Verratti? I'd prefer Rabiot. It would suit us better, imo.
Arsenal 2017/2018
- Thread starter Santi_Mesut_Alexis_87
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
Absolutely.
The Spurs fans I've met sinse I began working down south have come across as absolute tools. Every single one, obnoxious feckers the lot of 'em. Almost as bad as the City fans back home and that really is saying something.
But yeah, Arsenal...
Both would improve you immensely!
Think Rabiot costs less
Why did Wenger move away from big physical midfielders? Arsenal were better when they were a big nasty physical team that could mix it with technique and skill. The team with Viera, Petit, Bergkamp and Henry would have dominated english football for years if it wasnt for Manchester United and the greatest manager of all time.
Because he didn't really buy many of them
He inherited them didn't he?
Players wages for 2016/17 as reported by Express, are as follows:
Man City: 225m
Man Utd: 220.8m
Chelsea: 218m
Arsenal: 200.5m
Liverpool: 165.6m
Tottenham: 121.2m
Everton: 83m
Arsenal's wages are up there with the top 4. Liverpool and Tottenham's wages are significantly lower and Everton is in a different league of their own.
Arsenal is paying their average players alot of money. If it is true that OX was offered 180k a week, then I think they have totally lost their plot. Ox is nowhere near a world class player.
BTW, I think the Thomas Lemar "signing" and the statement that Arsenal will go back for him next season, is just Wenger's last ditch effort to try to keep the "please" the Arsenal fans. No way Lemar would want to go to Arsenal, a sinking ship.
Man City: 225m
Man Utd: 220.8m
Chelsea: 218m
Arsenal: 200.5m
Liverpool: 165.6m
Tottenham: 121.2m
Everton: 83m
Arsenal's wages are up there with the top 4. Liverpool and Tottenham's wages are significantly lower and Everton is in a different league of their own.
Arsenal is paying their average players alot of money. If it is true that OX was offered 180k a week, then I think they have totally lost their plot. Ox is nowhere near a world class player.
BTW, I think the Thomas Lemar "signing" and the statement that Arsenal will go back for him next season, is just Wenger's last ditch effort to try to keep the "please" the Arsenal fans. No way Lemar would want to go to Arsenal, a sinking ship.
What is it about suggesting they should buy Veratti? He is completely 100% out of their reach. In fact vast majority of top footballers might be, the fact that Lemar turned down that move on the final day kind of shows that they are not really that attractive as a destination for young players anymore.
If you really had a choice you'd take Rabiot over Verratti???
Are you serious?
I watched Ramsey playing for Wales and he looked quite a player. Very different from his Arsenal performances.
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Anyone knows why Mustafi wanted to leave? He came in just last year and looked to be playing well.
He always looks better for Wales. That's why I don't agree with the comments on here that we have an awful squad. We have a good squad with some good players but our manager is making some players look worse than they really are.
Ian Wright is a massive prick.
That is for a grim reading if you're an Arsenal fan. Provided those statements are close to the truth I see no the slightest bit of light at the end of the tunnel for them.
Feck Ian Wright, the same Arsenal legend who wanted to leave and join Chelsea.
Players can't win. If they sign a contract they're told they shouldn't sign a new one and try to move in the near future and if they're respectfully winding the contract down theyre accused of having a lack of commitment to the club
Players can't win. If they sign a contract they're told they shouldn't sign a new one and try to move in the near future and if they're respectfully winding the contract down theyre accused of having a lack of commitment to the club
Sounds like it will take a major downturn in Arsenal's fortunes for the club to change their ways. By then it may already be too late.
Wrights et al. being pricks is one thing but the sole fact that Ozil sort of addresses the (rightful) criticism on instagram like this, I love giving him stick mind, he's fragile mentally.
Because probably Wenger didn't want to buy him. He was a panic signing.
No, but Verratti needs to play in a protected midfield. We are not using it atm.
Wenger biggest problem is his socialist view that players contributing to the squad should be paid a great salary, whilst knowing their budget doesn't allow both paying Ox £180k, Walcott £120k a week, Mertesacker £70k a week, Cazorla/Ramsey/Wilshere/Xhaka/Giroud/Cech/Mustafi £100k a week etc; whilst at the same time giving Sanchez £275k a week.
Arsenal pay United salaries to their squad players, but have a pathetic 40% of the commercial revenue so then can't afford the transfer fees and salaries to attract and keep truly great players.
