Watch Koullibaly say he's staying at Napoli now.

We will end up bringing in a new Papy figure on deadline day.

I wonder if the club have thought about gazumping Arsenals offer. We're usually pretty good at that.

Seems to me that Koullibally is gonna be another John Stones situation.

As for Mustafi no idea how good he is but that's another available defender off the market.

I would have thought it would be cheaper to just cut christensens loan than spend so much money on another cb.

I would have thought it would be cheaper to just cut christensens loan than spend so much money on another cb.

I agree. We desperately needed defensive cover last season and even more so this season with Zouma's injury and JT and Ivan being another year older. It doesn't make sense to loan out defenders who are talented, unless we are bringing in quality replacements.

I would have thought it would be cheaper to just cut christensens loan than spend so much money on another cb.

Can we though? Remember he's under contract for another season, it could be we can't recall him unless he's injured.

Am getting more annoyed seeing teams buying defenders and we are just fiddling our thumbs and i have never been this frustrated before a start of a season 

should we just sign anyone though?

 

personally I don't want this guy and I'd rather muddle through a season with what we have than see us pay a huge amount of money for a player who will add more depth than quality.

should we just sign anyone though?

personally I don't want this guy and I'd rather muddle through a season with what we have than see us pay a huge amount of money for a player who will add more depth than quality.

That's what we did last year, and people moaned. That's what we aren't doing this season and people complain. Go figure

should we just sign anyone though?

 

personally I don't want this guy and I'd rather muddle through a season with what we have than see us pay a huge amount of money for a player who will add more depth than quality.

I sincerly hope this doesnt happen and we have a viable plan B in our target roster. Having failed in the pursuit of Stones last season we have had close on 12 mths to identify players who would strengthen us in defence, providing Conte gives the green light to any of them.( if after that said time,Conte doesnt think the list is upto much, serious questions should be asked of the scouting department). Going into the first game of the season with no additions in a department we have identified as a weakness for over a year is a failure by the board no matter how positive a spin we try to put on it.

Edited August 12, 20169 yr by charierre

as much as most of our players under performed last season it isn't easy to find central defenders who are actually significantly better than what we have. there aren't many, and fewer of those are realistic targets.

 

yes, we are starting the season with JT and cahill (and ivanovic at fullback, for me a bigger concern although he has done reasonably in pre season for whatever that is worth) again, but don't forget zouma and christensen are on our books so that is a ready made long term partnership in waiting. with that in mind, personally I would want us to be going for a top player or nothing. 

 

my preference would be to sign a fullback which would allow ivanovic to be more of an option in the middle where I think he can still contribute to a decent level.

as much as most of our players under performed last season it isn't easy to find central defenders who are actually significantly better than what we have. there aren't many, and fewer of those are realistic targets.

 

yes, we are starting the season with JT and cahill (and ivanovic at fullback, for me a bigger concern although he has done reasonably in pre season for whatever that is worth) again, but don't forget zouma and christensen are on our books so that is a ready made long term partnership in waiting. with that in mind, personally I would want us to be going for a top player or nothing. 

 

my preference would be to sign a fullback which would allow ivanovic to be more of an option in the middle where I think he can still contribute to a decent level.

 Just out of interest I wonder what would have happened if when JT he was told he wouldnt be offered a new contract, he found himself a new club immediately. Would we have been able to get a CB that suited our requirements?

 

We are lacking across the backline at present, an injury and a suspension if they were to coincide would leave us very threadbare.

Heartbroken when he died in the stampede of Wilde-beast 

 Just out of interest I wonder what would have happened if when JT he was told he wouldnt be offered a new contract, he found himself a new club immediately. Would we have been able to get a CB that suited our requirements?

 

We are lacking across the backline at present, an injury and a suspension if they were to coincide would leave us very threadbare.

 

I think we may have paid moenchengladbach a fee to break christensen's loan contract. but you could be right, we might well have signed someone, but I don't think JT not being at the club would make it easier to sign the guy from napoli or bonucci.

 

until january, by which time zouma should be back, JT, cahill and ivanovic (plus hector and even chalobah) should be enough in terms of numbers in the middle. obviously moving ivanovic into the middle means at the moment we would have no real cover in either fullback position (other than cuadrado- and I have no desire to see that guy in a back four in the premiership). as I say, I think that is where we should be focusing as a priority but there isn't much in the press to suggest we are...

 

don't forget we're not in europe so until the next window we've only got the league and the league cup to worry about.

Heartbroken when he died in the stampede of Wilde-beast

Post of the season, shut the forum we have a winner!

I agree. We desperately needed defensive cover last season and even more so this season with Zouma's injury and JT and Ivan being another year older. It doesn't make sense to loan out defenders who are talented, unless we are bringing in quality replacements.

With JT and Ivan getting a year older I want to know how that doesn't happen to the rest of our players?

Apparently, Valencia are willing to sell Mustafi to Arsenal... in order to buy Pedro from us.

 

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/arsenal-told-shkodran-mustafi-cost-8679579

 

If we were really interested in Mustafi...

Considering any good defender is worth 30M+, no surprise Valencia raise the stake on Mustafi. My guess is Wenger will buy a 18 year old ' future Maldini ' for 1M.