FM17: Arsenal

[The Governator]

I just started a save with Arsenal, I'm about a month and a half into my first season. I like the look of the squad, but I've already been scouting some possible long-term replacements for the older/overpaid players. My favorite traits of Wenger's are the faith he has in his own players and his preference for squad evolution over squad revolution, and I want to continue this philosophy at Arsenal. I've been creating a list of players who I might be looking to move on in the future so I can be well prepared to replace them.

My shortlist of players to move on is Cech, Monreal, Debuchy, Mertesacker, Cazorla, (maybe Walcott/Welbeck? Both yet to return from injury), and Giroud

My shortlist for players to bring in right now is Predrag Rajkovic, Alex Grimaldo, Will Hughes, and Saido Berahino.

Have any of you had good experiences using any of these players I'm looking to buy/move on?

[VP.]

13 hours ago, The Governator said:

I just started a save with Arsenal, I'm about a month and a half into my first season. I like the look of the squad, but I've already been scouting some possible long-term replacements for the older/overpaid players. My favorite traits of Wenger's are the faith he has in his own players and his preference for squad evolution over squad revolution, and I want to continue this philosophy at Arsenal. I've been creating a list of players who I might be looking to move on in the future so I can be well prepared to replace them.

My shortlist of players to move on is Cech, Monreal, Debuchy, Mertesacker, Cazorla, (maybe Walcott/Welbeck? Both yet to return from injury), and Giroud

My shortlist for players to bring in right now is Predrag Rajkovic, Alex Grimaldo, Will Hughes, and Saido Berahino.

Have any of you had good experiences using any of these players I'm looking to buy/move on?

Only players i would sell from that lot during the first season are Debuchy, Mertesacker and maybe Walcott, Arsenal really don't need many signings as have a very good squad.

---------------------------

Season four finished poorly for me, lost the league on the final day due to a 1-1 home draw with Everton (Dybala missed a pen too) then lost the CL final to a 118th min goal against PSG, who i will add have a ridiculously good team and have won the CL for the last three years!

The penalty miss infuriated me so i've now sold Dybala and also Hazard, my plan is to bring through as many of the youngsters as i can and see if i can still make a decent attempt at the Premier League and Champions League. Finally managed to sign Dele Alli (£50m) who will replace Hazard and then got a bid for Harry Kane accepted but he didn't even want to talk to me and signed for Man Utd instead ffs  So Johannes Eggestein was signed for £40.5m (release fee) to replace Dybala. Still have around £200m to spend if i wanna but bringing through the youth is my priority.

[BrickCommo23]

Gutted to say I have finished third, we needed a really strong end of season but draws at Everton, Huddersfield (2-2 despite creating 7 CCC's) and lastly at home to Stoke have done me in. 

FA Cup final to come, hopefully that'll be enough to save the job...

[VP.]

39 minutes ago, BrickCommo23 said:

Gutted to say I have finished third, we needed a really strong end of season but draws at Everton, Huddersfield (2-2 despite creating 7 CCC's) and lastly at home to Stoke have done me in. 

FA Cup final to come, hopefully that'll be enough to save the job...

I was struggling first season though a ridiculous end of season run saw me somehow finish 2nd, you should see a big improvement second season.

[Nr. 9]

17 hours ago, The Governator said:

My shortlist of players to move on is Cech, Monreal, Debuchy, Mertesacker, Cazorla, (maybe Walcott/Welbeck? Both yet to return from injury), and Giroud

My shortlist for players to bring in right now is Predrag Rajkovic, Alex Grimaldo, Will Hughes, and Saido Berahino.

Have any of you had good experiences using any of these players I'm looking to buy/move on?

 

Cech is a worldclass GK who can do the job for at least 2 more seasons, so look for a future replacement. (personally went for Donnarumma)

Monreal is decent, but this position could do with an upgrade. Also very little depth in this position so maybe keep him first season. (I bough Gaya from Valencia)

You can sell Debuchy when Jenkinson recovers I guess.

Mertesacker, either keep him for tutoring or sell.

Cazorla could also be kept for tutoring. He can still act as a good rotation player.

Try to sell Walcott to free up some wage budget, he costs a lot but offers little.

Giroud has been a beast in my first season. Now looking to bring in Dybala as Giroud is getting old.

 

Have no experience with the ones you want to bring in.

