(The not-so-temporary quite-official) Gooner Thread

In a sick and twisted way I'd love to see Sagna and Cesc play for a few seasons in England, not win the title, and retire/move on...

I actually think it was three.  Was sort of glossed over at the time but I was a mite surprised it was that long a contract.

Utd sold Mikaël Silvestre to you lot. Hopefully Vermaelen isn't returning the favour.

Im not sure I could handle verm in a united shirt knowing that cesc is already in a chel$ea shirt.

Vermaelen and RVP were (are?) good mates.

Plus, lol Silvestre.

http://www.caughtoffside.com/2014/06/14/exclusive-...

Hulk + Balotelli for $46.5m. Now that'd be grand. 

Maybe it's just me but Hulk looks absolutely dire every time I see him. By far the worst player on the pitch in the Brazil-Croatia game too. Think he'd be another Craptista.

For Porto he made 169 appearances, scored 78 times, and provided 56 assists, contributing an assist or goal 0.79 times per game.

For Zenit he has made 64 appearances, scored 32 times, and provided 21 assists, contributing an assist or goal 0.83 times per game.

For Brazil he as made 34 appearances, scored 9 times and I couldn't find assists.

Craptista? Not on those numbers.

Verm and RVP share the same agent.

Van gaal was also Vermaelen's manager at Ajax.

Does seem a convenient fit for him.

As long as we get a replacement I'm not fussed by this, in the last couple of seasons Vermaelen has looked like an accident waiting to happen at times. Decent against lower opposition but when we play the big boys he can crap himself a little. Van Persie's first game against us for ManU was the perfect example. TV was a possum in headlights that day. 

If he goes there and starts then for me they are weaker overall than when they had vidic/rio. 

He is high quality for a 3rd choice in our squad but I can't see him overtaking kosc/per ever.

In saying all of that, if I were wenger I'd hold him to his final year of contract and let him leave for free next season. CB's dont get you much pingers and his value must be low-ish these days anyway. Leave us to concentrate on the other areas of the pitch we need to strengthen and worry about a quality CB purchase next year. 

Flamini got 3 years? Wow. 

Pretty weak leagues though, only going on what I have actually seen of him which granted is only really CL and internationals and he never seems to look any good. Baptista had comparable numbers (at least in goals, couldn't find assists) for Sevilla (tougher league?) before Real Madrid and Arsenal signed him. Has to be better than Sanogo which I guess is what matters, but we could do a lot better for that money.

yeah i agree regarding Hulk, i have never seen him have a decent game to be honest. Balo/Remy or Balo/Bony would do me :)

Last 5 seasons of domestic leagues...

No need for Hulk

Would be keen on Balotelli, I think Wenger could make it work. 

RB,DM,CB ,GK seem to provoke little comment yet are desperatly needed. 

Difficult to compare between EPL, Bundesliga, Serie A and Russia, but impressive numbers all the same. I suspect some of those others would have scored even more in Russia but we'll never know that.

Because that isn't sexy gossip during World Cup time.

But yes, desperately needed. I really want to see a dominating DMF. Someone who can just destroy. I want a Pirlo level quality. God I love that man.

I think sanogo will be the goods, he looks very promising in my opinion

for those talking about us signing 2x strikers, there's no way that will happen, prepare to be disappointed!

I'd argue that RB, DM and CB are more pressing areas for us than striker. Right now we have 2 strikers, 3 if campbell comes back, as well as Walcott who I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot there this season. 

We have one young RB, only one spare CB who may leave, and one true DM on the bench behind a makeshift one who's starting to look a bit slow...

Edit: didn't even mention keeper, where we clearly need a reinforcement as well...

As a realistic option Sami Khedira would do nicely

http://www.caughtoffside.com/2014/06/16/liverpool-...

Here's your GK option :-)

Khedira would go nicely, worried about speed though.

Shared sentiments here Paul. 1 striker we would be lucky, and that's clearly not the most important position.

I still think the over reliance on Giroud was the issue, not his quality. Having him fresh, and other options to play in less important games (like Campbell, Podolski, Walcott or Sanogo). He faded because he was over used, not because he's shit. The only fair argument is that he doesn't often stand out in the big games, but he often plays well and brings in other players. And again, our results against big teams can't be solely on his shoulders. 

Replacing Sagna - needs a RB and a CB as he was cover for both.

Vermaelen goes, that's another CB. In this case, would think a young CB and an experienced CB would be the answer. 

GK - not someone to replace Szczesny, but definitely to challenge him and keep him on his toes.

DMF - I have always loved the idea, never considered it happening though, and wouldn't be surprised if it didn't. Rumours of us looking in to players like Bender and Martinez very promising though.

Striker - face it guys, we're not buying big. Expect to see a Remy, not a Cavani.

That would be about us. If Vermaelen leaves we need two CBs and a GK. Bare minimum, not gaining anything on last year. Improvement is we get in a decent enough striker that can play alone, with a Giroud, or maybe even on the wing, and we bring in a ball playing, ball winning midfield engine. 

