Arsenal’s summer is well and truly rocking.
Nicolas Pepe finally landed on the .com. It has to be the most shocking signing since we landed Dennis Bergkamp. Out-fucking-rageous.
How the hell did Raul pull that move off? The player reckons he had the choice of Liverpool, United, Bayern and Arsenal.
Sure, some of that might have been related to moving up north or having to live in Munich — whatever it was that tipped him our way, it’s an immense achievement and a HUGE signal of intent for the upcoming season.
Things I love about this move:
He’s just turned 24 years old. We have him on the upward trajectory. He was the best-attacking force in Ligue 1 outside the PSG collective. This is basically us signing Eden Hazard of 2019.
Raul has tough financial restrictions to deal with, instead of mincing around pleading poverty and crying about how life is so fucking tough at a rich club, he’s gotten creative. We’ve structured a deal that works for us and a competitor and the transition seems to have been fairly smooth.
We’re now engaging with super agents and family members. I think this is one of those things you’d rather not know the true details of… but the reality of football is it’s a murky business, now we have a character willing to do whatever to get a deal over the line. If we had that sort of attitude on the pitch, maybe we’d be in the CL. Also worth noting that if we’d had that sort of mindset a few years ago, we’d have Mbappe in our starting 11.
This is a big boy signing. I think many people feared we were sliding down the pecking order for the type of player we could sign. We’ve landed two hugely exciting young players, we have an elite number 8 in Ceballos, a wow winger and I think there’s every indication we might bring in Tierney and a centre back.
This is a reminder to the naysayers… we are still an elite club, and a rebirth under the right leadership is possible. Think about that when you’re wondering whether a proper manager would ever consider joining us: short answer, yes.
So far, it’s been a great summer. Even wilder if we move on Mustafi.
It’s hard to fathom where this season is going to take us.
I love the new players, but the cold hard reality is that we haven’t moved the defence along and the new attacking bodies we have aren’t bedded in. Our opening month is going to be tough. I think once the stardust has settled, we might be in for a bit of a shock. Better attacking players make us harder to box in, but they don’t stop Xhaka kicking himself in the face, and they won’t stop the heart-attack that is our backline.
One problem at a time… for now, let’s just bask in the glory of a much better summer than we’d hoped for.
Let’s also laugh at the Spurs players treating a preseason trophy win like a real trophy.
Let’s also laugh at Dybala being lukewarm to the idea of going to play under Ole Gunnar Car-crash.
They’re having the summer we thought we were having… so amusing. x
Gons
Pepe is RW, doubt Martinelli is ready to get more than a couple of sub opportunities though, Nelson, Saka much more likely to get starts on the left.
Nelson looked very good there in pre season.
Andy ” it’s already been pointed out that you’re looking for any reason to trash Ceballos” Does this comment trash Ceballos “Ceballos has played 20 minutes football for us , I would have thought that if the manager wanted him to start our opening game he would have given him game time v Angers. I said at the time that, unless he was injured , it was a strange decision by the manager not to give him some game time … Maybe he will start v Barca, that will give us a good idea of his capabilities.” of course not… Read more »
Bielik joind Derby for 7.5m potentially rising to 10m with add on’s
Bielik is gone and Asano
that is a raise of £10m there
just need to get rid el neny, mustafi, jenko
hopefully they get £30m from all that
Pierre, it suggests to me that you don’t think that Ceballos should start at Newcastle. My original post was about Torreira not being ready for that game and who I thought would start. Why specifically question Ceballos and not for example my other pick of Guendouzi? Answer is because Guen isn’t an alternative to Ozil. You’re so transparent.
So, who would you pick then and why?
TLDR from the journo piece I posted above which is really interesting and well worth the read: Pepe is represented by 3 agents who are more or less like family to him but not really experienced in their job. Other agents have called them “amateurs”. Pepe was on really low salary in Lille – £27k pw or ~£110k per month so he and his agents were very interested in a transfer cause raise in salary could have been 5 times or so (he’s probably on salary of ~120k a week which is a very acceptable salary for the Arsenal imo),… Read more »
Good luck to Bielik then, thought he would be worth at least a chance with the first team squad but it wasn’t to be.
Pierre Torriera had one of his best games playing like a box to box midfielder against Spurs, this talk he was killing it while sitting alongside Xhaka is wrong because we never played with two siting, he simply ran out of steam, new league , world cup exertions and all.
So that’s 4.5m for Ospina, 4.5m for Bennacer, 10m for Bielik and 1m for Asano.
20m in without even touching the first team squad.
