City wanted him, we’ve got him! Something doesn’t add up!

Morning all.

After Mourinho’s little jibe about the amount of money Arsenal have spent over the last three seasons, suggesting we as a club had spent more than his, Sky Sports did get their calculator out and did prove a surprise, well, not for all.

Chelsea:

2013/14: Andre Schurrle £18m, Marco van Ginkel £8m, Cristian Cuevas £1.7m, Willian £32m, Isaiah Brown £209,000*, Christian Atsu £3.5m, Nemanja Matic £21m, Mohamed Salah £11m, Kurt Zouma £12.5m.

2014/15: Cesc Fabregas £30m, Diego Costa £32m, Mario Pasalic £3m*, Felipe Luis £15.8m, Loic Remy £8.5m, Juan Cuadrado £23.3m.

2015/16: Asmir Begovic £8m, Nathan £4.5m*, Danilo Pantic £1.25m*.

Total: £234.259m.

Arsenal:

2013/14: Mesut Ozil £42.5m, Matt Macey £100,000*.

2014/15: Alexis Sanchez £35m, Mathieu Debuchy £12m, David Ospina £3m, Calum Chambers £16m, Danny Welbeck £16m, Krystian Bielik £2.4m, Gabriel Paulista £11.2m.

2015/16: Petr Cech £10m.

Total: £148.2m

*Reported fee

He is such a plank isn’t he, and not a very tall one!

Anyway, Arsene Wenger refused to respond during his interview yesterday and won’t get involved with Mourinho’s little mind games ahead of Sunday’s big clash! But he did say:

We just try to make the right decisions. When we have the money available we spend it, when we don’t have it we don’t spend the money we haven’t got.

I believe if you one day make the real statistics of the players we have developed here and compare them to all the other clubs you will be surprised.

Which is of course a dig at Chelsea’s spending since Roman arrived at the club….

More importantly, we do have money now and we still have a couple of positions which need filling so judging from the managers comments, there’s little excuse not to do so. That is if Arsene Wenger thinks along the same lines as many fans.

A bit of squad news, David Ospina is back in training, Alexis is still on holiday and Danny Welbeck remains on the injury list. Everyone else is fit for selection on Sunday.

Transfer Gossip:

Back in June, Man City were sure they’d nabbed young French attacking midfielder Ismael Bennacer on a three year deal. The 17 year old who plays for Arles Avignon rejected offers of a new contract after his club were relegated to the third division of French football last month.

The Mail reported the story and suggested City wanted to boost their academy as well as their first team. However, fast forward to today and French newspaper L’equipe report a very different story, in fact it’s Arsene Wenger who has been on the trail of this youngster who plays for the French under 18 side and a five year deal is on the cards.

Karim Benzema set the tongues wagging yesterday by posting a photo of himself on what appears to be a private jet with the caption, “Leave the past in the past.” Apparently he didn’t get any game time yesterday during Madrid’s friendly against Inter Milan and that’s despite Benitez making eleven changes during the game…

That’s it for today, have a good one all…

131 thoughts on “City wanted him, we’ve got him! Something doesn’t add up!

  1. Brian Price says:

    Nosferatu was talking about net spending after subtracting the money he got for off-loading his expensive mistakes. If you went back six years, the Chav’s net spending would be miles above ours.
    Huge rumour last night that Sky Bet had cut the odds of Benzema signing for us to 11/10, but it could have been just another rumour.

    Brian

  2. allezkev says:

    According to the Metro it’s a ‘Done Deal’ zzzzzzz….

    Adam, or should I say Flashman, I look forward to it… 🙂

  3. Drake says:

    Youth players we have signed were wanted jonker,he must be enjoying himself.the likes of vlad,jeff,fortune and that ajax striker.i would not be shocked if we sign this french kid also

  4. tsgh says:

    Lol,Kev. Only if I …

    I am afraid Benzema rumours may have legs.

    James trained for a day and played against inter 2 days ago… Not sure why Benzema is not getting minutes under his belt.

    saying that I think Jesse will get more games under rafa than he did for Carlito.

    If Perez can get the money he wants then he might sell to who ever comes in…

    Caledoron (spelling) said something quite interesting yesterday morning on Talkshite…;
    Perez probably wants one of James or Benzema out but none want to move as they have long on contract unlike Ozil or Di Maria.

    interesting how Yanited have apparently gone in for James I rumours are to be believed.

  5. Canadian Gooner says:

    Good Morning to The Lady of the House and all fellow Gooners in residence.

    Rico – What is it about the Ismael Bennacer that doesn’t add up? But of course, it is The French Connection.

