There is absolutely no doubt about it, Arsenal stand at a forked road, to the left is the abyss (Think Blackwall Tunnel at rush hour). A rocky, pothole-filled side road where we limply try and compete with the big boys, peeling away aging substandard players with faded reputations, or young player lost in their careers because of previous application issues. Down here, we invest in haggard ideas, journeyman staff, and bland football.
To the right is the footballing equivalent of the yellow brick, where we settle on an exciting vision for the future and skip down to Emerald City, where I believe a Champions League medal awaits. Down here we take chances, invest in bold ideas, empower our staff to innovate toward excellence and run their departments independently, structure the club around transparent decision making, and make the football stand for something. This path is not easy, but it sets us up for a brighter future. The road may not be paved with gold, but it could be further down the line. This road is honest about who we are and realistic about how we achieve success.
That’s why the hire for our first technical director is so incredibly important. We need an idea. We need something to rally around. We need to reshape 3 very confused transfer windows. We need to avoid careening off the road into a ditch of insignificance.
Last week I profiled Andrea Berta. As a refresher, he’s delivered two Champions League final appearances on a net spend of 13m euros a season. His total net spend over 6 seasons is £6m more than we spend last summer.
It is not acceptable to say that Arsenal cannot compete within our financial constraints. We just need to have a better plan than the current one.
Today, I am covering one of the great minds of the game, both on the playing front, and on the operational side of the business.
Profile: Ralph Rangnick, Red Bull
A legend in managerial and coaching circles, Rangnick has been the top guy at 13 clubs, he has many achievements to talk of, from taking Schalke to runners up in the league, to his stellar work moving tiny Hoffenheim up two divisions and cementing them mainstays of the Bundesliga, but for most, no achievement can eclipse the incredible work he’s been doing at the Red Bull football franchise which now encompasses 4 clubs in Austria, Germany, Brazil, and America.
He joined as the Sporting Director of Salzburg and Leipzig in 2012. The German club moved up the divisions rapidly, hitting the Bundesliga 2 with two straight promotions. He spent a couple of seasons there, even dropping into management himself after failing to hook Thomas Tuchel as his appointment in the summer of 2015. He won promotion that season, resigning at the end to focus on his Sporting Director duties, he then appointed Ralph Hassenhutl to takeover. The team went undefeated in their first 13 games, a record for a promoted team, and made Europe in their first season, qualifying for the Champions League.
Additionally, it’s worth mentioning that the much-derided Leipzig franchise has seen gate attendances go from 2,000 to 39,000 a game under Ralph. He knows how to build clubs successfully, and he knows how to attract the fans with a brand of football that is high intensity, aggressive and fun to watch.
He’s fondly known as the professor, like Arsene Wenger, though he has a more rigorous philosophy when it comes to football and business than the Frenchman . He works to the three Ks (wouldn’t call it that in New York)… Kapital, Konzept and Kompetenz (Money, concept, and competence).
“If those three things come together, then you can be successful. If you only have one or two of them, it’s more difficult,”
“Our club is always reduced to the financial muscle of its owner. There are lots of clubs in the Bundesliga like that. Put it this way, the Bundesliga table doesn’t correlate with clubs’ budgets. If it did, the table would look very different.”
Red Bull sure have money, no doubt about that. But there’s also a smart philosophy in how they spend that cash, something Arsenal sorely lack these days. Here he is speaking to The Blizzard.
‘The difference between us and other clubs is that when we sign or scout new players, we are fishing in a very small pond. We only interested in players aged between 17 and 23, as from our experience, when you are 23 you are no longer a talent. If you look at other clubs and their development, you can see that players start their careers earlier than 10 years ago and finish earlier too. So we are only scouting those players. The maximum age is 23. The second difference is that in both clubs, we try to implement and play the same style of football and of course between the two clubs, we make use of synergies that can be developed out of those two factors.’
‘When Mr Mateschitz called me, the average age of the two squads was 29. In fact, it was almost 30 at Salzburg and 29 in Leipzig. The players they were signing were signing their last contracts. When he asked what I would change I said, “The commercial slogan says, ‘Red Bull gives you wings’. The target market [for Red Bull] is 16-25, and young people don’t identify themselves with 30 year olds, so you need players the same age or slightly older.” So we have changed the average age in Salzburg to 24 and in Leipzig it’s similar. We have reduced the average age of the whole squad by four years in the last two seasons.’
