Blackburn Rovers accepted Arsenal’s bid for defender Phil Jones last night, but the 19-year-old opted to join Manchester United instead.
The news comes as Jones puts the finishing touches to his switch to Old Trafford, despite Arsène Wenger trying to thrash out a deal last night. This was confirmed by the Lancashire Telegraph, who report that Blackburn did give Wenger permission to discuss a deal, after a fee in excess of £16 million was agreed.
However, despite reports suggesting the Frenchman was ready to offer more in wages, Jones had already decided he wanted to stay in the North, and move to United. The England Under 21 international is the second centre back to reject Arsenal for United, following on from Chris Smalling in January of 2010.
Daily Express journalist Matt Law told his Twitter followers that Wenger “did all he could” to convince Jones.
Gutted about this, all I have to say.
thanks for the report, but how is that related to arsenal youth/reserves?
why wont you then consider blogging about arsenal as a whole?
why did his family move to london wish we sighned him he looks so promising
J, wat do u think about dunn (birmingham).
5″11. Not what we need at all. An excellent prospect but still just that… a prospect. We need some (preferably EPL) experience at the back. Cahill is a perfect fit. Good age, good PL experience, all the necessary attributes to be a real success here. Excellent defender.
Chris Samba I’ve never thought is top 4 material, and his lack of pace would get exposed with our high backline imo. Love his height and power though.
You’re correct, but if it is true that AW tried to sign Phil Jones, this seems yet another example of not being decisive in the transfer market.
Phil Jones was fluttering his eyelids towards us a month ago, talking about our attractive style of play, and if AW was interested he should have snapped him up there and then.
P.S. not sure if Phil is 5’11” or 6’2″ – some profiles say the former, others say the latter.
To all the Wenger haters out there it shows that he is trying all he can. Showing he will spend big mone 16M for Wenger is a lot. Arshavin only cost 15M. Blackburn wont sell Samba this summer.
I think bid for Cahill and give them Bendtner as part of the deal? Great business. And Jenkinson was signed months ago so Arsenal fans dont go mad about it we knew it was happening.
Peace People
I support and admire AW, but my faith is not blind.
Arsenal > Arsene > (almost) everything else.
this is great news that Arsene was willing to splash 16m pounds on a player. Well I guess it was never meant to be
Kyle Bartley is the answer you might laugh at me saying it.
Adam hes not 5ft 11 lol
He was last year but he has grown in height hes about 6ft 2 now!
JS does this mean Kyle bartley will sign a contract now?
Am disappointed but there are better players than him.Its just for Wenger to go sign ’em.Nice work Jamie
Well one positive we can take from this is that we are willing to spend a bundle of money where quality is concerned. It’s a long summer, let’s wait and see.
Sad to hear that we lost out to rival Man Utd…again :(
Blackburn website says 5″11.
Yes i’m sure he did try everything but unfortunately our demise over the last 6 years shows just as with Smalling that Arsenal are not such a big attraction anymore.If AW would have gone for him last season instead of useless Frenchmen then he may well have got his man….same old same old…too little,too late!
These are very interesting questions. First of all, of course, I’m happy that Wenger is not so reluctant with money. However, I don’t quite understand why he rates a 19 year-old, more inexperienced defender, Jones, more highly than Cahill who has only 1 year left on his contract, so would be available for at most as much money as Jones would have been.
i’ll tell u why.because wenger doesnt rate cahill that highly.and rightly so.cahill is good but not that great as he seems in bolton.when he comes to arsenal and has to play a high line he too will strugle like others.he is good but jones is more gifted naturally and is even better tackler than cahill.his only minus is that he is he is less experienced than cahill but eventually he will be better than cahill.thats what i believe.
Agreed, Cahill is overrated, and he has been caught out in a few poor matches for Bolton, the most recent example being the 4-3 defeat to Blackpool.
