Arsenal have completed the signing of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain from Southampton.
The 17-year-old was at London Colney this afternoon where he finalised personal terms and had a medical, before signing a long-term deal with the club.
The news brings to an end another protracted transfer saga, in which the England Under-21 international has twice seen moves to the Emirates break down. Oxlade-Chamberlain’s talents come at a premium though, with the Press Association reporting a £12 million fee, plus a further £3 million to follow in add-on’s.
Arsenal are expected to confirm the signing shortly.
j do you think he will play in midfield because we have sooooo many forwards if he was just to play as a forward i cant see the logic.
Well he’s 17 so he probably won’t be playing anywhere any time soon on a regular basis.
Dats alot for a younster? where will he fit in?
hey jamie, if you find out more about the deal, please tweet or comment… i would just like to know if he would go on loan to southampton…
Seems like an interesting talent. Let’s just hope people don’t expect him to fit straight into the team (as they did with Theo) and allow him time to mature. A good player to have for the future though.
So that makes it a 15m signing and we could have got Mata for 2M more! That’s shocking buisness!
go out on loan?
he just signed ffs,
dont you think the coaching staff needs to assess him first before they decide.
if he signs he’s an arsenal player
yes i know, but in january southampton didn’t want consider letting him go without a year on loan… i agree he should stay, and the arsenal official website confirmed he would go in the first team, but a loan may be already arranged as part of the deal…
12 million for a kid. could have gotten samba or jagielka. or mayb mertesacker -.-
Except you don’t, seeing how Everton supposedly denied our supposed bid of supposedly 12 millions.
expecting to start on bench, then League Cup ties and we are in CL and get through group stage to a point with dead ties he may play in them and we might see more of him in EPL. That’s just me guessing but that’s what happened to Walcott, Fabregas, Wilshere and Ramsey.
Would serve us well if we send him back on loan to the saints where he would get first team action or better still a premier league team like swansea, stoke or bolton.
Now Mr. Wenger please sign Samba, Cahil or Per and a LB as Gibbs & Traore not good enough for a first rate team like ours.
Next release Squilaci as we are better off playing Song in the defence.
Yet another winger (albeit one with lots of potential) – along with Theo, Nasri, Arshavin, Gervinho, Rosicky – why would you spend 12m on AOC and not 17m on Juan Mata ?
Then another winger-cum-striker in the boy Joel Campbell (again – albeit for 1m gamble that’s not bad). But how many wingers can we play ?? especially for a team that can’t cross/won’t cross and no strikers willing to head the ball ?
Clichy sold, Djourou, Gibbs, Vermaelen injured. Squillachi a complete waste of space. Kozza hardly able to make a game in pre-season – yet he has bought no defenders. And even if he does – they have less than a week to get to know their teammates before the 1st game of the season.
Wengerfail all over again
Wah wah wah, what a whiney little biatch you are.
Wengerfail? The greatest manager in our history deserves your respect. AlexMinge has a good sound to it, lets all call you that from now on.
am so happy about the signing but we need to sign more in the defense line.
Does this in anyway hint to Ryo’s work permit being rejected??? Another very young inexperienced pacey winger joining as well as Ryo doesnt seem quite right??
Hark at all the geniuses saying we coulda signed this player, that player. If he’d have signed for the chavs or manU, these same moaners would be on here bitching about that too.
This kid is dynamite and will be in the 1st team squad this season.
It’s just seemingly poor value. Chamberlain doesn’t even play for the junior national sides regularly, and isn’t really tested against anything resembling upper level competition. For that price we could have nabbed guys like Musa, De Bruyne, or Griezmann who are far better wing prospects and would still eventually qualify as homegrown.
There’s no pleasing some people. First we dont make enough signings, then when we do …it takes too long. Some moan we sign too many foreigners and now we have signed english I see some complaining we should hve paid £2m for a player who they have probably never seen play live and who may well struggle in our country…..you could’nt make it up
Why are people believing this post,chamberlin is having a medical in my fathers hospital,hope you would believe that,men wake up,this is wenger we are talking about,buying a young player for £12m,Just unrealistic with arsenal
Let’s just see where he fits in hey? I know we all crave a decent CB but this lad is good and is the future. If we are not in for the league this year and we probably aren’t then this buy will very much help the future! I have a feeling that we will get a good CB, i am sure it would be Cahill but the year on the contract left at Bolton is causing issues over the price. I tell you one thing though Owen Coyle is trying to ramp his price. I like the guy, top manager and just looking out for the best deal for his club……. I reckon we will get Chaill for about 14m?
official
its on the dot com
gr8 stuff
Well, hope this is followed by a senior team centre-half. Great young player, a tad expensive i suppose. Welcome to arsenal, AOC
Great signing ; the saints fans look annoyed at this deal , always a pos sign . I would just like to point out however although you are correct in stating that the press association society state the fee is 12m rising to 15 m it is actually 7m rising to 12m potentially .
so, 12 million out of the budget.. and theres no way he will be ready to make a decent impact until hes 20+….wonderful!
