Morning all.
Thank goodness the Mesut Ozil saga is over and Arsenal can move on. Hopefully now the continued questioning about his future will end and Mikel Arteta will have different questions to answer in his press conferences, like ‘what on earth possessed you to sign Willian on a three year deal?” I jest of course, although he’s not turned out to be the best bit of transfer business the club has ever done but unless we can offload him, we’re stuck with him, just like we’d been stuck with Ozil for so long. Thankfully though, he’s not on £350k a week.
Mikel Arteta said: “Mesut’s achievements at Arsenal are undisputed. It was a privilege to play alongside him and, more recently, coach him. His creativity and vision led to many goals during his time in the Arsenal shirt.
“Mesut was at the heart of many great moments for this club over the years, including those three FA Cup final wins. These successes will always be part of our history. We thank Mesut and wish him all the best with Fenerbahce.
Mesut Ozil said: “I’d like to thank the club for this amazing journey over the past seven-and-a-half years. The support I have felt from the team and fans during my time here has been truly incredible and something I will always be grateful for. Together we won trophies for the first time in years and created memories that will last a lifetime.
“The Arsenal fans will forever remain in my heart. I’d like to thank Edu Gaspar for helping bring about a professional and dignified solution in the past few days, and I wish everyone at the club the best in their attempt to continue to bring Arsenal back to the top, where we belong.”
He probably wanted to thank Mikel Arteta too, however… lol
Good luck Mesut.
As he leaves, it appears the loan deal for Martin Ødegaard has been agreed. Sky Sports and The Athletic reported yesterday afternoon that the player was expected to arrive in London later that evening and his medical will take place today. It’s a loan but according to reports, there might be an opportunity to sign him permanently in the summer if all parties agree.
If that means we get to see less of William then I’m all for it. ESR and Saka shouldn’t be concerned because both are too good to be cast aside.
With the two of them plus Ceballos and Ødegaard, our creativity should be pretty darn good. If Edu and his side kicks can get a deal done for a left back, I think this will have been one of the clubs better winter transfer windows. At Christmas, who’d have thought the Ozil saga would have been resolved? Yet it has, plus we have a very good backup goalkeeper to Leno and the wages of both Sokratis and Kolasinac are off the books too.
According to French newspaper L’Equipe, Paris Saint-Germain are interested in signing Matteo Guendouzi. The report suggests they are willing to pay cash as well as sending Julian Draxler our way to get the young Frenchman. It’s been a while since Draxler’s name has appeared in the same sentence as Arsenal but maybe this time, he’ll end up an Arsenal player. Who knows? Personally, I doubt it.
See you in the comments.
Morning Rico, I had to go via New Now again to access the new post, off to read it now.
And me via the E-Mail link.
I too doubt the Draxler story although looking at his profile last night he is still only 27 , it just seems that we have been linked with him so many times that he should be drawing his pension by now..Odegaard is only a loan , but we do want to get shot of Guendouzi so it would be typical that having started the season with one number 10 in exile , we end up in January with three.
You know what they say about Arsenal and busses .
And the plot thickens , apparently Guendouzi was arguing with another player at Hertha Berlin and now they have sacked their manager . Who knows what his future holds ?
Answers on a postcard please to Horace Batchelor , Keynsham , K.E.Y.N.S.H.A.M .Somerset.
Nice one, Rico. I’ll be back later – pushed for time.. just one thing left to say… bye bye fat Frankie 😝
Let us not be too smug over Lampard’s sacking, our man has even less managerial experience. Maybe a more tolerant owner than the Russian exile though.
Rico, you might jest about the ‘Willian question’ but make no mistake it’ll soon be on the media agenda and they do love an Arsenal agenda and we have unfortunately been very good at feeding their agenda with some poor recruitment decisions in recent years…
I read somewhere that we’ve released some £160m of talent for no return in recent season although I’d like to know the breakdown of the 160 and how far back it goes?
Good afternoon everyone.
