Lot of talk about Sanchez going to City but I can't see how he could possibly improve their team. He ain't doing it for us so far this season so it looks as though he needs to go somewhere but I don't think City really need him.
I agree, he's not playing well at the moment and they don't really need him. Then again he could be peeved off he's still with us that why is playing poorly. Also he is Sanchez, that kind of class is always welcome.
Would people be happy with a straight Swap Sanchez for Draxler? My main issue is that Draxler just doesn't give the goals you get from someone like Sanchez (same with Lemar) but I guess a fully committed Draxler is better than a half arsed Sanchez.
What about Bailey? The Leverkusen WF looks a ****ing awesome talent. (City and United are also chasing him) Still only 20, he looks the real deal though. Telegraph and a few others claiming Wenger is looking at Lemar, Draxler or Bailey as a Sanchez replacement who may well leave this January.
It's looking more likely that we need to get a Sanchez replacement. Didn't think his final season would go over a cliff as i though he was more professional. Sometimes i wonder about these pampered players sometimes, it must be hell being paid millions and players for a manager like Wenger.
I expected it tbh. (which is why I was soo adamant we should have sold him in the Summer) He seems the sulky type to me. Papers are claiming Sanchez was all set to sign a new contract until our 10-2 (aggregate) hammering to Bayern. The way we deal with players contracts is soo laughably bad. Wilshere looks to be getting better every game so we will know doubt make the wrong decision and let him go. Wenger is absolutely useless.
It's an excellent signing. He won't shore up their defence instantaneously, but he will give them more composure and positional awareness. Once he gradually acclimatises to their style of play, he will be fantastic for them. He's miles above any CB they currently hvae. Begs the question though, why do Southampton keep selling their star players to Liverpool? And why do their players keep wanting to play for them? Are Liverpool the only club who put in genuine bids for their players or what? Is it the Klopp factor? Do Liverpool offer the most money compared to other clubs? It'd be interesting to know.
Yep he's a great signing. Would have been perfect for us. £70 million is a lot of dosh though. .. Meanwhile we're still playing a 5'9 Spanish Fullback next to Koscielny.
Liverpool remind me of us from a couple of years ago when we were still buzzing about signing ozil / sanchez in back to back summers. In fact, watching them playing swansea reminded me just how drained our own club is. Just no real belief about anything; no excitement, nothing to really look forward to. All we have is a bunch of players going out of contract. How in the world did it come to this? Saddens me.
That 10-2 hammering, and the year before against Bayern, didn't help. I agree, our contract negotiations are poor and we seemingly get into difficult positions with our star players. I'd like us in the driving seat rather than the players calling the shots, it would also give the fans more confidence that the club means business on the pitch and not just making profit for the shareholders.
Hoping that our new negotiating and scouting set up will prevent this sort of **** from happening again in the future. Hoping and expecting to see Wilshere sign a new contract and I think we badly need some midfield reinforcements with Santi all but finished and Elneny and Coquelin not good being good enough. Also if Ozil goes (and I'm not convinced he wants to leave) then we definitely need to bring some players in. We're being linked with N'zonzi and Arda Turan again this Jan, both would strengthen our midfield and wouldn't cost the earth. I hope we then go in for Lemar again in the summer.
Agree with what you're saying here. I'm hoping that the new guy will help shift the current culture and move it forward. As for the reinforcements, those are sound buys and would help strengthen us. I'd also get in a central defender too.
Am I right in saying this is the longest Sanchez has stayed at any club now? Either way it's unusual to see a player of his talent moving so often and reflects his character somewhat. I do agree with The Bear. I'd rather we get someone in who is fully committed over someone who has his eyes elsewhere. I hugely doubt we'll get someone as good, I'm not naive, but there are plenty of talented attacking players out there.
There seems to be a lot of revisionism over the Sanchez saga. Some people did say they wanted to cash in, however, if memory serves me right, a lot of us (myself included) wanted us to keep him because we felt it would be better to keep a player of the quality, rather than taking the money and strengthening a domestic rival. The timing of the City bid did not give us much time to look for a replacement, but more crucially than that, if we had sold him in the Summer, it would have been a massive loss of reputation and prestige. Particularly given the animosity the club were already facing due to the subpar transfer window we'd had. Had we sold Sanchez in the Summer, there would have been riots. In hindsight, we can say we should have sold him, but at the time, a lot of us felt it was the right decision to keep him at the club. And I still feel like it was the right decision to keep him. The problem lies where Wenger keeps playing him every game irrespective of how poorly he's been performing. That being said, he's still scored some important goals for us this season. The winner at Burnley, scoring the second in the north London derby, starting the comeback against Liverpool. He's still contributing somewhat even if it's not in the same capacity as last season.
Absolutely, I was very much one of the "keep him" brigade. It was a no win situation for Arsenal though, I don't think many could see him performing so badly/apparently not caring and had we sold him the scrutiny his replacement would have suffered would have been horrific! I saw a couple of rumours linking us with Zaha. Would people mind this? I find him an incredibly frustrating player but he'd add pace to our counters which is something Alexis tends to slow us down with. I'm not saying he'd be a first pick for me, just intrigued.
I would not mind having Zaha at Arsenal; but again, I do not think he is the calibre of player we should be aiming for, and definitely not as a replacement for Sanchez. We really need to bring in a couple of top-class (yes, expensive...) players.
Had we sold Sanchez and signed a Lemar/Draxler - I do think we would be in a better position this Season both in terms of League position and of course financially. Mbappe - would be the dream signing. Technically he's only only loaned to PSG at this point. He would cost 100m+ but I genuinely think we are looking at the next successor to Ronaldo/Messi. He's a future Ballon d'Or winner IMO. But I think Lemar has massive potential also as does Bailey at Leverkusen and both would be 'easier' to sign.
