agdoc2001 said:

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Partey officially charged with 5 counts of rape

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Too much smoke for it not to happen.

Interesting that these charges are coming right as Partey is likely leaving the UK. Feels like it is more about keeping him within jurisdiction. I also don't get why it takes 3 yrs to investigate rape/SA allegations and how the cops are still asking for people to come forward after he was charged. Maybe he's guilty but it seems fishy to me.

It is very strange. If he's guilty, fry him but this whole situation is weird and we're missing a lot of information.

My suspicion may be correct..... Guy on another mb with a friend that is a UK cop. Says that his friend says that the police likely have info that Partey is fixing to sign a contract in a country that the UK can't touch him (likely Saudi) so they charged him now to keep him in the EU. Says that had he been signing in the EU then he likely isn't charged now.

🚨 There is a growing sense of fear & anxiety at RB Leipzig around the future of Benjamin Sesko. The club are in desperate need to sell players to rebuild their squad & have accepted that Sesko will be the man to fill up their kitty.

The issue is that Arsenal have still NOT made… pic.twitter.com/h6hxgm7Jd2

— afcstuff (@afcstuff) July 5, 2025

agdoc2001 said:

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Partey officially charged with 5 counts of rape

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Does this go back a few years?

ChipFTAC01 said:

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agdoc2001 said:

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Partey officially charged with 5 counts of rape

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Does this go back a few years?

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Everything allegedly occurred 2021-2022. Think UK authorities have been investigated for 2-3 yrs.

Arsenal have agreed personal terms with Noni Madueke as they consider making an approach to Chelsea for the winger.#AFC | #CFC

More from @David_Ornstein and @SebSB ⬇️

— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) July 5, 2025

Not certain how I feel about this. I think I've hit my quota on chelski castoffs.

Yeah, Im not a fan. However FWIW, a lot of Chelsea fans don't want him to go and are very concerned he will do very well at Arsenal. My concern is that he either takes Nwaneri's minutes on the right or is ineffective on the left.

Apparently Chelsea are starting to show interest in Nwaneri. They turned the heads of our young stars before

Everything ive read is that he has no desire to leave but is concerned about playing time given some of our rumored interests. Cant imagine going after Madueke (primarily a RW) helps, which is one of the many reasons that deal makes zero sense to me.

Just turned 23 years old and is a homegrown (for the Premier League) native Londoner. The club must like both of those things.

And surely, they do not view this as an impediment to re-signing and developing Nwaneri, so maybe it is just a sign we can expect to see Nwaneri playing more central midfield rather than on the wing the next couple of years.

All that said, I think this certainly shouldn't be done if it prevents us from getting Eze.

Reading/Listening to blogs & podcasts the general opinions on the current news......

- Nwaneri noise is just noise. His agent is working to get him the best deal possible.
- lots of speculation that it's Madueke OR Eze but not both. Nwaneri's primary role will depend on which of the 2 is signed.
- some speculation that the Madueke discussions are intended to get Rodrygo and/or Eze deals pushed forward.
- general consensus is that we sign 2 of Eze/Madueke/Rodrygo (or another LW) + ST
- also speculation that some of these moves may be signs of Arteta feeling some pressure.

Assuming the 4th point above is true and these are your options for depth at LW, RW & AM next season, which would be your choice.....

Option 1
LW - Rodrygo, Trossard
AM - MO, Nwaneri
RW - Saka, Madueke

Option 2
LW - Rodrygo, Trossard
AM - MO, Eze
RW - Saka, Nwaneri

Option 3
LW - Eze, Martinelli
AM - MO, Nwaneri
RW - Saka, Madueke

2. Easy.

Are we sure Rodrygo is markedly better than Martinelli?

Ghost of Andrew Eaton said:

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Are we sure Rodrygo is markedly better than Martinelli?

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He has some skillsets that are theoretically better and might be a steong fit for our scheme but statistically he would be a wash and Marti is a better defender. I was initially gung-ho on Rodrygo but I have talked myself out of it after some research/analysis.

Im a bit iffy on Eze as a LW and Madueke in general but based on various things I have read, pods I have listed to and my general bias, I would likely pick option 3 above.

Zubi in

Fab & Orny reporting personal terms agreed with Gyokeres and talks underway with Sporting.

For the last 2 weeks Marcel Schäfer (DoF) for RB Leipzig refused to negotiate lower than €90 million.

