Kurzawa has poor injury record and attitude issues… but

by .

So the news is in, Eddie Nkeitiah has impressed the staff enough to earn a permanent move back to London. No Bristol City for him, it’s Holloway Road Nando’s every damn night… what an establishment by the way.

Competition will still be tough for the goal poaching Englishman, but I’d imagine he’ll have chances to play. We have a lot of games coming up, we’ll likely go big in the FA Cup and the Europa League. The Premier League will also be brutal. Part of me wonders if the superior fitness and Bielsa drilled work ethic he picked up at Leeds will have played a role in the decision.

I also wonder if this permanent move says anything about how Arteta sees Gabriel. Emery said the Brazilian was not a striker (said LT was a #10 as well), despite him looking like a beast through the middle. Arteta has used him out wide, so maybe that’s where he’ll continue to play. I mean, if he was seen as a striker, that’d put Eddie as 4th choice in that role.

His retention certainly bolsters the frontline. It might also add competition to Lacazette who is desperately out of form and continues to lack the required physicality and stamina for the league. We have Saka, Gabriel, Pepe, Auba, Lacazette, and Eddie to pick from. Very exciting if we can start to improve our chance creation from midfield.

The Bruno rumours continue to pick up pace, the Brazilian is a Kia player, who is the agent of Edu and Luiz. We’re also being heavily linked with Kurzawa. The PSG fullback is available on a free this summer, but word on the street is we might move for him now. His agent? Kia. I don’t like it. GFFN lambasted the move as being heavily influenced and a bit grim considering his injury record.

For me, it’s an Arsenal tradition to hire in players that are broken. Wenger made Overmars a star despite a dodgy knee and he made Kanu a hero despite the player having a heart attack. Things went downhill after that but we’ve continued to chase the dragon since then. My favorite will always be Kim Kallstrom, signed with a broken back, absolute peak Arsenal.

Broader concern here, I hate the notion of us being part of a super agent money trough. It’s grim and rarely leads anywhere positive. It also shows weakness of infrastructure. If the best full back we can find to cover for our injury-prone fullbacks is an injury-prone fullback, something is awry. If you can’t stay fit in Ligue 1, what hope do you have in a league where there are more than 4 tough games a year? I’m also a little bothered that he’s known for having a shitty attitude.

Still, he’s a quality player and am I really criticising Arteta? I’m an AKB, critical thinking out the door, I’d back the man if he brought Diaby in. That’s dedication. Also, I like how Kurzawa dresses. He also has a cool name.

Nice to see Spurs in a similar position. Signing a centre midfielder on a loan deal with a view to a £50m deal. An immense talent on paper, but one that couldn’t break into the Benfica starting 11 because of Abel Taarabt. Jorge Mendes special there. Inspired, or another example of Jose being brutally out of touch with modern football.

David Ornstein – who I now pay to listen for because The Athletic hit me for a year in one go after my trial ended -reckons we’re looking at 4 loan players. MAYBE I SHOULD POST HIS WHOLE TWEET BECAUSE I BASICALLY BOUGHT ALL HIS CONTENT. Anyway, broader message here seems to be that we’re skint, which we knew, and the only way we’re bringing in bodies is finding broken talent that needs games in their legs. He thinks we’re looking for central midfielders and defenders.

I’m fine with that. Why? Because I have to be you damn fool. What would me being unfine with it mean? Nothing.

On that note, listen to my pod and I’ll see you tomorrow. x

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Sid

Mike Arteta has been arsenalised

1. On xhakalson -” if we get him on board I think he can be a tremendous player for the football club.I like everything about him. His commitment”

Wenger i “like a new signing”
Emery -“You need, and every player needs, the supporters’ support.”

2.Arteta on Ozil_ “his attitude in training since the day that I walked in the building has been incredible.”
Wenger – ze mental strength
Emery- “When he’s available, when he’s training well, when he’s consistent, when he’s positive he can help us a lot.”

Im telling you for free!

Goobergooner

How is it that our cbs have scored more than our midfielders in the league?

HighburyLegend

@Sid : so true.

Romford Pele

Mertesacker’s physical limitations were obvious but he read the game very well. never allowed him to get himself into situations where he was left isolated 1 v 1 with forwards. Can’t say the same about Mustafi.

