Re: The Official Arsenal Summer Transfers/Rumours Thread

[SamuelJayC]

Llorente on May 19th - “I am not negotiating with City or any other club. Athletic have offered me a new deal and we are speaking.”

[MJ]

Llorente is fantastic but it's all hype. He'd be a great buy but it would obviously mean RVP is out the door. Even then I'd still prefer Benzema to Llorente.

[Sina]

[SamuelJayC]

I bought 442 this month too sina

[Great Leader Sprucenuce]

Llorente is fantastic but it's all hype. He'd be a great buy but it would obviously mean RVP is out the door. Even then I'd still prefer Benzema to Llorente.

Of course you would but Benzema is impossible......

[Eman]

Swiss commentator Philippe Von Burg spoke to @JohanDjourou & was told he's in the process of looking for a new club (Kudos to @LuluLaFrite)

I remember about a year ago he said he wanted to retire here, but then again at that time he was actually in the first-team picture. A move would make sense, but I'm unsure of whether we would actually sign someone to replace him or just promote Bartley and Miquel to replace him and Squillaci.

[Sina]

Arsenal in talks to sign Real Madrid striker

May 27 2012 By Tom Hopkinson

ARSENAL are in talks with Real Madrid over B team striker Joselu.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger has had the 22-year-old monitored over the past year and has been impressed with his displays for the Spanish champions' second string.

Spaniard Joselu bagged 21 goals but his hopes of breaking into the first team are seriously limited because of the presence of Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuain.

Wenger has also been told by his scouts to consider signing Bolton midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker but is likely to ignore their promptings.

Source:People

What did you think when you read title
and then first line

[Arsenalfaithfull]

I don't know why i do this to myself (And i should learn from the past M'vila experience) but damn i cant help but imagine the prospect of this:

Lorente
Poldi----------------RVP------------------Walcott
---------------Wilshere-------Song/DM (M'vila)

[Raptorgunner]

I don't know why i do this to myself (And i should learn from the past M'vila experience) but damn i cant help but imagine the prospect of this:

Lorente
Poldi----------------RVP------------------Walcott
---------------Wilshere-------Song/DM (M'vila)

I don't know why i do this to myself (And i should learn from the past M'vila experience) but damn i cant help but imagine the prospect of this:

Lorente
Poldi----------------RVP------------------Walcott
---------------Wilshere-------Song/DM (M'vila)

What you trying to do? win everything there? not something Arsenal board is interested in.

[Arsenalfaithfull]

Carlos Vela to Athletic Bilbao + Cash?

[Jay29]

Bilbao only sign Basque players. The only player + cash deal we could ever negotiate with them would have to involve Almunia (who's been released, anyway) or Arteta. So, yeah.

I expect Vela will be heading back to Real Sociedad, who, while also Basque, do not adopt the same policy as Bilbao.

Funny thing about the prospect of Llorente signing for us is that he's the calibre of signing that would surely convince van Persie to stay, but to somehow get both in the same team creates a whole new set of challenges.

Sure, you could drop van Persie to an AMC or SS or even an AMR role, but this presents two problems: 1) we would have to drop a midfielder and 2) van Persie has already reinvented himself from an SS to an out-and-out CF, so it probably wouldn't be adviseable to change his role in the side again.

We obviously can't have a £20-30mil striker on the bench, either, and even if we did drop a midfielder to play two strikers, I fail to see how Podolski would fit in on the left hand side. With Walcott/Chamberlain/Gervinho on the other side, and no true holding player in the squad bar perhaps Coquelin, we'd have a very top-heavy side.

The way I see it, the only way you can have Llorente in this squad is if van Persie goes, and if that were to happen, one would have to wonder why van Persie would leave; he would have an improved contract, and Arsenal will have signed two great players...

Yeah, too many things going against this for it be even remotely likely of happening.

[Arsenalfaithfull]

Ooh that's right only Basque player rule . Giroud is also out of the question isn't he? Say what you will about Ade (Yes he was a douche), but he and RVP did quite well together. For me I still see Robin as the Berkamp type of player. His passing/ flare during 05-08 was just as productive (when he played)

[Twoism]

What happened to Kalou rumor ?

I was against it last summer & winter but now since he got released, it would be smart move to get him as back up. He would be upgrade over Parks and Chammy. If he agree on 45-50k per week, I say go for it and offload Parks & Chammy.

[Blue Barrett]

What happened to Kalou rumor ?

I was against it last summer & winter but now since he got released, it would be smart move to get him as back up. He would be upgrade over Parks and Chammy. If he agree on 45-50k per week, I say go for it and offload Parks & Chammy.

Thing is, he's leaving Chelsea because he doesn't want to be a backup.

[Twoism]

I though he got released by Chelsea ? not leaving by his own will

[Blue Barrett]

I though he got released by Chelsea ? not leaving by his own will

Officially, Drogba got released too.

[urbaNRoots]

There are better options than Kalou who are free: Barnetta or Farfan. But we aren't convincing RvP to stay with these kind of signings.

[Twoism]

There are better options than Kalou who are free: Barnetta or Farfan. But we aren't convincing RvP to stay with these kind of signings.

I'm talking about back up or impact sub role, can't sign wc player for that position. Farfan is horribly inconsistent, Barnetta is not better than Kalou (stat wise) and neither are familiar with BPL.

[MJ]

Out of that group I'd take Kalou then Farfan then Barnetta. But again, these are just signings to pad the squad, not WC signings to convince RVP to stay.

[Great Leader Sprucenuce]

LOL i cant believe how many times i have to post this lmao

Farfan isnt on a free, he signed a new 4 year contract nearly 2 months ago

Besides iam not sure why you want another wide player you have more wide players than most people have players ffs

[urbaNRoots]

at me. Anyway I wouldn't mind Kalou - maybe he can turn to another Benayoun/Muntari type of signing - or the worst case turn to a Silvestre type of signing.

