Re: The Official Summer Transfer Rumours Thread

[RealGunner]

Ornstein on a roll

Arsenal close to agreeing deal to sign Valencia centre-back Shkodran Mustafi. #AFC will pay fee in excess of £35m for Germany international

— David Ornstein (@bbcsport_david) August 25, 2016

[urbaNRoots]

A striker

Can't wait until he starts on tue wing to make way for Giroud.

[RealGunner]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CquahnDXYAAKgu_.jpg

[Jay29]

Today has been productive.

[RealGunner]

I am really happy to be honest.

Mustafi, Perez and Xhaka are good signings. We addressed our weaknesses.

Mustafi is what Koscielny deserves as his partner. Perez will provide different option upfront. Xhaka is the controller we lacked.

---------------------Cech----------------------
Bellerin------Mustafi-----Koscielny-----Monreal
------------Xhaka-------Coquelin--------------
Walcott------------Ozil-------------------Sanchez
------------------Giroud-------------------------

[Sri]

This feels like clutching tbh. And sweeps the entire inefficiency under the carpet. Lucas Perez was no way plan a through Z.

[Sri]

Ornstein on a roll

Arsenal close to agreeing deal to sign Valencia centre-back Shkodran Mustafi. #AFC will pay fee in excess of £35m for Germany international

— David Ornstein (@bbcsport_david) August 25, 2016

How do you measure 'close'?

Anyway, excellent signing this would be. Can't for a minute fathom AW dropping over 30m on a CB. Wow.

[Sri]

I am really happy to be honest.

Mustafi, Perez and Xhaka are good signings. We addressed our weaknesses.

Mustafi is what Koscielny deserves as his partner. Perez will provide different option upfront. Xhaka is the controller we lacked.

This tells me that at least we are aware of our weaknesses, and tried to do *something* about it, even if it was not the best option. And that is already more than what we've been doing in the last decade or so.

Silver lining.

[Jay29]

This feels like clutching tbh. And sweeps the entire inefficiency under the carpet. Lucas Perez was no way plan a through Z.

It is but I just thought it was an interesting way of looking at things. I don't know who wrote it, but he at least acknowledges it wasn't the perfect plan by any stretch.

I said back when the Vardy stuff kicked off that it was weird he'd be our first choice over the likes of Higuain, Lacazette etc - that we'd immediately go to him before even trying for the other guys. Which clearly showed Wenger wanted a certain type of striker that offered things we didn't have, which was pace, relentless work ethic and threat on the counter.

Of course, it doesn't explain why it took so long to get to Lucas if that was the case. Matt Law of the Telegraph released a story today saying we could have signed him last week but opted out, but then Everton's interest forced us to change our minds because we couldn't afford not sign someone. If Lucas was our Vardy alternative you'd have thought he would be signed before the Euros... unless we spent that entire time haggling for Lacazette.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/08/25/arsenals-confused-approach-to-summer-transfer-window-laid-bare-b/


Anyway, this is the window we finally signed a no. 6 for midfield, are finally signing a centre back for big money, and are even signing a striker even if it isn't the one everyone wants. So that "two or three more" excuse should stop now. And it's great that they're being done before the deadline and hopefully they'll be announced before then to prevent any panic.

Jeremy Wilson said there'll be no more incomings after Mustafi and Lucas but there could be some "interesting" outgoings. Chambers will probably go on loan, Debuchy will probably go (don't know where that leaves us at right back though - Holding fills in until Jenko is fit?), maybe late offers for Walcott or Ox with Gnabry taking their spot?

[Sina]

not bothered how much Mustafi costs but Forwards can make much more difference to our overall results than any defender(in our  rather poor defensive setup)
so odd that the forward is least expensive of the 3 senior signings

Panic buy

hopefully Wenger's last summer window this was !

