Today I’m writing out of desperate concern for the future of our club. I think Arsenal are perched on a dangerous precipice. There is a Trojan horse at the gates of Highbury House, inside it lurks a super agent looking to control his biggest club yet via a managerial proxy. The idea of Jorge Mendes installing his boy Nuno as our manager has to be squashed with brute force because outside of it being a painfully bland appointment, it comes with dire ramifications for how we are operated and run.
We cannot let this happen. It would be a mistake with grave consequences for our future.
Arsenal is an institution. A club dedicated to closely guarded values. Yes, those values have been used to defend mediocrity over the past 10 years, but forget that for a minute, we stand for something bigger than trophies and that is something you should cherish.
Whether it’s passing on Frank and Ronald De Boer because of what it said about our respect for contracts 25 years ago. Replaying a cup match with Sheffield United because of a rules infraction. Or the general standard of how the club conducts itself in the local community, we are a special club. There is an Arsenal way and it makes us proud to be fans.
Those values appear to be under attack by some in the leadership team.
Look no further than the open arms welcome to ‘contacts’ recruitment and the introduction of super-agents for evidence. Much like Unai Emery’s early subs in September 2018, we initially welcomed the shift towards a more pragmatic era, but 18 months in, with next to nothing to show for it, it’s starting to look like we’re being taken for a ride by Raul’s process for getting things done.
The last 18 months will pale in comparison if he is successful in selling us the dud vision of Nuno and Mendes running things at Arsenal. To be clear, this is not just agent talk. His name will be on the managerial shortlist the club is pulling together. Nuno might look a reasonable suggestion on paper, the one-season wonder has had some spectacular results, but as with Emery, scratch beneath the surface, and it’s clear all is not as it seems with the charismatic Portuguese.
So what’s the problem? Outside having a bland-on-toast resume that’s been heavily fortified with great wins against top 6 sides, the main issue is his super-agent kingmaker, Jorge Mendes. Every article leaked into the Arsenal ether this week has gone to great lengths to tie Raul and his friendship with Mendes to this potential deal. This is not an accident, Raul is canvassing fan opinion to see how we perceive this sort of partnership: You should be disgusted.
Mendes has a history with Arsenal. He has fucked us in the past. The biggest, and perhaps most consequential shafting was the Ronaldo move way back when. Mendes used Arsenal to earn a better deal from United. This is Wenger on the deal.
“There is always something you could have done differently, but the problem of negotiations is to know when you give in and when you don’t give in,” he added.
“Once we were at 4.5 million pounds, we were still in negotiations… so we were very close. But Man United went to 12 million pounds, which we could not afford at the time.”
Mendes was also responsible for sending Ricardo Carvalho to Chelsea when we were close. There are also numerous other deals that didn’t go our way. He is no friend of the club and there was a reason Wenger wouldn’t deal with him (no doubt it’ll be in his book).
Now let’s move onto Nuno. He was Mendes’ first-ever client in football way back when he was a reserve keeper. They have a storied history together.
Fast forward to Spain in 2014.
When creditor, Bankia, were trying to find a buyer for the beleaguered Spanish club Valencia, Asian billionaire Peter Lim brokered a deal for 70% ownership, his one stipulation? Nuno had to be put in charge of the team. The deal went through, the popular Pizzi was sacked, Nuno was given the managerial role. Who brought Peter Lim to the table? Jorge Mendes.
Things went as you’d expect, this from Sport 360.
‘And since Lim’s arrival was confirmed, the club has signed an unsurprisingly high number of players who are managed by or have close links with Mendes, including Joao Cancelo, Zakaria Bakkali, Danilo and Enzo Perez, creating suspicions that they owe their chief loyalties to the agent rather than the club, and that they will only stay until Mendes decides it is time to sell them.’
Things went deeper though, Mendes made real jobs redundant because he was the king. His roster of players was all that mattered.
‘Conversely, fan favourite Nicolas Otamendi was sold to Manchester City, with the deal facilitated by his agent – Mendes, of course. For many fans the most troubling aspect of the summer, however, was neither the club’s failure to significantly invest in players nor the Mendes links with those who did arrive. It was a political battle between Nuno and three of the club’s key backroom staff: president Amadeo Salvo, sporting director Francisco Rufete and scout Roberto Fabian Ayala, who felt marginalised by the powerful influence of Mendes and threatened to leave unless the situation was rectified.’