 

[WillyBroadband]

17 hours ago, The Governator said:

My shortlist of players to move on is Cech, Monreal, Debuchy, Mertesacker, Cazorla, (maybe Walcott/Welbeck? Both yet to return from injury), and Giroud

My shortlist for players to bring in right now is Predrag Rajkovic, Alex Grimaldo, Will Hughes, and Saido Berahino.

Have any of you had good experiences using any of these players I'm looking to buy/move on?

Hello mate, 

On your list of players to move on, personally I would only sell Debuchy & Theo. Once Jenkinson is fit he is more than capable of covering at RB & you also have Mustafi who can play there if needed. 

Cech worked for me for 4 seasons until he retired and became my GK coach. Monreal was superb for me but started to deteriorate after 2nd season, great for tutoring though. Cazorla I moved on in the 2nd season after he tutored Reiss Nelson & Vlad Dragomir (& definitely helped them a lot). Mertesaker I kept until he retired as he will accept a much lower contract if/when you renew - I will admit I possibly kept him for sentimental reasons (I'm a Gooner) again, great for tutoring and he never had pace to lose in the first place so he can definitely do a good job when covering. As for Giroud, I sold him to Man City in my 2nd or 3rd season then signed him back for peanuts a year later as he is very good player. 

[BrickCommo23]

Personally, I have found Debuchy to be rather overrated and if you set him as quite an attacking full back he does very well. 

I have persevered with Walcott for 2 seasons but he has always been avaerge. I let Mertesacker go very early on as I wanted to play a high line and he is ludicrously slow. I've not had any experience with those you mentioned but would question Berahino, I don't think he should up to much (in the game). 

[BrickCommo23]

3 hours ago, SortitoutsiVP said:

I was struggling first season though a ridiculous end of season run saw me somehow finish 2nd, you should see a big improvement second season.

Aye,thank you. My first few games of this season saw me about 12th and 13 points off top. I can't quite confirm it but reckon I would be top if the season started at Christmas. Plus, I can now buy and fine tune squad in relation to the positions I need. 

First purchase looks like being Koke.  

[VP.]

Squad for season 5.

[The Governator]

I'm finding my selection dilemma in midfield pretty interesting. In Cazorla, Ramsey, Xhaka, Coquelin, and Elneny I have 5 players of somewhat similar quality all competing for 2 starting spots. The two best possible pairings, I think, are Coquelin-Cazorla and Xhaka-Ramsey, but I truly can't decide which is better. Cazorla is the best player of the 5, but requires Coq alongside him I feel to be defensively sound as a unit.

I wish I could play some of them further ahead, but that's difficult when I have the best #10 in the world keeping Cazorla out of the CAM role and lots of talented wingers like Ox, Walcott, and Iwobi keeping Ramsey out of the RW role.

The squad is slightly too big for my taste, I think.

[The Governator]

10 hours ago, WillyBroadband said:

Hello mate, 

On your list of players to move on, personally I would only sell Debuchy & Theo. Once Jenkinson is fit he is more than capable of covering at RB & you also have Mustafi who can play there if needed. 

Cech worked for me for 4 seasons until he retired and became my GK coach. Monreal was superb for me but started to deteriorate after 2nd season, great for tutoring though. Cazorla I moved on in the 2nd season after he tutored Reiss Nelson & Vlad Dragomir (& definitely helped them a lot). Mertesaker I kept until he retired as he will accept a much lower contract if/when you renew - I will admit I possibly kept him for sentimental reasons (I'm a Gooner) again, great for tutoring and he never had pace to lose in the first place so he can definitely do a good job when covering. As for Giroud, I sold him to Man City in my 2nd or 3rd season then signed him back for peanuts a year later as he is very good player. 

 

10 hours ago, Nr. 9 said:

 

Cech is a worldclass GK who can do the job for at least 2 more seasons, so look for a future replacement. (personally went for Donnarumma)

Monreal is decent, but this position could do with an upgrade. Also very little depth in this position so maybe keep him first season. (I bough Gaya from Valencia)

You can sell Debuchy when Jenkinson recovers I guess.

Mertesacker, either keep him for tutoring or sell.

Cazorla could also be kept for tutoring. He can still act as a good rotation player.

Try to sell Walcott to free up some wage budget, he costs a lot but offers little.

