Little better but not quite there - 2020 Summer Transfer Thread

Injury prone is different than one major injury, replace Cazorla with Wilshere or even Ramsey with his glass hamstrings.

 

Completely fair. Was trying to think of examples and Santi's skin graft on his ankle is what (unfortunately) popped into my head.

 

Not for me. Tbh, my recollections of Coutinho aren't especially strong, but what I do remember about them is that for that era of Liverpool (especially given the size of his transfer fee to Barca) I thought Coutinho was substantially overrated, Mane was criminally underrated, and Salah about right. And I don't think he's especially mobile.

It's hard to see a winning scenario for us in getting Coutinho. Either we get a loan and aren't building toward anything, or we get locked in to mid-level talent with a large financial commitment preventing us from other moves.

By contrast, I am warming to idea of Willian though I'm still ambivalent on that.

Funny, for as long as he's been in England, I really can't picture him as especially slow or fast. What is his pace like?

 

Willian on reasonable wages acting as a mentor and playing mostly as a sub (in a 5 sub world) makes some sense. Willian on big wages playing ahead of Pepe/Nelson/Saka/etc is a mistake.

Seems weird to run off two 31-year-olds because their about-to-expire wages are unreasonable (Ozil, Mkhi) so you can sign another one to a 3 year deal.

 

After the Cup final, I thought for sure that PEA was re-signing. Now, I'm not as convinced. Though, I think if he does leave us, I think it has to be for some kind of mega-deal, so if he did go it was likely to be Real, Barca, or PSG (and probably some money for us though that's the one case where we'd definitely rather have the player than the money).

I wonder how serious PEA is regarding his contingencies for re-signing.

It's pretty clear the direction the club needs to go: younger, cheaper, deeper, faster. This is the correct ambition for the club, but I fear that it may not work for PEA.

 

The thing you have to remember is that Kia is genuinely a lifelong Arsenal fan and this is his club he's doing this to.

— Grace Robertson 🏳️‍⚧️ (@GraceOnFootball) August 3, 2020

 

I like William but he’s 31

I do t want him or coutinho, why aren’t we being linked to a proper cm and cb?

 

We're better off signing 10 Yaya Sanogos before we sign 1 Willian.

eta - is it Yayas Sanogo, Yayas Sanogos?

 

He was the guy responsible for the Tevez and Mascherano deals that screwed West Ham so bad.

 

Wolves have worked with Jorge Mendes to build a squad with more Portuguese players than English and they finished above Arsenal with half the payroll.

I take issue with the tweet above about what Kia "is doing to" Arsenal. Don't blame Kia, he doesn't work for the club and he should be out to make the most money for himself and his clients. Blame Raul and Edu. They can tell Kia "no".

 

With a release clause of 68 million.

 

The only way this makes sense for me is in the context of Lacazette leaving the club, which is presumably going to happen.

If the front line alternatives are PEA-Lacazette-Pepe vs Willian-PEA-Pepe, I could easily see how the latter might be better, and especially for Arteta who wants to press.

 

Willian would be so dumb.

And it’s 100% going to happen because Sanllehi/Joorabchian.

 

This would also be dumb.

 

He was fabulous for Liverpool...

 

Take it! Long range screamers at the death of a match!

My issue with Coutinho is he is a confidence player just like Torres, Morata and Immobile. His quality is undeniable but he needs pampering to peak. Which is rubbish because you are being paid $$$ yet complain about being homesick etc.

 

Metro.co.uk: Arsenal: Mikel Arteta puts 9 stars up for sale including Hector Bellerin.
https://metro.co.uk/2020/08/03/mike...ra-sokratis-mustafi-hector-bellerin-13076071/