I feel a little bit for Wenger because behind the scenes their revenue should have increased much quicker than it has. They certainly should be pulling in £400m a season given their stadium and history which would give them a lot more financial inertia.
However you can only work with the money you have and although no one would expect them to pay their players as Spurs do; they certainly shouldn't be offering 6 figure weekly contracts to anyone that isn't a key first team player.
Whereas United seem to have pay bands of £50 - 80k for squad players (Smalling, Jones, Lindelof, Shaw, Blind, Rojo, Bailly, Damian, Carrick, Herrera, Marrial) £120 - £150k for great first teamers (Matic, Mkhitaryan, Mata) and £200k for key players (Lukaku, De Gea, Pogba). Ignoring anomalies like Young & Fellaini.
Arsenal seem to offer a greater salary for squad players, but then can't compete for the first teamers and squad players. Truthfully the likes of Welbeck, Walcott, Cazorla, Ramsey, Wilshere, Xhaka, Giroud, Cech, Mustafi, Kolasinic, Mertesacker, Perez, Monreal, Debuchy, Bellerin should be earning £40 - 80k a week, rather than £70 - 130k.
At £30k a week per player you release £450k per week which pays for 2 or 3 truly great players which transforms the squad. Or enough to give Ozil/Sanchez the pay rises they want and also enough to sign another top class player.
The truth is their offer to Ox is a key issue with their management over the last few years. Leaving contract negotiations far too late and then offering stupid wages to players who don't deserve it. They were lucky Ox decided to leave, unlike Walcott.
They are now in the worst situation possible. A group of squad players on huge salaries that they'll struggle to offload and a few really good players that will need replacing, which will cost large fees and wages.
Either the board need to sort out their commercial dealings which are embarrassingly behind similar clubs; their kit deal and shirt supplier contracts for example were awfully undervalued when compared to a team like Chelsea who they should be outperforming. That alone would be £40m per season (or another £400k a week and £20m in the kitty). Or Wenger needs to sort out his pay structure and realise squad players shouldn't be earning 70% of the salary of superstars. It should be around 30%.
Gazidis blamed our defeat against Liverpool as the main reason because we signed no one on deadline day.
Yeah, only one fecking defeat, not the last years.
Yeah, only one fecking defeat, not the last years.
Good post, I agree with a lot of that. There's real problems at the club at the board level and I've got no idea how those are going to be addressed. The club isn't being run to its full potential, so you could argue that even if Wenger is replaced the club is going to continue having issues
Not sure if this has been posted, but it seems true enough to join the dots based on what we already been told publicly.
Do take it with a pinch of salt, but interesting reading nonetheless.
" After a very long painful summer for the majority of Arsenal fans the transfer window is now closed. First of all we would like to thank every single one of our followers for making this summer a little bit bearable and the continued support of us.
As you all know, if you've been following our account, we've promised to reveal everything we know about Arsenal's transfer window and the dressing room bust up after the Liverpool game. All information we will be telling comes directly from a very well respected Arsenal source who has passed this information to us over the summer. Everyone is welcome to their opinion on the legitimacy of our source but we for one know the high position he holds within the club. We have always prided ourselves on passing EVERY bit of information we have been told whether it be good, bad or damn right outrageous news.
First of all we will start with the dressing room palaver before and after the Liverpool game. As we tweeted out on the Tuesday before the arsenal-Liverpool game Alex oxlade chamberlain was due for contract/crunch talks with Arsenal on the Thursday before the Liverpool game. At this meeting chamberlain, his agent, wenger and a few other senior board members were present at this meeting. Previous to this meeting wenger himself was told all summer by the ox that he was very happy at the club, would sign a new contract and would commit his future to the club and developing as a player in the RWB position. I was told this wasn't on just one occasion. When the media started reporting that he would not sign a new contract and was not happy at the club, wenger and the board originally believed this was all down to the agent playing games, drumming up a bit of interested so once that interest became concrete the agent was in a better position to negotiate a better contract (higher wages) for his client. This is pretty normal within football and good work from the agent who wants to earn his client the best money possible. Early august we offered the ox a great contract which in my opinion he didn't deserve as he hasn't proved himself enough to be on Similar wages to özil and Alexis, but arsenal went ahead and offered a 5 year contract. Wenger was only aware of ox not wanting to sign the contract when a senior player at the club approached wenger and asked him if it was true. Wenger immediately called the ox into his office and asked him if everything was OK and if he had a change of heart. It wasn't until this moment that the club was aware he wouldn't sign a new contract, the ox told wenger he didn't want or like any sort of confrontation and would prefer a proper meeting with his agent present. (This was the meeting scheduled on the Thursday before the Liverpool game). During this meeting, the short version, he didn't want to stay at the club any longer any didn't want travel with the squad to the Liverpool game as he made it very clear his desire was to play for Liverpool. Arsene asked him to play as he was a key member of the squad who he needed to help us win the game. We also made it very clear we would not sell him to Liverpool. We told his agent that Liverpool were in direct competition with us and we would not sell to anyone that we would help strengthen and potentially hinder our season. In my personal opinion I thought this showed lack of ambition believing that Chelsea wasn't our direct rivals and we was below them? I questioned the source and he explained it that we believed the ox would have less chance of playing at Chelsea hence not being a huge risk but at Liverpool would walk into the starting line up and improve the squad. Although I understand I was still shocked.
