Morning all.
Mazeed Ogungbo, Charlie Patino, Joel Lopez, Alex Kirk and Taylor Foran are in Dubai with the rest of the first team squad so one can only assume that they are the ones Mikel Arteta will turn to if injuries or suspensions leave the squad short during the remainder of the season. Just 17 fixtures are left for Arsenal to play in four months. 51 points on offer.
Who are the other younger players in Dubai?
Taylor Foran, Alex Kirk and Mazeed Ogungbo – central defenders.
Joel Lopez – left back/left wing back
Charlie Patino – I know, you know!
Taylor Foran is yet to sign a professional contract with Arsenal and his scholarship deal expires in the summer, so his future is up in the air right now.
Let’s be honest, none of the younger players who’ve travelled to Dubai are going to feature for Arsenal during the second half of this season. Patino has the best chance but even his chance is slim in my opinion.
As things stand in the striker department, Mika Biereth and Nikolaj Möller are the two options Arteta has if Alex Lacazette or Eddie Nketiah are unavailable. Not ideal I know but if that’s how things are at midnight tomorrow then the club only have themselves to blame.
Alternatively, Mikel Arteta has the option of juggling things around on the pitch with either Gabriel Martinelli or Pepe playing centrally.
If Sky Sports are to be believed, Arsenal have turned down two offers for Eddie Nketiah. On one hand I admire them for pushing for more money for the player, if that’s what they’re doing, but on the other hand, It could mean he walks away for nothing in a few months time. Even if he stays for the final four months of the season, it’s a risk to think he’s going to start scoring goals in a team managed by a man who clearly doesn’t believe in him. That’s not a criticism of Arteta by the way, it’s just obvious. There’s a difference between starting matches in the League Cup and the Premier League. It’s an even bigger risk to expect Biereth or Nikolaj Möller to hit the ground running in the Premier League if injuries hit us badly. Or Covid-19 of course.
Victor Osimhen is the latest striker to be linked with a move to Arsenal. He’s 23 years old, plays for Napoli and Nigeria and stands 6’ 1” tall. I don’t watch Italian football so know nothing about him so I had to do a quick search on the Internet where there’s a lot of YouTube clips but I thought I’d spare you from one of them.
It’s all gone a bit quiet on the midfield signing we are or aren’t going to make. To be honest, I’m pretty bored with it all and I’ll be glad when the transfer window closes.
See you in the comments.
If he does, I can’t see us getting top 4. Europa at best imo.
Morning all
New post up now
I seriously think Arteta thinks we’ve got enough to finish in the top 4, how very Arsenal to make such a huge gamble…. i really hope it pays off.
Kev not long to go now, then you can change Bored into happy or pi- -Ed off with the transfer season
I am bored, bored to death with the transfer window, bored to death with all the bollocks on BullshitNews Now, bored to death with hearing about Newcastle – I now hope they go down, bored to death with hearing the usual old crap from Fabrizio Romano, bored to death with all the same old shit that is put out to wind everyone up and bored to death with all those Arsenal fans on Twitter and Facebook et al that suck it all up and Tweet stupid comments afterwards…
Roll on Tuesday…
Think we are still contributing towards a part of Auba’s salary as Barca are very much on the edge
And then we got Mikki Sue….
I loved Santi too. And Rosicky.
Apparently Dembele has agreed terms with PSG thus opening the way for Aubameyang to join Barca. So that out to be £350k a week off our wage bill.
Good night all.
It was sickening, Rico – that leaked photo of him on OT pitch and then his announcement [the piano]…
Morata.. ???
Santi was an amazing player and an amazing person. Sorely missed imo.
Can you imagine how these young players would be if Santi was still around and playing
Valid point. Unfortunately.
Not only those two imo.
No…
Mesut was a maestro with insane technical abilities. But Alexis could decide games on his own. He was unstoppable while Özil needed heavy contributions from his teammates to shine.
However the common theme is that it was a shame how both of them ended their Arsenal career…
Transfer Market valuations are imo, irrelevant these days. Selling clubs hold all the cards when another club wants a player, especially a wealthy club.
Not Mesut Ozil then?
Meanwhile Newcastle did sign Bruno Guimaraes for €42M – almost 50% higher than his TransferMarkt value.