We really need to get moving with getting out some deadwood, sure the european window is open longer but it would be nice to ship at least a few before that, could be the difference between getting a decent CB on loan or an excellent one permanently.
Mikhi, Elneny, Kos, Mustafi and Jenks should all be out the door at a minimum this summer.
Can we afford Tierney yet?
fsaf – sounds like Anelka’s brothers who were also his agents back in the day. Hope they are less trouble than those guys . If he does well and we sell in two or three years for a massive profit then fair enough, if he isn’t interesting the very best clubs by then I’d be more concerned.
I like Tierney but if we could get Aarons from Norwich for a similar fee I’d be happy with that too. Can play either FB position which would be a bonus but I expect the asking price would be too high.
Andy
Aarons is mainly a RB, he’s not moving this summer anyway, just signed a new contract with Norwich last month.
Receding,
From the article cited above by fsaf.
“Under Marcelo Bielsa, Pépé learned an awful lot, moving into a centre-forward role despite being more comfortable on the right-wing and becoming a more complete player as a result.”
So does it mean that Pepe plays as a CF?
Freddie, if we are looking to sign a CB then Chambers has to be on the out list. Must be worth £25m of anyone’s money in this market.
SESSEGNONSessegnon is overrated.
Andy
I would like to see Chambers get moved on too, but I think if Mustafi and Kos both leave we’re keeping him.
Doubt we’d be interested in buying 2 CBs when we have Saliba coming in next year. He’ll be ok as 4th choice and we can still flog him next summer, he has a long contract.
Receding, From that same article, “Under Galtier, he worked on being more direct, allowing him to explode. LOSC became dependent on him for much of last season, but were only able to become so as Galtier masterfully shaped his team that way, playing counter-attacking football and bring other attacking players to repeat dummy runs time and time again in training to draw opposition defenders AWAY from the Ivorian in competitive matches. ” Looks like Lille was setup specifically to avoid players making the same run than Pepe. Two players making the same run is easier to defend than two players… Read more »
Valentin i am not responding to you Anyone who cannot apologize when they get things wrong is not worthy of an interaction. You called me a liar and when i proved you were the one who worded your post wrongly you acted like you never saw it now you pipe up to discuss Pepe the center forward. Pepe is not a striker…end of. Players in a front line are allowed to interchange, deal with it. Heat maps from last season show Aubameyang and Pepe operating from different areas of the pitch, they are not colliding with each other unless they… Read more »
Wonder if Ryan Sessegnon is a LB or LW. If he’s still considered a LB is he better than Tierney? Sessegnon’s last campaign wasn’t exactly amazing. Just checked in whoscored that he has the 17th best score in Fulham when Chambers is sitting at 3rd. He is high rated though.
Left,
Seasegnon is overrated player, because Fulham can’t decide if they want him to be a fullback or a winger.
He is a better attacker than the usual fullback, but can’t defend.
He is better defender than usual winger but not effective as pure winger.
He needs to spend a full year learning a single position. He would then progress a lot more.
this “runs natural to them” bit is just tiresome
Do you even know what natural means?? So you are suggesting Aubameyang and Pepe can only make a specific type of run on the pitch?? So we are going to witness a comedy duo next season??
Abeg give it a rest. You must not win every argument.
Guess we are in for some silly observations whenever we play next season from you..Oh look Auba missed that chance because he made an unnatural run
IMO Chambers would be a better right back understudy to Bellerin.
Andy
“Why specifically question Ceballos and not for example my other pick of Guendouzi? Answer is because Guen isn’t an alternative to Ozil. ”
No, the answer is that Guendouzi has had many minutes on the pitch as has Xhaka, plus they have played with their team mates previously …. Ceballos has neither.
Emery could be setting up Ceballos to fail if he starts him v Newcastle without giving him adequate game time to 1) build up his fitness and 2) build on field relationships with his team mates.
“Emery could be setting up Ceballos to fail if he starts him v Newcastle without giving him adequate game time to 1) build up his fitness and 2) build on field relationships with his team mates.”
These things also happens in training
Players don’t report for football matches straight from home. They train practically daily. You have a Ceballos obsession
Receding,
I clearly said that ManCity will win the league. Now your excuse if you misinterpreted my comment and that I should apologise for it!!!
you are really deluded if you expect me to apologise after you deliberately misconstrue my comment to fit your narrative.
I’ll apologise after you apologise for misinterpreting my comment.
You said that Pepe never played CF, and there it is written by a specialist that under Bielsa Pepe played CF and kept some of the characteristics of the play.