‘Nuno stood his ground, Lim backed him, and Salvo, Rufete and Ayala all departed – with the startling fact that chief scout Ayala was not even replaced speaking volumes for the club’s current recruitment policy, which appears to be based upon little more than shuffling around Mendes’ personal portfolio.’
Nuno was eventually fired despite returning Valencia to the Champions League, fans were disgusted at the power grip he and Mendes had on the club. By December 2015, Peter Lim had spent €200 million on players (lots of dross), many of whom were represented by Mendes. What did Nuno have to say about it?
“A short time ago I heard that it was a privilege to be able to work with the best agent in the world,”
“I don’t know why this has changed. He remains the best agent in the world. He has helped Valencia a lot.
“The players he has brought, I believe they will soon be the best in the world. You must recognise his work. The squad planning was what we believed was the best. I believe we were right in all the individual judgements. There is a young squad with a lot of potential, the youngest in La Liga. This project will have success for sure.”
Completely oblivious to the real reasons the fans turned on him, Nuno echoed an excuse reminiscent of what Emery said in yesterday’s press conference.
“The players believe they can give more, they must. But they need to be supported, to feel people are with them, that the fans understand their youth, that they are with them in every game, so their quality can come through.
“I had become the problem, because the fans were not supporting us, but had turned on me. Now I ask them to support the players, because they have the quality they have shown before.”
Valencia finished 12th the next two seasons.
Fast forward to 2016. Xi Jinping, the top boy over at China mainland, is a huge Premier League fan. He encouraged investment from his big shot entrepreneurs in the beautiful game. Fosun, a Chinese investment conglomerate, went out and picked up Wolves for £46m. Who was there to broker the deal? Jorge Mendes. He is the go-to broker for Asian billionaires looking to move into European football.
To make matters more complicated, Fosun’s owner has another firm called Shanghai Foyo that reportedly owns a 20% stake in Jorge’s agency, Gestifute. This from Wolves in 2018.
“Fosun have a percentage stake in the Gestifute company headed up by Jorge Mendes,”
Leeds Chairman, Radrizzani, was livid at the complicated relationship Mendes had with the club, obviously fearing conflicts of interest could arise.
“Not legal and fair to let one team owned by a fund who has shares in the biggest players’ agency with evident benefits (top European clubs giving players with options to buy) … why the other 23 teams can’t have the same treatment?”
It’s too boring for me to get into the details of every single player Wolves have signed or moved out of the club, but do the research yourself. Read commentary on Neto and Jordao.
It was swift, it was sudden, and it came as if from nowhere. Wolves, on Friday, with minimal warning until less than 24 horus beforehand, announced the signing of Portuguese duo Pedro Neto and Bruno Jordao from Italian outfit Lazio – for a combined fee of £18million.
Significant money for two players who were largely unheard of outside of Portugal and Italy, and two players who between them had barely racked up 100 minutes of senior football. From the outside, it looks like a confusing piece of business, perhaps even a rip off if you will, and a sign of the market spiralling completely out of control.
Read the Italian press write about the money Lazio spent to NOT play the two mentioned above. Read this 2018 article that cites 13 players as linked to Mendes that moved to Wolves. Or this Sun puff pieces that basically reckons UEFA would be killjoys if they let rules get in the way of a very strange setup. Remember Bebe? Mendes.
So now for Arsenal.
We’ve already had our fingers burned by the Kia deal for Luiz, I was told all in, that deal will have set us back £40m. We should have been looking at players with a high ceiling on the up, not a busted flush from Chelsea. Everyone is fully aware that we went above and beyond on Pepe with fees so steep, Napoli pulled out.
We also signed Unai Emery out of the blue and did the deal in 8 days. Without going over all the things that were clearly wrong with that hire, one huge miss stood out… Emery couldn’t speak English to Sven or Ivan G who interviewed him, yet we still signed him. How was that bulldozed through? No one at Arsenal asked if being able to speak the language was an issue? Very odd.
Anyway, it happened, we’re 18 months on, and who is being linked? Emery with a beard. A man with a very uninspiring resume, with very, very, very deep ties to a super agent that comes as part of his package whether you like it or not.