AW may go down the route of signing Sakho, who has pace and physical presence (this would be despite saying in an RTL radio interview with Lizarazu that he would be signing defensive reinforcements with proven PL experience).
i am not even sure which cb wenger should buy.i m sorry but even sakho is unproven to me.we can not say that he is definitely better than djourou.vermaelen definitely is our 1st choice.ideally if we were not in such crisis i would have let djourou or kosc progress for a further year but this year we definitely need to win something.but not a single name comes to my mind when i think of arsenal buying a cb.its hardest to find defensive players in market.so maybe wenger wont find an ideal signing.in my openion if wenger doent find anybody we can play either djourou or kosc with verm but we will have to make our formation such that its easier for defence.
Hi Jack, I agree with you on Djo & Kos, and things being brought to a head due to the desire to win trophy(s) asap. But I think Sakho would provide character and leadership that Verminator has, but Djo/Kos don’t quite have yet. Communication and leadership is important to cure our set-piece gremlins. I think our current 4-2-3-1 formation is defensive enough.
hey aj7 i havnt seen too much of sakho.i only saw him a few times in europa league.if he is really that good then great. arsene should go for him.but again a prblem arise that he is too a left footer along with vermaelen.but maybe thats not a big deal.that can be sorted.but on formation thing i m not sure.we play a high line so does barcelona.but the difference here is that off the ball our movement is not great.with the ball we look great but as soon as we are disposessed we dont press well enuff,in barca each player is so specific when they are not in possesion.its not rocket science.just a simple concept that needs great concentration throughout 90 minutes.we dont seem to do it well.i think this year wenger will rectify it or will decide to play a bit deeper.
regarding set piece problem i agree with you,it is a problem of personels
jack – good points, will take them on board.
aj7 see ya again buddy.nice talking to you.
How do we know this is true? It could just be another ploy to reassure fans who are stalling on Season Ticket renewals.
shows some intent i suppose. no doubt the conspiracy theorists will say that it’s wenger making a bid knowing full well that phil jones would choose utd over us. am i right in saying that the english transfer window only opened last night in as much as teams can now make make approaches and offers for players, who then become part of the team on july 1? if we are going to offer that kind of money then i only hope we offer the requisite sum for gary cahill.
We’ve been close to signing Ronaldinho,Mascherano,Ronaldo,Yaya,Di Maria,Smalling,now Jones,Ibrahimovic,Da Silva twins…. the list goes on and on. The facts are we didnt get any of them.
Dont buy Cahill or Samba.They are both very poor.I’ve watched them.
Djourou,Koscielny and Bartley are good.You can put Vermaelen as a defensive midfielder or a left back. Just get a defensive coach.Sol Campbell or Keown should also join the coaching staff.
I’m glad to see he was prepared to spend that much but it just proves that we ae going to find it hard to compete to sign players now. A promise of 1st team football and bigger wages wasn’t enough. Jones will now sit on man u’s bench like smalling did and play maybe 20 games next season. I think this might mean wenger has shown his hand. Any centre back signing will now know he was not the first choice.
I’m getting behind wenger for the summer signings. i expect good ones. i hope we dont fall behind in improving the team. liverpool and man u have started. it wont e long before man city dip their toe in the water. I hope we make a signing soon. and no, i dont really consider Jenkinson a signing for the first team.
jones got away is in the past.but my biggest fear is coming true now.why did he not really sign for us when not so many days back he said he liked arsenal maybe because he saw better chance of winning premiership at man utd.arsenal need to quickly make statement and win something because with man city and liverpool too premier league is tougher nw
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1324660/Blackburn-Rovers-star-Phil-Jones-Im-happy-living-mum-dad–EXCLUSIVE.html
@ phv. don’t forget Van Nistlerooy
jones can play in DM also, but am i the only one who is glad we didnt get him? He’s 5’11 and 19 years old. Arsenal need top experience. Jones is another future prospect. i’d rather give Bartley a shot
£16m for another prospect, no doubt he will be great in the future but definitely not what we need right now.United can afford that because they already have a strong defence we on the other hand need an experienced and proven defender.
absolutely agree!
16 million is not the type of money Arsenal should be spending right now for a “potential talent”. Those types of signings should be below/within 5 million, like the Miyaichis, Wellingtons and Jenkinsons.