A positive and refreshing one to read Rico. Nice one.
I read on various sites, and up here as well, that PSG are offering Draxler+money for Guendouzi. But is Draxler coming on loan or outright purchase?? No one has pointed that out.
Am I excited or not??? like the Odegaard situation its yes and no. Simply because he is 27 years already, if he was good enough he would be in the PSG team, he is a non-UK resident, is on good wages and will expect to play all the time. Would he be happy to play second fiddle to ESR, Saka and Martinelli?? And as Potter rightly pointed out……we have been linked with him so many times that he should be drawing his pension by now. if we get him it will be 4 years late imo.
I also read somewhere that we might be interested in Tyrick Mitchell of CP. Now while I think that it might be just agent talk to get their client a better contract, that is a signing that I would approve. He is English and post Brexit that holds sway. Plus he is still young and can alternate and challenge Tierney. It would make that side of Arsenal stronger plus the couple of times I have seen him play he has that hunger not to be beaten. a real fighter.
Draxler, hmm, I reckon that that train left the station years ago, surely PSG can afford a straight cash deal for Guendouzi?
Reflecting back on the FACup at St Mary’s it’s notable that I’ve not read or heard a single Gooner remark that signing Ryan Bertrand would be a good deal – I too thought that he looked bang average and at 31 we really don’t need his type, I’d rather we got someone from the Championship whose around 22/24 as cover for our best player Mr Tesco…
Totally agree Cicero, I posted as much on here but it disappeared.
Afternoon all
Any opportunity to break free from Ghendouzy, should be well studied and if possible applied. It creates problems everywhere.
Draxler was a good player but he stopped playing regularly. Unlearned? Did he stop enjoying playing?
When we were first linked with Draxler he was a young, up and coming prospect. I thought he would turn into a first rate player and was sorry we didn’t sign him. However, he hasn’t lived up to expectations and I guess it’s a bit late in the day to believe that he will finally make the grade.
Money plus cash for Guendouzi? Depends how much cash they’re offering!
Hi Rico and all With out knowing the full story on what happened between Guendouzi and his team mate make it hard to say too much but it appears he has not learned much since is loan so I would tell PSG if it’s true cash only and you have a deal I don’t think Draxler will have much to offer us
Afternoon to you all. I’ve no idea what’s gone wrong re the posts etc, there’s also a problem with photos I try and include.
I wonder how long Tuchel will last…
Can’t see Draxler signing, if PSG want Guendouzi then let them pay for him.
Shkodran Mustafi is in talks with Arsenal to terminate his contract early (similar agreement to Ozil & Sokratis).
28-year-old defender hasn’t played since Boxing Day and his reps are trying to secure a January move for him (Chris Wheatley)
Mustafi is 28 so I’m not sure I’d give him a free, not unless there isn’t a place for him to be registered in our 25.
Kev, Ryan Bertrand has Premiership experience, he’s an established international left back, okay he’s thirty-one but would certainly be a decent stop gap back -up for Tierney until one of our youngsters is ready to step up. Six month loan? Might be worth a punt.
Liverpool have made contact with former Arsenal defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos, according to the Athletic.
Sokratis’ contract was terminated by Arsenal last week, but the Reds could swoop for the centre-back to help solve their defensive crisis.
Afternoon Rico/everyone
Blimey Draxler, that old chestnut. He’s the new Kalou or Benezma.
I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised at Chelsea, Arteta would have been sacked if he was there, my Chelsea supporting friend tells me since the Russian took over they have the most trophies in English football though.
I hear Odegaard might play on Saturday.
Ah, ok Cicero, a loan I guess is fine, I thought that Southampton wanted to sell him because I wouldn’t pay a fee for him or give him a contract, we’ve done that enough times already…
I guess that the Bertrand situation is similar to Sokratis and maybe Mustafi, in that Liverpool could pick up a player we might have expected a fee for, but now we’ve released him Liverpool can get for nothing. Of course it depends on what Liverpool offer, because I doubt that Sokratis will sign on at Anfield for just 6 months, especially if he can get 3 years in Greece or Turkey or even Italy.