I’m quite sure he did (or will soon) say on a press conference, that he always fancied Newcastle, and happy for becoming part of their exciting adventure.
One more vote for Sanchez being our best and only player since the Bergkamp-Henry era that belonged to the very elite.
Fabregas and van Persie were also great players, but Sanchez on his good days were the 3rd best of the world.
Would he have retired after playing 10 years for Arsenal I wouldn’t have minded a statue…
He didn’t Wavy. I think he hated it there.
Didn’t do a deal there though, did he?
Evening all
I hated that deal Sue, best player we’d signed for ages and he went to that lot.
Yes I guess so. At least I’m not sobbing like I was when Sanchez left for the Mancs 🤣
Seems that way Sue. Probably best for all concerned really.
Haven’t seen anything official, Rico.. only a matter of time
Has he gone Sue?
163 games; 92 goals; 20 assists.. I’m not crying because it’s over, I’m smiling because it happened! Thank you, Auba! Good luck at Barca..
He should have been vaccinated Cicero. I wouldn’t bet against the French saying no to him too.
An amazing comeback from two sets down to win in five Rico. Djokovic must be kicking himself for getting deported, he would have been favourite for the title.
Awful if true. Can’t believe she used social media though.
Mason Greenwood is finished if the stuff on social media is true.
I doubt it Jm. Lol
That’ll be the second young striker to leave Fulham. We signed one back in the summer, Bierith.
Is anyone from Liverpool here reading what I post?
Milan very interested in Isak.
It’s shaping up to be a busy couple of days for Liverpool, who are “interested in signing attacking midfielder Fabio Carvalho from Fulham”, according to Sky Sports.
The 19-year-old, who has seven goals in 16 Championship appearances this season, only has six months left on his contract and was named the EFL’s Young Player of the Month last August.
I switched over too Cicero, watched Rafa. He’s an incredible athlete.
This constant passing left to right, forward then back is so so boring. So far removed from how we used to play.
My coverage dropped out just after halftime Rico, just as well really as I was getting more and more frustrated by the slow build ups and constant passing with very little penetration. In fact it was very like watching the men play Burnley. 😒
Thanks Jm.
Barca in advanced talks over Aubameyang loan
Barcelona in advanced talks with Arsenal over the loan signing of striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
The deal is not done, but there is increased confidence it can be struck before the deadline.
The deal would be a straight loan until the end of the season and discussions are ongoing over the percentage of wages Barcelona will pay
https://www.dn.pt/desporto/luis-diaz-transfere-se-do-fc-porto-para-o-liverpool-14541202.html
Will shine in English football…
Bentancour is from Uruguay, plays for the national team, has presence on the pitch and is a good reinforcement. Don’t forget that Lo Celso left Totts.
Other than the saves Cicero. Is it me or does the pitch look like it needs a cut. Or a heavy roller.
To be fair Rico, the Lionesses’ keeper has made some great saves.
Cicero, I looked them up. LCL broke away from Millwall in 2019 so are an independent club. A piece of useless information for you.
Berg you are right it was Kelechi. But Osimhen did have a trial at Arsenal. He and Kelechi were there the same day.
Totts have agreed a deal for Bentancur, is he any good?
The women’s finishing is nearly as bad as the men. Lol
That’s him Berg.
Afternoon Sue, midfield. At least that’s where I was meant to be. 😆
Me too, Sky Sports and the F5 on NN.
1-0 Arsenal.
Good afternoon, Rico.. Arsenal women or the darts on ITV4… spoilt for choice 🙂
You used to play football? Which position?
All that hoo-ha over Isak yesterday; the car, the numberplate, London sighting, Edu raising a glass.. even Arsenal twitter changing their picture to something which resembles the Real Sociedad shirt (really 🤣). We’re desperate and will cling to any little thing!! Like you, I’ll be glad when it’s all over – won’t stop me having Sky sports news on all day long tomorrow though hahaha!!
Kelechi Nwakali.
Obi
It wasn’t Osimhen, and we didn’t sign Chuckwueze although he was one of the two. The other one who we did sign name escapes me (i think it began with a N)
The more things change, the more they stay the same…even Barcelona are signing players but Arsenal can’t?
If people would remember, Victor Osimhen was almost signed by Arsene Wenger after Nigeria won U 17 cup. He and Samuel Chukwueze were offered to Arsenal. Arsenal signed Chukwueze loaned him out and he never played for Arsenal. AW balked at signing Osimhen because of some funny business with his agent.