For 16 million, we should be getting players that slot right in the squad.
I dont see why we dont go after Chill who would have cost a whole 1 million more who would also slot right into the first team.
I think Arsenal have already lost the ability to attract big name or prem players. Wenger said our style of football can attract them, however a defender like Jones couldnt care less.
We dont have the financial or trophy factor at all. Chelsea, City, United and a few other European clubs have both these two key factors a good player looks for.
This is the reason we have signed the likes of Nasri, Koscielny, Squillaci, Silvestre, Gallas and Chamakh over the past few seasons. See the pattern? Only Ramsey and Arshavin were players outside Ligue 1 or French nationality.
I see this being a very long summer. United again showing how a club with ambition does transfer dealings. Not very public ala Redknapp but straight into business.
You can’t blame the lad wanting to stay in the North and signing for United, he’s then got the best of both worlds in staying local and can dream of winning silverware.
i saw bartley a couple of times last season twice for sheff utd and then 3 or 4 times for rangers. I was not impressed on any occassion. i think Jones is an excellent player and better than Cahill. I would have been happy to see him playing instead of squillaci, kos or djourou.
will be interesting to see what happens now. will wenger move quickly to get a center back or take his time now?
Regardless of the amount of money he was willing to spend on a player this only confirms that he is still going for young, unfinished players with potential rather than seasoned performers at their peak.
We don’t need more youngsters so we can loan them out other teams. We had 18 youngsters, Vela and Hoyte included,out on loan last season.
We have Wellington, Galindo and Myachi who will almost certainly be loaned out again because of work permit issues and a host of others who may not yet be ready to step up to the plate in Bartley, Miquel, Afobe, Sunu, Coquelin, Frimpong, Lansbury, etc.
We need the Falcao’s of this world.
Anyway I have it from a pretty reliable source that Cahill is a done deal to Citeh with SWP and another in cash+part exchange..my source is one of his team mates last season…Hope i’m wrong but thats the talk…
This doesn’t “confirm” anything about Wenger’s tranfer policy this Summer. A very good young prospect became available so Wenger put in a bid. This doesn’t mean he is gonna ignore the need for experience and only sign kids. Have some patience ffs, the season has only just ended.
Gud news dat Aw have has now started spending big.pls Aw should sings big player like osaze,cahill,samba.
hoping alex chamberlain will join us soon.
yes i am happy with carl jenkinson, welcome to arsenal!
Bartley was excellent for Rangers, what games were you watching. Ask any Rangers fans do they want to keep him or not?
Either way, Jones has 5 years learning to do, would rather Samba any day. We already have three quality young CB’s under 25, yet to hit their prime. And yes, before somebody say’s it, Koscielny is a quality player.
jones isn’t what we need at all…and what message does this bid send to bartley and miquel? i’m not feeling wenger at all on this bid. sakho and vertonghen are infinitely superior options. even cahill probably.
if we have this much cash for jones, there’s no excuse for not getting the plsyers we need. better more affordable players are available.
Totally agree mate. Bartley is a superb prospect and impressed everyone at both Sheffield United and Rangers. Physically outstanding (tall, quick, powerful)and the Sheffield United fans I’ve spoken to commented on his composure and excellent reading of the game. He’s better than Chris Smalling was at 19.
“Jones is better than Cahill” Unless you mean potentially you are absolutely off your rocker.
It also shows Wenger will break the Arsenal transer record this summer.
Not on a 19 year old defender please boss, I really think had he signed people would have moaned about this big time.
We need a left back too, Clichy can do one as far as I’m concerned, he’s a complete liability.
It appears my worst fear has come true. B’cos AFC lacks ambition we’ll find that a lot of good players with ambition of winning silverware will opt to join other rivalry clubs. This is a fact we may have to live with if we do n’t start showing signs of ambition.
looks like the squad rules have really increased thepremiums for young english talent. everyone’s after them. the prices are crazy. we should really look to bring our own english kids up to standardnow. bartley and lansbury this year. also arsenal should encourage england to recruit more of their kids.
