Alexis Sanchez, Arsenal Player

So, looking at fees paid, Barcelona basically swapped Fabregas and Sanchez for Suarez.

Alexis-Cesc-Luis-Suarez_54410960120_51356729138_352_256.jpg
 
Are you happy with this?

Swapping a very good and a world class player(Fabregas and Sanchez, respectively) for another world class player.

I've made my opinions on Cesc very clear even before his initial return to the club

Alexis, I'm disappointed he's gone but I understand the push to move him as opposed to Pedro. He'll benefit more from the space he'll enjoy/exploit in the Premiership with Arsenal along with an increased role & responsibilities. In a less than ideal world, never mind footballing one, Sanchez is a dream for a fan. I have had my issues with his playing style & aggression at times but he will become the fan favorite at Emirates. I am curious what his english is or will be like because his spanish can be hard to understand

Barcelona need a #9 but more than anything, they have needed a goalscorer more than a creative outlet as evidenced by Alexis' time on the right flank in that trident. Suarez is a lot of things, not the least of which is a relentless goalscoring threat.

As always, sometimes things look better on paper than in practice so we'll see. But on the whole, I'm very happy with this deal as Cesc had to go and I'd have preferred Pedro out over Alexis but Suarez never seemed a realistic target. I remember watching some of his matches this past year with Liverpool and I hadn't really appreciated how versatile his game was or how incredibly lethal he was in terms of goals. I look forward to seeing him play with his teammates
 
Are you happy with this?

Swapping a very good and a world class player(Fabregas and Sanchez, respectively) for another world class player.

So Sanchez is world class and Fabregas isn't? How do you figure that?
 
Very good signing for Arsenal. Continues the theme of Barca and Madrid being the best places to shops for classy players who are undervalued by their clubs.

Enough to make Arsenal title winners? No, but they'll be an interesting team to watch.

On another note, we could see three of Englands better young players struggling to get regular matches at Arsenal next season. Another bad sign for the future of our national team.
 
Great player, will he play upfront for Arsenal or are they going to go into the season with Giroud and Sanogoals as the centre forward options?
 
Are you happy with this?

Swapping a very good and a world class player(Fabregas and Sanchez, respectively) for another world class player.

Money aside, it's Cesc and Alexis for Rakitic and Suárez.
 
Great Signing for Arsenal. They now have some real good quality on wings and wide area. Still think they need to strengthen by 1 good player each in defense and striker area to challenge for striker. Maybe in CM too but they have decent midfield options already in Wilshere, Arteta, Ramsey etc.
 
Great player, will he play upfront for Arsenal or are they going to go into the season with Giroud and Sanogoals as the centre forward options?

Should play upfront (as a false 9 maybe). Could be a big year for the Ox on the wing.

This isn't necessarily how I'd line them up, but Arsenal combining quality and depth in terms of the squad now.


Sanchez/Giroud/Walcott
Rosicky/Podolski Ozil/Cazorla Ox/Gnabry
Wilshere/Flamini Ramsey/Arteta​
 
You seem to be implying Sanchez is as good as Suarez? :confused:

No but they've seemingly let go of two players to get him in. Also I forgot about Rakitic so my initial point is now a bit moot anyway.
 
I don't like a Wilshere/Ramsey midfield at all, only one of them should play behind Ozil IMO.

Storey seemed to suggest Arsenal were in for someone like Bender which would make sense. They're starting to build a great side now they have Sanchez but they still need one or two top signings to be up there with Chelsea and City.
 
I've made my opinions on Cesc very clear even before his initial return to the club

Alexis, I'm disappointed he's gone but I understand the push to move him as opposed to Pedro. He'll benefit more from the space he'll enjoy/exploit in the Premiership with Arsenal along with an increased role & responsibilities. In a less than ideal world, never mind footballing one, Sanchez is a dream for a fan. I have had my issues with his playing style & aggression at times but he will become the fan favorite at Emirates. I am curious what his english is or will be like because his spanish can be hard to understand

Barcelona need a #9 but more than anything, they have needed a goalscorer more than a creative outlet as evidenced by Alexis' time on the right flank in that trident. Suarez is a lot of things, not the least of which is a relentless goalscoring threat.

