Athletico could hijack Arsenal signing of Villa!
There have been rumours and reports that Arsenal have spoken to Barcelona about the transfer of their 31-year old striker. Apparently Arsenal have offered around £14 million for the Spanish international, which should be enough to persuade the Catalan giants to sell, as they are bringing through the young players Pedro, Tello and Alexis. They also have a certain Lionel Messi who seems to have hit a bit of form.
It seemed like the one thing that might stop the transfer going through was the wishes of Villa himself. He is clearly unhappy at his lack of time on the pitch and, despite Tito Vilanova stating that he was important to the club, Villa has decided that he cannot spend the last years of his fantastic career on the bench.
Some websites have reported today that Villa has requested that the transfer to Arsenal be allowed, but a new player may have entered the fray. ElMundoDeportivo reports today that Athletico Madrid have identified Villa as the man they want to replace Radamel Falcao. They are resigned to losing the Colombian striker, either now or in the summer, and need a proven goal scorer to replace him.
The Madrid club are hoping to persuade Villa that it would be better for him and his family to remain in Spain. They are currently second in the Primera Liga table, seven points ahead of Real Madrid. That means that they could probably offer Villa champions league football next season. There is a good relationship between the two clubs which could help to facilitate the deal, but Villa may prefer a bigger club, which Arsenal certainly are. He may also not want to wait until the summer to make his move.






Everyone hijacks our targets… I’ve gotten used to it…
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Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
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Rumors rumors… don’t believe everything you read, we are linked with almost every player on earth ! Wait and see
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If we miss out on Villa we need to be fully prepared to put our money on the line to get an alternative Striker to fill the void before the window slams shut – The finger needs to be pulled out their ass once and for all in a transfer window
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We must not allow this to happen!fight wenher fight!
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If we can take him b4 athletico, its a welcome development
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I am used to this type of news. other updates on transfers??
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Wenger should sign Stevan Jovetic from Fiorentina as they have already signed rossi. He would cost round 15-20 mil but only 22 has the time and class to be a world class player. COYG
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Why does every Arsenal supposed target go somewhere else? Bs, Holtby, Mata. It never seems to end.
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Honestly! for once we need Usamanov to come in and blow everybody out of the transfer market with his billions….fed up with buying mediocrity at the 11th hour just to appease the fans!
KRONKE GET THE F’ OUT OF THE CLUB NOW!
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Sky sports says we’ve already agreed a fee with Barca for Villa, next Adrian Lopez please, then Strootman
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There is
lewandoski
jovotic
el sharaaway
cavani
and many more available.
they have age, quality and also match our wage demands then why go for villa who is aged and just recovered from injury and cost 15 million.
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15M on David Villa makes no sense, we need a top class striker in his prime, not over the hill. Put the money from RVP to it and get Falcao for 50M.
Stop messing us about Wenger and get it done.
And how is 15M good business for a cheap striker, if we really have to go down that route, when we could have had Premier League proven Demba Ba for about 8M???
Opinions divided. What do you think?
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i kep hearing about villas injury problems , i thought nhe broke his leg to me that dosnt mean he has injury problems no ?
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@pat rice
pls when did sky sports say that..Haven’t seen that
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what did u expect it is arsenal were talking about
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Paddy Gooner,
The targets go elsewhere because other teams offer the right price.
Look at Cahill, he was 6M so we offer 3M, then 3.5M. Chelsea come along and offer the asking price.
Mata – We offer about 15M, Chelsea offer the asking price.
Wenger is all about paying Pound Land prices in Harrods
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cant believe spurs got holtby on a free!
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Barcelona aren’t stupid. They would not sell a player like David Villa to the team comin second behind them in the Spanish league. It wouldn’t make any sense.
I’m hopeful that we will get him and I can’t wait to see him link up with Cazorla, Wilshere, Giroud, Walcott and Podolski. Would be a crazy attack!
Fergie will scream murder once he sees that forward line!
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How did we lose Holtby to Spurs? I hope he feels stupid when we beat them to champs league. Athletico might only buy Villa if Falcao leaves.
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DAVID VILLA IS A TOP TOP PLAYER. A WORLD CLASS PROVED GOALSCORER WHEREEVER HE’S PLAYED.