He also set the vision across all his clubs on how the club should play.
‘Here are the principles: one, add maximum possibility to the team and act, don’t react. So you need to dictate the game with and without the ball, not through individuals. Two, use numerical superiority and let the ball run directly whenever possible, with no unnecessary individual action and with no fouls. Three, use transitions, switch quickly. Try to win back the ball within five seconds with aggressive pressing. After winning the ball back, play quickly straight away, play direct and vertically towards the opponent’s goal, surprise the disorganised opponent to get into the penalty area and shoot within ten seconds of winning the ball back.’
‘At Hoffenheim, we did research and showed that the likelihood of scoring is within eight seconds of winning back the ball. In training we have a countdown clock and the target is to score within 10 seconds. Jürgen Klopp has said that the best playmaker is ‘perfect counter-pressing’. So four, the more a team sprints (i.e. the more the players sprint) faster to win back the ball then there is a greater likelihood they will score a goal once they have won it back quickly.’
This is what focus looks like. This is why you can’t be satisfied with loose ideas like ‘contacts’ based transfer strategies. This is why having a belief system when it comes to how you play is so important.
The second layer of interest in how the Red Bull operation operates is how they are not only a factory for players, they are also a hothouse for the best young coaches in football. Rangnick is one of the best mentors in football. He helped oversee the education of Julian Nagelsmann who is making the trip back to the loving arms of his mentor next summer in Leipzig. Ralph Hassenhutl went from a very adept organiser of defences, to combining it with the powerful attacking energy of the Rangnick pressing philosophy. Roger Schmidt passed through Salzburg. PSG made a world record purchase for an assistant when they landed Zsolt Low last summer.
I would also guess that the F1 analytics team partner with the football guys to build advanced analytics models to assess performance in novel ways. Just a guess though…
Things get very interesting when it comes to Red Bull and money. On the face of it, the German club is a mini-Chelsea. They have made a huge outlay over the past 8 years dropping a whopping 160m euros in expenditure. The money has been well spent because they’re competing for CL, but it’s hard to say they’ve had many constraints on what they’ve been doing.
However, when you look at the Austrian club at the same time, you start to see the smarts behind the Red Bull machine. Salzburg, who have been incredibly successful themselves have spent 63m euros in that time, but recouped a whopping 201m euros.
When you even that out, the total net spend between clubs is 22.3m euros. Not bad with two clubs making the Champions League qualifications 2017.
It’s also interesting to see that Leipzig like to raid Salzburg. The German team sent 89m euros their way, which would actually mean that the Red Bull franchise made 66m euros building all that success.
Additionally, look at some of the names that have passed through the club.
Saido Mane, Naby Keita, Emile Forsberg, Timo Werner, Joshua Kimmich… these are not poor players.
Now, I know that the Bundesliga is weaker than the Premier League, but Arsenal spent 83m euros in one summer. Are you still going to tell me that it is an impossibility for us to come up with a sharper plan than the one we’re currently adopting?
The Red Bull owner isn’t into football according to Rangnick, ‘Mr Mateschitz said to me when we first met in 2012 that he’s not a football man but he has a vision and this is what I like most about him.’
Sadly, we don’t have an owner with a vision or any real ambition for Arsenal. However, I truly believe if we made the right hire for the Technical Director role, success would follow. If you hire in folk with a vision and the drive to deliver it, you don’t need an owner to be checking in and micro-managing (see the LA Rams where I’ve read that Stan isn’t heavily involved).
So in conclusion, a man like Rangnick shows how you can implement a vision across 4 clubs and succeed. He’s created a school of excellence for managers, he’s mapped a vision of how the football should be played, he’s worked out a business model that allows him to farm talent between his clubs and make big profits in the process, he’s also delivered unbelievable results in a short space of time.
Arsenal do not need 5 years to unfuck the dying days of Arsene Wenger. We do not need MBS to inject £100b into our team to move the club forward (would be nice, but be real, I’d not last long). We need someone with an exciting plan to move us forward. Who that will be, I have no idea, but there are plenty of exciting names I will continue to explore while we wait.
P.S. Listen to the podcast and follow my guest on Twitter who is @TopicalStorm (Grover)
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First?
Bankz is here for the Tr4phy again
And a second too?
Tr4phy
Damn it just missed it I guess
8
Trofee
BOOOOOOM
At least I managed to pull a disruptive Leicester for once..
Lol Bankz – Boom in 8th?
