Saliba? You better beliba it…

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Plenty of news out of France at the minute suggesting that we’ve agreed on terms with William Saliba about a move away from St.Etienne.  This from Lequipe.

‘The Gunners will now enter into negotiations with the Greens to try to complete the operation. The idea of ​​the different parties is to make a transfer, followed by a loan to ASSE for the coming season. The Forez club could thus finance its mercato, in addition to keeping its player an additional year.’

The reason this signing should excite you is two-fold.

The idea that we’re about to drop sexy money on an 18-year old that we’re not going to have in the squad next season is absolutely massive. It suggests we likely have more than £40m in the kitty, Stan K is buying into the future plan, and that the club is fairly confident of raising more funds from player sales this summer. If this move happens, it’d show we’re future planning at a far more ambitious clip than ever before.

The second part of this move that excites me is that it doubles down the hope that we’re moving towards a smarter model for rebuilding Arsenal. It means that the Dortmund+ vision is where we’re likely heading. That’s exactly how we win moving forward.

I’ve read some folk moaning that this approach is neglecting the short term, but here’s the rub, Arsenal has given a full throttle go at short-termism and it failed. We signed Auba, Lacazette, Sokratis, Leno, Xhaka, Lichtsteiner, Mustafi, Perez, Welbeck and Kola… at great expense and we didn’t make the top 4.

Short-termism comes at a cost, we bought in players on CL money and now we can’t move them on. We tied players down like Ozil and they’re not motivated.

The last thing we should be doing is giving the short-term game another go next season. It’s not sustainable, it’s dry to watch, and the Premier League is too competitive for that approach to be a smart one when you don’t have buckets of money to throw at the problem.

Additionally, it’s worth noting that Arsenal did stabilize last season. Sure, Emery finished worse than he started, but when all was said and done, we only had ourselves to blame for not finishing 3rd. That’s a good set of footings to build from. If we ship out the bad eggs, replace with capable young players with high ceilings, and rebuild the departments surrounding the manager with people that share Arsenal values, blended with a true winners mentality, we could be on course for improvement next season.

I’m being very hopeful here… the main angle I want to get at is that Edu is going to come armed with ideas, energy and a fresh footballing philosophy. Hiring in like Sevilla this summer would have been a disaster for the next manager. Next season should be a speedy assessment of infrastructure weaknesses, with an action plan for a rebuild. The recruitment seems to be off to a good start, let’s just hope Raul keeps things focused on elite youth so the transition to the next person is smooth and cost-effective.

The manager leaving shouldn’t break the club… hopefully that’s what’s being put in place.

Remember, 5 years ago Spurs and Liverpool were behind us on the pitch, as brands, and financially. Now look at them! We could have some of that, but the building has to start now. Saliba, Claude, Schubert and bringing back the kids is where we should be heading… very exciting if true.

We’re being linked to Kimpembe. He’s on Neymar’s shit list. He’s a good player, he’s young, could be an interesting move as PSG look to offload talent.

Even more exciting? David Ospina is nearly gone… feels like he’s been here so long, he should be landing a testimonial? Right? He’s like that one guest at the end of a house party, ‘shots, shots, shots’, no David, you just pissed all over the toilet seat again and you’re wearing my wife’s bra on your head. Time to go matey.’

One man I’d like to do shots with at a house party with is Steve Bould. He’d be doing them from fish bowls telling a crowd of people he’s not down with gender pronoun bollocks, ‘you are what you are, and while I’m here, gluten-free, fucking bollocks is what that is.’ I’d never tell Steve I drink oat milk. Not worth the aggro.

Anyway, he’s swapped roles with Freddie. I think the move is very simple, Steve Bould wants to coach and there’s probably not a lot of opportunity to do that under Emery. I like that he’s been kept in the club, he’s a great personality to have about the camp and he’s a legend. I’m also very excited about Freddie, I’ve heard interesting things about how he is, clearly hugely ambitious, has had a good stint with the kids, so it all looks very positive. Unai apparently has a thing about making sure anyone he hires outside his group of buddies can’t have any hair. It’s weird, but what can you do?

Can someone get me the odds on caretaker manager Freddie?

