Upgraded ‘Project Youth’ architecture should be the future

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courtesy @allthatchas

There’s cause for celebration and a bit of self-reflection today.

Were YOU watching the Liverpool game yesterday praying for a Manchester City win?

Was that because the MOST important thing for you at that minute was the scousers flunking their invincible attempt?

Yes it was. Just f*cking admit that your big hope in that moment was that another team would fail so they couldn’t displace the record we set 14 years ago.

Shame on you. That’s like hoping your exgirlfriend marries a guy with erectile dysfunction, loses his job, then gets BUSTED on men’s dating app Grindr by her bitchy work colleagues. Absolute shame on you.

As soon as Lovren came out in the press entertaining the possibility, you knew it was over. Let’s be totally blunt here. That record will live on forever. The Premier League is too strong top to bottom these days for any team to dominate the way Wenger did. Not to say it wasn’t strong back then, it was still an outrageous achievement. But now, we have too many good teams with too much know-how for anyone to threaten a real unbeaten run.

The game was pretty spectacular. High-intensity, end to end football in a special game that could rival any big match in Europe. I think it’s fair to say now that not only do we have the best league in the world, we’re nearly there with the best teams in the world. I am very excited to see who ends up in the Champions League final.

One thing that really stood out for me yesterday were the performances of the Liverpool fullbacks. TA-A and Robertson were unbelievable. They cover such a huge amount of ground and moving forward they’re an absolute nightmare. No real pattern to follow, good delivery into the box, and they’re both still so young. The most interesting thing about both of them is they didn’t cost £80m each. You can grow players if you give them a chance, and you pick players up from the lower leagues and they can become monsters.

That’s the bigger picture in world football at the moment. We’ve grown so accustomed to assuming English players are average, overpriced and over-ego’d (made that word up) that we quite often miss the exciting prospects sitting on our own doorstep.

How did Manchester City manage to let Sancho go to Dortmund and become a £90m player? How are Arsenal going to deal with Reiss Nelson when he comes back? What are Willock, ESR, Eddie and Medley going to do with their futures? Is it really true that Chelsea are buying in a £58m bench player from Dortmund with 3 goals to his name in 3 years, while Bayern bloody Munich are trying to snap up Odoi for £35m (who looks seriously good)?

Arsenal has a group of young and hungry technically gifted players sitting on their books (we think). Not only that, they’re mostly fast, strong and built for the league. Do we continue to chase down journeymen hacks that are unlikely to shift the needle in our direction, or do we attempt some sort of Project Youth 2.0? Surely we can’t bin another generation off so players like Lichtsteiner get a game?

I know, I know, feels kind of horrible to think about going back to something that didn’t work. But come on, the original project produced some gems that were sourced from around Europe. The thing it lacked was technical know how when it came to tactics, and it lacked enough investment to build out good players past the starting 11. Imagine if we’d put some of those sides under Klopp or Carlo at the time?

Are you telling me you wouldn’t want to see a rebirth of that 2008 side? Before it all went to shit after the turn of the year, that team was playing some of the most beautiful football we’d ever seen.

Arsenal were one point off the top in Feb of the 2010-11… again, a bit more depth and fitness care at the time could have powered us through. Those years where Wenger wouldn’t address his own inadequacies were so frustrating, because at least he still had the knack for scouting top talent. Imagine if he’d surrounded himself with up and coming coaching talent and taken on Shad F?

Anyway, I’m trying to strategise as to how we bring ourselves up to the next level. I can’t help but think in a summer where we’re going to have to drastically cut down on expensive players, that the logical next step to find our future is going to be a blend of home grown players, exceptional Euro talent on the up (Sarr / Pepe / Pavon / Ligt (lol) / Fornals), with a few really top quality experienced players bringing level heads to the dressing room.

That then gives us the pipeline of players that we can sell, so we can invest in the right experienced players and continue to feed the beast, which has effectively helped liverpool climb out of their mess and turn into a European powerhouse once again.

Right, that’s my thoughts done, see you in the comments.

