Tag Archives: She Wore A Yellow Ribbon

Arsenal transfer round-up

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Seems to be plenty going on at Arsenal at the moment, so thought I would do a quick round up of what is being reported / rumoured.

Firstly on Alexis Sanchez. Manchester City pulled out for the race for him yesterday. Rumours doing the rounds are that Sanchez priced himself out of a deal – demanding too much in salary, signing on fee and agent fees. Reports from the summer is that a deal to join Bayern Munich fell through for similar reasons.

As Manchester City ended their pursuit, Chelsea were rumoured to be involved. I would say this no more than agents leaking news in an attempt to force Manchester United to complete a move for the Chilean.

It seems a move to Manchester United is close, with the Red Devils happy to pay wages in the region of £350-£400k for the 29 year old, as well as £10m to the agent and a bumper signing on fee for Sanchez. A lot of money for a 29 year old.

The deal is rumoured to be for £25m plus Henrikh Mkhitaryan coming the other way.

Arsenal were close to signing the 29 year old Armenian in 2016, but Manchester United gazumped a deal. People have ask “why would Mkhitaryan turn down Champions League football for Europa League”.

In 2016, Manchester United were in the Europa League, Arsenal were in the Champions League, so there is precedent with Mkhyitaryan. And at the end of the day, playing in the Europa League is a better option than not playing in the Champions League.

If Arsenal do a cash plus player swap for Sanchez, it will be a good deal for the club – taking into account the contract situations of Sanchez and Mesut Ozil.

Mkhitaryan could be joined at Arsenal by former Borussia Dortmund team mate Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The Gabon forward has been heavily linked with Arsenal in the past 48 hours, with some reporting that a deal could be done within the next 48 hours. A transfer fee in the region of £50m is being reported.

If both do join, it is interesting that two players that Sven Mislintat uncovered whilst at Dortmund will become two of the first players (after the Greek lad) he has singled out as quality enough for the new Arsenal.

Going out of the club is Theo Walcott, on his way to Everton. A deal reported to have been agreed for £20m rising to £25m for the Englishman, who has become surplus to requirements this season.

News about Malcom seems to have gone quiet. A deal was reportedly close last season, but with Arsenal now moving in for Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan, that transfer has gone cold.

Swapping Sanchez and Walcott for Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan, with an outlay of just £10m will be good business for Arsenal.

Keenos

Arsenal target Manchester United star that outperforms Sanchez & Ozil

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Rumours doing the round that Arsenal want to take Manchester United’s Anthony Martial as part of the deal that will see Alexis Sanchez go to the red side of Manchester.

As the below stats shows, Arsenal would be getting a player who is much more efficient than both Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil.

I was surprised when I pumped the names into the SQUAWKA COMPARISON MATRIX. Whilst I expected Martial to not be too far in terms of minutes per goal and assist last season, I did not expect to see him ahead of both.

“Minutes per” statistics will often favour the player who plays less minutes, but it is undeniable that Martial is an impressive player.

He currently averages a goal every 3.4 games in the Premier League. A decent figure when you consider 15% of his appearances have come from the bench.

He has also only just turned 22. He is young, hungry and quality.

A surprisingly competitive replacement for Alexis Sanchez.

Keenos

Struggling to find any positives

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I see myself as a fairly positive character. I try not to get things get me down, especially things out of my control. I feel sorry for the Arsenal fans that live in such a negative world that they spend nearly every hour, from the moment they wake up to the moment they go to sleep, spouting negativity on social media.

We all know the people. 100 tweets a day, all negative. They run Facebook groups where, after a defeat, they post anti-Arsenal 50 meme’s. They clearly get no enjoyment from football, or their only enjoyment they get is being negative.

It is easy to slip into this world of negativity. As negativity breeds more negativity and you tend to surround yourselves with people with similar negative views. It must be very depressing to be one of these people. Constantly walking around being negative.

I might get criticised for it, but I prefer to stay positive. Always looking on the bright side. Trying to find the good in people. It is better to live your life this way then have the negative outlook that some have.

But with Arsenal at the moment, it is very hard to find the positives.

Another predictable defeat against Bournemouth sees the gap open up between Arsenal in 6th and the top 4 futher.

It has been hard to remain positive as an away this season – just 3 wins in 12 away games in the Premier League. With no wins in the League Cup or FA Cup, and just the single win against BATE Borisov in Europe makes it 4 wins on the road for Arsenal.

We are now on a run of just 1 win in the last 6 – a post Christmas victory against Crystal Palace. It is easy to get down.

I read somewhere that Arsenal have been awful since beating Chelsea in the FA Cup. And it is hard to argue against this:

  •          Arsene Wenger signing a new contract
  •          Alexis Sanchez not signing a new contract
  •          Mesut Ozil not signing a new contract
  •          Just 2 senior players signed
  •          A profit on transfers in the summer
  •          2 defeats in the opening 3 games
  •          No away win until 22 October 2017
  •          1 away win in our first 6 away games
  •          Limp performances in the Europa League
  •          Including losing to a bottom of the league Koln – who had one a single game all season
  •          Sir Chips Keswick showing disregard to fans
  •          2 wins in the last 9 Premier League games
  •          Knocked out of the FA Cup at the 3rd round stage
  •          23 points off top (just 22 points off bottom)
  •          8 points off the top 4
  •          Sanchez set to leave
  •          Ozil still not signed a new contract
  •          Jack Wilshere not signed a new contract
  •          Players being sold for below market value
  •          No players being signed

I could go on but then I am on the verge of entering the spiral of negativity that I am trying to void.

Arsenal is not a happy place at the moment.

It is not enjoyable going to games, and even less enjoyable speaking to people at Arsenal.

In my office, I have Spurs and Liverpool fans trying to “banter” me, ignoring the fact that their clubs are no better than us – neither winning anything bar a couple of League Cups in the last decade. Finishing above us once in 20 years does not over turn 2 decades of failure! But it is hard to argue against them.

So what positives can I cling on to?

  •          We are still in the League Cup
  •          We are still in the Europa League

A trophy will not make up for how poor we have been this season, how badly mismanaged we are, from Wenger to Ivan Gazidis to the board, but it will be a minor success.

I guess the only positive I have to cling to is that even in our barren years, we are still more successful then that lot up the road. And whilst we have had a poor couple of years, Spurs have had a poor 3 decades.

So my positive for the day, at least I am not a Spurs fan.

Have a good week, and don’t let football get you down. It really isn’t worth it.

Keenos