The almighty 2016-2017 summer transfer window thread

Latest from Matt Law:

• Arsene now wants to keep Theo after Welbeck's injury
• He is however willing to listen to offers for Oxlade-Chamberlain
• Alexis is beginning to get frustrated with the club and the club are getting frustrated with him due to turning up to training late and his selfish behaviour on the pitch
• Morata is Wenger's top striker target
• Xhaka will be completed well before the Euros
• If Alexis leaves, we will move for Mkhitaryan

Latest from Matt Law:

Fucking hell that guy steals a living. You'd get the same amount of accuracy by having a monkey randomly pick words out of a dictionary. The only thing that qualifies as an educated guess on that list is Xhaka, and only because it's basically already been confirmed from five separate sources.

I'm still quite concerned with the Alexis noises. It's sort of like when Liverpool kept releasing stuff to show Sterling in a bad light. Making fans think that losing him wouldn't be a great impact

I don't buy that Alexis crap. Usually when there that type of crap going on with a player you see it translate on the pitch. I find him quite comfortable playing for us. It's just that running a news story like that will get you clicks. Shameless journos.

Not to mention Wenger just said in an interview that we've invested a lot of time in the Ox and we won't give up on his development that easy.

Edit function seems to be messed up.

Yeah definitely wouldn't trust any of that info.

Edit function seems to be messed up.

Looking into it!

So we're losing Arteta and Rosicky for sure, and most likely one of our backup keepers (perhaps on loan). It's also highly likely we're losing Debuchy, and it's still unclear whether or not Flamini is staying for sure. Gnabry is likely going out on loan again, and we probably won't keep all our right wingers anyway...so that means Theo, Ox or Campbell, with the latter being the most likely to leave. Can't imagine us keeping Sanogo either. So that means the following players are leaving, or are likely to leave:

• Ospina/Szczesny
• Arteta
• Rosicky
• Flamini
• Debuchy
• Gnabry
• Campbell
• Sanogo

Eight first-team players likely leaving, three reportedly coming in to cover those positions.

Goalkeepers
Cech + Szczesny/Ospina + Martinez gives us three goalkeepers, so that's fine and dandy. Will Ospina be happy with staying second-choice for another season? Perhaps the best approach there is to let Szczesny become the understudy to Cech and let Ospina go.

Defenders
We actually have adequate cover in all positions here, especially with Bielik coming through the ranks (he can comfortably play both CB and DM). Right-back position is a bit bloated with four players currently in that position, but selling Debuchy solves the issue, especially since Jenkinson will be injured for some time anyway.

Central Midfielders
Assuming Flamini goes and Bielik is promoted into the first team, we end up with a pretty good balance in central midfield. Coquelin, Elneny and Bielik considered the defensive-minded options, with Wilshere, Ramsey and Cazorla providing the creativity. Where does Xhaka fit? Good news is we can experiment a lot with the CM partnerships, bad news is we have a lot of players for those two CM positions.

Wingers
Way too many right wingers in the squad now. Sanchez, Theo, Ox, Campbell and Gnabry all prefer the right wing and we have no players at all whose natural position is left wing. Iwobi can play there but he prefers the #10 position. This is one of the most important positions to strengthen, in my opinion. Mahrez seems like a perfect fit, but he's another right winger. Mahrez/Payet/Mkhitaryan/Muller?

#10s
This position is a bit of a worry. If Özil is injured we don't have too many options that make sense. Wilshere and Cazorla play better in a deep-lying role, Iwobi is the only option we have that considers himself as a natural #10. Could be worth strengthening here. Payet to act as a backup CAM and winger?

Strikers
Giroud, Welbeck and Sanogo now our only natural striker options. I think Giroud is a fantastic second-choice striker with a skill set that gives us a lot of Plan B options...but every person on this planet agrees: we need to get hold of a prolific 20+ goals-per-season striker to improve our goalscoring abilities. Benzema/Griezmann/Ibrahimovic/Lewandowski/Higuain/Dybala?

I presume we're going to line up

Cech; Bellerin - Mert - Kos - Nacho; Xhaka - Coq/Elneny; Ramsey - Özil - Alexis; New Striker

Still not convinced with our CB options. Mert is not good enough and Gabriel is far too erratic to ever rely upon for an entire season. Would be nice to get a commanding CB in imo.

The wing is also an issue. I'm not Ramsey's biggest fan and imo Wilshere can play on the right but we do need more of a playmaker on the wing than a direct winger. Mkhitaryan is a perfect example of a quick player who is also comfortably as acting like a secondary playmaker which Arsene has used in his entire time here (Parlour, Pires, Arsh, Nasri etc).

Up front goes without saying.

Are you suggesting Wilshere Ramsey are more direct wingers than playmakers?

Nah I meant the player that could be coming in has to be in a playmaker role more than a direct winger

Griezmann would do nicely

Arsenal is a step down for griezmann. Would have to offer 250k/week to even merit consideration from the player, and that's assuming a fee can be worked out with atleti

I don't see the point in even thinking about fanciful moves like that. If it happens, let it be an amazing surprise, rather than a bitter disappointment when it doesn't.

Arsenal is a step down for Griezmann.

We really aren't. I know Atletico are doing well right now, but that is a short-term thing. Objectively, looking career-wise, Arsenal is a much better option than Atletico. We're a much bigger club economically. We're in a much more competitive league that gets more exposure. We have a much bigger fanbase. And so on. Besides, once Simeone leaves for a bigger club, Atletico are back to square one again.

We also have the benefit of still reaping the psychological benefits of the invincibles and the legacy they left behind. Griezmann was 14-15 when Wenger went unbeaten with players like Henry and Vieira...that matters a lot to a French teenager wanting to make a career in football.

I'm not saying I think we'll go for him, but I think that if we did he'd easily want to come here.

Why would Griezmann leave a team that has reached more CL finals than us in the past 3/4 years than we have since our club started?

They have a better manager, they are going to give him a bumper contract and he plays in a side which is consistently challenging for the League title.

It is a step down.

Why would Griezmann leave a team that has reached more CL finals than us in the past 3/4 years than we have since our club started?

Because again: they are doing well now but it's a short-term thing. They won't be reaching CL finals for years to come. We are a bigger club in every single way.

They have a better manager

Agreed.

he plays in a side which is consistently challenging for the League title

...in a league with basically zero challenge. Most players in the world would probably love to play in the Premier League. It's infinitely more competitive, has more exposure, has more money, has more pace, has all these things a player dreams about. It's the ultimate league to play in, and has been for decades.

La Liga is the best League in the World quality-wise imo. Not as entertaining as the Prem but the teams are of a higher standard. Griezmann's lived in Spain/Basque country since 2005...he could feel at home in Spain.

Simeone will be staying at Atleti for a lengthy period of time, let's not forget he chose Atleti over Arsenal to begin with because of Simeone himself.

We could say Sanchez and Ozil leaving their respective clubs was a step down, but they still came. He does really like Atletico though.

It was a step down, they came to us because they weren't needed by their club and we were the best option who could afford them. Remember Alexis could choose between us and Liverpool, easy choice.

Every team is a step down when coming from Barcelona -even Bayern. Griezmann would slit his own mother's throat to sign for Arsenal. As if Atletico aren't overachieving atm.