Never, ever happy some of you! Unbelievable! complaining that there were no signings then when one comes along its the right one!
Because it’s a shit signing you twat, the arrival of this kid means nothing for the first team for another 3 years at least. Do you not see that?
I really cant stand the supporters that come here to moan. IDIOTIC fools. Respect the club, respect the manager, respect the players. We are not chelsea where we turn on the club when things go wrong. Stick by the team, thats what REAL supporters do. I for one would rather win the league the way we are attempting now, then the chelsea, city way of buying it with no soul.
Nuff respect to dat man
12 mill on oxlade or 17 million on mata well some people say hey we should just buy mata but doesnt mata come with alot more wage demands which is still more money and who is more likely to be a star in england an englishmen or a spanishmen who could leave because of homesickness.godd deal now we need a cb come wenger
actually Mata isn’t on that big wages at Valencia pal.
Where is your proof? Also how do you know he wont ASK for HIGH wages
@ Rizla – how do you know he would?
good deal godd deal
Cannot understand the signing. We have Walcott, Gervinho, Nasri and Miyachi as young players playing on the wing, so where does his future lie?
Whats there to understand? Imagine if you had walcott, and then a player who had the potential to be better than walcott. Why would you not buy him????
If he overtakes walcott, walcott will be sold, or maybe he will finally be converted into a striker.
we need two CB’s asap…if we can spend 12mill on a kid then why cant we splash the cash on what we really need. We keep buying for the future but what about the present??? Also wheres the super quality signings wenger mentioned. Finally i still think we need a GK and unsure as to why we didn’t go for steklenburg…(if i spelt it right) and a striker…van persie is always one takle away from missing half a season……
it seems wenger is strengthening our reserve team..maybe he see reserve league as the only option for silverware.wake up wenger!!!!
We complain too much.What is wrong in buying AOC for 12m.How much did Chelsea buy Lukaku,who is also a teenager.If you dont want to support Arsenal quit and go to Man City.
Lukana was the best young talent in the game that didn’t play for an elite team, quite a bit different from signing this Oxo clown from the third division.
Great signing!!
Been waiting for this for a long long time. I feel he will push Ramsey further down the pecking order in the coming months
Well done Arsene
Philip I presumue if we signed a player that we actually needed ( Barton possibly ) you would no doubt wank yourself to death in excitement.
guys guys guys, yes its a lot of money and quite a big risk but look at the bigger picture… with barca set to make a final bid for fab tomorrow which wenger will probs accept, the money from that transfer could lead to an increased bid of around £25m for mata, so we get him as well. not to mention that wenger knows we need a defender and if he’s in the mood for spending money i wouldnt be surprised if we get cahill or someone similar this week as well. stop whinining and try to see the positives, good signing arsene!
Whats with all this negativity?? The kid is so versatile, we as a team have so many injuries, he’ll add immense quality to the squad
About him fighting for a wing slot, i dont see it, unless we have injuries there.
Campbell next please Arsene
And people, who ever we sign in defence will be more or less the same as it is the tactics that are costing us goals not the personnel!
Awesome stuff – I’m thrilled with this signing.
We’ve just landed one of THE top young BRITISH talents, and after several failed transfers this season, it’s so pleasing to push it through and nail it.
Welcome to the club, Alex!
Funny hearing everyone say we have all these wingers even tho almost none of them are actually wingers. Walcott (striker), Nasri (center mid- he is fine out there tho), Miyaichi (He is not a gaurentee to make it here), Arshavin (Is a CF behind a striker), Rosicky (definitely not a winger). The only player that I would consider a first team natural wide player is Gervinho.
Aynways, welcome to Arsenal Alex.
We don’t actually play wingers anyway the front 3 all cut in,out,swap switch,come central,go wide..u can’t really call any of our players natural touchline hogging wingers
great signing
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great signing. You know YOU would have moaned had he gone to Pool or United.