Giroud has been a beast in my first season. Now looking to bring in Dybala as Giroud is getting old.

 

Have no experience with the ones you want to bring in.

 

 

14 hours ago, SortitoutsiVP said:

Only players i would sell from that lot during the first season are Debuchy, Mertesacker and maybe Walcott, Arsenal really don't need many signings as have a very good squad.

 

Thanks for the input guys. I didn't mean to imply that I was selling everyone right away, I'm not going to make too many sales. Cech, for instance, needs to stay so that he can tutor and phase in a successor. 

Just noticed that Welbeck and Walcott are on pretty high wages relative to their ability. They might be some of the first to go tbh.

[BrickCommo23]

Arsenal Season 2

Another mixed bag in second season.

We retained the League Cup in February with a comfortable 3-0 over Stoke. The cup run also included a very nice 4-0 at Manchester City too.

We also had a very gentle FA Cup run, including home games with Brentford and Derby County – before we made it to the final in May, when we faced Manchester City again:

The league was a slightly different story though. We had an horrendous start – as you can see from the below.

At one point we were about 15 points off the top, the board were unsatisfied and the players were unhappy. A team meeting and new tactics later and things started to pick up. Including the now traditional thrashing of West Ham – that is 15-0 in two home games.

We also beat Liverpool, Man City, Tottenham, Chelsea and Man Utd at home.

Unfortunately, our terrible start and Liverpool’s end of season form meant we had too much to do. A final day draw at home to Stoke also robbed us of the chance to nick second on the last day of the season.

Some good news was Dybala having a fantastic first full season:

And some less good news was that this happened in Europe – seriously!

Work for season 3 has already started, I have signed Koke to replace Cazorla (who was brilliant but now 33) and Donnarumma (very unimaginative I know but Butland, first choice, wasn’t interested on account of being a European champion...the mind boggles).

My main issue now is the overbloated size of the squad. As much as it pains me, I think I might need to move Cazorla on but also some others.

In terms of playing contribution and suitability to the system, the prime candidates are Walcott, Ox, Wilshere and Iwobi but that would seriously mess with my homegrown quota. Even with promoting Holding and Nelson into the 1^st XI permanently. Welcome any views on this from anyone – current plethora of attacking midfielders is below:

Thanks all – good luck to everyone else. Hopefully next year will be my year.

 

 

 

 

[RogerC]

17 hours ago, BrickCommo23 said:

Work for season 3 has already started, I have signed Koke to replace Cazorla (who was brilliant but now 33) and Donnarumma (very unimaginative I know but Butland, first choice, wasn’t interested on account of being a European champion...the mind boggles).

My main issue now is the overbloated size of the squad. As much as it pains me, I think I might need to move Cazorla on but also some others.

In terms of playing contribution and suitability to the system, the prime candidates are Walcott, Ox, Wilshere and Iwobi but that would seriously mess with my homegrown quota. Even with promoting Holding and Nelson into the 1^st XI permanently. Welcome any views on this from anyone – current plethora of attacking midfielders is below:

I understand... I even have problems with squad size at the start of the game.. If I sign players it gets even worse. lol.

 

 

On another note: Here's a link to my Arsenal Career.

 

[yonko]

I have a question for those who have progressed further in their saves. When does Koscielny start to decline and needs a replacement? At the start, him and Mustafi make the perfect center-back pairing IMO and I find myself rarely changing them. I've had couple of saves with Arsenal where I've progressed only as far as the end of the 2nd season/beginning of the 3rd season. I plan on starting a new save whenever the January patch/data update is released from SI. 

On both saves, I've re-trained Monreal to play as CD to provide cover and prolong his usefulness. Which has allowed me to buy Gaya or Grimaldo on either save as better attacking fullback option. I always sell Gabriel because he gets me good selling price and I always let Mertesacker's contract run out. Holding is gone as soon as Chambers comes back from his loan after the 1st season. I sell Debuchy and keep Jenkinson. So I have:

DR - Bellerin/Jenkinson/Chambers

DL - Gaya or Grimaldo/Gibbs/Monreal

DCR - Mustafi/Chambers

DCL - Koscielny/Monreal

 

Looking at CDs, I'm thinking is the better choice to buy Umtiti (whose attributes are pretty close to Mustafi's/Koscielny's) or to invest in future development of someone like Malang Sarr (who is basically a younger version of Umtiti) or Riedewald? I would prefer a left-footed central defender to partner Mustafi.