[Twoism]

Lets see

RVP is our undisputed starter which means any CF we bring in will be a bench player for him. That rules out the likes of Llorente or Giroud who are expensive and want to play regularly. Podolski deal works because he can play as CF or on the wing and that will be his main position next season (unless RVP leave ofcourse)

Assume we are able to offload Arshavin, Chammy & Park, that leaves us with Walcott, Ox, Gervinho, Podolski & RVP as our forwards which is 3.5 wingers and 1.5 CF. Assume Kalou comming in, that will be 4 wingers and 2 CF, that's adequate number of players for Arsenal I would say.

Llorente or Giroud are nice names, but based on how Arsene works, if those rumors has slightest truth in it, they will be RVP alternatives in case his deal goes bad.

The world class players that are supposed to convice RVP will not be forwards, those will be DM, CM or AM.

[MJ]

Eden Hazard claims to have made up his mind on Twitter:

Eden Hazard on Twitter:

Good afternoon guys. I made up my mind. See you later. Thanks


HE'S FINALLY DECIDED, HE'S GONNA HAVE SALAD FOR LUNCH.





We're not really in the race for him but YOLO.

[Abramovich]

He gonna troll us all and say

"I'm pleased to have joined Arsenal blah blah "

[Sri]

Lets see

RVP is our undisputed starter which means any CF we bring in will be a bench player for him. That rules out the likes of Llorente or Giroud who are expensive and want to play regularly. Podolski deal works because he can play as CF or on the wing and that will be his main position next season (unless RVP leave ofcourse)

Assume we are able to offload Arshavin, Chammy & Park, that leaves us with Walcott, Ox, Gervinho, Podolski & RVP as our forwards which is 3.5 wingers and 1.5 CF. Assume Kalou comming in, that will be 4 wingers and 2 CF, that's adequate number of players for Arsenal I would say.

Llorente or Giroud are nice names, but based on how Arsene works, if those rumors has slightest truth in it, they will be RVP alternatives in case his deal goes bad.

The world class players that are supposed to convice RVP will not be forwards, those will be DM, CM or AM.

Man I agree with you and it makes perfect sense to have 4 wingers and 2 strikers for a club like us who finish 19 points off 2nd place. But given our injury record, I want to see us sign a Llorent or a Giroud if we are selling Vela, Bendtner, Arshavin, Chamakh and Park (5 players) and replacing them with Podolski (GOD, but still 1 player) - Where is the depth?

EDIT: If we are replacing Chamakh with Giroud, it sounds brilliant. RvP is great, but he has had injury concerns and has just played a prolific but demanding season - I am sure even he would want to have some rotation, he isn't getting any younger. But if we are going for Giroud (or Llorent), then I would keep Chamakh. Despite zero playing time, he is still a good squad player and I would like to see more from him. Park, Bendtner, Vela and Arshavin can leave. If we aren't signing on Yossi, we will promote one of Ryo or Campbell - which isn't my first option as all these kids need some PL season long loan deals.

[Twoism]

Lets see

RVP is our undisputed starter which means any CF we bring in will be a bench player for him. That rules out the likes of Llorente or Giroud who are expensive and want to play regularly. Podolski deal works because he can play as CF or on the wing and that will be his main position next season (unless RVP leave ofcourse)

Assume we are able to offload Arshavin, Chammy & Park, that leaves us with Walcott, Ox, Gervinho, Podolski & RVP as our forwards which is 3.5 wingers and 1.5 CF. Assume Kalou comming in, that will be 4 wingers and 2 CF, that's adequate number of players for Arsenal I would say.

Llorente or Giroud are nice names, but based on how Arsene works, if those rumors has slightest truth in it, they will be RVP alternatives in case his deal goes bad.

The world class players that are supposed to convice RVP will not be forwards, those will be DM, CM or AM.

Man I agree with you and it makes perfect sense to have 4 wingers and 2 strikers for a club like us who finish 19 points off 2nd place. But given our injury record, I want to see us sign a Llorent or a Giroud if we are selling Vela, Bendtner, Arshavin, Chamakh and Park (5 players) and replacing them with Podolski (GOD, but still 1 player) - Where is the depth?

Vela and Bendy didn't feature for us this season so their sale won't matter. We had Theo, Ox, Gervinho, Benayou, Park and Chamakh; that's 6 players as our forwards and the last two hardly ever put on their boots (yes they are horrible or aren't they?). So you offload two mediocre players, Parks & Chammakh who us fans deem not good enough as back up CF and you bring in two better replacements (Podolski and ???).

I don't think Llorente & Giroud will be that ??? Reports say Giroud refused Bayer Munich (who has only Gomez as their main CF btw) because he doesn't want to play as back up. I don't think he wants to to come to Arsenal to be RVP understudy, same could be said about Llorente.

Of course, I would love them to join Arsenal and will celebrate if it ever happens. I just don't see it as realistic targets right now and if's not right now, after Euro it will be even more unlikely.

Squad next season

GK: Chesny, Mannone, ???
Defense: Sagna, Jekinson, TV5, Kozz, Mertz, Gibbs, Santos, Djourou, Bartley
Midfield: Song, Le Coq, Arteta, Wilshere, Ramsey, Rosicky, Diaby, ???
Forward: Walcott, Ox, Gervinho, Podolski, RVP, ???

That's 26 players squad assuming we could offload all the deadwood this summer and sign proper replacement in ???. Probably the maximum roster for us so 3 more signings are realistic, one midfield starter and one back up forward.

* Not counting players from loan who could be kept by Arsene: Ryo, Dench, Lansbury, Joel.

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