Makes you wonder how much is Lansbury worth. He’s been really maturing in his attacking game.
if the mancs are rebuilding, you never know they may put an offer in for lansbury with only one year left on his contract..
For me: Cahill and Vermaelen as our first choice pairing, Kos and DJ providing good backup. Bartley to cut his teeth on loan at one of the newly promoted premier league teams(one who will guarantee him a starting berth).
Would be ideal and perfectly feasible.
Well let’s hope we don’t lose Alex O-C to ManU as well! I wonder who the commanding CB with PL experience will be that Wenger talked about? Blacburn will not want to lose Samba and Cahill for me is not good enough… Most likely it will be someone outside the PL e.g Sakho or Mertesacker?
I wonder if he will sign another DM or let Coquelin and Frimpong get a chance now that we finally got rid of Denilson??
Please let me know your opinions, thanks.
Hangeland??
Sorry to say this but I am going to be blunt. Arsenal with or with out Wenger have never been as big of a club as Manchester United. I don’t know what fantasy world so of you live in but the closest we have been in terms of prestige, and public image to Manchester United is with Wenger in charge. Now back to the story….
We got Ramsey and Walcott, and a few other youngsters and they won these 2, the same way they lost out on Ribery, Obi Mikel and Robben. This is how football works. You win some and you lose some. Personally at the stage of our team and how much I believe we would pay out, I don’t want 16 million of our money to be spent on a guy that is not really going to push us over the edge in the near future. We will fine another teenage talent for a lot less that will turn out to be just as good as Jones so don’t worry about this.
shane in the 19302 they were a bigger club, well more succesfull anyhow
i don’t mind clichy as a squad player…he has some good qualities…but he is basically an eboue of the left wing. loses composure at key moments, poor positional sense. a good no2.
i want us to keep eboue and clichy actually. great backups. eboue’s swagger against barca was awesome.
guys you shouldnt worry about shopaholic liverpool spending 20 millions on henderson. we all wanna see arsene making big signings this season but not paying over the odds. maybe for someone like benzema, yes!
what arsenal really needs is a striker/goalscorer to carry us even when van persie is out injured, a midfielder if cesc leaves and few good additions to help the rotation coz we dont wanna be replaying leyton and ipswich, that forced us to play senior and triggered injuries and burn out.
you dont wanna be arsene at this moment when you are under pressure to spend at the same time risk losing some of our youth. personally i am against bartley going for another loan, why can’t he stay on the bench till he grabs his chance. then there is frimpong,coquelin,botelho and lansbury. not sure about miyaichi and afobe. its gonna be a long summer.
its a journalist that is the source…simply said
I still believe Jagielka is a viable option for Arsenal. He has similar qualities to Vermaelen and would slot in nicely. Would also like to see Fallaini come in for extra height and power at set pieces but can’t see that happening. I also think Dann at Birmingham would be a great buy. Has a couple of years experience n should cost peanuts with Birmingham being relegated.
otherwise…I have followed your site for yers Jamie, and its with much respect and admiraton I give you my opinion. The ite is the best source out there on younsters, and I really believe in the long-term project, when those coming through being are beng guided by experience. I just think that often you get too much people on the site having negativ opinions about the first team which I thought was not relevant for a reserves and youth site and rather is unconstrutive when trying to learn about the youngsters development. Would it notbe better to have a first team and reserves blog seperate, though I understand your perspective getting such scoops as you get
Cahill is overrated but Sakho isn’t, lol.
n pardon my french, keyboard issues so hope u can get the meaning by reading between lines
Could this mean that we are in for that young French defender that United were after as well?? I forget his name but he sounds like a really good one for the future and may be less expensive than Jones was!!!
What I find amusing is the fans who think buying footballers is like picking tins of baked beans off the supermarket. If you want it, take it. Doesn’t work like that in REAL LIFE!
