I don't know if we waited to get a better deal on Cesc but considering we knew he was going in any event, we should have got the job of signing players done well ahead of that last day in August. It was the delay that made for a very costly start to our season. Nasri seemed adamant he was leaving but I don't know if we held out for more money. The trouble is a couple of million ether way shouldn't have delayed our purchase strategy. It was the lateness and slowness of that which was our problem. As far as players like Denilson, Almunia et al are concerned, I do have some agreement with getting rid of them for free if no one wants them. Cut one's losses as opposed to throwing good money after bad. Thus far I believe we have tried to ship them out but it seems no one wants them either!!! It's easy to say Wenger made a bad choice of players but sometimes one can't tell how a player will develop. Someone like Squillaci though was a dreadful purchase. Chamakh simply lost form and struggled to regain it. Fortunately he came on a free. I believe a really concerted clearout in the summer is necessary.
Anybody able to tell us who has their contract expire end of this season, and the year after? ie we can let them go for free. I must say renewing Djourou's sounds crazy - we will be saddled with him benchwarming for years ( unless Wenger is confident some other daft club would pay him that much).
Well arshavin, rosicky and bendy I think expire this year. Maybe others. Maybe almunia? Anyone knows I would love to know. Interested in this. Also linked to this thread....clint dempseys contract runs out the end of next season. We should sign him this summer. He can play wide or through the middle. Then we can sign a world class playmaker
its now being reported we could get him for 10 mill euros if koln are relegated. pity because there are 2ppl who own 10% of his transfer fee and 10% goes to bayern if price is 10mil+ looks like if that does happen they could end up with only 8mil poor sods and also if he does come its reported that he would sing a 6mil euro a yr contract with us
Why all the hate for Djourou? Anything he has done this season has to be completely ignored as he is not a right back. He is 25 years old which is still very young for a CB and is already way better than Jones in that position IMO. I always think our players are rated against some standard that is imagined, perfection perhaps, rather than compared to other players. He has been very good at times, particularly when he has had a decent run of games, which is what defenders need. The spurs CBs were awful on Sunday, but I have been told that they are better than ours. Jones has been so bad for MU that they have stopped playing him at CB.
Sorry to bump this old thread, didn't want to open a new one. According to Bild, Podolski will be available for 6 million Euros if Cologne gets relegated: http://www.bild.de/sport/fussball/podolski/bei-abstieg-kann-poldi-6-mio-gehen-22986890.bild.html
Djorou has played CB too this season and he's been cack Vermalean has been LB for a good part of this season and he hasn't ****ed up like JD has
I think you are being a little unfair. The man's played well in the past and I see no reason why he couldn't be good again. We need to stop getting down on these players. We can't afford to replace 3/4 of the squad down to the 4th place CB. At some point you have to try and work with what you've got. Look at Man Utd persisting with Jones and DeGea. Right now you could spend 20M and still end up with worse.
I guess what did it for me was his comments after the 8-2 humiliation when he said something along the lines of "I didn't lose any sleep, I am perfectly happy and relaxed". Basically he couldn't give a monkey's.
Djourou's credentials are vastly superior to those two. I'm respect your opinion if you think he isn't good enough to play in our set up, but he has proven himself as capable of playing at the highest level at CB. He has played with Senderos for years in a very stingy Swiss defence, and I don't rate Senderos highly. Now there, he had a very defensive Inler in front of him, so perhaps in that set up, he is better.
Both have great potential, that much I will give you and I will happily swap Jones for Djourou. But they aren't "proven top class footballers." by any strech of the imagination. They both have the potential to be world class but are years and years away from it
Bild are reporting that Podolski to Arsenal is a done deal for a fee of £10.8 million.Don't forget that Bild is the German version of the Scum though
Whats arsenal procedure on deals like this? Do they break their silence usually? I cant think of a precedent?
