4Hi Arsenal fans, Saints fan in peace. There's been a lot of speculation regarding him and Arsenal. I'd be interested as to what Arsenal fans would think towards a possible deal. Nearly all Saints fans, me included, are keen for him to stay. Southampton manager Nigel Adkins stated in an interview yesterday that no bid had been made although plenty of interest had been expressed. He made it clear that Southampton are not looking to sell and will not talk until someone puts their cards on the table. The figures being talked about are pretty large. £10m-£12 with most of it upfront and a sell-on clause. Chamberlain has 2 years on his contract and he's pretty happy at Saints, which gives us a pretty strong negotiating position. I won't bang on about how good I think he is (unless pressed for an opinion), but do Arsenal fans think spending big money on him would be a good idea? The papers are reporting of quite a few incomings and outgoings and ambitions of winning silverware this season. With that in mind, what would his team status be should he move? I hear that Spanish kid is set for quite a prominent role, which seems to be showing if you're good enough you're old enough. With my rose tinted glasses on though, I can't help but look at Walcott and feel a touch disappointed.
Hes a very decent lad, I really do think him staying at Southampton would be in his best interest 2-3 more seasons at Southampton, then i would seriously look at him...
If we signed another kid this summer instead of a proven player I would be extremely annoyed at Wenger.
Hard to compare as Theo is now a few years older. Having seen him play for England and a few times for Arsenal since leaving Southampton, I haven't been that impressed. Maybe it's because Arsenal and England have tried to turn him into a winger when he never was one, I'm not entirely sure. In hindsight, I think Chamberlain is potentially much better. I'm not sure who to compare Chamberlain to. He has 2 good feet but favours his right, he's quick obviously and makes good runs. The thing that sets him apart from Walcott for me is his football brain and ball-playing skill. He's not the most influential player at Saints, that title would probably go to Adam Lallana or Rickie Lambert (forget it!), but give him an opportunity to attack and he'll grab it with both hands. He plays best with Lallana, Lambert and a ball-playing CM. I think he'd do well with a playmaker like Nasri also in the team. From the perspective of his career, I think he's best off staying at Saints until a big club wants him based on his current ability as well as his potential. The Championship is a lot stronger than League 1 and for me staying put is an ideal step up. I don't think there is much substance in the paper-talk, but I wanted to see what the reaction of Arsenal fans was. The Southampton chairman is a tough bastard when it comes to selling players and I doubt you'd get that far without offering a really silly amount anyway.
I would buy him now if i was Wenger. Very good on the ball and compose much more talent than walcott and many other overrarted English players. I for one was surprised he wasn't on the under 21 worldcup squad.
Pearce said that he would have been picked had he been more fit. He only returned from injury on the last day of the season. I'm more surprised that Adam Lallana was so quick to be overlooked, he wasn't even included in the warm-up friendly.. He's 23, but was still eligible. Its just the England way to ignore the sort of players the team is crying out for.
Walcott is a goalscorer, but he's not a winger. He isn't and never has been a great team player, which is where he's not really suited to the Arsenal style. He is English after all, not Spanish.
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/football/view/199921/SAINTS-SLAM-ARSENAL-ALEX-BID/ I found this quite amusing.
i think most gunners are struggling to sift through the dross of what is true/likely/possible etc from our on the ball media. I think he would be a good player for us, but probably not 10-12 million good, how do you guys rate him? how has he progressed in the last year?
He's a lot better than he was at the start of the season. He can now last 90 minutes in regular games, which he struggled with earlier in the season, often coming off after about an hour or being used as an impact player. He's obviously talented, but not having played outside of league 1, it's difficult to talk about him in the grand scheme of things. A lot of teams in League 1 are awful. I don't think someone will pay £12m for him until he's doing his thing in the Championship, but I have no doubt that he can. IMO he's learnt a lot from Adam Lallana, who is a sort of League 1 Lionel Messi. He's a livewire, influential, creative, unpredictable player, which is something Chamberlain aspires to be. Lallana is a player that uses guile rather than pace to make things happen, which Chamberlain wants to do to increse his prospects and increase his longevity in the game. He's better than Lallana was at 17, but not where Lallana is at 23 yet. He has 2 really good feet, but needs to learn to have more confidence in his left to be properly both footed. You can probably find the goal he scored against Walsall on Youtube somewhere. The defender backs off, so Chamberlain cuts in on his left and curls it in at the far post from 25 yards. He knows exactly what he's doing, it's pretty stunning stuff.
at 17,he's got better tehnique than Walcott did. He just doesn't have the blistering pace or finishing ability of Walcott. But hey, he plays a different position, and can play all across the midfield. I think chamberlain will be the better player.
He won't be the next Messi, but that is what he's aspiring towards. Explosive is a good work to describe him.
I personally think we could take it or leave it. We have a lot of young players in the pipeline. I rather agree with PNeawf in that the £10m should be spent on someone who can slot into the team right now and add to our strength. We've gone through an awful lot of years being a training ground for youngsters........ IMHO
any transfer for him would have to be seen as an investment for the future - and in my opinion we shouldnt sign chamberlain if it cost us signing mata or someone like that! that being said i do like the look of him - but feel he needs another couple of seasons with southampton to fully develop his potential and all that - but i wouldnt be against signing him now and loaning him back to saints for a season or two so that he could continue his development away from the pressure of arsenal life?
Chamberlain must be in the top 5 of the fastest players in the Championship now and is certainly not slow. He has also scored some incredible goals and will certainly be a better finisher than Walcott when he gets older. I think Arsenal though are confusing what Chamberlain is worth and what we have him valued at. We have no need to sell and don't need the money. 15m is a great valuation because it would mean we could bring in a player who's reached his potential to instantly make a bigger impact. He's certainly not WORTH 15m at the moment but his potential is so huge that you can't really put a figure on it. If he turns out to be a world class winger then 15m is a bargain.
