Barcelona WILL sell Villa to Arsenal for £16m
Arsene Wenger has a number of players on his list of transfer targets for Arsenal next month, and a quality striker is thought to be one of his most pressing wishes. The Gunners have been linked with a number of different strikers such as Demba Ba and Fernado Llorente or more tricky players like Adrian Lopez.
The biggest `name` that we have been seriously linked with is the Spanish international striker David Villa. Barcelona have made all the right noises about not wanting to sell the 31-year old, and many of the players have denied reports that Villa is unhappy with his situation at the club. The problem for Barcelona is that Villa is a massive fan’s favourite, so they do not want to be seen to be easing his transfer.
For this reason, it is being reported that Villa is pushing for a move and they have told Arsenal that his price will be £16 million, according to the Daily Mail. His age may make Arsenal think that is too much, but I think he has got lots more good years in him. Not only is he the top scorer for the Spanish national team, his goals to games ratio is better than anyone else around him.
Villa has played in 12 league games this season, but has only been on the pitch for 482 minutes, so his five goals have been scored at almost one a game. With no chance of a good run to build form, that is a great staistic and proves that Villa is still a world class striker.
no they won’t – JUST GET ARDA TURAN
Opinions divided. What do you think?
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Whilst I’d love David Villa to come to AFC, I can’t see it happening. Wait until we have actually made signings. Regardless of the so called ‘change’ in Arsenal’s financial situation, Arsenal rarely buy players like Villa. Besides, personally I’d prefer to sign Theo as I have faith in him. Also as an Englishmen, I can see the huge benefit to our national team of having Walcott, Wilshere, Chamberlain, Jenkinson and Gibbs playing together week in week out. If Villa does come, great. Just seems unlikely to me…
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He is old but if RVP is 29 cost 24M….16M age 31?……I don’t know
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It will be very interesting seeing vila playing with the gunners next season, and it a chance to arsenal club.
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as much as id like this to be true if villa became available psg, chelsea, man c, juventus etc would all offer much more than we could so until the day i see a confirmation on arsenal.com i will not believe newspaper rumors
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Arsenal.com Picture of Pat Rice for his MBE, great, but could they not find a picture without RVP and Song or air brush them out or something?
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i believe the following signings will finalize a new Arsenal:
M’ville (discipline, strength and leadership0
Lorente or Ba (Experienced, still have years in them)
Turan (Skill, motivation and fantastic attacking work rate)
Arteta is getting on and we need a soon to be attacking midfielder to maintain the great role he kept, thats where turan will come in.
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STOP FOOLING US WITH THE ARTICLE TITLE
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I wouldn’t mind if we bought villa but for 16 mill is that the right price for a 31 yr old? On the other hand he is a really good goal scorer but if we the cash I don’t see why we can’t push for cavani, and for a dm we should get strootman or mvilla
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Why? A good old striker?
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Unlikley.
We’ll most likley be signing a 14 year old superstar or an african van persie, something along those lines
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funny….hahaha
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No thanks.
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There are cheaper places to shop for antiques.
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To paraphrase the late and great American football Coach Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant. “Offence wins games, Defense wins Championships”. A lot of people maybe wondering why i posted this. Its a well known fact that Arsenal have been in a defensive crisis since the end of the invincible s run in 2005. Our current ‘Back 4′ Leave all Arsenal fans with clenched buttocks, crossed legs and a nervous disposition on a near enough regular basis and its been like that for a while. My point being (despite the fact i enjoy reading that Arsenal are linked with names such as Villa and Ba)the problem doesn’t lie with our attack, it lies with our inability of our ‘back 4′ to shut down opposing team attacks and retain a leveled head during points when the defence is under pressure,Whilst others would argue we need a Striker this transfer window,i would argue our main priority should be bringing in a solid defender and defensive midfielder, because whats the use of bringing in a 30 goal a season striker, if we’re only going to concede twice as many
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Get adriano of shaktar donestk
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I would like to try and bring marko Marin in from Chelsea. He never plays and is an “arsenal type” player. And in my opinion has potential. Only on the cheap tho! I would also look into signing more Belgian players. They have quite the generation coming thru. Axel witzle would have been a great pick up. Could have been our fallani
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no thank you
loic Remy
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The name I would be very happy to see.