Then the same fans that moan about his price tag would moan about “How wenger never uses money”
Shane is actually right.
great signing AOC… calling him the OC. looks like with this guy here wenger may finally change walcott to play as a striker in front of the v.persie albeit the same as bergkamp – henry combo
according to reports its £5m up front with add ons it could reach 12m. We will probably do what we done with Walcott and re-negotiate later on by paying up sooner.
I dont see people’s problem, Liverpool Chelsea and United sign players under 21 and that is all right and we are all moaning that we missed out. We sign 2 and everyone is still moaning, FFS sort yourselves out its a signing and he is better than most of our existing options.
I thinks it’s just because we havent signed experienced defenders aswell..if we had announced this on the same day as us signing Cahill and baines I think everyone wud b more understanding…also 12m is Alot for a manager who complains about established internationals being overpriced..I think most fans find this sort of thing very unusual and hypocritical
I’m delighted we finally got the lad but his fee is way too much for my liking. Just because he’s English they can seemingly bring the price up about £10m. If he were to come from an equivalent European league he would be bought for £3m tops. And people complain that Wenger doesn’t buy British!
Another “theo-like” transfer..12M hm.. I hope he REALLY will be better and won’t have injury proneness level like Theo.
There is only one objection – we need players with “very good quality” AT THE MOMENT!!!
Scott P., Gary C., Chris S. and others are waiting..so please ‘boss’..
Great signing dunno how many games he will get tho but really happy with it over all, slightly worried that we spent 25million and between them not one off them have a single preimership apparence but very exicting players just need that cb
Great signing, miyaichi not guaranted to make it at arsenal? I respect you shane but i totaly disagree on this one.
Please mate. I think Miyaichi looks a good prospect but he is not Jack Wilshere. Every preseason game we have seen and the games at Feyenoord verse the big teams, he has been less than impressive. A step over here and there but thats it. Now no doubt he has exceeded expectations considering he was just a high school footballer before and he does have great potential but he is not a guarantee like a Wilshere. Just how I see it mate, but fair enough. There is nothing wrong with optimism.
I agree with Shane on this one ryo looks ok but I Wudnt start overhyping him just yet..I think he cud go one way or the other
Some arsenal fans needs to get a grip, look at chris smalling wenger identify him first and man utd got in the way to snap him up, he is young and look at his contribution to utd now, no one can deny hes going to be a top player, Alex is a very exciting prospect, young, british n technically good would definitely be a world class..we need to see that wenger is finally improving the squad with more english players…welcome to arsenal Alex!!
nasri (24), walcott (22) and gervinho (24) aren’t that young and, anyway, chamberlain isn’t going to immediately displace any of them – he’s 5 years younger than any of those players.
this is a signing for the future and his price is artificially high because he’s english, simple as that. i’m not happy about the price, but we could have paid more for a lesser player.
Gotta say, i think it’s a great signing.
Don’t think AFC would spend so much and then send him out on loan.
If you are sick of Wenger signing young talent, then this is probably not the website you should be wasting your time visiting. It’s called YOUNG GUNS, how many experienced signings and news about senior players do you think you will hear about on here? My guess is none, but that could be wrong.
well, but signing a 17 yr old with £12 m & addition of £3m is damn expensive, zs is not what we need now just to win trophies!!!
the guy can play any where across the middle. Also heard he can tackle and tracks back.
More of a natural all round footballer than walcott and walcot is on his way to being a very good player.
All in all a good deal if we end up payin 12 mill for him
Welcome aboard.
Fascinating signing this one. Genuinely have no idea if by this time next year he’d have played 30 first team games or none whatsoever. Just seems too much money to have paid for him to follow the tradtional route of our 16-18 signings.
I don’t think people are being in anyway derogatory to mention it being one of the areas which we are already quite strong in. Can’t help thinking we wouldn’t spend this much unless there will be some personel upheaval. Walcott to an out-an-out striker would look the obvious move at this stage, with some senior players departed by this time next year.
Must be getting old when I’m welcoming players to the club whose dads I used to watch at Highbury!
