To be fair, a lot of people thought that Mangala would be a beast when he came to the Prem. And he really has struggled.
It wouldn't be the worst signing ever, but it would be far from ideal, especially given the calibre of defenders we have purportedly been in the market for. He's spending his prime years in Turkey so I'm not convinced at all. When I watched him in a few European games for Roma and Wolfsburg, he looked very uncomfortable. If he struggled at either of those sides, I wouldn't want him here. It's worth noting that the last player we took from the Turkish league was Andre Santos. And we all know how that turned out...
Mahrez signed a new contract with Leicester. Queue the "we weren't in for him in the first place" rhetoric.
I already said that and actually think its likely we weren't in for him. Seems Arsenal have become the Club agents use to create a rumour and help them secure a new deal. (Probably because we have the loudest most over the top social media presence)
If you go back a good 6 months you will see I was ranting about Koulibali being the ideal signing for us. He's unusually good with the ball for a big guy and is surprisingly quick. Still he's quite young for a CB so I expect he could make quite a few mistakes while adapting to the league.
Arsene Wenger says he is prepared to enter the transfer market before the window closes on 31 August. The Arsenal boss has been criticised by fans for a lack of signings in recent years but his squad has suffered a spate of recent injuries. "I can reassure people we're ready to spend the money we have," Wenger said. "It's important to spend money but more important to spend it the right way. There are two markets, one for English clubs, one for the rest of Europe." The Gunners saw Aaron Ramsey and Alex Iwobi go off in their opening Premier League defeat against Liverpool on Sunday, while Per Mertesacker, Gabriel and Jack Wilshere were injured in pre-season and Danny Welbeck is a long-term absentee. Wenger said Ramsey "should be back after the international break", ruling him out of league matches at Leicester on Saturday and Watford on 27 August and making him doubtful for Wales' opening World Cup qualifier with Moldova on 5 September. The 66-year-old Frenchman, who has been in charge of the Gunners since October 1996, urged the fans to trust his judgement and and said he had completed over 400 transfers during his time at Arsenal. "It is dangerous. English clubs suffocate themselves by buying players at a high price with high wages, if it goes wrong you are left with players with high wages," he said. "The identity of the buyer multiplies transfers by two or three or even 10 times more." ======================================================= Just take a chance y'****ing muppet it might win you something. It's clear he's always thinking about the business and not wasting the Gooner cash.
What a b----y negative attitude. Scared to spend the money. Its no wonder we just tread water year after year.
Really have no idea how he wouldn't have realised these comments would have gone down like a lead balloon. He's an utter codpiece.
I'm glad Wenger is 'ready' to spend. Because I'm more than 'ready' to watch an Arsenal team with a better striker than Giroud up front.
I think when Wenger says he's ready to spend, what he means is he's preparing to go down to Poundland for his weekly shop!
He's also saying is he has little confidence in himself to manage better/marque signings. As a fan, that's also scary.
Where does he say he can't manage marquee signings? For the past few years, he's brought in three marquee signings and has had no problem. The issue here is he wants value for money in an era where it's near impossible to do so.
Where have I said he can't manage marquee signings? Look at the bit I've highlighted in bold and re-read what I've posted.
We've been linked with Jose Giminez from Atletico Madrid. 21-year old Uruguayan centre-half who, along with Diego Godin, conceded 18 goals in 38 league games last season. I repeat. 18 goals in 38 league games. That is an absolutely phenomenal defensive record. Atletico are apparently asking for £40m. I say I'd much rather have him than Mustafi, but the problem is, I feel like this rumour is BS. If we are reluctant to pay the alleged £30m for Mustafi, it wouldn't make sense for us to pay even more for a different defender. If there was any substance to the rumour, I say pay the £40m right now! He's an absolute rock and would improve our defence instantly.
The problem with this situation is there's a lot of contradiction here. "Buying calms the fans down of course. But first of all you have always to be convinced by the quality of the player. Before you pay over the odds you have to be convinced that the player is good enough to strengthen your squad." Wenger 2016 Prices were cheaper 2 Seasons ago - but we did nothing. Now the prices have shot up and the chances of landing a top player has decreased considerably. Wenger and Gazidis seem to think we cant get a better striker than Giroud for a price we can afford. But over the last few years there have been countless players we missed out on. Diego Costa went to Chelsea for £32 million, Higuian went to Napoli for £32 million, Griezmann went to Athletico for £24 million. £45-50 million would surely have gotten us Suarez a few Seasons back. I mean the market value is the market value. House prices have been going up for years and sure eventually there will eventually be a drop but its almost impossible to predict exactly when and what should people do in the meantime? Stop buying property? Should everyone stop buying players to appease Wenger? If Higuain costs £70m, Pogba £80m, Koulibali £60m then I guess that's where the prices are at the moment. Sure you can get 'good' deals but when the whole World knows you need a Striker and a CB nobody is going to sell you one of their top assets on the cheap. We just have to pay what players are worth or develop a youth system capable of churning out 'Worldies'. We cant just sit around and moan about it.
That's more because Godin is comfortably the best centre half in the world although Giminez is showing plenty of promise. Their back 5 including Juanfran, Luis and Oblak is an incredible unit. R.e. Mustafi. What was your opinion of him when Neville was there? Repeated 3 goal+ drubbings hardly makes you think he's a "rock".
