Take Robin van Persie out of the equation, and it’s been a very good summer so far for Arsenal.
Top targets Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud have been acquired, while deals are at an advanced stage for midfield cavalry in the form of Santi Cazorla and Nuri Şahin.
But Arsène Wenger looks set to miss out on his luxury signing – 17-year-old French sensation M’Baye Niang – after failing to agree a deal with Caen.
Wenger was excited and then impressed after bringing Niang to North London for a trial last month, and has been keen to find an agreement to buy the young striker.
However, his opening £5 million bid was rejected a fortnight ago, and despite talks re-opening last week, the two clubs are still struggling to agree terms.
Arsenal’s first offer was a package worth £5 million, which was snubbed with Caen valuing the player at £7 million. Wenger has indicated he is happy to move closer to that figure, but is only willing to put £2 million up front, with the rest to following in bonuses.
Caen are refusing to budge, and want all the money up front, despite Niang telling them he is desperate to move to Arsenal.
Yet that is now looking an unlikely proposition, with AC Milan close to striking a deal. Talks have progressed with Caen over the weekend, and the two clubs are confident a transfer will go through.
The news will come as a disappointment for Wenger, who had been keen to land Niang, but believes he requires work to reach his potential, and is unwilling to gamble a huge amount of up front.
To those people who accuse Wenger of favoring ‘French Players’ more than their English counterparts, this just proves that Wenger doesn’t care for ‘Passports’ If your worth X Amonut to Wenger and your attitude Is on point and you fit In his ‘Footballing Plans’ then and ONLY then would Arsene consider In buying a player. He spent £12m on Walcott and another £10m on The Ox……. English Players.
Not to mention Francis Jeffers for £8m which was a lot more money at the time.
considering wenger didnt take on drogba, ibrahimovic or ronaldo because of his principals and the deal, this isnt surprising – and thats not an attack on wenger, hes absolutely right not to shell £7m straight out on a hot prospect unless hes damn certain they will make it to the very top, which is invariably unlikely.
he must have seen hundreds of people on trial, to only get a handful “wrong” in hindsight, is not bad going at all – this guy could turn into a Bebe for all we know. were not desperate for someone like him with aneke and afobe coming through, so the article has it spot on when it says its a luxury signing.
on a side, great to have you back as well, my man! your returns made me start commenting after just browsing all these years!
thats just not true.
ibra was offered a trial but didnt want to do one so went to ajax instead.
we had a deal agreed for ronaldo but then united came in and offered a higher transfer fee and more wages so he went there.
as for drogba, he was off to juve before chelsea gayumped them.
with this fella niang fella its about timing and negotiation, we have already signed two strikers this summer and have four others in the squad so our need is not immediate plus 7 million is a lot for us to spend a player that only has potentíal and wont play yet.
Chamakh,Vela,Benthner,etc.Five years have been wasted trying to get a decent strike not to mention Baptista and Ashvin.The latest is Wenger is being linked to a Belgian striker.
Well this guy may score 49 goals in 30 games but the epl is at lest two three rungs above te Belgina league.Get real.He could struggle and time will asted.
Pay the market rate for the quality gys who will make a diference.If the guns can’t compete for the epl,they never will under Wenger.
you idiot. that belgian striker ( mirallas) plays in the turkish league. not belgian league. shows how much u know before criticizing arsene.
Have a cry somewhere else.
He actually plays for Olympiakos in Greece.
considering wenger didnt
take on drogba,
ibrahimovic or ronaldo
because of his principals
and the deal, this isnt
surprising – and thats not
an attack on wenger, hes
absolutely right not to
shell £7m straight out on a
hot prospect unless hes
damn certain they will
make it to the very top,
which is invariably unlikely.
he must have seen
hundreds of people on
trial, to only get a handful
“wrong” in hindsight, is not
bad going at all – this guy
could turn into a Bebe for
all we know. were not
desperate for someone
like him with aneke and
afobe coming through, so
the article has it spot on
when it says its a luxury
signing.
on a side, great to have
you back as well, my man!
your returns made me
start commenting after
just browsing all these
years!
Not that I’m glad to see Arsene miss getting a prospect he wanted (I’m not) but I am glad to see that the up-front cash has been prioritized for strengthening this year’s first team. If that means there isn’t enough cash sloshing around to take the risk of paying 7 upfront for a teenager, well sometimes that’s the cost of doing business.
luxury is right, especially when we have campbell and afobe on the books.
