08 Jan 2022 09:07:14
ED002, Can you please tell us why we are always late in signing players in the transfer window? Two midfielders have gone and it was known that they are going to go, AMN is leaving, we can't play with just two, why don't we sign our player at the start of the window? Unlike other clubs?
This is coming out of frustration, please don't mind . Thanks and I appreciate everything you and the other eds write .

{Ed014's Note - gora I’ve no idea how you expect Ed02 to answer that mate so I’m not holding it back for him.

But please just remind me who Liverpool signed to cover Salah and Mane leaving, please remind who United have signed to cover the fact their squad is so bad, who have City signed to cover Aguero who left in the summer, who have Chelsea signed to cover the possible loss of two of their best centre backs?

The list goes on. Just be patient, clubs will be working on things, it’s a pandemic, money isn’t growing on trees and transfers don’t happen over night.

1.) 08 Jan 2022
08 Jan 2022 10:54:22
What I heard from a few people is that we are tight and leave it to the last minute to save wages - that was from a number of years ago before wages exploded but if you have limited funds it makes a bit of sense.

Then if you heard Wenger, he would say he had to let clubs higher in the food chain eat first depending on the player.

My gut says it depends - we move fast when we can but clubs like to buy replacements so the chain can be longer just like buying a house, we negotiate from a low offer normally, we need to sell and agents are constantly trying to get better deals for players which adds time and more interested parties.

To be fair we have been quick at times plus we don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes.

2.) 08 Jan 2022
08 Jan 2022 11:02:22
We have to sell to buy ed02 has stated that for the past 3/ 4 windows we still have players on our books that need offloading before we can bring anyone in.

3.) 08 Jan 2022
08 Jan 2022 11:35:42
My thoughts exactly ed014. These are clubs who spend huge money quite often and they haven't even made a ripple in the market yet.

Bargaining for prices that suit both parties is a tricky process and it's often the chances of the deal slipping away that makes one party cave and the sale go ahead.

Any selling club we deal with right now is in a position of relative strength, knowing that English clubs are both wealthy and desperate - a bad combination if you're looking for value! Even the clubs in financial straits like Barcelona or in Ligue 1 will still try to extract as much from us as possible.

{Ed014's Note - spot on Wire

4.) 08 Jan 2022
08 Jan 2022 12:22:58
Ed14 tnx . If you remember we signed Partey in the last minute, as for Liverpool Klopp said he won't be signing anyone . Man City did try for Kane . I am not arguing but we do need someone in the midfield, Zhaka gets redcarded. And Coutinho has signed so even A Villa is doing something . Please don't take this as an argument .

{Ed014's Note - no problem gora and I didn’t take it as an argument, we’d all like some new players but it’s a case of wait and see.

Enjoy your day mate ?

5.) 09 Jan 2022
08 Jan 2022 15:28:53
I can completely see where Gora is coming from. We have a long history of dwelling when it comes to transfers. Ed014 you are spot on to point to those other clubs and their current approaches, but I would argue that’s unique for then in this current example and more often than not once they’ve identified a player they want, they usually act fast.

Arsenal are notoriously poor negotiators and even when deals have been done in principle and the whole world knows about it, they still take days to finalise and confirm the player, and even then it’s not uncommon to hear of some reason why the player may not be available straight away for issues like work permits.

There’s an interview with Wenger and Wrighty done recently you can get it on YouTube. AW was asked his biggest regret in relation to a signing he could have got done. He said Ronaldo. His statement amazed me. He said he thought they had him, but if they’d been a ‘fraction quicker’ they’d have had him but Utd came in 5/ 6 days later.

FIVE OR SIX days later he equated to being a fraction. Deals for players can take a turn in an hour but he was willing to wait days to agree it in principle let alone get a signature.

Pretty much concluded what I’d already thought for years, especially with regards to signings like the Higuain one where Napoli were allowed to come in at the death and marginally outbid us. Wenger didn’t think the value was there, a year later he signed for Juve for twice the amount.

Luis Suarez wanted the Arsenal move, he came out recently and said so on the record, I think it was in relation to CL football at the time. So we had an elite player who wanted the move, and as was our form, botched it completely.

My point is, when you make an early commitment to sign a player it shows him your conviction. If he’s already open to the move it gives you leverage. It’s the same for any player and any club we saw it with Kane were seeing it with Mbappe. They know the buying club want them and they react in a way that puts their own club at a potential loss with regards value.

Happens everyday, it’s happened to us with RvP. Leaving a transfer in the balance for the sake of Penny pinching or putting the other club under pressure last minute gives them no time to target their replacement for their outgoing player and also it creates friction as I’m sure it can be considered poor etiquette, like the way we conducted the afore mentioned Higuain deal where I think the player felt Napoli wanted him more and Madrid felt it’d be best to go business with them rather than us in relation to that deal.

I don’t know why you would persist with those tactics but we did for years under AW and Gazidis.

In fairness to Arteta I think he’s done very well with recent transfers and Edu also, although I’m still skeptical about Edu as Ed002 has highlighted instances of poor conduct in the past and a reliance on Kia who’s clearly benefitting from conflict of interest.

I’d like to see us test Everton early for DCL. If there’s any hope of signing him Everton will need to know the money is there to go strengthen themselves which I think they know they need to anyway in January.

Again the danger with not acting quickly in this situation will be that the longer we sit on our hands the less open Everton will be to sell if it means they don’t have time to react and do their own business by end of window. I’m not saying he’s available I’m just saying if he’s a target we should act fast.

6.) 09 Jan 2022
09 Jan 2022 08:25:17
Ed014 tnx, I am from India and it looks as if we are heading for a lockdown, nothing to enjoy .
Tnx to you and all the eds.

{Ed014's Note - you’re welcome gora and stay safe then my friend.

Hopefully Arsenal will give you a little something to enjoy later today in the FA Cup.