If we’re looking at getting cahill then why not offer them Kyle bartley on a years loan to sweeten the deal,it’d be a win win situation,he even grew up in Bolton so should settle in quite nicely too.Although I gotta say why not try a cheeky bid for alex off of Chelsea,he’s back up to terry and luiz,is experienced,a winner and a real powerhouse?Plus if Ashley youngs available for £15million as they say and we dint bid I’ll be pretty miffed,he’s got arsenal written all over him!
true shane, I remember the Graham days…the only thing entertaining was Ian Wright…n Romford Pele…You got to go back to the days of Herbert Chapman to find Arsenal of a similar success rate…Vieira was not a star n a reserve team player at Milan, Henry unwanted winger at Juve, Petit was good in France, Anelka a youth, etc etc…and after all this is not a journalist, not reuters or an official source, so we dont even know if we really missed out
and I pray not Cahill, seriously, look what quality the english back up defenders provided during world cup…Upson anyone? I remember people saying we desperately needed him last year
…meant this is a journalist from express, not official source
Don’t why people dont rate jones, he has similar characteristics to john terry and I feel bar vermaelen we don’t have a defender like that. He is great in air, quick, decent passer and really likes to throw his body into tackles and blocks.
In addition to that he can cover for Song instead of using Diaby in that position.
Vermaelen you say the answer yourself in your name, we are gettin him back. See diferent opinions on the forum; my opinion is that Jones is a good prospect. Like Adam says, potentially…he is very good for 19, I personally think we need someone to guide now rather than to be guided
Apparently he has failed is medical at Man U!
Konscielny, Vermaelen, Bartley and Miquel got loads of years, so we got talents…Squillaci did not impress
What all these sign Gary Cahill overrated.. Slight in size and stature. The reason everybody want him is because English… I want size and present, someone with jack wilshire heart and Tony Adams or sol Campbell size, someone who if we played at Stoke away with I feel confident he can break shawcross leg instead of being bullied.. And someone to knock people out in corner. Cahill only looks good because he defend 70% of the time, while at arsenal you defend for 30% and much more pressure..
Who should we buy I don’t know neither
Let just hope Arsene does, anotherwise the word is were “F#cked”
Any in arsene we trust
Arsenalforlife
whats the difference between phil jones and kyle bartley?
phil jones got more games in the first team playing for a small team thats all. bartley has to go on loan waiting for his chance. except this time arsenal fc shouldn’t gamble on inexperience player.
dudes we had senderos, cygan,stephanov.
i am surprised some people believe we should exchange him with cahill.
let phil jones go to man utd, had chris smalling signed for us, he would have been a first teamer by now. 16 millions is too much anyway! enjoy the bench phil!
V. happy to see Wenger realising we have a height problem finally, and now free from financial shackles. I believe Wenger had his hands tied for years to push through the stadium, which in hindsight is a fucking miracle considering the financial climate. He kept us afloat and in the top 4, and I believe the board were happy just to qualify for Champions league, but spend no money to reduce debt.
I believe you will see the real Wenger now, the one who dropped cash on Henry et al, and I think you will see Wenger be extremely ruthless this year with his own players who let him down BIG TIME.
Re: defenders, I think we should sign Mertesacker.
This is just another move in the wrong direction. I’m starting to believe we are a feeder club for other teams and players only want to use us a stepping stone to bigger and better things. We haven’t won anything for over 6 years and don’t even look close to winning anything. It’s proving even more difficult to attract players when they are more likely to win things at other clubs and despite what wenger says coming second isn’t acceptable. On any level.
not winning trophies doesnt make arsenal a feeder club.
a feeder club don’t refuse to sell their best players.
a feeder club is a club that survives on transfer fees.
only cesc thats likely to leave because he’s homesick and barca have to pay up f**k off. and we wouldnt regret keeping our captain for more years because we are not desperate to cash in.
arsenal is not a feeder club
Raphael Varraine is his name!!:D I remember now!!:D
I mean Raphael Varane!! NOT Varraine!!
if Kyle Bartley really is that good,how is that he nearly never hit the same stage- the national teams(U19,U21,starting places in PL teams)- like Smalling or Jones?