Ha ha Cicero. My guess is it’s Millwall too, they’ve changed their name since the good old days when I played against them..
I know little about the London City Lionesses Rico, I assume they Millwall. Could be a hard game if they are anything like The Crazy Gang. 😉
Hope the women do better than the men in the FA Cup. Pff!
I’m hoping those days are a thing of the past Pbarany.
Morning Cicero. Seems that way to me too. I’ll be sad to see Eddie go too, but certainly not Aubameyang.
Liverpool and Totts have made moves now, maybe it’ll catch on at Arsenal.
BBC red button today kick off 12.30 Arsenal Women vs London City Lionesses, Women’s FA Cup fourth round tie.
Good morning Rico and all.
With less than 24 hours to go every passing minute leads me to suspect that we won’t be making any significant signings until the summer.
However, there are clear signs that we will see yet more departures, Aubameyang to Barcelona and Nketiah to Aston Villa, Crystal Palace or much more likely Newcastle.
In a way I’ll be sorry to see Eddie go as initially I thought he had a bright future at the club, young, enthusiastic and willing to learn, but I don’t think he’s reached the standard Arsenal need.
Aubameyang, on the other hand, won’t be missed at least by me. From the moment he was presented with that new contract on the ludicrous salary of three hundred and fifty thousand per week he has done no more than coast through games, snatching the odd tap in and contributing little or nothing to the team. I may have doubts about Arteta but in his handling of Aubameyang this season I have nothing but praise.
Agreed, Adam and Rico.
Let’s wait until the window is closed, but I hope that we will not backslide to panic buying
Then moan Geoff. Lol
Seriously though, I don’t know how the club can get what or who we need in 36 hours. Then I’m expecting more of the same up and down results/performances for the rest of the season.
Rico I’m with you let’s wait until the market is closed, then comment on how good or bad it was for us.
Well said Adam.
The transfer window, courtesy of the ever-growing Arsenal blogocast sphere of general ITKs and masters of the bleeding obvious, has become something of a bore.
Everybody and his dog know what Arsenal need, if only because they’ve needed it for about a decade. Personally, my hopes are slim but that’s because of our ever-declining status in the face of the clubs owned by murderers and ghastly characters straight out of central casting for the next pile of Bond trash.
My fingers are crossed but my heart is broken.
They’re only rumours though so I wouldn’t get too concerned about who is joining. I’m going to wait until the end of tomorrow before passing judgement. Especially as sometimes it just takes a move of clubs to change a players fortune, as it did with some of the invincible players Wenger signed.
Ha ha Potter, I did usually funny enough. Perhaps that was the problem, I didn’t get to hold the chalk enough. Lol
I might be a fan that is hard to please, but I’m not delighted by the Osimeh rumor either.
He is not a bad player at all, not worse than Neal Maupay, Edson Edouard, Teemu Pukki, Calum Wilson, Danny Ings or Richarlison (who scored about the same 4-7 goals as Victor scored in the Seria A, however he had a long injury spell to be fair), but we wouldn’t want them in an Arsenal jersey either. And he would be crazy expensive – on par with Vlahovic – as he was signed by SSC Napoli for 75M and contracted to the club for 3,5 more years.
He played in the German, Belgian and French league before his big money move to Italy. His return was decent – reaching double digits every season – not nothing spectacular. I don’t see him an improvement over Lacazette, thus not being keen on breaking the record for him.
I was wrong in the past for being suspicious or even negative about an incoming transfer (Ramsdale, Sokratis), but more often right (Perez, Suarez, Rúnarsson, Partey, Willian, White) admitting that members of the latter group disappointed in a various extent.
Do you win at darts Rico ? treble seventeen and you score 54 ??. whoops , or was it to see if we were awake this morning.
going to read the post now
Morning Geoff, all.
I’d imagine the stuff with Aubameyang is done. He’s either leaving or staying and will have a way back into the team. Edu and Richard Garlick are in England to sort out transfers I believe.
Morning Rico and all
If Arteta trust his assistance then why can’t they take all the training sessions in Dubai and Arteta stay in England for the transfer period and try to sort out all the issues with Auba, after all we can’t keep paying Auba big money each week and get nothing in return.