I DONT CARE IF HE’S 31. HE CAN IMPROVE US NOW. IF WE SIGN HIM IT SHOWS WE CAN STILL SIGN THE TOP TOP PLAYERS.
IF HE DECIDES ATLETICO OVER US IT SHOWS WE ARE BECOMING A SMALLER CLUB.
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wenger is playing with us like we are little children
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better to sign a midfeilder, then a striker if we sign Walcott, then we have 3 options, giroud , podolski and Walcott we can use as strikers!, we need someone like mbiwa, de rossi ore something like that kind of player
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We have suffered so much in recent years that some among us have clearly become completely deluded…..
There is no way on earth that Villa will come to Arsenal, or Falcao or Cavanni……Get real people.
Opinions divided. What do you think?
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@Saton..we are already becoming a smaller club since the greedy, money eyed boards (gazidiz kroenke) change Arsenal into a selling club..selling proven players each years to make extra bucks into pocket..they hardly have desire for Arsenal to win on the pitch as they only care about profits..Arsenal need to change from the roots..n its the filthy boards needs to be change
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arsenal have had a fee of 3m accepted for c.j sapong acc to media reports personal terms to be agreed typical wenger signing or “THE EXCEPTIONAL PLAYER” we were looking at
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@Segan United fans were saying the exact same about RVP. those fans swallowing there words now. 31 isnt that old, i think Villa got 4 good years in him yet, and atleast 2. Pirlo came back into his own at 31. arseanl need a leader, and villa can lead us.
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Chamakh 50k Djourou 50k Squllaci 50k park 50k Cazorla 75k This is why are wage structure is s**t
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Leo
Any transfers news on David villa mate
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why would barca sell to one of their main domestic rivals? they’re not going to ‘do an arsenal’.
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Barca isnt Arsenal..they will not sell such a top player to an immediate rival…He may come back to hunt them…RVP….rings any bells
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does david villa play like a 31 year old & by the way he just turned 31 last month the fact that he wants to join us over the like’s of city chelski you fans should be greatfull on one hand when we sign a unkown player like park we complain (rightly so was a terrible signing) but when we are signing an established player like villa more complaints maldini was 39 when he retired zaneti/nesta/del piero/giggs/scholes the list goes on villa has another 3-4 years left in him
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@santi claus just that we have agreed a 3m with kansas city for sapong acc to media reports as far as villa goes arsenal still pushing barca to get the deal done
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strange ..people here had a problem with Ba and now Villa..they want Falcao and Cavani…Can they also provide the 50 million pounds required for their signings
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News in Spain on the David Villa topic is that he has asked his agent to try to engineer a transfer to Arsenal for him with Barcelona + we are trying to sign to player on pre contract moussa sissoko & another player from german side
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why pay 13-15 mill punds for villa and risk maybe he will do for 3-4 year, when u can buy a younger, and faster player like Adrian Lopez, mbiwa, jovetic for same amount of Money?, and they will have also less wage!
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Dont recall Chelsea or City expressing any sort of interest in Villa.
Maldini was a defender and giggs and scholes midfielders, no comparison. Del Piero didnt ever come to the premier League and I doubt he would have cut it in his later years.
Biggest question is why we are scratching round the bargain basement when we have the transfer funds for a marquee signing.
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gonzalo higuain is available for 18-20m madrid to sell him to buy falcao/cavani
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Carribean,
We have provided the funds, where do you think the coiffers fill up from? Ticket sales, shirt sales, our pockets that’s where.
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@leo
who is sapong how ol is he and is he a striker
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@ king Henry
Yes you are right but we have to agree that 50M is just too much for us especially given our other needs..I think villa will be ok if we sign him…if he can give us enough fire opwer lets say for the next 2 years who knows by then we can have guys like Joel Campbell and Afobe ready
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Anyone surprised we are beating to another signing
don’t think so all we do is talk and wait talk and
wait and then say our squad is big enough sick
sick sick sick of the same shit year in year out
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Funny how earlier this month Gazidis said ‘an exceptional’ amount of funds would be left to Wenger. I really don’t think singings are Wengers fault – he knows who he wants he’ probably just told ‘no too expensive’ or ‘haircut not funny enough’.