Signing Nuno is not about his talent as a manager, it’s about what it’ll cost the club in terms of a future. His introduction will make Edu an irrelevance, same for the scouts and the analysts (just like at Valencia)… because Jorge Mendes will become our Technical Director, Chief Scout, and Club Strategist. Why would Raul invite such a force into the club?
This move will create a lack of trust in the system. If you’re upset about the lack of transparency at Arsenal since Stan took us private, my word, you’re in for a treat if Raul gets his way with this manager. On the technical side, this move will rupture the already diminished culture at the club because our approach will shift from data and intelligence, to whatever works best for the fees.
To use Josh Kroenke’s words, it would not leave the fans proud. The Nuno suggestion is an assault on everything we believe about the club we love. It should not and cannot happen. If it does, you’ll know what Raul is all about, and you’ll know where it’s going to end… a financial/football disaster we’ll be lumped with for the next decade.
This sort of carry-on does make me wonder if Sir Chips’ fight to have Arsenal people on the board is about more than hurt feelings. Perhaps Raul’s ideas are alarming the sleepy old men? The same folk that were content with average football for 10 years might not be happy to see the club taking an unsavory path toward opaqueness. One can only hope.
I think it’s very telling that top journalists are being briefed very specifically that Raul is the one responsible for Unai’s continued tenure, as well as being the one that went off-shortlist to make the horrendous recommendation to hire him in the first place, that tells you he has enemies internally because those stories are an attack on his leadership, judgment, and credibility.
My hope is that the good people at the club are aware of the motives behind this managerial suggestion. Josh Kroenke needs to get off his Instagram and start speaking to the folk at the training ground with real football knowledge before he’s hoodwinked into another Raul shambles. Nuno is a Trojan horse that must be burned to the ground before people start entertaining the idea that the horse would look ace on The Emirates concourse. Arsenal are not Valencia. We are not Wolves. If Manchester City are valued at nearly £5b, then so are Arsenal. Nuno isn’t Arsenal levels to start with, factor in his baggage, and I wouldn’t even give him the courtesy of an interview. The absolute last thing we need to be doing is giving Jorge Mendes a parking spot next to the power at Arsenal FC. We are better than that.
My hope for this article? Firstly, you see the danger here. Secondly, that fans steer clear of falling in love with the Nuno idea, see it for what it is, bitch about it online, and share this story with anyone that thinks otherwise. This move is an attack on your club, it would fail miserably, and it must be dismissed with the same vigor we used to swat away the Jose stories.
See you in the comments, but not before you’ve gone onto Twitter to complain about this Nuno nonsense. #NuNoFuckingWAY
its not that difficult
DM
Chrispy
What isn’t?
Trofee
Boomslang you’re on your game atm! Nice to have some proper competition, I never know if you’re around or not and when you’re not no one else comments for 10 minutes so I cba to wait… This makes it interesting lol. Nice one
Cheers
Fourth trophy
Its not that difficult to see through Raul’s game and also to get your prized No 1 spot, DM.
Dont worry, i’ll let you have it going forward.
How chivalrous! But I’m game for the challenge if you are
Good morning Charlie just got to read your reply post from last night where I remember now some of your Poch comments from your pre hiatus posts.You make compelling arguments for Rafa and Poch, but I still have reservations regarding Poch. Yes, in many ways Poch ticks most of the boxes as you pointed out; however, I feel Poch lacks a winners’ mentality or at least has a mental block when it comes to winning vital games and this transfers to his players.Poch also has a suspect temperament where he deflects blame to his players when things ultimately go wrong… Read more »
Nunofuckingway
I despise these Spanish fraudsters
Emery got so fucking lucky last season and now all the chickens is coming home to roost
I cant even watch Arsenal anymore its so painful!!!!
Wow, some serious stuff here from Pedro, FBI style research and everything. Welldone.
But surely we cant blame Mendes for fucking the Ronaldo deal. Man utd offered more, we couldn’t match it. That’s business, nothing personal there.
Very good post Pedro A bit alarmist in nature as Nuno and Mendes as a duo have their good points, Wolves have not exactly suffered from that association. I don’t that combo should be encouraged at Arsenal. It restricts our scouting, restricts our recruitment and Nuno as a coach is not taking us anywhere we have not been before. In all this i ask again, what is Edu’s job and does he have any input at all? Seems like an appointment that was celebrated but so far we have had nothing to show for it. We need to do something… Read more »
”But surely we cant blame Mendes for fucking the Ronaldo deal. Man utd offered more, we couldn’t match it. That’s business, nothing personal there.”
