So would I to be honest. According to SSN he's had a medical and the fee is £16mil - whether there's an initial lower fee with add ons, who knows? But holy **** that's a lot of money for a 19 year old that's only played 25 games in total for Southampton. I would imagine a lot of those would have been cup games etc too.
I can't imagine the fee is £16mn upfornt (like Theo or Oxo it will be broken down). That being said I have faith in Wenger (and especially his ability to buy Southampton youngsters) so if he feels the kid is worth the money then fair enough. With Debuchy at 29 and Jenks and Calum both under 22 I think he is locking the position down long term. Also apparently he can play at CB and further up so will serve as a utility player. If we get a DM as well I think our squad is complete. The only other bit of business would be if he is ready to give Campbell games upfront or whether he will be loaned out (in which case a new ST please) and a replacement if TV leaves.
Chambers looks a quality player but what's going to happen to Jenkinson? We don't need 3 right backs. Unless of course Wenger plans to play Chambers as a CB.
Might not be the end of the world for Jenks. Yes just signed a five year deal so maybe if he has a successful year or two on loan he'll be ready for the first team about the same time that Debuchy is starting to wind down... Delighted by Chambers presuming it all goes ahead. Was raving about him earlier in the season and my Saints friends all massively rate him. Some to the extent that they don't know why Shaw is rated so much higher. Also, as mentioned he's a rb but also capable of CB and LB cover. Once he gets a bit older he'll be even better at CB you'd think. Seriously it's not even the end of July and we look like we've tied up 4 really good deals. I'm so ****ing confused!
For what it's worth to you guys, my view is that Shaw is certainly better than Chambers defensively, but as an all-round defender (so including what they can offer offensively as well) Chambers is probably just ahead of Shaw. Shaw cannot cross, shoot etc to save his life. Also often seems slightly afraid of crossing the half way line, unless he has the ball at his feet. Chambers however can cross, will get himself into the box at times etc. (He can hold his own defensively too, no doubt. It's just that Shaw is outstanding defensively.) But I guess given that we already have Clyne at RB, Shaw is/was much, much more important to us than Chambers is.
I would add that I hope because Chambers and Jenkinson can play CB that Wenger doesn't see this as licence to sell TV (after Mert is back) and not get a replacement. If TV goes he still needs to sign a CB.
Thats interesting. Haven't been following Southampton but I was under the impression it was the other way round i.e. Chambers was the more defensive one and Shaw was the marauder. Makes sense as Wenger likes attacking FBs. Will be interesting to see how Shaw goes at UTD then as LVG has played 3-5-2 in his first friendly. I would expect Shaw to play a lot as a LWB or an attacking LB will be interesting to see if he makes the step up. Also now that Southampton have 80-100mn to spend (presuming Koeman is allowed to spend) who are your likely targets??
So far this window then we have signed, a top quality lwf/striker (Sanchez) a quality rb to replace Sagna (debuchy), a gk to compete with Szcz (ospina), a utility defender to cover along the back line (chambers) and a 15 yr old youth prospect from barca. So of the signings we wanted before the window, as long as verm stays, all we are waiting on is a dm (maybe sniederlin?) and we will be finished for the window. As I can't see us getting in another striker unless Campbell or Sanogo or both go on loan.
Out of interest, how much would you be happy paying for Schneiderlin? After the mass exodus which has been widely reported and him arguably being our most influential player you'd be looking at 30m...for a DM...
Not worth 30m to us. We could go and buy Lars Bender for less and Vidal for around 8m more. If he came to Arsenal I think we'd be looking at around 20m tops.
I wouldn't be opposed to that. TV has offered very little over the last two seasons to be fair, we haven't exactly missed him.
I'd be happy for us to spend 30m on a dm just not on schneiderlin. Khedira, bender, Vidal, or someone of that level would justify that sort of money but schneiderlin I'd think would be around the 20m mark.
Crazy to spend that much on Schlenderlin when you have Bender, Khedira etc going for less. For 30m we should pick up someone better.