This is a joke we’ve been lied to for another season. How long can this go on? Surely not much longer because at this rate you can say bye to CL football. It’s a digrace.
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@carribean,
Thing is we do need to spend. We need to put a signal of intent out, to the fans and our rivals.
The day Wenger sold RVP to Man Utd he should have realised that the only replacement would be another striker of the same or better quality, that means spending the 50M.
Plus we still have the money from the sales of our other stars, Nasri, Fabregas etc. If you add it all up we should have around 150M to spend, if you keep track of how much we have been told is available every transfer window.
We are slipping, a few seasons ago we needed a couple of top quality players to compete, now we need more, and every season we go on addressing the problem with cheap signings, the bigger the gulf between us and the real title contenders.
Wenger is always mentioning the accountantcy of the club being uber important, well if we keep on slipping then we can kiss goodbye to the champions league money, then your sponsors and tv rights dwindle, its just like dominos, as you fail to attract the top sponsors etc.
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C.j sapong is apparently an american striker.
23 year old.
6ft 1 tall.
Sporting Kansas City.
2011 = 38 apps 6 goals.
2012 = 30 apps 8 goals.
I’d never heard of him and cant believe thats what Arsene has been talking about when he promised ‘exceptional quality’ – but I’ll keep an open mind I guess.
Has anyone seen him play? is he any good?
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same deluded idiots reporting untruths i see and same oil idiotss ,replying lol
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Have we honestly signed this Sapong? Its not anywhere I can see, Sky, BBC?
I hope not. a 3M MLS Striker, please god no.
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We need a back up for Gibbs & we need a replacement for when Sagna leaves.
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@ king henry
How do yo change your icon?
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Some of you goners make me laugh,you want a top signing then when were in for villa you start picking holes and complain about his age…….you muppets know nothing about football,maybe wenger was right when he said that Arsenal fans won’t be happy unless we sign Messi….David Villa is Spain’s top goal scorer and I don’t know if you’ve noticed but there European and world champs,before he broke his leg the boy was the best striker in the world,so what if he’s 31,he’s in his prime and he will bang in 25 goals a season for us,more than the strikers we have already will..you complain that all we sign is players for the future and you want players for right now…..well my pedigree chums David Villa is right now….if it happens,it would be a huge signing for us with immediate effect…..wake up
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@truthul gooner absolutely correct mate
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Very strange Arsenal fans. The guys who are saying Villa is too old to play for Arsenal and would like to see younger options are in a delusion. Nasri was a younger option. What did he do, he quit after playing three years. Do you like a younger option who come to Arsenal, use the club as a stepping stone and move on or a proven world class player who will come to Arsenal, play his heart out and quit the game with dignity and pride. I guess the fans who are looking for younger options are deluded and don’t understand the fact that Arsenal has been used and will be used as a stepping stone, if we won’t find world class players finishing their careers with Arsenal.
Their presence will bring young attractive players in the new seasons. David Villa will be a perfect signing as an Arsenal fan. COYG.
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Sapong won’t happen – it’s got to be made up.
Villa won’t happen because I can’t see Wenger breaking the club record on a 31 year old striker wanting £110k/wk when he can get a 24 yr old like Lopez on half the salary.
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I’m sorry no quotes = b*llsh*t
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well about pirlo u are correct…but players as pirlo,xavi can play beyond 33years coz of the poz the play in….they are playmakers they dont need to have stammina or use strengh or speed to play the game ….as a striker when u past 30 years u will start to lose strenght stammina and speed u become fragile to injuries to …i would like to buy villa but consider we sold Song for nothing and they ask 14mil for villa its unnacetable and not worthy….buy isco for that money instead and lets base our game with attacking midlefielder shooting our goals to succes…
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If A.madrid want villa, it probably means they willing or close to selling lopez… @leo are we really trying to get M.sissoko on a pre-contract?
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Sorry heard it on twitter, guess its a fake skysports twitter account
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Sissoko; villa n turan; cool- but see; jovetuc,M’villa baines n zaha
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Lol why would barca sell a top player to the team closest to them in the league?
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Some Arsenal fans really baffle me. We have been crying out for experience and now the club is going after experience we are complaining that he is too hold. He is only 18months older than rvp and I genuinely believe he will hit the ground running.