I imagine with the data update Sarr will be given a boost perhaps and will be even better than now.

And another question....Has anyone managed to buy Dier and/or Dele Alli from Tottenham and when/how?

[hasdgfas]

On 2/1/2017 at 11:18, yonko said:

I have a question for those who have progressed further in their saves. When does Koscielny start to decline and needs a replacement? At the start, him and Mustafi make the perfect center-back pairing IMO and I find myself rarely changing them. I've had couple of saves with Arsenal where I've progressed only as far as the end of the 2nd season/beginning of the 3rd season. I plan on starting a new save whenever the January patch/data update is released from SI.

I've played him all the way up until 2019/2020, generally. At some point around there, he tends to start to get homesick. He still performs very well, but if you have replacements, right around then is when you'll need one.

[BrickCommo23]

On 01/02/2017 at 17:18, yonko said:

I have a question for those who have progressed further in their saves. When does Koscielny start to decline and needs a replacement? At the start, him and Mustafi make the perfect center-back pairing IMO and I find myself rarely changing them. I've had couple of saves with Arsenal where I've progressed only as far as the end of the 2nd season/beginning of the 3rd season. I plan on starting a new save whenever the January patch/data update is released from SI. 

On both saves, I've re-trained Monreal to play as CD to provide cover and prolong his usefulness. Which has allowed me to buy Gaya or Grimaldo on either save as better attacking fullback option. I always sell Gabriel because he gets me good selling price and I always let Mertesacker's contract run out. Holding is gone as soon as Chambers comes back from his loan after the 1st season. I sell Debuchy and keep Jenkinson. So I have:

DR - Bellerin/Jenkinson/Chambers

DL - Gaya or Grimaldo/Gibbs/Monreal

DCR - Mustafi/Chambers

DCL - Koscielny/Monreal

 

Looking at CDs, I'm thinking is the better choice to buy Umtiti (whose attributes are pretty close to Mustafi's/Koscielny's) or to invest in future development of someone like Malang Sarr (who is basically a younger version of Umtiti) or Riedewald? I would prefer a left-footed central defender to partner Mustafi.

I imagine with the data update Sarr will be given a boost perhaps and will be even better than now.

And another question....Has anyone managed to buy Dier and/or Dele Alli from Tottenham and when/how?

Hi mate, 

Kos is still going strong for me in the start of the third season. I also sold Gabriel as he goes for big money. 

I used some of that to get Laporte from Bilbao. Not very original I know but he's awesome. He and Mustafi can then be your first choices with Holding as back up (with extra training and tutoring). 

As for the two Spurs, never tried myself but on my save United have just bought Alli for £60mil at start of third season. No idea if Spurs would contemplate allowing him to come to Arsenal...

[VP.]

Kos is still with me in season 5 and in all fairness is still good enough to be a starter , the only reason he doesn't is because i wanted to get Rob Holding involved (he's my Tony Adams). Plus i've sent Kos on a couple of courses for his coaching badges with me hoping to get him on the staff when he retires.

Managed to sign Alli for £50m at the end of season four, also had an offer for Kane accepted but sadly he wouldn't even talk to me and went to Man Utd instead.

[yonko]

Thanks for the replies guys. 

Now, anyone have experience developing Sarr or Riedewald? 

@SortitoutsiVP, how did you manage to get Alli? Were the Spurs having a bad season? Was he unhappy?

[Carmi88]

heres a look at Reiss Nelson if you are able to hold onto him for a long time, been a great player for me through the years

 

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/171536664508620458/0A4DB44FE17098A730AC417751C70DEE5DBA69B1/ [/img]

[hasdgfas]

On 2/3/2017 at 10:43, yonko said:

Now, anyone have experience developing Sarr or Riedewald?

I bought Sarr for 7.75M in season 2 to try to develop him a bit once the older defenders left. Here he is in 2020.

He finally broke into the first team in the 2019/2020 season and played fantastically after a couple seasons out on loan.

[VP.]

Season 5 over with.

[BrickCommo23]

4 hours ago, SortitoutsiVP said:

Season 5 over with.

You sold Dybala? I feel sick. 

He's amazing so far in 3rd season for me. 33 goals in all competitions already..