Game day of the Liverpool match, previous to travelling to the stadium it seems although the ox made a few of his team mates aware of the situation and that he didn't want to be there. I am told a player approached ox before the game and told him he owes this last game to the fans and the club. A lot of players were upset with the situation and felt like we have a squad of players that don't even want to play for the club! A player in particular questioned wenger and asked him why on earth he would be starting the ox and Alexis who don't want to be at the club. The source believes this is Mr Aaron Ramsey. There was a disagreement then between Ramsey and Alexis as Alexis said he was 100% focused on the game. Come half time it was pretty clear no one wanted to win this for our club and our fans. Steve bould didn't go into the dressing room I was told. After the game an argument continued between Alexis and Ramsey who question him pulling his weight on the pitch, Ramsey questioned our captain and said there was no leadership at the club and said it's embarrassing that we was letting oxlade chamberlain leave the club. Arsene wenger, I am told, exploded and tore into all of the player, something that I am told has only ever happened once before as after the game wenger believes the players should be left to digest the game and tell themselves which is right and wrong before going through the game during the week via rewatching the matches. Wenger spoke with Alexis after the game.. no agents.. no other players around.. just them two. I'm told it was at this point wenger realised he must sell Alexis aswell as he was worried about his desire to win for the club anymore as he didn't want to be there. Arsene did ask Alexis to stay but Alexis said he's worried about the direction of the club as I am aware Alexis was told by Arsenal that we would be making making marquee signings every year to build a club capable of winning the champions league when he first ever signed for arsenal. He believes that promise has been broken. He also believes that not enough players at the club give 100% every game and he doesn't want to be a part of that. All which I believe is very fair criticism of our beloved club which seems to be falling apart at the seams. This Liverpool game was a REAL eye opener at the problems wenger himself, now knows he faces. He told every player that if they didn't want to be there come forward now and he will find them a new home as he only wants players there willing to fight for this club.
Arsenal's transfer business:
Well.. what a mess this was. It all started off so well. Our record signing of Lacazette and the exceptional free transfer of sead kolasinac. Every arsenal fan on the planet believed this was finally our year where we would go out and buy the world class players we have dreamt of for years on end. At the beginning of July I was told lacazette and lemar were our main targets that we wanted wrapped up before Arsenal went on tour. The signing of lemar had no relevance on whether Alexis stayed or went at this point as wenger was adamant that Alexis would be staying and would sign a new contract. Lacazette signed. I then received a very exciting phone call from a very excited source that we've basically signed Thomas Lemar, they had given us permission to discuss personal terms, show him round our facilities and a fee had been 'agreed' (£30m). Lemar did indeed visit the emirates stadium.. photographers were also present at this stage, lemar also shown round London Colney and met various staff members. Contract was agreed £135k p/w on a 5 year deal. Lemar then flew back to France to prepare for his new life in London. It was then at THIS exact point we tweeted out 'lemar to arsenal is done' many of you may remember this was before anyone else on twitter.. hours later a few well respected Arsenal ITK's also tweeted it was a done deal also. Little did we know we was very silly to be so naive and seemed we had jumped the gun. But with previous experience it seemed everything was done apart from a medical at the club!!
