Let's sign injured players to cover for our injured players - the summer transfer thread

On the other hand Dennis and Henry were "temperamental" before they came. Balotelli is a world unto himself tho

 

This is what is puzzling, statements like that "Benzema is" Better than Guivarc'h, but worse then pretty much every other starting striker since". That is borderline insanity.
His goal ratio for France is definitely up to par with his talent, but while he may be rightly blamed for that, I would also attribute that to the French National team poor tactics, management and choices.
I would take Benzema numbers for Real anyday of the week (226 apps, 111 goals, 62 assists). Would he join the Gunners (which i doubt) he would be a huge and major improvement in a area where quality, pace, power, goal scoring is lacking.
Most of us were clamoring for Higuain last year, IMO, Benzema is a better player than the Argentine.

 

Dude, I was quoting you, not putting words in your mouth. You said he is. Better than Guivarc'h, but worse then pretty much every other starting striker since. That is demonstratively false and ridiculous.

By the way, Benzema has scored 111 goals for RM since he joined (230 apps) and had 62 assists as well. These are really good, if not great, numbers, specially considering he was sharing the CF position with Higuain for a while and he is playing next to a ball hog called Cristiano Ronaldo.

 

John Cross is reporting that AFC are monitoring the Mandzukic situation. Now that is a very tenable striker with Lewa moving over. How much would he go for? Thirty+? I rate him hugely.

 

Mandzukic is worth less than £20m to me, especially in this situation.

I'm not sure what to make of him, honestly. He goes long stretches without touching the ball for Bayern (I think his first touch in our home leg was in the like 21st minute). Maybe that's just a function of their system, but if I were being cynical I'd say he's a player who is possibly a better finisher than Giroud but who doesn't work anywhere near as hard. Not sure where that would get us, really.

 

Mandzukic should only be 12m for us, unless we're dumping Giroud. We need to get a player better than Mandzukic if we want to win the league. I wouldn't want to spend 18m on him then skip somebody better because we don't have any money left.

 

hence why I said his French numbers make no sense for his talent. I didnt say Benzema was shit. He can be a paper tiger, but he aitn shit. Much better than what we have now.

 

Mandzukic isnt a big goal scorer seemingly, same as benzema

 

Mandzukic is better than Giroud yes, but honestly what this team needs is a pacy mobile striker. Every time we use our speed and accurate passing we are devastating. Not to mention how Ozil would be fully utilized with 3 forward players that have pace and can outrun defenders and get behind.

 

please lets avoid ANY player who remotely resembles giroud in the speed category

 

Agree. He would be a huge improvement. It is worth keeping an eye on his contract situation at Madrid. It ends in 2015 and one can assume that he is not extended by August, he will be sold by Real.
Actually, since the top 4 or 5 CF are out of reach for various reasons (The Cavanis, Falcao, Suarez and other Lewandowski), Benzema may be the next best thing. I rate him higher than Mandkuzic for that matter.

 

There seems to be a deviation from quality strikers to deeper players with forwards out wide. I would be more than happy with benzema and draxler


Draxler...................theo
..................benzema

..............ramsey...new cm

Back 5

 

@MickTheGooner 1h
Joke of Day: Arsenal who want to bring in a powerful player with physical presence in midfield - are also keeping tabs T.Cleverley! (Mirror)

Last week it was Smalling, now it is Cleverley. Whatever...........

 

Funny and juicy.....Spurs tried to insert a clause in Bale's contract with Real Madrid preventing Mesut Ozil (among others) joining Arsenal. Fail!

"Spurs are understood to have wanted to insert a binding guarantee as part of the world record £85m deal to sell Gareth Bale to the Spanish club. The guarantee would have prevented Real from selling four named players, headed by Ozil, to English clubs this campaign.

The quartet were Ozil, Angel Di Maria and Karim Benzema - who had all interested Spurs' north London rivals - and left-back Fabio Coentrao, who Manchester United tried to sign in a deadline day deal last September.

Spurs wanted Real to hold off allowing any of those players to come to England until this summer, but despite exploring the legal possibilities - such as adding a letter to the Bale contract - they were unable to reach an agreement.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...id-preventing-Mesut-Ozil-joining-Arsenal.html

 

Hahaha this is absolutely hilarious. There isn't a single thing they can do correctly.

 

Has there ever been a club so sonned by its rival as the yids?

 

Mandzukic >>>> Giroud

He works much harder than Benzema too. Much better finisher and stronger in the air. I can understand the sentiments behind having a small pact striker but our team needs some physical prowess too up top.

What amazes me is that how folks on here discard proven top level strikers that have a realistic chance of joining us.

 

Bold that, playing with 10 men.

 

Ozil's a silent assassin, don't ya know.

 

Assuming Walcott is healthy, we have that player.

I'm not crazy about Madzukic, but I think we could do a lot worse.

 

Why have only one player that can do that when you can have two or more?

 

This is true. It's possible Madzukic and Giroud are too similar.

 

Mandzukic is faster and actually makes runs in behind. However, Giroud is stronger and has a much better first touch. From what I've seen of Mandzukic, his technique is inconsistent and he does go missing in games - I'm a little confused as to how a striker for Bayern can go missing in games when they have like 70% of the ball, but he he somehow manages this.

This is not to say that Mandzukic would be a bad buy. He'd be a bad buy for 20 million.

 

Mebe,

Those possession stats are meaningless in regard to Mandzucic if they aren't penetrative passes. Honestly Bayern just looked hapless in the final part of the field. IMHO showed how much they missed Thiago. Damn I'd love Thiago and Cesc at Arsenal, while I'm watching both of them flanked by my respective mistresses Halle Berry and Nia Long up in the executive suites.

 

You're missing my point. That Mandzukic can somehow manage to be invisible despite Bayern monopolizing the ball suggests that the problem is, at least in part, Mandzukic.