Yea exactly. He was not a friend of the club then neither did he claim to be. He did what he thought was best for his clients and at the end of the day it was indeed best for them.
Nuno has AMATEUR and DISASTER written all over it.
So I suspect we’ll appoint him before the new year.
Pedro
What exactly are these “closely guarded values” you speak of.
These so called values haven’t served us too well these past 13 years.
Maybe we need a bit of Rock and Roll to stir things up.
Could have got Pep long time ago. But Wenger refused to step down.
Our club needs shaking up……..big time.
I mean, come on, we can’t keep going on like this.
Our “values” have helped make us into a laughing stock.
Doom and gloom is what we grown accustomed to.
Maybe a few fireworks are what is needed to get the ball rolling.
I’m with Graham when it comes to so called “values”. I’d buy it if we were a club owned 51% by fans a la Bundesliga. I’d buy it if we had standing areas for working class fans and kids got in free. I’d buy it if we had a proper home, club crest and a atmosphere. I’d buy it if we competed. Instead we have an absentee billionaire landlord who wouldn’t know one end of the ground from another. We have the highest ticket prices in the world. We have a board who have presided over mediocrity at best and… Read more »
Agree with all said in the article but the sad fact of modern football is that you have to deal with this guy if you want to be successful.
If we’d had a relationship of any sorts with Mendes over the last 5 years we could have got players like Bernardo Silva, Ederson, Neves, Jota etc….
The best players will always attract the murkier side of football as that’s where the money is. So if you want to be successful you have to be willing to deal with those people.
Graham
“Doom and gloom”
Speak for yourself…
You reap what you sow.
If you wasn’t intelligent enough to understand how difficult it is to compete at the top and to win trophies with one arm tied behind your back , then more fool you.
It’s the entitled fans like you have made the club a “laughing stock”..
I’d rather be entitled at one of the richest and most successful clubs, either one of the biggest and most impressive stadia and history in England, than someone with all the above and low self esteem who thinks we shouldn’t expect any better than the west hams of this world
Though it also begs the question of why you are so critical of emery if it takes miracles to do what wenger was doing? Can’t blame the guy if it’s such an incredibly difficult task, right?
Never mind logic Pierre. It’s lost on you
Pierre if wenger or ozil took a steaming log on your foot you’d spray paint it gold and try and sell it to us on here for a grand
No difference in what you do every day trying to whitewash the shitshow that have been wenger and ozil the last couple of years
Pedro
This is 2019, not 1952!
I’m fed up with all these frigging values.
Values to benefit who exactly?
The fans?
I don’t think so.
Kroenke, The BoD’s, Executive Management, Wenger………even Emery on his ludicrous £6m salary. Who are these values really for?
The truth if the matter is that Arsenal Football Club have no values.
Other clubs have values. They know when to act and what to do to benefit the club.
Arsenal and their bloodyVALUES!
Don’t make me laugh.
Still better than Emery, yes you can say he’s overachieving but I’d still take him.
That Wolves team fights for each other, if he can grab Moutinho and one of his CBs as well as possibly the keeper we’d be sorted.
It’s really that simple.
The only values the club has is how to be really good at talking bullshit about values
Wow powerful post Pedro, very cool even if I disagree with a few points.
Modern football has created and allowed these type of relationships to prosper, we tried to go against the tide during Arsene’s tenure and it left us woefully unprepared for the modern transfer market.
I believe a Nuno appointment carries as much risk as Arteta so for me its not the worst thing in the world although I also would prefer Mikel and his immaculate hair.
Arsenal values are to be passive as fuck and to be a total pussy about change
Pierre
Sorry mate, you’re not the person to give logical advice on here.
It’s folk like you who accepted regression for so long that are to blame.
Keep playing your golf and planning your next move.
You’d fit in the boardroom at Arsenal no problem.
Passive and unresponsive.
Pedro still pushing the contacts against data angle. What if the data recommends players who are clients of the super agents? Surely having these contacts is better then not having them.
Also if Arsenal as a club have values and ethics above those of other clubs why the fuck do we pay such a premium for our season tickets? We’ve not had champions league footie in a while and the football on display has been dire now since Emery was appointed.
