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…

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Brian Price
Brian Price
10 years ago

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

allezkev
allezkev
10 years ago

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

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

allezkev
allezkev
10 years ago

Ginge, do you reckon that Benzema to Arsenal is a conspiracy???

Drake
Drake
10 years ago

Morning all reus is in london lol

allezkev
allezkev
10 years ago

That was a very very very very good post Rico 😉

allezkev
allezkev
10 years ago

Uncle Bob has been seen in Hermon Hill…

Drake
Drake
10 years ago

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

tsgh
tsgh
10 years ago

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.

Drake
Drake
10 years ago

Yes rico,but last season jonkers problem was wenger,he was mad that he was not given a right to sign his own players

Drake
Drake
10 years ago

Ts i think so too that they dont want to move,it is the reason why real have not made a big signing,for rico i we sign reus

Drake
Drake
10 years ago

Hope

Drake
Drake
10 years ago

Rico the moron said if it a broken nose for cahill he will wear a mask on sunday,and i worry for our cf lol

allezkev
allezkev
10 years ago

Rico, you know what the Chavs are like, both Cahill and Costa will play.,,

Canadian Gooner
Canadian Gooner
10 years ago

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 .

Canadian Gooner
Canadian Gooner
10 years ago

Marc Overmars is Director of Football at Ajax and may also have been some help to us.

Dublingunner
Dublingunner
10 years ago

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.

Canadian Gooner
Canadian Gooner
10 years ago

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.

allezkev
allezkev
10 years ago

Blimey, Mourinho will apoplectic over that news….

Good job too… 🙂

allezkev
allezkev
10 years ago

Tbh CG, I think he worked on a budget at Porto…

Hell Raising Devil
Hell Raising Devil
10 years ago

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. 😉

eduardo
eduardo
10 years ago

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.

eduardo
eduardo
10 years ago

allezkev didn’t porto have the biggest budget in Portugal when he was there.

eduardo
eduardo
10 years ago

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.

scottfromoz
scottfromoz
10 years ago

Morning guys.
Nice post, Rico…
Benzema….I have no opinion on whether or not we might get him, so I’ll sit back and watch it unravel.

eduardo
eduardo
10 years ago

does not bode well for Rosicky when Wenger did not include him in his injury update list.

Dublingunner
Dublingunner
10 years ago

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.

tsgh
tsgh
10 years ago

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.

Dublingunner
Dublingunner
10 years ago

Berbatov back in the premier league, Villa.

Hell Raising Devil
Hell Raising Devil
10 years ago

Exactly Ginge.

i do not feel that Benzema is worth 40mill+ either.

But then AFC hierarchy know that they will recoup the money through shirt sales.

Canadian Gooner
Canadian Gooner
10 years ago

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.

scottfromoz
scottfromoz
10 years ago

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.

allezkev
allezkev
10 years ago

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…

tsgh
tsgh
10 years ago

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. 😉

tsgh
tsgh
10 years ago

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.

tsgh
tsgh
10 years ago

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…

Canadian Gooner
Canadian Gooner
10 years ago

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.

Dublingunner
Dublingunner
10 years ago

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,

tsgh
tsgh
10 years ago

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.

Canadian Gooner
Canadian Gooner
10 years ago

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.

tsgh
tsgh
10 years ago

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)

tsgh
tsgh
10 years ago

Lol Cg

Wavy
Wavy
10 years ago

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!!

Canadian Gooner
Canadian Gooner
10 years ago

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.

allezkev
allezkev
10 years ago

Stop shouting Wavy… 😀

Wavy
Wavy
10 years ago

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!

Rick
Rick
10 years ago

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.

potter
potter
10 years ago

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.

tsgh
tsgh
10 years ago

Pedro to United hotting up.

Night Cg

allezkev
allezkev
10 years ago

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

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

allezkev
allezkev
10 years ago

Australia, 136 all out….

Where’s that Digger?

Rick
Rick
10 years ago

Kev What a turnaround .Lords 566-8 Anderson 0 for137 in the match.
Today Anderson 6 for 47

Rick
Rick
10 years ago

Eduardo have you seen the first 3 Goals. Really good.

Hell Raising Devil
Hell Raising Devil
10 years ago
Drake
Drake
10 years ago

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

tsgh
tsgh
10 years ago

Kramer will be a super signing

Long over due after last summer and January substandard offers.

Malaga gooner
Malaga gooner
10 years ago

Evening rico, ginge and all
Nice post
Is this kramer any good

tsgh
tsgh
10 years ago

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

Wavy
Wavy
10 years ago

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

tsgh
tsgh
10 years ago

lol Wavy

Lee
Lee
10 years ago

Bender v Bender or Kramer v Kramer? 😆

Lee
Lee
10 years ago

Jose is a tool…. this thing with Rafa’s wife, what a penis the man is?!?!

Malaga gooner
Malaga gooner
10 years ago

Express reporting we have made a 48mill bid for marco reus
Hope this is true

Drake
Drake
10 years ago

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)

Micko
Micko
10 years ago

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 !

Micko
Micko
10 years ago

Lee 6.04, apparently his penis is so small he pishes on his balls !

Micko
Micko
10 years ago

Rest in Peace Cecil.

Micko
Micko
10 years ago

Run free ole boy !

Micko
Micko
10 years ago

Nite Gooners, keep it real !

allezkev
allezkev
10 years ago

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?

tsgh
tsgh
10 years ago

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? 😛

ScottfromOz
ScottfromOz
10 years ago

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.

allezkev
allezkev
10 years ago

Morning Rico

allezkev
allezkev
10 years ago

Morning All…

It’s a beautiful sunny day in London Town…

And where Mick is, it’s probably raining…

tsgh
tsgh
10 years ago

Morning Rico, Kev and all…

Adam
Adam
10 years ago

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.

allezkev
allezkev
10 years ago

Morning Ginge…

Adam, they deserve a good thrashing…

Adam
Adam
10 years ago

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.

tsgh
tsgh
10 years ago

It makes you wonder if those mounted deer head ‘trophies’ you find in certain homes are real or from amazon?

Adam
Adam
10 years ago

Rico. Does it involve their unmentionables?

Lee
Lee
10 years ago

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?

frednerk
frednerk
10 years ago

..
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.

Lee
Lee
10 years ago

Bit overcast on the Iberian peninsular this morning but still very warm….

Adam
Adam
10 years ago

Brudder. You forgot John Terry 🙂
And quite a few others. But a good start nevertheless.

Lee
Lee
10 years ago

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???

Lee
Lee
10 years ago

Brudder the list is a gift that keeps on giving….. endless in fact!

Adam
Adam
10 years ago

The press are lapping up the spat between Mourinho and Rafa’s wife. What a pathetic little man he is.

Lee
Lee
10 years ago

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!!! 😆

Adam
Adam
10 years ago

Having taken a few kicks from you Rico I shudder to think of what you are capable of. 🙂

Adam
Adam
10 years ago

Brudder. Are they a new hybrid type of trainer?

Lee
Lee
10 years ago

That’s too kind Brudder…..

Lee
Lee
10 years ago

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

Adam
Adam
10 years ago

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

Lee
Lee
10 years ago

Brudder are we done in the transfer market or do you suspect a surprise?

Adam
Adam
10 years ago

A surprise, if it can be done, for sure.

tsgh
tsgh
10 years ago

😀 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?