The transfer market is beginning to open up a little as we skirt past the uncertainty of the opening week’s business and into a stage where talk of medicals (Hojbjerg’s is on Monday) happening and a few new names come into the mix as it eventually dawns upon some clubs that they will have to sell in order to compete.
Duncan Wright for The Sun believes that Arsenal’s Ainsley Maitland-Niles could yet be a Spurs target, and that the Gunners might only require as little as £20million in order to part with their Academy product.
Beyond any tribal nonsense, and the fact Daniel Levy would need indigestion tablets after signing a prospect from a rivals’ factory, Spurs have better options already on their books. Serge Aurier is almost certainly heading to Serie A, but it would be ambitious to suggest that M-Niles would be an upgrade on the Ivorian.
Stuck record I may be, buy Japhet Tanganga is a better bet by some measure and the stats above from WhoScored? also point that way too.
If the kid was that good, Arsenal wouldn’t be cutting him loose. West Ham, Fulham and Palace are listed as clubs that have shown an interest. Good luck to them.
Aye the potential is there.. My point is for 25 mil that’s a good signing… The other 3 are all over 50 million each… 150 million wasted considering so far bergwijn looks the better player out of them all…. 150 mil would buy grealish plus a tidy striker.
I also wonder if Lo celsos loan price adds on to that.
Not quite mate… According to the BBC Fernandes cost united an inital fee off 55m euros (£47mil). Though with add ons this ‘could’ increase to £67.6mil… Lo Celso signed for a club record equalling 60 million euros (£55.3mil)…… So in fact Lo celso initially cost more than Bruno..
Not sure where you’re getting this from but I was under the impression Ferandes cost £68m, and for Lo Celso we paid £14m initial loan fee and then a further £27m to make the transfer permanent – that’s a total of £41m. A good deal less than Bruno whichever way you slice it.
I do take your point he was scoring more goals before we signed him but like I said, he isn’t being played in such an advanced role for us – he’s been helping out with the defensive stuff too.
Don’t worry, for £41m he’s quality and a good addition.
They were nearly relegated the season before as well… Amazing.
They were the same price mate, i think Bruno has 15 million in add ons so in future he will be a little more… So Lo Celso cost as much as Ndombenchy, he’s an equal record signing… Seen as Tintins successor.. He was touted as a freescoring midfielder. For Real Betis he managed 17 goals in 46 appearences in all comps in his season there.. Not bad… But for us he hasn’t managed to score all season.
His first game I was buzzing mate, he was as you described. I thought we had signed Yaya Toure plus one.. He played a blinder and scored the winner.. But he has only performed like that once since. Twice at a push. His performance and attitude against wolves and Burnley was shocking.. He hasn’t managed a full 90 minutes in 9 months, december last year now… As a player, knowing he has all that ability (and apparent engine) it frustrates me that he can’t use any of it.. Top players are consistent, this guy struggles to run in front of millions of people on 200k a week.. I know players who have to pay a fiver to play and they run their hearts out as if their lives depend on it… Its clear Tanguy has loads of ability, but his mindset and his passion to play and win, he has a lot to prove to live up to his price tag and the previous hype… So far Sissoko and Winks have kept him out the firsts.
He’s come through their yoof system hasn’t he, so the brainwashing is complete, no thanks.
Flip. I don’t like this, but I’m agreeing with you again Harold. Have you slipped something in my drink?
Bruno is probably a better player, but the he cost more about £20m more. Also in fairness to Lo Celso, he’s not been playing as further up the pitch as Bruno either. I have a good feeling about Hoijberg – that he will allow players like Lo Celso to really shine next season.
We’ve been trying to shore up the leaks, it’s been all hands to the pump. Lo Celso to his credit has been getting through a good deal of defensive work.
Not bad for a group of journeymen bonding together an excellent team unit of winning the title in 2016 at odds of 5,000-1, probably the moment our destiny of winning the PL title extinguished for ever?!
He’s gonna get better and better. Natural born baller.
Bruva Steve. I can’t see (as a player yourself) how you’re not rating ndom. Firstly his body orientation it top top class. He has pace, power, skill, flair with a great engine. He’s very creative and a fantastic tackler. The boys got it all. He drives forward with it brilliantly and has excellent vision. I find it hard to fault him. Strong as fk.
Boom..Its why they won the league. Buying mahrez and kante and whoever else quality at the time. Some good scouting and clever signings by the foxes.
They are like us,with owners who publicly state they will be putting no more money into the club for players.Sell to buy.
The problem is in this strange market any assets are going to be sold for less than their perceived value.I see both our clubs hovering around mid table next season.
I would say Bruno Fernandes has been excellent for manure… Lo celso tries bless him, there is no beef, but compare his stats with bruno… He’s a quarter of the player. Give him time for sure, but 50 odd million he hasn’t lived up to that price tag. No goals and one assist all season I can’t see how thats excellence.
I like Lo Celso,he’s industrious and gets stuck in.He has that nasty streak like Lamela another Argentine.
However for what he is expected to produce his stats let him down.His goals and assists are far below what you would want.Hopefully he can improve next season otherwise he could be another expensive mistake.
IMO Arsenal are not unique as probably numerous clubs are operating under financial constraints having to sell players surplus to requirements to raise funds to purchase new players.
Aye, naturally a centre back apparently like dier.. He looked pretty natural as a right back when I saw him he was tearing down that flank, in the final minutes too. We got a player there.
Cavani would be a great signing. Proven pedigree and looks as though he could play for another 4 years.
Plus Cavani’s wages would be well out of Levy’s range.
Whilst others are happy to take the plaudits, going under the radar, diligent Lo Celso is an unsung player. Ceballos is probably better. Ouch!!!
The fact Arsenal are putting him up for sale tells you everything you need to know about the state of their finances. This would never happen if they didn’t need the cash so badly. I don’t think we should be the ones who bail them out either. Do Palace or West Ham even have the £20m for a right back? I’m not sure they do.
Not sure what your beef with Lo Celso is Steve. Most of us rate him very highly. For me he’s been excellent.
Yes he has massive potential but yet to be fully convinced I reserve judgement on Bergwjn!
Our last window again was strange, Bergwjn has been the best for me. Hard to play as he’s competing with Lucas. But at 25 million he is quality. Looks more like a 40 – 50 mil player…… Yet Ndombenchboy, Lo celso and Fernandes are all 50 million plus players, but they all seem like they are worth 25 million.
Agreed where supposedly inferior Leicester City are seemingly generally more astute / successful on the transfer front!
Agreed. By quality I don’t even mean world class like that, though one or two marquee signings would be nice once in a blue moon… There is plenty of quality around for cheaper.. One expects one or two flop signings in the mix, but we have far too many. Too much money wasted on rubbish like ndombenchy which could have been spent on decent. If you look at all our signings since mitchell left then loads has been spent on dross.. To be quality we have to sign quality…. For every Dele there is five or six nocluedos.
He’s played more or less everywhere across the back line.
Having already bought Werner and Ziayach, Chelsea are reportedly interested in John Stones, Newcastle supposedly interested in Callum Wilson.Free Agent Cavani is 33!
Quality costs money both in terms of transfer fee and wages!
I see B Dortmund and B Leverkusen have slapped price tags of £100m and £90m on Sancho (linked to Man Utd) and Havertz (linked to Chelsea) respectively.
Japh can play there but isnt he a centre back? If Aurier is going we need at least one, ideally two right backs. Time to sign quality too, far too many of our reported targets like this are sub par.. When I see the likes of edison cavani get snapped on a free it’s grating.