It was only 24 hours after lemar visited our facilities that Monaco came back and said they under valued their player and they were now after €50m. At this point I was aware that mahrez was very keen on joining our club. Leicester quoted £40m. Mahrez would be willing to sign instantly. Perfect back up signing if lemar fell through. Arsene was asked what he wanted to do as he was in control of who he wanted to bring in, after gazidis was in control of bringing in Lucas Perez, eleneny and Mustafi, all of which wenger was not very keen on. Wenger asked the board to push on with the signing of Thomas lemar. Just to throw a spanner into the works Thomas Lemar father spoke with wenger and said he was very unsure about his son joining our club as it was a World Cup year and wasn't sure he would get the minutes at arsenal. After a few conversations wenger convinced the father. €50m bid went in and wasn't responded to by Monaco before we went on tour. The source then told me that it was likely that the deal would go through once we was off tour and in time for the emirates cup. He said there shouldn't be any problems whatsoever. Personal terms were agreed and we had accepted the increased fee. Well well well we all know now that was wrong!! Monaco then upped the transfer fee yet again. It was at this point Arsenal realised they were being taken for a ride. The board told wenger to sell players before bringing in lemar at an increased fee of £65m We was not willing to increase our bid a further £35m on top of the £30m we was already quoted. A lot of you may remember that this was when wenger was every public about Alexis Sanchez staying at the club as he was now unsure if we would be able to bring in an attacking player similar to lemars calibre. I haven't included Kylian Mbappe in this article as wenger was promised by the board if he could secure that signing they would sanction a large bid for him as it was more of an investment and would generate a huge incoming of revenue and would potentially recoup a lot of the money. Also knowing in 5/6 years we could've sold him for £200m +. Wenger did work very hard and tirelessly on this deal and at one point it looked very likely as all mbappes advisors told him Arsenal was the best move for him. Monacos £180m put us off which is completely understandable. Any talk of wenger telling mbappe to join PSG instead of us is complete B*******!! Mbappe once aware we wouldn't bid £180m asked wenger his opinion on his best career move as he and his family are very close to wenger.
It was mid/early august that wenger instructed the board to offer özil and Alexis new contracts at whatever cost before the season started as he was aware fans would become very upset at the lack of signings. Wenger also believed if we signed özil and Alexis to new contracts on top of the lacazette and kolasinac signings that would be very good transfer business from us and we wouldn't need to sign anyone else! £300k p/w would be the money we would offer the two player. The board then told wenger they would not offer any new contracts until players are offloaded of the wage bill and no new signings. Wenger was happy with this. Little did he know the board would continuously argue over selling players for £1m / £2m less than our asking price rather than just offloading these fringe players asap.
Along came the Leicester game. All arsenal fans still feeling pretty good about the upcoming season. Defensively we were extremely poor but we won. After the game wenger wanted a new CB and wanted one DESPERATELY. I won't go into too much detail as many of you already know Evans and VVD were main targets. The board yet again reluctant to let wenger strengthen without selling players first. Without doing the sensible thing of buying THEN offloading.
Many of you also know that the lemar deal on deadline day for £92m was in fact true aswell. The only reason that deal didn't happen was because Lemar felt he had been messed around all summer by Arsenal and this deal should've been wrapped up a lot sooner. On deadline day he decided to decline the move. Many of our followers will remember me tweeting this several times before deadline day questioning whether he would still be willing to come after being made to wait so long and perhaps questioned our commitment for not paying the extra?
72 hours before deadline day arsenal were made aware of Alexis transfer offer from Man City. You would think we would be able to set up a deal with so much time left. Especially after being offered draxler at £32m with a £8m upfront payment and the rest in instalments. But same old Arsenal decide to leave it 10 hours before the deadline to bid for Lemar. Seems to me a bit of a smokescreen. Our source believes we would never have gone through with the £92m deal as the board made it very very very clear no more incomings. Wenger has been going head to head with the board all summer as he knows how much pressure is on him. For once this isn't down to wenger. The only thing wenger will be to blame for this season is the players performance on the pitch. "
Do take it with a pinch of salt, but interesting reading nonetheless.
" After a very long painful summer for the majority of Arsenal fans the transfer window is now closed. First of all we would like to thank every single one of our followers for making this summer a little bit bearable and the continued support of us.
As you all know, if you've been following our account, we've promised to reveal everything we know about Arsenal's transfer window and the dressing room bust up after the Liverpool game. All information we will be telling comes directly from a very well respected Arsenal source who has passed this information to us over the summer. Everyone is welcome to their opinion on the legitimacy of our source but we for one know the high position he holds within the club. We have always prided ourselves on passing EVERY bit of information we have been told whether it be good, bad or damn right outrageous news.
