The Official Summer Transfer Rumours Thread

[RealGunner]

Summer 2015

[Chumlum]

Arsenal can make up to two more senior signings without having to offload (or unregister) players for the league, correct? I think the club only listed 23 senior players for the PL ...

[Sina]

Tyrone Mings and Cabaye
wont spend big on Schneidrlin
but at this point need Cabaye type just as much

rather young defender with potential than being stuck with Average defender as a back up

[RealGunner]

That's the dilemma arsene will have. Which defender to get who doesn't end up being another Squillaci or Silvestre.

[Raptorgunner]

Whats the dilemma? we need a top player, Mert is too slow should be rested.

The only Dilemma he is how cheap Wenger will be?

[MJ]

Whats the dilemma? we need a top player, Mert is too slow should be rested.

The only Dilemma he is how cheap Wenger will be?

How many 'top' CBs are available? Barcelona had €30million+ to spend and could only get Mathieu and Vermaelen.

It's not that simple with 'top' CBs anyway, a lot of them are just in very good teams, they'd look poor in our side with the way we're set up on our crap days.

[urbaNRoots]

Bilbao's Aymeric Laporte is available for a fixated release clause although he probably won't want to be 3rd choice.

Stuttgart's Antonio Rüdiger is available for not a big fee.

Or if you want experience, Vlaar, Reid both available for low fees. There's no excuse to NOT sign a CB although it's too late to save the season anyway even if we don't.

[Chumlum]

Almost no chance we'll ever get Laporte, but I'd certainly love it if it happened.

Personally I would be happy to sign a central defender who is "merely" good, reliable, not a huge or awe-inspiring signing. The elite CBs, Hummels et al, are not going to be moving in January. Just get a body in who can do a job as needed, right away if needed. Reassess in the spring/summer if we need to splash the cash on another CB. A January capture of Reid or Vlaar would be fine transfers in these circumstances. IMO.

[Sina]

Mertesacker should be that experienced back up

we Need a Starter

[RealGunner]

Maybe we can tempt Hummels if Dortmund are still doing badly late on.

[Sri]

Mertesacker should be that experienced back up

we Need a Starter

I am a big fan of Per, have been for years. And I agree with this. Even after retiring from Intl footie, Per is not a player who can do season after season of 50+ games. It will be good to get someone who can gradually take over from him.

We need, imo, a left sided Calum Chambers. And just as nobody expected Calum to come in and do pretty darn well, I trust our transfer team to unearth such a player.

Problem is, if we don't find that player, we will end up waiting for summer or getting a stop gap Squillaci/Silvestre who will then become deadwood and hold us back in the summer.

#SaveUsHayden

[El Gunner]

Problem is, do we think scrubs like Reid or Vlaar is better than Per?

[MJ]

They're better than Monreal at CB. Our standards are pretty low right now tbh imo tbf.

Even if they're not better than Per, their presence will push him to up his game and vice versa.

[Great Leader Sprucenuce]

Maybe we can tempt Hummels if Dortmund are still doing badly late on.

I hate to do this to you, but if Hummels suddenly came available everyone on the planet would want him lol.

[Chumlum]

Everyone WANTS that world-class center back. Sure. But there's like a 0.00001% chance of that happening this January. So that's why some of us are speculating about options that are more realistic.

That doesn't mean ambitions have to be low. MJ's point is right on. The issue is not if they're better than Mertesacker. The issue is who's an upgrade on Monreal/Debuchy at CB. We need depth, first, and the minimum criterion to improve the squad from where it is now is to get a CB better at CB than our fullbacks.

It's not necessarily going to be the magnitude of improvement, right now, that will catapult us into the next level. But it might provide more solidity and reliability in the back four, and that simple tweak could help A LOT.

Vlaar and Reid aren't elite players, but neither are they "scrubs." They've both done well for their clubs in recent seasons. Schär, too, would be great--a player who wouldn't be too expensive and also is still young. Any of those guys could come in and help the squad as a back-up/rotation CB. Especially if Kos in on the injured list more than we'd like him to be ...

[Chumlum]

Nabil Fekir bats his eyelashes at Arsenal:

Lyon youngster Nabil Fekir admits it is "a pleasure" to know that Arsenal are showing an interest in him and says playing for a big club one day is a "dream".

http://www.goal.com/en/news/11/transfer-zone/2014/12/14/7073802/arsenal-interest-a-pleasure-admits-lyon-starlet-fekir?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

Well, that's that then. He's pointed to Arsenal directly so you know he won't ever end up here.

[Chumlum]

Oh, another CB option that has come up in the past, but has gone kind of quiet lately: Matija Nastasic. Young, left-footed, hasn't been getting any match time at City (also due to injury). If we could convince them to sell at something that isn't truly exorbitant, he would tick off a lot of boxes.

[Chumlum]

Metro says Arsenal eyeballing a "swoop" for Destro & Hamsik.



I could almost kind of see Destro as an eventual target, especially if Podolski/Campbell are moved on.

But Hamsik? Hilarious. I don't even mean that as a knock on him personally. But an inconsistent, 27-year-old attacking midfielder who's spent his whole senior career in Italy as a January midfield signing? Even Arsene Wenger isn't that Wengerish.

[Raptorgunner]

We only need a CB and DM. Not much to ask right?

[Arsenalfaithfull]

Xherdan Shaqiri is being offered by Bayern Munich for 15 milli! We should be all over that shit. Forget Hamsek.

[GenBlizkin]

Send Poldi back to Germany, send Joel on loan, Buy Shaq.

[El Gunner]

Shaqir!!!
Get in there Wenger

[Hapless_Hans]

lol what nonsense, with Ox, Alexis, Welbeck, Cazorla, then Özil and Walcott returning the last thing you need is Shaqiri.

[Chumlum]

I like Shaqiri a lot. He's one of those players I always keep an eye out for and enjoy watching for his style. On an abstract, hypothetical level, I would love to see him at Arsenal.

But he's not at all what we need. Especially considering that he'll want a lot more match time if he leaves Bayern, because he's a good enough player to deserve more. Yet I don't see him starting over, say, Alexis ...

[Hapless_Hans]

Exactly

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