Habesha Gooner

Holy shit The reaction on here to a backup fullback signing is insane. Our recruitment for two years now has been positive in my eyes. We haven’t addressed all our issues especially defensively. But So far all our players bought apart from Sokratis and Luiz have been positive for me. And I believe arteta thinks he will get more out of kurzawa than Kolasinac. even if it fails we are swapping a crappy fullback for another crappy fullback while getting money for ours. Go back to the mancity game and watch Kolasinac. You will see all that’s wrong with him.… Read more »

Habesha Gooner

Oh I forgot Lichtsteiner.

Rambo

Sid,

You ain’t funny, never have been, never will be.

I’m telling you this for free!

HighburyLegend

lol Rambo.

HillWood

R P
Do you spend your time trading at Romford Market ?

Champagne Charlie

Romford

I’ve watched very little of him, but I don’t see the fuss about the deal honestly. Looks like a clear case of us swapping out backup LB’s and pocketing the surplus money from selling Kolasinac.

If we swap them out as a push and earn 10-15 mil that’s money for the lad Bruno midfield. That’s how it appears to me at least, and ties in with the overstretched structure of deals last summer. We’re not flush with money basically so corners need cut in places and a backup LB is where we seem to be doing that.

Samesong

You ain’t funny, never have been,
never will be.
I’m telling you this for free!

Classic Rambo Lol

Cesc Appeal

£4 Million fee being discussed for Kurzawa.

Not a signing I like on paper, seems a bit pointless unless the club has a plan in the summer for mass changes that Kurzawa figures into whereby traditional ‘starters’ at Arsenal are being sold to raise funds. Players like Kolasinac, Xhaka etc.

If not it doesn’t really make sense.

HighburyLegend

If we sell Kola, who’s gonna babysitting Ozil ??

HighburyLegend

“Not a signing I like on paper”

Deal with it, this is the Lego Hair blog.

Words on a Blog

If we sell Kola, knife gangs all over London will be celebrating.

Receding Hairline

You keep using the term backup like we have a robust left back playing game after game.

What we have is one young left back fighting injury and another wing back who isn’t the fittest.

Swapping him for another battling fitness issues in league one is bound to raise eyebrows. How you fail to acknowledge this doesn’t surprise me. You are militant on every subject. This is not a slight on Arteta per say so no need to keep defending it.

Its a daft signing.

Left testicle

Kurzawa in frees up Kolasinac to chaperone Ozil to Fenerbache. Simples.

Freddie Ljungberg

ES Signings that we’re ready to pay for appears to be almost none, and bargain basement at best. That doesn’t mean we couldn’t have made moves if we wanted to. We could have sold Xhaka, Mikhi, Mustafi (ha),we could have moved up some funds from the summer. We have increased the sponsorship deals quite a bit since the last published records and lowered the wage bill with a similar amount so I don’t buy that we’re on the brink of extinction. Bruno Guimaraes is available for less than we would have got for Xhaka, Sangare could be had from Toulouse… Read more »

Left testicle

Kurzawa in frees up Kolasinac to chaperone Ozil to Fenerbache.

I’m telling you this for £10. I will send it to you as soon as possible – I will just need your bank account details.

Dissenter

Juventus have made a killing from these free transfer/near-full transfer deals for so long.
Getting a replacement for a soon-to-be-sold Kolasinac…what’s this brouhaha about?
This is what you call a nothing-burger.

The way people talk about Kurzawa, you wouldn’t believe he had a dozen caps for France.

Freddie Ljungberg

Leaving all our business to the summer also means we have to integrate 4 new adapting starters through the spine of the team at the same time. 2 in midfield and 2 CBs, that’s the minimum we need and we’ll probably suffer like this season while they adapt, especially since we can’t buy too many ready made, PL proven stars with our budget. We already have 1 of those CBs sorted in Saliba but are we going to have Luiz partner him all season? Doesn’t sound like much fun at all for us fans. Torreira is the only nailed down… Read more »

Dissenter

Freddie
Are you sure you don’t want to quit your day job and just go into football management?
You keep writing we could have sold this…bought this, like it’s football manager is something.
You really think it’s that easy, given that you have NO access to these players contractual information?

Left testicle

The way people talk about Kurzawa, you wouldn’t believe he had a dozen caps for France.
………
Carlton Palmer had 18 England caps.

