JimJams

Nelson has a massively inflated wage and seemingly a massively inflated reputation based on being part of that England u-21 setup circa 2019 where there were a number of top level players and clubs thought all of them were going to turn out to be superstars. The squad had players like Saka, Foden, Musiala and Bellingham and the bigger clubs clearly paid over the top wages hoping to retain top up coming talent. Some, like those mentioned, justified it. Others, most notably Hudson-Odoi were given ridiculous contracts despite not being able to break into their clubs squads anywhere near regularly to justify it. If we take this on then we're effectively paying for Arsenals over-speculating on the player.

The question though is why would he leave Arsenal on a 100k a week contract for the next 3 years (possibly 4) to come to us on a lower wage?

HOW?

If he's on 100k a week I don't see how it happens given the player has that for a decently long contract.

It's on Spotrac as well https://www.spotrac.com/epl/player/_/id/24374/reiss-nelson It looks like he basically got himself a massively improved salary when his old contract was on the way out. Arsenal overpaying on wages to protect his value. Their inaccuracies are usually down to improved contracts over time.

Whilst true it's not always a case of "Not good enough for Arsenal but good enough for us" Sometimes players are playing for clubs way above their level. We have Danny Ward 4fuxake and he played a full season. Maitland-Niles left Arsenal to pretty much underwhelm in all the levels below. Pepe, their former record signings career trajectory seems to be aimed through the floor. Rob Holding left for Palace, can't get in the squad. Tavares, dogshit, loan after loan. There's others. Of course there's plenty that would do well for us, and I think Nelson wouldn't be a bad squad member but I can't see how this will be a financially viable option. He's on a wedge, he's got 3 years on his contract with an option for a further year. I'd rather us look for another Fatawu.

Hasn't he just said he'd rather play for Roma? If I were asked if I'd like to play for Fiorentina or Real Madrid I'd rather go Real, but if they don't pay for me I'd still go Fiorentina.

Define "a fair bit".

We've just put a bid in for Semedo from Wolves!

I believe the correct translation is Breakdown!

Whilst I get the idea that sending him on loan might be a decent idea for his development, I'm not particularly convinced he's not better than the majority of our current options tbh. Whether that's an overestimation of his ability or a lack of faith in the players we do have I'm not sure. But I wouldn't be too quick to sanction it if I were Cooper.

If we can work a deal where we're obligated to buy him on the same basis as Yunus (25 starts) then it'd be a deal worth going for. Depends entirely on those conditions though.

Can't we send Okoli out on loan instead?

This is a lad that's never kicked on from initial hope. He's had one decent half season in Germany. That's it. People say he's got experience, but he's barely played. His 15 appearances last season total 257 minutes of football. Not even 3 full games. So the idea that he's "proven" is a bit far fetched for me. Ultimately I don't think he'll be value for money because Arsenal will want a decent fee. I certainly don't like the idea of an obligation with this. He's versatile yes, but we've got DReid for that haven't we? I get Cooper likes him, he's managed him as a kid and he scored a couple against his Forest side (2 of the only 3 he scored that season) so hopefully he could get something out of him that he's frankly not shown at all whilst at Arsenal. I also hope that Fatawu doesn't end up being sacrificed for the likes of Nelson or DReid because he's versatile too. The friendly last night hopefully was a one off for fitness.

His twin is also on the bench.

Not sure why everyone is upset at Ward starting. Clearly Cooper sees this as an opportunity to give the defenders a real test. No shots allowed. Passbacks also iffy.

Kids might read this forum for fxxks sake man!

Should we be signing a player because they "work hard" though? Seems it should be a quality of anyone we sign but not THE quality.

Plan B is essentially - Panic!

He's only got a year left on his deal.

We should go full Napoli and get EA7 on it.

You don't take less than Sanchez cost when you're selling his replacement.

In terms of Prem goals, Wout has 2 in 37 games. And when it comes to Heskey was he an integral part of all those sides tailing off the end seasons? He was shit at Villa, he wasn't particularly good for Wigan or Birmingham was he? He did ok at Liverpool because he was the foil for Owen. Maybe he's a good example of career trajectory if we're comparing to Wout. He was an important players for Wolfsburg and been shit ever since. He's also a frontman, Heskey and Okazaki were both second strikers really (Shinji was pretty much a cam in a lot of games). Anyway, going a bit off topic here, but I think I'd rather have a frontman who, if he has played Premier League football as a frontman for teams at both ends of the scale, has done more than a player who is on par with "Wout Faes OG".

100 club Heskey?

When it comes to strikers, you mainly judge them on goals. Can't think of any integral strikers who were important to their side that didn't score goals. Aside from Dugarry of France.