MA will buy a striker and a midfielder in the January transfer window. The plus point is that none of the players he buys will be African….as he will surely not buy someone who is not available to play in January and February.
We bought JEffers for 10 million and Giroud for 12 million.
And next Elneny :- The report states there is even a possibility Elneny may reach an agreement with Arsenal to terminate the contract. Should this happen, Galatasaray will be able to seal the deal easily in January.
Arsenal the club that likes to keep on giving .
https://www.facebook.com/Arsenal/videos/10159555028852713
Memories , Oh for a finisher like that.
😂 Mog
Morning Geoff, they can take a run and jump if they want our younger players. For what it’s worth, I think they will look overseas.
Afternoon Devil, thanks.
I thought the ACON was moving to the summer months. In which case, it wouldn’t be such a big deal but I’m not sure that’s still going ahead.
If Elneny terminates his contract and receives no pay off, it’s better imo than paying him for a further 4 months without him playing.
Coupe d’Afrique des Nations 2023
Tournament details
Host country Ivory Coast
Dates June – July 2023
Teams 24 (expected) (from 1 confederation)
Oh yeah I forgot to mention earlier but doesn’t Calum Chambers have a one year option on his contract?
And yes, if it doesn’t cost us anything then terminating the contract of Elneny so he can join another club in January makes sense, it also frees up a space in the squad for another non English signing.
Ah, so it is moving. Good.
Not sure re Chambers, I’ve seen nothing about the extra year. Or at least I can’t recall seeing anything. Lol
Anyone watch the Paul Merson documentary last night?
Good afternoon Rico, at first glance I thought you’d gone nuts, then I saw there was no “r” in the first word of the headline 😉
Afternoon Cicero, no acorns on here. Lol
The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (also referred to as AFCON 2021 or CAN 2021), known as the TotalEnergies 2021 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons,[2] is scheduled to be the 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men’s football championship of Africa organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The tournament is scheduled to be hosted by Cameroon,[3] and will take place from 9 January to 6 February 2022.[1] The tournament was originally scheduled to be played in June and July 2021 but the CAF announced on 15 January 2020 that due to unfavourable climatic conditions during this period, the tournament would take place from 9 January to 6 February 2021.[4] On 30 June 2020, the CAF moved the tournament for the second time to January 2022 following the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic across the continent, whilst retaining the name 2021 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship purposes.[5]
There’s an echo in here. 😜
In an interview with The Standard Hector Bellerin says he has no wish to return to Arsenal when his loan deal at Real Betis ends in the summer.
The 26-year-old secured the move on the final day of the transfer window, having seen his chances of first-team football at the Emirates fade under Mikel Arteta.
Bellerin will still have one year left on his Arsenal contract when his loan deal expires, however, he has made it clear he would like to stay at Betis, the club he has supported since his childhood.
Let’s hope for his sake then, Real Betis make Arsenal a good offer.
Rico, I think Potter has mixed his years up. He’s referring to the 2023 Acorn oops sorry ACON.
According to sprtrac Chambers has no extension clause but The daily Cannon quoting the Athletic says that he has .
Ya pays ya money and takes ya chances. As the three card trick man said in Charing Cross Road.
He is Cicero, the date it moves to the summer instead of Jan/Feb.
2022 is the 2021 competition postponed from last year.
Sam Matterface really is one of most irritating commentators around, a man of many trivial stats and irrelevancy.
I see Wenger wants the VAR to make decisions about off side rule quicker and be full in
control of the off side rule to help make it easer on the refs by the 2022 world cup.
So is he saying that VAR is the best thing since sliced bread or the refs are crap
Morning all
New post up now