Nice 1st place Gommit!
So what would happen were Salzburg to draw Leipzig in the Europa League for example?
Thanks DM, I wanted to go for the trophy spot too. Maybe next time I work from home I will manage 😉
And congratz on the 4th!
There was a very good article regarding Red Bull football clubs in the Times a few months back, especially mentioning the 17-23 age range search for players. I would love to see Arsenal operate in this way in combination with a couple of older heads for guidance ie Sokratis/Aubameyang and players from our own academy.
As has been said, it’s fine for the road to have a few bumps as long as you can see the destination. At the moment it seems a little like we are stuck in a traffic jam in the fog on the M25.
I think the problem is that the term “technical director” can mean a lot of things depending on your job scope.
In Rangnick’s case, “technical director” sounds a lot like a CEO in the conventional sense.
And by conventional, I don’t mean the Ivan Gazidas, who was beholden to Wenger.
I saw somewhere few weeks back that Arsenal are plying one of the youngest team in the EPL this season, but somehow it does not feel like it… Or it might have been in the top with minutes played by young players U23 (AMN, Torreira, Guendouzi, Holding, Bellerin, Iwobi, ESR). To be fair I think most of those young players are worthy of their place. The problem lies more with our failing senior players.
And it would be nice to see more playing time given to some of the most promising youngsters like Eddie and Willock.
Another blockbuster from PedRo- not only was he ‘live’ with us yesterday- chewing the fat.He has a working on his R R dissertation as well. (He is a treasure. And should be appreciated by all.) I think we are in such a pickle – the last thing we need to do – is add another layer of Management to the mix. I would have thought that if you employ a technical director. He would be the one who chooses the head coach? And surely if we had a technical director does he not get in the way of the DoF… Read more »
And what about Arteta ??
(Too soon ??)
Pedro Good to see you in bullish mood again, optimistic and enthusiastic. It’s a reminder of how you were about Ivan and the brains trust a year ago. You had me waving the flag with you then, and, like you. I thought Mikel Arteta was the shape of things to come. What happened? We got Unai instead of Mikel, and two of the brains trust jumped ship, Ivan and Sven. My belief is the same as yours: Arsenal, with its massive fanbase and revenue, ought to be able to compete at the very top with the elite clubs of England… Read more »
lol
It’s an interesting read for sure but these clubs mentioned do fvck all at the real top end of football. The real top end. Arsenal don’t want to become a “nice” team that entertains but never gets the two top trophies in the future.
As for the Atletico Madrid guy their brand of football is more important than any net spend. If it wasn’t for their brand/style of football their net spend would be quite irrelevant.
” when Wenger was their protector. “.
Are you sure that it was not the opposite ??
“It’s an interesting read for sure but these clubs mentioned do fvck all at the real top end of football. ”
Exactly
This endless admiration for teams who all they have done of note is win promotion and occasionally participate in the champions league while completely running down the present manager as “out of his depth” is puzzling
Pedro: ‘The difference between us and other clubs is that when we sign or scout new players, we are fishing in a very small pond. We only interested in players aged between 17 and 23, as from our experience, when you are 23 you are no longer a talent. If you look at other clubs and their development, you can see that players start their careers earlier than 10 years ago and finish earlier too. So we are only scouting those players. The maximum age is 23. The second difference is that in both clubs, we try to implement and… Read more »
You never know once Unai toddles off after his short interim period as head coach fans may be thanking him in the future for putting some ingredients in the team which can be built upon by sexier elements in the years ahead by someone else. What he is trying to do atm with a sub-par squad is put in more work ethic in the team and more focus on team collective. Remember folks the teams that win big don’t just have the pleasing to the eye style. They have the substance as well. Team collective, work-rate. Wenger lacked the overall… Read more »
Not sure about this Ragnick fellow, does he do double sessions though?
Freddie L – please don’t get Pedro started on the double sessions….!
Ragnarock? No.
I’m more excited about the prospect of seeing this guy at Arsenal than the Athletico guy, much of whose success can be put down to Simeone .
I can’t see this move happening thought because he is far too qualified to answer to Raul, Raul would not bring in someone who makes him look old school and fragile.
Just saw something hilarious on a twitter handle
Matteo Guendouzi for 60m to PSG
Nice piece. The guy seems like he knows his stuff but would he be given ‘wings’ at Arsenal? Highly unlikely, don’t you think when you consider they hired in the equivalent of drying paint. Arsenal don’t have the balls to change their failing philosophy and why should they? Stan and arsenal are doing really well financially so why change anything?