I love him a lot.

[hasdgfas]

19 hours ago, SortitoutsiVP said:

 

How are Sheaf/Willock/Nwakali/Maitland-Niles/Nketiah looking for you? They always seem to find themselves right on the edge of breaking into the first team for me.

[VP.]

23 hours ago, BrickCommo23 said:

You sold Dybala? I feel sick. 

He's amazing so far in 3rd season for me. 33 goals in all competitions already..

I love him a lot.

Yeah he missed a penalty in my final game of the season which ended in me drawing 1-1 and City overtaking me to win the league so i had to punish him lol.

 

9 hours ago, hasdgfas said:

How are Sheaf/Willock/Nwakali/Maitland-Niles/Nketiah looking for you? They always seem to find themselves right on the edge of breaking into the first team for me.

I've gone down the route of playing them as much as possible and now as you can see my squad is made up mainly of players who were in the u23s/18s or on loan at the start of the game. Season 6 has started very badly though, i've sold a couple more players and not signed anyone so the squad is small and certainly the weakest its been since i started. Will be a good test of the tactic and also the boards loyalty in not sacking me i reckon!

[Matti1981]

16 hours ago, hasdgfas said:

How are Sheaf/Willock/Nwakali/Maitland-Niles/Nketiah looking for you? They always seem to find themselves right on the edge of breaking into the first team for me.

Had to sack my Youth Development Manager as he was trying to sell all these!!! Never seen him do anything before apart from giving reports but then decides its time for a clear out!!! 

Had "Jandon Sancho" (think a regen) was a high potential player - Sold for $9m to start with!

 

[BrickCommo23]

Coming towards the end of third season - it's neck and neck with random surprise package - West Ham. They have Barkley, Sigurdsson and Payet in behind a good young French striker and don't look like going away anytime soon. 

Dybala, Sanchez and Cazorla all currently injured but hopefully we can keep in close (and win the game in hand) until they come back. 

Also, in League Cup final (vs Man Utd), look set to go through 1st knockout round of Champions League and into FA Cup quarter finals. I am sure it will all come crashing down soon. 

I still struggle away from home - all 5 of my losses have been away. Home form is still stonking though.

[BrickCommo23]

West Ham have lost form while I won at Spurs - suddenly 10 points clear with 8 games to go. Surely can't throw that away...

Slightly wider point - anyone had to replace Bellerin? Barca are after him for the second summer in a row and I accidentally promised him we would win the Champions League this year and as we are 3-1 down to Barca after the first leg, I don't think that is going to happen!

If it was FIFA I would be after Aurier at PSG but any other recommendations welcome? He's been amazing this season...

[Sean3h]

8 hours ago, BrickCommo23 said:

West Ham have lost form while I won at Spurs - suddenly 10 points clear with 8 games to go. Surely can't throw that away...

Slightly wider point - anyone had to replace Bellerin? Barca are after him for the second summer in a row and I accidentally promised him we would win the Champions League this year and as we are 3-1 down to Barca after the first leg, I don't think that is going to happen!

If it was FIFA I would be after Aurier at PSG but any other recommendations welcome? He's been amazing this season...

Pedro Pereira from Sampdoria is looking pretty good in one of my saves. Alternatively, Felix Passlack looks pretty good and is quite versatile.

[vpn75]

1 hour ago, Sean3h said:

Pedro Pereira from Sampdoria is looking pretty good in one of my saves. Alternatively, Felix Passlack looks pretty good and is quite versatile.

How about Djibril Sidibe from Monaco?

[BrickCommo23]

End of third season and it finally happened:

We had a bit of a wobble around February but eventually came through to finish strongly. Our home form was particularly good:

Dybala finished league top scorer for the second year in a row but this time also landed Players Player of the Year and the Footballer of the Year. We had 6 of the Premier League XI and yours truly got Mananger of the Year.

Got a bit of squad pruning to do in the summer and we will try and get the elusive Champions League final win. We went out to Barca by 1 goal in the QFs. 

 

[NabsKebabs]

Started a save with my beloved Gooners today.

 

Currently 3 points clear from 9 games in the league. Won all 3 games so far in CL (Bayern, Dynamo and a Danish side). Through to 4th round EFL.

