Seriously though, reading a lot of Arsenal fans turning their nose up at this but he would be a good move. If there is one thing NI know how to do - attempted religious cleansing aside - it’s keep a dogged and organized defense and having watched him live many times I can only say he plays very hard for the team and does little wrong. Wenger has apparently shown interest in him before but it never materialized and this won’t either but he does have the attributes to improve us not to mention a Fergie education.
This for me is a bit like the Vardy deal on a lesser scale, unromantic name that could do a great job for us. I think it’s about time we started to acknowlege how soft our players are, I’d genuinely love to see what Ashley Williams and Andy Carroll could do in place of GeerU and Gabriel for a season.
Elitist bitches the lot of ya. We all scoffed at Welbeck but when you see him in our squad he’s one of our best attackers, not so much because of his talent but because our fringe player are complete garbage. Fergie was better than Wenger and he knew how to pick a supporting cast better, simple as.
There was some scoffing or complaining about his signing because he is no more than a decent player in the grand scheme of things and because even during his time at Man U he never really looked like he could be top class. Nothing that has happened since he moved to Arsenal to refute that.
You’re totally right that his status amongst our attackers is indicative of the lack of quality some of our other players. Not to say that he doesn’t have some valuable attributes to contribute to the team/squad, or to denigrate him. He just is what he is, and that’s a not particularly special or talented footballer.
That’s kinda my point though Jake. Evans is not world class but he’s not bad either, we all got a little excited over Gabriel thinking we were getting one of the best defenders from the Spanish league but if I remember right we both recognized his frailties fairly early and considered Per to be a better fit.
This deal is never going to happen, but I’ve watched him more than most people on this board or Arsenal fans in general and it’s really no where near as bad of idea as people make out. The fact Ferguson believed in him is a lazy defense but it doesn’t make it any less valid.
You put him in our defense for a season and I genuinely believe a lot of people would be surprised, in a good way.
I agree that Evans is better than he is often given credit for being and would probably start for us. But what is the point of spending 15M on Evans when you could buy a guy like Mustafi for 40M and sort and the position for years and years? I think its not so much Evans being shit as the lack of ambition that this kind of signing would convey.
Honestly I can’t comment on Mustafi, any time I’ve ever watched a team he’s played for I certainly haven’t made a point to fixate on him and analyse his ability. In fact the only reason I recognize his name is because I thought it’s the noise Ken makes when he does this
Good points, but on the other hand that 25 million difference could be used in other areas. And I really don’t care about conveying ambition in the eyes of fans, media, opponents, etc. I care about getting players who can help Arsenal win. Not every player has to be a galactico. This isn’t Real Madrid. You get nothing from winning the transfer period media frenzy.
I’m not saying I wouldn’t rather have Mustafi, all else being equal. But Evans actually has some advantages over him. For one, he’s experienced in the Premier League. He’s a very solid and workmanlike player in all aspects of the game (Arsenal could use a bit more of that). While Mustafi was trying unsuccessfully to establish himself at Everton, Evans was winning trophies at Manchester United and was a favorite of Fergie (who once said, albeit with great bias, that Evans was “arguably the best defender in the country”). His United career was hampered a bit by injuries, but he was a key player in their last league championship team. He had an excellent season for West Brom last year. He was terrific in the Euros. And it would piss off United fans to see him in an Arsenal jersey, just like Danny Welbeck.
So while I don’t know if there’s anything to this or not, I don’t think it would be a bad signing at all.
I see where you’re coming from and fair play, I don’t doubt that you know the player better than I do.
I’d add is that there is probably quite a difference between what Ferguson could do with an average player like Evans and and what Wenger could do. I just think Evans would be a car crash for us, can’t shake that feeling.
Even with the inflation of transfer fees I still think £15m should be able to buy you a better defender than Evans.
I’d absolutely rather give the game time to Chambers of Holding than sign Evans.
I can’t believe that before this transfer window opened we needed a top quality CB and now Mertesacker is injured we are considering Evans as a suitable replacement.
How far have our expectations dropped.
We might as well get Senderos back.
He is experienced and has played at the highest level.
Well this is absolutely vital right here and why you’re right we’d probably be better spending the money on someone else, also there’s the fact that NI are usually set up to defend so we are hard to break down but I still think he’d be an improvement on what we have but like I said our squad is so poor in places that wouldn’t be hard. A good solid EPL vet that knows how to do his job is the sort of thing this defence could do with instead of a Brazilian psychopath who doesn’t even want to learn the language.
@Abou I know you’re being ironic but that’s probably a better spine than Gab - Flamini - Giroud.