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Freddie Ljungberg

Suarez would be a decent buy for the mooted 10m, not sure if he’s good enough to be a long term starter for us but could be if we get 2 great wingers in as well, (1+ Nelson to start)

Guns of SF

CA
Suarez is who we need. I hope there is fire near this smoke.
He is a great dribbler- has shooting and decent pace. He is better than Mikhi and Ozil and has age on his side.
Yes, a winger will help for sure. If we get Pepe or Pavon, we have updgraded on age and pace in our front line as well as skill.
Suarez is a no brainer

Guns of SF

Suarez> Pulisic

Cesc Appeal

Guns of SF It looks like we’re trying to make our money work as much as possible. It seems we may get Suarez and N’Koulou. We all know the situation Wenger left behind in terms of the squad and the finances and it seems we’re trying to do the best we can. Emery knows Suarez as well which is good. I think he will use him in that Mkhitaryan role of RM/CAM. At least it means when Mkhitaryan is back fit as well we have more there. The move is being talked up more and more now. Seems there may… Read more »

Guns of SF

CA thanks for the update. Here in the states, its just what I can find on the internet. You all have the more up to date info… last night I posted a video of him that I found on youtube. Uncanny resemblance to Ramsey but has a good first move an acceleration. We need that type of pace and dribbling in the final third. If this means Mikhi is on the bench – great. Even Ozil of course- your favorite and mine 😛 K nouluo looks ok but age is not on his side. But we can do with an… Read more »

Nelson

Is Denis Suarez another CAM.? I thought that our priority is CB and winger. Why again ignore our most urgent need? I want to see what really happens first. I don’t trust rumors.

Guns of SF

n’ kolou is the defender emery wants CB

Cesc Appeal

Interested to see how January pans out. If the rumours of the £55 Million bid for Under are true it may be that Arsenal have made the decision to invest that money in different players rather than just the one after it was rejected. Could be that Arsenal are trying to work on Suarez, N’Koulou and Pepe while trying to get someone like Elneny and possibly Ozil out the door to try to help raise funds. That would certainly address the needs we have. How well they do is a different story. Adding Suarez and Pepe will certainly add to… Read more »

Guns of SF

isnt Chelsea hampered by FFP? They just picked up Pulisic for 58M… another player like Suarez would be in the range of 15M I am guessing. That would put them at 73m
Not sure if they would get dinged or not… but would seem odd to have 2 new players in basically the same position. Of course Hazard will leave in summer and also one of Pedro or Willian?

Pepe and Suarez would be a massive shot in the arm.
The defenese will take a while to sort out… for sure

Guns of SF

Could be that the statements of Ozil agent could be gamesmanship on a transfer.
Basically- Ozil is estabished and wants to be at Arsenal… thus any suitor would need to up their bid for him to drag him away….?
Who knows. I just want him gone gone gone…
IF Suarez takes his position, then the writing is on the wall. I do not see Ozil getting much playing time this season if we add a CAM and winger

Carts

I read Diawara of Napoli has a €35m price tag. I’d describe him as being stylistically similar to Fernandinho

High energy, pace, physical, with good short range passing and young

Cesc Appeal

If Chelsea want Suarez as well then our selling points are stability, opportunity and Emery.

Guns of SF

Emery will be the kicker. I can see him talking to Denis and getting him to buy into his new planned Arsenal revolution. He will be a center point to the team I am sure.
I do have to say that boy can dribble wooooooo

Cesc Appeal

It is more that Suarez played for Emery at Sevilla

China1

Ive only seen a couple of videos of Suarez but he doesn’t look fast at all

Seems he has a great ability to beat his man with a well timed turn or shoulder drop, but within 2-3 seconds his man has always already caught him back up

Not that I’m criticizing as he seems to release the ball before getting into trouble

Just saying I thought he looked particularly slow when running on the ball

Mr Serge

Joe agree cesc was twice the player if ozil. He has really wasted his talent. He does not press and no too team does not press. He needs to go to a lesser league and be the man

China1

Suarez seems like solid business for the money and considering his age

I hope we go hard on a CB and winger as well tho.

Mr Serge

Suarez is twice the player of xhaka

China1

I pray we’re not blowing 17m on banega

Use that money towards someone who is a difference maker, not another solid veteran

Mr Serge

He was amazing in Emery’s system at sevlla

Guns of SF

do we know how long Emery and Suarez were together and how they did?
Joining Sarri and Chelsea is always going to be a gamble with how they fare with losing their stars which I see happening in the next year or 2.
Pedro and WIllian getting older and Hazard leaving as well as Morata.
OTOH, that could also be a selling point but I agree CA, Emery will be the kicker

Marko

Not too keen on Suarez. He was good at Villarreal sure but I’d rather Barrella or Sanson in the summer

Guns of SF

Marko
We could do with a lot of new players in summer for sure. But we need to get top 4 this year, and are within striking distance. We beat Chelsea in 2 weeks and its game on. Not to mention just behind us is United. We cannot let our season drop now. And, of course if we win the EL then it will be worth it. We do need reinforcements now

Guns of SF

Suarez and Banega
433- Banega Torr and Xhaka, Auba, Suarez Iwobi/Laca?