Wasn’t a bad player his old man.
arsenal fans are like bored housewives they complain at everything. how can you not be happy with this signing? and the fee is justified if you compare to mata and ricky. alex is english, his father urged him to sign for us and he has no spanish dna
I saw him play only 3 times last season…against United (where I thought he did quite well) and then two other league one matches. I forget who they were against. I really like this signing and I see it as insurance just in case we lose Nasri or Fabregas or both!!! I’m not saying he’ll be as good as either one, I’m just stating the obvious in that it provides cover for us just in case they leave. I forgot that we actually do have other striking options besides Van Persie!!! We have Gervinho now and when Walcott comes back he can play there as well. Then of course there is Vela and Arshavin and maybe Afobe. Not ideal I know, but better than nothing!!! I think that Chamakh CAN and will regain some type of form!!! We have been crossing the ball a bit more now especially when the full-backs attack. Also, Gervinho seems a really quality crosser. As long as he is provided with good crosses, Chamakh will be back!!! Also I bet Oxlade-Chamberlain can cross as well!!! So he might not start and it might take a while, but Chamakh can re-gain his form. If he gets 10 goals in the league this year I will be more than happy!!! Not great for a back-up striker, but in the system we play it’s not too bad. Here’s hoping that Van Persie gets close to 30 and stays fit!!!
Anyone that knows anything about Chamahk is that there is no form to get back to. He stubbled on to a few goals last year which I doubt is going to happen that often. I just hope he gets found out sooner rather then later because we can not afford for him to be our number 2 striker with an injury prone striker in front of him. I hope Gervinho and Vela move ahead of him for that spot.
Last season we had to use bendtner and nasri on the wings neither really impressed. remember nasri had good form early in the season when he played in the middle. well now our wing options are 6.walcott gervinho chamberlain arshavin vela miyaichi (if he gets the permit) if as expected we sell nasri and bendtner we will have improved the wings and turned a profit of around 14m plus 2 of the wingers are 18 years old an 2 of the most promising tAlents around. what we need now is for wenger to spend that 14m profit once he has it on a decent cb. remember once we sell eboue we are also turning a 9.5m profit there after only spending 1m on jenkinson so far. so that is 23.5m to strengthen the defence and whatever we get for cesc to strengthen the midfield. please people lets get behind our young signings dont rubbish them.
Does anyone know what his squad number will be? For the benefit of my geeky Football Manager 2011 needs 8) haha
12M and not being use by the first team?? Of course he will get games. I bet he is better than Arshavin or Walcott. Pace is not everything but this guy is fast enough to do something with it. Luckily he got more than pace. His skills has taken him here not the pace like Walcott.
I have to say that I feel terrible for the likes of AOC and Jenkinson, and even Afobe. These are all outstanding young players who will take the league by storm. Yet, because fans have been thirsting for more established players and have been bashing the club, these players haven’t been given the best reception. While it must be a thrill to sign for Arsenal, it still can’t be the best feeling signing for the club under these conditions. These players deserve our support, and I hope they come good soon.
This lad is going to be the next big thing in English football 11 goals & 9 assists last season in a very physical league. Even at 17 the lad is a tank & can add some more physicality to your attack. If he gets gametime it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s pushing for the england squad within 18 months
Arsenals starting 11 in the future
Szcz
Jenkinson Miguel Bartley Gibbs
Myiachi Wilshere Ramsey Chamberlain
Afobe Campbell(hopefully)
…..watch out barca
I wish people around the world would be more positive and praise the hard work Wenger has put in to clinch this signing!!! Looking at all the different forums and websites and seeing this signing universally rejected or looked down upon frustrates me no end!!! I’m not trying to be racist here, but I have noticed that a lot of African and some Asian people have commented negatively about Arsenal in general in the past few years or so. There seems to be a strong dislike emminating towards Wenger from there. I know people in England , such as the authors of Le Grove don’t like him as well, but most of the rediculous comments on sites such as goal.com and tribalfootball and such come from Africa and Asia…does anyone know why this is??? I know I’m opening a can of worms here, but I’m just trying to make an observation. I’m going to get slapped left, right and centre here, but I’m ready for it!!! I’m just so sick of seeing this shit that I had to ask this question. If in fact we crash and burn in the coming months and years I will admit that I was wrong in trusting Wenger, but for now I stand by him. I’ll be the first to admit that I was wrong in asking this question if and when this happens. But for now, I would just like to know why there seems to be a total disregard for Wenger and his achievments from Africa and parts of Asia??? Is it due to the populations there??? Is it due to lack of knowledge??? Peer pressure??? WHAT?????
lol Milo. Almost everyone dislikes Arsenal and Arsene now. It has nothing to do with nationality or race. There are just a whole lot of ignorant people in this world that have no perceptions of reality. Also there are a lot of younger people on the internet that have opinions but no sense of history.
