Jase

Which "people" is Simon Johnson referring to? Wasn't the club not keen on Rice last year because they weren't convinced by him? Or was that due to the high fee wanted by West Ham? Everything was pinned on Lampard for wanting Rice last summer but now the club have seemingly jumped onto the bandwagon, on top of Tuchel also reportedly liking Rice.

Rotation. Rotation. Rotation.

There were others - West Ham, Liverpool, Brighton - that also wanted Bate but he chose Leeds.

He had only a year left on his contract and he's a youth player. What do you expect?

About 1.5 million.

Do people really expect Bayern will just sell Lewandowski this summer and leave themselves short on options? Am sure they are also smart enough like everyone else to know that there is not many top quality strikers available at this time.

Yeah, that Florida Cup has sure gone well... Arsenal have pulled out due to a small outbreak of COVID-19 in their team while Inter have done the same after citing the risks involved in international travel during this pandemic.

The point isn't about struggling but needing time to adapt to the league etc (Havertz anyone?). Werner's issue was not really the adaptation but the conversion rate, which can happen in any league. And would you have said that about Werner this time last year anyway? Everyone is always confident in life when things are going well until they don't. Can't see the move for Lukaku happening, mainly due to the finances involved and for someone that will have no resale value whatsoever.

You mentioned those players and yet earlier you said it’s almost impossible to sign Haaland without being the Champions of Europe. Being league champions or European Champions is great and all but things could go either way when it comes to attracting players. Jorginho, for example, rejected City for us (largely due to Sarri) even though they were the English champions back then. Easy to say that about Haaland when he’s still in the Bundesliga and not in the Premier League. I mean, his goalscoring record is great and all but it’s easy to forget that he’s still only 21 years old and he still is not the finished article. He still also hasn’t challenged for the league title or led a team to the league title in a major league. Not advocating for Lukaku here but compared to Haaland, he has all the experience and has actually led a side to the title in a major league (whether people think Serie A is crap or not is another debate altogether).

I feel like people are overplaying this ‘European Champions’ attraction card too much. Yes, we may be the Champions of Europe right now but players aren’t just gonna join blindly because of that. Am sure people are not blind to the fact that we have won only 2 league titles in the last decade and we were irrelevant in Europe for so many years before last season. That’s like only 3 major titles in the last decade. We might have also won the FA Cup and Europa League but am sure the really big players don’t care too much about that.

Funny you mentioned that because Matt Law said something along those lines regarding Haaland, in that he’s not convinced he would immediately hit the ground running and score many goals because of the whole Bundesliga tax thing if he were to come here and may need some time to adjust, which represents a gamble for the money involved (transfer fee + wages + agent fees). Regarding Lukaku, I’d find it hard that the club would be willing to pay somewhere around 100 million to sign him when he’s already 28 years old and would have next to no resale value for the future.

Just got around to listening to the podcast where Matt Law said that. He actually said Rice has only rejected two contract offers so far (in line with what was reported recently) and he would reject it again if West Ham were to offer another one. And with Rice only have 3 years left on his contract, West Ham would be keen to sell him as early as possible because his value will obviously drop each year. They would consider 60 million+ offer for him. Other bits that Matt Law also said: - Broja could well go out on loan. - On Haaland, nothing new. Nothing is happening. Both clubs' position is clear. We want him but no inclination from Dortmund that they would sell Haaland this summer. All depends on how long we want to drag out the interest this summer before going for alternatives (if we haven't already). - Club tried to have another go at Kane but it won't happen for obvious reasons. Tuchel doesn't care about the whole rivalry thing but the club know it's impossible to get a deal done. - On Lukaku, there are still talks behind the scenes, despite his public declaration that he'll stay. - Between Haaland, Lukaku and Kane, a deal for Lukaku is more doable because Inter still need money, even though they have said otherwise. That could change if Dortmund suddenly budge and maybe lower their asking price. - Club in a tricky situation over the ST situation. They don't want to commit to a big deal without knowing someone will buy Abraham and they also don't want to sell Abraham without knowing that they will sign a ST. The latter situation would put the club in an unfavorable position because others would know we would be desperate for a ST. It's not clear cut which ST we will get and it's not clear cut that we will end up signing a new one. Not beyond the realm of possibility that we'll go into the season with Werner, Havertz and Abraham as the three ST options. - Club would listen to offers for Ziyech but not sure where the offer will come from because the club would want the money back, if not more. (Saw a report yesterday that Milan are still interested in Ziyech but unlikely to make a move for him)

Well, if they want Abraham...

Not sure if Traore is high on the priority list given we still got James, Azpi and even CHO for the RWB spot. Think the club and Tuchel both want Rice and if we can't get him, we might then turn to Tchouameni.

Apologies. Not sure how that became your post.

How much do you think those 3 players will improve Arsenal? They signed players like Pablo Mari, Soares, Willian, Partey last year and went nowhere with those lot. Their brightest players were their left back in Tierney as well as Saka and Emile Smith Rowe, two players from their academy. By that, I assuming you mean the likes of Haaland? If so, then you can't really complain we're going after targets that their clubs don't want to sell and turn around to say that we can't close out deals (doesn't seem like we've started any deals either). Less spectacular names like? A big name striker aside, there's still time to sign the others. Think the club will sign a midfielder and may make their move on Rice.

But they also allowed Lewandowski to go to Bayern for free instead of the taking some kind of money from them. Could also maybe throw in Dembele, who they didn't want to sell but ended up having to because he forced the move. And on hindsight, one could say they made the right decision to not budge last year and kept Sancho for another season because he was the big reason why they managed to finish in the Top 4 and win the DFB Pokal. Yes but guess that's the longer term plan anyway. Apparently Marco Rose made a promise to not go after any Gladbach players this summer. So think Plea is out of the question although I saw that they might go for Thuram next year. Kalajdzic only has one year of experience in the Bundesliga while Weghorst may be decent in that league, it's a different matter altogether whether Dortmund think he suits them, their playing style etc. None of the notable clubs have gone after Weghorst.

At this point, I don't know if people just want us to sign someone or sign a quality player.

As I've said before, I wouldn't say that's a guarantee. They have a history in this situation and am sure they are also not stupid to realize that there is no real top striker available right now. Who can they get that will guarantee them goals and make sure they don't go bust under a new manager next season? I know some suggested Vlahovic previously but last season was his breakout(?) season, he's still young and I don't think Dortmund have forgotten what happened the last time they signed a notable striker from Serie A. On a similar note, we should also remember that we also kept Hazard for one more season in 2018 even though we could have sold him earlier for more money.

I know The Athletic namechecked Lukaku very recently but unless Matt Law knows something that the others (like the Italian media) don't, it feels like he's the only one pushing this story? Plus, spending over 100 million on a 28-year-old, who isn't even Messi or Ronaldo, is insanity. Better off just throwing the bank at Haaland at that point. But unlike Sancho last year, Dortmund haven't exactly made public what it would take to get Haaland this summer, have they? All this talk of a big bid have come from journalists, who may or may not be making things up and the same ones that have also said Dortmund won't sell him this year.