Category Archives: Transfer News

Make No Mistake, Alexandre Lacazette Is A Huge Downgrade On Alexis Sanchez

Posted on by
16

With the signing of Alexandre Lacazette imminent, Arsenal will complete their second signing of the summer, after bringing in Sead Kolasinac from Schalke.

And the reported fee of around £52 million will mean we have smashed our transfer record by some margin, eclipsing the fee paid to Real Madrid for Mesut Özil in the summer of 2013.

But is this guy any good?

Well from what I’ve seen, he scores a lot of penalties. And he’s quite quick – not Thierry Henry or Theo Walcott quick, but not as slow as Olivier Giroud.

He’s scored a lot of goals in Ligue 1 but so had Giroud. I’m a bit conflicted about his signing and if every Arsenal fan was honest with themselves, they know in their hearts that Alexis Sanchez is the far better player – and unfortunately signing Lacazette will mean the departure of Sanchez.

It’s clear that with Alexandre Lacazette is a replacement for Alexis Sanchez. Manchester City are reportedly willing to pay £50 million for the Chilean, co-incidently a similar fee that we’re going to pay for Lacazette.

Alexandre Lacazette’s scoring record is good but in comparison to Alexis Sanchez’s 30 goals and 13 assists for Arsenal last season, they are inferior. Of course, football isn’t all about statistics but for all of Arsenal’s talk of winning the Premier League title then this signing is significantly below our expectations.

I don’t doubt that Alexandre Lacazette is a decent player. But after all the drama with Arsene Wenger’s contract situation, the abuse aimed at the Arsenal manager, then the club talking about pushing on next season and wanting to win the Premier League – it’s clear they need to sign world class players who are ready to help the club reach that next level.

Will Kolasinac and Lacazette do this? I highly doubt it.

 

Cheap Players That Arsenal Should Consider Buying

Posted on by
Reply

It has been speculated recently that Arsenal are going to spend big this summer, having learnt their lesson from before. However, what is more likely is that Arsene is going to spend as he usually did in the past – buy at reasonable prices and hope for the best.

Trying to buy the best players at reasonable prices is next to impossible, but as Football Manager players know, there is always the possibility of investing heavily on one or two world class players and then buying a couple more free agents with the pocket change left.

In this article we will look at 3 extremely cheap, but quality options, which Arsene can buy this summer to improve Arsenal’s squad depth. We have already done the scouting, so Arsene, if you are reading, please go for these players since this is a unique opportunity and it is just like being given an offer code completely for free.

Diego Laxalt

At the end of the season Arsene Wenger started playing with three centre backs and two wing-backs in a shift to formation which surprised everyone. The 3-4-3 was popularized this season by Conte and soon managers like Pochettino and Mourinho followed suit.

Arsene was the last to jump on the train, but it seems like he made the change at the right point of the season since it was early enough for some improved performances and crucially for an FA Cup trophy.

That brings us to our first transfer target, Diego Laxalt. The Uruguayan is still only 24, currently impresses for Genoa in Serie A and can play left wing-back or left winger. He is quick, pacey, difficult to shake off when marking, times his tackles to perfection and can deliver a killer cross.

He would be ideal for Arsenal’s new formation as Wenger would have two quality outlets down the wings with the Ox on the right and Laxalt on the left. In addition, he will also come quite cheaply as his current market value is no more than €8 million.

Ilija Nestorovski

Nestorovski is a natural goal scorer who can be considered as a late bloomer. He was unearthed by Palermo’s scouts last year after they saw him scoring for fun in the Croatian second division.

You would think that it is a big step up to move from the Croatian second tier to Italy’s Serie A, but for Ilija, it wasn’t. He was Palermo’s top goal scorer this season, notching 11 goals and 3 assists in a frankly rotten side which was relegated as early as April.

His current value is no more than €4 million and he is arguably the smartest purchase in Europe right now with the likes of Everton, Atletico Madrid and Fiorentina following his situation.

Etrit Berisha

Berisha is Albania’s and Lazio’s first choice keeper and he has had a terrific season. He is currently valued at only €6 million which makes him a bargain even if his price goes as high as €20 million in today’s inflated market.

 

Sead Kolasinac Is An Absolute Beast!

Posted on by
Reply

So Arsenal have made their first signing of the summer, Sead Kolasinac on a free from Bundesliga side Schalke.

The Bosnia and Herzegovina international is only 24 and was widely reported to be the best left back in the German league last season.

And if you look at this YouTube compilation here, you can see he looks like some player:

Of course, football compilations of players on show their best bits and I’m sure if you made a video on Alexander Hleb then you could make him look like Messi, but at the same time there are several things you cannot discount about this guy.

The first is that he is an absolute beast!

Look at the size oft his guy! He clearly has a good touch and decent pace but he is so imposing on the pitch! A justified criticism of Arsenal over the past decade is that as a team we’re a bit lightweight and too intimidated by more physical sides but we definitely wouldn’t be with this guy in the team.

He is well built and looks very strong. And what I like about him (apart from the assists and goals that you’ll see on the video) is that he doesn’t seem to give a fuck when it comes to tackling. No hesitation, no dilly-dallying – he gets stuck in and shows the other team who’s boss. He sees the ball and he goes and wins it, no questions asked.

Obviously he is a relative unknown to most Arsenal fans (as we seem to be ignorant to other leagues in Europe) and he was clearly free but I’m excited about him. A solid, reliable and young player who I’m sure can integrate well into this Arsenal side.