Dissenter

Receding
I would consider Kurzawa to be competition with Tierney for a starting place.
We probably didn’t serve Bellerin well when we let him exist in a major contract without competition.
Tierney’ s fitness is doubtful, medium term and long term. He seems to be a chronic crock. I know Marko has a different opinion. We will see what Kurzawa is made off very quickly.

Freddie Ljungberg

Dissenter

Yes, let’s keep expectations low, we’ll need it with this squad.

We’ve had bids for both Xhaka and Mikhi, but rejected them, doesn’t take Sherlock fucking Holmes to find that out.

So what if we take a small hit on them, no one is ever going to pay us what we paid out on some of our duds, just take the cash and run ffs so we can move forwards.

Isn’t there something about that on the new crest?

Dissenter

Left testicle
Until recently, England chaos were relatively shit.
The competition for slots on the French team have historically been very hard to come by.

Romford Pele

Hillwood – haha haven’t been down Romford Market in years mate. Sure it’s as rowdy as ever. CC, on the surface as a back-up it’s not the worst deal as long as the wages aren’t big. And if we can make a bit of money on Kolasinac then it is smart. Me personally i’m more interested in the deeper ramifications about working with these super agents. There’s a good article in The Athletic on it. Super agents can help you get some of those super expensive, hard to do deals over the line but at the same time you can… Read more »

Dissenter

Freddie
You’re raving about a squad signing; a near free transfer deal to provide competition for the young hot shot LB we signed from Celtic in the summer.
Every position is different. The plan to revamp the midfield shouldn’t be conflated with providing coverage for the full backs.

More so when you don’t even know what the situation with Tierney is.

Dissenter

***England call ups …not chaos

Champagne Charlie

“The only proven “world class player” on the market in January is Ericsson and he is not going to come to Arsenal!”

Joke Friday?

Receding

He’d be a backup LB that’s why, Tierney is who we invested in to be a starter. He’s injured so we’re playing our…..backup. That’s what they do. Claiming Tierney isn’t first choice because of his injury is as daft as it gets.

Freddie Ljungberg

“Freddie You’re raving about a squad signing; a near free transfer deal to provide competition for the young hot shot LB we signed from Celtic in the summer. Every position is different. The plan to revamp the midfield shouldn’t be conflated with providing coverage for the full backs. Think you’re confused again Diss. I only mentioned that Kurzawa changed to a London based agency and it seems a deal is closed, no raving involved whatsoever. To me it’s a signing that maybe makes sense if we have a deal in place to let Kola leave either now or in the… Read more »

Champagne Charlie

Romford

I’m with you on the agent front, Nuno was smelly for that very reason. But we’ll be in good shape as a club the day we can have genuine concerns about the relative quality of our squad options at LB.

We’re playing for nothing this season, so it’s Tierney and Kurzawa for options next season as I see it, call me unbothered by it all with a view to nodding in approval when Kola is sold for usable coin.

CG

Cha Cha

Do you really believe Tierney ( if he ever got fit) is a better full back than our Bosnian Tank?

Tierney has no pedigree.
he has played for Celtic and Scotland. So what?

Sead K ( linked with Napoli and Barcelona) and ex Schalke and Bundesliga player of the year has it in it droves. And He is one of our more consistent performers.

Anyone who thinks Tierney will ever be better full back than Sead K- clearly don’t understand the game.

As UN – rightly states- most on here think all this is a computer game.

Romford Pele

“Anyone who thinks Tierney will ever be better full back than Sead K- clearly don’t understand the game.”

Lol he already is.

Samir

CG

“Anyone who thinks Tierney will ever be better full back than Sead K- clearly don’t understand the game.”

Stupid comment that. Tierney is 22 and Kolašinac 26. Are you psychic? We haven’t seen enough of Tierney to say that at this point.