News out of the UK papers this morning suggest if Vermy goes to Man U, then Smalling or Cleverly could come the other way. Smalling wouldn't be a bad option as back up in the CD dept. Other news includes more Balotelli stories. Hopefully where there is smoke, there is fire.

 Cleverly and Smalling both serious no.

Hawk wasp good description of Giroud situation, overuse syndrome as so opposed to generalised uselessness.

I agree with Uberinho. If the Ballo smoke turns to flames, that'll be us for striker. A strike force of Ballo, Giro, Theo, Cambo and Sano would do me.

Next.

From what ive heard ballo wants to stay in italy. Blaming his previous behaviour on being in England and away from his family/friends, who he says ground him.

Balotelli's agent stoking the flames overnight now, reckon this one might actually have legs.

We'll probably have to wait until after the world cup to see if anything comes of it though.

Smalling in exchange for Vermaelen could be the go. I know Smalling has copped a bit of criticism in the past year but he's still young and it seems to be injuries and bodies ahead of him rather than sh*tness that has seen him out of the spotlight. And Wenger was a fan - apparently we very nearly signed him when he went to ManU.

Cleverley, well that's just bizarre. Surely not. Apart from him being rubbish, we just passed up on a world class player in that same position because we already have so many that can play there. Someone's taking the p*ss - Cleverley's agent?

Cleverley would be the most anti-climactic signing I've ever heard of.

Balotelli I don't know what to think. I feel like it's something that would never happen, but maybe Wenger could sort him out? Just get his Mum to move over with him and maybe he will be less psychotic?

Stories coming out just now claiming Arsene will meet with his agent in Brazil on Saturday...

Building that momentum.

That claim is also why signings mid-world cup is possible. Wenger's there, the players are there, the agent's are. The only barrier is the players desire to think about their future mid world cup.

There's still no reason why negotiation between and fees being agreed by clubs can't happen, with agreements reached in principle with the formalities to happen after the World Cup. Chelsea and Liverpool don't seem to have had much trouble signing players who are in Brazil. Didn't we sign Rosicky during or very close to the start of the 2006 World Cup? I remember watching him score those stunning goals against USA after he had signed and getting excited about him. And pretty sure Nasri was signed during Euro 2008 wasn't he?

As for Vermaelen I'm loathed to sell our captain to United again although I guess a cash plus Smalling deal isn't so bad. If it's just selling him for a few million then I don't see the point, may aswell keep him for the last year of his contract. Too much hassle to replace otherwise. We already need as a priority a starting right back, a striker, a CM and a goalkeeper, possibly a winger too depending on Walcott and Ox. Add in a CB too and it's just too much for one window, there's no way it will all get done. Look at how long it took to make 2 signings last year, and even then one of them was free and had been training at the club for a while.

Can see us spending too much time messing about trying to sign a bargain bin 2nd choice keeper and 3rd choice CB and missing out on what we actually need for the first XI.

The comments are interesting, I never realised the Liverpool fans were so hot on Reina.

Ahhhh the off-season. Thank god/allah/christ/whoever for the World Cup.

Wouldn't it be a bugger if we sell Cazorla, after passing on Cesc.......

We only just gave him a pay rise and contract extension a couple of months ago, and his contract had 2 years left on it. It's just the Daily Mail being the Daily Mail. He'll still likely be first choice next season.

Nah, read his quotes they don't exactly fill me with confidence

Apparently we have sold vela back for 8milli lol not sure if im happy or sad

Happy, he was crystal clear he didn't want to come back to London

8 mill is a fair price too, as he really has only had one good season

His quotes didnt fill me with confidence either but to be fair he did just sign a new contract, this would be bizarre to say the least. I expect wenger to give him the flat no if he says he wants to go, that's just not in our plans.

Rumours are saying 30mil for balotelli. Seems a fair price to me for a striker with that sort of talent. If we paid 42 for mesut I cant see why we wouldnt splash for this. 

Fixture list out for 2014/15. Looks decent to me, no real difficult patches, a nice even spread - especially compared to those two horrendous patches we had in the 2nd half of last season.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/arsena...

The Cazorla thing is weird, hopefully it's more of a 'stop talking to me about it now, I am not considering anything until after the world cup', rather than 'I have heaps to think about, and decisions to make'. 

And on the other hand, if his departure was a possibility, then Wenger and team would know this, and we wouldn't have passed on Cesc so quickly. 

Again, it's only in the Daily Mail and he's probably been mistranslated or taken out of context. He signed a new contract at the end of the season.

Better off not bothering with Vela again. With Campbell already with us to fill that sort of role there didn't seem much point.

Yea sounds like we're just using that vela clause as leverage - either for some extra money in the way of payment for taking the clause out, or as a bargaining chip to buy greizeman or juanfran, two players we've been linked with fairly consistently