The Manzukic rumours are nonsensical and just sign of the appalling 'journalism' of the Daily Fail. It's the one plus one equals three journalism.
www1.skysports.com/football/news/11095/9103874/transfer-news-arsenal-boss-arsene-wenger-admits-robert-lewandowski-interest Wenger tried to sign Lewandowski.
Yeah, I'd love us to sign Mandzukic in the summer. I said to a friend that in the world of realism, he would be our perfect signing. If we can get Morata on loan until summer I think that would be great.
Meh... is anyone really that impressed by Mandzukic? Is he being rated just because he plays for Bayern? Not exactly a fantastic scoring rate considering he plays in front of arguably the best midfield in the world. Never scored more than 16 league goals in a season in his career. Not really any better than Giroud whenever I've seen him play. I thought the whole point was that we wanted quality, not quantity? Bayern deem him worse than Lewandowski... and Lewandowski is world class. So I'm not really keen on someone deemed not worthy of being at that top level unless they had the potential to get there (or get back there).
Morata is not that good. A lot of you seem to be excited by the prospect but he's not of the quality needed for Arsenal at the moment. Jese and Morata dont get many chances but there is a reason for that. Jese of the two is miles better. He has had good matches lately but his decision making has been poor all season. You dont want a raw, developing prospect on loan for 6 months. You aren't a daycare. I think this is a case of being inspired by Real and not the player.
Zukic is top quality. Last season he scored 15 league goals in 24 appearances! That's a very very strong goal scoring record, yeah it wasn't 20+ league goals because he wasn't playing in a lot of the league games, he only featured in 24 out of a possible 38 games. So 15 goals out of 24 league games, how's that not top quality? This season he has 10 goals from 16 league games, that is very top quality, how isn't that a good return? In Europe as well this season he has 2 goals out of 4 games, another good return. I'd love it if we sign Zukic, he would get us a lot of goals.
Again... Manduzkic in my eyes is just meh. He's clearly a very good footballer. Just not really the star striker that I think we need. He's not someone who makes something on his own out of nothing like Suarez, Cavani, Falcao, Lewandowski, RVP, Rooney or Ibrahimovic. I'd rather go for a different style of striker that would contrast with Giroud. I'm still a massive fan of Pato... there were times in his early days at Milan when he was brilliant and far better than someone like Mandzukic has, or ever will, be. Anyway, Mandzukic won't go anywhere until the Summer... and if we're waiting until the Summer there's not really a reason to go for him when we could buyout someone like Diego Costa.
I'd be happy with either frankly, cost pending. Both are improvements (in my eyes) on what we currently have and any upgrade should be considered. Personally, if Costa's release clause is accurate I'd love us to go for him.
I really hate the idea of a loan deal. It seems to be a given that players need to play their way into the premiership, so that also means that having to give a player back at the end of a loan just wastes the effort taken to integrate him. I would like another striker, but isn't playing with Walcott, or Gnabry up front, even if they are not suited to our style of play, better than going with a complete stranger, who has never played in the PL?
Gundogan may be on the market: http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1672477/borussia-dortmund-seeking-answers-ilkay-gundogan?cc=4716 Madrid may be interested in him, which in turn could free up a possible move for Khedira, another top quality player. I'd personally love to see Khedira at Arsenal. New striker, Khedira, and a new CB to fill up our defence, and we're untouchable.
There's a few things I think should be concentrated on: Getting Ox back to fitness. Getting Gnabry fully integrated with the first team. Get Pod some training at CF - leading the line, not dropping deep, run timing etc. Search for BOTH a CF and a wing forward. In my opinion a CF is still the most required, but one that can play wing forward as well ala Sturridge / Suarez would be ideal.
I think Pod can lead the line in a 4-1-4-1 like Theo did against the spuds. With Gnabry / Ox on the right and Santi on the left with a combo of either Ramsey/Wilshere/Rosicky/Ozil in the middle and Arteta/Flamini sitting behind.
If we want to replace Walcott by going into the transfer market, then there are some decent options. Angel Di Maria Julian Draxler Remy Cabella Hatem Ben Afra (Would be a massive risk, but the talent is there) Mathieu Valbuena (Not as quick but has amazing ability on the ball) Antoine Griezmann Saido Berahino (Another gamble, but he can play on the wings and upfront) Xherdan Shaqiri