First of all we will start with the dressing room palaver before and after the Liverpool game. As we tweeted out on the Tuesday before the arsenal-Liverpool game Alex oxlade chamberlain was due for contract/crunch talks with Arsenal on the Thursday before the Liverpool game. At this meeting chamberlain, his agent, wenger and a few other senior board members were present at this meeting. Previous to this meeting wenger himself was told all summer by the ox that he was very happy at the club, would sign a new contract and would commit his future to the club and developing as a player in the RWB position. I was told this wasn't on just one occasion. When the media started reporting that he would not sign a new contract and was not happy at the club, wenger and the board originally believed this was all down to the agent playing games, drumming up a bit of interested so once that interest became concrete the agent was in a better position to negotiate a better contract (higher wages) for his client. This is pretty normal within football and good work from the agent who wants to earn his client the best money possible. Early august we offered the ox a great contract which in my opinion he didn't deserve as he hasn't proved himself enough to be on Similar wages to özil and Alexis, but arsenal went ahead and offered a 5 year contract. Wenger was only aware of ox not wanting to sign the contract when a senior player at the club approached wenger and asked him if it was true. Wenger immediately called the ox into his office and asked him if everything was OK and if he had a change of heart. It wasn't until this moment that the club was aware he wouldn't sign a new contract, the ox told wenger he didn't want or like any sort of confrontation and would prefer a proper meeting with his agent present. (This was the meeting scheduled on the Thursday before the Liverpool game). During this meeting, the short version, he didn't want to stay at the club any longer any didn't want travel with the squad to the Liverpool game as he made it very clear his desire was to play for Liverpool. Arsene asked him to play as he was a key member of the squad who he needed to help us win the game. We also made it very clear we would not sell him to Liverpool. We told his agent that Liverpool were in direct competition with us and we would not sell to anyone that we would help strengthen and potentially hinder our season. In my personal opinion I thought this showed lack of ambition believing that Chelsea wasn't our direct rivals and we was below them? I questioned the source and he explained it that we believed the ox would have less chance of playing at Chelsea hence not being a huge risk but at Liverpool would walk into the starting line up and improve the squad. Although I understand I was still shocked.
Game day of the Liverpool match, previous to travelling to the stadium it seems although the ox made a few of his team mates aware of the situation and that he didn't want to be there. I am told a player approached ox before the game and told him he owes this last game to the fans and the club. A lot of players were upset with the situation and felt like we have a squad of players that don't even want to play for the club! A player in particular questioned wenger and asked him why on earth he would be starting the ox and Alexis who don't want to be at the club. The source believes this is Mr Aaron Ramsey. There was a disagreement then between Ramsey and Alexis as Alexis said he was 100% focused on the game. Come half time it was pretty clear no one wanted to win this for our club and our fans. Steve bould didn't go into the dressing room I was told. After the game an argument continued between Alexis and Ramsey who question him pulling his weight on the pitch, Ramsey questioned our captain and said there was no leadership at the club and said it's embarrassing that we was letting oxlade chamberlain leave the club. Arsene wenger, I am told, exploded and tore into all of the player, something that I am told has only ever happened once before as after the game wenger believes the players should be left to digest the game and tell themselves which is right and wrong before going through the game during the week via rewatching the matches. Wenger spoke with Alexis after the game.. no agents.. no other players around.. just them two. I'm told it was at this point wenger realised he must sell Alexis aswell as he was worried about his desire to win for the club anymore as he didn't want to be there. Arsene did ask Alexis to stay but Alexis said he's worried about the direction of the club as I am aware Alexis was told by Arsenal that we would be making making marquee signings every year to build a club capable of winning the champions league when he first ever signed for arsenal. He believes that promise has been broken. He also believes that not enough players at the club give 100% every game and he doesn't want to be a part of that. All which I believe is very fair criticism of our beloved club which seems to be falling apart at the seams. This Liverpool game was a REAL eye opener at the problems wenger himself, now knows he faces. He told every player that if they didn't want to be there come forward now and he will find them a new home as he only wants players there willing to fight for this club.
