City sign Silva for €70m.

[Rich]

Fills me with joy when Arsene says we are 1 or 2 players away

Why can other clubs conclude deals with such efficiency? We seems to um and ahh about these deals for many weeks and months. OK, I get that this season it will be much harder to attract top talent without CL football (because we won't pay mega bucks), but still, I would really prefer to not be in the Supermarket Sweep trolley dash situation we have found ourselves in at the end of the last few summer transfer windows.

[Billy Goat Sverige]

Why can other clubs conclude deals with such efficiency? We seems to um and ahh about these deals for many weeks and months. OK, I get that this season it will be much harder to attract top talent without CL football (because we won't pay mega bucks), but still, I would really prefer to not be in the Supermarket Sweep trolley dash situation we have found ourselves in at the end of the last few summer transfer windows.

You would hope that after the three or four summers we've had faffing about trying to find a striker we'll actually go in guns blazing and sign whichever ****er we want straight away. No more ****ing around please.

[Rich]

You would hope that after the three or four summers we've had faffing about trying to find a striker we'll actually go in guns blazing and sign whichever ****er we want straight away. No more ****ing around please.

There aren't many top strikers that will sign for a club that is 1. Not prepared to pay top dollar and 2. not in the CL, though.

I think the best chance is Mbappe because Arsene has tapped him up already (last summer) and will actually start him. Not sure who else would be in for him. But he'll cost 100m EURs so we may not go to that unless we sell players first.

Other options are perhaps Morata and Batshuayi/Lukaku.

[Ash]

But he'll cost 100m EURs so we may not go to that unless we sell players first.

Alexis' reported fee would cover a fair chunk of that.

[Rich]

Alexis' reported fee would cover a fair chunk of that.

Don't forget Theo either. Someone will give us 25m (EUR 30m for him).

[SWv2]

Don't forget Theo either. Someone will give us 25m (EUR 30m for him).

Bit early for so much champagne Dick.

[SWv2]

Alexis' reported fee would cover a fair chunk of that.

Then he'll be off next season.

Bad apple. Nearest window, out.

[Luis Anaconda]

Why can other clubs conclude deals with such efficiency? We seems to um and ahh about these deals for many weeks and months. OK, I get that this season it will be much harder to attract top talent without CL football (because we won't pay mega bucks), but still, I would really prefer to not be in the Supermarket Sweep trolley dash situation we have found ourselves in at the end of the last few summer transfer windows.

You mean like the fact that the Pogba deal took Utd all of last summer's transfer window to conclude?
Or the Stones deal that took City rather a lot of last summer to conclude?
Or the numerous centre backs Chelsea tried to sign before settling on Luiz last summer?
Or, to be more exotic, how Real spent all summer chasing De Gea and then actually missing out on him, the year before?
Or the way we had Xhaka in the bag before the Euros?

Almost like all clubs take some time over deals and do some immediately, us included.

[Rich]

You mean like the fact that the Pogba deal took Utd all of last summer's transfer window to conclude?
Or the Stones deal that took City rather a lot of last summer to conclude?
Or the numerous centre backs Chelsea tried to sign before settling on Luiz last summer?
Or, to be more exotic, how Real spent all summer chasing De Gea and then actually missing out on him, the year before?
Or the way we had Xhaka in the bag before the Euros?

Almost like all clubs take some time over deals and do some immediately, us included.

We ummed and ahhed about Mustafi's fee for over a month. Resulting in our only two fit CBs being Chambers and Holding at the start of the season. That is poor. Not blaming Arsene as I don't think he makes the decisions on finances.

We also signed Lucas Perez at the end which was pointless as he was clearly never going to be a top PL player. He is 30 next year.

[Luis Anaconda]

We ummed and ahhed about Mustafi's fee for over a month. Resulting in our only two fit CBs being Chambers and Holding at the start of the season. That is poor. Not blaming Arsene as I don't think he makes the decisions on finances.

We also signed Lucas Perez at the end which was pointless as he was clearly never going to be a top PL player. He is 30 next year.

Well, you are confusing newspaper gossip with reality and have totally ignored the point I was making, which I admit doesn't really surprise me