As always, sometimes things look better on paper than in practice so we'll see. But on the whole, I'm very happy with this deal as Cesc had to go and I'd have preferred Pedro out over Alexis but Suarez never seemed a realistic target. I remember watching some of his matches this past year with Liverpool and I hadn't really appreciated how versatile his game was or how incredibly lethal he was in terms of goals. I look forward to seeing him play with his teammates

I might be wrong but I don't really see Suarez as really clinical or something like that. I don't have the stats but I'm guessing that he takes a large number of shots and his conversion rate isn't that great.
 
Good signing for them.

Interesting to see what this means for Walcott. If they continue with 4-2-3-1 they have lots of options for the 3 behind Giroud, but if you assume Ozil and Sanchez are definite starters, it almost certainly leaves Walcott in the cold. I guess both Ramsey and Wilshire have better shouts than him, and Ox is probably first off the bench. I can see Walcott spending a lot of time on the bench this year (allowing for injuries).

What'll be interesting about Sanchez though is that he always seemed a little diminished playing in that Barca team with Messi, Xavi and co. When he plays for Chile and when he was at Udinese he showed a lot more. I think he's one of those who benefits from being the main man. Almost the opposite of Ozil, who seems to thrive when someone else has all the focus. Arsenal aren't stacked with big names like Barca have been, but neither are they an Udinese. It'll be fascinating to see whether he can go on and become the main man there. Maybe both he and Ozil will benefit.

Overall Arsenal look like they might manage a decent run for the title this season. They really need someone better in the defensive mid position than Flamini/Arteta though. If they add Khediera I'd even bet on them to move up from 4th for the first time in umpteen years.
 
Money aside, it's Cesc and Alexis for Rakitic and Suárez.

I forgot about Rakitic completely.

Although I haven't seen him play at all so I don't know if he's better than Fabregas or not.
 
I forgot about Rakitic completely.

Although I haven't seen him play at all so I don't know if he's better than Fabregas or not.
Not really, they're practically like for like. He had a better season last year but that's cause he was Sevilla's main creative player.
 
I forgot about Rakitic completely.

Although I haven't seen him play at all so I don't know if he's better than Fabregas or not.

I've seen him at Sevilla and he's done great this season but right now I'm the same as you. I would have kept Cesc but he wanted to leave, so I guess it's a decent sub. I had also forgot about him, to be honest :lol:
 
very disappointed Utd let him go to Arsenal, the guy was incredible for Barca last season, had an incredible world cup and looks like we didn't attempt to sign him...

I'm happy with Herrera & Shaw, two very good signings... but you get the impression both are signings that show potential, rather than world class for here and the now!

I'm hoping Utd still sign at least 2 more players, both of which really need to be proven at the highest level!
 
I've seen him at Sevilla and he's done great this season but right now I'm the same as you. I would have kept Cesc but he wanted to leave, so I guess it's a decent sub. I had also forgot about him, to be honest :lol:

Rakitic is a better player than Fabregas who has slightly regressed since joining Barcelona.
 
I might be wrong but I don't really see Suarez as really clinical or something like that. I don't have the stats but I'm guessing that he takes a large number of shots and his conversion rate isn't that great.

He is lethal, but he's a flat track bully. There was a gif. about the goals him, Ronaldo, and Messi scored in their respective leagues this year and whom they were against (e.g. against 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc). Can't seem to find it right now, but Ronaldo and Messi scored goals across the board, particularly Ronaldo. Suarez scored the majority of his goals against the lower sides - also don't think he scored against any of the top teams.

That being said, when he plays for Barcelona you'd think he'd bang goals for fun. Will be very interesting how he copes with Messi.
 
I might be wrong but I don't really see Suarez as really clinical or something like that. I don't have the stats but I'm guessing that he takes a large number of shots and his conversion rate isn't that great.

They can't be worse than some of Alexis' misses, fans started referring to glaring misses as 'He Alexis'd it'. The difference, ultimately, is that one is a bonafide goalscorer while the other is primarily a creative playmaker
 
He is lethal, but he's a flat track bully. There was a gif. about the goals him, Ronaldo, and Messi scored in their respective leagues this year and whom they were against (e.g. against 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc). Can't seem to find it right now, but Ronaldo and Messi scored goals across the board, particularly Ronaldo. Suarez scored the majority of his goals against the lower sides - also don't think he scored against any of the top teams.