Not hating on others but not really a fan of making wholesale changes straight away, all I did was buy Lacazette for 30m. Sold nobody but sent Iwobi (to Palace) and Sanogo out on loan. Woulda preferred to keep Iwobi but with Sanchez/Perez/Ox/Walcott all after gametime I decided loaning Iwobi out to another PL club is the best idea.

 

Tactics wise I set up 3 different ones. All 4-2-3-1. I have a control one with Giroud up top as target man trying to get on the end of crosses. The other two are using Lacazette up top and focusing on a roaming front 3 with a lot of pace. Took this idea from Wenger really..at the start of the season we had plenty of success with fluid pacy front 3..basically how we beat Chelsea 3-0.  One of them is a very fluid gegenpress tactic and the other is a normal pressed counter with direct passing into space used against tougher opposition or for protecting leads. 

Giroud managed to get injured within 4 mins of the opening PL match of the season for 2 months so the control tactic has hardly been used at all.

Best players so far:

Oxlade: 11 app. 6g, 5a. 7.56 rating

Ozil: 12 app: 6g, 4a. 7.56 rating

 

Lacazette was doing very well before he got injured (just before games vs Bayern and Spurs ffs). 9(1) for 7goals, 2 assists.

 

Managed to win 1-0 home to Bayern and 3-1 away to Spurs anyway with Sanchez upfront using the genenpress to great effect vs Bayern.

Maybe post some screenshots here later..any advice on how exactly to go about that? 

Would highly recommend this very fluid roaming front 3 tactic with Arsenal! Hope someone reads this mambo jambo lol. Hit us up with any question you have about my tactics, player roles etc!

 

Cheers

 

[NabsKebabs]

On 1/5/2017 at 03:20, Lashley said:

Has anyone managed to get Lucas to perform well? Any save I do, he always does poorly

Early days in my save but 5(6) for 1g, 4a and 7.18 rating is decent at the least. 

[arsenalthebest]

Alvaro Morata has been fantastic so far in season 2

Apps: 21(3) , Gls: 27 , Assts: 9 , Ave Rating: 7.98

[LLNDVS]

Sort of inspired by real-life, I've started an Arsenal save, replacing Arsène in the summer of 2017. Arsène didn't only leave a Premier League trophy, he left an unchanged squad (January transfer window budgets were turned off) which boasted a newly re-signed pairing of Mesut Özil and Alexis Sánchez. Both signed new, fifteen million pound contracts running to 2020, which isn't ideal, but far better than the depressing alternative. 

I have a rough idea of the business I want to do this summer: Szczęsny and Chambers returning from loan deals give me greater options; Kieran Gibbs will likely leave, meaning a competitor for Nacho Monreal must come in; Santi Cazorla - blighted by injuries - will likely leave at the end of his contract, meaning a form of midfielder should come in; I also have ambitions to sign a Next Big Thing™ to make my forward options slightly more youthful - think Kylian Mbappé, Thomas Lemar et al.

I'm not sure how much time I'll have to play this save, but i'm more motivated than I usually am about Arsenal saves, which is a start. 

[BrickCommo23]

8 hours ago, LLNDVS said:

Sort of inspired by real-life, I've started an Arsenal save, replacing Arsène in the summer of 2017. Arsène didn't only leave a Premier League trophy, he left an unchanged squad (January transfer window budgets were turned off) which boasted a newly re-signed pairing of Mesut Özil and Alexis Sánchez. Both signed new, fifteen million pound contracts running to 2020, which isn't ideal, but far better than the depressing alternative. 

I have a rough idea of the business I want to do this summer: Szczęsny and Chambers returning from loan deals give me greater options; Kieran Gibbs will likely leave, meaning a competitor for Nacho Monreal must come in; Santi Cazorla - blighted by injuries - will likely leave at the end of his contract, meaning a form of midfielder should come in; I also have ambitions to sign a Next Big Thing™ to make my forward options slightly more youthful - think Kylian Mbappé, Thomas Lemar et al.

I'm not sure how much time I'll have to play this save, but i'm more motivated than I usually am about Arsenal saves, which is a start. 

Hi,

That sounds an interesting premise. Good luck and let us know how you get on. 

[The Governator]

10 hours ago, LLNDVS said:

Sort of inspired by real-life, I've started an Arsenal save, replacing Arsène in the summer of 2017. Arsène didn't only leave a Premier League trophy, he left an unchanged squad (January transfer window budgets were turned off) which boasted a newly re-signed pairing of Mesut Özil and Alexis Sánchez. Both signed new, fifteen million pound contracts running to 2020, which isn't ideal, but far better than the depressing alternative. 