Take away the words “of history” and you’ll be right on track.
read all the top sites and you will find out that a lot of english supporters say the same thing. I don’t know why you are such a fool to point out asia and africa. I am pretty sure there are more haters in percentage in england than in asia and africa. And you have no facts to back your info up too. oversea fans are more likely to be plastic fans that is for sure.
And if you haven’t notice yet Wenger has not brought in exactly the quality we thought he would already that is why there are a concern from the fans. And we haven’t really done awesome in the preseason too. Everyone knows that Wenger has done a really good job but everyone wants him to do an even better job, which means he has to bring in more quality and win something for us. If it wasn’t for the trophy less years the fans wouldn’t have been angry at all. It’s a no brainer.
But even me who really likes Wenger are getting concern by the signings. We are not expected to like every signings when they are obvious odd. The signings who prove the critics wrong are the best one and Wenger is used to this now. I hope he will bring in more players.
Seriously, some of you need to get your heads out of your asses. Why are you knocking the kid because Wenger didn’t go out and make the signing *you* think Arsenal needs? What does AOC have to do with the lack of movement on the CB front? AOC’s transfer was on the table in early summer. I doubt he would’ve garnered such a pissy response from the Arsenal fandom if the deal was concluded then.
Furthermore, why does it always have to be Jagiekla or Cahill every time the CB discussion heats up? The prices on those two fools are way too high. If Wenger is to make a move, he’ll probably make another Squillaci-type signing just to fill the CB ranks. It’s unlikely he’ll be in the market for a starting CB, so it is going to be a cheaper backup if Wenger actually pulls the trigger. Think continental Europe.
I honestly think that any fan than moans about us needing a new first choice center back is a flat out moron and I have no other way to put it anymore. Look at our record with any combination of our top 3 center backs starting. It is really good. The clear area we needed to strengthen was our 4th choice and that should not be a 18 million pound defender. It should have just been to keep Bartley or use Song as that option and improve the depth of defensive mid. It is just stupid people that don’t truly understand this game that yell out, sign a big name center back. Hell we have less quality in depth at Defensive mid, striker, left back yet people only see what they want. They don’t recognize that our tactics are all out attack so you are going to give up more goals then if we were a defensive minded team. I am starting to think the majority of people just simply don’t get the sport which it is great when we do get a few people on hear with a little common sense which seems to be harder to find now days.
By the way, if Manchester United are willing to use young center backs as their 3rd through 5th options then there is no reason Bartley couldn’t have been our 4th choice.
I think the main reason we aren’t using Bartley is that these fools would start rioting in the stadium. Imo we only need one more defensive signing and that player is Jan Vertonghen. His main position would be left defensive mid (not the kind of “defensive” mid Wilshere is at the moment either) This way we will have a whole new structure to the team. Vertonghen provides height, leadership, a powerful long shot, more technique than Vermaelen and lastly he would position himself deeper on the pitch leaving Gibbs with a much easier job in the hardest position to play at Arsenal (ask Clichy). He would also be the perfect 4th choice CB while being 3rd choice LB. Wilshere will then play as a central midfielder with a different role to what Cesc has now. Cesc can leave if he is refusing to be at 100%. That is also why I believe we have signed this player, Miyaichi and Gervinho. We will need faster wingers to provide more penetration as we will not have two attacking midfielders on the pitch (Cesc and Wishere).
I have been calling for Vertonghen’s signing for two years now and I know that his signing would be the final piece in our defensive puzzle. The main thing he would provide would be a much more balanced side out on the pitch.
Arsene(l) till I die.
I have never seen verthongen play so cannot comment, but I never get why people think wenger should just waste 17-18 million on cahill, a villa reject, or samba who’s just a big hoofer, hadn’t even got a 1st touch? Djourou is 3 times the defender! None of these are proven top4 level players!
I like jagielka cos he can actually play! But then again is he better than kos, jd or verm? If they get playin and develop an understanding then I don’t think so! They are top defenders..
I just don’t think we defend as a team well enough! Song needs to be deeper when we are defending! But he’s that good on the ball he needs to get involved going forward. For me we need a de-Jong/flamini who just likes to defend and doesn’t do much in the way of attacking!
The main thing holding us back is the negativity, the team is under far too much pressure from supposed fans, who if they got behind the team would see us playin with freedom and probably ripping every team to shreds!
It’s about time these fans showed their love for the club, like mr wenger has done for years!
Get behind the lads
HotRod your last paragraph couldnt be more true, they dont even realize how much damage they are doing, try and tell them and its a case of their footballers they should be able to handle it or I pay my money Ill shout what i want.
