Re: The Official Summer Transfer Rumours Thread

[Hapless_Hans]

If you indeed got Balotelli that would be pretty cool.

[urbaNRoots]

Milan's CEO Galliani met with Mino Raiola today, Balotelli's agent and according to Di Marzio, Balotelli was the talking point

http://gianlucadimarzio.com/en/calciomercato/milans-galliani-met-with-balotellis-agent-raiola-the-picture/

[MJ]

Remembering that old Balotelli thread in the gen. section. I hope, if it happens, he isn't the next Anelka but an Ibra waiting to bloom under the right guidance.

But if it happened, definitely first shirt I'd get   

[Sina]

Spoiler:

[MJ]

Arsenal to bid £15m for Mario Mandzukic in case Balotelli deal falls through. (Express, Metro)

Wenger also looking at PSG's Lavezzi for £15m but club more likely to ask for something in the region of £24m. (The Sun)



At least we won't be caught with our pants down and all of our eggs (lol) in one basket like last summer with Suarez and Higuain?

[MJ]

Cavani with some interesting comments:

"I defend the colours of my club with pride & prestige but in football you never know everything can happen. One day you are within a team, the next day you are playing for another "

http://rmcsport.bfmtv.com/info/623101/cavani-pas-precis-avenir/?utm_content=buffer899fe&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer


Daily Mail report Tony Pulis is keen on a loan deal for Joel Campbell after World Cup.

[Chumlum]

I don't envision Cavani going anywhere but if by chance he goes somewhere let us hope it is to the Emirates. I would love to have this guy in the squad.

[Sina]

No club, including Arsenal, has made a bid for AC Milan’s Mario Balotelli so far this summer [Gazzetta dello Sport] http://t.co/0Yyh5b5Dwi

[MJ]

Every other report mentions that Arsenal haven't made a formal approach yet but have begun discussing personal terms with Balo's agent.

Di Marzio reports his agent met with Galliani and lowered the asking price from €45m to €37m.

[Eman]

"According to reports in Italy. Its been reported that Balotelli has been sold. But Arsenal waiting for the Puma official announcement.    

If thats true its more bigger than a signings chelsea have made this season. Exactly the type of player arsenal need.

Not at all mate. Balotelli has never been as good as Cesc is or Costa was last season - don't let yourself think otherwise just because he is being linked with us.

I have actually never disliked Mario Balotelli more than I do right now. Some of you are overrating him so bad that it's embarrassing. He is good but not world class. He has never broken 20 goals a season ever while half of you are sniffing your noses at Mandzukic, who has done so for the past two consecutive seasons (albeit at a club with a lot of offensive talent). You guys want us to break the bank for Balotelli, pay him whatever he wants, make him the centre-piece of our attacking lineup, ignore his awful & poisonous reputation, and for what reason? Just because he is the player most strongly being linked with us, just because painting him as our savior is convenient and puts your minds at ease, that's why.

All this talk about how Wenger will change him is equally ridiculous - Balotelli is already a grown man and will do whatever the hell he wants, as he always has. There is nothing Arsene can do that Balotelli will respect enough to change who he is as a person and as a professional. Do you guys remember Gallas almost tearing our squad apart under Wenger's supervision because of his beef with Kolo? How about Adebayor or Nasri, are they really model professionals after years of working with Arsene? Song's behaviour was rumoured to be unprofessional as well, which is supposedly part of why we sold him. It's true that Arsene has always done enough to keep the squad serene, but right now we have a better team spirit than we have had in such a long time - everybody gets on with everybody. Do you want to risk all that for Balotelli? Do you think our entire squad will get along with him perfectly? He will be gone within 2 seasons anyway in all likelihood.

I am not saying that Balotelli will never be a superstar, I'm not saying that he will never become really serious about his career, but why the hell should we be taking this risk? I would literally rather take nobody than Balotelli. One of my least favourite players. I am so sick of hearing about him. I am completely done singing this same tune about him so sorry, I'm done here. I will not be back in this section until we are confirmed to be, or not to be, signing him.

[gb]

Being a closet Arsenal fan, I think the purchase of Balotelli would be a great deal of business. I understand Eman's concern of Balotelli's maturity but football is a business and as a business you need to take risks.
We've been heavily linked to Mandzukic which many of you have stated brings a similar skill set to Giroud and Benzema seems an impossible option. It seems that we are being a little too picky in what is a very limited striker market

[MJ]

Of course it's a risk. It's a huge risk.

But Mandzukic is not much better than Olivier Giroud, that's the whole point of the discussion and why not many are as excited by targeting him. Would it improve us to sign him? Of course. But not enough to give us more versatility or options.

