I don't think we were ever linked anyway, but I don't see why we would ever be interested in developing RM players for a season with no option to buy. And rightly so.

Is he though? Really?

Sure, he had fun at the World Cup, but I've never really thought he was anywhere near a top tier CB, not even 2nd tier.
That said, if Man City bought him, he'd go straight into my FPL team before they made the change so I could have 4 Man City players because they'd make him look better than he is.

Even with one knee how the **** does someone not take a 20m euro swing on Fekir in today’s market

Rumor is Zidane hates him and that's pretty much the only reason he's out.
Regardless whether he can play more than one season for Arsenal, CL is a priority. He is a player that moves the needle, longstaff is not.

He's probably an above average player but definitely not anywhere near worth £80m and while he's likely an upgrade for Utd if they are going to spend that much for a player he really should be in that top tier of players.

Not bad. Something like this would be a team that could challenge for top4 next season.

Zaha - Auba - Nelson
----Douzi-Ceballos
-------Torreira
Tierney-Holding-Sokratis-Bellerin
--leno

The problem is that Zaha is very ****ing expensive(but Malcom/Everton are options that is more realistic) and Nelson is untested. I hate to drop Auba to the wing though, but that would be an option so Laca could play the CF position.

I assume most people would play Xhaka instead of Douzi though?
If Holding keep improving and Saliba does the same we have a pretty damn good starting backline in 20/21.

(i realize to fans of normal teams with normal transfer strategies, this is a sad post, but as an Arsenal fan of today you have to do some mental gymnastics to stay sane.)

United is not in a situation to do so. We, on the other hand, have to fight for scraps for some ****ed up reason.

What is he bad at? I'm a casual football watcher but he's always looked pretty good to me. Very comfortable with the ball at his feet, decent in the air in either box and isn't prone to making defensive gaffs. What more do you want him to do?

I think brave English players sometimes get a harder time than they should on here cos we expect the league to overrate them and there's nothing exotic about them. If Toby's last name was Rousseau and he'd spent the last 3 years at Lyon I'd bet the thread would have a significantly higher opinion of him.
Hard to say whether he's worth what's being offered right now since the inflation in football from one season to the next is insane but he's got to be a high tier 2 cb at the least.

Not sure what Longstaff's got to do with anything I said. We have funds to sign players permanently so 1 year loan deals make no sense for us.

It's probably fine for arse tho, given their weird budget situation.

Nelson isn't starting many games next year.
Zaha is still unlikely.
At least one of Ozil or Mkhitaryan are still going to log major minutes next year.

I get not doing Ndombele because he might be a bit too similar to Pogba, but you should be able to blow Spurs/Arsenal out of the water for any good player. Letting them have players that would certainly improve your team while not signing such players yourself seems just really bad.

Let’s hope it’s Miki who is one pathetic loser and they’ll be nailed on for 7th if he starts more than 12 matches

Did Lopetegui and Solari hate him as well? Nobody was talking about him before the U21 Euros lol

I think this confirms Miki at 10 goals and 12 assists this season

Sissoko and Ndombele say hi.

xhaka is also a very fierce tackling **** as you can see by the amount of red cards during his career

A foul is a different stat from a successful tackle though.

And this is partially one of the reasons it was important we signed someone like Ceballos. You just can't hope to get in the CL with a midfield worse than teams like Spurs, Chelsea, Leicester etc when you also have a weak defense. I like Guendouzi, Xhaka and Torreirra as players, but only Guendouzi is somewhat capable of moving the ball forward. That was a significant issue last year. Arsenal couldn't play the ball through the middle of the pitch and were very reliant on passing laterally to the full backs and having Kolasanic/Bellerin advance the ball. This should alleviate a bunch of that, as would having better full backs in Bellerin/Tierney over Kola/AMN.

Yep, that's why we have bought Ndombele and will almost certainly buy Lo Celso.

It seems weird to me that noone is really going after him

LOL - that is literally Xhaka's biggest strength, and is the only reason he has not been dropped despite his obvious flaws.

Think he is very good but not world class and not worth 80 mil. Having said that he is way better than what we have at the moment so would be happy enough if we got him.

I meant by dribbling/carrying the ball. Xhaka has good distribution but I also think that is overrated.

Still can't quite wrap my head around Harry Maguire for 80 million ****ing pounds. Granted I don't watch much Leicester but does he have anywhere near the distribution ability of a guy like Hummels? If not, he'd need to win literally every header and tackle to be worth that. ****s sake. That sum used to get you Zidane twice over.

and Napoli signed Manolas (who I also wish United had been in for) which would've led people to believe that he's on the move. There should be a bidding war for the guy and there's nothing at all

We have Xavi Simons, lolneymar.

congrats. he could be the new hachim mastour