02 Sep 2020 20:38:22
The latest from Dharmesh Sheth @ SSN:
We believe Atletico Madrid midfielder Thomas Partey remains a player of interest to Arsenal. He has a release clause of £45m. For Arsenal to be able to spend a sum that big on one player, it is likely they will need to sell a few players first.
"Alexandre Lacazette is a player who could raise funds for Arsenal and there is talk he could be part of the deal that brings Partey to the Emirates.
Fingers crossed we can land Partey but having 34 senior players on the books certainly needs addressing first.
02 Sep 2020 21:31:53
34 senior players? That is a huge number when you can only register 26. Is that 34 figure correct Glen? It's seems really high mate?
02 Sep 2020 21:39:28
Exactly what Edoo2 said over a months ago.
03 Sep 2020 07:00:47
That's the number they reported tonight Gunner. I was watching the transfer show and they stated that Arsenal have 34 senior players on the books which has to be reduced as soon as possible. At the moment we're continuing to add whilst bringing players through at the same time and we're not really trimming the squad.
03 Sep 2020 07:48:21
Well obviously that's far to many and I'd have thought 26 plus using youth players in the match day 18 if injuries forced it. So who's the 8 that have to go or 10 If you bring in 2 more players this window?
Guendozi Torreira Papa for sure then Chambers Elneny that's 5 down 5 to go :-)
03 Sep 2020 09:11:44
Exactly mate but even losing them 5 alone would be a move in the right direction. Obviously they didn't produce a full list but I can imagine when you look at each position it certainly starts to add up. I'm not sure where they get the figures from but on the Arsenal website it lists 31 first team players with 1 on loan (Mavropanos) so 32 altogether. Losing Guendouzi, LT, Papa, Chambers, Elneny and Ozil would be ideal. Ozil isn't going anywhere though and that's from the horses mouth.
03 Sep 2020 09:13:02
Guendouzi, Torreira, Papa, Chambers, Elneny, kolasinac, ozil, Holding or Mustafi, makes 8. Also puts into perspective the bonkers decision to recruit Cedric. Ideal world would sell him keep Hector and AMN and if not would sacrifice if a gun to my head Eddie and Nelson as stacked in wide players with Martinelli pepe Saka willian PEA etc and I don`t think Eddie is good enough . Maybe a loan? Does that count?
Also interesting to hear we were in for van de Beek but didn`t have the cash. Interesting because he hasn`t been mentioned but we were in for him. Good to see we are being pro active and I will trust Arteta to be on the case moving forwards. State again keep Hector COYG.
{Ed047's Note - if you just got those players you mention off of the wage bill it would be close to 1,000,000 a week I’d bet.
03 Sep 2020 09:59:54
I know some people are angry with Mesut but I'm not in the slightest bit upset with him. To ask Mesut to simply give up his contract is like Auba or Martinelli asking the club to rip up their contacts and allow them to be a free agents and simply because they've had a change of heart about staying.
Allowing him to play or not is clubs proactive but equally the club should pay him and honour the contract they gave him with good grace.
03 Sep 2020 09:46:25
Ed047 I know is stating the bleeding obvious but those players aren`t essential to our future and you`re probably not far wrong with the £1mill a week. Just highlights how poor we have been at recruiting. It will be interesting to see what money we get as other clubs know we are desperate to get players off the books. Going to be somewhere between getting their value and a fire sale. Mikhy and Papa deals would seem we are edging towards a fire sale COYG.
{Ed047's Note - I really don’t see that we’re going to have much choice Sussex, teams like United, Spurs and Everton are also trying to offload players deemed not good enough.
I think we’re going to have to take what we can and not be too ridiculous in fees we set for players like Guendouzi and Torriera, if indeed the latter is to leave.
03 Sep 2020 10:19:34
No and I agree mate. Ozil could be following the path of Gareth Bale but he isn't. He's still passionate in saying that he loves the club, he's confident that he's working hard in training and that he's ready to put in the performances on the pitch. Maybe he'll get a chance but I doubt it and unfortunately I don't think he suits the style of play that we're aiming for. Regardless of how much I like him, I just can't see it. He's not doing anything wrong by honouring his contract.
The issue we have is the 9 CB's in the first team, not the signing of Cedric Sussex mate. He's the right person for squad depth as AMN is still listed as a midfielder officially. That's why our numbers are so high.
03 Sep 2020 11:51:21
We certainly need to sell a few first before anymore possible incomings. Ozil is clearly not in Arteta's plans at all but he will see out his contract on such high wages. It's a shame as Ozil still has lots of quality to offer and can still be a game changer just that number 10 no longer fits in with Arteta's style now to accomodate him.
I think we will be able to sell LT Sead easy enough as long as we don't value to high and they both seem keen to leave back to Italy and Germany and the clubs want them. Papa looks close to leaving also but that will only be for a couple of million at most. Our biggest assets for sale are Bellerin Lacazette and Guendozi.
Geundozi happy enough to sell especially now with Ceballos looking like coming back on loan, but don't seem to be many takers
Bellerin also I happy to sell if it means bolstering that midfield and with AMN and soares at RB position
Lacazette not sure about really as it puts a lot of goalscoring responsibility on PEA so if he god forbids gets injured we could be in trouble on that front . Nketiah Willian and Pepe are not what I call regular reliable goalscorers and Martinelli is long term injured atm.
{Ed047's Note - I think as always we want all the changes done in one window built think we are going to have to live with the fact that's really unlikely to happen.
Ozil is just a strange one, started in all Arteta's games initially and after, it seems, he would not defer any of his wages didn't get picked at all.
Such a waste of talent.
03 Sep 2020 12:33:26
It is also a matter of formation. General opinion is Luiz is not great in a back four so am assuming a back three initially . Considering three are injured ( difficult to sell I guess ) one on loan and two very exciting but prem inexperienced we are left with Sokratis Luiz and Holding. We have a tough start so would think Tierney would carry on at the back. My argument Glenn is that we have Hector AMN and Saka who could play right in a four midfield, plenty of cover . Be interesting to see how Arteta sees the two new guys. If they hit ground running easier to reduce the 8 cbs - Chambers Mustafi and Sokratis.
Don`t have an issue with Ozil either we gave him a contract. Wasted talent but we have to trust Arteta too. COYG.
03 Sep 2020 12:48:15
I think it's internal politics rather than Arteta preventing Mesut from being in the match day 18. Yes he refused to take a pay cut or pay freeze until he knew where HIS money was going to go first which I think is more than reasonable.
The fact is the club regret giving Mesut the contract that's obvious but instead of accepting responsibility for thier own mistakes they are behaving like spoilt children by slashing their own bike tyres because they can't have jelly on their cornflakes.
04 Sep 2020 00:26:00
Well, the Premier League contract with China has just been dropped, so let's see if Özil gets another look.