Even if we buy Falcao there will be fans that complain that he is too expensive and we should not have spent that much money. For those wanting Cavani, he is 22 and will take time to settle. It is not want we want at this stage of the season.
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@king henry maldini was a defender yeah but in the later years played as lwb giggs & scholes are mf/s the fact is a full back & mf’s have to work & cover more distance than a stiker
Shots to Goals Ratio: David Villa 71% Podolski 30% Gervinho 19% Giroud 13%
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Here is the news:
Teams do not hijack deals.
Players decide who they play for.
Players can force a move.
Players do force moves.
Arsenal just needs to be able to agree terms with the player.
Players can opt to see out their contract and cannot be made to go to clubs paying their current club a record fee.
If David Villa wants Arsenal, Barcelona can keep an unhappy disruptive player or let him go.
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Wenger made this situation when he sold RVP. He must realise that replacing him with a 13M striker is unacceptable. Like for like or better.
Falcao has a buy out clause for 45M. So he’s available. If we want a striker, we have the money let’s get him. Forget Villa, lets go for the top of the pile for a change. At least it will signal a change in the club, maybe turn a few heads at our rivals, get them looking over their shoulders. Lets make that statement of intent.
Why do you think Ferguson wanted RVP? Because he was our No.1 striker, not a sub, same reason why Lopez is behind Falcao, Falcao is No.1, Same reason Villa is behind Messi, Messi is No.1. No more cheap fixes.
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I do like Villa and the more I think about it the more I remember wishing Arsenal had made a move for Raul when he left Real Madrid. I think he would be a great signing as long as we don’t spend too much on him. I’d still rather we put serious money on a more long term prospect like Higuain (my top choice) or Alvaro Negredo ( Sevilla supposedly turned down a 17 million euro offer for him recently from an unnamed top European club because they don’t “need” the money)
If money weren’t an issue as it always is with Arsenal if say Falcao or Cavani
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I’m sorry for my comment cos I’ve realised that age doesn’t matter.
Robin van payslip is 29 and see where he’s got manure
Drogba was 34 and see what he got chelsea
Di Natale’s 35 and he’s unstoppable in Serie A
Ibrahimovic is 31 and he scored a beauty against England
Lampard’s 34 and he’s still scoring
The list goes on so bring on VILLA cos we deserve worldclass signings.
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absoutely ibrahimovic is a great example scored 22 goals in la liga sucessful in serie a now in ligue 1 still can’t believe we missed out on him villa will be sucessful at arsenal sign him up now & get lewandowski or negredo/adrian lopez in summer
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If we sign Villa for 16m and we qualify for CL then he’s worth every penny regardless of his age… because we wont finish top 4 without him!!!!
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it’s as if some of you have not been a Gooner through a transfer window before!! Do you not know of Wenger and his pokerface – he’ll say all sorts in press conferences! Probably to keep the followers like Chelski/Sp*rs etc to stop using us as their own scout!!
We will have no clue what is going on until it is up on Arsenal.com – who knew ages in advance that we were going for Giroud and Cazorla? He was looking at them for months!
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In Arsene we CRUSH!Just wait for tomorrow’s fa cup against swans……..”I BELIEVE………”
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Wenger will never pay the asking price
It’s for this reason players we have scouted end up at other teams
Wenger will not buy anyone he is fooling loyal supporters like he does evey year
In Arsene we RUST
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Lol, Villa won’t be coming to Arsenal, he too old, his wages are too high, and he doesn’t fit into Wenger’s one striker system. Not to mention he would probably prefer champions league football next season and it is questionable that Arsenal gets there this season. The real story is that Arsenal has missed out on Ba, Holtby, Cahill, Dempsey, Loris, (the list goes on and on) and even worse sold the best striker in the premier leauge to a rival. Wenger is like Tom Landry was for the Dallas Cowboys, a true legend well beyond his prime.
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Victory tomorrow will be fools gold just like 7-3 against Newcastle, the real test will be Man.City and Chelsea that follow. Anyone believe Walcott leads us to victory with his pinpoint passing and daisy cutters? Lol
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Ok, everyone knew about Arsenal’s interest in Carzola and Giroud months before they were signed. They weren’t secret targets.