Arsenal's transfer business:
Well.. what a mess this was. It all started off so well. Our record signing of Lacazette and the exceptional free transfer of sead kolasinac. Every arsenal fan on the planet believed this was finally our year where we would go out and buy the world class players we have dreamt of for years on end. At the beginning of July I was told lacazette and lemar were our main targets that we wanted wrapped up before Arsenal went on tour. The signing of lemar had no relevance on whether Alexis stayed or went at this point as wenger was adamant that Alexis would be staying and would sign a new contract. Lacazette signed. I then received a very exciting phone call from a very excited source that we've basically signed Thomas Lemar, they had given us permission to discuss personal terms, show him round our facilities and a fee had been 'agreed' (£30m). Lemar did indeed visit the emirates stadium.. photographers were also present at this stage, lemar also shown round London Colney and met various staff members. Contract was agreed £135k p/w on a 5 year deal. Lemar then flew back to France to prepare for his new life in London. It was then at THIS exact point we tweeted out 'lemar to arsenal is done' many of you may remember this was before anyone else on twitter.. hours later a few well respected Arsenal ITK's also tweeted it was a done deal also. Little did we know we was very silly to be so naive and seemed we had jumped the gun. But with previous experience it seemed everything was done apart from a medical at the club!!
It was only 24 hours after lemar visited our facilities that Monaco came back and said they under valued their player and they were now after €50m. At this point I was aware that mahrez was very keen on joining our club. Leicester quoted £40m. Mahrez would be willing to sign instantly. Perfect back up signing if lemar fell through. Arsene was asked what he wanted to do as he was in control of who he wanted to bring in, after gazidis was in control of bringing in Lucas Perez, eleneny and Mustafi, all of which wenger was not very keen on. Wenger asked the board to push on with the signing of Thomas lemar. Just to throw a spanner into the works Thomas Lemar father spoke with wenger and said he was very unsure about his son joining our club as it was a World Cup year and wasn't sure he would get the minutes at arsenal. After a few conversations wenger convinced the father. €50m bid went in and wasn't responded to by Monaco before we went on tour. The source then told me that it was likely that the deal would go through once we was off tour and in time for the emirates cup. He said there shouldn't be any problems whatsoever. Personal terms were agreed and we had accepted the increased fee. Well well well we all know now that was wrong!! Monaco then upped the transfer fee yet again. It was at this point Arsenal realised they were being taken for a ride. The board told wenger to sell players before bringing in lemar at an increased fee of £65m We was not willing to increase our bid a further £35m on top of the £30m we was already quoted. A lot of you may remember that this was when wenger was every public about Alexis Sanchez staying at the club as he was now unsure if we would be able to bring in an attacking player similar to lemars calibre. I haven't included Kylian Mbappe in this article as wenger was promised by the board if he could secure that signing they would sanction a large bid for him as it was more of an investment and would generate a huge incoming of revenue and would potentially recoup a lot of the money. Also knowing in 5/6 years we could've sold him for £200m +. Wenger did work very hard and tirelessly on this deal and at one point it looked very likely as all mbappes advisors told him Arsenal was the best move for him. Monacos £180m put us off which is completely understandable. Any talk of wenger telling mbappe to join PSG instead of us is complete B*******!! Mbappe once aware we wouldn't bid £180m asked wenger his opinion on his best career move as he and his family are very close to wenger.
It was mid/early august that wenger instructed the board to offer özil and Alexis new contracts at whatever cost before the season started as he was aware fans would become very upset at the lack of signings. Wenger also believed if we signed özil and Alexis to new contracts on top of the lacazette and kolasinac signings that would be very good transfer business from us and we wouldn't need to sign anyone else! £300k p/w would be the money we would offer the two player. The board then told wenger they would not offer any new contracts until players are offloaded of the wage bill and no new signings. Wenger was happy with this. Little did he know the board would continuously argue over selling players for £1m / £2m less than our asking price rather than just offloading these fringe players asap.
Along came the Leicester game. All arsenal fans still feeling pretty good about the upcoming season. Defensively we were extremely poor but we won. After the game wenger wanted a new CB and wanted one DESPERATELY. I won't go into too much detail as many of you already know Evans and VVD were main targets. The board yet again reluctant to let wenger strengthen without selling players first. Without doing the sensible thing of buying THEN offloading.
Many of you also know that the lemar deal on deadline day for £92m was in fact true aswell. The only reason that deal didn't happen was because Lemar felt he had been messed around all summer by Arsenal and this deal should've been wrapped up a lot sooner. On deadline day he decided to decline the move. Many of our followers will remember me tweeting this several times before deadline day questioning whether he would still be willing to come after being made to wait so long and perhaps questioned our commitment for not paying the extra?
