55 minutes ago, petre ispirescu said:

He is a good player, but Dembele was 1st on my wishlist, he truly is somebody you should not miss on a free. Think the Raphinha deal pretty much confirms we could not get Dembele to sign that contract. For whatever reasons. Gutted to be honest. 

Unfortunately this is a free when its not actually free situation with him, there's enormous fees associated with his signing which are ridiculous.

Wow this one has come about quickly. I’ve not seen that much of him. For those that have, is he worth the money? What will he add to the squad?

1 hour ago, petre ispirescu said:

He is a good player, but Dembele was 1st on my wishlist, he truly is somebody you should not miss on a free. Think the Raphinha deal pretty much confirms we could not get Dembele to sign that contract. For whatever reasons. Gutted to be honest. 

His injury record scare a lot of suitor. 

I like the signing but can't help feel the squad is very unbalanced.

We seem to be building an attack that suits a wide front three, CB's and CM's that suit a back 3 and no recognised striker. 

I like Raphinha, I think he is a more tenacious and effective version of Willian, who absolutely every coach we've had at Chelsea loves.

 

It’s been reported that Tuchel has asked for Raphina personally and he’s driving the signing. 

Excited about this. If anyone wants to see how good he is, just search "Raphinha- Welcome to Arsenal" videos. 

Edited June 29, 20224 yr by RomansRoubles

10 minutes ago, RomansRoubles said:

Excited about this. If anyone wants to see how good he is, just search "Raphinha- Welcome to Arsenal" videos. 

 

 

 

20 minutes ago, JM7 said:

It’s been reported that Tuchel has asked for Raphina personally and he’s driving the signing. 

Where?

 

 

2 hours ago, JM7 said:

Wow this one has come about quickly. I’ve not seen that much of him. For those that have, is he worth the money? What will he add to the squad?

Time will tell but so far in his career he looks very good. Has been very good at Leeds and has been impressive on the national stage too. Very direct but also very skilful and creative.

If you have seen Mahrez play, I would literally say they are the same type of player.

Only 25 too so at a good age, so for me I defo would say he worth the money in this current climate. I think he would make Arsenal very strong so I hope we conclude this deal.

2 minutes ago, STATS said:

Time will tell but so far in his career he looks very good. Has been very good at Leeds and has been impressive on the national stage too. Very direct but also very skilful and creative.

If you have seen Mahrez play, I would literally say they are the same type of player.

Only 25 too so at a good age, so for me I defo would say he worth the money in this current climate. I think he would make Arsenal very strong so I hope we conclude this deal.

Mahrez is probably the most accurate comparison i've seen on him. Slightly worse finishing but slightly more pace.

Am i the only one who thinks he isn't much of an upgrade on Ziyech?.

1 hour ago, RIP Mourinho said:

I like the signing but can't help feel the squad is very unbalanced.

We seem to be building an attack that suits a wide front three, CB's and CM's that suit a back 3 and no recognised striker. 

In view of our successes with #9 strikers that might be a good thing.

1 minute ago, jack_super_class said:

Am i the only one who thinks he isn't much of an upgrade on Ziyech?.

he's better defensively for sure, better pressing 

also feel like he's a bit better in taking people on 

Just now, Valerie said:

In view of our successes with #9 strikers that might be a good thing.

#9 shirt will be available now…………

7 minutes ago, azpi28 said:

#9 shirt will be available now…………

Retire it! I’m serious! That shirt has cost us serious loss of cash!

13 minutes ago, jack_super_class said:

Am i the only one who thinks he isn't much of an upgrade on Ziyech?.

While Raphinha has more pace I think they're similar in style.  My concern is that we never really had a position for Ziyech so is Raphina going to suffer the same fate.

6 minutes ago, DarkMata said:

While Raphinha has more pace I think they're similar in style.  My concern is that we never really had a position for Ziyech so is Raphina going to suffer the same fate.

This. Ziyech was fantastic when we had short spell of playing 442, then we are back playing 343 and he was back to inconsistent Ziyech. 

25 minutes ago, azpi28 said:

he's better defensively for sure, better pressing 

also feel like he's a bit better in taking people on 

Yep and also physically stronger and isn’t easy to shuffle off the ball. I defo think Ziyech had a culture shock when he came here. Defo neeeded to do a few more gym sessions.

19 minutes ago, Mod said:

Retire it! I’m serious! That shirt has cost us serious loss of cash!

No it hasn't. The people who signed a series of unsuitable players to wear it have wasted a lot of the club's money.

I'd like to think Tuchel might be going back to his PSG 433.

Mendy

James Silva De Ligt Chilwell

Jorginho

Kovacic     Mount

Raphinha     Havertz     Sterling

Realistically you swap Jorginho for someone like Declan Rice then stylistically it suits Tuchel's PSG more as he used to have Marquinhos playing that role. Tuchel used to have Neymar playing central and dropping deep to collect the ball, seems like the perfect role for Kai too. My only worry would of course be whether T.Silva can still operate in a 4.

26 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

I'd like to think Tuchel might be going back to his PSG 433.

Mendy

James Silva De Ligt Chilwell

Jorginho

Kovacic     Mount

Raphinha     Havertz     Sterling

Realistically you swap Jorginho for someone like Declan Rice then stylistically it suits Tuchel's PSG more as he used to have Marquinhos playing that role. Tuchel used to have Neymar playing central and dropping deep to collect the ball, seems like the perfect role for Kai too. My only worry would of course be whether T.Silva can still operate in a 4.

Looks good but I agree Silva can’t do that for a season, a season which includes a World Cup. 

He’s not someone who’s going to be running in behind and scoring goals for fun, just take a look at the kind of goals he scored for Leeds last season, so that’s not what we’re getting but with our system at present that’s what we need, a Salah/Mane type. Clearly Tuchel is seeing something else, so we’ll see. Still not sure where the goals are going to come from.. we definitely need a different profile on the left as well.

Just now, Term_X said:

He’s not someone who’s going to be running in behind and scoring goals for fun,

. Still not sure where the goals are going to come from.. we definitely need a different profile on the left as well.

That's exactly where Sterling comes in.