Arda turan
Villa – he’s much clinical than RVP, I’m sure he’s good for at least 3-4 years.
Strootman/ felaini
Lb who could challenge Gibbs.
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Chelsea and others will offer more. Not happening. Wenger knows this and strings us along
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its agamble but manchester utd gamble on rvp has been the difference in them and us they have gained 20points from loosing .and chelsea nspurs are looking good we need more goals
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Must be pretty boring being a Chelsea fan. Everyday you wake up and the whole world knows every transfer target abramovich is going after. You get the players you want. Every week you have a new manager. But here at Arsenal, the uncertainty is enough to drive you out of your mind. C’mon Wenger, sign SOMEONE. This transfer window will make or break our season!!!!
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BRING BACK RYO MIYAICHI,
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no way will arsenal spend 16m on a 31 year old player
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just get llorente for 5m + kevin strootman the nani rumors are back lol
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@Leo
What’s your deal with llorente?? You been saying how we shouldn’t go in for BA because he’s too much like OG12 but llorente isn’t much different. You’re starting to bug me with your shots in the dark. You’re never right
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Get al sharrawy instead
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@ijm i am not an expert dude but just saying ba will never fit our system/secondly he has knee problems have you seen bilbao play their coach bielsa is actually the one who helped pep guardiola during his early coaching days to sum it all up llorente is nothing like ba or giroud infact he is much better than the 2 combined he will fit at arsenal with ease bilbao’s style/formation is very similar to ours llorente only physically is similar to giroud techinically much better has dribbiling skills
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arsenal are interested in villa the player too wants to come only way we won’t get him is if the city/chelski those idiots make 16m bid villa wants arsenal move we are already in touch with barca acc to spanish media fee could be a problem he is currently on 110 a week wage won’t be an issue if bilbao doesn’t let llorente go then hope we can sign villa & llorente for free in summer again llorente is not similar to giroud (physically yes,technically no) else it will be adrian lopez or someone else heard ba wants psg move
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i’d be happy with selling scraps and buying m’villa + demba Ba for 16m, that would be a successful market for me, if possible get diame and that’s all good for me
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@leo
why do like to feed us BS? that’s arsene wenger’s job, get a new hobby mate
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I dont think that those goals to stats ratios prove him to be still one of the best, he plays for barca against weak opposition. It could just be some of those flash in the pan moments that we see in aged fomer greats who show glimpses of there former self. Up north against a ten man sto on a blistering cold evening you may see the worst he has to offer, also i dont think we’ll know till hes tried, and at that price its not worth risking for maybe three good? years.
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he check out arsenal.com guys arsene said he’d be “busy” in the transfer market, sounds great but i hope he means buying not selling walcott and sagna, fingers crossed
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Well it looks like we wont be buying another striker,Walcott will be playing through the middle and we will be buying another winger,there are also rumours that Gervinho will be sold in the summer,HOPE ITS TRUE.
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go arsenal go beat all the team
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@villa123 no we get linked to 100 players on caught-offside daily i know 2day it’s fellaini
@malik do i look like wenger’s right hand man to confirm a signing thiss ection is called transfer rumors or speculations we discuss names & probabilities/pssoibilities these are the names doing rounds in media don’t tell me what to do ok
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arsenal are the best.my life 4 gunner
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@leo Jack VermTeta @DialSquare_1886 is another reliable source,is not as popular as others though.
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This is totally off topic but wen arteta scored against man city last season makes me proud to be a gunner! I will stand by our current squad even if wenger makes no changes I BELIEVE in them. The back four are the best in the EPL the flair of carzola the steel and drive of wilshere technicality and command of arteta the aggression of podolski the pace of walcott the young blood and strength of the ox! Chemistry is all we need which is coming with time
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@papercutz the problem we always have is that just when we have great team chemistry we always sell 3-4 players which pushes our team back to where they started.
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Playing vermaelean as a cdm can be quite interesting…
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I got an Arsenal calender for 2013 and everyone was there except Theo and Sagna! That is a bit worrying.
