Morning all.
It’s late in the transfer window. Arsenal need defensive players but any club willing to sell players now, hold the cards. Unless they have a seriously unhappy player on their hands, they can pretty much demand whatever fee they like from the buying club. Especially a British one.
Speculation I know but we’re reportedly going for Rugani, Upamecano or both. £70m Is the price for Upamecano according to The Guardian and other sources but Juventus don’t want to sell/loan Rugani apparently but in this game, every club has its price and if the player fancies a change of scenery, they’ll do a deal I’m sure.
European leagues have a different transfer window closure date to here in the UK. La Liga, Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga have until the 2nd September to do business, whereas Serie A have until August 23rd so plenty of time for either RB Leipzig or Juventus to sign replacements, assuming they’d need to.
Just because these two names are all over the back pages and NewsNow, it doesn’t mean either story is true. Doesn’t mean they’re untrue either, or that Arsenal are scrabbling around at the last minute to get deals done because it’s only just dawned on them that we need defensive reinforcements. For all we know, Raul and co have been trying all summer.
Just think about Raul’s pedigree, Edu’s too – neither are strangers to the game and neither would look at our defensive unit and think it’s good enough to take on City or Liverpool. If they did, they’d be in the wrong job. These are guys who have probably forgotten more about the game than you or I ever knew in the first place. I’m sure they’ll want to do something about strengthening our defence before Thursday. Or at least that’s what I hope. Then it’ll be about how they fit in and what impact they have on the team.
Arsenal appear to be selling now too with a deal for Koscielny agreed with Bordeaux according to L’Equipe and Nottingham Forest are hopeful of snapping up Carl Jenkinson say Sky Sports.
Monaco are still interested in Mustafi but the player has no interest in leaving Arsenal according to the Metro and other outlets such as FootballLondon. I know…. But if Arsenal were to sign Rugani or Upamecano, I think he’d realise his playing days in north London might be limited, if not over.
This is doing the rounds after Harry Maguire signed for Utd.
What the stats don’t tell us though, is what the eyes see. Saying that, I’m not a fan of either.
Finally, those of you out there in the big wide world who read HH each day, and I know there’s lots of you because you receive the daily email, don’t be shy. Come and join in, we don’t bite.
That’s enough of my waffle for today, see you in the comments.
Hi Nash, glad to hear it.. 😝
New post up now
Hi Rico and All. Yes, some of us are still reading and still love HH.
I thought the U Tube video was a bit rushed. Hard to tell how good he was.
It seems that Arsenal have agreed personal terms with Daniele Rugani but the deal with Juventus is not yet complete. It could be a twenty-four month loan with an obligation to buy at the end of it. The fee will be around €40 m. £37 m.
Everyone looks good on U Tube, they don’t show the “Mustafis”. 😉
Thanks rico.
Koscielny leaving means there’s room for 2 non – homegrown players.Defenders please.I think Tierney would count as non -homegrown.
Reg.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OVBEWQBwDTI
Chuba Akpom scored in the Champions League qualifiers tonight.
What do we know about Rugani as a player?
Sky report Toots have agreed a deal for Dybala…
There’s also a few stories about Ozil agents in talks with DC. Ozil to replace Rooney.
Loan with an option to buy according to reports in Italy Kev. True or not, I’ve no idea.
Yep, Upamecano looks a bit of a hard nut, but Rugani is taller… 😂
Upamencano would have been nice.
Is it a transfer or a loan Rico?
Rumour is we’ve agreed personal terms with Rugani.
😂
The fee is being reported as €5 million, about £4.6 million. Not much but more than we got for that Welsh bloke who went to Juventus.
So the old man has gone then.. Next.. 😆
Good morning
I think the Maguire/Mustafi stats comparison was not to boost Mustafi but more to show Man U what they might be getting.
Transfer terms. One dozen cases of a non vintage red wine and half a hundredweight of Camembert. 😉
PS, from the club website “We decided to sanction his move to Bordeaux once we agreed acceptable transfer terms.”
Koscielny has signed for Bordeaux, it’s official. No details of transfer fee published.
I think the Koscielny sale would be good business,nearly 34, injury prone.
For the same reason I’m not sure about Tierney anymore.More important areas to improve.
For the first time in a long time,I have faith in the people doing the deals.
The Maguire v Mustafi stats which I think are bollox anyway highlights our midfield issues imo.
