If nobody has any money to spend then the players themselves become the payment. They'll probably want Saka or Martinelli for Partey though.
We’re talking a Pep style 4-3-3 in which two attacking mids play in the half spaces between the fullbacks and center backs and use combinations to play the wings into the box or make runs into the box themselves to receive return passes from the wings. I could see Guendouzi adapting to that role, but not Xhaka.
And go where? No one is going to want to pay his salary. He will leave on a free when his contract expires at the end of next season.
as opposed to what? sell him at a cut rate because there are no buyers? that would be utterly ignorant. losing him on a free, if his presence helps us get/stay in europe - yes, even europa - might well be worth more money.
under arteta, xhaka seems to have found a home protecting the space left by LB in attack. wonder if that was an emergency "do what we can with what we have" move by arteta or if that will continue. i have a tough time imagining him in a more advanced attacking role, given how slow he is - he would never be able to track back in time.
Xhaka could play a deeper playmaker role but u couldn’t use him in a pep stylepressure game that is not the only way to play 433
You didn’t, read beyond “And go where?” Virtually every professional club in the world has been hit with huge financial losses, because of the pandemic, so no team is going to pay his salary, other than Arsenal, who are contractually obliged to do so.
True, but there has been a lot of speculation that Arteta could switch to a Pep style 4-3-3. But I don’t see a clear role for Xhaka in any kind of 4-3-3. If you push the wings further forward that’s going to put more pressure on the midfield when the offense looses the ball. He’s a deep lying playmaker that needs a good defensive to cover for him, I.e. he is a limited player.
this. i like xhaka a lot but he is a limited player. with flaws. for me, buying him wasn't the problem. it was buying a limited player with flaws for the price that was paid. (same applies to mustafi i suppose.)
I'll add a bit to that. Back when we bought Xhaka, if we were looking for a partner for Ramsey, AW made a poor choice. Both Xhaka and Ramsey need to be paired with a more defensively oriented MF. If AW intended Ramsey to be more of a 10 (like how Wales uses him) Xhaka could have been a good compliment but it still would have required a #6. Hopefully we get a proper partner for Xhaka this window so we can get atleast a couple years of him utilized properly.
And another we can't afford this window. They are asking for 50m. Supposedly he wants to go to Napoli.
Where are you seeing this. I've not heard any Juve interest. Would make sense given their interest in Icardi and Milik. If legit, they have a few players I wouldn't mind taking off their hands.
Do any clubs actually have money? Even the Arab-owned clubs must be feeling some pinch from oil prices dropping 99% in one day. I think player movement is going to drop dramatically in whatever the window turns out to be.
Rumors of the day... Olympiacos are interested in signing El Neny. It is unlikely that he returns to Besiktas on any terms as he is currently in dispute with them for 1.3m euro in unpaid wages We are supposedly targeting a young Swedish DM named Armin Gigovic. He is said to cost 4-5m euro and supposedly Pep is interested as well. There are claims that we reached out to Norwich RE RB Max Aarons but were turned off by their 30m+ asking price. It is assumed that we will sign Cedric on a permanent deal to provide cover for Bellerin. Continued chatter that we are in for 19yo Turkish AM Orkan Kokcu. The latest rumors are that he rejected a new contract offer from Feynoord after speaking to Arsenal representatives about a move.
Video looks solid. Needs some fine tuning but looks like a solid #6 with the potential to become a box-2-box. Not likely to make an impact for a couple years but given his age (still young enough to be HG) he is most certainly worth taking a flyer.
Hard to judge in that league but he has a couple of traits I like fast thinker and can get about so won’t leave a hole like xhaka
Reading an article this morning about an app called TransferRoom. The creator used a virtual match making software to create a platform for professional sports teams to meet virtually for the discussion of transfers. The app was first used to facilitate a transfer in 2017. The article claims that this is in response to additional fees that agents have started charging to facilitate a transfer and make sure everything goes smoothly. These fees are being attributed to the overinflated transfer market the last few years. The virtual meetings are 10 minutes max at a time and there are no agents involved, only FO staff from each club. I bring this up because Arsenal are said to be one of 13 EPL and over 500 clubs world wide that are currently signed up for this next window. Cost is approx 2500 GBP per month for a subscription. This could be fairly significant given out prior heavy reliance on agent relationships. Perhaps Raul is learning???
They discussed this on today's Arsecast. Andrew wants his money --- said he made a joke about "Tinder for Players" nearly three years ago.