That being said, when he plays for Barcelona you'd think he'd bang goals for fun. Will be very interesting how he copes with Messi.

Yeah, but you could also compare the quality of the goals though. It's really insane the amount of stunners that Suarez scored.
I remember watching a video that compared their goals. Maybe two of Ronaldo and Messi's top ten goals would make it into Suarez's top 10 (if not 20). Not to mention that Ronaldo had a lot of penalties scored, whereas Gerrard took most of them for Liverpool (maybe even all of them). And Suarez missed the first five games (if I'm not mistaken), one of which was against United.
 
Yeah, but you could also compare the quality of the goals though. It's really insane the amount of stunners that Suarez scored.
I remember watching a video that compared their goals. Maybe two of Ronaldo and Messi's top ten goals would make it into Suarez's top 10 (if not 20). Not to mention that Ronaldo had a lot of penalties scored, whereas Gerrard took most of them for Liverpool (maybe even all of them). And Suarez missed the first five games (if I'm not mistaken), one of which was against United.

Oh I agree, no matter what we think of suarez, the goals he scores are insane. If half our united players like in the midfield were lethal flat track bullies that would make me very happy
 
Yeah, but you could also compare the quality of the goals though. It's really insane the amount of stunners that Suarez scored.
I remember watching a video that compared their goals. Maybe two of Ronaldo and Messi's top ten goals would make it into Suarez's top 10 (if not 20). Not to mention that Ronaldo had a lot of penalties scored, whereas Gerrard took most of them for Liverpool (maybe even all of them). And Suarez missed the first five games (if I'm not mistaken), one of which was against United.

All valid points. Don't worry, I'm not in denial about Suarez - IMO he's clearly the third best player in the world. He's above Bale and Neymar for me. However, despite the quality of his goals, one cannot ignore they are often against the weaker teams. I'm not saying he's shit, just pointing out that it isn't just 1 season he's been like that.

Also, he's had 1 real top quality season. Ronaldo and Messi have now had 3, or more. He's a brilliant player, but to make it to their status, he needs to show consistency and do it every year. Another year of playing like he did this year, and he's pretty much there.
 
Anyway, on a serious note, excellent signing by Arsenal. If they manage to sign a top class CF (Benzema would be good), they'll have a very good starting XI and a bit of depth.
 
I might be wrong but I don't really see Suarez as really clinical or something like that. I don't have the stats but I'm guessing that he takes a large number of shots and his conversion rate isn't that great.

The number of shots don't matter when you've got 31 goals and 12 assists in 33 games. I'm not sure about the season-long stats, but after 23 games, he had 24 goals, which came from 107 shots (60 on target). That gives him shooting accuracy of 55%, and a conversion rate of approximately 23%. On average, he took a shot every 19.3 minutes. One in almost four shots resulted in a goal. Most of them included taking on the whole opposition side first. I don't know what you'd categorize as clinical, but still, pretty lethal.
 
All valid points. Don't worry, I'm not in denial about Suarez - IMO he's clearly the third best player in the world. He's above Bale and Neymar for me. However, despite the quality of his goals, one cannot ignore they are often against the weaker teams. I'm not saying he's shit, just pointing out that it isn't just 1 season he's been like that.

Also, he's had 1 real top quality season. Ronaldo and Messi have now had 3, or more. He's a brilliant player, but to make it to their status, he needs to show consistency and do it every year. Another year of playing like he did this year, and he's pretty much there.

Agreed. Needs to kill it with Barcelona.
 
Gutted he's gone here, I'd have expected van Gaal to make a move because he's exactly the sort of player we should be desperate for - fast, direct game winner.
 
I expect Arsenal to be going on a good run for 3/4 of the season once again. Not so sure they can last a full season. They too like us need a few more good signings
 
Are you comparing Arsenal to City? How is that remotely a level playing field when the latter stormed into the league with billions, overspent and overpaid players to get them to join and they eventually won the league? Arsenal didn't suddenly have the money to buy these top players, they built a new stadium and negotiated new money deals to get them back to their spending ways. How can you throw City into that mix is baffling
I compared Arsenal to the teams that won the title or have been in the mix for the last 5/9 years. It's usually United, City, Chelsea and in 2 cases Liverpool. As Arruda mentioned with who should I compare Arsenal with? Tottenham and Southampton?