Higuain to leave Real Madrid

Duafc

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Great signing, he's a very classy player, if he gets the supply and stays injury free he'll do very well, imo.
 

Cina

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So what's the price tag?

I've heard all sorts, ranging from £15m to £50m!
 

NotoriousISSY

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That is harsh on Walcott and the Ox, it is impossible to name another team with better wingers than Di Maria and Ronaldo.
Is it harsh when it's a fact. Neither Ox or Walcott are anywhere near as good as some of the talent that Higuain has played with...just a rather obvious observation.

For me signing him isn't a sure thing but with the correct signings to complement him, could be spot on.
 

Duafc

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Provided he gets a good start i think he'll do well regardless, with no disprespect to Arsenal it's a step down to a smaller club, less big names and personalities. He'll be the main man up front and I reckon he'll thrive on that confidence.
 

humdinger

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Very good signing for them. A proven, quality striker. Can see him banging the goals in for fun next season.
 

Brwned

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Such as...
Well they play a similar role, have a similar(-ish) frame and they sort of look alike. Certainly Higuaín's more of a natural predator than Morientes ever was though. And it's unlikely Higuaín will struggle in the same way Morientes did for the simple reason that Morientes only struggled because he was over the hill by that point.

He probably is a more clinical finisher than all those you mentioned but I don't think that's saying a whole lot as Rooney's probably the next best. None of them are natural goalscorers really. Pretty much every one of them began their careers in a deeper role. Higuaín is a natural goalscorer but his conversion rate is better because he's more economical (or limited), not necessarily because he's a better finisher. He misses just as many easy chances as the likes of van Persie. Not sure he's one of the top ten strikers either. He's certainly worse than all those you mentioned. You could easily make an argument for Di Natale or Villa being better players and finishers.

Higuain limited? Deary me. He will take the PL by storm if he comes here next season.
I think you'll be surprised by the amount of times he messes up simple passes if you don't think he's somewhat limited. Gio's right in that he showed a bit more variety (and character) to his game at the early part of his Madrid career and he did have that one sensational season under Schuster (?) but other times he's looked like an uninterested, useless lump not unlike Adebayor.
 

NinjaFletch

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I had a huge hard on for him when he signed for Madrid but I've been dissapointed with how he's done.

Hopefully he can show a bit more at Arsenal.
 

Fergus' son

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Best signing they've made in years, and he's not even all that. I wouldn't have him at Utd!

What's the price? More than 15-20M is a rip off.
 

simon_xazza

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As far as I can see Arsenal haven't actually signed him yet, dint a Madrid director say nothing is agreed with arsenal and there's 5 or 6 clubs in?
 

The Neviller

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He'll score a sackful of goals if he goes to Arsenal. It's not like they don't create chances, and Higuain is a proper goal scorer.
 

JaffyJoe

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I agree with the comments he will have no problem scoring in this league Arsenal have gottena good player in that regard. The next question is how good is he? he is not 'world class' but he is a good quality player now Arsenal have made that signing they can look at the other areas they need to improve.
 

Raees

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Reckon he'll be a hit... alot of players can look poor at Madrid and even Barca for that matter as the standards they expect are incredibly high and certain players can't play their natural game and succeed there. I always felt he and Benzema were not of the requisite quality to hack it at Madrid due to lacking that X factor and mentally both weren't strong enough to be a striker for a club of that calibre. At Arsenal under less pressure he could and should thrive, when you consider the amount of chances the likes of Giroud miss on a weakly basis... Higuain as long as he remains fit will be getting them by the bucketload
 

cesc's_mullet

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Is it harsh when it's a fact. Neither Ox or Walcott are anywhere near as good as some of the talent that Higuain has played with...just a rather obvious observation.

For me signing him isn't a sure thing but with the correct signings to complement him, could be spot on.
It's a fairly pointless statement. He could end up anywhere in Europe and the comment would apply to that team too.
 

jojojo

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He'll be good for them and if they can get someone to feed him the ball for his favourite goal - the one where he runs onto it at the edge of the penalty area and hits it, then he'll get them some cracking goals.

He's not a bad player outside the box and he can do the odd great cross. There is just that last little something missing that makes him look remarkably average at times. Mind you if Michu can get 20 goals in a season, Higuain's got to be in the frame for double that.
 

NotoriousISSY

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It's a fairly pointless statement. He could end up anywhere in Europe and the comment would apply to that team too.
It's only pointless if you ignore the main point of the original comment...that a move to a lesser club will be a test of how good a player he is. Especially Arsenal who really need to improve the quality of their attacking players in particular.

I'm personally not too sure how good he is because apart from the goal he set up against United, he's usually a peripheral figure when I catch Madrid with the odd tap in. It'll be good to see what he's about and how he'd take being the main man at a club like Arsenal.
 

Isotope

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Damn. We might lose marcosdeto to ArsenalMania if this true. Very good signing for the Arse, and it's exactly what they need: big name signing, young, and excellent resale value. He makes Arsenal attack look world class: Higuain, Podolski, Giroud, and Walcott.
 

John_Jensen

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Yep, and i haven't seen anything concrete that suggests that it's even close. It's just been the British Media reporting what the Spanish & Argentinian media have been saying, which was a Daily Mail article to begin with.

There's a touch of the Mata transfer about this one. Hope i'm wrong but i can see Pellagrini topping whatever we bid by 2-3m if Napoli look to extort 60m odd for Cavani.
 

Archie Leach

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He's an excellent footballer and would be a great addition to our team. If United weren't stacked with strikers he'd be a good addition to your team as well. The way people are going on you'd think he was Darren Bent.
 

