I think we have a limited budget. But I covered this before on the PL board, a budget of £45m doesn't necessarily mean we can only buy players up to the value of £45m this summer. As we've seen most deals Arsenal are trying to broker are some cash up front and then instalments and add ons. So we could spend £45m this summer, but that could get 3-4 players with £10m up front and the rest spread over the next few seasons. That said if we did make a bid of £55m up front for Zaha, then yes it was obviously bollocks that we only had £45m
We're finally being linked with a CB. Daniele Rugani from Juventus. He's only 24 and with Juve buying De Ligt, Rugani could be available.
well, both Ceballos and Saliba have been officially confirmed by the club. I think both are good signings. Although one is here only one season, and the other quite the opposite...
I wanna see us go in with a sneaky bid for Anderweireld. £25m seems like a bargain in this current market. Get Tierney Done, Zaha done .. then add the Belgian and we would be laughing.
there was also talk that there was arsenal exclusion clause in his contract. Obviously no idea if true but wouldnt surprise me.
!!! <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Arsenal have reached an agreement with Lille to sign Ivory Coast winger Nicolas Pepe for ~€80m, paid by instalments to fit <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AFC?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc^tfw">#AFC</a> budget. 5yr deal, agent agreement still needed but set to be closed in next 24/48hrs. Napoli also have agreement with <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LOSC?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc^tfw">#LOSC</a> but agent rejected proposal</p>— David Ornstein (@bbcsport_david) <a href="">July 27, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Looking like it’s a done deal. Amazing if we pull this off https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49137976
So strange... Pepe would be an amazing signing. I would have preferred Zaha, but not at the amount Palace wanted (£80m) But surely our problems are defensive?? Should we really be spending such a huge fee on another attacking player???
Pepe is a better player than Zaha and he's younger too. Would have liked Zaha at Arsenal but he's a £50m player tops. Pepe isn't cheap at £72m but he's a quality player and I think his style will really suit us. We've now got a front 3 of Aubameyang....Lacazette...Pepe Who's needs CB's ....
Looking forward to all the 4-3 games as we may score loads but we will also let in loads if we don’t sort the defence out - if Mustafi ain’t sold I will arrange a proper car jacking to make sure he don’t play
We must be working on a CB signing, surely ? Hopefully it's Rugani from Juve. His agent has said that he could move and it makes sense with them bringing in De Ligt. Remember they also have Chellini and Bonnuci also. I'm liking the style from Sanellhi. This is how we used to operate with Dein, going in strong for big players.
The Pepe bid was unheralded which is how we used to do business back then, so would like this trend to continue. Perhaps the £45m was a ruse so that we didn’t get priced up as sellers think we have loads to spend. Imo we should take Toby from Spurs as he is a proven PL CB and still offer the £25m or have him for free next year.
There was a fan's Q&A with Sanellhi and Venkatesham after the US tour. Somebody asked Vinai about the £40m transfer budget and he said he had no idea where that figure came from, it was nothing to do with the club as they never speak publicly about their budget. Regardless, I actually think it's worked quite well. Because if we had some £200m war chest being banded about, then we would have got fleeced for Pepe and we'd probably have been priced out of Saliba too. As I say, I like the way Sanellhi operates. Remember he's had 16 years at Barca so he knows his onions. This signing is exactly the calibre of player we should be going for. Not fannying around all window and then panic buying at the death, or bringing in some 17 year old lad from the 3rd tier of the French league. As for Alderwiereld, I'd take him in a heartbeart, but I think his £25m clause ended on Thursday night ? Also, would he come to Arsenal ? He'd make himself another Sol Campbell figure if he did. Which would be ****ing funny for us, but I don't know whether it's a move he'd go for.
Toby's clause expired 8.00pm Thursday night. None of us can quite believe no-one triggered it. Absolute peanuts in the current market. And Roma - the only team on planet earth who apparently rate him - had the audacity to bid £10m . But yes tbh I am amazed you and United didn't at least test the waters. You both need drastic improvement in defence and he knows the league inside out. That he is still at Spurs is easily up there with the strangest things that have happened this window. Never seen this Pepe kid play so I'm not going to come on here saying he's a colossal waste of money as i genuinely don't have a clue. Could be the next Henry, could be the next Mkhitaryan. Time will tell but as others have said your main priority now is surely sorting out your backline.