The mission then became very clear.

Arsenal now trying to close a deal for Viktor Gyökeres. Talks ongoing over the structure of the fee and add ons.

— HandöfArsenal (@HandofArsenal) July 6, 2025

Claims from Portuguese media.....

Quote:

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An Arsenal delegation arrived in Alvalade on Friday & managed to 'unblock the impasse' with Sporting. Viktor Gyökeres will join Arsenal for a fixed fee around 65m, with add-ons between 10m-15m 5m of which will be easily achievable based on appearances.

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Gyokeres could also be the best ST option for a Marti/Eze LW. Gyokeres likes to drift left like Jesus which opens up space in the middle for the LW to underlap.

Romano says it's imminent

I liked Sesko's potential but think Gyokeres could be better short term. Just need to find us a couple 6'2"+ u18s to start grooming in the academy.

🚨🇸🇪 Viktor Gyökeres has accepted to give up €2m from his salary in order to facilitate negotiations between Arsenal and Sporting.

Sporting insist on higher fee compared to Arsenal proposal…

…and Gyökeres tries his best also giving up money to make it happen, as per Record. pic.twitter.com/lVM6pGbq41

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 6, 2025

Couple other non-ST tidbits.....

- Chelsea supposedly asked for Max Dowman as part of their compensation for Madueke. We rightly told them to F off
- Claims out of Turkey that Fenerbahce have begun negotiations with Arsenal for Trossard with Mourinho's blessing

Fenerbarche ain't buying $%!*. They are rumored to buy multiple premier league players every year, then apparently their front office finds out that those players are going to cost money and it all goes away.

Mokbel says that Berta is on his way to Portugal to wrap this deal up.

Clive had a good point. I'm not really concerned with which one we get. We took Mikel Merino and turned him into a top performing CF for the last few months of the year. Imagine what an actual CF like VG or Sesko could do. Just get one of them in

Saw that. He also had some nice points about Gyokeres's desire both to join Arsenal and to score goals in any situation.

James McNicholas (and Andrew) ripped the club about its handling of Thomas Partey on the Arsecast Extra today.

Basically, James has thought for a long time the club should have stopped playing Thomas and thinks its entirely shameful that they even thought about trying to extend him; they risked serious reputational damage to the club because Partey was having/had a good season on the field.

TXAggie2011 said:

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James McNicholas (and Andrew) ripped the club about its handling of Thomas Partey on the Arsecast Extra today.

Basically, James has thought for a long time the club should have stopped playing Thomas and thinks its entirely shameful that they even thought about trying to extend him; they risked serious reputational damage to the club because Partey was having/had a good season on the field.

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I'm not a huge Partey guy but the reality is that....

a) just because he was charged doesn't mean he is guilty. UK police are still trying to find evidence. Famous/semi-famous get falsely accused of stuff all the time.
b) had he extended they would not have charged him now. They charged him because they thought he was fixing to sign in Saudi and be safe from extradition

I feel like our plausible deniability fell apart the moment we tried to extend him. I am disappointed in the club's decision. I get it, it's just a business like any other, and I shouldn't expect morality from any business, but still…

I don't know how much James knows that he's not sharing. He almost gave up his season ticket because of this.

Without knowing more about it, it's hard for me to say the club should not have kept playing him but I certainly get the point about trying to re-sign him.

The club, by all accounts, has been aware of the situation and sorta knew where this was headed. They could have just let it come to a "natural end" in James' words. Rather, they made a point to tell the world they wanted to keep Partey.

agdoc2001 said:

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I feel like our plausible deniability fell apart the moment we tried to extend him. I am disappointed in the club's decision. I get it, it's just a business like any other, and I shouldn't expect morality from any business, but still…

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Honestly it's been a weird situation for years. I want to say before the start of the last two seasons there were lots of rumors then nothing happened. It does feel like there must be a lack or real evidence and just allegations. I am not sure how this takes 3 years.

The club has obviously been aware it is just a question of what is the clubs obligation. I would personally prefer that no one not lose their job on a allegation unless it happened in house. US pro sports/companies etc have taken a very aggressive stance on allegations since me too and EPL is the opposite. I am not sure what the right answer is though.

I could be wrong but my take is that our willingness to extend him means that we either think he is innocent or don't think the police can prove anything. Anything else is really bad PR and/or a very poor financial decision.