Re: The Official Summer Transfer Rumours Thread

[abirking]

The perfect Arsenal signings will be:
Fabregas: For creating the chances.
Higuan: For finishing the chances created by Fabregas.
Bender: For clean-up services in the mid-field.

Where does the Manure for Fabregas stories coming. Unlikely that Barca will sell, but if they do, Arsenal must make an effort to sign him.

[Sina]

Tancredi Palmeri ‏@tancredipalmeri 6m

Real Madrid accepted a payment by installments from Juventus for Higuain, but has asked to raise the bid. Juventus entered with a 22m € bid

hope Tanker is wrong as he usually is

[GenBlizkin]

If Barca sell Cesc, you know Arsenal will break the bank for him, hes proven with the team, knows the players and will slip straight in and at 20-25 mill will be a great signing coming into his prime

[urbaNRoots]

We have dropped our interest in Jovetic. Not pursued him since last month and that's mainly because of them asking for 30m. I think he is our 3rd choice after Higuain and Rooney.

I would love jovetic, but surely 30m for Rooney is a better deal ?

Of course Rooney is better I would pay even more for him, but realistically can we sign him? Will Manchester United sell in the first place to a rival? Does he want to join us? Is he ready to take a pay-cut after calling Manchester United "unambitious" for more money? Will we pay a player 4x more than the average we pay to our other players? I just don't see it happen for those reasons and more.

That's why I would try to get Jovetic even for 30mio, who said many times that he could imagine playing with us, doesn't demand huge wages and will leave the club 100% this summer.

I still believe it can happen, Juve are trying to lowball them and Fio might just become sick of their offers and decide to sell him to us instead. But only if we're ready to pay the release clause.

Both Rooney and Cesc are unrealistic targets, we will not get them for many reasons. (atleast not this summer)

[EL Patron]

We have dropped our interest in Jovetic. Not pursued him since last month and that's mainly because of them asking for 30m. I think he is our 3rd choice after Higuain and Rooney.

I would love jovetic, but surely 30m for Rooney is a better deal ?

Of course Rooney is better I would pay even more for him, but realistically can we sign him? Will Manchester United sell in the first place to a rival? Does he want to join us? Is he ready to take a pay-cut after calling Manchester United "unambitious" for more money? Will we pay a player 4x more than the average we pay to our other players? I just don't see it happen for those reasons and more.

That's why I would try to get Jovetic even for 30mio, who said many times that he could imagine playing with us, doesn't demand huge wages and will leave the club 100% this summer.

I still believe it can happen, Juve are trying to lowball them and Fio might just become sick of their offers and decide to sell him to us instead. But only if we're ready to pay the release clause.

Both Rooney and Cesc are unrealistic targets, we will not get them for many reasons. (atleast not this summer)

This Rooney rumour is becoming annoying, we have no chance of signing the guy but people keep mentioning his name as if he is a realistic target

[RealGunner]

If we can't get Higuain and Rooney

Best option then will be Villa and someone else.

[Chumlum]

The perfect Arsenal signings will be:
Fabregas: For creating the chances.
Higuan: For finishing the chances created by Fabregas.
Bender: For clean-up services in the mid-field.

It's true this would be a really impressive haul, but the thing about getting two midfielders this summer (and this holds true to some extent even if they were lower profile, like Grenier & Imbula) is that the midfield is already packed.

Imagine Fabregas, Bender, Arteta, Ramsey, Wilshere, Rosicky - all six of them competing for three spots. Even if we accept that Rosicky isn't a regular starter due to his advancing years & injury history, and if Ramsey is slightly demoted despite his excellent second half of the past season, that's still four players who more or less demand to be in a starting trio. (Do we bench Arteta because he's not a "WC DM," though he's a de facto captain and also the club's most consistent midfielder in the post-Cesc era?) And this is considering that Cazorla gets pushed out wide (making the forward line itself more crowded) and that the Ox doesn't get playing time in midfield!

Not to mention that there's still a possibility that Diaby, Coquelin, or Frimpong may yet play a role for Arsenal in midfield - even if it seems unlikely for any of them at this point.

It's an issue, and it's why I'm still skeptical that the club are in for a creative central attacking midfielder in addition to a deeper player.

[Mudcat]

That's why I would try to get Jovetic even for 30mio, who said many times that he could imagine playing with us, doesn't demand huge wages and will leave the club 100% this summer.

It's Arsenal's money, so I'm not going to try to spend it for them. But if it were me, there's no way I'd pay 30 million for a player who converts less than 15 percent of his chances and inhabits the same areas of the pitch as Cazorla.

[sportsczy]

Mercatos are a lot about momentum... if Arsenal make one big signing early, the other targets could get excited and decide to join too. For once, Wenger needs to get aggressive. Set the tone Arsene ffs!

[urbaNRoots]

It's Arsenal's money, so I'm not going to try to spend it for them. But if it were me, there's no way I'd pay 30 million for a player who converts less than 15 percent of his chances and inhabits the same areas of the pitch as Cazorla.

What is Cazorla's percentage, does anyone know? Just to compare.

[Lex]

£30 million for Jovetic? What am I reading

[sportsczy]

Cazorla has scored 12 goals on 138 shots...

http://espnfc.com/player/_/id/40202/santi-cazorla?cc=5739#

[urbaNRoots]

£30 million for Jovetic? What am I reading

€30 million.

It's the same amount of money Aston Villa are asking for Benteke, you decide which one we should sign.