But with Balotelli there's no denying his quality and that he has the potential to become a bona fide superstar.

Obviously his reputation precedes him. He was probably the most controversial and plain dumb player in the Premier League at City but since moving to Milan we haven't been hearing from him with all the off-field stunts.

His managers at Milan have noted that he needs to work harder and maybe they're right but we're talking about a 23-year-old and Arsene Wenger.

Sure, Nasri, Adebayor, Song etc. all left but they did perform in the time they were here and we made a ridiculous profit on them for what it's worth, not that we should sign Balotelli with the view of profiting years later.

But if Wenger is certain he can be the manager to get the best out of Balotelli then you're damn right I'm going to be happy to see us get him. If not, it's no skin off of my nose because I'll trust that Wenger thought it wiser not to risk it on such a risky character. So there's no need to get so upset about it.

[VendettaRed07]

My view is this. Balotelli has immense talent, but hasn't really put it all together in a season yet. In the past his hot headedness seemed to get in the way quite often but last season at Milan he put that behind him.

Wenger has gotten more out of certain players than other managers could ever hope for. Do we really need to come up with a list of "Who was player x before they signed with arsenal?" With Balo, the type of striker he is perfectly fits our system, and Wenger will put him in a position to succeed for sure.

I think the chance that Wenger can get the best out of him is a chance worth taking. After all, what are we paying him the big bucks for? Its his job as manager to figure these types of things out. Wenger up until this point has literally made his entire career out of turning talented players who haven't really produced consistently at all, in to world class players. Literally this is what wenger has done since he has been manager. We've had the money to buy WC type players now, for like, one season lmao.. But the options for an already top of his game striker just really aren't out there. All the other players we can get have something "wrong" with them.

All of our other options are seriously mediocre. Cavani isn't going anywhere, suarez didn't work out last year, Benzema wants to stay, Lewandowski is going to Bayern, Rooney extended with Man U, Costa to Chelsea, They won't sell us Lukaku either. etc. I could go on.

Outside of them whats really left? Mandzukic, Remy, and.. ughhhhhhh.. Balotelli's ceiling is sooo much higher than literally any other option we have.

I guess maybe Pedro or Alexis sanchez, but can they really play up front? If we bought them we'd probably just push them out on the wing. They don't really fit our system playing up top. Honestly I'd want one of them in ADDITION to Balotelli if anything.

Lets just sign him and move on. Milan seems very clear "Give us what we want and he is yours". I'm so tired of this game, lets just buy a damn quality striker and move on so we can address our other needs ffs.

[VendettaRed07]

Balotelli- 25m + one season loan deal for Joel Campbell.

Serge- 9m

vet GK, free-5 or 6m

Veltman- 8m (Really need a young CB to develop)

Morgan Schneiderlin- 18m.

Total around 60m or so.... And if Wenger really wants to go for it, throw in Pedro or Alexis Sanchez for an extra 20m. They could even be less depending on how much Barca still owes us for Cesc and Song.

Totally doable, far and away, greatest summer ever. How could anyone complain if we did anything close to that.

[MJ]

Daily Mail clarify that Joel Campbell is wanted on-loan by AC Milan.

Striker's father spoke to ESPN, believes Wenger will bring him back because "he knows what's best for young ones."

http://www.espn.co.uk/football/sport/story/316957.html

[Arsenalfaithfull]

which one of you guys are excited to see Balotelli and Campbell play for Arsenal next season?

[6unner]

Anyone will be better than Giroud and a centeral mid on the wing.

[VendettaRed07]

I hope we do get Campbell back for next season, but a one year loan in Milan might be good as well. Whatever it is.

------------Balotelli---------

Campbell----Ozil---Walcott

   

[lenear1030]

I hope we do get Campbell back for next season, but a one year loan in Milan might be good as well. Whatever it is.

------------Balotelli---------

Campbell----Ozil---Walcott

   

i agree, I know he's had enough loans but a club like Milan could b a good experience. I hope he's brought in for pre season though

[Jay29]

Reports abound that Madzukic could be off to Wolfsburg.

Wouldn't be too disappointed about that tbh.

[sportsczy]

Giroud/Sanogo again

[RealGunner]

If all fails, loan move for Ba

[Chumlum]

Convert Wilshere to striker.   

[Raptorgunner]

Thierry Henry:"We are waiting to have Joel Campbell in an #Arsenal shirt"

No more loan move, bring him back to Arsenal. We need a big game player.

[VendettaRed07]

I think it will come down to how he plays in preseason. He has to be consistent or else he won't get the opportunity to play in the big games because of Santi and Podolski

Ill be at the Red Bulls game, i'll scout Campbell for you guys  

[MJ]

Puma pls

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