Alexis Sanchez

[J_MCFC21]

Do you really think our people are briefing the media as to what we are intending to pay our transfer targets? They just make shit up and make it sound convincing, you see it quite a lot in here too

Exactly, anything to make it sound like he's coming for a huge pay increase, as per.

 

[Neville Kneville]

If he does wants 400k what were all them stories about saying he told Bayern and PSG he wanted them wages off them. Probably bs he wants 400k off us too.

He won't get it.

 

[J_MCFC21]

The pressure will obviously be kranked up on this now. I think if we were 'open' to selling him then £70M could easily be a tipping point.

As for the Wengers talk about selling players, it's not as much to raise transfer funds like others have said, it's to get rid of 'deadwood' to try and free up room in the squad. We have 31 senior players, so we need to get rid of the likes of Debuchy, Chambers, Gibbs, Lucas etc who won't contribute anything this season.

As for yesterday, didn't watch the game as I was travelling to Krakow, but the main frustration from me, which stems from last week, and all other recent season openings, is that we are under prepared & never settled in defence for the first few weeks of the season. We look poor without Koscielny, and are playing people out of position. That early ground we lose each year can make a big difference.

Yh, you had 2 LB in CB, a CB on the bench then a RB in Lb :D

 

[flb]

They may be in the mix, but I have seen no evidence (even taking off the blue specs), that they are serious contenders, which is what he has implied

They look a strong outfit this season, they do have quality, I hate the fuckers but it's between us, Chelsea and them this season, it won't be Scouse, Spurs or Arsenal giving us a run for our money .

 

[Neville Kneville]

I hope you're right. I've got my Blue panicky tshirt on, and I see them as contenders - I always expect them to do well. All those GPC years are still lurking behind my every thought where these lot are concerned. They're all giddy in work right now.....

They are far away the most likely title winners I've seen so far this season, barring us, but I've only seen us once. The others look nothing. Early days of course, so a lot can change, except Arsenal.

Rags' defence looked as bad as ours v Swansea though, which is encouraging. If that doesn't work, they are out. We might just get away with ours fucking up but they won't.

If we are intent on having a huge Achilles heel at cb, I hope we do get Sanchez as we will probably need the extra goals.

 

[GunnerGer]

Yh, you had 2 LB in CB, a CB on the bench then a RB in Lb :D

Yeah, it's incredibly frustrating. Think Chelsea and Leicester have shown in recent seasons (& Spurs to an extent) that if you want to challenge and not lose tricky games you need a settled team, especially defence.

I said a few weeks ago we need to try and scrape through the opening weeks given the fixtures and problems we have, & almost regroup after international break, but it seems as if it will cost us again.

Let's see if we see movement over the next few days if this £70M offer is true, I see no real reason to hold off anymore if the intention in private is to accept it.

 

[Gingers Dad]

The pressure will obviously be kranked up on this now. I think if we were 'open' to selling him then £70M could easily be a tipping point.

As for the Wengers talk about selling players, it's not as much to raise transfer funds like others have said, it's to get rid of 'deadwood' to try and free up room in the squad. We have 31 senior players, so we need to get rid of the likes of Debuchy, Chambers, Gibbs, Lucas etc who won't contribute anything this season.

As for yesterday, didn't watch the game as I was travelling to Krakow, but the main frustration from me, which stems from last week, and all other recent season openings, is that we are under prepared & never settled in defence for the first few weeks of the season. We look poor without Koscielny, and are playing people out of position. That early ground we lose each year can make a big difference.

A club that has had the same manager for over 20 years surely shouldn't have so much deadwood? Arsenal must be one of the most poorly run clubs in the League

 

[sky_blue]

Alright, so I had a look at the international fixtures to work out when this can feasibly happen. To give some context, Chile's match vs Paraguay is on 31st August and right now they are involved in a dog fight with 4 other teams for 3 (guaranteed) spots. So this match is incredibly crucial for Chile. Based on media reports, all players are expected to report to training in Chile on 28th August (Monday) or 29th August (Tuesday) and it's fairly obvious that Sanchez is not the type to be running late where the national team is concerned. Arsenal's next match is on 27th August, so if Sanchez is in the squad for that match, then there's literally no time left to do last minute bargaining, contract signing, medical, media events, etc. So yeah based on that, if I were to make an educated guess, I would say that the Sanchez deal has to happen before Arsenal's next match (27th), otherwise both clubs would be in a very tight spot to make it work (considering he'll be leaving for Chile by 28th).

 

[Exeter Blue I am here]

They may be in the mix, but I have seen no evidence (even taking off the blue specs), that they are serious contenders, which is what he has implied

So they're in the mix for the title, but they're not serious contenders?! As non-sequiturs go that's right up there. If we finish above them we'll be champions

 

[GunnerGer]

A club that has had the same manager for over 20 years surely shouldn't have so much deadwood? Arsenal must be one of the most poorly run clubs in the League

The problem stems from a few years back. We were losing players, and knew we had to start to pay well to attract & keep players. Problem is, guys like Debuchy & Gibbs are on good money, they don't really want to drop in wages.

Also the fact we have placed a value on some and are trying to get as close to that value as possible. I think we placed £15M on Gibbs, £20M on Chambers, close to £15M for Lucas for example. You'll likely see us becoming more flexible with that as the window closes.