Transfer Rumours 2014/15

How the hell are Sunderland spending £10m+ on a guy with a dodgy fitness record - huge gambl. Rodwell btw.

Fair enough. Plus there's Joel Campbell too.

What do you think Arsenal would need for there to be a title challenge?

I thought that was a loan. So are Man City ignoring the homegrown quota?

We need to not play Giroud, Wilshere, Monreal and Arteta.

No, we're just not going to name a 25-man squad.

I agree with Shola, though, £10m on Rodwell is a massive risk. He's talented but his injury record is appalling, he hasn't played more than 15 league games in a season since 2010/11.


Harsh on Giroud and Arteta. I'm surprised that Monreal is still at Arsenal. He's rubbish.

I love Mikel and he's one of my favourite players but his legs have completely gone. It's sad to see cause he was such a consistent solid player but him/Flamini were the reason why we got battered by big teams last season.

His contract runs out at the end of next season so I can see him going Sociedad/Athletic and hopefully he can get his coaching badges at us. He's a very intelligent football wise and I can honestly see him becoming a great manager one day; he's already a brilliant captain and a model professional.

Giroud would be a great back-up striker, Sanogo changed the game when we changed to a 442 in the cup final. Hopefully he can have similar impact in tough games this season when we're struggling but obviously at a higher level. It's clear he shouldn't really start unless it's against poor teams, same as Arteta. Hopefully Alexis is our starting striker next season.

Yeah Monreal is a bit crap but he's only back-up. Gibbs is great for us and looks like he's past his injury problems. Touch wood.

I reckon Carvalho, if he signs, will be simultaneously a great signing and also a massive flop in most peoples eyes when people realise that just because you're big, black, and play in midfield you're not Yaya Toure.

Tbh most people don't even realise that Yaya isn't a defensive midfielder. Same people thought Vieira was a DM as well.

Burnley agree deal to sign Henri Lansbury for £3.5M.

Given Pearce is annoyed at the Darlow and Lascelles joint deal, I can't imagine he's impressed by this one either.

Forest just selling all their good players

I remember seeing Karl Darlow whilst he was on loan at Walsall, a very good shot stopper but I never thought to myself that he would go on to play for a top Premiership team.

I'm not too unhappy with us selling Darlow, depending on the money and who we get next year to replace him. More annoyed with the Lascelles sale, he has real quality.

Supposed to be 5m for the pair of them.

Rodwell's gone to Sunderland. If he can stay fit he's a brilliant player. Massive if though

Rosenborg just confirmed Costa Rican right back Cristian Gamboa has been granted a work permit and is now a West Bromwich player.

With 3,5 years remaining on the contract, several other clubs interested (Everton, Hull) and a great World Cup behind him, we should have got more than the reported fee of £2M though.

http://www.wba.co.uk/news/article/albion-land-gamboa-1805832.aspx

The problem with Giroud for me is that he doesn't fit our style of play very well, granted he's very strong and can hold up the ball as good as anyone but his inability to simply sprint at any kind of speed means we can never stretch opponents and far too many goal scoring opportunities are lost through this. His strength is in the air and seeing as we rarely cross the ball above waist height he can become a bit of a passenger on the pitch. Even Sanogo, despite being relatively shite still can at least cause defenders more problems than Giroud.

As for Arteta and Wilshere for that matter, the pair of them just slow the game far too often. Arteta has been a good servant to us and i do like him, but he is simply not a holding midfielder, he panics far too often when under pressure and he just hasn't got the legs or tackling ability to provide any cover to our defence. As for Wilshere he is very quickly becoming for me the most overrated player for some time, he's only any good in and around the opposition box playing one two's as his link up play can be brilliant. But take him away from there and its just a waste of a shirt imo, he slows the game down when on the ball, usually dives when under any sort of pressure (which finally the refs have now realised) and has fitness whatsoever. Ramsey is so much better than him in ever single department it must be embarrassing for Wilshere. I really wouldn't mind if we was to sell him and play Chamberlain in there instead.

Monreal is awful sadly and i pray Gibbs stays fit.

Calls to sell Wilshere are ridiculous. He clearly has an abundance of technical talent and just needs a season or two under his belt. A stupid comparison I know but Pirlo was on loan at Brescia when he was 22. Wilshere is still young and he is simply too talented and too driven to become an overrated flop.

We got some of the fee as well apparently.

Sampaoli: "I know that the main problem in Vidal's $80m transfer to #MUFC is LVG's doubt over the improvement of Vidal's knee"

— thcoast (@thcoast) Permalink

On like donkey kong.