I have a rough idea of the business I want to do this summer: Szczęsny and Chambers returning from loan deals give me greater options; Kieran Gibbs will likely leave, meaning a competitor for Nacho Monreal must come in; Santi Cazorla - blighted by injuries - will likely leave at the end of his contract, meaning a form of midfielder should come in; I also have ambitions to sign a Next Big Thing™ to make my forward options slightly more youthful - think Kylian Mbappé, Thomas Lemar et al.

I'm not sure how much time I'll have to play this save, but i'm more motivated than I usually am about Arsenal saves, which is a start. 

I would advise against selling Gibbs - in my save, he has forced his way into being first choice by December of my first season! He's well-rounded and homegrown, I will probably still be bringing in a new LB that's better than he is, but it will be Monreal who is leaving

[BrickCommo23]

10 hours ago, The Governator said:

I would advise against selling Gibbs - in my save, he has forced his way into being first choice by December of my first season! He's well-rounded and homegrown, I will probably still be bringing in a new LB that's better than he is, but it will be Monreal who is leaving

I would agree with that, especially if you play relatively attacking fullbacks. Gibbs is probably a touch overrated. 

I have Gaya and Gibbs rotating at left back. Works very well. 

[BrickCommo23]

Just starting fourth season in my save, can't quite believe I've managed that many already...

We finally start a season as defending champions, which is nice, and as such I haven't done a great deal to the squad. 

Arrivals:

Lo Celso - £55mil (wanted direct cover/alternative option to Ozil. Quite timely in that Ozil has started season injured. 

Ferguson - £7mil rising to £25mil. A 17 year old, RB regen with 5* potential. If we pay that full 25 he will be an England international with 20 league goals...

Kyle Walker - Debuchy refused to sign a new contract and so I needed immediate RB cover. Tottenham had him transfer listed and only cost £4mil. Bargain. Despite the fans unease...

A few games into the season and won the Community Shields vs Man Utd (now managed by Mark Hughes)

League Games: Chelsea (H) Won 3-0, Everton (A) Won 4-0 (with 32 shots to 3), Huddersfield (H) Won 3-0 including a MoM for Walker on debut. 

So far so good! 

[LLNDVS]

13 hours ago, The Governator said:

I would advise against selling Gibbs - in my save, he has forced his way into being first choice by December of my first season! He's well-rounded and homegrown, I will probably still be bringing in a new LB that's better than he is, but it will be Monreal who is leaving

 

3 hours ago, BrickCommo23 said:

I would agree with that, especially if you play relatively attacking fullbacks. Gibbs is probably a touch overrated. 

I have Gaya and Gibbs rotating at left back. Works very well. 

Thanks for the replies! On Gibbs: he was unhappy upon me joining, which sort of made the decision for me. I think Monreal was great and his experience will be invaluable, plus Gibbs has the greater resale value. I did have five names lined up as his replacement: Álex Grimaldo, José Gaya, Andy Robertson, Marvin Plattenhardt and Kieran Tierney. 

Grimaldo is perfect, but Benfica wanted £52 million. José Gaya is exceptional, but I deemed him to be too similar to Bellerín (also too expensive).  That left me with Andrew Robertson of Hull. I only scouted him over two international games, but he fits the profile: 23/24-years-old, homegrown, a good defender, an intelligent footballer, good going forward. His statistics, from a season in which Hull were relegated, were also really promising. 

Yet to actually sign him as I haven't played, but I agreed a £8 million fee (rising to about £12 million) and wages of just £35,000-a-week. All in all, pretty happy. Side note: Santi will probably be staying as well, as Arsène gave him a new one-year contract before leaving. 

[Rob Gray]

Just started my Arsenal save, really excited after pre season. Only signed Donnarumma as my long term replacement for Cech. I'll wait till nearer the end of the window to see if I need to buy more as I want to give this squad a chance.

[LLNDVS]

Anyone had any trouble trying to keep players? I've joined after Arsène won the Premier League, but Granit Xhaka - who I wanted to build my entire side around - has handed in a transfer request. I'm keeping hold of him so far, but there comes a point where a definitive decision will have to be made.

