Morning all.
Konstantinos Mavropanos has gone out on loan for the rest of the season. Mustafi is strongly linked with a permanent exit to Galatasaray which if happens, leaves us with three central defenders. One of whom is struggling to get back to his best after returning from a long absence through injury. Risky to say the least with five months of the season left. Honestly, I can’t see things staying this way. A central defender has to be on his way to the club, even if it’s a loan.
Lo and behold, that’s exactly what’s being written in the back pages this morning and thanks goodness we’re not talking about Jerome Boateng although his name and Arsenal are still floating around in the same sentence. John Stones is the guy Mikel Arteta wants to bring to the club according to the headlines on Neswsnow. Tall, English and knows the Premier League like the back of his hand. Perfect, although he too has been struggling to find consistency in his game at Man City which together with injuries, explains why Pep Guardiola has only used him nine times this season.
Another exit story relates to Alexandre Lacazette. Atletico Madrid want him according to the Mirror and many other outlets and they’re prepared to give us Thomas Lemar as part of the deal. We’ve seen the Lemar links to Arsenal before so this could simply be lazy journalism. What other kind is there I hear to ask yourself.
Logic suggests that a defensive player or two has to be heading to the club because we can’t carry on until May as depleted as we are at the back. Whilst the financial rewards of a top four finish looks unlikely, it’s still achievable and then there’s Europa and the FA Cup which really aren’t out of our reach.
What might be out of reach though is buying Arsenal from Stan Kroenke which Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote hopes to do. Next year he intends to make his move according to reports in the Mirror and many other newspapers. Good luck to him.
Anyway, John Stones. If we do sign him on loan, what are your thoughts? What about the Lemar/Lacazette rumour, would you like to see it happen?
See you in the comments guys…
I would be very happy with John Stones ( I have heard it is to be a loan deal with an option to buy) which would be great
I have also heard that Lemar is going to Wolves
I don’t really want to lose Lacazette, I know he is not scoring , but all strikers go through a bad patch. I am sure Arteta will help him
But a CB is our top priority I think
If we get Stones, Arteta must believe he can improve him. Maybe it’s just a case of his confidence has gone.
Hi Rico and all As for John stone as I said yesterday post we have trust Arteta on this one as he would have inside information about Stones fitness and confidents as for Lacazette v’s Lemar I would keep Lacazette bit worried about Lemar as he seems to be changing clubs a lot ( if I am thinking about the same player )
I’d grab Lemar!!
We could be a home for the lad!!
Frenchs guys have usually been very comfortable at Arsenal.
Morning all.
Hi Geoff.
Scott, I’d rather a South American.. 😝
Thanks for the post Rico.
Dangote is the richest man in Africa with about £10b in assets etc, but if you’re trying to buy a football club from another billionaire do you really shout about it from the rooftops?
It’s a nice PR ploy and keeps you in the headlines and popular among the thousands of Arsenal fans in Nigeria, but KSE won’t sell.
John Stones was the future of English defending, cultured, intelligent, technically proficient, an England international and its future captain, but not anymore.
I like him and of course Arteta knows him so that’s a plus, also he’s not Jerome Boateng, which is great and even if it’s only for half a season it’s seems a sensible move for all concerned.
Good move for Mavropanos, although it wouldn’t surprise me if we don’t sell him in the summer.
I’m sure that many on here can remember the last centre – half Arsenal signed from Man City, we all thought at the time (well I did) that his arrival would solve that problem position for the next 10 years. Yes I had great hopes for Tommy Caton but he never quite came up to our expectations and it took our Youth team to finally solve the centre- back issue when Adams and Keown came through together.
We have a couple of promising youngsters in our Academy now in Daniel Ballard, Harry Clarke and Mark McGuiness, maybe one or two of them will make the grade?
I agree Kev, The guy has no chance. Kroenke is here to stay imo.
Tommy who Kev? I’m far too young 😂
It wasn’t that long ago Rico… 😉
We don’t need any more divers, Rico 😉
Stones is an interesting one.
Loan with the option to buy would be a very good deal, I reckon.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Caton
Interesting to see that the Bundesliga are the biggest spenders among the top five leagues, with Serie A coming in second. The EPL is a few thousand in front of La Liga with most transfers these days being loans.
Afternoon Rico/everyone,
Stones would be a great signing, still young but loads of experience.We have Saliba to come but he’s only 18,I still have high hopes for Rob Holding,but Stones is ready made,a great move for both parties.
I remember Tommy Caton,Kev,as a youngster looked so promising,never really worked out at Arsenal.Within a few years he was dead, absolutely tragic, he was only about 30.
I’ve been away for a few days,only heard about the palace game on TV news, and a few minutes on radio, anyway I’d recorded the game on TV,I watched the whole thing last night,we were very good at times, palace were woeful.Their goal was a fluke,we needed to score the second goal when we were on top,but to listen to the media you would think palace were the better team,and Arsenal were lucky to get a point.
Unbelievable bias in the reporting.
I still don’t remember him Kev. Lol
I expected that reply Scott. Lol
Very quiet transfer window in the PL but I guess that’ll change towards the end as clubs think they can get cheaper deals.
Afternoon Limey. Spot on the the Palace game. Just because Sokratis cleared one off the line, the media thought they should have won. What a joke…
Stones has some ability, but his lack of concentration and indiscipline is unbelievable. He makes so many mistakes and he’s no different from Mustafi.
Lacazette for Lemar, no way I will do that, eventhough Lacazette is struggling at the moment, he’s a complete football player, Lemar is not and cannot play when you bully/ get physical with him.
Afternoon everyone, thanks Rico.
I don’t think getting Stones would be a bad move at all. He has made mistakes but so has Rob Holding and we don’t want to lose him. Arteta has done pretty well so far, so I’m more than willing to trust his judgement . That said I’m pretty sure City won’t let Stones leave.
Lacazette can really mix it when he wants to, and while we get no protection from the Refs ,he has stayed on his feet lately and battled really well. I wouldn’t want to swap him, especially for a softer player like Lemar.
What a ghastly day, I nearly got blown over by some chap called Brendan….
Seems City won’t let Stones leave and we’re trying to get Auba’s 3 match ban reduced..
Anything can happen in the next half hour!
Breezy in London Kev? Lol
Lucky I don’t wear a kilt Rico 🙂
😂 Kev.
Quiet times. Catch up another day..
This day 2006 .
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10153620739062713
how things have changed .
Starting lineup:
Goalkeeper Jens Lehmann
Defender/Centre back Pascal Cygan
Defender/Centre back Johann Djourou
Defender/Centre back Philippe Senderos
Defender/Midfielder Lauren
Midfielder Cesc Fàbregas
Midfielder Gilberto Silva
Midfielder Freddie Ljungberg
Midfielder Robert Pires
Forward Thierry Henry
Forward José Antonio Reyes
Substitutions:
Ashley Cole for Pascal Cygan 34
Mathieu Flamini for Robert Pires 69
Aleksandr Hleb for Gilberto Silva 69
Cards:
Lauren 79 Y
Cards:
Doriva 59 Y
Doriva 73 Y
Doriva 73 R
Lee Cattermole 90 Y
If the Manchester Evening News is to be believed John Stones will not be leaving in January. Not on loan nor on a permanent basis.
Stones apparently travelled to London to meet with his agent to discuss his lack of game time and how that is affecting his chances of playing for England in the summer. Arteta, who has the same agent, and Stones had a good relationship at Man City but the club are determined to hang on to him at least until the summer.
Just watched that Potter, what a good header of the ball Senderos was. Shame he was around when Drogba was…
New post up now