You just have been rumbled!
“You said that Pepe never played CF, and there it is written by a specialist that under Bielsa Pepe played CF and kept some of the characteristics of the play.”
Where was this said.??
Pierre is right about Ceballos. That’s what you do in the friendly/off season matches – introduce new players to the team so they get a bit more used to their new teammates, play on a new home stadium infront of new fans. I don’t understand why Ceballos wasn’t given more minutes either. There must be a proper reason, or the more logical one – Emery will not going to play him in the first 11 vs Newcastle and instead our manager is going to slowly introduce Ceballos to the side. We will know more about it after the game vs… Read more »
Receding,
“Pepe is not a striker…end of.”
He was one for Bielsa.
“I clearly said that ManCity will win the league. Now your excuse if you misinterpreted my comment and that I should apologise for it!!!you are really deluded if you expect me to apologise after you deliberately misconstrue my comment to fit your narrative.I’ll apologise after you apologise for misinterpreting my comment.” I guess English is not your first language or you are just not very bright You used the adverb however. You said City will win the league. However You fear this might be Spurs year. That statement in English means that in as much as you expect City to… Read more »
Pepe hasn’t played a single minute with his new team mates but I expect we will see him at some point at Newcastle.
So, back to the question I asked, who would you play, what formation and why? Don’t be shy….
Maybe Ceballos had a niggle. On arsenal.com he was pictured training with Lacazette.
It was just the two of them.
“He was one for Bielsa.”
Was is past tense
Again your grammar lets you down
He also played goal keeper for his first youth team, is Pepe a goal keeper??
Sweet.
“Maybe Ceballos had a niggle. On arsenal.com he was pictured training with Lacazette.”
Glad i wasn’t the only one who noticed that.
Real Madrid was clearly not at the same level of fitness than Arsenal when we meet them. It is possible that Ceballos was just kept in reserve for first assess his fitness level or work on it before the new season. The Angers game was more a run-out for the fringe players. I still think that both fsaf and Pierre are right. The Newcastle game is coming too soon for him. We are more likely to see Xhaka with Willock, unless Torreira came back fit and rating to go from his South America competition. Depending on how things develop, he… Read more »
Re Tierney’s injury record, I think the 2016 and 18 injuries are linked. Hip stuff. That was recurring and that’s what he’s getting fixed this summer to avoid another one. I think I read that somewhere. He’s not really injury prone. So Pepe signed. I wanted to say he was my number 1 preference before I remembered it was Dembele. But yea, Pepe was a close second and a very massive capture for us going forward. He and Ceballos already improves our defence by about 20%. Add Willock’s all action game and the midfield choices will really be good when… Read more »
“Born in Mantes-la-Jolie, Île-de-France, Pépé stared his career originally playing as a Goalkeeper for local side Solitaire Paris Est until he was 14 years old”
He might end up running into Leno at this rate seeing as he once played as a goal keeper
There are rumours circulating according to Times that Arsenal have put up for sale three fringe players in the first team squad specifically Mkhitaryan, Elneny and Jenkinson. The list does not include Mustafi. Elneny and Jenkinson should not be too difficult to shift because they are not on mega buck wages and any sale will be reflected in transfer fee. If Arsenal can generate a transfer fee of £7,500,000 rising to £10,000,000 for Bielik who has never played in first team we should be able to generate similar fees for these two players at least. Mkhitaryan is far more problematic,… Read more »
Receding,
You make yourself look ridiculous.
Pepe never played professional football as a goalkeeper. Not even remotely comparable.
However he spent a season at Lille as a CF. After his emerging season, last summer Lyon wanted to buy him for the striker position they ended up buying Moussa Dembele from Celtic.
“Looks like Lille was setup specifically to avoid players making the same run than Pepe. Two players making the same run is easier to defend than two players making opposite runs. (Who would have known). So looks like somebody (Aubameyang or Pepe) will have to learn to make run that are not natural to him. I wonder who disagree with that statement…” Val, drop this ok? And enjoy whatever you can of the season. Pepe will play RW but will move to LW and CF occasionally in game play, so would Auba. We aren’t setting up to pander to Pepe.… Read more »
“Was thinking of doing a charity climb of Mount Fuji or Killamanjaro at some point before 40”
Some ambition. I don’t know if you can make room for CG. Could be head sorting therapy for him.
Hence why I said ,if he wasn’t injured it would be a strange decision not to give Ceballos game time.
Bielik may be easier to sell because club can see his potential. There is an uplift in getting him.