If I’ve read the stats right, Mustafi did more in every department which suggests the Leicester midfield is better than ours..
Still time Kev, for his sake he should go as we have players ahead of him. Unless Emery sees him as the experience in a second string cup team..
Haven’t seen much of pre season so can’t comment really although if the stories about Tierney are correct I’d steer clear myself.
Still no bids for Elneny it seems Rico, looks like he’s gonna be with us for another season, his contract runs until 2022, I guess he’ll be a regular in the League Cup and UEFA Cup…
If we don’t get Tierney then it might open the door for Dominic Thompson, who had, from what I saw, a really good pre-season. He looks a lot stronger now and all he needs is experience.
Let him play in the cups and then at 19 he’ll be perfect for a loan in January…
Likewise Robbie Burton, James Olayinka and Zach Medley.
These lads still need another year of growth, just look at Willock from 12 months ago, this time next year a couple of them might be just what we need.
Cicero, if we wish to challenge, we need an upgrade.
As much as i rated Kozzer, we could not win with him, so must find better.
When fit, he’d start for us so if he’s leaving, we just have to replace him, imo.
G’day all, do we need a replacement for Koscielney? What with injuries and suspensions, plus some “Mustafi” type howlers, he’s hardly been a regular, and reliable, starter for the last couple of seasons.
I think Koscielney’s almost certain departure was the reason for Monreal to be given an extra season, a decent left-back and a half decent stand-in at centre back, We could be okay until Holding and Mavropanos achieve full fitness. I would still like to see a new centre back though, Rugani for instance?
Good point Kev re Eddie.
Ditto re Mustafi, if I was him I’d go. A new start might do him the world of good and regardless of how good or bad he is, I’d hate to see him get slaughtered week in week out.
Trying to decipher Arsenal’s transfer strategy will lead to headaches, insomnia and in some cases, alcohol addiction so give it a miss 🙂
Morning all.
Everyone on the planet knows we need a CB.
I’d have thought filling that spot was a priority earlier in the window, but I refer back to my above statement lol
I was hoping he’d stay Rico, but I guess with the arrival of Pepe he knows he’s gonna be 4th choice at best, it’ll do him good and increase his value.
Looks like Mustafi is resisting leaving, I guess he’s waiting to see if we buy anyone, but as it stands he’s behind Chambers and Sokratis and he’ll be behind Holding when Rob is fit.
Monaco seem keen and why wouldn’t he want to live in Monaco?
I hope with the selling of koz and jenkin we gonna be getting a new defender for sure
I’m surprised Eddie might go on loan. Smith Rowe I get though as he’s been struggling of late to stay fit..
If Koscielny leaves then surely Arsenal have a centre back lined up?
Tierney now rumoured to be out injured until October, Celtic will need to sell before they can buy, so some kind of arrangement needs to be sorted before Thursday.
Notable that no other clubs are in for Tierney!
Looks like Eddie Nketiah is going to leave for a season on loan at either Bristol City or Leeds United, that’ll mean that John Jules will share the young reserve forward behind Laca, Auba and Pepe, with Martinelli.
Big season ahead for Saka and Emile Smith Rowe if the latter stays at the club…
I agree he was a goner Adam but why did he suddenly want out? Perhaps because someone else is coming in.
Anyway, as I said earlier, I won’t shed any tears as like you, I think it’s a positive that he’s going. Slowly but surely the squad is changing..
Rico. I think they would. Kos was a goner from the moment he refused to travel. To think that I used to like him. What a complete berk he turned out to be. Him leaving is a positive now.
Thinking about it, they wouldn’t sell Koscielny without a signing already lined up surely…
Logic alone would suggest a defender or two will be signed. Especially now that Kos if off. Mind you, I’ve typed that before..
I couldn’t agree more Lee. I reckon they’ll do some defensive business though. I can’t see any alternative.
Wenger simply forgot everything he knew and didn’t know Adam. 😜
Morning Brudder, surely we must strengthen the defence….totally futile adding flair players if we keep this sub-standard defence?!
Third season on the bounce shipping 50+ goals if nothing is done imho…..
Interesting, but then nobody knew more about football than Arsene Wenger and look what a defence he left us with. 😃
But, putting cynicism aside for a moment, I agree with you Rico. We must remain confident that the current regime will do the business.