We are stuck where we are.
Receding: Matteo Guendouzi for 60m to PSG
While it sounds like a good profit, that is the opposite of what we should be doing. We should be aiming to get 10 more Guendouzis. Eventually, we can sell players like that, but for now we have to build our team around players like him.
Not related but just been rummaging through a load of junk and came across the match day programme for the infamous 4-4 draw against the Spuds from October 2008.
Surely that can’t be right? More than 10 years since that Clichy slip and that Aaron Lennon last ditch equaliser.
Jeppers, where has the time gone?
qna
“While it sounds like a good profit, that is the opposite of what we should be doing. We should be aiming to get 10 more Guendouzis. Eventually, we can sell players like that, but for now we have to build our team around players like him.”
I think receding was guffawing at the story. Could be wrong.
PSG are not interested in Guendouzi for 60m. It’s a ridiculous story.
Wasn’t it that Arsenal put a price tag of 60m on Guendouzi?
Don’t fear qna. PSG are not going to part with 60m for Guendouzi any time soon.
“PSG are not interested in Guendouzi for 60m. It’s a ridiculous story.”
Beyond ridiculous
Great article today. Arsenal really do have the ability to mould a fairly unique strategy. We have the ability to focus on buying and developing youth players, however the financial means to pay big salaries and make big signings. Most of the teams that have a youth based approach, do it out of necessity. There is a real chance for a team to be a hybrid of Dortmund and Bayern. Focus on youth development and buying great younger talents, but actually keep them into their later years, and supplement with big purchases where need be. Imagine what Southampton couldve done… Read more »
Ishola70
You see “more work ethic in the team and more focus on team collective” in our last three games. Especially in the second half of the last two games, I only saw confusions. If you like these kind of football, good for you.
Excellent read Pedro, and couldn’t help but let out an exasperated sigh when you illustrate the innovation and attention to detail going on at RB. Only have to then gaze back at Arsenal where we don’t have one orator at the club to sow the designs of the future to the fans. You totally encapsulated what i’ve said since the start of the season after noting we limped into the new era and the owner played his hand for all to see (buying the club outright in the dying weeks of the transfer window instead of prioritising the new regime).… Read more »
“but for now we have to build our team around players like him.:”
QNA, actually I think you’ll find Receding disagrees with the idea Guendouzi is a player to build a team around. He completely laughed off and mocked my mere suggestion of such a few days ago.
“QNA, actually I think you’ll find Receding disagrees with the idea Guendouzi is a player to build a team around. He completely laughed off and mocked my mere suggestion of such a few days ago.”
Yes it was laughable ..you do not build a team round a 19 year old who isn’t even that good yet. Potential that is all he has.
There has to be a balance between youth and experience and that balance is missing cos our experienced players are either on the decline or not fit for purpose.
Pedro
What a brilliant post.
The politics of AFC seems to consume us all at present. Infact, I would go as far as to say, it’s been this way ever since we moved to Emirates.
The on field problems seem to pale into insignificance compared to our off field failings. The restructuring of the club is of paramount importance if we are to move forward. We fail on this score and you can forget all about that”yellow brick road”.
My concern is, as long as Stan and his henchmen remain, there’ll be even more problems ahead.
There are two major positives this season and that is Guendouzi and Torreira.
These two players can provide us with the backbone we have been lacking. Guendouzi is still very raw but as we saw the other week against MC, even at 19, he can hold his own against the best.
He shows no fear and although he is slightly exuberant on occasions, he is a wonderful prospect, who needs to be nurtured.
Over to you Mr Emery.
Graham
‘My concern is, as long as Stan and his henchmen remain, there’ll be even more problems ahead.’
Mine too.
I appreciate Pedro’s positive attitude on what should happen at Arsenal.
Will it though?
Just on the 17-23 age limit. That 23 limit could be broken for the right player. As much as we hate to look at our rivals as examples to follow, Liverpool went out and paid good money for Suarez when he was 24, and followed that up with Coutinho and Sterling, who were in that age bracket. Although they couldn’t keep them, the money they got is a huge part of why they are such a strong team today. Spurs have gone ahead of us by recruiting well in that 17-23 year age bracket. We don’t have to stick with… Read more »
Receding: you do not build a team round a 19 year old who isn’t even that good yet That’s why it’s called building. It’s not the finished product yet. We are talking 2, 3 or even 4 years from now, when we have added all the necessary new players. Can you not project Guen forward and see him being integral to our team of the future. I see only Guen, Torreira and Bellerin (and perhaps Leno, Holding and Mav if we are lucky) as players that will be central to our next serious push for a trophy. Anyone else will… Read more »
https://youtu.be/MiiIRJ5vwus
Mbappe strikes again !
