During last summer’s transfer window, when speculation was at its highest (AFC still hadn’t signed anyone anybody had ever heard of) Arsene was asked a direct question about Cesc Fabregas and said: “he won’t be going anywhere this season” or words to that effect. But he said it in a way that made it seem fairly obvious that he was still very much in contact with him, and was probably still someone who Cesc turned to for advice. It is entirely likely that that is the case, and even more likely that a number of ex-AFC players keep in close contact with him. If they do, then it is also reasonable to assume that Arsene has a better idea than most of which players are happy where they are, and which ones are looking for a move. He has, if you like, his spies everywhere. I suspect he also talks to his current players, many of whom will have friends in other clubs throughout the world, who no doubt also keep him informed about possible movements. He will also (as will all the managers) be contacted regularly by agents, and will have many conversations with those other managers. This is all pretty obvious, so when he says things like “it will be a very quiet January market because of the World Cup” or “not much serious business will be done until July 15th” he probably knows what he is talking about. After all, this will be his fifth World Cup since managing Arsenal, and writing that makes me pause and think for a moment.
It may not be what people (or the press) are wanting to hear, but it does seem to me that if more people actually listened to what Arsene says (and tried to understand the sense of what he is saying) then they would not only be better off, but would also come closer to understanding how the professional game actually works. I could be wrong but few, if any, major transfers have been made yet. A number have been touted: everyone to Manchester United for example, Costa to Chelsea, Pogba to PSG – but I don’t think any ting has yet been signed. And why would they have been yet? Why would an agent sell before the World Cup if he knows a bold show by his player will push up the price? Why would a club sign a player before knowing that he had come through a serious competition with limbs unscathed and free from tropical diseases (Costa couldn’t even make it to the end of his League season, and hamstrings are not guaranteed to ever heal as good as new). No, it seems to me that the only deals that are likely to be done now are either the little ones that are unlikely to impact any of the major European clubs, or the ones where the agents are desperate to offload shop-soiled goods. Caveat emptor.
But journalists need copy, websites need hits, and agents need to get their goods into the market place, so the rumours are circulating with dizzying pace. Each fan will have their own ideas as to what their club needs, and each will have their own wish list. Some already seem to know the details of each and every contract, and the Twitterspehre is awash with release clauses, buy-back options and player-for-player deals. From my Arsenal perspective I have already been told which players are definitely leaving and which need to be sent out on loan (I always enjoy the serious tone people adopt when they tell me that, for example, “Jenkinson needs a loan-spell” sounding for all the world like a 1950s factory owner sending his son and heir for a spell on the shop floor. I know which positions need filling, who isn’t really Arsenal quality, which are “useful squad players” and, perhaps most bizarrely, exactly how much money the club has to spend – and that’s not even counting the extra revenue from the 3% price hike.
Except, of course I don’t know any of these things, and I don’t believe anyone else really does either. It doesn’t stop me thinking about them, and I too have some players that I hardly dare to dream might one day come our way – of course I do. But I also want to see some of our home-growns thrive. I want to see Jenknson, not on loan, but playing regularly. I want to see Wilshere become the player he has already shown he can be. I want Giroud to score 30 League goals next season. I want Ozil to weave more of his magic and I want Theo to become The Arsenal legend I know he will. And so for now I will continue to enjoy the Cup we have won, and get through the time between now and the Emirates Cup as best I can. I won’t bother claiming to know what is likely to happen on the transfer front, because I really don’t know – but I will take comfort from the fact that the manager probably does. Arsene knows, and that’s got such a nice ring to it that I’m surprised no-one’s ever used it before.
Today’s article was brough to us by @foreverheady .
Positively Arsenal 
Well written post
I laugh almost all the time I hear fans telling me who Wenger should have signed. The only thing they can’t tell me is their source of information for the players availability or his willingness to join the club. I always trust Arsene to make the best decision when it comes to players acquisition. I’m not saying he’s without flaws but he gets it right more often than he’s been given credit for
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We don’t want all this sanity and sober reflection George
What do we want ?
We want transfer window HY – fucking – STERIA !
And when do we want it ? NOW (and every day to 31st August)
Get a grip man before its too late
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The other little twist in the season’s Summer window is the World Cup – with all these currently unknown Iranian wingers and highly prized Costa Rican centre backs due to be added into the ITK pot
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Finally a rare bit of sanity. Some of you may remember my rant on Monday, a mere 2 days after the FA cup final, after reading one well known blogger calling for early signings as some statement of intent. Needless to say this blogger has been consistently pumping the narrative that last summer Wenger and the club were negligent and deficient in the transfer market. Most of the purveyors of this canard have only offered speculation, rumor and conjecture to support their thesis. For them it was the End of an Era anyway.
But as Forever emphasizes, with rare exceptions, only minor deals are being consumated at this time. Agents and clubs are fully aware that if a player has a decent world cup it adds millions to their value. If their national team goes bust in the 1st round their is little downside risk to the individual player. Only the naive or those with an agenda will get dragged into this transfer misma.