72 hours before deadline day arsenal were made aware of Alexis transfer offer from Man City. You would think we would be able to set up a deal with so much time left. Especially after being offered draxler at £32m with a £8m upfront payment and the rest in instalments. But same old Arsenal decide to leave it 10 hours before the deadline to bid for Lemar. Seems to me a bit of a smokescreen. Our source believes we would never have gone through with the £92m deal as the board made it very very very clear no more incomings. Wenger has been going head to head with the board all summer as he knows how much pressure is on him. For once this isn't down to wenger. The only thing wenger will be to blame for this season is the players performance on the pitch. "
Bergkamp was the only one of those mentioned he didnt buy. Viera and Garde were signed for him after Rioch was fired and Henry and Petit signed by him
Sackable offence.
Arsenal-mania had been rife with rumours of arguments between Ramsey and Alexis since the game ended.
Agreed. If you bring in a new manager he's either going to have to rip the squad apart or he's going to request funds that the board aren't giving to Wenger. I think the true problem lies above Wenger. I don't believe he's the one leaving contract negotiations until 2 years before they are up. The board in my view seem to believe that it saves 12 months of salary increases. Which is flawed logic when you look at Levy's more pragmatic approach of little increases frequently. You offer Ozil and Sanchez a 25% increase for 2 extra years in 2015 and they both accept. You offer them a 40% increase 12 months later and they reject. You offer them 80%+ another 12 months later and again they reject; what's the smart move?
As I say it's now a tricky situation. If I were the owners I'd be leveraging a bit of future income on the here and now. They should be signing a £60m kit deal and £45m shirt deal in 2019 which will inject another £50m into their finances. Combine that with a need for Champions League income and Summer 2018 becomes a huge year; invest now to avoid falling behind and having to spend twice as much 12-24 months down the line.
If Ozil and Sanchez are leaving I think £250m and £750k a week needs to be made available for 6 signings (For example Oblak, VVD, Lemar, Fabinho, Barkley & Moura).
In the mean time get rid of some high salary squad players like Welbeck, Wilshere, Walcott, Debuchy, Perez, Mertesacker (even if the fees aren't incredible, you'd release £500k a week), extend the contracts of players who are valuable before they either leave or have unsustainable demands such as Bellerin, Ramsey, Giroud, Monreal and make decisions sooner rather than later on whether younger players will help the team or won't (Chambers, Iwobi, Holding, Jenkinson) and either sell or extend.
That kind of ruthless streak in my view would also transmit itself onto the pitch. If the board and manager are ruthless in no longer accepting mediocrity I think that would have an affect on the players. No longer can you sit on a contract until the club folds, no longer can you put in regular mediocre performances knowing you're on a £100k weekly contract for the next 3 years, upon which time it'll likely be extended. You perform or you're sold. If you're performing you're rewarded early with a lucrative contract that reflects your performances and if you refuse you're replaced early and phased out over 12 months without grave damage to the team and at significant cost to the interested club (ala Coutinho inevitably in 2018).
@Loke Quite believable in truth and a damning indictment on the board.
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This nonsense about the wage bill stopping them from spending is the same old BS the club peddle to justify Wenger's value mentality. Wenger doesnt want to spend money because he has no idea how to spend money (he doesnt have a coherent system and profile of player to go after) and he is always looking for 'value' in the market.
Diego Simeone at Arsenal would show quite clearly how inept Wenger is as a manager. He is twice the manager Wenger is and he does it on a low budget, often making Atletico money in the transfer window. Pochettino has already shown up Wenger.
Wenger hasnt been restricted by the Board; Arsenal last season had spent the most after the Manchester clubs since 2011. Liverpool have probably overtook them this year but they are still one of the biggest spenders in the league. Wenger has underachieved with Arsenal for over a decade.
Diego Simeone at Arsenal would show quite clearly how inept Wenger is as a manager. He is twice the manager Wenger is and he does it on a low budget, often making Atletico money in the transfer window. Pochettino has already shown up Wenger.
Wenger hasnt been restricted by the Board; Arsenal last season had spent the most after the Manchester clubs since 2011. Liverpool have probably overtook them this year but they are still one of the biggest spenders in the league. Wenger has underachieved with Arsenal for over a decade.
I'm sorry but this all sounds like complete and utter bull, made up by some fake ITK to protect their reputation.
If Lemar visited the Emirates, then why did none of the papers or any one in the media report that a fee had been agreed?
Why would Ox tell Wenger he's happy to play at RWB, when he has stated time and time again he wants to be a central midfielder?