    Actually I suspect it has more to do with few of the Abu Dhabi Citeh academy players making it into the first team, much the same as for Chelski. Young players, who are not blinded by the big money and bright lights, may be waking up to the fact that Arsenal are far better at developing young players and promoting them to their first team or some other club’s. Too many young English players have found themselves warehoused and little played at Citeh and Chelski. Maybe Ismael is getting good advice.

    Similarly with young Donyell Malen from Ajax. I suspect that he has been well advised by our Dutch Connection, Dennis Bergkamp .

  6. rico says:

    That’s what I thought Drake…

    Kev, Costa’s is a hamstring, even the dwarf would be stupid to risk him this early in the season. Unless it’s 100% bs of course…

    I hope they both play, then beat them!

  7. Dublingunner says:

    morning, I wasn,t aware of Bennacer, Ivs heard something of Malen though, Jonker certainly earning his money.I do remember reading of his intentions when he came in, he said the club need to rip up their scouting structure and start afresh if they are to emulate Barcelona, that in itself was a brave statement, and thing to do, but benifit of the doubt, he seems to be doing something right.
    There does seem to be question mark over Benzema, whether he,s with the team or not, there was a photo uploaded, showing Benzema with the squad, that was followed shortly by a tweet that said the photo was 3 days old, and I don,t get this Llorente story that keeps popping up, we certainly wouldn,t be trying to do the 2 deals.

  8. rico says:

    Chelsea have granted permission for their goalkeeping coach, Christophe Lollichon, to join Petr Cech at Arsenal this summer.

    This is according to The Times, who understand that Lollichon is free to join the Gunners if the north London outfit follow up their initial interest.

  9. Canadian Gooner says:

    Rico – Whoops! My bad.

    We could send The Malevolent Dwarf an arithmetic primer and the name of a good accountant, but he has never had to worry about money. He only goes to clubs that can spend big and then he moves on to the next. I’d like to see him work with a strict budget.

  10. Hell Raising Devil says:

    Good Morning Lovelies and Hunkies.

    I have some bit of flash news for you.

    According to Dutch Sports newspapers, Goonie’s arse has been seen in the mirror. Whether that means that he is going to sign for AFC is open to anyone’s guess.

    The front page of the daily newspaper of the cabbie union has also splashed the news that Kev’s Cab has been seen outside Heathrow with the driver twiddling his thumbs impatiently. He refused a couple of customers telling them that he was waiting for a shaven headed CF to take to the Emirates and could not take them anywhere.

    Ah, bdw, good post Rico. I liked YOUR STATS about how much AW and Mourinho spent vis a vis each other. 😉

  11. eduardo says:

    I don’t believe Jonker was not allowed to sign his own players, Liam Brady has said many times that the signing of Academy players was down to him and his staff, and that Wenger only got involved if there was someone specific he had been informed about, that academy player signings was down to Brady, so why would it be any different with Jonker. Also Jonker stated last season that of course the players that signed for the Academy last summer were deals agreed by Brady and co, how else could it be done when there is a change over of management. You will find that all the Hele End lads signed to the Academy this summer were Brady players, even some of the foreign players singed up had been on Brady’s list, of course some of the signings from other clubs this summer are Jonkers alone. Wenger does not interfere with the choices the head of the Academy wants to make.

  12. eduardo says:

    to clarify when I said
    “You will find that all the Hele End lads signed to the Academy this summer were Brady players”
    I mean they were signed to Hale End by Brady.

  13. Dublingunner says:

    Campbells loan deal to Palermo seems to have stalled, although palermo are not giving up. seemly Wenger,s holding out for a more permanent deal as the player wants that too, but Palermo are more interested in the loan deal. should offer Flamini too, for free.

  14. tsgh says:

    Rico- my views on Benzema?

    Well, I like him as a player but I consider him 35 better than OG12; if you factor in that he plays for a better team then on paper he is not worth £40m or even £25m.

  15. Canadian Gooner says:

    Kev – You may well be right about Maureen at Porto. However, I think they were able to get to get a lot of young players out of Africa and South America, much like the teams in Spain, Premier League teams would have difficulty or be unable to get work permits for them. Hence, prolonged and repeated loan deals for the likes of young Campbell and Silva.

  16. scottfromoz says:

    Rico, there’s usually some instinct kicks in, rightly or wrongly, but here, I have absolutely nothing, so there is not the slightest piece of excitement.
    Time will tell, as always.

  17. allezkev says:

    Eduardo 11.47;

    I have no knowledge of the budget he had to work with in Portugal, and you are probably correct on the point you make…

    But he still won the UEFA Cup and the ECL with an unfashionable club…

    So credit to him for that.
    Even though I detest the man…

  18. tsgh says:

    Dev- Karim will definitely sell shirts.