Have the club conducted themselves with integrity when it comes to cost of watching the team? fuck no.
Pierre still subtlety letting all of us know that we are the cause of all of Arsenal’s problems for being ungrateful little pricks to Wenger. Least he’s consistent so full props to him
Oh and sorry but there isn’t anything like Arsenal values lolz we barely have a say what goes on in the club so what values pray tell are we talking about.
Hi Pedro , I could get banned for this , but let it be known – I love this blog I agree with some of the points , but I have a few things to respectfully disagree with you on , contained in today’s post You’re now defending the ‘values’ ? As you say , ‘the same values that have been used to define mediocrity over the last 10 years ‘ but we have to ‘forget that for a minute’ ? our ‘values’ have us where we are now – our values kept wenger in a job for 10 years… Read more »
China1 “Though it also begs the question of why you are so critical of emery if it takes miracles to do what wenger was doing? Can’t blame the guy if it’s such an incredibly difficult task, right?” Who said miracles, not me .. What Emery is achieving is making all those fans who continually slaughtered Wenger for his tactics and style of football, look totally clueless . Fans are now yearning for champions league football , which is exactly what they scorned for all them years . I have actually been critical of the process as much as the manager.… Read more »
Batistuta
“Pierre still subtlety letting all of us know that we are the cause of all of Arsenal’s problems for being ungrateful little pricks to Wenger. ”
You said it
“ What Emery is achieving is making all those fans who continually slaughtered Wenger for his tactics and style of football, look totally clueless .”
And at which point did we do that Pierre ? The first 10 years of wenger or the last 5 ?
The Telegraph is reporting that tonight’s game against Eintracht Frankfurt may well be Emery’s last.
Apparently the management were seriously concerned that Emery gave the
players two days off from training after Saturday’s game!!
Clearly what is going on at the club is a complete shambles.
Pedro Good write up, I’m not a fan of getting into bed with characters like Mendes at all – my ‘respect’, for lack of a better word, for Raul is being lost like sand through the fingers too with this Emery carry-on. If he brokers a deal that creates the fissure for entry for guys like Mendes he should be stoned and chased out of the UK. On a purely coaching level Nuno doesn’t give me any excitement or stir expectation, so when you factor in the murky cloud that he operates under I’d not lower myself to having him… Read more »
“Fans are now yearning for champions league football , which is exactly what they scorned for all them years .” Nope what was scorned was getting knocked out like clockwork in the round of 16 what was scorned was embarrassing scorelines and club representatives smiling once they pull Arsenal out of the draw what was scorned was playing for nothing, Santos said it the other day, he felt during his time here the club played for nothing. We didn’t play to win, we just wanted to be seen as classy what was scorned was an abysmal away record and an… Read more »
Hiya Tony, yea I agree with much of what you’ve written there. Particularly distressing is the fragile nature of the back room staff and leadership they’re getting from Raul and co.
Any way I chop it there’s questions I find myself asking of that crowd, and they tend to be the biggest or most important going.
Glad you’ve got a good number of welcome distractions, must be glad the building work is coming to a close, when can you expect to first take a seat and savour the experience of Pornhub in full Dolby Atmos?
Amen to you receding
Pierre looking for extra troll points today
Beggars can’t be choosers.
Edu
Just trying to liven it up a bit on here …
If anyone had any doubts our PedRo is not the Arsenal Oracle of our times – they will be after todays post- because its a Barnstormer. (many many thanks) And as well its barnstorming content- its totally and 100% accurate. Post Wenger- Arsenal have been frollicking with the Devil ( Raul) but if this Wolves manager comes to Londons’ Finest- this disgusting and dangerous dalliance will now be a full blown love affair. Its potentially such a noxious and repulsive relationship that it makes you marrying your sister appear moral. The ramifications to the fabric, reputation and soul of the… Read more »
“ Just trying to liven it up a bit on here …”
And I of course thank you for it 😉
Although I understand Pedro’s concerns would he be this hysterical if Arteta was coming in because he was one of Mendes clients?
Somehow I doubt it.
I’m happy to give NES a chance before I denounce him. He may not succeed, but he equally may.
This is a serious job, not a first job for a newbie, just because his mentor is Pep.