One of the worst things in football these days is an idiot fan, spoiling it for the rest of us
The Mata buyout clause thing is part of Spanish employment law and you have to handover the whole lump sum in one go… So that’s £19 million upfront in one hit.
I suspect the AOC deal is more like £7 million upfront, £5 million in add-ons and maybe more in bonuses. Add-ons include England call ups, playing in the CL, reaching 50/100/150 appearances for the club etc. Bonuses include winning the league, the CL, that sort of thing.
A very promising young English player for £7 million, from a club who have no need to sell (Saints are loaded thanks to the will of their former owner BTW) is a fantastic transfer.
I completely agree. In fact if there is anything that makes my support for Arsenal waver, it is the sickening media bias and the truly embarrassing fans. I personally don’t get the honour of going to Arsenal games but I know that I would gladly pay the money and once I got in I would shout until my voice went dead and then I would shout some more. Where are the flags? Where is the noise? Where is the PRIDE? I would prefer the Chinese fans any day of the week who easily produced a much better atmosphere for a FRIENDLY!!! Liverpool fans have gone through much worse times of late and I know we are the butt of many jokes for good reason. I in fact feel so strongly about it that if I was unfortunate to meet one of these whining pr!cks in real life I would almost certainly crack them in the face. No I am not a violent person but I am on blogs several hours a day and these fans constantly make me feel sick to the stomach with their hateful spew. The Emirates actually lost us points last season rather than gained us points. Its bad enough that the other team gets the ref as a 12th man but then the crowd is almost like playing with 10 men as they make the players feel anxious and timid on the pitch. Every time a mistake is made you can hear the crowd sigh or even boo let alone the only time anyone actually cheers about anything is if we score a wonder goal!!!
In response to Hotrod I honestly believe we have three of the best centre back in the league. A Koscielny Vermaelen Partnership is going to be amazing this season and Djourou is the best 3rd defender in the League imo. The problem is of course whenever Squillaci walks on the pitch. With Vertonghen in the team that would never happen again. This guy truly is the goods and not long ago he was saying he wanted to come to Arsenal and Arsene has scouted him for 3 years or more. He is a completely versatile player who is vice captain of Ajax at CB but has proven he is just as comfortable in LB, LM, CM and imo his best position is defensive midfield. He is Belgian and was best friends with Vermaelen before he left. He is one year younger and has always been seen as the better player of the two. This of course changed when Vermaelen came to Arsenal but Vertonghen could and should have a similar transition.
You’re crazy.
I rate both Kos & Verms highly, but to claim they are the best defenders in the league is absurd. To claim Djourour (whom I rate, but has been in poor form since Januraary) is better than the likes of Ferdinand or Vidic is borderline insanity.
i believe i called for kyle bartley to remain on the team and be handed first team opportunities even if it was on the bench and someone who knows better than most said it was a stupid idea…. any way i digress. I like this signing but not as a replacement for Fab or Nasri if the rumors are true. I like it for the fact that he is an out and out winger which would allow us to start playing some of these players like arshavin and walcott HOPEFULLY in the correct positions with gerv and alex on the wings (if Alex earns it). He at least provides that luxury of having that option on the bench. I dont like the signing because of the lack of experience…. He’s still a little green but looks to be full of potential. I think that our problem is not with the defenders we have, I believe its with belief. They have been battered and derided by fair weather fans that Arsenal fans have morphed into. The simplest of clearances comes with panicked reactions and some unlucky breaks. I know this…. We start the season with some clean sheets the problem would begin to solve itself. If they get comfy within themselves…. I mean outsides of Man Utd i would take our CB’s with the exception of Squillachi over any other club in the Premiership. Our Defenders should be allowed to attack the ball when it is in the air…. it plays into verm and DJ’s abilities. Our Zonal Marking technique on Set Pieces is makeshift at best and should be worked on or scrapped, Eyes on the ball, beat your man and clear the ball…. forget where you should be, that is effective in direct play defence and less effective in set pieces. Im inclined to agree with shane in a previous article he suggested work rate in the midfield and to be honest, im in agreeance that it would be of tremendous help to the defence. When the opponent has the ball, reduce the playing area they have to play with by showing in front of every potential passer. That takes movement, that takes activity. Which is another reason i like the signings….. alex is combative and hustles, so does gerv. as soon as you obtain the ball you spread the field in order to create pockets in the zones occupied by the defenders…. hence my appreciation for some true wingers. I hope it pans out for us.