I can’t see his future that bright,now that Wenger just offered 16 mill for a kid at the same age and positions(CB,DM) like him!
jamie not that i am expecting you to publish this comment, its just a message to you and your inner-self… you are not a big fan of democracy, are you?
fail, my bad :D
im sorry, you have an every right to delete my comments and think of me as a total dull..though i would be quite interested in your answer to my first question
calling arsenal a feeder club shows how much some fans have become shallow, players come and go. arsenal fc is not like crewe used to be in the past. we do buy players. we raid teams when we want players in contrary, no one leaves arsenal unless arsene says so.even cesc will only leave if barca pay the correct fee considering we paid them peanut for him. nasri could be over contract issues but the odds are he will stay. they only people screaming are the bad rubbish who already knew their time is up.more like jumping before they are pushed. ie denilson and bendtner.
nope we are not feeder club coz its not that easy to buy an arsenal player and we are not desperate to cash in on transfer fees.
Agree mate. People don’t realize everyone is a feeder club to the money clubs and thats how it will always be which generally is Real Madrid and now Barcelona. Manchester United sold them there best player ever (and yes he is, I don’t care what anyone says). The fact that Barcelona and Real Madrid always come after our players speaks volumes about our club.
One Word!
MERTESACKER!
M Sakho is vastly overrated. Physically very strong, but his distribution is appalling. In ligue 1 it was noticeable but at international level (which in my opinion is lower than Champion league level) he has been exposed. He also has the same tendency than Clichy to dither on the ball and lose possession when put under pressure.
Raphael Varane is a much better prospect than Sakho however it is clear that Man Utd had already agreed a deal for him. He is currently passing his baccalaureat and will not make any decision until he knows the result. If he passed he will try to sign to Man Utd. If he has to re-pass part of it in September he will stay in France and try to move mid-season. If he failed he will stay in France and try again next year.
I am disappointed that Kyle Bartley does not seems to be in AW’s plan. It looks like he may go on loan again to gain experience but I cannot see any premiership club putting a rookie defender on loan in their first team.
Samba may not have the quality desire however he may be exactly the kind of defender we need for sticky/physical game such as Stoke, Blackburn, Wolves.
1.cahill and samba would both be decent options maybe even s.dann – but we need a good defender more then a tall defender. prefer a player in the prem. djourou is our tallest 1st team cb and i think kos is better defensively, plus sagna and clichy lack height. (sagna is a beast)…..
2. the 4231 formation is causing song to wonder rather then sit infront of the cb’s. we should go 4123 or 4141 with song holding and ramsey & wilshere infront….(if cesc/nasri go)
what you think?
I am sorry to repeat this but we are focused on centerbacks in this discussion so I might as well keep it there. People want us to blow money on the Aston Villa reject? I don’t get the hype with Cahill and he surely does not fit his price tag. I am telling you, Koscielny is the man. The way he reads the game and intercepts balls is amazing. Give the guy a chance and he will prove his worth. He is the only man I have ever seen stick with Messi (the first leg was amazing from him).
how can some people blame wenger for this… you guys need your heads tested. and about jones, would have loved to sign him but it’s done and i only care about players at arsenal so forget about it. plenty of other defenders out there… can’t wait to see the squad on september 1st :)
with you on that 1, i like kos, but if him or verm gets injured we can’t rely on djourou/sqillachi. would like to have bartley as back up but he will prob go on loan for regular football…..dont need a gk or a cm, just cb, wf and cf.
I remembered the same thing happened with ronaldo. If Wenger were really serious he should have gone for Jones long ago.
I hope no more potential wc kids. Get those with epl experience otherwise I fear the gunners could drop out of the top four.
out:
almunia
squillachi
denilson
rosicky
bendtner
IN:
(MANNONE/MARTINEZ)
SAMBA/CAHILL
(FRIMPONG/COQUELIN)
(LANSBURY)
GERVINHO
samba is not good for arsenal and we dont play stoke and blackburn everyweek. somedays we play barca, inter milan, chelsea and man utd. djourou,koscielny and vermaelen have champions league experience, samba and cahill, none!
arsenal lack of penetration/missed chances have given small ragtag teams to beat us on the break and score. we used to score 5 or 6 even the like of stoke now we struggle to score 1 goal you are blaming the defence, aston villa and fulham only scored 2 we could have outscore them with 3 or 4 goals and gained 3 points.
yes the defence needs a bit of upgrade but if we still failing to convert our chances into goals we will lose games.
we need to buy players who will win us games against anyone. not just stoke.
barca have small players but size doesnt bother them because they can outplay anyone..
