No chance we get new players without offloading some.
FFP will be behind us and you can expect them to deduct 30 points if we overspend by 1 quid.
Havertz signing will haunt Mikel
Bit about Arsenal from the article: "At Arsenal, Telegraph Sport understands, there is no appetite to spend vast amounts on a new centre-forward this winter. The pot of money is far from full after their summer investments (a combined £200 million on Rice, Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber), and it is worth remembering that their deal to sign David Raya, from Brentford, is an initial loan with an option to buy of around £30 million.
It was for financial reasons that the Raya deal was structured in such a way, with the payments for the goalkeeper effectively starting next summer. How could Arsenal strike this type of agreement with Brentford and then, five months later, go back to them with a mega-money offer for Toney? Clearly, it would not be a good look.
Strategically, Arsenal do not view January as a good time to do business. The club have splashed around £600 million on transfer fees since Mikel Arteta’s appointment in 2019, but only around £60 million of that has been spent in winter windows.
Last year, when Arsenal were pushing hard for the league title, was an exception to the usual rule — Leandro Trossard, Jorginho and Jakub Kiwior arrived for a combined cost of around £50 million. Arsenal were actually willing to spend even more that month, having made huge offers for both Mykhailo Mudryk and Caicedo.
This season, however, the feeling at Arsenal is that their squad will be in a good place once their injured players return. There is certainly no sense of urgency when it comes to strengthening the frontline, as Arteta and sporting director Edu are pleased with the performances of Gabriel Jesus, Eddie Nketiah and Leandro Trossard in that position.
Telegraph Sport understands it would therefore take an unexpected opportunity, or a drastic change in circumstances, for Arsenal to invest heavily in another striker this winter.
A more immediate area of concern is in midfield, where there is uncertainty over the futures of Thomas Partey and Jorginho. Partey’s fitness issues have restricted him to only four starts this season, and his contract expires in the summer of 2025. It would not be a surprise if he left before then.
Jorginho’s deal, meanwhile, expires at the end of this season, although there is an option to extend it for another year. Another holding midfielder, Mohamed Elneny, is also out of contact at the end of the current campaign. In the medium to long-term, this is an area that Arsenal will need to address."
Fully agree with everything in the article. We have a new 6 in Rice, so probably we should go for a good left 8 now and some cover at 6/8
I doubt another 8 will come in with MØ, Vieira, Havertz, ESR already here. Plus Rice. And Zinchenko in an emergency.
Only signing we can probably justify is a 6 that can play with Rice and instead of Rice. Maybe Locatelli or someone similar.
Unfortunately Viera and Havertz are flops and are not good enough at left 8 and Smith-Rowe is always injured. That’s why we had to move Rice there even though it’s not his preferred position.
Havertz at right 8 looked a little bit better, maybe if he improved there and Odegaard would be fine with moving to left 8? If not then we’re left with a big hole in left 8 and Arteta needs to swallow his pride, admit that Havertz and Viera are flops and bring in someone who can actually do the job
He’s not even had half a season yet you’re ludicrous thinking that makes him a flop
Lmfao. Havertz a flop after 17 games. You’re out of touch.
I get where you’re coming from though. We definitely need more from the left 8 position. It’ll have to be an internal solution though. We’ve invested in Havertz, ESR and Vieira. You should support them…since they play for us.
When Odegaard comes back Havertz goes back on the bench, because Arteta has enough of his bullshit. You spent £65m on a bench player, and you don’t think this transfer is a flop?
If he played at this level for 100 games he would definitely be a flop, but not after 20 games.
Hopefully he finds his confidence and can contribute more on offense. We will have a monster player in this case.
Just to let you know, he has played at this shit level for around 150 games since leaving Leverkusen. This is no longer a confidence issue, he’s just bad.
This is pure waffle, at WHU Rice preferred to play in the more attacking 8 role.
He said it himself in an interview he prefers to play at 6 and you can see in his game he’s a natural destroyer and his attacking side is not as strong
Really doesn’t have any bearing on the striker spot. Havertz wasn’t bought to be a frontman.
i meant as in we spent 65 mill on havertz
♫ Waka waka, eh, eh, 60 million down the drain ♫
just give mo the money we’d spent on toney. i know beattie and wubben-moy both have coaching components of their contracts, so given he’s doing his a-licence, makes sense to do the same
Irrespective of Partey’s departure this window/ summer, we need a 6. I have a feeling we won’t sign anyone this window. Next summer will see a clear out. But the squad is far too big to add more players to it.
Honestly think Rice /Jorginho is good cover as 6
Problem is you have nobody who can play as an 8
We have people to play there but one can’t stay fit, the other hasn’t settled and the third has no confidence/ learning the position. To get another 8, one or two of the three will have to go/ leave the spot.