Just offer squillaci and 4m for mertesacker then our defence will be 25% better. offer 15m plus lansbury and.miquel on loan for cahill then our defence will be 50% better. sell bendtner and eboue bring in carlton cole and scott parker. for me that improves our squad no end. as for nasri and cesc offer them both new deals if they dont sign then sell em both bringing in mata and sneijder. i know cole and parker are not everyones cup of tea but lets be realistic if we.bring in benzema where is he going to play? whereas cole will play back up. parker will give us the experience we need especially when song and may be frimpong go to acn.
I’m happy that finally we’re buying British. Foreign players like Diaby, Denilson, Eboue, Traore, Al;munia have done nothing. Squillaci, Chamakh are all useless. Its now time to buy British and let’s see them grow up and in time play with their hearts for us.
Over dependence on foreigners has its major drawback. When it becomes tough, they will be the first to hide. They also have the tendency to move away to another club as evidenced by their behaviour every summer.
Now its time to sell Nasri. Another foreigner of the Hleb mould who don’t care. He should also sell Diaby who is noted to have sympathies for Spurs.
Wow so this is what Wenger meant with superquality? a 17 year old boy who don’t even got experience for the Championship. Wenger continues to lie over and over again, how long will the fans stand for this?
Ok. I’m tired of explaining this difference to one-eyed fans; Disagreeing with Wenger and his policies and methods and “not supporting the club” are two entirely different things.
Let’s take a couple of cases in point:
Prior to this summer (when he was ordered to do so), Wenger has staunchly refused to do commercial tours of the USA/Far East in the past in favour of playing journeymen teams in Austria. He claimed it would disrupt his pre-season.
Look at Man Utd and Chelsea (who share the lions share of domestic titles in the last decade) – both earn much needed revenue and increase their foreign fanbase by doing these tours. Clearly – it doesn’t materially disrupt their preparataion – they get on with it and go on to win things. They generate excellent foreign monies (and Chelsea have a sugar daddy!) – whereas we are (were) servicing a huge debt and NEEDED the cash.
Having a summer of turmoil and uncertainty with key players (Nasri, Cesc) and not signing new players until after the pre-season is done however surely MUST disrupt the pre-season and mental state of the squad. Buying attacking players is all well and good (and we need a central striker), but if you were buying new players – who do you think will benefit more by a full pre-season with their teammates: a defender/GK who NEED to play as a unit OR a maverick winger with little or no defensive responsibilities?
Now this malaise where KEY CORE players are angling for a move away from the club isn’t new. Nasri is, but this air of uncertainty has hung over Cesc for 3yrs. Keep going back in just recent history and you’ll see Thierry Henry, Hleb, Flamini, Vieira, Overmars, Petit
3 club captains there wanting OUT. Key personnel like Petit, Overmars, Flamini, Hleb. What do that tell you ?
Now these are people that work with Wenger day-in/day-out. If they don’t believe in his vision AND wanted out when the team was at a much higher level than now, does that tell you something?
Arsene insists on a socialist wage structure (in a capitalist industry) whereby the lowest and highest earners within the same class of player (i.e. first team regulars – not trainees or reserves) doesn’t have the huge disparity that occurs at other clubs. The result is that most of the squad are on high-ish wages and the top players are capped from earning their potential.
Resultingly mediocre fringe players like Diaby, Denilson, Eboue and the like are not motivated to try harder since they are in a financial comfort zone that their talent and application doesn’t warrant. In addition – we can’t shift this dead-wood since no-one else is fool enough to pay those exorbitant over-inflated wages to take them off our hands.
Prior to Man City’s recent excess, we had the smallest ‘squad’ of the top6, and the 3rd highest overall wage bill (behind Utd and Chelsea). This is irresponsible contract negotiation on Arsenal’s part and since Wenger holds the pen – he is accountable.
(p.s. the elephant in the room is a 2.5% VAT increase, yet a 6% increase in ticket price – why is no-one DEMANDING clarification on this??)
How can you give Diaby etc a new deal a year or two ago, and let first teamers like Nasri & Clichy reach the final year of their contracts? Was that good business in your eyes? Last summer Real Madrid were sniffing around Clichy for ~20M, 1yr later we barely got 7M
Let’s look at the defensive frailties now, that have beleaguered us for ~5yrs. No leader in defence, afraid to tackle, no tackling in training (see Clichy’s comments). Compare that to when Wenger let Keown coach the defence in the run to the Champs League final where KEOWN was able to get great defensive performances from Sol and SENDEROS!!