FreakyJim

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Maybe it's just me but from what I've seen of him he's quite wasteful for a striker. He's capable of scoring wonder goals and all, he's very decent on the ball but feck me I remember so many times he's missed clear chances I don't think he's the type of player Arsenal needs. They waste plenty of opportunities as it is.
 

The Taurean

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At finishing? Suarez, Rooney, Ibrahimovic, Van Cuntie, Cavani, Benzema, Lewandowski, Aguero.
I'm sure you would bring up stats for this but I doubt even they would cut it. Its an partial exaggeration to a player you are linked with but that's just not the true picture. Suarez, van Perise Cavani, Ibrahmovic and Lewandowski are definitely better and others arguably so.
 

peterstorey

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I'm sure you would bring up stats for this but I doubt even they would cut it. Its an partial exaggeration to a player you are linked with but that's just not the true picture. Suarez, van Perise Cavani, Ibrahmovic and Lewandowski are definitely better and others arguably so.
Suarez is a better finisher than Pipita? You'll be telling me Defoe is more clinical next.
 

Revan

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Maybe it's just me but from what I've seen of him he's quite wasteful for a striker. He's capable of scoring wonder goals and all, he's very decent on the ball but feck me I remember so many times he's missed clear chances I don't think he's the type of player Arsenal needs. They waste plenty of opportunities as it is.
Yep. He's also consistently shit at big matches and a very selfish player. Could score goals from nothing and is generally good against small teams and/or when his team is winning the game but a bit weak mentally. Don't like him at all.

anyway he could be a good signing for Arsenal, it's much better than everything they have, but no way he belongs in the top bracket of strikers.
 

jojojo

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Still a bit of work to be done on this. Madrid are still trying to sell him/ include him in deals with other teams. He's currently supposed to be part of Madrid's bid for Cavani. Whether he wants to play for Napoli is of course a different matter.

Call me deranged, but I like the idea of him at Arsenal, precisely because he will improve them. Which will improve the whole Premiership scrap next season.
 

jojojo

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Yep. He's also consistently shit at big matches and a very selfish player. Could score goals from nothing and is generally good against small teams and/or when his team is winning the game but a bit weak mentally. Don't like him at all.

anyway he could be a good signing for Arsenal, it's much better than everything they have, but no way he belongs in the top bracket of strikers.
He doesn't miss many shots, he can just be amazingly crap at actually get a shot off.

Weak mentally? I don't think so, he's slugged it out at Madrid for years, scoring consistently without getting a regular berth or a lot of respect from the high command. In a team where he can play every week and every miss doesn't cause an inquest, he might even start to play well in the CL.
 

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Will be a very good signing for Arsenal but lets wait till they sign him first.
 

Traub

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Looks like 25M euros.
To be fair, I think that's a good deal. Although I don't rate him as highly as other top strikers, you're not going to find a striker of his calibre for that price anywhere really.
 

MoneyMay

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Well they play a similar role, have a similar(-ish) frame and they sort of look alike. Certainly Higuaín's more of a natural predator than Morientes ever was though. And it's unlikely Higuaín will struggle in the same way Morientes did for the simple reason that Morientes only struggled because he was over the hill by that point.

He probably is a more clinical finisher than all those you mentioned but I don't think that's saying a whole lot as Rooney's probably the next best. None of them are natural goalscorers really. Pretty much every one of them began their careers in a deeper role. Higuaín is a natural goalscorer but his conversion rate is better because he's more economical (or limited), not necessarily because he's a better finisher. He misses just as many easy chances as the likes of van Persie. Not sure he's one of the top ten strikers either. He's certainly worse than all those you mentioned. You could easily make an argument for Di Natale or Villa being better players and finishers.

I think you'll be surprised by the amount of times he messes up simple passes if you don't think he's somewhat limited. Gio's right in that he showed a bit more variety (and character) to his game at the early part of his Madrid career and he did have that one sensational season under Schuster (?) but other times he's looked like an uninterested, useless lump not unlike Adebayor.
People can give you the first two paragraphs, but most of the third paragraph is ignorance. I'll start off with the part that I agree with and that's the first part. I think I said it earlier in this thread, but he does have a limited skill set, which would seem him flourish in certain systems. Arsenal and Juventus come to mind as two systems that would get him scoring many goals, but if asked to play in the same manner as Welbeck did in 11/12, he would fail badly at it, which is ironic because he is a better goal scorer. The part I disagree with is how many great, or sensational, as you put it, seasons he's had at Real Madrid. He's been at the club for seven seasons, two of those were him trying to transition in (he was very young), while the rest were him trying to solidify his status as the number one striker at Real Madrid, which he did so well, until Benzema went through an amazing transformation in the second half of the 10/11 season. League wise, in 08/09, he scored 22 in 34; 09/10 27 goals in 32 appearances, second in the La Liga charts behind Messi, one goal more than Ronaldo, who did miss two months of the season I think; 10/11 10 goals in 17 appearances, he was setting himself up for a great campaign until being injured; 11/12 22 in 35, in a season where rotation took place heavily; 12/13 his worst season in the last three, he scored 16 goals in 28 appearances. He's had four great seasons, where he has looked great, and this is coming from someone who isn't a fan of Higuain's style.

The main problem I have with Higuain is his poor scoring record against big teams and in the Champions League. For a striker of his quality, he only has 9 goals in 48 CL appearances. One of Arsenal's problems last season in the big games was that Giroud went missing, or missed easy chances, and Cazorla was almost anonymous. I can see that changing, but it all depends on Higuain's mentality, really.