A bit weird that Forest and Stuart Pearce are having a falling out, before Darlow and Lascelles have been confirmed.

The thing about Giroud is that he's a team player that needs a team around him - when Walcott and Ramsey were injured no one made the runs that he could supply with those one-touch layoffs that he does, and without that party piece of his he's a burden on the team.

I like Monreal actually, wasn't too long ago when we could boast about our LB situation as one of the better ones in the league in terms of quality.

Probably because he has the brainpower of a retarded chimpanzee.

I can't think of many better strikers that are as good as Giroud with their back to goal.

You can't compare Wilshere with Pirlo, Pirlo was still an attacking midfielder until his brief second spell at Brescia in the early 2000's, which is when he was moved deeper due to Baggio still being at Brescia at the time. The difference is that Pirlo always had exceptional technique and passing ability as a young kid, Wilshere still isn't anywhere on that level. You combine that with the way Arsenal play and Wilshere's attitude, it isn't a combination that will generate a consistent level of high performances. While he may well improve, it won't be anywhere near the level to be an elite deep-lying playmaker.

Wilshere's best chance of succeeding in that particular role is to move to a club that plays a more possession styled game, which requires base to play through. Something that's more common in a slower and more technical league like La Liga or Serie A.

He'll end up like J.Cole, great technique for an Englishman but never quite reaching the heights placed upon him.

Wenger does regard Wilshere as a deep lying midfielder though. I find it hard to find a flaw in his technical game, exquisite dribbling, great vision and awesome technique. He just lacks something though, and I can't even point out what it is. For me he's too good attacking to play in a deeper role and isn't up to scratch defensively (like Ramsey is), but he just lacks the nous of playing behind the striker in the formation we play. And with Özil being only 26 and world-class, he isn't making that spot his own any time soon.

Funnily enough his best performances this season have been out wide, but clearly he lacks the pace to play out there and his vision is simply wasted. You only have to look at his goal against Norwich last season to see all the positive attributes he has, but he doesn't produce it enough.

Ramsey occupies the position he would thrive in, and it's very unfortunate for Wilshere because no-one could've expected Ramsey to prove himself like he has done. It's funny, when Wilshere absolutely dominated against Barca I thought that he was nailed on to be future Arsenal and England captain. Whilst it is entirely possible that he could be England captain one day, it's looking more and more likely that Ramsey will be Arsenal's captain in the long-term.

This is where another comparison comes in, there's no denying that Ramsey was absolutely awful for a couple of seasons before the second half of the 12/13 season. Like utterly dreadful, obviously he came back from a serious injury but he was a massive detriment and even Wenger said that he couldn't play him at the Emirates because of how poorly he played and how the fans were aggravated with him and his constant flicks and tricks that never worked. Wenger told him to go back to basics, and look at his game now. He's probably actually on level with Özil as our best player. And I never thought I'd ever say that seeing Ramsey 3/4 years ago with one of my favourite players in that time with Özil. Maybe Wilshere needs to do the same?

Wilshere has every ingredient to be a fan favourite, well he already is. But he needs a breakout season like Ramsey did, he has had several injuries that have obviously impacted his career. He has everything that you want in an English midfielder. It just, isn't working out for him at the moment. I find it very hard to describe Wilshere's situation because I think at his core he is a truly outstanding player and epitomises Arsenal, the burst, the dribbling, the vision and most of all the technique. But I just can't see a place for him in the future with this already very young team.

I've honestly never seen someone spend so much time on the floor as Wilshere seems to do. Every time he gets tackled he falls over, no matter how much contact there was. I can't work out if he's diving or has a terrible combination of no balance and no strength.

If he's dribbling alongside someone whose trying to muscle him off the ball there's a very high chance he'll go down to the ground. Most of the time he gets a foul given to him but I think he's doing it on purpose. Other times he's on the floor is when players kick the shit out of his dodgy ankles, which is clearly targeted.

He dives around a lot, and spends a lot of time pretending to be injured only to be up and playing again a few minutes later.

He's an exceptional talent, clearly - but he's unfortunately got a poor attitude and comes across to me as if he's already made it.

Could be one of the best midfielders this country has produced if he knuckles down and as you say goes back to basics. He has a lot of heart and passion but seems to be a massive wimp at the same time - it's weird. Needs to man up a little bit, I think.

I do like him though, he gets a lot of stick and I usually defend him. He just needs to start producing more regularly.

A right foot.

Reina to Bayern.

Wilshere reminds me of Scott Parker (at Newcastle) but without the defensive ability.

Everything he does might be 'technically good', but he slows down the speed of the attack every time.