If Wenger met with Chamberlain in his office alone, then how does this supposed source know what they talked about and the exact words they used? Same with the meeting with the agent. If it was just three of them in the room, who told this person or their source the details of that meeting? Am I supposed to believe that this source had his ear pressed against Wenger's door listening in on that meeting? I find it hard to believe there would be contract negotiations without Dick Law or any other member of our team present.
Again, the players were upset with Chamberlain? Half of them wanted to leave themselves or haven't signed new contracts and the other half are squad players who are just happy to be here. Aaron Ramsey told off Sanchez? The same player whose contract runs out in two years and has yet to sign a new deal? He is the guy who is walking around questioning our best player and captain?
I reiterate my point about Chamberlain re this supposed Sanchez-Wenger meeting. Its just those two yet this guy can give us a blow by blow on what was said. Is Sanchez his supposed source?
This person could have saved himself the trouble of typing all of that up and just said, "Sorry I made it all up".
None of this is directed at you mate, I just found that entire quote incredulous for a number of reasons.
This could be worrying as sounds like Arsenal fans are stuck and have no chance of change and even worse Kroenke could do what he wants with the team and even if other board members objected, he could still refuese to sell his shares in the club and as you say he has already pissed off a full city of fans in USA, one wonders what he could do to Arsenal move to a new smaller stadium somewhere else if fan numbers dwindle and sell Emirates for all the land space and make himself a fortune too? bonkers i agree but it might be why Arsene is still there to try and keep Kroenke in check, even though i thought the Arsenal board should have just made him a club Director at end of the season and got a new manager in
Wenger said they are gonna try for Lemar again 
im pretty sure i read lemar had agreed a contract with us and it was just down to getting an agreement with monaco. There were even pictures flying around of him posing with arsenal fans.
If you read the full thing, you'd see that ox isn't the confrontational type, so probably just said yes and walked away so he wouldn't get questioned further and could sneakily plan his exit. He does look that type as well.
The source itself claims to be close to the chamberlain's circle, but again take it as you will.
Ramsey tried his hardest in all the games i've watched even if he was shit in most of them. The guy visibly tries, can't say same bout ox or sanchez vs liverpool which is what the 'bust up' was all about.
Like i said, its just something which could be true and just take it at face value. When i look at that and link everything that has been on the papers since end of last season, it sounds fairly plausible that it could have happened.
For example, wenger said all summer ox would stay and any suggestion of him being off was just agent's play. Hence, the 180k stupid contract offer, which would make sense.
How was wenger meant to know that in reality the guy was looking for a move away until he came to the office last few days of window and said he wanted to go?
Even if you believe half of that and state the other half is made up, Wenger really has his hands tied in that club.
It's been quite clear of recent years that the lack of achievements from Arsenal is down to a combination of how the club is run from the top, player distractions due to unsettled players, and also some stubbornness of Arsene with how he sets up his teams for matches.
I personally feel Arsene has done a really good job considering what he has to work with and work within. There's obviously fault to be shared by him but an honest assessment would show that he's done a pretty good job considering...
The mix of personalities in a team is key to winning. That is one reason why you hear Jose repeat how amazing of a group we have today. The togetherness and their willingness to share their duties and work for each other. You can manage that to a certain extent but there are always trouble makers during the low points. Nothing brings the worst characters out of players than the low points in the season or their career. They may be talented but the mentality is what makes them a class above. This is also something that Jose mentions a lot which I agree with.
I personally feel Arsene has done a really good job considering what he has to work with and work within. There's obviously fault to be shared by him but an honest assessment would show that he's done a pretty good job considering...
The mix of personalities in a team is key to winning. That is one reason why you hear Jose repeat how amazing of a group we have today. The togetherness and their willingness to share their duties and work for each other. You can manage that to a certain extent but there are always trouble makers during the low points. Nothing brings the worst characters out of players than the low points in the season or their career. They may be talented but the mentality is what makes them a class above. This is also something that Jose mentions a lot which I agree with.
Thanks for sharing that. I enjoyed watching every bit of that.
It just shows you how different the characters in both teams are then and these days. Those are men! Fiery, competitive, proud, and strong men! They fight to the end. Every second they're on the pitch. Whether it's for a blade of grass or for their team mates. I think we're starting to see some of these strong personalities in our team.
Wenger asks the fans to get behind the team. Well Mr. Wenger, you always have to support the team, but don't get angry for some boos this time because you deserved them all.