Change in wage structure? It's either an excuse to break the budget to keep RVP or an excuse to get rid of him. Please be the former!

I don't like the idea that financial fair play will be our messiah. We don't know how it will operate, what loopholes clubs will use and if it will work as intended.

As for our 'flat' wage structure, frankly I'm all for breaking that; we pay too many players far too much (*cough* Diaby *cough*). We're supposed to be a 'team' and not a bunch of superstars yet the deadwood keep our wage bill near the rest of the big sides.

Wait three to four years? Where have we heard that before?

So Robin's mum and wife come out and say Robin shouldn't leave Arsenal, and now his dad Bob has come out and ruled out a move to La Liga or to another English team.

When asked about a potential move to Barcelona or Real Madrid



Then when asked about a move to another Premier League team

*cough* Almunia *cough* Chamakh *cough*. Those two as well as Diaby are all within 50-60 thousand pounds while RVP is just ahead on 70 :lol: Crazy
It's positive that they are at least willing to rethink this.

The part that sticks out to me more is that they are unwilling to accept Usamanovs money towards transfers because it's not "healthy" or "good for the game".
I'm usually one of the ones who argue that we are doing okay and try to be optimistic, but I just don't understand comments like this.


I agree, that looks cool.


I love The Van Persie's :lol:


Edited by neanderthal: 8/6/2012 10:31:29 PM

The thing with Usmanov is less to do with his money and more to do with them being worried about his coming onto the board causing conflicts and problems.

While I can see where they're coming from I have to disagree. Just look at some of our best times under Wenger, they were all at times where David Dein and Danny Fiszman were constantly butting heads.

We're playing Koln in a pre-season friendly on August 12

So we're playing Kitchee in Singapore, City in Beijing and now Cologne as well as this trip to Nigeria, have I missed anything? No Emirates Cup either.

That's it at the moment I think. There were rumours of us playing a friendly against Barca, but don't think anything will come of that.

Shame, I enjoyed the Emirates Cup, and Barnet too.

Lots of reports in France that we've agreed a fee for Giroud. If there's any truth I think the fee would be 16m euros which is Giroud's buyout clause.

Would this mean RVP is going? We wouldn't have all three. (RVP,Podolski and Giroud).

Don't think it has any big bearing on RvP. Podolski will most likely be playing wide left anyway so another striker would be good.

+1
Might finally be getting the quality in depth we've needed for years with very possible transfers like Giroud and M'Vila.

I really can't think of any particular transfer that makes sense for RVP. At least not before next season. Just gotta convince him not to sneak off on a free afterwards.

If we haev those three next season I'll be far beyond satisfied with the window. Anyone ontop of that like Affelay, a leftback or a good CB replacement if Djourou leaves will just be a cherry on top.

Montpellier manager Rene Girard



He's definitely within our price range with his buy out clause being something like 16m euros.

The usually reliable David Ornstein reporting that a deal for Giorud could be done by this weekend. The Telegraph also reporting the same thing. This story is one that most definitely has legs.

I have watched Giorud on youtube and he looks very similar in style to RVP but he also is pretty good at scoring headers.
If RVP does stay this will be 3 strikers we have that are all left footers.
I think that would be a first hehe.

Im a big fan of Giroud, and I believe that he is a very good player. However I feel he will be wasted on the bench, so it would be nice if we changed tactics to accommodate him and RVP.

Atleast now we will have a headache trying to come up with a starting 11. Thats if we sign him and retain our main players from last season.

There were reports that, if we sign him, we would try and fit him, Robin and Podolski into a front 3 which would be fucking awesome :lol:

Where does that leave Walcott?

On the bench presumably. I mean that front 3 probably won't happen, but Theo may end up on the bench anyway and replaced by the Ox if he's not careful.

Edited by sydneycroatia58: 14/6/2012 12:25:03 AM

I have a feeling Theo may be sold. With all this talk about a new wage structure put in place to increase our transfer budget, I dont see Walcott fitting in with these reforms, and tbh, potential or not, at the moment he is not worth 80k a week.

Well if you do get Giroud, lets hope he doesn't turn out like Marouane Chamakh ;)

It will be interesting to see what Wenger does. Personally I'd rather have Walcott on the bench but I think Wenger might actually start him.

-------------- RVP --------------
Podolski ------------ Oxlade
------------ Wilshere ----------
------- Arteta -- Song --------
Gibbs - Verm - Koc - Sagna
---------- Schezeny ---------

That is what I would like to see out of the players we currently have and if Wilshere is fit and has a good pre season but I think Wenger will have Walcott on instead of Oxlade and maybe Rosicy instead of Wilshere.

Podolski on the left, Theo on the right, Robin up top. That's what it will be.

Theo will be sold if he doesn't sign a new contract. If he has any sense he will sign a new one, but still have my doubts.

Always liked Theo. I think he's always been hard done by because of his perceived potential at a young age. Being called up to the World Cup at 16 might have been one of the worst things that happened to him. Other English wingers at big clubs his age like Johnson and Sturrige manage to sneak by with worse performances without such harsh criticism.
Would love him to stay and rotate for his spot. I still don't think we've seen the best of Theo.

I love Theo, but can see his spot being taken by Ox sooner rather than later. The Ox is the player we all wish Theo could be. He has everything Theo has and much much more.

Agree, but until Ox finds his consistency Theo is still a key player.
I have to admit though, if we lost him and replaced him with Affelay not that many tears would be lost..

I actually think Ox is already a better player then Walcott. As for consistency that is the biggest problem with Walcott.
Either way im just glad we will finally have depth and a headache when it comes to selection unlike the last few seasons.