Pedro, There are two distinct issues here: 1) Is Nuno technically good enough and does he have the management skills to become Arsenal’s head coach? , and 2) if he does come in, does this mean Arsenal is automatically beholden to Mendes and are forced to accept every player he tries to foist on the squad? Based on his record and his focus on counterattacking football, I can see why you and many others would have their doubts about Nuno. But I’m not sure whether I buy the line that if Nuno were to become manager, we would automatically become… Read more »
It does make you wonder how many kickbacks are going around, how else do you account for the hire of Emery & Now the likes of Nuno, it’s certainly not on merit that these guys could well be consecutive successors to Wenger.
Hardly surprising either.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-7732503/Arsenal-huge-fight-hands-prise-Nuno-Espirito-Santo-away-Wolves.html
Of course, as the article above suggests, it may not be as easy as Raul or Pedro think to get Nuno. And this may well be just another cunning plan by Mendes to use Arsenal, by leveraging our interest in Nuno to get a better deal for Nuno over at Wolves.
First class post, Pedro. You raise vitally imporant issues about the long term interests of the club.
Arsenal is currently one of the great untapped prizes in European football. The hands-off approach of Kroenke & Co is deeply irresponsible because it exposes AFC to the vultures like Mendes. I believe that Chips Keswick’s recent intervention is a clear signal of that concern at boardroom level, even if few of us have any respect for the board itself.
The vultures are circling.
Is big Sam available?
Anything but Emery!
Stroller I’m not sure that giving the players 2 days off is a sackable offence . Though I could reel off a list of reasons as to why he should be dismissed. Will he go with the kids today ,hope so. It’s a bit of a quandary for Emery. If he goes with the kids , Emery is in a no lose situation. If we win he will be praised (by some) , if he loses then no problem , its only the kids , good experience and all that. If he goes with an experienced side , it’s a… Read more »
lol
I told you before.
Get Arteta and be done with it.
This is ridiculous now with what is written about any manager/coach that is linked that is not called Mikel Arteta.
Look at the list of players associated with this devil agent:
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/gestifute/beraterfirma/berater/413
That’s a tasty list of players right there and within that a very nice niche avenue that Arsenal could benefit from.
I like the idea that this devil agent could be the link for Arsenal having first access to players of a nation that is seen as one of the top european footballing nations.
Rather than petrifying some the blog entry today could in fact intrigue.
Especially when more than enough points are seen as crying over past spilt milk.
Ronaldo going to United over Arsenal. Scandalous lol
To be completely honest finding it really difficult to take any thing Pedro writes at the moment too seriously. There’s such a blatant agenda running through pieces at the moment that all comes down to Pedro’s fetish for Arteta. The hypocrisy of talking about scratching beneath the surface of someone’s CV whilst promoting the idea of someone who doesn’t even have a CV is breath-taking.
If we were to eliminate anyone who’d ever failed in a role we’d never appoint a manager.
And plenty got bored with the “values” talk a long time ago.
Ishola
It’s strange that Pedro’s criticising an agent for doing his job 100% properly – ie getting the best possible deal for his client.
We all know that the way Raul works is with his contact book. It contains names of many agents. Didn’t we get Pepe also through another super agent? I trust that Raul is an experienced fox. He’ll know how to protect his power. He’ll balance out his activities with multiple agents. Emery couldn’t get the players he wanted. The new coach won’t have more power than what Emery has.
If the Kroenkes are happy to let people like Raul and Mendes into the club, then I’m afraid there’s not a lot we can do about it. It’s their investment. They could change our kit to Spurs white if they wanted.
There is little accountability for anything at Arsenal and there hasn’t been for many years now. We were sold off by the last people who were supposed to care and who
Made an absolute killing.
Good post Pedro
Good response Edu
Pierre
If Emery actually wants to keep his job ie he’s not just waiting for the sack and a payoff now his best course of action tonight would be to go with the younger players. If they lose there’ll be the benefit of the doubt given put out a strong team and even a narrow win will be criticised.
“The hypocrisy of talking about scratching beneath the surface of someone’s CV whilst promoting the idea of someone who doesn’t even have a CV is breath-taking.”
We call this post an uppercut in boxing terms
Marc
An agents role is brokering a manager to a club and then rendering the clubs scouting network useless dealing with staff on his own books?
Pretty clear you decided against reading what was written and jumped straight into some bogus Arteta-bash.