I've also sold Wilshere to Liverpool for £18 million, Atlético Madrid offered a remarkable £32 million for a 31-year-old Olivier Giroud, so he's also gone. 

[MShing]

How have any of you sold Walcott? No matter what I do no one bids for him even though a couple of teams are interested. He's worth £30 mil. I have even offered him out at £15mil still no bids!!! Is this common? Start of second season

[Nr. 9]

Walcott's wages are too high for other teams to consider buying him I think. I offered him out and some bids came in at only 8 mil (€) and even then they wanted me to keep paying half of his wages. I'm keeping him for the moment and hope I can offer him a new contract with lower wages soon.

[BrickCommo23]

19 hours ago, MShing said:

How have any of you sold Walcott? No matter what I do no one bids for him even though a couple of teams are interested. He's worth £30 mil. I have even offered him out at £15mil still no bids!!! Is this common? Start of second season

I had him on transfer list and kept offering him out for ages but no takers. 

Eventually West Brom can in with about £8mil which I accepted as he only had 6 months left on his contract. But couldn't agree terms on a contract and left when it expired. 

Now plays for Red Bulls in New York.

[BrickCommo23]

On 17/02/2017 at 11:06, LLNDVS said:

Anyone had any trouble trying to keep players? I've joined after Arsène won the Premier League, but Granit Xhaka - who I wanted to build my entire side around - has handed in a transfer request. I'm keeping hold of him so far, but there comes a point where a definitive decision will have to be made.

I've also sold Wilshere to Liverpool for £18 million, Atlético Madrid offered a remarkable £32 million for a 31-year-old Olivier Giroud, so he's also gone. 

I've had similar issues with Xhaka as he is Coquelin's back up. Whenever he complains I just go with 'long season, plenty of games, be patient's option and he is happy enough. 

Will probably move him on eventually though. His attributes aren't quite right for a BWM and his technique isn't quite good enough to be my CM 'orchestrator'. 

[MShing]

3 hours ago, Nr. 9 said:

Walcott's wages are too high for other teams to consider buying him I think. I offered him out and some bids came in at only 8 mil (€) and even then they wanted me to keep paying half of his wages. I'm keeping him for the moment and hope I can offer him a new contract with lower wages soon.

Think I will keep him and play him a bit to keep his value up and try to get him on a lower contract in the future. Just a shame as he doesn't really offer much when he's not injured. Thanks guys 

[BrickCommo23]

On 17/02/2017 at 11:06, LLNDVS said:

Anyone had any trouble trying to keep players? I've joined after Arsène won the Premier League, but Granit Xhaka - who I wanted to build my entire side around - has handed in a transfer request. I'm keeping hold of him so far, but there comes a point where a definitive decision will have to be made.

I've also sold Wilshere to Liverpool for £18 million, Atlético Madrid offered a remarkable £32 million for a 31-year-old Olivier Giroud, so he's also gone. 

In a previous save  of mine he did well at AMR but set as a raumdeuter. 

Hes never as clever a player as Muller but it seemed to work. 

[LLNDVS]

A little update: last time I said Olivier Giroud was on his way to Atléti; I changed my mind and am keeping him for the time being. He's a very good option and too difficult to replace effectively for the time being.

I'm also projected to fail the Premier League FFP wage increase quote thing. Arsène gave Alexis and Mesut £300,000-a-week contracts each (a huge bump from their initial deals). Thankfully, it'll only result in a fine, but it's something that I'll try to rectify next summer.

On 20/02/2017 at 12:30, BrickCommo23 said:

I've had similar issues with Xhaka as he is Coquelin's back up. Whenever he complains I just go with 'long season, plenty of games, be patient's option and he is happy enough. 

Will probably move him on eventually though. His attributes aren't quite right for a BWM and his technique isn't quite good enough to be my CM 'orchestrator'. 

I'm still somehow hanging onto him and I'm hoping he'll back down. If not, I'm going to have to ostracise him and sell in January. 

 

[BrickCommo23]

January of Season 4 and Cazorla does his cruciate. Promptly announces he is going to retire as he is too old to recover. Gutted. 

Tried to give him a coaching job and he is only interested in being a Director of Football. Cheeky s0d

[Sean3h]

Started a new game using a transfer update - couldn't resist bringing Eduardo back as a backup!