Transfers & Rumors: Deadline Drama!

[NickButera]

On 1/11/2023 at 7:34 PM, Dr LBC said:

That said, they're not gonna get anything close to 100m up front or even probably 70m up front. 

 

I had this exact same thought, and figured the deal wouldn't be consumated until the end of the window because of their stubbornness, and ours to not go that high. 

I was shocked to see Fabrizio's report that our 3rd offer is around 70 mil up front + 20/25 mil.  It's a huge overpayment if that's true.  The talent is there but he's no where proved he's worth close to that amount. Arteta and Edu must be confident he'll do more than thrive under this system. 

[Dr LBC]

1 hour ago, NickButera said:

I had this exact same thought, and figured the deal wouldn't be consumated until the end of the window because of their stubbornness, and ours to not go that high. 

I was shocked to see Fabrizio's report that our 3rd offer is around 70 mil up front + 20/25 mil.  It's a huge overpayment if that's true.  The talent is there but he's no where proved he's worth close to that amount. Arteta and Edu must be confident he'll do more than thrive under this system. 

The additional 20-25m is going to be tied to various benchmarks.  The sort that media typically glaze over explaining to fans because the staggering size of the amount is more "buzzworthy" and "click-baity."  It will be stuff like "x amount if he wins the EPL with Arsenal," "x amount if he wins the PL Golden Boot," "x amount if he wins the UEFA Young Player of the Year," etc.  Basically, LTBE's and Conditionals-to-Be-Met's where the NFL is concerned.

I think on Edu's part, it's also a slightly justified overpayment as a means of establishing the inside track to all the young Ukranians coming through the pipeline (Ukraine's U-16's won the World Cup for their youth division recently).

[packerstk7]

3 hours ago, Dr LBC said:

The additional 20-25m is going to be tied to various benchmarks.  The sort that media typically glaze over explaining to fans because the staggering size of the amount is more "buzzworthy" and "click-baity."  It will be stuff like "x amount if he wins the EPL with Arsenal," "x amount if he wins the PL Golden Boot," "x amount if he wins the UEFA Young Player of the Year," etc.  Basically, LTBE's and Conditionals-to-Be-Met's where the NFL is concerned.

I think on Edu's part, it's also a slightly justified overpayment as a means of establishing the inside track to all the young Ukranians coming through the pipeline (Ukraine's U-16's won the World Cup for their youth division recently).

Yeah I hope the 20-25m in extras are for performance bonuses that aren’t that easy to achieve vs just appearances. Even so, 70m is a lot for a kid from the Ukrainian league with a year of experience and a couple good CL games. That’s what, 20m less than Haaland who had bags of goals in the Bundesliga plus crazy hype.

[agarcia34]

Arsenal not gonna get Felix or Mudryk… Disaster of a transfer window when they needed to be great 

[PARROTHEAD]

6 hours ago, agarcia34 said:

Arsenal not gonna get Felix or Mudryk… Disaster of a transfer window when they needed to be great 

I dont get it. See reports theyre after Raphinha. Who has 2 goals in 15 matches on a loaded Barca squad.

 Balogun has 10 goals in 17 matches on a midlevel Ligue 1 squad using 1/5th the talent of Barca as support. Hes under contract, call him home.

[NickButera]

11 hours ago, agarcia34 said:

Arsenal not gonna get Felix or Mudryk… Disaster of a transfer window when they needed to be great 

Chelsea paid out the wazoo for mudryk. I'm glad we didn't have to part with that much cash. However, Edu can't keep going into every window trying weeks to get the best deal he can possibly get, and then missing on the guys they've identified as the ones who can take their squad to the next level. We're getting poached left and right, he's taking too long nickel and diming teams. We won't have long term success unless hes aggressive every now and then for his top priorities. 

[packerstk7]

12 hours ago, NickButera said:

Chelsea paid out the wazoo for mudryk. I'm glad we didn't have to part with that much cash. However, Edu can't keep going into every window trying weeks to get the best deal he can possibly get, and then missing on the guys they've identified as the ones who can take their squad to the next level. We're getting poached left and right, he's taking too long nickel and diming teams. We won't have long term success unless hes aggressive every now and then for his top priorities. 

Hard to know how much is Edu and how much is Kroenkes. Especially in this case when Shaktar was demanding this much from the get go and it appeared that no one was stupid enough to pay it. I’m glad we didn’t pay that much. My only anger comes from the fact that we all know there’s no acceptable backup plan.

[DTMW78]

Any insight on Johan Duran??

Just signed for my team Aston Villa from Chicago.

Is he any good??

[Dr LBC]

On 1/15/2023 at 10:42 AM, packerstk7 said:

Hard to know how much is Edu and how much is Kroenkes. Especially in this case when Shaktar was demanding this much from the get go and it appeared that no one was stupid enough to pay it. I’m glad we didn’t pay that much. My only anger comes from the fact that we all know there’s no acceptable backup plan.