Marc
“It’s strange that Pedro’s criticising an agent for doing his job 100% properly – ie getting the best possible deal for his client.”
As said this has made me more intrigued now about Nuno.
Love the idea that this coach and agent could have direct access to the Portuguese market for Arsenal . They are known to produce very good standard footballers and over a very long time span.
We had our French period under Wenger.
Why not a Portuguese revolution.
Could do far worse tbh.
Marc/Ishola,
It feels like (and I have no inside track) that there is an internal debate going on between two competing factions at Arsenal: one for Nuno, and another for Arteta.
I presume that Poch/Benitez/Allegri are either not interested or are too expensive and have been ruled out.
Cc I don’t believe we’re going to allow an agent to just fob players he choses onto us against our needs. My usual position is if it’s football related and in the papers then there’s a high chance it’s utter bollocks. So far the rumours seem to be that Nuno’s on a short list – who else is on it, is that actually true, is it Nuno or his people just doing a bit of self promotion which bearing in mind what was going round a week – ten days ago re Mourinho isn’t beyond the realm of possibility. We… Read more »
“Love the idea that this coach and agent could have direct access to the Portuguese market for Arsenal .”
The crucial point is access to Mendes’ players – not necessarily all Portuguese players.
Words
The only thing I’d say on that are who are the competing factions? The management structure now is Sanllehi and Edu who you’d assume will make a recommendation to the Kroenke’s who will either sign off a deal or bin it.
I’d also say talk about the Poch is pointless he won’t come to us and Benitez is on £12 million a year in China so a big jump in salary plus compensation to his current club.
“I don’t believe we’re going to allow an agent to just fob players he choses onto us against our needs.“
You don’t believe based on what?
Happened at Valencia, happening at Wolves. And it’s not necessarily a question of players being thrown at us “against our needs”, more the best possible options being clouded for solutions that can be brokered by Mendes.
Won’t happen at Arsenal because we’re so averse to poor decisions? Have a word.
Micheal
”The crucial point is access to Mendes’ players – not necessarily all Portuguese players.”
Yeah you are right it is crucial but not in the negative sense.
His list of players are overall impressive and there are many Portuguese in the list.
This angle is very interesting.
Cc
You think clubs actually allow an agent to operate on a “well I know you wanted a new keeper but I’m going to sell you a winger”?
Marc
Are you reading anything that’s written here?
I just answered that absurd claim.
I think the issue is that Mendes will sell us who he wants at a price he sets all for his own benefit and those with hm given the Valencia precedents.
We don’t need to be another Valencia.
Just a quick question everyone.
As Mourinho’s agent is Mendes as well does that mean that the Spud’s will also be stuck with who the agent provides them rather than what they need / who they want to buy?
Killer question Marc.
For some anyway.
You will have some clearing of bodies to do after that post.
They will be scattered.
Marc,
Yeah, Spurs are doomed, doomed to swallow Mendes’s crap players from here on in.
“ As Mourinho’s agent is Mendes as well does that mean that the Spud’s will also be stuck with who the agent provides them rather than what they need / who they want to buy?”
Absolutely not
Some good points in the post and some justified concerns. I think it is slightly over the top though and runs against a lot of what you’d been saying for years about Arsenal under Wenger being restrained by their values and too cowardly to get involved with the super agents of this world…you were extolling Sanllehi for that in the summer. It is all about balance. Do you really think the Kroenke’s who are in favour of limited financial expenditure are just getting to let Sanllehi and Mendes throw money around with under the table deals? I doubt it. We… Read more »
Madrid didn’t swallow Mendes crap players Chelsea didn’t inter didn’t – they all won their leagues tho
“Yeah you are right it is crucial but not in the negative sense.”
The important point is that the players – however good or bad – would be brought in because it suits Mendes’ financial interests – not necessarily the club. It is the underlying theme of Pedro’s post – who is running the club ?
Nuno was replaced by the legendary tactician, Sir Gareth Neville, at Valencia. Also, Mendes will need to influence the Kroenkes like he has the owners at Wolves. He was already in bed with Fosun whereas with Stan and Josh it will be a different story.
So what we need to do is look at every player bought under Jose and see who their agent was – if we’re going to scrutinise Nuno and wolves that way – it’s only fair we do the same to jose
I just find the notion Arsenal are going to buy Mendes’ players whether we want them or not as if we have some transfer exclusivity deal with him absolutely absurd.
