They I thinks it's more about yet another one we have "tried" to sign.

I agree Juventus might be a better draw than us seeing as they won they walked they league and were unlucky to lose against Bayern in the CL. Saying that Napoli would rather sell to us than a rival and the ball is more in their court however we don't seem to have that urgency to go for these players if there's a bidding war between several clubs.

I don't buy the adaptation period myth. Suarez took time to adapt for Barca and look how well he is playing for them now. He is older than Higuain as well.

Anyway the time to sign him was a few years back. Would have won a league by now had we had a striker of his calibre in the team.

Mahrez is probably using the Arsenal interest to get Chelsea or whoever interested.

As for Higuain, Wenger could've signed him for €35m or whatever three seasons ago, but didn't. So we're stuck with "quick" fix, donkey Giroud..........he'll go months without scoring AGAIN, but it's ok -- he's stats are "better" than Aguero, Costa, etc.

Yeah that's the point with Higuain. Not the spending all that money on a 29 year old, but the fact that we could have had him at his peak.
Still another week meanders to a close and we've signed another one for 'the future' so all is good.
Fully expect to see donkey Mertesacker and Wally Walcott starting the first league game and Sanogoals on the bench.
36 years as a gooner - rarely felt so disheartened.

Mahrez - no bid has actually been received according to Leicester.
Higuian - looks to be going to Juventus, financed by Pogba sale. No bid was ever tabled with Napoli.
Wenger has a long and undistinguished history of watching players, not signing them, then claiming he could have signed them.

Normal service can resume - Mahrez is going to Chelsea.

It appears it all stems from a single tweet from a Chelsea fan who 'spotted' his shirt being sold by Adidas. It's really easy to fake something like that so I'm going to reserve judgement. I'd still be amazed if we actually got our finger out with Mahrez though. We've heard this story so many times before.

Yes, we've been here before so many pre seasons. We all get hopefully linked to exciting signings then end up disappointed. Bit like life really.

Metro has the story http://metro.co.uk/2016/07/24/have-a...ahrez-6025555/ so who knows if Chelsea have let the cat out of the bag or it's a cock up or a fake.

Not going to entertain the Mahrez rumours - all rubbish sources reporting it.

Hope the board are keeping the purse strings tightened knowing it will be Wenger's last season for the next manager to spend on the players he wants.

Don't believe it. Arsenal will have a good start so by January Wenger will sign a new contract.

I can't see it. A couple of signings from the top drawer will provide the squad with a much needed boost which will mean we start strong but, as it stands, I think this might finally be the year when the wheels fall off the Wenger wagon. The entire season smells of disaster to me at the moment. Our competition has improved considerably, we haven't.

I'm trying to remain optimistic a couple of big signings will happen. Gazidis's comments don't help though. It's not just signings though, the mentality of the whole club needs to change too.

same leak pre signing of Mkhitarian (sp?) to Utd, shirt spotted for sale on website.
Mahrez shirt spotted on Chelsea website.
If Wenger wants him, he has to be fast and decisive...........oops

The Metro story is fake I thought

Yes, but the fact it actually happened before is what makes me suspect even more strongly that this is simply a Chelsea fan faking the whole thing. We'll see.

When even Mertesacker starts displaying the open frustration and concern at the coming season (as per his quotes in the linked Arseblog piece) you know the squad is unhappy. As I've said, if Arsene doesn't get his finger out I have a feeling this season is going to go very wrong, very quickly.

http://arseblog.com/2016/07/arsenal-...ises-concerns/

I think the timing of the statement probably ties in with ongoing negotiations - i.e; we're not in the habit of paying whatever price people name.

Gazidis' statement was very negative though, and Wenger came out the following day to say we will spend big money - if everything is right about the deal.

Wenger has been saying the same thing for around a decade. He has been living of the success of the first five or so years of his managerial career with Arsenal for a decade.

Until around around 2014 I used to be one of his biggest cheerleaders, but now I recognise him for what he actually is.

Mertesacker left out of the squad going to the USA, as is Gabriel. Are they injured already? Or is Wenger phasing out Per - don't suppose AW was too pleased with the 'we fluked 2nd' comment!
He might be past his best as a player, but I really like Mertesacker.

what took you so long to see through wenger

Merts has got a knee injury. Don't know about Gabriel. Looks like Debuchy is going back to Bordeaux.

Those first couple of years were exciting and amazing. I kept thinking there'd be more of them, then I realised there could only be more of them with a different manager.

BFG is right, we fluked 2nd place because Spurs ballsed it up, nothing more.

Haven't seen anything official but there is talk Merts could be out five months.