Both Jenkinson and Elneny are known quantity and pretty much reached their peak. Elneny is unlikely to become the next Salah. Jenkinson is a decent right back for a third tier premiership club but on a too high salary.
“You make yourself look ridiculous.”
You should know all about looking ridiculous Valentin
Pepe now plays as a winger for club and country. He is not a center forward
Again was indicates a past event
You are actually damaging your own argument because what better two players can understand each other better than a winger who used to play CF and a CF who used to play winger…i mean this is an advantage and not a problem you have argued it is all along
“Elneny is unlikely to become the next Salah. ”
Maybe because Elneny is a midfielder??
Oh, yeah, knew I forgot a sale, thanks ES.
so that’s 22m in including the sale of Aemachi. Still without touching the first team squad.
If we can move on a couple of the dross in the next couple of days there’s no reason we can’t go out and get a proper starting CB.
Calm down Pierre.
Mystic,
When you buy for a lot of money a player who thrive in specific play, it make sense to make sure that you create an environment to maximise his performance.
It is not called pandering, it is just common sense. We have a slow build up, we need to change that in order to get him to be effective.
I have used the same analogy before. What is the point of buying a Maserati if you intend to do off-roading?
Valentin “So it looks like somebody( Auba or Pepe) will have to learn to make runs that are not natural to him” Wow, so much detail. Don’t forget these guys are professional footballers and will be working in training on many different options and formations. That’s their job. Auba, Lacazette and Pepe must be chomping at the bit to work on different plays. I’m excited just thinking about it. I understand your concerns but try not to get too worked up about things. Hopefully it’ll all pan out. To be honest, I’d be far more concerned about Mustafi doing his… Read more »
“When you buy for a lot of money a player who thrive in specific play, it make sense to make sure that you create an environment to maximise his performance.”
For those who haven’t been following, this environment he speaks of is Sell Aubameyang buy Zaha. That singular move somehow transforms us to a counter attacking team. Nothing to do with tactics and the way the team is setup
Valentin
Arsenal have generated from sales so far:
Ospina to Napoli £3,500,000
Bennacer to Napoli [30% sell on fee] £4,500,000
Amaechi £2,100,000
Bielik £7,500,000 [rising to £10,000,000
Asano £1,000,000
———————————————————————————————–
Total: £18,600,000
I would have thought we can sell both Jenkinson and Elneny for £15 million
combined and Mkhitaryan for a modest £10 million.
“After his emerging season, last summer Lyon wanted to buy him for the striker position they ended up buying Moussa Dembele from Celtic.”
Maybe they realized he wasn’t actually a striker then.
The sale of Bielik was our highest sale since we sold Giroud in January of 2018, says a lot about the quality and the contract mess that Wenger and Gazidis left behind.
Was always going to take time to unfuck that mess, but we’re finally looking like we’re about to do it.
Just occurred to me we have just under four days to make whatever moves we want to make with regards to incoming’s and some outgoing’s if we are selling within England.
Squeaky bum time to fix that defense
Dani Alves has joined Sao Paulo
Stroller,
Unless somebody makes us an offer we can’t refuse, I would keep Jenkinson for six more months. Enough time to cover Bellerin injury. That is not a high standard, but when focus he is a better right back than AMN.
In six months time, Jenkinson will also realise that his prospect are not as rosy as he think (Wellbeck is now learning that harsh reality) and may accept more readily to move on.
‘So Pepe signed. I wanted to say he was my number 1 preference before I remembered it was Dembele. But yea, Pepe was a close second’
I would spin it around, I would say Dembele is a close second to Pépé in 2019.
Agree Graham…
What with players coming back from injury (Bellerin, Holding), late returners ( Torreira) and new signings, it may well be the start of October when we’ll see our strongest 11. Hope Emery has the wherewithal to get some decent results up until then. Depending on whether we sign Tiernay and a CB, that’ll be around seven players who won’t be begin the season starting ( I’m including Pépé and Ceballos in that number).
When I imagine receding hairline I picture Bernard from Westworld
Valentin, a ‘focussed’AMN is a much better player than a ‘focussed’ Corporal Jenko.
STROLLER,
there were reports a few month that Zenith was interested and he was willing to go. Most Italian clubs have no money. Nobody seems to be interested in him in Germany and no clubs in France (bar PSG) could afford his salary, so Russia and the Middle East (China is now closed) seems to be the only possibility to exfiltrate him out of Arsenal.
Valentin
You may have a point.
Nevertheless we have RB options in Maitland-Niles and Chambers. So there is
little point in keeping Jenkinson as well. We will get no transfer fee for him in
January as his contract expires in June.