The Kroenkes aren't the issue.  They've opened up the checkbook plenty since taking full-share ownership of the club (pretty clear at this point that cheaparse Sir Chips and the like were the ones that "didn't see the point" in heavy spending - or even spending money to make money - and the Kroenkes weren't going to just sink in the entirety of a transfer sum when they weren't getting the full recompense of the resulting financial yield; that's just wise business).  Do I for a second think Stan gives a toss about the club?  No.  Josh, from what I can tell, does.  And as long as Josh is the one making the calls and Stan stays silent and out of the way, I'm fine with that dynamic.

The call not to pay a stupid amount was Edu's and, ultimately, I'm fine with that.  I'm not so keen on it seeming like there weren't pre-determined alternate plans if that didn't go through - which seems to be why they were willing to make the gross final bid that they did do, but that they didn't match the wage packet AND the transfer fee that Chelsea put in the table... I don't blame them one bit.

There are acceptable backup plans, but how likely they are to move in the January window, I have serious doubts.  Which is why I loathe the January window to begin with and would rather just see loans in and out and outgoing sales occur during it.  Unless you grossly overpay, the amount of doors open to you are substantially limited.  For instance, there are several players from Frankfurt's side I wouldn't have any issue with us pursuing, but Frankfurt are currently in a three-way knife-fight in the Bundesliga for 2 CL spots with Leipzig and Union Berlin, so I have trouble seeing them being keen in the least on parting with one of their main attacking options - whereas in the summer, being able to play the "much bigger club" card with the player is considerably easier.

[persiandud]

On 1/14/2023 at 9:51 PM, NickButera said:

Chelsea paid out the wazoo for mudryk. I'm glad we didn't have to part with that much cash.

was the same offer actually, just structured differently. that's from the mouth of the Shahktar CEO 

[PARROTHEAD]

Chris Wood could be headed to Forest. Worst player in the league. Any league.

There is a plus side. There could be an option to buy. Which. We all know by now....

Anyway.

[NickButera]

Trossard to Arsenal deal went fast. Done deal, if they can get him registered by tomorrow they'll.have him for Man I game.  Wish we could have moved that fast for Mudryk, but only spent 27 mil for him. 

I hope this means we can use those extra funds for another quality depth player this window. If they truly are targeting Rice for the summer, I'm not convinced Edu will want to sign a midfielder the next two weeks, but it's what we need. 

 

[Dr LBC]

3 hours ago, NickButera said:

Trossard to Arsenal deal went fast. Done deal, if they can get him registered by tomorrow they'll.have him for Man I game.  Wish we could have moved that fast for Mudryk, but only spent 27 mil for him. 

I hope this means we can use those extra funds for another quality depth player this window. If they truly are targeting Rice for the summer, I'm not convinced Edu will want to sign a midfielder the next two weeks, but it's what we need. 

 

Going to depend on the nature of Elneny's injury, imo.  The paper talk has always been that Rice is in our summer plans, there's been no mention of a January transfer.  We're more likely to recall Patino from his loan at Blackpool for cover than West Ham are to sell Delcan Rice this transfer window, particularly when they're presently sitting in a relegation battle.

The Trossard deal makes sense.  It doesn't light the world on fire, but it gives us much-needed quality depth on the wing that fits the style we play.  And 27m is an amount that can be made up by ensuring a Top 3 finish, just on the prize money alone if I'm not mistaken.  And focusing on the wing/wide-forward as the priority over the midfielder is the smart move in my opinion, because 1) whether we like the quality or not, we have the depth of numbers in the midfield and 2) if we're going to need to recall a loanee to secure depth for the run-in, better that be Patino (who does appear to have a clearer path into the First Team next season) than Balogun (who we're at least 50:50 to sell if we get offered a quality sum in the summer, and upsetting a very good loan for him for only limited minutes only serves to hurt that value).

Also, if this deal and Brighton getting this fee for Trossard, make them feel more secure in not needing to budge on selling Moises Caicedo to Chelsea (who would have had to pay above odds anyway) until the summer - there's a bit of poetic whipped cream on top of the banana split.

Edited January 19, 2023 by Dr LBC

[agarcia34]

Trossard would have a much bigger impact this season than Mudryk would have done. It’s just not the potential, but I like this move for this season. 

[NickButera]

4 hours ago, Dr LBC said:

Going to depend on the nature of Elneny's injury, imo.  The paper talk has always been that Rice is in our summer plans, there's been no mention of a January transfer.  We're more likely to recall Patino from his loan at Blackpool for cover than West Ham are to sell Delcan Rice this transfer window, particularly when they're presently sitting in a relegation battle.

 

You know I didn't even consider this. But the fact that Blackpool just got a new manager, this may be a very real possibility. 

I agree with Rice, they won't let him go right now, but if he's our summer plans we aren't splurging on a midfielder in Jan. But if that's the case....is 27mil all we spend in the Winter window? That seems very frugal considering we're trying to do everything we can to shore ourselves up for a title run. Even knowing we're also getting Smith-Rowe back. Do we bring in a dedicated Nketiah backup? I can't believe that was our only winter move.