Mbappe has some career ahead of him if he keeps his eye on the prize. Outrageous talent.
Karim
Lucky goal. Mbappé is just a budget Eddie Nketiah lol
Karim,
What a magnificient goal!
Let’s buy MBappe and we’ll be great again… 😉
*magnificent
Receding
Yea you’ll have to provide some idea of how it’s any way laughable to identify your biggest talent and say ‘build around him’.
What a joke of a goal !
Pedro – great post. A club with real vision and ambition would share with your philosophy of looking forward with a proper plan, whether it involves Rangnick or not. The elephant in the room is Kroenke. No sensible person would be asked to operate in vaccuum. Leadership comes from the top – not the technical director, director of football or first team coach. Operating in this fashion gave us years of Wenger and Gazidis. However does anyone – apart from the Kroenke apologists here who know all Stan’s inner thoughts – have any lucid idea about Kroenke’s long term plans… Read more »
The psg’s number one fan is back… that was too beautiful to be true.
No doubt about it. I’ve long admired what they have done at red bull and I think only crazy people would diss an appoint such as this.
BUT, the thing is, would we be able to entice someone of this calibre with he situation we are in. The arsenal rebuild will take some time, we are in a league where a 15th ranked team can take points of the leader, so it won’t be as quick as Bundesliga but I’m confident it can be done.
Will the fanbase give the new TD 3 years to build the team?
I suspect the new man will be a mate of rauls or a lesser figure who will readily acquiesce to the powers that be.
Guessing monchi or overmars
To add, we have spent roughly 300 million in the last 3 years with a net spent of about 170 million. And this could be far far far more, if we did not screw up with our sales (Perez, Ramsey etc) That by no means is chump change, it’s not like Stan is taking away 50% of the transfer money ever season. Would i like usmanov and half a billion, absolutely but let’s get real Stan isint going anywhere, the quicker we come to terms with it the better. Keeping this handicap in mind, the club is still spending quite… Read more »
Michael
I agree with you 100%. It’s much easier to execute Pedro’s plan if the owner is interested in it and supports it. How can we get Josh Kroenke interested in football/soccer. They are business men. Is he married? Get him a London wife who is an Arsenal fan.:)
RH, you gotta up the tone today.
The snark is boring. Unless you can add value, don’t bother.
Thanks
A simplistic layman’s view of where we stand. Back in 2006, when we moved to the Emirates, we were told it was to compete both financially and, ultimately, on the field of play, with the big boys. Leaving Highbury was supposed to be a major step forward. The reality is though ,we have regressed so far, in every facet of the clubs operation, that from being #2 in Europe in 2006, we can’t even now hold our own amongst the weaker teams of the Europa League. Wenger was to blame for a large part of this( as well as Gazidis),… Read more »
G62, the owner is going nowhere. We need strong leadership, and I think a really good hire in this tech director role could be a good start. Stan isn’t a great owner, but he’s not a bad one. He hands over more money to the cause than the Red Bull guy, or the person running Atleti (Jesus Gil). We have a small fortune to work with, we just have to create a project worth caring about. I really liked Gambon’s post earlier, a blend of Dortmund and Bayern. Hoovering up talent that can’t get a chance, or talent that is… Read more »
Pedro what is your take on a 19 year old 7 months into his time at the club being the club’s most talented player then
Thanks for the deleted comments
Seems you are whittling this place down to just comments that tickles your fancy
And by the way there is no need for you to always come to Charlie’s rescue, he can more than handle himself
He was the one who mentioned me out of the blue citing another posters comment on Guendouzi like it’s some validation for building the team round him
A team of Guendouzi’s is taking us nowhere..there has to be a balance
Graham and Alexander,
Agreed with the both of you.
Senior management of the club is what will ultimately kill us along with their parsimonious attitude to transfer spending.
It’s all well and good sacking Emery today, but I worry which coach would excel under such awful conditions.
Pedders outlines some brilliant and at times genius thinking happening in German football, but none of those avenues will be implemented at our cub as far as I can tell.