PS: Can someone have a word with twitter-experts who are so brilliant with their hindsight. They have suddenly discovered we need a world class striker who can get behind defenders, someone who Ozil can find, give Giroud help, blah, blah, blah. Their amnesia about the untimely, season-ending injury to Walcott is amazing and before that he missed a chunk at the start after needing abdominal surgery just after the champions league qualifiers. That Bendtner and Sanogo were also injured early season and when the former got a run of games he was injured in the Norwich game after scoring the winning goal and eventually went bonkers, typical Bendtner. Yet we read these experts condescendingly praising Wenger for tactical flexibility for introducing Sonogo 60 minutes into the FA cup final. Apparently they were never watched Sanogo and Giroud playing together ever.
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When I say George I mean Tim
Obviously (ahem)
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Very nicely put. I have nothing to add except to say, well said!
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Thanks FH
That’s far too sensible a post!
Tottenham showed us all how to really do transfer business last season.
Banned winky icon.
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Don’t get yer hopes ups chaps. With the Dutch chap with the severe haircut and mean streak about to buy 21 players of sufficient quality to play alongside JvC, Shrek (bit of an insult to Shrek who seems an exceptionally decent and funny-without-trying ogre), the unshaved lefty who escaped from the puppet and de Geaper, you know the meedya will be awash and agog I tell ya with excitement, and when gooners 3, 6, 9, and 13 read about it all in the copy of the Sun left in the pub they will be seething and phoning Pedro, who will be seething and writing to his thong, sorry that’s … “throng”, who will be seething and gnashing and attempting to spell words on placards and blog-posts, and when AW announces his first transfer is Carlos Vela on the same day the first 7 “huge signings” smile photo-like against the backdrop of Old mother Trafford, and the same day City has its way with some dumb blond (footballer), and the same day the puppet smirks with his new defensive signings (and “a striker”), there will be terror on the streets of London, Amy leading a pack of dogs, and saying 100m war-chest and Wenger buys back a failure for 3.2m, and AW enigmatically saying to the press “yes, another signing is possible, if it’s the right quality for Arsenal”.
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We need acronyms, and we need them NOW!
A DM, CM, CB, AFC, GBH, CF, WR, EWL, BFG, REP and many others.
That’s to replace all the dross who needed penalties to beat Wigan and were outplayed by Hull for 85 minutes, because all the Hull players got better ratings than ours, who got worse ratings than theirs. No need to name the players who need instant replacing, they name themselves. How many goals did Schezny score all season! And fucking Giroud who could barely make my aunty’s tea, never mind a real football team.
Watch the drama unfold and behold the workings of modern civilization.
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Wait for it, wait for it. That old chestnut. Diaby our biggest signing.
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But in all seriousness, it seems to me the German contingent might get a bit bigger.
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I don’t care as long as Sanogo stays, quite honestly.
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hey dont you ditch levy …he even made a 2m or 3m profit from all that business… president = phenomenon…
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‘throng’ – that is a lovely word
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“Amy leading a pack of dogs, and saying 100m war-chest and Wenger buys back a failure for 3.2m”
Amy is a person of class and above all integrity. A tremendous professional that bases her articles on research and empirical evidence. The amount of hours this fine woman has spent on the football fields analysing tactics formations..not to mention the kilowatt hrs spent in agent deals and UEFA. Amy knows…period!
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Zim Paul gets it absolutely right and I can’t see his script being too far from reality. They’ll be cross about Joel Campbell too when he comes back because you can’t spend money buying someone you already own. So Campbell for free and Vela for 3.2m isn’t a bad start to the summer’s business. Cocquelin will be back as well so he either joins the squad again or gets sold I guess. Pity we have nothing coming through the ranks though. Oh – sorry: forgot about Gnabry. but really through the ranks, like Bellerin or Olsson for example.
And a china orange to the whole of Lombard Street that if we do have a relatively injury free season people will complain about the size of our squad and tell us that League winning teams only really have a squad of 18 or 19.
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pop in once in a while to read posts on here & am always happy(understatement) to meet the positive(truly) vibe here….transfers?…….i’d rather just keep refreshing arsenal.com thrice a day everyday till the end of the summer window , & yes..arsene knows!
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Great article, foreverheady and very funny comments as well!
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sagna to city …and wtf kroos to united? wtf?????? they ended 7th…no europe…wtf is kroos doing? or bayern ?
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luis fuck gaal…
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kroos is going nowhere hunter, you’ve fallen into the transfershite trap.
“but it does seem to me that if more people actually listened to what Arsene says (and tried to understand the sense of what he is saying) then they would not only be better off, but would also come closer to understanding how the professional game actually works.”
This is it, foreverheady, and it doesn’t only apply to transfer talk. But people hear what they want to hear.
They also cannot accept their own or the hacks’ ignorance. 99% of it is made up nonsense, so my advice to such folk is, if you can’t take the false hope then stay off the internet.
So nice to be able to post again.
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so my advice to such folk is, if you can’t take the false hope then stay off the internet.
i think ill follow that …dont want my pressure rising ….