Marko

I mean cagliari are cagliari and Marseille have struggled this season so why not bid for one of them this window.

China1

The problem with babes is he’s 30 and good but not special. At 18m with no resale value I’d say we can probably find an equally good or better younger player with a higher ceiling. If not for the same money, for not too much more. At least they can develop resale value if we don’t want to keep them as well

Banega is another Sokratis. A solid player to steady the ship, but we don’t need many of these. Let’s focus on laying the foundations of something special rather than burning through our funds on simple ‘decent’

Emiratesstroller

I am not clear what is the basis of the enthusiasm for Denis Suarez who will be
25 tomorrow. He has played just 17 minutes football in La Liga this season.

Is this really an upgrade on Ramsey?

Joe

I am not clear what is the basis of the enthusiasm for Denis Suarez who will be 25 tomorrow. He has played just 17 minutes football in La Liga this season.Is this really an upgrade on Ramsey He made enough of an impression that Barcelona wanted to sign them for their first team. And yes if he plays the way he did to get noticed in the first place by Barcelona he is an upgrade on Ramsey Besides, Ramsey isn’t all that. He will be found out very quickly once he leaves Arsenal especially if he goes to a top… Read more »

Freddie Ljungberg

Hard to judge a player on how many minutes they get in the most well stocked squad in the world though. Reckon he will still improve us and he’s cheap. Anyone that can hold down a position and doesn’t only think about going for glory all the time is an upgrade on Ramsey imo. Also do we need a replacement for Ramsey specifically? What position does he play? If we can get rid of Ozil Ramsey and Mikhi by summertime for Suarez, + winger + Nelson I reckon we’re much better of and would save a fortune in wages that… Read more »

China1

Agreed Freddie

azed

Anyone on here really watched Dennis Suarez and not forming opinions from Youtube?

China1

Ramsey to juve is an odd one but good luck to him

I wonder how he will cope in a system that gives him anything other than a free role. Even so, he might thrive considering he’ll be playing in front of the best defensive unit in Italy and be a part of a team that wins the league literally every year since forever

Good move for Aaron. Not so sure for juve – but again in that league they can afford to have a few less than elite players because they’re winning the league regardless

Freddie Ljungberg

Juventus are after Cristian Romero, 20 yo, Argentinian CB that plays for Genoa, 1.92 tall. This is the kind of punts we should be taking, exactly the kind of player we will be pining for in a year or 2. Get in early for fuck sake, Genoa wants 20m euros.

A bargain for someone that could potentially hold down that position for 10-12 years.

Guns of SF

azed I watched his videos on youtube- I like how in most cases, he is leading a break with quick feet and skill- yes not the fastest as China said, but he does release the ball before being tackled that is what we need. A dribbler with pace and trickery in the center of the attack. mikki, Rembo and Ozil are not this. Period. A speedy winger- Pepe and on the other side, another speedster- your Lozano’s. Sarr or even our own Nelson will make our attack even better. I like the idea Im seeing unravelling in our attack. I… Read more »

Guns of SF

if anything he will add much needed depth in midfield.
Lets see how this all pans out… we will still need a defender and a wing

Guns of SF

haha look at what someone already created

dude has some skillz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISGjY4PYF3w

WengerEagle

Why would we want Denis Suarez?

He’s not some kid, he’s just turned 25 years old. He’s never even gotten remotely close to staking a name for himself at Barcelona, he’s just another Tello, Jeffren, Munir youth prospect that failed to make the grade because he wasn’t good enough.

His level is a mid table PL club, we must aspire to much better than that if we want to get near Liverpool and City.

WengerEagle

Not sure how Liverpool have managed to make Bournemouth shell out 20 million pounds for a useless CF that doesn’t score in Solanke, amazing piece of business nonetheless as he is shocking lol.