Koscielny was signed off the back of 31 games of top division football. Where was the CL experience there or when signing Djorour and now you’re using them to back up the opposite point. Samba would have CL experience this time next year if we signed him.
The majority of Man Utd’s signing do not have CL experience, doesn’t do them any harm. We need a couple of players with PL experience.
out –
almunia
squillachi
denilson
rosicky (sorry)
bendtner
IN –
mannone/martinez – promotion
SAMBA/CAHILL
coquelin/frimpong – promotion
lansbury – promotion
GERVINHO
no disrespect but this is arsenal not barcelona….plus they have great defenders and the squad is 90% spannish home-grown. plus we beat them and would of done so twice if rvp didn’t get sent off. (we was robbed!)
I disagree about Samba. At the right price, he would be great. People seem to always associate the staring line up as being the team which is not the case. Options are alway good. Samba would be great for a lot of Premier league style games while Kocsielny is great for European style and smaller attacker games. Plus you never know what injuries will come.Lets not forget that Samba is not exactly a clumsy big man either. He has played striker professionally as well. I have always liked him even before this year and he looks like if on a good team, he could be great. You just get the feeling Blackburn would be like most teams and hold out for a ridiculous fee but I would welcome Samba if he joined.
Samba would be (an would have been) an outstanding signing. Anybody who questions his ablity must have been asleep throughout much of last season.
Not everybody we sign over 23 has to be brought in to play 60 games a season as an automatic first choice starter in all competitions. What we stuggled with last season was depth of the bench.
If we go with a Vermalaen/Djorrou pair next season, then so be it. I wouldn’t have any great concern with that, although better defensive coaching would be welcome. But there are at least 25-30 games next season where Samba would be ideal. I can’t think of a better PL defender to step in the weekend after a tough midweek CL game who would retain some solidity.
I think AFC should buy Tompkins from WHU or Johnson from BC and keep Bartley all season? Cheers!
bayern want nikki b cant we bid 30m and nikki b in a exchange deal.
also i think 20m should be enough to secure eto.
this would keep cecs and nasri at our club. also shaktar want denielson and if we offer 4m we could get willam.
we can sell rosicky, almunia, squillachi, traore and sum others and generate sum funds … we can promote batley, frimpong and lansbury… this would be a perfect injection of youth and experience into our team.
onli screw up ribery adn eto wages will be sky rocket high.
gutted..to be frank iwould have loved to see him join us but wenger has to move on sakho,ganso,coleman,subotic are players that will stablize our defence hope one of these will join us cahill is definately rubish..liverpool needs a good young midfielder we dont..this guy picks a teams where he will be fifth choice bujt it reflects the fact that unless arsenal start winning trophies the best players will join our rivals these’s even micah who would provide ideal if clichy leaves we need to spend wisely bartley is as good as johns now we need to start banging the door for oxlade & hazard
How would Ganso stabilize our defense? He is an attacking midfielder lol
Shane, I erymch agree. Koscielny has been very good in my opinion and can be top, especially he has done well thinking about thshifting conditions in defence. Vermaelen is a leader, we just need one leader more when cosdering defence…somebody lie Squillaci, just with more talent ;-)
Since we missed out on Jones and United were after Varane from Lens, I think we will sign Varane for around 8 million as united will drop their interest in him.
im happy because he preferred utd, jones is overrated and overpriced….that mean wenger will try to sign another defender such as cahill vertoghen or sakho, these 3 are far better……jones might be good but we need better
No, Vertonghen is an awful CB, but a cracking DM and a fairly good LB.
I look upon this as a narrow escape or it could be that Arsene put in a bid just to inflate the price.
varane….ya maybe this is a shrewd ploy by wenger to deviate wenger’s interest
don’t worry lads, we have Song, Bartley, Frimpong AND Coquelin, who are all considered to have a bright future at Arsenal.