I was absolutely convinced The Kroenkes were in it for the long haul. I am sure – they would still like to be. But: (Things change.) Randy Lerner did not think he would sell Villa. He did. Mike Ashley at Newcastle.He wants too. Usmanov shares etc.. They all get sick of the grief in the end…. Arsenal is such a basket case- sometime soon – The Koenkes are gonna have 2 options. 1) Heavily invest and have the headache of sorting out Arsenal ( we are in free fall- with this new regime) 2) Sell quitely-make a sizeable profit- no… Read more »
Good video on Favre.
https://twitter.com/Bundesliga_EN/status/1097449301628932096
RH, in 1998 Arsenal built their team around a benched French player who couldn’t get a game in Milan.
Where Guendouzi was is utterly irrelevant. What is important is what he’s capable of, which so far, looks like a lot.
Your argument is bereft of any logic. Arsene Wenger would have said ‘you are just upset I didn’t pay £50m for him’
A simplistic layman’s view of where we stand. Back in 2006, when we moved to the Emirates, we were told it was to compete both financially and, ultimately, on the field of play, with the big boys. Leaving Highbury was supposed to be a major step forward. The reality is though ,we have regressed so far, in every facet of the clubs operation, that from being #2 in Europe in 2006, we can’t even now hold our own amongst the weaker teams of the Europa League. Irrespective of what some may think, Wenger was to blame for a large part… Read more »
Receding I didn’t mention anything out of the blue, QNA replied to you on the subject of Guendouzi and said he’s the sort of player we should be looking to build the team around. I weighed in because only a couple of days ago you were taking the piss at the same suggestion I made. I don’t need anything validating, I’m perfectly comfortable with the view Guendouzi is a player to build around. I’d go so far as to say that’d be a pretty obvious and mainstream idea shared by the majority of Arsenal fans. He’s our brightest young talent… Read more »
Kroenke:
The future is not all about money. Obviously we all want more invested in the club. But what Pedro is proposing is a lucid, workable longer term plan. Throwing money at Arsenal is the not the entire answer. At times, Wenger and Gazidis spent lots.
Leadership comes from the top.
Michael, I read somewhere that Stan is hands off at LA as well. That’s why this hire is so damn important. If you bring in a coaster who feels too comfortable, we’re in trouble.
I’m quite interested in doing some research on Marc Overmars. Ajax were superb against Madrid the other day, they have lots of young energetic players, he’s helped reinvigorate that club. That said, it’s quite hard to piece together who did what over there. They have lots of football influence in the club
Pedro, The trouble is, if Stan is so heads off, the person making the hire will be Sanllehi….and from what you’ve said about Sanllehi (and the evidence to date), Sanllehi ain’t no visionary.
**Hands off
If our transfer links for the summer is any indication of where we’re going it could end up really exciting.
Konate, Kamara, De Ligt (unlikely) Havertz, Rabiot, Troussard (unsure) Grimaldo, Lozano, Dominik Szoboszlai etc all within 18-23 years old, we should only break that age restriction if it’s for someone truly special and we can get a decent deal, like Fekir (24, 1 year left of contract).
“Where Guendouzi was is utterly irrelevant. What is important is what he’s capable of, which so far, looks like a lot.”
What does he do particularly well??
What is his specialty?? I am a fan of Matteo but going overboard comes to mind here.
I understand building the team round an 18 year old Cesc, he was special. This kid is just good not special.
Perhaps the only reason why the Kroenke money wagon may loose
interest is the attendances.?
Official attendances published by the club said an official average was
57054 per game.
Some 2813 short every game.?
Arsenal supporters trust said the figure was 46000 per game.?
Looking around the stadium at some games last year it seems the Arsenal
are some way short of actual true figures for supporters in the ground.
Freddie at the end of this summer we will still be left with quite a lot of the current players Everyone talks about shifting Ozil but the guy is out visiting Turkish TV show sets and having a ball, he is living the life, why will he go anywhere. Mhki might leave if someone decides to take a final punt on a player you can only describe as Moody. If Emery stays i think Kolasinac stays, so it may be Monreal you move but he already took up that one year extension so that’s 50/50 Lich will leave for sure… Read more »
“Michael, I read somewhere that Stan is hands off at LA as well. That’s why this hire is so damn important. If you bring in a coaster who feels too comfortable, we’re in trouble.” Being hands off is fine, up to a point. But hands off certainly didn’t work with Wenger and Gazdis. I suspect many of us simply don’t know where with stand this guy – is he in or is he out ? But I agree that this apopintment is hugelly significant. It woud be nice were accompanied by some commitment from above. Whoever we bring will be… Read more »
Ozil is in Turkey because he has the weekend off, like most of the players.