Old red nose.Always bought players with an edge to them.Either sneaky or downright physical.Yhe type of players like or loathe them,youd want in the trenches.wenger initially had these “ qualities” in his earlier sides but then went for midgets & spineless footballers.hence the mess we have today….
Freddie
So what? You’re expecting every sale to exceed £20m?
He made over £100m from Ox Theo Giroud coq and paulista
There were still assets in the team but they chose to let most of them walk for free
Mustafi is about to go for €30m or so
Wind it in
Bob,
AMN is a better player than Jenkinson, but Jenkinson is a better right back.
AMN because he is a better athlete recover better from his bad positioning, but Jenkinson is less often caught out.
Bob is right
AMN is far superior to jenks
“When I imagine receding hairline I picture Bernard from Westworld”
Jeffery Wright
Lol
Not even close, unless of course if you are solely focused on the hairline. I am way younger too
‘ If Arsenal
can generate a transfer fee of £7,500,000 rising to £10,000,000 for Bielik who
has never played in first team we should be able to generate similar fees for these two players at least.’
A player must first generate interest from other clubs before his club can generate good money for him….. demand vs supply.
Bielik was in demand, first team or no first team, one can’t say same for the other guys.
Val, he’s a star signing but he’s not coming to West ham. He’s coming to Arsenal. Let’s hope they all work out. They might make same runs sometimes but they will make lot of different runs and hopefully run the opposition defence ragged.
Gentle, Dembele will always be my number 1 winger choice until he can’t perform anymore. Even with Pepe, I would still want Dembele.
Andy, when all are fit and we sign a new CB and Tierney
Leno
Bellerin new CB Sok Kolasinac/Tierney
Torr Ceballos
Ozil
PAL
Valentin
The benefit of Jenkinson is minimal and leaving aside Maitland-Niles as I have
pointed out you can play at RB Chambers who is a better defender than both these players.
This season there will be minimum requirement for a wing back on right side
of pitch with arrival of Pepe as well as Martinelli and Nelson who are all specialist wingers.
Don
You can’t help being a prick can you?
In this market we are the only club that can’t take advantage because all our players that we want to shift are overpaid and underperforming big time, you don’t see that as a problem?
Also Bielik went for 10m, not 20m.
In 18 months that’s our highest fee, that’s actually pathetic.
You still don’t understand that we had very little leverage with players like Welbeck and Ramsey that were down to their last year, and I don’t think you ever will, you’re just too dumb.
Agree to disagree Valentin, Jenko is not that great defensively and is always worried about giving the ball away so his contributions with the ball are negligible.
Who wants to take a bet that Bielik comes back to the PL for 25/30m next summer?
When Jenkinson played at WestHam, he looked decent. If he is tasked only to defend and not galloping forward, Jenkinson can be a useful right back.
The problem is that nowadays we expect our right back to be good defender and good attacker. Some can’t do it. In view of the rest of our defense, I would rather we play somebody who can defend and instruct him to concentrate on the defensive aspect of the game rather than going forward.
I would wait until Mustafi actually gets sold before proclaiming that as a victory, I can’t see him going for anything close to €30m, just because that is what’s reported that we want doesn’t mean that’s what we’ll get. Pretty basic stuff really.
Mysticleaves
If that is case Arsenal have probably included sell on clause as they did with Bennacer.
Bob,
I find that AMN take a lot more risk than Jenkinson. Jenkinson knows his limitation and does not try fancy flicks. Where AMN lose a lot of good will at the Emirates is when he lackadaisically lose possession in dangerous positions.
£15m offer for Mustafi should be gladly accepted!
“Who wants to take a bet that Bielik comes back to the PL for 25/30m next summer?”
I will take that bet Mystic
The rating this kid has for one good season in league one is astonishing. I mean why did he not move to a premier league team now for the 10m??? weren’t they all watching him too??
ES, I hope so too.
RH, premier League clubs like spending money. Simples
New post
“Anyone who cannot apologize when they get things wrong is not worthy of an interaction. You called me a liar and when i proved you were the one who worded your post wrongly you acted like you never saw it“
Pot, kettle.
What about when you lied about numerous things I’ve said, had them posted, had your lies exposed, then seen yourself vanish and act like it never happened.
Forget Shrek, living ignorantly in his swamp, you’re more Harry Potter.
If we can’t get Tierney how about firpo from betis ??.
Hairline
Always pictured you as older. There you go.
He was married to Carmen Ejogo. Some woman her