That’s why I’m not sure about releasing Mustafi, because whatever we all might think about him he’s still worth £25m at least and we shouldn’t be doing anyone any favours at this time.
So therefore I return to Bertrand, would he agree to join Arsenal on loan unless there was some understanding that we were going to offer him a Soares type deal in the summer?
No news about Odegaard on the Arsenal website and no sign of Aubameyang in the training photos.
Kev the window closes on Sunday, not much time to find a left back. I suppose AMN could fill in when needed but I would prefer a dedicated defender rather than a Jack-of-all-trades.
A lovely moment in the Sri Lanka/ England test. Bairstow top edged a sweep to leg, the ball went high and dropped over the boundary for a six. But the ball then had to be changed as it had fallen into a bucket of whiewash. 😎
Martin Odegaard has spent the day at London Colney meeting his new team-mates, undergoing all the necessary medical checks and going through all the usual club media duties ahead of his move from Real Madrid. Told announcement is more likely to come tomorrow rather than today (Charles Watts)
That’s a bummer about Auba missing training..
Hi all, what happened with the erickson & xhaka swap deal, I was rooting for that to go thru 🙄🙄
Finally, I can log in again. I must pay my internet bill. Lol
Perhaps Balogun might get on the bench at least if Auba is out. Or Martinelli to start. As long as it’s not Willian eh…
Mustafi jumping ship too eh Sue, perhaps the Dippers would like to sign him. They’re desperate for a defender.
There’s total silence on the Aubameyang situation. Could be he is in the process of moving on.
Balogun played the whole ninety minutes the other evening. Even though he scored a hat-trick, the bench tomorrow is the likeliest option. I just hope we get him signed up to a long contract.
Friday for Balogun, three days rest should be enough for him I’d have thought. If playing tomorrow means he’ll sign his contract, it’d be worth it imo.
Arteta said Aubameyang travelled home from Southampton on Saturday for family reasons.
Blimey yeah Cicero, that’s come around quick…
Arsenal have done some good business up till now, I guess if we can sell Torrieira to Monaco or loan him for now with an obligation to buy in the summer, that’ll be handy.
Guendouzi to PSG might have to wait until the summer if the French insist on making Draxler part of the deal, we don’t want him do we?
A left back would be nice Cicero, I’ve heard that the Derby County left back, name escapes me, is quite good and they probably need to sell. Otherwise AMN as you say Cicero…
Has anyone noticed that Arsenal are being linked with the son of Kevin Campbell, Tyreece is his name I think, he plays for our old muckers Stoke City and has done pretty well this season, so I’ve read, could be contingency for losing Balogun and selling Nketiah next summer?
Other than all that nonsense I suppose Nelson going loan will help him and even Willock if Arteta thinks we can manage, they both really need some games.
Evening Rico and the House
Buy Bertrand no thank you.
If we want a make shift Left back why not Mari.
We have 5 c/bs and Mari has the best left foot of them all
he has shown he can defend so why give him a go there
Rico the highlights of the U23and u18 on the mainweb site.
Take a look and cheer yourselfe up.
Some great goals, love the one by Hutchinson (no7) for
the U18s I have been waiting to see him in action for some time.
Should be why not give him
Evening Rick, I will, thank you.
What’s happening with Bola Rick, any idea?
New post up now
Oh no it’s not.
Even e-mail link is slow today. I am now getting a little cross in a circle which I have to close before I post , not to mention agreeing to terms and conditions everytime I touch my mouse.
Got through eventually ,
From Ornstien , worrying . “I saw there was a lot of this going around yesterday and he was listed as injured on the Real Madrid website and training inside in recent days,” he said.
“But when I checked I was told that there was nothing significant to worry about and that Arsenal were very comfortable.
Have we done it again got a patched up player for 30 minutes and it re occurs.