Romford Pele

So according to one source Bruno Guimares’ agent entered into a partnership with Kia Joorabchian last year. So if we really are interested, that could be a factor in us getting him. For anyone with an Athletic subscription, here’s an article in-depth on Kia and his role: https://theathletic.co.uk/1392016/2019/11/21/edu-kia-joorabchian-and-what-it-means-for-arsenal/ Worth noting he was the one who got Edu the sporting director gig at Corinthians and when Raul wanted a DoF here he had to negotiate with Kia for Edu. Considering Kia was already behind the David Luiz move and now the Kurzawa deal, one can only ascertain that his role will… Read more »

CG

R.P Where is the evidence? Apart from a handful of CL games for Celtic – has he ever played a competitive fixture? How does anyone know he can actually play? (Jermaine Defoe still scores goals for Rangers- do we sign him as well?) Why were the Juggernauts of the European game not beating down his door to sign him then in the summer if he is so bloody good? He lasted 4 game sin England gave a penalty away at home to Saints and injured his shoulder in the next game. And yet – most think he is better than… Read more »

CG

Samir

“”””We haven’t seen enough of Tierney to say that at this point.”””””

that is my point.
So why the automatic assumption he is better?

Romford Pele

CG – he is faster, a better passer, better delivery in the final third.

At 22 he has played the best part of 200 games. The injuries are down to wear and tear rather than being injury prone.

You’re judging him on that Southampton penalty when everyone was playing rubbish at the end of the Emery era.

CG

R.P “””At 22 he has played the best part of 200 games. The injuries are down to wear and tear rather than being injury prone.”””” He has played them in Scotland, He has played them against Motherwell and Falkirk. Every time he has walked on to the pitch in his career- he has never faced or had to worry about a decent winger,forward or team. Now he has stepped up 10 levels – the injuries will be exacerbated. I predicted it-and it off course it is happening. Ill guarantee we wont get 50 games from him in the next 5… Read more »

Guns of Brixton

Kurzawa sounds insane…

The screams of that name in Italian Commentary if he scored a belter would be nothing short epic.

Romford Pele

“Ill guarantee we wont get 50 games from him in the next 5 seasons ( his contract) and he will back at Celtic on loan this time next year.”

Lol, you’ll be wrong of course. Look throughout his career history. He plays games, lots of them too. He’s durable.

“We bought him when Celtic were top of The SPL
Celtic are still top.”

No shit Sherlock. Look at what they spend in relation to the rest of the league.

CG

R.P

“””The injuries are down to wear and tear””””

And is it wise to spend £30 million on a 22 year showing signs of wear and tear?

Page 1, 1st paragraph of The Football Management manual states:

1a) Never purchase an injured player. It will get you the sack.
1b) Never purchase a player ready for The Knackers Yard. It gets you the sack.
1c) Never purchase players with bad attitudes (eg Luiz and Kurzawa).It gets you the sack.
etc

Not rocket Science. I wish our Dopes would get a copy.

Romford Pele

“And is it wise to spend £30 million on a 22 year showing signs of wear and tear?”

You do know injuries are a part of parcel and football. Gael Clichy was always injured earlier in his career. He got over it. Ashley Cole was injured early in his career a lot. he got over it.

Freddie Ljungberg

Romford

Don’t do it to yourself mate, he can’t be reasoned with, you’re just banging your head against an unusually dense wall.

Just call him a cunt and move on like everyone else. Blog of lube.

CG

Fred

I have told you many times about you language.
And especially that word. Its a disgraceful one.

The Problem with you Fred – is you always have to revert to a type of abuse when you have no argument.

Its a clear sign of immaturity and lack of intellect.

Freddie Ljungberg

“Its a clear sign of immaturity and lack of intellect.”

Well since you are a world leading expert in those particular subjects I’ll bow to your superior knowledge on that.

Science disagrees with you though about the swearing part though.

https://www.sciencealert.com/people-who-swearing-cursing-rude-words-better-vocabulary-science

https://www.sciencealert.com/swearing-is-a-sign-of-more-intelligence-not-less-say-scientists

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/health-benefits-of-swearing_n_5a5e44a8e4b0106b7f65b3a6

Words on a Blog

Freddie,

Fuck off with all the scientific links you cunt.

Words on a Blog

Oh and in the interest of fairness, it should be pointed out that the health benefits of swearing accrue to the swearer.

The person being sworn at is, needless to say, totally fucked.

Freddie Ljungberg

Woab

You’re right, sorry. Should have just raved about calf muscles and spivs to show my superior intellect, it’s what the real smart people do. You always learn something new on le grove.

azed

As we’ve seen with Mustafi, El neny and numerous overpaid players we bought in the past, the stumbling block to moving them, is wages.