He’s sold his first choice left back, and is entrusting this season to a rookie LB with Traore (who I think is better, but has barely played with his fellow defenders) as backup.
So – if the defence wasn’t good enough (by a long way) last year, do you (a) sell some of them and not buy any replacements or (b) sell the dead wood and buy superior players AND GIVE THEM TIME TO GEL BEFORE THE SEASON (as opposed to them introducting themselves to the other back-four in the tunnel at St James’) ?
Then look at his squad and see – what do we have an abundance of and where are the deficiencies.
Well we are overloaded with short, attacking midfielders/wingers like: Fabregas, Nasri, Walcott, Vela, Rosicky, Arshavin, Ramsey, Wilshere, Denilson, Miyachi and Gervinho, so we definitely DON’T NEED to strengthen there – oh wait, AOC has just been bought and apparently Mata and Joel Campbell are targets..
Well f*ck me, if he isn’t going to play 6 wingers… where will they all fit?
But let’s look at the bedrock upon which all these attacking forays are built – who have we got in the defensive midfield position?? Alex Song and…. … Oh that’s right Frimpong (with zero senior experience) to deal with opposition like Xavi and Iniesta…
Alex Song is the same guy who will be missing at the African Nations cup (with Gervinho and Eboue). So if he’s suspended, injured, playing badly, on national duty – we (Arsenal FC who are allegedly aiming for the Premier league) have a rookie with no senior games as our primary fallback.
I could go on – but what’s the point? if you can’t see the rampant, cancerous neglect here already – you are intentionally turning a blind eye to the facts.
Summary:
Get your targets sorted out prior to the end of season. Engage in negotiations as early as you can. Don’t scrimp on a few quid by waiting 2mths. Buy EARLY.
If you can’t be arsed to coach the defence, hire Martin Keown to do it for you and that will be like buying 2 new defenders.
There should be an experienced (>25+ y/o) in almost every first team position (radical talents like Cesc and Wilshere aside). By all means encourage youth development, but not at the cost of the clubs ambitions
If you get a choice of a WC winning winger, in his prime, who has consistently performed against the big two in Spain or an untried English potential talent who has consistently performed on Pro Evo Soccer and that’s about it – YOU GO FOR MATA.
Stop buying dwarves (Mata aside as he is a genuine talent like Cesc, David Silva) and pick up some tall strong dominant players for you spine (central defence centre mid, striker)
Come again?
LMAO Alex. Looks like you got it all figured out mate. Seems simple. Did you test this out on Fifa 11 first?
Miyaichi’s work permit has been granted which is great news. It says so on the arsenal official site.
Miyachi got a work visa!!!! :D
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/miyaichi-granted-work-permit-to-play-for-club
There are so, so many errors in the Alex diatribe, no wonder he is jumping over his anus with his apex?
@Notoverthehill:
Nothing constructive to say? No argument to counter mine?
Keep trying kid
@Alex
Follow the money, ManIOU per Financial reports have £5 millions to bank, for all the travails. The Emirates Cup week-end produces as much incomer without the travail.
Red Holdings stripping out the Glazers and the interest payments to buy the company, is far better run than Arsenal Holdings at this momoent in time.
The business rates can cut a swathe through the bottom line.
The BBC carried out a little exercise regarding the price of EPL tickets. This included programme etc., including pie for the Diamond Class (?), Liverpool FC are the most expensive.
Need I go on to demolish your pathetic diatribe of bilge water?
Of course, you’re not daft enough to think that the tour generates only gate receipts – right? That it builds/solidifies a growing fanbase who become consumers of the products that the club produces going forward. But that is obvious to anyone with half a brain.
Regarding ticket prices, Arsenal’s are the highest in the world. Again – this is undisputed.
Finally – to the AKB brigade, check out this statement made 1 month ago. Here Wenger prepares us all for the fact he is taking Arsenal out of the BIG CLUB league
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/jul/12/arsenal-cesc-fabregas-samir-nasri-arsene-wenger
semms a big part of wengers plans, for all those who said he wouldnt figure for three seasons, hes got number 15 so will be an around the first team from early on. Rightly so too, youll be surprised and how good this boy really is, speaking from a league 1 viewer perspective he is much better than jonjo shelvey was at 17 in terms of being a game changer and has made numerous sub appearances for liverpool already, no reason he cant make an impact, he is technically more sound than theo in terms of his control, passing and dribbling
He’s seems to be a more natural finisher than Theo too.