HOWEVER, it’s promising to see that Wenger is ‘spending big’, however… we need experience FIRST then look at the youths!!
Jones is on aonishing 50 k a week in Manchester. That is alot for s prospect. Im sure all Of us rather see nasri staying than using the money for phil jonses 50k a week salary
There will still be plenty of good CB out there. If we get one he wont be a first choice so 16M for Jones is pretty ridiculous. Wenger should keep doing bringing in quality for the right price. Sakho could be great for us. Bartley is still untested in the premier league so he will be a big big gamble. Maybe he should go on loan at a premier league team and come back in January. CB should not be our priority. we need a new striker, 2 new wingers, 1 new DM. Vela will not be good enough for us next season so I can see him go too which is sad news.
Could’nt put that better myself Jom. Its vital we get a lethal pacy frontman and at least 1 out and out direct winger. Jones though would off been a very very good addition as he would of covered CB and DM which we also need… Busy summer ahead
To those saying Cahill is overrated, have you actually seen him play? He is an excellent centre back. Good age, good PL experience, tall (at least 6″2), strong, quick, great in the air, tackles well, loves to get stuck in and is comfortable on the ball. He looks like someone who just loves defending. He’s a perfect fit for us.
He’s the third best English centre back out there (on par with Michael Dawson) and discounting Ledley King who’s a crock. Looks completely at home at International level whenever he’s pulled on an England shirt and will be 1st choice for England for many years to come I reckon.
Oh and Jones looked poor in midfield for Blackburn. The fact they played him there showed that they saw him as a great prospect and wanted him in the team but didn’t fully trust him at centre back. Not what we need.
He won’t play any games as a DM for United and he wouldn’t have for us either.
I disagree Adam. I see Utd mainly using him as DM as he wont get that many games as a CB for a couple yrs while they still have Rio Vidic and Smalls, not to mention Oshea and Evans…..
I can see Jones being an replacement for Hagreaves.
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11667_6973072,00.html?
i think he should sign diego godin hes absolutely brillant and he will fit in to arsenal style of play easy
if we sign sum1 like samba all he wil be doing is hitin long balls same as cahill
Phillip, he’s not anywhere near good enough to play in midfield for United. He looked very mediocre there for Blackburn.
He’s a centre back.
Said it before, and will say it again;
Sagna-Cahill-TV5-Sakho
Is a title winning defence!
Wow, a lot of comments! However, I’m pretty certain that there would have been a lot more had we actually signed this youngster with potential! People would have been going mad at Wenger! Personally, i’m glad we didn’t sign Phil Jones as potential is definitely not what we need at the moment – and prior to us getting the news that Wenger was in for Jones, pretty much all of us were bemoaning the lack of experience in the squad!
There’s a lot of rumours saying Mamadou Sakho is a potential target, but these rumours also suggest that Wenger isn’t willing to pay his 15-20 million euro price tag. Hopefully ,with his willingness to pay 16 million pounds for Jones, the rumour mill would shed some more positive light on Wenger’s transfers. But I’m starting to miss us having a 20+ goals striker a season type of player and I’m pretty sure a lot of us are feeling the same way.
Maybe Walcott’s progress will play out like Henry. He’s hitting 22 this year, the same age when Henry brought all his talent out for Arsenal. But again, this is partially wishful thinking of mine.
Not disappointed in this at all. Good player or not, the last thing we need is more Under 21 players and “more potential”.
There comes a point when you have so many youthful players competing for the one position eg Lansbury, Ramsey, Coquelin, Eastmond, Frimpong, JET, possibly Bartley all potentially competing for 1 and a half squad places, or Miquel, Bartley, then Jones to a reasonably young Djorrou & Koscielny that they hamper each other’s chances.
Rather than 6 of them all play the equivalent of 3 games next season, I’d rather two with the most potential get 9 games each say.
Not sure either Jones has made the right move with Rio, Vidic & Smalling all above him, then Evans, Brown & O’Shea still with them – he may have had assurances the latter three are off.