Guns of SF

WE
Perhaps because Emery sees how he can best utilize him. Not that its really easy to crack the Man CityHe or Barca first team ya know. Plus our budget is small. I think the papers are saying 14M for Suarez so not a bad deal overall.
We might have money to spare after that even.

He will add depth to the midfield if anything but I have a feeling he will help us on offense

WengerEagle

GOSF

He’s just going to be another squaddie that doesn’t do much for our starting XI quality, we already have plenty of those.

At 25 he’s likely not going to get any better, rather than adding deadwood to the side why don’t we just spend that on a kid with serious potential or go a bit higher to the 30 million bracket and buy somebody like a Felipe Anderson who makes our XI much better?

We’re not flat out broke or anything I mean Bournemouth have just splashed 20 million pounds on fucking Solanke.

Guns of SF

Bournemouth haha

Guns of SF

35 M for Thogran Hazard
I doubt both his team and West Ham will sell their prize assets

Guns of SF

any thoughts about taking Reece Oxford in Jan? Cheap it seems 6’3 CB 20 yrs old

WengerEagle

Isn’t he the fella that had a half decent debut against us when he was 16? He’s barely played in the 3.5 years since, 800 mins of football total.

Either more injury-prone than Diaby and Hargreaves’ offspring or he’s absolute shite.

In either case, hope to fuck that it’s merely a banterous link.

Emiratesstroller

Sorry but I am not excited to buy a player aged 25 who has played virtually no football this season just because he is on Barcelona books. He has made just six cameo appearances: 2 in Champions League 24 minutes 2 in La Liga 17 minutes 2 in Copa del Rey 180 minutes This is hardly an endorsement that he is a massive talent. He is not exactly a “spring chicken”. At least when we bought Sanchez from Barcelona he was playing reasonably regularly for them and was also a major player in international football with Chile. As I said… Read more »

mysticleaves

Not sure how Liverpool have managed to make Bournemouth shell out 20 million pounds for a useless CF that doesn’t score in Solanke, amazing piece of business nonetheless as he is shocking lol.

you seem surprised. we got 35m for a useless chambo with 1 year left. these English players get sold expensively

mysticleaves

I would buy Suarez. some people referenced Liverpool but even then were not stupid. They got wijnaldum and milner on cheap money. then later went for the big hitters in fabinho and naby.

Who do you want on our bench in 2.5years? Suarez or el neny?

Emiratesstroller

mysticleaves

The real point is that our starting X1 needs strengthening if Ramsey departs and there is uncertainty about Ozil’s future.

Suarez is not a solution to that problem. He may be a decent player but our
priority at the moment should be upgrading first team and not squad filling.

Leedsgunner

An upgrade on project Youth is pointless if we don’t keep experienced pros with a winning mentality.

An upgrade on project Youth is pointless if we don’t win trophies of substance.

That is what Spurs are. They will implode this year if they come out of the season again, trophyless. Sooner or later, young players want to win stuff.

To keep top young players we need to win the biggest trophies as well as pay well and give youngsters playing time.

mysticleaves

Emirates “Suarez is not a solution to that problem. He may be a decent player but our priority at the moment should be upgrading first team and not squad filling.” I don’t believe that. We are not contesting for the league yet so we don’t necessarily need to spend money on world stars. Suarez is the kind of players we can attract and should attract. He and his likes can give us a push into top4 (and if we don’t make it, the club will still be heathy enough financially) then subsequently he can become a squaddie when we are… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

Looking at Dennis Suarez career he showed considerable promise as a youth player at Man City with several other Major Clubs vying to acquire him. He was then recruited by Barcelona who farmed him out to Seville and Villereal where he did get game time. Barcelona then exercised option to buy him back at a very low transfer fee. Last season he did play some football for the Barcelona first team. This season virtually none. This sort of signing has all the characteristics of Deulofeu who was sold to Everton and then moved onto Watford. This season he has played… Read more »

mysticleaves

we need to build out the whole squad eventually and not just the first team. given our precarious position, it will be wiser and more financially prudent to build out potential squad players now

mysticleaves

What concerns me is that Arsenal are beginning to compete for players with middle order clubs like Everton and Watford rather than those at top of tree.

Those kind of players in the right environment will prosper well. it also depends on the long term vision of the club. while we can afford to aim higher with time, everton and Watford can’t. we are at rock bottom now.

Those profile of players can get us our minimum objective which is top4. Then we can push on from there with more financial flexibility.