    I have a suspicion AW is worried about how Karim will avoid the bright lights in London-town. 😉

    Rico- I think you are right. I haven’t wiki’d yet. 😛
    I think Alexandre is a bit more versatile…
    I am not sure Karim fancies uk though; Fergie was reportedly very keen before he left lyon for RM.

    Maybe it was all paper talk; its unlike the papers to report something not true. 😉

  19. tsgh says:

    Very interesting link Rico. It puts things in perspective.

    It is a big con. I think I need to detox from all this football. Most are mundane anyways. That is a lot of money for buy-to-let landlords i.e managers and footballers who already earn absurd amounts.

  20. rico says:

    It is a big con Ts and if fans are really only wanting to watch their own team and no other footie, the pub is the best and cheapest option…

  21. tsgh says:

    Indeed. Not big on pubs but at least it keeps someone employed if punters go in…

    its funny how ‘we’ moan about TV license fee but pay much more for channels we hardly watch…

  22. Canadian Gooner says:

    Ginge – “…Maybe it was all paper talk; its unlike the papers to report something not true.” LOL

    I have some shares in the Antarctic Pineapple Co. I’d like to sell you. Also, I could get you a good deal on the Golden Gate Bridge.

  23. Dublingunner says:

    I am not too excited by the possible Benzema deal, but like any fan, if it does happen, I suppose we,d all get behind him and wish him well.
    He,d still be only 4th choice for me, after Reus and Lewandoski, and I still rate Cavani highly, if played in his favoured central position, which he,s not at PSG,

  24. tsgh says:

    Re. Jose- no doubt he is an efficient manager but even his Porto success is a repetition of his success at Chelsea, Inter and then Chelsea.

    At Porto before Jose arrived Machada and before him Santos were finishing first in their leagues and had brought through youngsters who would go on to become house hold names.

    What Jose did was consolidated the team when Sporting and co. were in transition…

    At Chelsea, Ranieri had bought the Glen Johnson, Wayne Bridge, Frank Lampard, Damien Duff, Joe Cole, Geremi, Juan Veron ,Arjen Robben, Claude Makelele, Adrian Mutu, Hernan Crespo
    and Petr Cech.

    People forget Ranieri bought all the top players Jose relied on. Ranieri also made John Terry the captain.
    Compare Ranieri’s signings to Jose’s- Paulo Fereira, Ricardo Carvalho, Del Horno, Tiago, Michael Essien, Diarra,Shaun Wright-Phillips, Didier Drogba, Mateja Kezman and of course Cashley cole.
    Didier was not even instrumental for Chelsea in his first season…

    At Inter Mancini built that squad and even brought in Cesar the keeper who went on to help Jose win the UCL.

    Not forgetting Jose wasted money on shite signings and make inter almost bankrupt.

    Jose is a lucky man or a genius depending on how one may want to see it.

  25. Canadian Gooner says:

    Time for a month a quiet meditation and relaxation, with the occasional tall cold G&T and football game thrown in, as I ‘patiently’ await player transfer announcements on Arsenal.com. Anything more is pure masochism.

    Repeat after me – “Arsenal will sign who Arsene can/will sign; no more, no less”. Continue repeating as required until you no longer care or we actually sign some player(s) we can be satisfied with.

  26. tsgh says:

    Other Jose’s signings at Inter

    Diego Milito (undisclosed, Genoa), Thiago Motta (undisclosed, Genoa), Riccardo Meggiorini (undisclosed, Cittadella), Denis Alibec (undisclosed, Farul Constanţa), Kerlon (undisclosed, Chievo), Lúcio (undisclosed, Bayen Munich), Samuel Eto’o (undisclosed, Barcelona), Alexander Hleb (loan, Barcelona), Marko Arnautovic (loan, FC Twente), Wesley Sneijder (€15m, Real Madrid)

  27. Wavy says:

    The trouble with the TV article you’ve posted, it was too full of statistics!
    I have Sky and BT(largely free, although I pay for the HD upgrade) and am quite happy with the package, well nearly. On average I watch no more than 6 different channels per week! The reason is that, despite being offered about a thousand different programmes at any one time theRe is JUST NEVER ANYTHING WORTH WATCHING ON THE BLOODY TV!!

  28. Canadian Gooner says:

    Rico – Good day! Till next time.

    Rumour has it that Ca$h£e¥ ‘ole might be returning to the BPL. Seems he has worn out his welcome in Italy. Surely there is a team in the MLS who will give him a break.

