Arsenal Banter Archive April 24 2014

24 Apr 2014 20:38:08
Ed,
Was just sitting and thinking the other day whether Messi might one day end up leaving Barcelona. Things haven't been too smooth there recently and there's certainly a lot of money washing around out there at the moment.

Just purely out of interest, do you know of any interest, from anyone, in Messi?

Cheers.

{Ed002's Note - Anzhi were in 2012. Adidas have made a proposal or two. Manchester City would be interested but I doubt the player would.}

What kind of proposal were adidas making?
something like the rumours regarding wanting a puma sponsored player to join arsenal, and paying certain amount towards the fee?

{Ed002's Note - Something like that.}

Last season I believe that Anzhi were ready to meet Messi's buy out clause of around £300 mill. Plus a salary of over £400 grand a week! I haven't got the exact figure but I know it was about that. Anyhow, Messi didn't want to leave Barcelona. Now that's money.

{Ed002's Note - The figures are incorrect.}

Oh sorry it stood at £200 million plus buy out clause and a salary of £24 million a year after! tax. Give or take a few pence. Plus his image rights .

I don't see him leaving, just leverage for barcelona to cough it up. he's been there too many years to root up and come to england.

i don't see him as a player who does it for the money, not that he's not money hungry, but he will get that pay anywhere. so its about what the club do beyond that.

Neymar would be sold before they consider selling messi.

24 Apr 2014 18:22:51
Saw a pic of Diaby today

You see his right knee and you cringe. So many scars

Kid isn't even 30 yet, and what a nightmare of injuries for him to deal with

You never hear the "why me" or "I don't deserve this"

Kid puts his head down and goes to work. I'm so happy to see him back training. No one in football deserves a year of injury free football more.

For his sake, and for ours, I hope we get to see one more glimpse of what we saw in Anfield last year

What a midfielder he could be

I'm sorry, I cheer for guys like this 10 days out of 10

I seethe when I hear people ridicule him. Like he chose this fate.

He's a role model to youngsters on how to get about your business as a professional.

Cheers to you Abou! Welcome back

Hear, Hear US.

No doubt in terms of empathy you give this guys his 10/10 for sheer determination.

but for what he gets paid, to be a millionaire, and the faith the club has retained in him which has led us to basically rely on him being the new signing every window, has left me feeling nothing at the moment.

10/10 for determination

0/10 for impact and wasting clubs wages and recruitment policy.

although I understand its more than diaby to blame for that fiasco.

{Ed025's Note - bit harsh that lakerville, im certain he never meant to get injured, footballers want to play mate, not all of them are happy just picking up their dosh..

Abou Diaby didn't actually get paid for the last six months or whilst he continued his rehabilitation.

A small sacrifice for a millionaire but he could have quite easily carried on picking up his wage.

Give the guy a break.

This isn't some FIFA game this is real life and very real people, Diarby grew wanting to be a great footballer who Maybe got rich not the other way round.
I hope he can be an Aaron Ramsey for us and against all the odds become a top top player.
Not picking up his wages! What more commitment do you want from the bloke?

Agree to give him a break. When you think 2 of the longest lay offs he had 1 for when he broke his ankle against Sunderland and most recently the ACL tear.
It's unfortunate as he would have complimented our midfield significantly if fit this season. I do however wish him the best as I can't see us keeping him.

24 Apr 2014 21:50:17
I put on yesterday he is 28 next month, has a contract until June next year which covers the 14/15 season.

It would be fantastic if he earned himself a new contract and stayed fit.

Despite the length of time out he has worked his socks off to get back and I really hope he makes it an injury free end to his career with us.

Abou is still young enough(28 yrs) to make a career at Arsenal, and hopefully this will be the last major injury he will get.
There are no questions regarding his mental strength, as a lot of people would have given up, having to go through the ops and then months of physio time and time again(although, I do think he was rushed back too soon last time)
Hopefully, he will be played lightly in the reserves for the rest of the season, and we will see him back(fully fit)next season.COYG.

Suffered one of the worst tackles i've seen in a long time and I say one as that eduardo one still haunts me to this day and ramseys at stoke still makes me want to puke

we've had some monster injuries and we're accused of a club as lacking squad depth yet when you follow the physio room from december to april we've been missing on average 8.37 players a month sorry but that's the maths round it down to 8 players a month

and its not small injuries just look at this season diaby ACL, walcott ACL serge some sort of knew injury

its like there is a curse on the team nasri does his acl nearly a month after ramsey yet is playing 5 weeks before ramsey

wtf is going on are we treating our players with 17th century medicine?

no idea just its hard to swallow for what is too conveniently now 9 years

anyone else see the point

is it the players? we're told wenger is a creature of habit so has the training changed I doubt it

only common variable I can see is the playing staff are less robust in comparison to patrick and petit

who knows but this latest supplements theory surely can't be the route cause

Yes, I alluded to it the other day, i'm positive it is because we have less robust players as you put it.

Sorry ed, I do not need to feel any sympathy for Diaby. its luck of the draw. he is not the first injury prone player and he won't be the last. I applaud him for his determination, but he's a millionaire who has basically made his millions on promise and potential.

Im aware Arsene and other figures are to blame for this, but the grip on reality is shocking for me.

Yes I do not like to kick a man when he is down. well done Diaby for doing what you have done a thousand times, but yet again he has never proved any doubters wrong because he is unable to everytime he has that opportunity.

Im not aware if insurance pays his wages or any of that, all I know is that he counts as a squad member, a vital one as well, and he has been on the sidelines for far too many years for us to count on him.

