Summer 2017 Transfer Speculation

Fortuneseeker

Will Hughes to Watford for £8 million?

MrsGrey

;jarvis

thornburyiron

Spiegel and Hendrie both have their contracts cancelled so who is our #3 keeper, Howes?

OldCastleSwift

Howes has gone too, so I think it's Chris Woods...

alderz

Our third choice is Joe Hart

Pearces_Left_Foot

According to C&H we have freed up 265K a week in wages from sales and loans expiring. Hopefully we can start signing players to use up that money now ;thumbsup

mike

The telegraph are stating that leicester are odds on favourites to sign Iheanacho.
I hope i am wrong but this is sounding like last summer's transfer fiasco all over again. ;weep

Bazshuayi

My heart and brain have already convinced themselves Iheanacho is coming to us. Just a question of when... If Leicester get him I will have even more reason to loathe them ;angry

secrethammersfan

I have convinced myself we will sign nobody except Francesco Totti on 150,000 per week on 31st August, and as soon as the ink is dry, his legs will fall off.
We'll see who of us all is pleasantly surprised at the end of all this!

Lukerz

Well I think we need a GK, DM, AM, WG and 2 x ST's. We still haven't replaced Payet!

Lanzini is our only creative central player. So we need cover/competition for him.

Given how neither Adrian nor Randolph cemented the No.1 jersey last season, I think it would be stupid not to at least target a new upgraded keeper. However, should one who is clearly not a significant upgrade not be available or affordable, we know Adrian is perfectly capable.

With Nordtveit 1) not solving our DM problem last season and 2) now having gone, we need another specialist holding player. None of our midfielders actually do that job. Obiang gives it a go but is still short IMO.

Given Zaza and Calleri have gone, we need two strikers, but two who can be first XI players. Especially with the situations regarding Sakho, Valencia and Carroll's fitness.

I think defence is ok but would've preferred a younger RB. But we've gone with Zab. Should a top CB become available, I'd be tempted to bring one in, given we did play 3/5 at the back last season. I think we still lack a CB as good as Reid. Ogbonna I can't quite make my mind up on. Fonte and Collins are at the ends of their careers.

I don't mind missing out on Iheanacho because I don't think he's the answer. He is a punt and in our team of less quality players, his goals to minutes is only going to get worse.

I am happy to keep everybody else in the squad as they are, but would like to move on Snodgrass, as feel we can still get £10m for him to go into the kitty, but only if we move on now. Valencia is another we could ideally shift.

So 5/6 more decent additions to the squad. Pre-season training starts in around 2 weeks.

MrsGrey

According to the BBC, Man U want to move Januzaj on for just short of £10m. Not saying we should go for him but just thinking that if he's 'worth' that much, surely Snodgrass is worth at least 10?

Lukerz

Iheanacho certainly isn't proven yet.

12 goals in nearly 50 appearances, most of them cameos, for a side containing the likes of Silva, Aguero, De Bruyne, Toure, Sterling etc. Worthy of £24m?

We are after a main man to lead the line. A proven performer IMO. Imagine spending £24m on Iheanacho to lead the line based on cameo tap-ins for one of the best sides in the league.

Bit risky. Giroud would be perfect. Failing that somebody like Vardy. Defoe would've been great. I wouldn't mind Iheanacho on loan as a striker option along with Carroll. But only if we signed another with starting XI potential.

Lukerz

Will Hughes to Watford for an initial £4.5m

Yeoldhammer

Absolute Steal for Watford, should have been us after we moved Nordveidt on.

alderz

Part of me wants the club to throw caution to the wind and sign Iheanacho irrespective of the buy back clause, but actually when I take a step back I see that it isn't a good deal if that clause is too low, so if he goes to Leicester so be it.

I thought about Will Hughes, but let's look at it this way. He's been linked with Liverpool and meant to be a real start of the future for 5 years now, but he's still with Derby. Now he's going to Watford for less than £10m? He clearly hasn't reached the potential a lot of people thought he would. Also, signing him now, aged 22, basically means you're ending Josh Cullen's WHUFC career. If you want Cullen in the squad, and you want youngsters coming through, signing Hughes wouldn't be the answer.

Lukerz

Burke off to Bolton on loan if rumours are to be believed.

grey_til_I_dye

alderz ;ok

For me, losing Norty boy just means that there's more chance of Fernandes getting games, and room for Cullen in the match day squad, which works for me.

Lukerz

According to Ex:

Giroud open to joining.
Iheanacho talks continue over buy-back option.
Traore will have talks with us and another club.

OldCastleSwift

Ok, the Giroud thing is irritating me now. Based on what we’ve heard, albeit from unofficial sources, we want him, we’ve spoken to his representatives, he’s open to joining and we’re prepared to match any offer.

Soooooooo…

Why don’t we go crazy and actually make an offer. If, as reported, Wenger doesn’t want to sell, Arsenal can reject the offer and we can move on.

MrsGrey

And if Arsenal do want to sell, we can then start talks with the player and he can keep us dangling all summer in case a better offer comes in.

;weep

Lukerz

If we go "here's £25m for Giroud, can we speak to him' do we think Arsenal will reject? For a player who is a substitute player for them. They might be reluctant given they lack strikers but it's a very good offer for a 30 year old, 31 in September.

MrsGrey

I wouldn't call him a substitute player, Luke. I think the way Arsenal use him is more than just 'he's not good enough to be in the starting XI' and more of a 'he's an important part of the matchday squad and he offers an important option, that we like to use at key points and he usually gets us a goal when we do'.

And a lot of those goals have been really important ones, points-wise.

Lukerz

I agree MrsG ;ok

But from the players POV, he is a substitute.

Assuming of course he'd rather play every week.

MrsGrey

Ah, yes, I see what you mean (from Giroud's p-o-v) ;ok

Pearces_Left_Foot

Its the world cup next summer so he will want to be playing more I would imagine so might tip things in our favour ;hmm

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes

Arsenal won't sell until they have done a deal for a replacement. Wenger doesn't take that kind of risk IMO.

Yeoldhammer

Lacazette to Arsenal paves way for Giroud to West Ham what a difference a year makes

Adam

alderz said:

Part of me wants the club to throw caution to the wind and sign Iheanacho irrespective of the buy back clause, but actually when I take a step back I see that it isn't a good deal if that clause is too low, so if he goes to Leicester so be it.

But who are the other realistic options for us?

Giroud - Arsenal might not want to sell.
Batshuayi - Chelsea might want to keep.

I'm struggling to think of others ;puzzled

grey_til_I_dye

OCS

We don't know that we haven't made an offer, though. Or an enquiry.

Perhaps, as others have suggested Arsenal won't listen to any offers for Giroud until they have made some signings.

Or, the whole rumour could be a load of old tosh...

IronHerb

I really don't see Giroud coming to us.