If Kurzawa is already on wages above a 100k, the deal makes no sense.

Keep Kolasinac till the summer, scout a decent LB from league one that would gladly accept 15k.

Nelson

Inter is getting stronger and stronger. Sanchez is finally health. I hate to face Giroud again in the Europa cup. It is hope that Inter is putting priority on the Scudetto. I can’t see our defense can stop that team.

Batistuta

Dissenter

Kurzawa having a dozen caps for France doesn’t stop him from being a bit shit defensively and that’s the problem so when you say we’re swapping him for Kolasinac, we’re basically swapping a similar player for another of same issues with maybe even a bigger wage yea… My main concern is the fact that defensively he can be all over the place and coming into a team that has just the one tackler in midfield, that’s a problem….And that’s before you get into him being a bit of an injury concern himself…

JayJay

Left t
Those Poles get everywhere!

Yes mate we get everywhere!!!

Aces

Talking about swear words, here is a le grove classic. It all starts with underrated coq calling Bamford a premature ejaculator. Oh and arsenes nurse is a legend.
https://le-grove.co.uk/2015/09/26/are-we-going-to-step-up-or-be-a-little-bit-jaded-arsenal/comment-page-5/#comments

Left testicle

Where are you JayJay?

Left testicle

I bet you’re not in Poland?

Words on a Blog

I’ve got no particular axe to grind about Kurzawa coming in this transfer window, one way or another, just as I didn’t particularly care one way another when Denis Suarez came in last January. Dealing with “super-agents” is a fact of life for all clubs, as is the bit of wheeling and dealing implied by the “contacts approach”. Not every transfer decision can be a data-driven discovery of an undiscovered South American emerald. The money involved isn’t significant, and may contribute to a surplus if Kola is moved on for a reasonable sum. If Arteta is happy enough with “Seven… Read more »

Marko

The way people talk about Kurzawa, you wouldn’t believe he had a dozen caps for France. A dozen? Well that’s me convinced. No but seriously as has been said before if this signing was made under Emery certain types would be frothing at the mouth but it happens under a popular manager and it’s leeway city. He’s 27 he’s suspect defensively he’s been a bit part player for a few seasons now and he’s on 115,000 a week. We’d basically be replacing a Kolasinac with another Kolasinac someone who should never have been signed in the first place big wages… Read more »

Nelson

From French Football News (@GFFN) January 15, 2020

“Layvin Kurzawa is exceptionally injury-prone, criminally unfit & has not been playing regular football for the best part of the last 4.5 years.”

For me, his salary should be based on the number of games he actually plays.

Gonsterous

I still don’t understand why we don’t scout players from the championship?
Is it because they are cheap?

Don’t understand the logic of getting players from ligue 2 but not from the championship.

Freddie Ljungberg

Aces

Can’t believe that’s already more than 4 years ago. Time flies on le grove.

I wonder what Bams take is on the word “moist”

Someone monitoring his twitter can let us know later I guess.

#freebamford

Marko

New post

Romford Pele

“Don’t understand the logic of getting players from ligue 2 but not from the championship.”

Just like the PL the Championship is expensive to buy in. Not that i’d be against it but you have to be aware. Villa buying Tyrone Mings for almost £30m. Sheffield United signed Ollie McBurnie for £20m.

JayJay

Live in market drayton mate Shropshire

TheBayingMob

Page 1, 1st paragraph of The Football Management manual states:1a) Never purchase an injured player. It will get you the sack.
1b) Never purchase a player ready for The Knackers Yard. It gets you the sack.
1c) Never purchase players with bad attitudes (eg Luiz and Kurzawa).It gets you the sack.”

1a Kim Kalstrom, didn’t get Arsene sacked
1b Andre Santos, didn’t get Arsene sacked
1c Alexis Sanchez, didn’t get Arsene sacked

Leedsgunner

Not as negative as some here on Kurzawa, it could be a clever buy if we could keep him injury free… a big if. Definitely worth a punt if we can pick him up on a free… more skillful than Kolasinac and I can’t believe Arteta would have sanctioned it if he thought it was a bad decision. Arteta comes across as a man with a mind of his own rather than a yes man like Emery. Funny enough Thomas Meunièr, Kurzawa’s teammate at PSG at right back also has a contract ending this summer. If we can pick him… Read more »