When the owner of the club refuses to take the floor at an AGM, infront of shareholders and fans, you know you’ve got a massive problem. This is not being “silent”, on the contrary, this is being disrespectful and ignorant. It’s about time the Arsenal fanbase asked some serious questions of Mr Kroenke and get him to undersatand and realise that by keeping quiet and, consequently, not respecting the club and it’s supporters, is tantamount to stupidity. In Mr Kroenke’s case, it is abundantly clear that he doesn’t care about the club or it’s fans, but is only concerned at… Read more »
got
The mirror saying we will re-open talks with Banega for a summer transfer. 17m pound release clause for the soon to be 31yr old.
“Ozil is in Turkey because he has the weekend off, like most of the players.”
That’s just a fact
I heard differently
Dream10… welcome to Emery Season II: Getting band back together
Graham
The only problem with your statement is that Kroenke has never milked the club out of anything other than £6m during his 12 year association.
The financing from Kroenke isnt the issue, the management of the club is the issue.
“The mirror saying we will re-open talks with Banega for a summer transfer. 17m pound release clause for the soon to be 31yr old.”
And Salomon Kalou
Dream
I can’t believe that’s true, and there’s a long way between now and then. However if we’re spending 17 mil on 31 year olds come the summer i’ll be bereft of any confidence in the management of this football club.
Fake news I say.
Auba in Italy. That an issue as well?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-6716491/Pierre-Emerick-Aubameyang-makes-time-trip-Italy-brothers-birthday.html
Worth noting that it’s half term so most children of school age are off this week, please don’t get excited and link them to other clubs.
CC, really hope we don’t go for £30m Perisic as well.
We need that technical director hire in sharpish
RH
There’s talk about using Monreal in a deal with Grimaldo, wouldn’t mind that if true.
Think there was too much upheaval at the club last summer to do a proper clearout, now Emery has had a year to see how shite most of them really are so hopefully more changes will be made.
Think we had a decent summer window though considering we were hampered by the wage bill and Wengers wastefulness the last couple of years.
Sorry, but signing Banega would be utterly unacceptable. Because of our current circumstances (no CL football, high wage bill, lack of sellable assets) we absolutely have no choice but to go out and do what Dortmund do. It doesnt mean we need to do it for ever, but we need to do it until we are back on track. I really dont like the look of a lot of our transfer targets since Emery came. Lots of rumours he wanted NZonzi rarther than Guendouzi. Suarez and the endless links to Banega. I get the feeling hes going to go out… Read more »
Pedro
I don’t want to see a player over the age of 28 signed by the club in the summer.
21-25 and lets get speculative so these guys have a chance to blow up on us and not nestle into a cushy London retirement.
CC & Pedro
I don’t like the link but I can see it being true. Mislintat has been pushed out of the way. Now Emery can go for the players he wants.
What are people’s thoughts on Overmars over Monchi?
Gambon
Who are you culling if you’re tasked with getting any 5 players out the squad?
I’ll go:
Ospina, Chambers, Kos, Elneny, Mkhitaryan.
We are not signing Banega nor Perisic
And i am pretty certain Suarez isn’t staying either, the battle to remove the obligation to buy was not for show, he was never in our long term plan. It’s not a case of bringing a planned purchase forward, we were just scavenging for bodies while Emery did his dance with Ozil.
“There’s talk about using Monreal in a deal with Grimaldo, wouldn’t mind that if true.”
Freddie why would Benfica want an ageing full back who seems to have lost the little pace he had??
If we somehow get fourth /win the EL, and Emery stays, it’s likely to be Monchi, as his previous working relationship with Emery will be key.
If we don’t and/or Emery goes, it’s likely to Overmars.
Each time when Champions League resumes, realization sinks in. Arsenal is no longer a top club. What does the club process nowadays to attack young football fans? All these mess created by Ozil and Emery would not help. I dream of sending both Ozil and Emery to Spurs and we start over again.
“What are people’s thoughts on Overmars over Monchi?”
Overmars thinks it will be a good idea to bring Alexis Sanchez back to Arsenal