Summer transfer window 2021

[Phil Silvers]

4 minutes ago, villarule123 said:

Maybe Jack is going and we're buying his replacements before everyone knows we need to. 

[Zatman]

Smith Rowe I thought was just to wind up Arsenal fans. Didnt think we would actually bid

Imagine we took Emi and Smith Rowe from them for peanuts

Edited June 16, 2021 by Zatman

[JamieZ]

6 hours ago, Big Salad said:

With Bremen being relegated I think we could slide in and get Josh Sargent for a decent price; can play on the wing and up front and continues to improve. Would love for us to look at Timothy Weah as well; again can give us some good options and done pretty well at Lille this past season; he would probably be more of a loan move however.

I'd honestly be more excited about Weah than Sargent, but that's my personal preference. From a scouting perspective, I think the same question mark hangs over both of them: do they have the killer instinct required to be a goalscorer at the highest level? I think thus far the answer is, "They both have so much to offer elsewhere that we've got to wait and see how they develop." And they're both so young, I think that's fair and earnestly hope they find that last remaining piece. If you watched Weah with the USA team against Costa Rica, he was at times just electric with his pace, energy, and incisive runs. He's shown that for Lille, too, when he can get onto the pitch. I think the next six months are big for him. Doe he stay at Lille and find himself playing week in and week out, or does he have to look for greener pastures into the build up to World Cup 2022?

[RichiBoi11]

9 minutes ago, villarule123 said:

Maybe Jack is going and we're buying his replacements before everyone knows we need to. 

I think a lot of people will think this way, certainly neutral fans, but if you actually look at the players we're bidding for it doesn't necessarily mean that. Grealish played all but the last couple of games for us from the left this season, and it's clearly where he and the management see him producing his best performances. Buendia and Smith-Rowe are both attacking creative players so people will automatically assume they are replacements, but look where they both played last season. Buendia played predominantly from the right, and Smith-Rowe looks to have mainly played as a CAM. He's apparantly even told Arteta he wants to play as a 10:

It looks like we are trying to strengthen right across the attacking midfield options, so I'd read this as support for Jack rather than replacing him. That said, if we bid for someone who plays predominantly on the left then I'd start to worry.

Edited June 16, 2021 by RichiBoi11

[Raver50032]

My eggs are firmly in the 'Buendia wouldn't come here if Jack was leaving camp...'

So there. 

[skarroki]

1 hour ago, barry'sboots said:

I thought you both were in agreement:

• TRO was saying we need a "6" and Phillips exhibited the kind of characteristics in the Croatia game that we need.
• Your response was that England do need a "6" - but one of Rice or Phillips - and then a more progressive player (an "8") alongside, rather than two "6"s with one asked to push further forward and do a job that he is not necessarily comfortable doing.

I couldn't agree more.

-------------------- Phillips/Rice (6) -------------------

------------ Mount/Bellingham (8) -----------------

---------------------------- Mount/Jack (10) ---------

That would be a much more balanced midfield imho.

I comparable terms, Villa could look like (after the window):

-------------- Bissoma or Sarr (6) ------------------- possibly with Nakamba as cover (or Luiz could drop back in)

-------------- Luiz/JWP (8) -----------------------------

--------------------------------- SJM/Sanson (10) ---

I think next season more likely:

Luis or Nakamba (6)

McGinn or Sanson (8)

Grealish or new signing (10)

Think our options in the 6/8 position are not a priority to be improved on. We kept a good amount of clean sheets, it's the pointy bit of the team that wasn't sharp enough imo 

[MotoMkali]

4 minutes ago, RichiBoi11 said:

I think a lot of people will think this way, certainly neutral fans, but if you actually look at the players we're bidding for it doesn't necessarily mean that. Grealish played all but the last couple of games for us from the left this season, and it's clearly where he and the management see him producing his best performances. Buendia and Smith-Rowe are both attacking creative players so people will automatically assume they are replacements, but look where they both played last season. Buendia played predominantly from the right, and Smith-Rowe looks to have mainly played as a CAM. He's apparantly even told Arteta he wants to play as a 10:

It looks like we are trying to strengthen right across the attacking midfield options, so I'd read this as support for Jack rather than replacing him. That said, if we bid for someone who plays predominantly on the left then I'd start to worry.

Jack has said a number of times he prefers to play as a 10. And he played as a CAM in our 2nd vest stretch of games this season. Behind our start. We had something like 80 shots in 3 games. But only got 7 pts. (Followed by a draw and then a loss but against the clubs that finished 2nd and 3rd so). 

[Pez1974]

Smith-Rowe for £25m? Brilliant fun.

He's got 2 years left on his contract, and despite plenty of noise hasn't signed a new one yet. Can't help but feel we're taking the piss, as they were never going to accept, but who knows where this could lead. 

