The ideal summer for me would be Renato Sanchez (hear he is out of favour) as our alexis replacement (I know less goals but the way he drives forward) and a striker that runs in behind such as auba or lacazette (if the rumours are false he's going athletico?) or mbappe (sell Sanchez to Bayern p/e for renato) Then I would look at a cm who can do a bit of everything and sell elneney and coq I like bakayoko as a driving force or someone to rotate like strootman as a sitter? Keita at Salzburg is good too but ramsey I hope has that cm birth after the Chelsea game and xhaka is perfect in this role An example 11 .................auba ......renato..........ozil Kol..xhaka......ramsey....ox .....mon....kos....mustafi ..............cech Ramsey could even play the advanced lw inside forward role and we go big for a cm? Mert can play as a cb when fit and rotate Gabriel and holding too Lots of options but I would like to cast off giroud, debuchy, theo, coq and elneney at least and alexis if we can get good money
renato is a central midfielder and I doubt we give up on him after one season where he never got played.
In - new striker, mid akin to Wanyama, Herrera, or Kante, and a GK. Out - Theo, Ozil, Debuchy, Jenkinson, Gibbs. I'd keep Coq and Elneny, and Perez.
Like the idea of Renato but don't see him as an Alexis replacement. Think he would fair much better as depth behind Ramsey/Xhaka with the intent to push them and eventually replace one. If you are looking at replacing Alexis and/or Ozil I think you look at guys like James, Mahrez, Bernardo Silva, Asencio, Dybala, Mertens, etc... Don't Auba coming here with no CL. Think our best option for a better ST option is Lacazette or Morata. Don't think there are any other likely options from the pool of players that are good enough now.
An ideal summer for me would not include the need for a Sanchez replacement. I'm looking forward to seeing this Onyekuru fellow. I was reading Jorge Bird's profile of him. Apparently he has lighting pace, is a good finisher and has a lot of interesting qualities, even if he's still a bit raw. His goalscoring record as a left-winger is pretty good no matter what league he's playing in. Seems like a player who could see a lot of time in the Europa League and the league cup.
My ideal (and atleast somewhat realistic) summer... New Contracts Alexis, Ozil, Ox & Ramsey sign new deals Additions Kolasinac confirmed Lacazette signs with Arsenal after Atletico's appeal is denied Tolisso is signed to provide depth and competition to Ramsey & Xhaka usual 2-3 young depth/future 1st team signings Subtractions Sold/FA - Woj, Ospina, Gibbs, Lucas, Campbell, Wilshire, Jenks, Santi, Debuchy, Sanogo Loaned - The Jeff, Bielik Starting lineup -------------- Lacazette --------------- ------ Alexis -------------- Ozil -------- Sead - Xhaka - Ramsey - Bellerin ------ Kos - Mustafi - Holding ------ --------------- Cech ------------------- Backup lineup ------------ Welbs/OgG------------ ------ Iwobi ----------- Walcott ---- Nacho -- Coq -- Tolisso -- Ox ----- Gabby - Per - Chambers -- ------------- Martinez -------------
Was just looking at Sead Kolasinac's page on Wikipedia and someone has edited the career stats table to include a line for Arsenal 2017-18. A bit premature that? We haven't actually signed him yet have we? p.s. If Mesut stays and Sead comes, this might help his transition to England a bit? There seems to be a little bit of common background.
I'm honestly not sure the new formation showed much of anything. He trotted that out in a desperate attempt to cling to power as a last ditch effort and used it against many teams who were already on vacation. Chelsea most certainly were in regards to the FA final. Additionally, many of those teams on vacation weren't used to playing against Arsenal this way, but given how stubborn Wenger is and how he usually has no plan b, how long do you think it will take teams to figure out and unlock his take on this new formation next year? Not very long is what I'm thinking and it'll be back to the way it was this year with middling performances. Yet again these end of season performances are papering over cracks sadly. And I agree, the squad definitely need some leadership but I think there's truth to what some former players say that Wenger would never allow that these days.
My ideal summer: Wenger Out Since thats not happening nothing that happens will prevent a further slide down the table
Arsenal have resigned Wenger and supposedly only have 120M per L'Equipe. Shit manager and penny pinching, same old story.
Onyekuru is a good start if rumors are to be believed. Explosive goal-scoring wide player who can contribute off the bench and eventually develop into our Sadio Mane. I don't think paying big bucks for a mediocre striker like Morata or Lacazette would make any sense. Either pay huge for a star who would be a significant upgrade over Giroud/Welbeck/Perez, or buy a younger talent and roll with those guys for another year. I would like to see another CM come in. Preferably a technical box-to-box player who can do a bit of everything.
Problem is, how likely is this to happen? I don't trust Wenger's ability to find young promising players anymore nor develop them. To be frank, I don't trust Wenger's ability to do much at all anymore.
Wenger had an interview about his extension and summer plans. He says we have a "very heavy squad" right now and will likely lose some players. Thinks we have a strong squad and wants to keep the strength we have while adding "top, top quality"
No way he said that...really? Who would have thought? Well put. What a solid plan. I hope your sarcasm meter is on.
It's really the only thing he could say, because the squad is enormous, and some deadweight needs to be cleared out: Wilshere, Elneny, Debuchy, Gibbs, etc. The only signings we should make are for players that are improvements over what we have, and we actually have a pretty good squad. We need another ballplaying midfielder, and a striker who can run in behind and finish. Why we aren't linked with Morata, I know not.
I could see us signing a younger 6 or 8 as depth after we clear out some of the dead weight but I highly doubt AW brings in someone that puts Xhaka or Ramsey on the bench. If we are able to get any new starters in the market it will likely be a LWB (Kolasinac), a ST and maybe a CB. Anyone else will be depth and youth signings. For ST, I don't see us getting any established ST better than Lacazette or Morata. There are few rumors of better ST wanting to leave their current club and those that are will be heading to CL teams. If we can't get one of Lacazette or Morata, I bet we go for someone young with huge upside (Sandro, Schick, Silva, Iheanacho, Dembele) and hope they can push OG out of the starting lineup.
We have to sell of If he's here at the start of the season we have no intention of winning the league
He's been meh this season, hasn't he? For the fee being quoted, it seems risky. Arsenal should totally match PSG's offer for Auba.
That's a nice idea, but would he really want to come to Arsenal/London even without UCL football? Haven't heard that he loves us that much more than PSG.
Deckchairs on the Titanic but I see people eagerly lining up for the annual £100 mill Kool aid. This is ArseneTown and dead bodies everywhere what a time to be alive