On that sexy note, I’ll see you in the comments x

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WengerEagle

Japan are all over Chile here, incredible that they still haven’t scored.

WengerEagle

Yeah his first touch is shocking for the top level, he genuinely can’t keep the ball within a foot of his body when he’s lasered a pass.

Drogba’s first touch on the other hand was brilliant for a target man.

Honestly is the difference between getting off a shot or not in those crucial half chance scenarios in the box.

WengerEagle

Nice finish Alexis, lad needed that.

MidwestGun

Most of Lukakas goals I’ve seen were rebounds… hustle goals … Headed goals from crosses and almost all of them he ran onto them and hit them first time. Great if your getting those chances. But not much created for himself. . But like you say he will probably go to a less physical league and play better.

Kind of like Jozy Altidore in the Eiredivisie .. lol Looked like Drogba until he got to PL and was terrible because he got exposed with poor tech skills.

WengerEagle

Crikey, some finish that Vargas.

Has there ever been a more night and day CF for club/country? Guy is useless at club level but has been for whatever reason world class for Chile.

MidwestGun

Yep… Vargas would be a 100 mill player if he played like he did for Chile.. all the time.

WengerEagle

Ha yeah Jozy couldn’t finish a Twix in the PL but he’s been somewhat prolific in the MLS/for the USMNT and he was along with Wilfried Bony and Afonso Alves stupid good in Holland.

Same league that made Ryo Miyaichi look like the second coming.

MidwestGun

Wilfried Bony … was a bruiser.. He should have been better then he was too.

WengerEagle

Mid

It’s usually the other way around isn’t it? So used to seeing guys that are class for the clubs only to flatter to deceive whenever they pull on the NT shirt.

And then you have your Vargas, Klose’s and Maniche’s [Portugal NT baller] of the world.

WengerEagle

He was another one that overestimated his own ability Middy, he had a good thing going there at Swansea before Citeh came calling.

MidwestGun

Eagle-

Yeah.. off the top of my head … I think Clint Dempsey was about the most consistent between Club and Country for us.

WengerEagle

Strangest game I’ve watched in a long time, on paper an easy win as you’d expect for Chile but fuck me Japan ran them ragged for long spells.

MidwestGun

Japan is tough in WC too.. you don’t want to draw them in your group… They will out train you for sure.

WengerEagle

What do you make of Pulisic? You see him coming anywhere close to Hazard level in the future?

Timothy Weah also has lots of hype around him, I saw him not too long ago in a friendly vs Ireland and I’ll be honest, wasn’t overly wowed. Scary pace but not much to worry about on the ball.

WengerEagle

This isn’t even Japan’s proper squad, missing Honda, Kagawa, Inui, Yoshida, Nagatomo.

MidwestGun

Pulisic has great turn of pace very quick.. good tech skills, good passer.. can beat his man. However… he isn’t an amazing finisher yet.. and he isn’t very stout… Like Hazard has thick legs… So Pulisic gets injured a lot and his stamina is off at times. .. I would be surprised if he makes it through PL season.. will have to be managed..

At times he will be great and others you will be like 50 mill?

MidwestGun

or was it 70 mill.. whatever it was … it was too much.. lol

WengerEagle

Mid

Yeah he’s never scored more than 4 league goals in a season, that will have to dramatically improve.

He has to be the most talented player ever to come out of the US though. Pretty amazing skillset and potential there.

He’s nowhere near ready to carry the Chavs though which bodes very well for us.

MidwestGun

Yep.. plus it’s a lot of pressure on him.. but we will see.. Unfortunately since he plays for the SCum he is basically dead to me until he puts on the red,white and blue.

WengerEagle

Haha, any Chav jerseys over there with his name yet?

Will probably trigger you worse than the Kane Spud one did.

Valentin

WestHam has rejected ManUtd’s offer of £40 millions +1player for Issa Diop. They wan £60 millions in cash.
Last season some of us were praising Issa Diop and said that he was the kind of players Arsenal should go after. He cost £5 millions more than Sokratis, but he will have a positive resale value at the end of his contract. It was a no brainer.
Seems that Arsenal have learned their lesson with the pursuit of Saliba. Better late than never.