[urbaNRoots]

Cazorla has scored 12 goals on 138 shots...

http://espnfc.com/player/_/id/40202/santi-cazorla?cc=5739#

That's 8.7%, so Jovetic with less than 15% doesn't sound too bad and that would improve in a open and attacking minded league like the Prem.

Besides the two wouldn't have a problem playing together they're versatile players who can swap positions in a match and not have a problem.

Those who say "LOL 30million for X player" are probably the ones who laughed at Chelsea for signing Hazard and Bayern München for signing Martinez, look who's laughing now though

[sportsczy]

General rule of thumbs:
- CFs need to be at a minimum of 15%. 20% to be considered a good CF.
- 10% is the minimum for wingers and AMs. Why lower? They usually takes chances from lower percentage areas than CFs.

[abirking]

The perfect Arsenal signings will be:
Fabregas: For creating the chances.
Higuan: For finishing the chances created by Fabregas.
Bender: For clean-up services in the mid-field.

It's true this would be a really impressive haul, but the thing about getting two midfielders this summer (and this holds true to some extent even if they were lower profile, like Grenier & Imbula) is that the midfield is already packed.

Imagine Fabregas, Bender, Arteta, Ramsey, Wilshere, Rosicky - all six of them competing for three spots. Even if we accept that Rosicky isn't a regular starter due to his advancing years & injury history, and if Ramsey is slightly demoted despite his excellent second half of the past season, that's still four players who more or less demand to be in a starting trio. (Do we bench Arteta because he's not a "WC DM," though he's a de facto captain and also the club's most consistent midfielder in the post-Cesc era?) And this is considering that Cazorla gets pushed out wide (making the forward line itself more crowded) and that the Ox doesn't get playing time in midfield!

Not to mention that there's still a possibility that Diaby, Coquelin, or Frimpong may yet play a role for Arsenal in midfield - even if it seems unlikely for any of them at this point.

It's an issue, and it's why I'm still skeptical that the club are in for a creative central attacking midfielder in addition to a deeper player.

Even though the mid-field is packed, I think a creative mid-fielder is important. Lets face it, only Cazorla among the current mid-field has the talent to consistently unlock defences with passes. Good teams will simply block him off. Wilshere has tenacity, decent ball control and good dribbling ability but his passing is not up to scratch yet. Additionally our wing players such as Podolski, Walcott and Alex-Ox are direct players with only OX possessing some degree of dribbling skills.
If a compromise has to be made i will go for a Arteta-Ramsey partnership as it provides more defensive balance and Get Cesc Back.

We can get a world-class striker but without proper service he will not be effective. Whether it be Higuan, Rooney or anybody else A creative mid-fielder will be required unless we get a striker like Suarez who has the pace and dribbling skills to create chances for himself, and when that does not work is not afraid to Bite opponents.

[urbaNRoots]

Barcelona's current list of centre back options: Mathieu, Rami, Mangala, Vertonghen, Inigo Martinez, Vermaelen, Agger, and Marquinhos. [md]

http://www.mundodeportivo.com/20130609/fc-barcelona/mathieu-rami-mangala-opciones-central_54375819677.html

[RealGunner]

if we get a 15m offer. Yes

[urbaNRoots]

Me too, get Sakho as his replacement.

Btw, thanks for the link sportzczy... just checked Podolski's shot/goal ratio, it's an impressive 20%.

[Great Leader Sprucenuce]

I don't understand Barca sometimes.... they don't want Hummels because he's too similar to Pique yet they have Vert, Verm and Inigo on their list

If i was them i would dwindle that list down to Marquinhos and Mangala.

[RealGunner]

Podolski is an insane finisher

[abirking]

We can offer Barca Cash Plus Vermaelan for Cesc. It seems like i Have Fab-mania, but players like him are rare and it would be great to have him back.

Podolski is a great finisher when he plays for Germany. I think the German national anthem has something to do with it (it sounds quite motivational to me). I dont know why he suffers at club level ( except Cologne).

[Mudcat]

Cazorla has scored 12 goals on 138 shots...

http://espnfc.com/player/_/id/40202/santi-cazorla?cc=5739#

That's 8.7%, so Jovetic with less than 15% doesn't sound too bad and that would improve in a open and attacking minded league like the Prem.

Besides the two wouldn't have a problem playing together they're versatile players who can swap positions in a match and not have a problem.

Those who say "LOL 30million for X player" are probably the ones who laughed at Chelsea for signing Hazard and Bayern München for signing Martinez, look who's laughing now though

I didn't realize everyone wanted Jovetic as a Cazorla replacement (or to have two Cazorlas in the lineup). The comparison was to Rooney, who would play center forward (as would Higuain, whose conversion rate is about one in three).

[Raptorgunner]

@Orbinho

Higuain chance conversion rate (no penalties) season 2011-12 43%, 2012-13 32% - Average Premier League striker 16%.

Personally I would take Rooney over any striker Wenger is looking at.He knows the PL and is a versatile hard working player. Sign Rooney now and attract more players later.

[RealGunner]

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger weighing up move for Benfica’s Nicolas Gaitan [A Bola]

Benfica wanted 25m for him last season.

I would be upset if we bid anything more than 12m. Do we even need him ?

[Great Leader Sprucenuce]

I was very unimpressed with him in our quarter final tbh.

Also doubt its true, A Bola are not exactly what you would call reliable.

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