Niang is a masive talent I think we will really regret it if we miss out, I’m still hopeful Wenger will act so we don’t lose him
I know little about him – but I remember the hype around Giles Sunu and how he would be the next Henry. I think we splashed £2.5m on him, so with inflation I suppose £7m is the going rate now. Which is a lot of money to gamble on. According to contract clauses reported we could sign one of the Premier Leagues top scorers last season, Ba for the same fee!
GunnerGuru… Ba is not available for £7m. His clause ran out on the 1st August. He would now cost a lot lot more as of this moment.
shame really if he becomes a top class player it’ll mean we missed cause we weren’t willing to pay that 2m upfront.
And if he doesn’t we will have wasted 7. There’s possible downside that must also be considered.
I think the issue is clear. We don’t want to spend that much money up front for a 17 year old when it could be used on a first-team player. Also, I reckon this means one of chamakh/RVP is staying.
Frankly, I’d rather see the money spent on a defender, preferably someone like Neil Taylor, pushing santos to LW
The French players have been inspirational to us so any French signing or interest should not be used to criticize Wenger
Wenger shud buy this young star watch him play he is the next big thing. He can b used for carling cup and others. Wenger shud add more money. Don’t be an Economist in arsenal.
Wenger paid 15m for Ox last year, maybe because he was convinced he was worth it, and perhaps niang is not worth 7m in wenger’s view. I will go with wenger on this one.
wenger get the cheque signed wd need this boy. A player for the future
lol.. ‘need’
we have got campbell,ryo and afobe.luxury is right.
Wenger bought the Ox last time round. We can applaud him for that!
But i fear this can turn out to be another C.Ronaldo like incident. Unwillingness to spend an extra 2m could cost the club potentially 80m if this guy is any good!
Even with the profits from the Ronaldo deal, it was still a daft purchase by Fergie – hindsight can’t change that. Pure luck that it turned out well. By the time you factor in all the other expensive youngsters he bought – Bebe and Co – then it becomes obvious that he has in fact shelled out about 80 million on youngsters with only Ronaldo to show for it. Might as well have just spent the 80 million on one mature player and avoided the risk and development time.
It is difficult when you have to way up the business side and the footballing side to make the right decision. If he doesn’t make the Arsenal grade there is still a good resell value (unless like the previous comments he ends up a ‘Bebe’!). I guess Arsene has to decide if he is any better than Afobe and Campbell, and if maybe not no point in spending cash.
Most of these players are overhyped – especially by the know-nothings who comment on blogs. And most youngsters don’t make the grade anyway. Look at Bendtner, Bentley, JET, Merida and plenty others Arsene has let go who have not made it at their new clubs. Wenger doesn’t do dumb deals and missing out on one player is not the end of the world.
WENGA WENGA
We neeed a French African Monster in defense
I suggest Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa
We need a brother at the back to keep calm and composed
we would concede less goals
I bet Jamie and other so-called “football journalists” have never seen a player contract, transfer bid or transfer contract. Very, very few people know what are the figures and clauses. Therefore money should never be mentioned as long as the contracts are not public and transparent. The world football should learn from the NHL ice-hockey and make wages and transfers completely transparent.
We ve got Campbell and Afobe. I don’t think we need Niang especially for the price been quoted. I would rather we go for someone established who will probably cost more money but of a lesser risk.
The Kelvin Mirallas seems like one that Wenger will do and seriously even with RVP, I think we still need another striker. We ve only got Giroud and RVP right now. Chamakh may stay but he is not up to it. Podolski is a Winger, Walcott is Walcott. I don’t trust him to be crinical as a striker.
This Kelvin guy may be unknown but Kos was also unknown and our scouts ve proved they can be trusted. If they think the guy is good then we should sign him instead of Niang who may be good in the future but doesn’t satisfy our need in the present.
I personally still think there must be a chance of RVP staying. From what he’s said it appears he wants to leave because he doesn’t think the club are willing to buy the necessary talent to compete. We have Podolski and Cazorla now who are massive signings, Giroud who gives us something different up front to Van Persie with his height and proficiency in the air (not that that’s all he’s good for, far from it) although I personally don’t rate him as a possible replacement for Van Persie. Surely if that’s the case he might be considering changing his mind, and if not I guess he just wants a change of scene before he retires, or if we’re being cynical, a fat pay check of over 100k a week that he knows Arsenal aren’t going to give him.
Mirallas is a good player but he’s no Van Persie and I don’t think ever will be. Would be a decent signing though.
Firstly it’s great to have you and the site back Jamie, keep up the fantastic work. Secondly, is there still a chance of arsenal signing niang. There was a report that the Caen president admitted an offer from arsenal and he didn’t say it was rejected just that there were interest from other clubs, so has arsenal’s offer definitely been rejected and they are currently out of the running or are the clubs still negotiating while the player assesses all his options?