  29. Wavy says:

    Soz Kev, it just makes me cross. BBC is far better value imo, thank god for auntie were it not for them there would be nothing to watch at all. There I said all of that without shouting!

  30. Rick says:

    Afternoon Rico and the House.H/T in Durban, and we lead Celtic 2-1.
    First goal Robinson from brilliant pass from Zelalem,
    2nd Goal great shot from Sheaf.
    Bad mistake fom Keto (G/K) for the Celtic goal.

  31. potter says:

    Football sold it’s soul to television and now we are all paying for it. We’ve come a long way from 2/6d and 3d for a cheese roll.

  32. allezkev says:

    Is it just me, but I’m not really that bothered about Pedro…

    Ahh, that’s better Wavy, now I can doze off again…

  33. Drake says:

    Muzzi ozcan hinted on tweeter that we are about to sign a rising star and it not someone we have been linked with and deleted it.this is because a board member(i think it ivan),warned him to stop hinting…me i think it kramer

  34. rico says:

    Evening guys…

    That’s the last we’ll see of Szczesny then….

    Kev, Jimmy was awesome today, mind you, so was Finn and Broad wasn’t bad either… 😉

    Great toss to lose….. lol

  35. tsgh says:

    Kramer is a better and younger version of the old khedira.

    not a proper cdm. but the mobile box to box player we need imho….

    At Mong’bach he and Xhaka form the pivot

  36. Wavy says:

    No,no,no. We have just signed a ‘rising star’ from Ajax called Malen. ‘Nuff said! That’s it till January I reckon.

  37. Drake says:

    Rico it cant be samper, 1st bid was 22m second was 36m.bay would be greedy if they dont sell one of their dms(they have bender,kramer and now aranguiz)

  38. Micko says:

    Nite rico.

    Looks like the digger has stalled.

    Come on tsgh, tell us what you really think of the Average French Bottler, you know you want to lol !

  39. allezkev says:

    Marco Reus is gonna join us for £48 million, give or take a few quid…

    Well, that’s rumours doing the rounds…

    Night All…

    p.s. where is Digger?

  40. tsgh says:

    Drake- Don’t forget Bayer 04 have Castro too.

    For a minute I was thinking I had mixed up Bayer 04 with M’gladbach; then remembered Kramer had been on loan from Bayer 04; the reason why our bid was not accepted in January.

    Micko- which bottler? 😛

  41. ScottfromOz says:

    Morning guys.
    I had a pretty hectic night the previous night, so was early to bed.
    Both sides need to be swabbed.
    Neither side is anywhere near as good as I thought.

  42. rico says:

    Micko, I still can’t believe a human being could do such a thing!! He deserves all that comes his way!!

    Morning all…

    Reus – oh yes please Arsene!

  43. allezkev says:

    Morning All…

    It’s a beautiful sunny day in London Town…

    And where Mick is, it’s probably raining…

  44. Adam says:

    Morning Rico and all.
    Apparently the killing of the Lion is just the thin end of the wedge. Countless people with money seem to have nothing better to do than pay fortunes to slaughter magnificent animals for their own gratification. Personally I would like to see them hunted. There are some sick people in this world.
    Plus Mourinho of course.

  45. Adam says:

    Kev. I would like to hold them up to a fire before de-bagging them and covering them in treacle. Not that I am, in any way perverse, you understand. It’s my public school upbringing.

  46. Lee says:

    Gather up the following cnuts ( Durham, Owen, Linneker, Savage, Maureenho, Pulis, Hughes, Keane just to start with….) release them into the Serengeti then hunt them with high powered rifles. How much would you pay for that?

  47. frednerk says:

    ..
    Looking at the recent pictures of Petr Cech laughing,
    joking and smiling,and then Fab once again announcing
    his love for The Arsenal.
    Is little Maureen’s arse making buttons.

  48. Lee says:

    Fred if we got Reus or a Benzema it definitely would be…. dont think Rafa would sell to the midget might do to us though???

  49. Lee says:

    My son bought some Nike Roshe trainers off a looky looky man last night (€20) when we got home he noticed that they had Puma written in side….. I thought it was hilarious however he didn’t!!! 😆

  50. Lee says:

    I’m getting you a pair of cerise Puma trainers with Nike on the inside, you’ll be the talk of Essex!

  51. Adam says:

    That’ll be great. I shall wear them when I attend the next Buckingham Palace garden party with Jeremy Corbyn and Russel Brand. 🙂

  52. tsgh says:

    😀 Lee.

    You can’t be doing quality control when you are meant to be on holiday. 😛

    Are levi’s jeans not made in the same South Asian factory they make Walmart and Asda own’s brain?

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