Please Wenger, sign some quality in Jan. I agree, we need 2-3 top players, a DM, CF and if we have extra a decent LW.
Why doesn’t Wenger make another bid for Anderlecht’s M.Suarez? The guy is exactly what we need up front. Pacy, skillful and has a deadly shot. Also great vision. We do not want has beens please. Spend the money and 9/10 you get what you pay for.
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If Walcott stays there is no need of a striker in January but reinforce the midfield with quality of either ISCO/Gotze/Strootman, zaha and M’biwa/M’villa(DM).
If Walcott goes then get a striker like Fellaini and the above mentioned players.
What I know is that Walcott would develop far better in Arsenal than any other club. He may go to a club like Chelsea and rot there, but it is up to him we wish him luck.
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@gunnerineverylife thanks buddy yeah gervinho’s exit news is doing rounds maybe that’s why arda turan got linked but i hope wenger signs some players today acc to certain websites including caughtoffside we are bieng linked with fellaini just speculation people no confirmation just rumors they are saying we will make a 25m bid lol & the sun just reported we have 30m to spend in jan lol
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@Simon Kinywa Felaini is not a striker.
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Fellaini*
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@big gun last season’s arsenal calender featured nasri a month later he was gone theo could still stay rumors are that he could i am not sure but could agree to sign a deal around 85-90 a week still early days he wants arsenal stay chelski/city/lfc are interested but still we have a chance if not wenger will bring in a replacement hope he signs
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Much has been made this past month of many possible signings and I think all or almost all agree that what this team really needs to take off is a defensive midfielder Arteta as helpers to since injuring Diaby is perceived that the physical does not give him only to take the job of cutting the ball in the middle, have sounded many names, including M’Vila, Capoue, Wanyama, Fellaini, Strooman, Diame. I since injuring Diaby I said it would be great that in January Arsene fichara Belgian Fellaini mop but I must admit that signing him is something that escapes our means as it is very expensive and would not let him leave Everton half season for less than about 30 million pounds. Now, I think our expectations accordingly adapting to the economic reality of the club should aspire to the transfer is made to cover this area is as cheap as possible, but be sure to add talent to our midfield, by I think all this is indicated Diame, is cheap and is already well proven in the premier and most importantly, is a great midfielder to add much both defensively and offensively the team.
Diaby, Arteta and Diame for two positions, plus the contributions of Coquelin would be the most plausible solution I see to this problem. I do not know if you agree with me but the downturn we suffered after the good start of the season we beat Liverpool and we almost beat City at the Etihad is due to low sausage …
Greetings from Venezuela…
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I like david vila. My thinking is that if we still think that henri can do a job on loan at the age of 34, why cant we accept that david villa has another three or four good years left in him? Is it not terribly exciting watching players like carzola in an arsenal jersey? I have to pinch myself sometimes because i cannot believe carzola is ours. For once, let us go for the finished article. David vila is the finished article and scores incredible goals. We have enough potential already. For once let us get us a winner and forget about resale value. Why cant david vila finish his career in arsenal just like arteta will and giggs will at man u? Too much penny pinching is killing arsenal. We need a few exceptional players who are here to stay and will retire at arsenal just like berkamp did. This will do the club and our dressing room a lot of good. David villa is a big game player who has scored against the best teams and won trophies. He is not on the same level with ba. I dont mind ba if the issue is money but if money is not the issue, get david villa. We still have the likes of walcot, giroud and podolski who are developing too and will take the mantle from villa when he finally retires. But for now, get us an assasin of a striker and vila is that man.
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@ 31 i wont buy him for 16 million there other players below that age cheaper and waiting to bang
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@Inappropriate Telletubby i guess we have a pretty good defensive record at the moment bt our strikers seriously lack the finishing qualities if u watch the last game Walcott clearly not have the timing and clue how a cf behave.
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LB: sakho/williem
CDM:fellaini/mVilla/Diame
AM:Turan/Nani/benAlfa/
CF:Adrian/A.hernandez/dembaBa/Villa
All accordin 2my preference…..then again, wenger wldn’t give us anyone of d’player above.
Arsenal faithfulz…..expect a max of 1signing in d’winter…..