And having been at Schalke for the last 5 years he is fluent in German and will get on well with Per Mertesacker, Shkodran Mustafi, Mesut Özil and of course, Granit Xhaka.

And slightly off topic, but I can’t be the only one who thinks he looks like a bigger version of Lucas Perez?!

 

How Can Wenger Keep Hector Bellerin Away from Barcelona?

Posted on by
Reply

Hector Bellerin has been at the center of rumors and speculation for some time now, especially with regards to his future at Arsenal. If you look at the latest Premier League lines, it is easy to conclude that Hector might be heading back to Europe soon.

Hector left Barcelona in 2011 when he chose to join the Gunners. Ever since then, he has had to work really hard to force his way into the first team. Additionally, he has become a full Spain International.

Now, intense speculation about Hector’s next move has begun to emerge, with many voices linking the full back with Manchester City and Barcelona. Wenger cannot afford to lose a talent like Hector.

And the fans have rightly begun to murmur in anxiety about Hector’s possible departure. And it isn’t like they do not have good reasons to worry about the Defender. Barcelona hasn’t come out to justify any of the rumours floating around about their interest in Hector.

However, they haven’t denied the rumours either, and according to most European Football analysts, there is a good chance that Barcelona is looking at Hector as a good replacement for Dani Alves.

A product of La Masia, Arsenal’s bid to keep Hector in place will be complicated by the fact that interest for the player extends beyond Barcelona. Manchester City has also begun lustfully gazing at Hector.

City Boss Pep Guardiola is a highly enticing coach for any player looking to make their mark in the football arena. And if all these rumours and speculative conversations were not enough, some outright statements of intent have been made in recent days.

The Barcelona Vice-President was recently heard making conversation about the potential possessed by players that leave and then come back to the club. He talked up the importance of developing players, releasing them to go find their fortunes elsewhere and then pulling them back once they had garnered enough experience.

Hector Bellerin is only 21-years-old, and everyone agrees that he is one of the most exciting fullbacks to play the game. Having triumphed over Theo Walcott for the title of fasted Arsenal Player, Hector’s technique is what you would expect from an ex-Barcelona youth product.

With an outrageous pace and plenty of potential to grow, Hector’s chances of success are strengthened by the fact that he has such an impressive attitude. Unlike some other premier league players within his age range, you do not need to teach Hector how to defend.

At this point, you would think that Arsenal fans wouldn’t have much to fear. After all, theirs is hardly the team that Hector joined five years ago. New TV deals and sponsorships have made financial issues a thing of the past, what with cash flow having recently reached record levels.

There is no offer that can be made to Hector by any club in the world which Arsenal cannot match, at least in terms of wages. Of course, they have struggled to win trophies, and Hector couldn’t be faulted for running off to a side he thought had a higher chance of prospering.

It is up to Wenger to make his team more appealing for Hector than Barcelona and Manchester City.

 

Lucas Perez & Shkodran Mustafi Are Not Enough For Arsenal!

Posted on by
19

Finally, it seems that Arsenal are going to sign some much needed numbers to a squad which is suffering with injuries to key players – and those players are Lucas Perez from Deportivo La Coruna and Shkodran Mustafi from Valencia.

Reports are suggesting that Perez will cost £17.1 million and Mustafi in excess of £35 million.

While the signings are welcome considering the state of the current squad and the fact that Arsenal fans pay the highest ticket prices in the country (amongst other things such as the lack of success at the club in the last 12 seasons), is this enough?

We’ve been umming and ahhing for weeks now over the signing of Mustafi, seemingly unable to agree on a suitable fee because, let’s face it, we’re tight fisted. We look set to bring him in now but he would have been useful for the Liverpool game where we lost 3 valuable points.

And Lucas Perez. I will admit that I hadn’t heard of the guy before reading Arseblog this morning – and I have to say after watching the goals and assists compilation in the aforementioned post I’m not really that impressed.

Apparently Everton have been tracking the player and were all set to buy him and that pretty much sums it up really.

Is this really the world class striker we’ve been crying out for? Let’s be perfectly honest, it’s pretty debatable if he’s even as good as Olivier Giroud!

Arsene Wenger has been saying for ages that we’re “active in the market” and has been making out there’s this big plan to make Arsenal a success. But are you telling me that this big “masterplan” involves playing poker over a few quid for a German defender who doesn’t even start for the national team and a player we’ve effectively poached from Everton? No disrespect to the blue half of Merseyside but come on! Lucas Perez is not a player any of the big teams in the Premier League would be looking at.

Arsenal and Arsene Wenger have been conning the fans for the best part of a decade and it’s still happening now. We’ve got the most money in the league yet we still shop in the bargain section of the supermarket. £17.1 million? When we’re in an era where £25 million gets you an average player and where a headless chicken like Raheem Sterling costs £49 million, do you honestly think Lucas Perez is the answer to all our problems?

I suspect that most Arsenal fans will be won over, just by the simple fact we’ve actually remembered how to spend money and bring in two more players.

But there will be the few who realise that this is still all a big joke. We have the capability to bring in the very best but instead we sign players who I’m sure are decent on their day, but not world beaters – and certainly not players who would win you a Premier League title or Champions League.

Would you rather have Zlatan and Pogba or Perez and Mustafi?

Exactly.