If we do buy Lars bender it will effectively be 10 years since Viera was replaced adequately, if not effectively.

{Ed025's Note - forget about the money side of it lakerville, they are all millionaires, this guy has had a hard time of it, its just one of those things mate, but i do agree that a viera type player is what the team need, for me arteta is not the answer..

My only peeve is relying on diaby. If arsenal and wenger want to try him out as some lab experiment on how far human determination will go that's fine, but buy a squad member who will play.

24 Apr 2014 13:37:43
Be careful what you wish for.

With all the shenanigans at the Mancs this week and the various posts about a potential successor to AW when he moves on has got me a bit worried.

Firstly our club is all about tradition. I'm 48 and remember the tail end of Bertie Mee's reign, the Don Howe years, Terry Neill and George Graham. What all of these had was a desire to maintain the Arsenal tradition and philosophy. It was even deemed a bit old school. The majority of he players respected this and many of them still today still class themselves as "Arsenal men" no matter of the length of time they spent at the club. The discipline and tradition had a deep impact in their lives.

AW had the intelligence to see this and continue it in his own way and whether you are pro or anti Wenger one thing for sure is that he has maintained our club as being one of the most historic and admired clubs in the world.

So as and when he does leave begs the question who knows what Arsenal is about. Past players, yes but as a number 2 for guidance and training motivation. The likes of Bergkamp, Viera and Adams would all command respect. Someone on hear mentioned big Lens, again would not adverse to him either.

As a manager, I would wait until 2016 when Klopp's contract is out with Dortmund and nail his nuts on a contract for us.

He is Wengerish in the sense of intelligence, multi lingual and in him I see someone to take our club forward on and off the pitch.

Hope to read your views.

Be lucky.

I feel pretty much the same at the moment - in the grand scheme, there are many better out there- just wish he would spend the money we know we have - apart from this, the injuries and a few duff buys, it's not all as bad as it felt a month ago

All I want from wenger this year is to address the woefully short positions he don't do this he's got to go, from the articles in the press i'm hearing the right noises but well we all know we've heard it all before

what i'd like for the club to do is renew season tickets for just a couple of seasons at the end of august, no signings we get a discount and a significant discount on ticket prices

might actually get him out there spending a tenner to earn a fifty

so sick of being the richest club to the detriment of the playing staff

24 Apr 2014 12:11:02
Here we go.

Talk$h1t has stated that with Barcelona's ban lifted they are after Ozil for a measly £30 million. Ozil is class, but I also believe he thinks he's made a mistake playing in England. Is body language is a disgrace, players around him are always telling him off, even Per ragged him around last year for being a tool on the pitch and not respecting the fans at the end of the match. Do you think it has any legs on it and we could see the end of Ozil? I like him but i'm on the fence whether it would bother me if he left or not.

I'd sell him for 40mil no less than that or maybe a swap between fabregas but I think ozil has more market value but if we had ozil and fabregas that would be great

30 million euro's is what I read, and its more than BTV stating as well

Id take fab and 30mil for ozil.

dont they owe us from when they got him from us? 25 mil I heard?


25m + 30m = 55mill

around 13m profit from ozil. however idk if fabregas would compliment us anymore, in terms of how we play

23 Apr 2014 23:35:49
This summer ideally we could do with various improvements,
A forward
A left winger
A cm
A left back

Given that at most we will probably strengthen 2 of these positions, if you were wenger, which 2 would you choose?

Rb and striker if sagna goes, if not DM and striker, or Fabregas and striker:)

We could strengthen all four of those areas by raiding Real Madrid for: benzema, di Maria, khedira/casemiro, coetrao.
May not be realistic but have heard they may be available.
But 2 positions I would choose is LW and CDM, if they are top quality signings tho

I think we are going to lose Koscielny aswell. I don't like to hear comments like " I will let the club know about my future before the World Cup" that to me says that as soon as he is in the sanctuary of the French camp and Way from Arsenal he declares he wants out of arsenal and wants to join PSG. And add to that the prospect of vermaelen and Sagna leaving the whole defence may need looking at

23 Apr 2014 23:13:50
I hope Wenger stays. We have improved this season, just need a signing like pirlo to mentor wilshere and not sell any players but seriously work on our medical team, just add to the team of players we have and rotate more.

Maybe one more attacking minded foward/winger like draxler
Would love to see Pirlo or one of the great passers of the game, see what happens at barca. Could see fab if Wenger stays. If he doesn't he'll go Man U.
Add Williams from Swansea experienced premier league centre back who has been fighting in the bottom half of the table.
Let's see what happens with Sagna because he is one of the greats. Would love to see him win some more trophies at arsenal.

Wenger staying is so important for the growth of Ramsey and our younger talent. They have come on leaps and bounds this season despite set backs and injuries.

Would love him to sign a 2 year deal then Gaurdiola take after when he completes his bayern mission.

Sorry but I only agree on one thing you have written, draxler. For me wengers time is up, I hope he win the fa cup and bows out with a trophy. He will be remembered then as a great, but if he stays on with the same ideas on football over the next two years he will be found wanting again. He has never got the better of Maureen io or guadiolalla and he has now got a new breed finding him out in rodgers, martinez and klopp, to name a few. His methods now are dated. Ramsey ozil walcott etc will all shine under a new dynamic coach and this team need shoooting too the next level. Players like sagna are finished for me and with our midfielders we don't need cesc we need a defensive midfielder, to allow the said mentioned to flourish. The new breed of managers and players are coming through and we need to jump on board, or we will be left behind.