Emiratesstroller

mystic leaves

Seriously would you buy Deulofeu as a squad filler, because he is the same level of player that Barcelona have offloaded?

Both players have had a similar pathway at Barcelona and failed to succeed.
Deulofeu for all his so-called promise has failed to make an impact in EPL.

Personally I would much rather add Smith-Rowe to our first team squad. He
has already played in first team and looks promising. He is 18 and if he fails
to make the grade he has cost us nothing.

Freddie Ljungberg

You realise that Barca has one of the strongest squads in world football and are levels ahead of u right? Just because he didn’t make it there isn’t really an indicator of how good he is. Now I’m not saying he’s a world beater or my preferred choice, but if we’re to believe that we have hardly any money and about 7 positions in the fist XI needing upgrading then maybe it’s not a bad punt at 14m. Better than a 30 yo banega or 31 yo khedira at least. ESR is not comparable, he’s not ready to play week… Read more »

þorkell einarsson

I am hoping Zech Medley will be world class
he looks calm and collected..
there are no other w.c material on the table ..

Emiratesstroller

Freddie Ljungberg Arsenal need to offload in next two transfer windows at least 10 players in first team squad who are on our books specifically: CECH OSPINA LICHSTEINER JENKINSON MONREAL CHAMBERS KOSCIELNY ELNENY RAMSEY WELBECK So there are eight positions in squad which need filling. Ramsey may not be Emery’s preferred choice to start in first team, but he is certainly at a level above Sanchez whatever you and others may think. He is unlikely to move to Juventus to sit on bench and be paid £140K pw. So the club will still need to buy a top class central… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

For the record many top teams are shifting to a 4-3-3 formation and that is how I would like to see Arsenal play. If we play that formation then we have got already two midfielders on books who are suitable for that formation in Torreira and Xhaka. We need to buy another more offensive/creative midfielder who can play ahead of them. Sanchez is not that player. He would be competing with Guendouzi to sit on bench. Banega would also not be my choice because of his age, but at least he would be considered a starting X1 player if he… Read more »

Freddie Ljungberg

We’re only scoring that many goals thanks to our fullbacks though, without them we have no service to our strikers, that leaves us exposed at the back. We’re also not creating as much as we should, we only score a lot because we have 2 very good strikers. Don’t know who Sanchez is(Alexis?) but Suarez if played in midfield can at least offer more creativity and dribbling than Ramsey and not play in front of our strikers all the time. We need to get rid of Mikhi and Ozil if possible too so it makes sense if we’re low on… Read more »

Freddie Ljungberg

Latest talk is that it’s a 6 month loan deal for Suarez anyway so I guess we will see what happens.

I’m not especially impressed by him or what it says about our ambition but this is the mess we have to live with now. Almost all positions in the team could do with upgrades, so much neglect for so long:(

Jamie

Denis Suarez would be a terrible signing. He’s 25 tomorrow and has done nothing in his career to suggest he’s output is about to take off, especially in a new league.

N’Koulou has been passed around like a hot potato over the years. He’s part of an average Torino side who have conceded almost as many goals as we have.

Worrying recruitment strategy this window if any of these reports are to be believed.

Guns of Hackney

Why doesn’t emery go and sign some guy with a broken back…oh wait…

Emery’s recruitment gossip, is how shall I put this…less than inspiring.

Damn…we are like a third division pub side.

Up 4 grabs now

New post

Charlie George

Could not agree with Emirates Stroller more wholeheartedly, If we do get Suarez- 3 reasons why it would be poor. 1) It confirms we can get Denis but not Louis! 2) Its a Watford/Soton/Everton level of signing, Defolou is a prime example 3) We have English talent -AMN/Nelson/Rowe that we should be FOCUSED on. Raul and Emery do not get and will never get English and Arsenal football. by the time they MIGHT have- too many mistakes would have been made. ( ramsey etc) We should get Southgate in ASAP and get the three above playing in our team -backing… Read more »

Freddie Ljungberg

No offense CG but you’re an idiot.

There’s a reason there is no british coaches in any top team around the world, they’re shit.

There are some decent english talent coming though now finally but they’re mostly overpriced.

Backing or no backing you either have it or not, you can’t coach a player above his ability, something a lot of posters here don’t seem to understand.

Trask

Suarez will be another nothing signing we’ll be looking to move on in a year.