Iirc wenger was scouting him for two seasons now imagine if we did buy him last transfer window. Wenger would've been hounded for buying another for the future kid

Agree. There is a real dearth of true strikers world wide at the moment. Even A League clubs are struggling to find them. Most clubs are looking towards wingers/midfielders to provide goals now (Depay, Pedro examples)

You look at our last 2 deadline days and I definitely think we'll be in the market.

I have a feeling we're going to push hard for a wide playmaker tomorrow. Gotze/Fekir would do nicely.

Fekir in particular is a massive talent and already has class end product. Could finally fill the hole left by Nasri.

Edited by jlm8695: 1/9/2015 12:44:42 PM

Nasri didnt leave a hole. Ozil > Nasri ever was , anyway.

Bar from an awful few months last season, they play entirely different roles for us. The ability to build play from wide is something we haven't done since Nasri left. Nasri was the player who shared the creative burden with Cesc, opening up space and playing penetrative passes.

We tried to replicate this with Cazorla 2 seasons ago but he couldn't adjust and was awful out wide. Wilshere has done it successfully on occasions and could do brilliantly there. Ramsey is doing the role at the moment but is better centrally.

It's now even more of an issue as Sanchez is the opposite to what kind of player we want, but most of our play goes through him and Monreal down the left. Having a playmaker who is competent in the wide areas (like Nasri) would be a massive boost for us and give us better balance.

@bbcsport_david: Very unlikely #AFC will make any signings today. Explored options but nothing was close & almost certainly no ins or outs now #DeadlineDay

😔

Hey, signing one player in a position that needed improving is a significant improvement of our usual policy of identifying weak areas and then signing a central playmaker.

Edited by jlm8695: 1/9/2015 08:28:31 PM

This. It's a case of there not being any players available that are a genuine upgrade on what we have. We're not in the market to buy for depth. Like jlm said earlier, martial for like 36m is some proof of the lack of top class available strikers.

I mean should we have made some more signings? Probably yes, but if the players aren't there then there's not much we can do really.

On the quality note, I still can't believe we didn't sign a DM. I like Coquelin, I really do, I just don't think he's at the level we need to compete at the highest level. I hope he proves me wrong and keeps growing (his passing now has improved a lot, just needs to nail the switches) and hopefully he can continue giving us some defensive stability.

Orn said that last year before saying we were picking up dat guy welbz. Still a couple of hours to go

The way he's improved his passing has made me believe he has what he takes to help us compete at the level we want to be at. Also love that he's trying to be more attacking like Song would do but not shirking his defensive responsibilities at all.

FACT: Out of Europe's top 5 leagues, only one club haven't signed a single outfield player this Summer....Arsenal.

Ouch

Do you honestly believe that fairy tale crap?
I'm not going to mention every player we have chased but lets go with one and the most obvious. Karim Benzema is one of these quality players that actually do exist and are out there. The problem clearly isn't the fact Wenger didn't spot him but more so the fact we were not prepared to pay what you have to pay for a quality player in todays market.
I'm so sick of hearing there isn't any players there when the fact is simply we are too fucking tight to open the wallet.

The point Sydcro is making is that we could have quite easily splashed the cash on Benzema, but why would Real Madrid sell when there is clearly no replacements of his caliber that clubs would be willing to part with.

The tye of player that could replace him are only found in clubs that simply don't need money.

If the right amount of money was offered clubs will sell. We never offer the right amount. We have rocks in our heads if we think we are any chance of winning the title when we sit here and watch or rivals improve their team with signings while we make only one and let leave either permanently or out on loan.
For one of the richest clubs in the EPL we seem to be only competing with clubs like Norwich in the transfer market and that's just not good enough.
And I won't buy into the bullshit Wenger tells us. There is players out there the only problem is Wenger won't go all out and get them because he simply can't accept the fact that they are over overvalued.


Edited by robstazzz: 2/9/2015 09:03:53 AM

Is Benzema out there? Well quite clearly he exists. Was he available? No, because Madrid didn't want or need to sell and were only ever going to sell if Benzema was the one who pushed for the move, which he made clear he had no intention of doing.

Interested to hear what top class strikers that are going to give us 20 league goals a season were available this window? United paying 36m for a French teenager with 15 goals in 72 professional games and talking about playing Fellaini upfront paints a pretty clear picture of the striker situation. You really think if Benzema was available for 50m or so we wouldn't have bought him? :lol:

LOL that's exactly my point. 36 million they paid for a teenager. And we offer 48 for a world class proven striker with rumors that 150,000 a week was what was offered to Benzema when Theo is on 140,000. And you are surprised why Real and Benzema didn't take that offer seriously?
The players are out there we are just too tightass to offer anything realistic.

And worst of all is we loaned out all our strikers on the bench therefore leaving us in a fucked up position big time if we get one or two big injuries up front which on previous years record seems to happen every season.
I've just bad enough of the bullshit and unlike most Arsenal fans I won't be expecting miracles. Top 4 is a big achievement for me and making the round of 16 of the Champions League.
For one of the richest clubs in the world that's a joke.

What is your point exactly? All the Martial price proves is that United panicked. You're also assuming that we ever bid for Benzema when there has never been any serious suggestions that we did, just that we were interested and told he was not available.

I would love to know what you would consider a realistic price? You want us offering 80 or 90m for Benzema? 48m for Benzema is realistic, 36m for Martial isn't.

We loaned out Sanogo and Akpom which is hardly 'all our strikers on the bench'. Do you also really think we couldn't recall Akpom from loan if we needed to :lol:

Edited by sydneycroatia58: 2/9/2015 11:27:17 AM

Have to love Arsenal fans on twitter. The same ones complaining about Arsene not panic buying on deadline day this year are probably the same ones who crucified him for panic buying after the 8-2 against United.

Oh your right we have Theo. No wait he's a winger. Alexis? No we need him on the wing. I think we might have cambell as the only striker. That's not enough for the amount of games we play.

Giroud/Welbeck and then Alexis and Theo. Numbers aren't really the problem up front.

I must admit I completely forgot about Welbeck. I don't count Alexis and Theo as strikers though.

For the first time in a while, and this started last season, numbers really aren't a problem anywhere.

Personally I think our squad is in a very good position and now it's all about putting it in a great position. Don't think a lot of people understand how hard that final step is, as we've seen this summer with strikers.

My point is very simple. If you want world class players in todays market then you simply need to pay over the odds. If you are not prepared to pay over the odds like all our rivals have then the only other option is to go out and buy a player you believe will be world class or is close to at a reduced price. However again the price will be inflated in todays market.
Juts don't say you will only buy exceptional players because they don't come cheap.

The only thing I'm worried about is an injury to Coquelin, but Arteta (if he's properly fit again) is a fine back up.

If Arteta isn't fit and Coquelin goes down, god help us all and please bless Flamini.

Only team in the big 5 not to sign an outfield player in the transfer window.

-PB