[NeilS]

26 minutes ago, BleedClaretAndBlue said:

Haha, that is brilliant. My Arsenal supporting work colleagues have been trying (unsuccesfully) to wind me up about them signing Jack. I will forward this onto them, they have already ha the Buendia reports sent over the weeks, they are not a happy bunch.

[Dodgyknees]

3 minutes ago, Pez1974 said:

Smith-Rowe for £25m? Brilliant fun.

He's got 2 years left on his contract, and despite plenty of noise hasn't signed a new one yet. Can't help but feel we're taking the piss, as they were never going to accept, but who knows where this could lead. 

Thought it was one year?

[RichiBoi11]

3 minutes ago, MotoMkali said:

Jack has said a number of times he prefers to play as a 10. And he played as a CAM in our 2nd vest stretch of games this season. Behind our start. We had something like 80 shots in 3 games. But only got 7 pts. (Followed by a draw and then a loss but against the clubs that finished 2nd and 3rd so). 

I'm sure I saw him say in an interview in the last week or so with England that he's now more accustomed to playing on the left and it's where he sees himself playing now. I also remember him saying when we were promoted he wanted to play as an 8, not a 10, so I think he's open to adapting based on his and the teams performances. Either way if ESR plays mainly in the centre then he wouldn't be a replacement for Jack from last season, unless we've decided the line up for our final two games is the formation we want to stick with long term.

I just hope this is another part of our ambitious building, not planning for the worst.

[The_Steve]

Arsenal are desperate to give him a new contract so the £25m is totally justified. Loving the banter transfer window. 
 

Again. It doesn’t mean Jack is being sold. 

[Villaphan04]

all of the ESR talk sounded at first like it was coming from the agents. but now, I'm not sure. 

 

[WallisFrizz]

It’s top trolling to have done this but literally every man and his dog now thinks we’ve basically confirmed we’re selling Grealish. Hopefully that’s not the case but you can see why it’s an easy conclusion to jump to and I’ve got to admit, it was my first thought. 

[CVByrne]

When Villa fans know we've got JAck and Watkins who we'd say are top quality attacking players in our squad from last season. Two players in our entire squad. Buendia now makes that 3 and a replacement for Barkley is needed in 10 to make that 4. 

[tomav84]

love if we signed him

plus it would be proper funny to line up after the transfer window closes with both buendia and ESR...plus Jack!

[Nigel]

I'm going to have to add arsenal tv to my favourites list!

[MotoMkali]

6 minutes ago, RichiBoi11 said:

I'm sure I saw him say in an interview in the last week or so with England that he's now more accustomed to playing on the left and it's where he sees himself playing now. I also remember him saying when we were promoted he wanted to play as an 8, not a 10, so I think he's open to adapting based on his and the teams performances. Either way if ESR plays mainly in the centre then he wouldn't be a replacement for Jack from last season, unless we've decided the line up for our final two games is the formation we want to stick with long term.

I just hope this is another part of our ambitious building, not planning for the worst.

I think that might just be political. With so much speculation around him if he comes out and says I don't like playing as a LW and want to he in the middle. The media will latch onto that and go Jack is unhappy at villa etc.

I hope the games we played with Jack at CAM this year are what is to come. In the 7 games he started at CAM we got 14 points. Which is Champions League qualifying every year. And we played a number of good teams. United once, Chelsea twice, Spurs once, then WBA, Crystal Palace and Burnley. That's a pretty fairy Representative sample size I think. I would hope we Continue with him in the centre even if his goals and assists suffer (I personally don't think they will, he tends to score on spurts and he just hasn't had one at CAM in the prem yet).

[sne]

Smith-Rowe's agent must be loving this 

[RichiBoi11]

1 minute ago, MotoMkali said:

I think that might just be political. With so much speculation around him if he comes out and says I don't like playing as a LW and want to he in the middle. The media will latch onto that and go Jack is unhappy at villa etc.

I hope the games we played with Jack at CAM this year are what is to come. In the 7 games he started at CAM we got 14 points. Which is Champions League qualifying every year. And we played a number of good teams. United once, Chelsea twice, Spurs once, then WBA, Crystal Palace and Burnley. That's a pretty fairy Representative sample size I think. I would hope we Continue with him in the centre even if his goals and assists suffer (I personally don't think they will, he tends to score on spurts and he just hasn't had one at CAM in the prem yet).

To be fair it's nice to just have those sort of options. In our first season you couldn't afford to move Jack from the wing because without him there the already fragile team disintegrated. At least we are now adept at playing with him in a couple of positions. Hopefully the ESR signing if it happened would be to compliment him and further boost the options. You don't get anywhere selling your best players.