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Villa is obviously gonna choose Arsenal because it’s a bigger club and they can offer him to play Champion’s league this season and the upcoming seasons as well
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Atletico Madrid are unfortunately a bigger club than arsenal… 2nd in La Liga, compared to 6th in premier League where we will finish… they have world class players in Turan and Falcao, who do we have?
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Everyone talks about how old villa is. I don’t understand that argument. Lampard and Drogba were able to get to their mid 30′s before they started losing form. Giggs is almost 40. Plus football wise, Villa is only 30 because he missed a season with his broken leg. Sign him up.
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The problem with Villa’s age is Wenger’s policy of not signing older, highly paid stars. It has nothing to do with his ability. Besides again I ask you all; how does he fit into a one striker system? Just wait and see that this, Like every Arsenal transfer period will be a disappointment.
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Amen! So long we get Adrian Lopez
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For some reason I am very confident that well sign David villa. Once this is done get strootman, shaw, mbia and at a stretch Ben arfa. Oh god.
Chezza
Mbia
Kossie
Vermy
Gibbs/shaw
Strootman
Wilshere
Cazorla
Ox/podolski
Villa
Wally/Ben arfa
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Id say that the biggest thing in our favour would be Falcao not moving till the summer, but if someone buys Lopez that might change things a bit.
Lopez is not worth his four to fifteen mil asking price, but id say that theyd take ten mil plus some performance related bonuses.
A Mad are very adept at replacing outgoing strikers, but they usually look for one who they can make a healthy profit on, with the money they get for Falcao they may wave this preference. Knowing that Spanish players are allot like the English, regarding destinations, they will rarely dip there toe in another pool outside there homeland. I wouldnt/wont in the least be suprised seeing Villa wear the wrong red and white colours.
Manc will be devastated that rvp chose there neighbours and now looks to be the difference in who claims the title. I hope they look to signing a new striker and Dzeko becomes disillusioned, then opening up a possibility for ourselves poaching the very impressive striker. What an upgrade on Giroud he could be, an awsome threat and great focal point thats sorely missed, would absolutely love to see him arrive along with a dangerously tricky player to play where Walcott refuses to play.
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This just seems like absolute nonsense!
I mean … reports surface that villa is not happy at barca. I have not read any direct quotes from villa, but ok i will go with that.
So, arsenal’s seasons is not going to great and we offload some players to free up some space on the wage bill
All of a sudden there is a story!
Completely ignoring the face that villa would destroy our wage structure .. at a time when we are not giving walcott what he wants as he is asking for too much! Yet we would then shove it in his face by buying in villa and giving him 100,000+ a week?
And why arsenal? Is there a bigger top flight step down then barca to arsenal? Arselona? I mean, barca destory us every time we paly, we haven’t won a trophy in 8 years…. and why sell our best players every year if we are just going to suddenly but david villa?
This smacks of sensationalism to sell papers and whats more lazy journalism
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King Henry,
Honestly mate, what the f**k are you banging on about? Really?
If a player is going to walk out on a free its clear he has no loyalty to our club, sell the turncoat, you cant let them mug you off completely or would you prefer that?
Villa not good enough for the gunners? what the hell are you talking about? Villa for 13.8m is not a good deal?
He is one of the best players in the world FFS.
Hahaa man some people on here are complete and total CLOWNS!!!
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Breaking news*****
Arsenal to re mortgage the emirates and sign Torres for 80m
YeaH! lets party in the streets because we bought someone and broke the bank!
I hate the money grabbing board as much as the next man but wasting all that season ticket money just to get a name makes about as much sense as king henrys posts!
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If Villa comes to Arsenal he will be our next Bergkamp.
A level headed world class WINNER with absolute quality to give our squad the confidence we need to get back to winning ways again.
Man I hope this comes off!
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I agree leo you know what your talking about.
I cant mention his name or this post will not be approved but there are some clowns on here.
Its not about huge price tags, its about getting the right balance in our squad.
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please buy players who are enough matured and experienced because we needs 2strikers 2 defenders
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Barca is not Arsenal, they wouldnt sell their star player to one of the tittle chalenger/mark my word
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