…..Gunner4Lyf
…
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and also Villa will bring a different winning mentality to the the which we currently lacking
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I would like to see El shaarawy & Gotze at Arsenal
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Excuse me! Sorry……im not interested! Next candidates please!
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very interesting arsenal has one of the best defensive record but their shots on target and goals are among the midtable teams, meanwhile Ba boasts THE BEST SHOT ON TARGET RATIO in the league, albeit playing for newcastle, oh and he costs 7.5m oh and he wants to come to F%CKING ARSENAL, ARSENE SIGN HIM, PLEASE!!!
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I wouldnt mind having an older player as a striker. It will give a good amount of time for Giroud and even Walcott to get up to the striking speed. However, 16m is a bit heavy
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Who conducts busniess like this? One day we won’t sell, the next day we will sell. Absolutely no one! I’m personally beginning to find all these transfer rumours old, stale and pathetic! AFC love it cos it keeps the fans both interested and diverted away from the real issues causing the decay of our club. The agents love it cos it give them bargaining power and the press love it cos it sells papers.
And when it all comes to nothing, as it has in the vast majority of transfer windows, it’s us fans who are left wondering ‘what went wrong’, ‘how did that player manage to escape us’, ‘why didn’t we sign so and so’ etc etc. And while we try to analyse why once again top players alluded us, the cash in the bank at AFC will have risen by at least a few more million!
Get used to it, it’s been the same old pantomime that has played out for the last 7 years and will continue to play out for the foreseeable future.
And despite my cynicism, I’ll be getting ready to go to Emirates this afternoon to cheer and watch the Arse. If it wasn’t me and someone told me these going’s on I’d have one name for them, MUG!
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terry norman….send my regards to all fans inside emirates today..sory cant joint you coz im in malaysia..i like ur attitude despite crtitising arsenal but still able to turn on for the game…cheers..
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By the time a 31 settles in the prem ( fast paced more physical ) it’ll be this time next year,
Arsenal are tight when it comes to spending so the chances of throwing £16m to be getting the best out of a near on 33 year when ready ( and too late ) would be a sign of desperation from wenger and the board!
It’s not going to happen, not at 16m.. Sounds more like barca trying to recoup some of their money back they spent with us!
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be glad when its feb 1st then when we have signed nobody we can then be linked with everyone for the summer transfer window ! in my opinion we need a dm cf and lb so i’d go for m’villa,llorente and baines but im not wenger so it won’t happen instead we will have diaby,walcott(i hope)and santos
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30million to spend where’s the other 40million gone,stateside i suspect into our owners deep pockets
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Wenger said he gonna make a big surprise.
So buy Messi!
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Leo…
Caught offside… Get a grip buddy. They are about as reliable as this site and their headlines!!
Arsenal WILL sign David villa.. What kind of shit is this? Every time bob writes an article it has the most outrageous title and then 2 paragraphs of made up nonsense… Knock it off already
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This will never happen. Why would Villa join Arsenal? As much as I love the Gunners, we are no longer a big enough club to attract this type of player. if he leaves Barcelona, he will go to the club that offers the biggest wage. This will not be Arsenal.
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I think arsenal should re sign benayoun on loan from Chelsea as he had a great impact on the team last season alongside rosiky and he would be cheap !!
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This article is stupid. It should be ” Barcelona would sell David Villa to Arsenal for 16m” – This will never ever happen.. 31 year old and Wenger? Thats like cutting grass with nail scissors.
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forget villa he will not leave barcelona due too fans love him, demba ba is on his way to arsenal i bet my bottom dollar he does not play against us today you watch
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When is Wenger going to realise that we have a prolific finisher in Podolski. A player that got relegated last season with Cologne, but still managed 19 goals in the Bundesliga. We have no need to part with £16m for a untested 30+ year old.
The most pressing matter for me, and I’m sure most of you, is getting a DM, and if the rumours are true about M’vila’s price being reduced, then i think it would be stupid not to snap Rennes’ hand off.
For me, we also need a LW so we can put Podolski up front. I don’t know much about Arda Turan, but even by his videos on youtube, I’m not really impressed.