No doubt we will see the club interact with him more but you can still expect the scouted buys etc.
Mendes is a tool to be used, albeit an expensive one, not a weight on us.
Michael
I wouldn’t care if Mendes bank balance increases if it means Arsenal get hold of players that can be of benefit.
You can get bad buys as well as good ones big agents involved or not.
As long as he gets in enough good ones then it is of benefit and looking at his list of players it is strong as far as agents go and of course he will build up his portfolio with upcoming players in the future and the Poruguese link is very interesting.
Shall we also look at the current Roma and Benfica managers as well.
They are also with Mendes.
Pedro, every appointment comes with baggage. Your analogy of Arsenal and Valencia has missed the road. Valencia at the time was on the market which arsenal isn’t now. Mendes brokered the deal to suit him and the buyer of Valencia accepted it. Don’t make it like Mendes forced his way into that club. In sports today, unfortunately, you’ll need these so called super agents to get the so called world class players. And the players Mendes sold to Valencia were hit and miss. We on the other hand, with all our bogus class, have for some time signed and offered… Read more »
“I wouldn’t care if Mendes bank balance increases if it means Arsenal get hold of players that can be of benefit.”
Exactly. The players brought in will be those which suit Mendes’ purpose – not necessarily Arsenal’s.
Back to Pedro’s point of who is running the club. Kroenke does not give a toss, Josh is Daddy’s Boy, Raul hires Emery and the club is drifting aimlessly. And Mendes is waiting in the wings to fill the vaccum.
Valencia have been a basket case of a club for a very long time.
This is regardless of a Mendes.
Lim himself didn’t have a clue.
Michael
Mendes is a football agent.
He is in business.
The purpose of business is to make money.
Why would you have an issue with this basic premise
This Mendes issue is serious if all that is written here is true but then is it not Edu’s responsibilities to look for a manager for us?
Arsenal have no cash…..to buy players.
….Cash coming from where?
Revenues slipping……morale sagging…….players aging……..players leaving.
managers being fired……directors departing…….fans alienated……..owners over leveraging……
But What they will do if Mendes and Raul team up- is do ‘Pepe’ deals.
‘Luiz’ deals.
Obscene and Ostentatious Deals to impress the masses.
Deals on the Never Never.
They will be long gone- when the final installment has to paid.
Arsenal will rue the Day they allowed Raul to run amok.
We are Going Down and we are going into uncharted waters.
Ishola
I don’t have an issue with the basic premise of making money. But I do have issues about the influence of Big Money which operates to exploit people and institutuons for their own personal gain.
Are you saying society should turn a blind eye to how people make money – as long as they make money. Drug dealers, money-launderers, illicit arms sellers, internet scammers, etc ?
Do you seriously believe that there is any “trickle down” effect into wider society if people like Mendes accummulates wealth at the expense of an old-established, badly managed football industry ?
Luiz is a red herring.
He is a different agent.
And as others have said Arsenal have brought crap whether they are big agent players or not.
It is not exclusive either way.
Michael
So now you want to compare a football agent to a drugs dealer?
In top end football everyone is in it for the coin. Everyone.
Dear old Arsene loved his coin. Loved it.
I don’t get this Arsenal class and values nonsense being thrown about nowadays.Once upon a time the Bank of England club they called The Arsenal had such qualities but we are now nothing more than a badly run London based offshore American business.Owned by an absentee owner who has no clue on how to run a football club and has delegated running of the club to a Spanish Del Boy and other incompetents while the English old boys (The 80’s club I call them) sit around like the old relics that they are.This Arsenal class bollo**s is nothing but a… Read more »
Cesc
Nice to have some balanced thought out posts on here.
I can understand people being nervous about getting the right appointment – I am and to be honest I really don’t know who we should go for only a few names that are either not going to happen or people I wouldn’t want us to go near.
Deep breath everyone.
“This is Wenger on the deal.”
==> “I almost signed ?? Values ??…”
“So now you want to compare a football agent to a drugs dealer?”
You are missing the point – not the first time. I was asking if you believe society should turn a blind eye to how people make money and used drugs dealers as an example. Nowhere did I compare football agents with drugs dealers.
Are you thick or being argumentative?