Yeah, I think sales will happen this Jan
- Partey
- ESR
- Ramsdale
For striker to join it would require Eddie leaving (unlikely a Fulham or West Ham bids )
I don’t think any of them leave this window. If we want to make it deep into the CL and finish in the top 3, we need all bodies.
The first two is availability
You needed them around now for this busy period
We aren’t gonna sell Partey. He’ll come in with no minutes in his legs for the UCL knockout stages and the league run-in.
Emile has been available for every game but the last 2, no? And he should be back soon.
Yeah Partey would’ve been sold this summer if we had the cover. We don’t.
They can be sold if they’re fit. If they’re fit, they’ll play. At least Partey will. Additionally, Partey is going to AFCON. No team is paying real money, ie, €25 million+ to get a guy who is not fit, away to play internationals and will need a bedding in period, which will spill over into the run in. The buying club can acquire him in the summer for cheaper and have a full preseason with him.
Next, ESR. The number of clubs who can buy him at €30 million are a handful. Probably 8 in the PL, three in Spain, one in Italy, three in Germany and one in France. That’s 16. Wow. Huge number, right? Nah. The Spanish clubs don’t need him. The one French club doesn’t need him, off the German clubs maybe we can tempt Leipzig, the Italian club is broke. So we’re left with PL clubs. Of the 8, we can rule out United, City, Spurs and Liverpool. The other 4
- Newcastle
- Aston Villa
- West Ham
- Chelsea
Chelsea wanted him and got Cole Palmer. That ship may have sailed. Newcastle is still dealing with FFP so can’t get him either. That shrinks the number of clubs down to two. If I am ESR’s agent, I am asking him to hold on until the summer when there is some capital with the clubs and get a better deal.
Now for Eddie. We should have let him go for free. Or this summer when his stock was high-ish. None of the top 10 clubs are going for Eddie. He’s with us until the summer, at least.
Then outgoings at Arsenal will be loans at best.
ESR can’t stay fit, Havertz has confidence/adaptation difficulties, but I can’t figure out who you mean that hasn’t settled?
Vieira. I don’t think he has settled at Arsenal. He was a very interesting and promising player in Portugal. He hasn’t recreated that promise in the PL.
Ah! Yeah, in the context of #8s I literally forgot he existed which is kinda a microcosm of what’s going on with him in itself.
I think given Rice’s involvement going forward pushing him to 8 and finding a stout 6 is easier than finding a complement to Rice at 8, but tough to tell what the summer will bring. Euros always mess up transfers and boost some people’s prices
so basically we dont have any money to do a big transfer in January…as some of us already expected.
Hopefully nobody else picks Toney up in January!
Nothing happenning
What is really happening
Nothing but another click bait title from the Telegrapgh
Guys it’s such a big risk Toney has never played against low block teams
When I say havertz is a net negative this is what I mean. We didnt not need him at all in any position now look at this
Very reassuring. Was kind of worried we were going to risk our long term trajectory with a rash January signing.
The question is this enough to win a PL or UCL title?
Either way arsenal a need a new Mid and Forward
Yes, we need but I’m not sure toney is the name we need
I think he ticks a lot more boxes, does a better alternative exist?
osimhen
Alternative ≠ twice the price
Osimhen or someone in that class would actually add something we don’t have.
Better options exist but unless the club pulls a rabbit out the hat they would all cost a ridiculous amount.
I am not all that convinced by Toney given the price but the striker market seems dry as fuck at the minute
But can you put a price to experience / ready made ?
You know what you get with Toney although his cheaper in the summer (40m)
Feliz dia do bolo, amigo!
it’s always dry, we’re going to have to spend 100m+ to fix it properly and a near-28-year old coming off an 8-month break whose non-penalty record isn’t astounding isn’t it.
If you’re into transfer gossip and transfers, it’ll probably be better for your health if you have no expectations this January.
Unless we sell players for good fees we just don’t have the kind of money that would be needed to make exciting new signings.
I know it won’t stop half of you though, and you’ll be moaning about missing out on players we were never in for lol.
Aka. The Yoann Gourcuff effect.
Man those were the times. Glad I’m passed it 😅
We only have striker problems because arteta is a amant to give nketiah a chance instead of tweaking the system for Leo who’s a much better player and has scored goals and provided assists more than Eddie. It’s surprising given the fact how ready arteta is to experiment with our defense which was arguably our strongest last season. Mans a genius but some of hai decisons are too crazy to work out
100mn on Toney is crazy but midfiled is going to be a real concern and if we do have money to spend ,I woulduch rather see us investing there than a striker.
Just fucking play bossard upfront
How ready Arteta is to experiment with our defense which was arguably our strongest last season.
Someone could say this about the attack which was actually our strongest in our PL history while our defense wasn’t good enough for a title challenge.
Trossard is *tiny*, he’s smaller than Jesus.