We need to see what space we clear out from the squad if we are to add any more players and also what wages we recoup from getting rid of these players. Arshavin looks likely to leave so instead of buying a replacement, I think Eisfeld should be promoted.
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I would love to see player like Villa in our squad. but certainly cant picturise him in Red/white jersey nor any of PL clubs, bcoz of the brand and style they got.
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bring isco for 15m
podolski\wallcotor giroud forward
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Lets face the truth, thanks to the board we have become a 2nd rate team!
Stories doing the round linking the club with first rate players is only so to keep the illusion going that we are still a first rate team challenging on all front, as such a justification for the club to keep on charging an exorbitant ticket prices every year!
Hope I am 100% wrong but as usual we will end buying bargain basement young unknown so and so!
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@leo I sure hope so. I get most of my goals from Theo in Fifa 13!
Jokes aside, Theo has really improved and always looks dangerous when he plays. Sure he might be inconsistent at times, but who isn’t? A lot of the times we watch highlights from other teams and say, woah this player or that player is so good! But we only see the good stuff. A lot of the times we do not see how inconsistent their players are!
So people need to get off Theo’s back and realize he is an asset.
Bring Miyachi back from loan for LW.
Sign M.Suarez
Sign Fellaini
Our apparent warchest of 60m should have no problem covering these players! Sign them Wenger!!!
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I agree with an earlier post about defence wins titles and offence wins games..
Although it seems a bit nonsensical and irish or even ambiguous? Winning games also wins titles..??
I agree our defence is shaky, any team with half decent attacking prowess can hurt us bad so I would say if it’s not defensive players we need, it’s a radical overhaul of our defensive system..!
Let’s face it we have never been great at the back since the days of Tony Adams and co.. but we also had superlative players going forward and up front..
My reckoning is 3 players urgently needed and 5 if we are to seriously challenge the top 4.
3 in January is a must:
Striker of Llorente/Villa ilk
Midfielder of Fellani ilk
Defender of the JT ilk
I am a realist and although AW mentions he will be busy in January, I still get the feeling it’s more about outgoing ‘deadwood’ than exceptional incomings…
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@EASYwin M’Vila and Discipline Ha Ha Ha mate u have no idea wat ur talkin
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@Gunnerineverylife
You are right Fellaini is not a striker but a midfielder who scores more than many strikers. He can be converted to be a striker.
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@giroud fan
Will do mate, but I’d gladly swap some that sunshine for my seat this afternoon.
@nkk
One of best posts I’ve read on here for a while. Spot on mate!
@philthompsonsnose
Winning games does win trophies, be that cups or leagues. Look at it another way, tell me a team that has won anything without winning games?
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Get villa he is good plus lescott it leaving city we shud snap him up he is going for 8 million! Bit of experiance wont hurt! And he is raised in the epl!
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too old, too expensive, too barcelona
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Puyol is 34 n xavi is 32 or 33 wud we pay 16 mill for these yes so villa age shud not be an excuse
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I’m very glad with this kind of article. But the problem is Arsenal manager don’t always seem to be responding to lapses in the team. I wonder why we cannot go into competition with the big spenders. Chelsea spended well and won the Champions League, Man City spended well and won the premier league even with our fmr players (Nasri, Clichy, K. Toure), Man U spended well and now they are leading the league with good points and goals from our last season hero RVP. To me, it is time to begin ashame of ourselves.
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weve had enough of longterm bulls**t im in full agreeance with villa a short term fix, its about time he realised the future is no good if your sinking in the .
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Put theo and poldolski up front. 4 4 2. Buy Ba or Villa. We need top quality on the bench too. Competition for places. Keeps players on their toes. Buy defensive midfielder. Mead could cover for Gibbs should he get injured. Or do some of you think we should buy left back? Read that we might be interested in Southampton Luke Shaw?
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I’ve always been a fan of Villa but there’s no way we pay 16 million for a 31 year old striker!
We need to sign Theo, add a solid DM and a backup for Gibbs. If we sign a striker with a big name I see it as 100% confirmation Theo will be sold.
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Loan. Bring David Villa on loan. Simple.
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Walcott’s final goal today. Magnificent.
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barcelona put these 16 mil on ur AS§$es…..like hell any one would buy him for that price….
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