[RealGunner]

If he scores 15 goals in all comp then that's a good buy. As long as Giroud scores 20 and Sanchez 15 as well

Rest can come from Walcott, Ramsey, Ozil, Gnabry and Oxlade

[Sina]

Already had a big enough squad imo
needed improvement in quality not just another option for the sake of adding one

[Twoism]

Well Lucas is average so yeah, he was usually refered to as budget option. Cheapest choice as back up ( means permanent bench) for teams like Barcelona or Real, kinda like a lite Nolito. I'm underwhelmed by this signing if it even goes through, remember we are fighting the like of Everton & Westbrom for this. I guess desperate time comes desperate solution. Gotta wait for arsenal.com as always though for both guys.

[Jay29]

Arsenal agree £35m deal with Valencia for Mustafi. Will fly to London for medical, seal terms on 5yr contract. Perez medical also today #AFC

— David Ornstein (@bbcsport_david) August 26, 2016

Wenger on the Mustafi and Lucas deals: "We are working on the deals. We are not close to announcing them to you today."

I guess all the formalities will be taken care of over today and the weekend before they're announced next week sometime. Maybe deadline day if we account for Arsenal usual slowness.

[Rev]

Ornstein you beast.

I'm actually looking forward to seeing Perez in action. Except from Alexis I can't remember anyone who made our attack better or added another dimension to our attackin game. Here's hoping it's Lucas Perez.

[MJ]

We didn't have to pay £40m for players like Cazorla, Koscielny, Arteta etc. (albeit, different circumstances) and they're some of Wenger's finest signings. Obviously Perez sounds underwhelming on paper but I'm happy we've signed a striker who offers something different to what we have and I'm definitely holding out judgement for a while yet.

Very excited about Koscielny - Mustafi though. We've finally secured a young defender with experience and a high ceiling.

[sportsczy]

Perez IS underwhelming... beyond underwhelming. At least with Cazorla and Koscielny, I knew they were good and they were still young when signed. With Perez, he's already older and pretty damn average.

He's an effort type guy.

May work out but I doubt it. He's not better than the strikers Arsenal already have. Good for depth though.

Mustafi is a fine signing, however. But he's not 40 mil worthy either. Otamendi was clearly the better CB when they were paired for one year, just for reference.

Mustafi-Kos is a fine pairing though.

[Sri]

I am actually cautiously optimistic about Perez. I think he can really add a little something, based on what I have read so far from diverse sources.

Reallllllllyyyyyyy happy to have another German international joining us too. And at that price, hark! Really amused by that!

What I don't want to see, though it would be rather likely knowing us, is Alexis-OllieG-Perez, though I am getting an impression from the scout articles that it could well work. I mean, it is not really hard to be picked over an off-form Theo / Ox (unless your initials are J.C.)

[Sri]

Thanks Sports, but we've seen how good Otamendi was when he joined City at 27 (?).

Arsene signed Koscielny at 24 and we've seen how that turned out, for reference.

How often have we seen Wenger spend anything over 20m? And what does it tell you when he's willing to part with 35m for a CB?
He makes some compromises along the way, but how many of Arsenal's 30m+ signings are underwhelming flops so far, for reeference?


Give them lads a chance to shit themselves, before we collectively start shitting on them. And they will have enough moments to do that, given all the wonderful protection they receive from our amazingly compact midfield.

[Hapless_Hans]

hopeful optimism is back

[Sri]

FFS

It's not optimism wrt Wenger's management.

It's cautious optimism wrt the relative degree of success and application that Perez could have.

[Hapless_Hans]

cautious optimism is back

[Sri]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=JihqELmrBuE

German signings at Arsenal always cheer me up a tad bit

[Jay29]

See, I've read that Otamendi's outstanding year at Valencia was partly to do with having a capable partner sweeping up behind him and covering his mistakes. That defender being Mustafi.

And it's probably no coincidence that Otamendi's form nose dived when he left and he had to play with Mangala.

We'll see how the new guys fit in, though. New CB partner for Koscielny, plus a new midfielder in front of him. Might see some teething problems early on.

Also Lucas is definitely going to play on the wing to start with He's going to be our left footed Welbeck I think. Hopefully with a few more goals.

[Sri]

That just makes it sound like he'll soon end up on the injury tables

[Jay29]

You're not an Arsenal player until you've had at least a two month lay off

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