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cross at united??? fuck off…they need to stay between 7-10th place for another 50 years …minimum…scratch that…i want to see them in administration like rangers..why is uefa not punishing them for their 700m debt? why is our lawyer not prosecuting this at UEFA?
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Zimpaul with the comment of the day.
For the throng of imbeciles for whom Wenger is an object of ire, Van Gaal’s signings will be like throwing meat into the lions’ cage. I mean, if Soldado and co. inspired so much fear in them, can you imagine what a player with CL pedigree will do to them?
For this summer, I just want a decent right back to replace Sagna, maybe Vela as an attacking option and the introduction of Joel Campbell. I would also like to see Toral, Olson, Bellerin, Akpom, Hayden and Damian Martinez closer to the first team. Toral in particular looks like a more physical Özil.
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*kroos
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Spot on. Agreed with just about the whole post.
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This is just a circus the media and agents create for their own purposes and to drive up copy and clicks. I suspect our transfers in won’t be known until after the world cup and around the time the emirates cup starts. I think if SANGNA leaves I want to see CARL given a chance. Tough test filling the big man’s shoes.
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Haha haha haha. ZIMPAUL on a roll.
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HUNTER 13 @ 513
post of the month mate. Manure and 3fs get off Scott free for having a hand in all this inflate prices malarkey. Midtable mediocrity for them the next decade or so.
FUNGUN
go to see you back. Thought you had been kidnapped.
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Now where were you hiding FG when Hunter13 posted the first episode of his new series (set on the day Arsenal won the FA Cup back in 2014, and the um … aftermath), called “How it all started”, and someone else wore camouflage pants so could not be spotted in the street celebration, and it all looked very rom com, but actually was just another day about people like us.
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Arsenal midfielder Mikel Arteta was ranked the best passer in the Premier League last season. The statistics released by BSports show that Arteta was the only player in the Premier League to average over 80 passes during 90 minutes. The player scored a 92.1% pass completion from the 2,152 passes he made during the season. David Silva came second with 88.2% completion with an average of just over 77 passes a game. However the Manchester City star did outgun Arteta in passes made in the last third and therefore topped this list. The top three was made up of Arteta’s club teammate Aaron Ramsey who recorded a completion of 84.4% from the 1,515 passes he made throughout the season which put he just ahead of Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure. Arsenal new boy Mesut Ozil also made the top ten coming in at number eight.
1,3 and 8. Not too shoddy I guess. How many midfielders are there in the PL?
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Have you got a link Paul ?
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Posted by SPORT WITNESS on May 22, 2014 at 17:32 in Sport Witness Football from a published study by “Bloomberg Sports: Premier League 2013/14: Passing – Arteta, Koscielny, Silva & Nasri – StatsInsights” by Jimmy Coverdale May-19-2014
It gets more interesting. The most accurate passers in the season were:
1. Kos 2. Per 3. Mikel
And for passing in the final third
2. Mesut 3. Santi 5. Aaron 7. Jack
Jeez, I think we just won the passing trophy.
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Just go straight Bloomberg Sports
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https://www.bsports.com/extratime/premier-league-2013-14-passing-arteta-koscielny-silva-nasri#.U35h-Y2KBjq
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for some moaners, that is just stats ZP,
as if stats are not gathered from actual activities carried out
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excellent fh
Luis big head big head big head van gaal
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Thinking on it, I find these stats incredible. I had no idea we were that good, and I’m quite positive. There must be about 120 midfielders and other players (like our defenders) who may in the reckoning (of superior successful passing stats) in the EPL, of which about 45 or so play in the top 7 or 8 clubs, the top players, the top teams.
Overall Mikel is the unsurpassed successful passer of the ball, over 92%, and Aaron is # 3, Silva wedged in between, and Yaya just behind Aaron. Mesut comes in at 8.
But the most accurate passing was a 1, 2 and 3 for Arsenal, Kos, Per and Mikel; which says a great deal about our game out of defense.
And, for attacking possession play, in the last third, we have 4 players in the top 10, led by Mesut at 2 and Santi at 3; Aaron 5 and Jack at 7.
Of the top 30 player stats in successful passing in the 3 categories, Arsenal holds 10, one third of the entire EPL. Within that, in the three categories, we have 2 golds, 2 silvers, 3 third places, and a 5, 7 and 8.
The players concerned are Mikel, Aaron, Mesut, Santi, Kos and Per plus Jack. Most notable players from other clubs are Silva, Nasri, Yaya (all City). Gerrard is somewhere, I forget where.
A little further, Arsenal took 6 of the top 9, leaving three places divided between the other 18 teams; and 7 of the top 15, leaving eight places to be divided amongst 18 teams.
We are that good at playing football, keeping possession, and passing. We might be the best ever in the history of EPL. I have no doubt that this is in fact the case.
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oh that poor dolphin…wish it were a shark….mayday mayday…dolphin attacks human…..human? what human? john terry…oh thats fine…
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dolphin asks for psychiatrist and chlorine after encounter with filthy human
hazard inspired by his captain…flip flop…
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Today’s post has arrived courtesy of Finsbury.
http://www.positivelyarsenal.com
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