WELCOME TO THURSDAY.
Let’s jump right into some more stories about our wonderful club.
The Sun wrote a piece about players that could be exited this summer. A real non-story likely not fueled by any intel… more likely someone just looked at when players deals are being signed off and mashed that with things Raul has said in the past.
LACAZETTE, AUBA, OZIL COULD BE SOLD
Yes, absolutely. Not really news. I suspect the fact that Auba and Lacazette have not signed deals is a pretty good indicator of that and I would imagine that Ozil wants to land a big deal with more than a year for a safety net (probably also sick of being threatened by gangsters in London).
There is no doubt the club is going to enact some aggressive surgery this summer.
Here’s how we stand for clarity:
5 players enter the final year of their deal (Mustafi, Luiz, Ozil, Auba, Sok)
3 loan players deals expire (Mari, Soares, Ceballos)
6 players are down to 2 years (Kola, Chambers, Matteo, Eddie, Martinez, Lacazette)
There’s 14 players that have their futures up in the air. Raul explicitly said players with 18 months on their deals will be sold. No chance of that in January, so we either tie the above down to new deals or move them on sharpish. There’s a good £130m to be had in that pack and a lot of money.
Arteta needs those players to have value this summer. He also needs to see who is worth keeping. What I highly doubt is that anyone in the backroom team is leaking that the manager is unhappy with his players. I just don’t buy it, that would be a suicidal leak 6 weeks into a job and it just doesn’t jibe with anything Mikel has been trying to implement.
You can piece that together from additional stories.
David Ornstein said on his podcast that the players are totally bought into the philosophy of the new manager. Mikel has been working on behavior on and off the pitch, apparently showing players when they throw their hands up in disgust at something – asking them to curb the behavior to bring more unity.
He also has the wider club behind his ideas, everyone is absolutely sure he has what it takes to succeed at Arsenal, people feeding back that this could be a special journey.
… but if that wasn’t enough, David Luiz, a player notorious for his ability to split a dressing room, went on a PR push for his new coach.
“He knows football, he knows inside the pitch,”
“He loves football, he loves to work, so this enthusiasm is contagious for everybody.
“What Mikel is trying to build is something big and I really believe in his philosophy, I really believe we can do something big this year and in the future, so I’m really, really happy because we have our way to go. This way, is it going to be a hard way? Yes. Is it going to be difficult to achieve? Yes, but it’s possible. Yes, it’s possible.
“The first thing is to believe. If you don’t dream, and you don’t believe, then your dream is impossible. To do something, I think the first thing is you have to dream, and then you believe you can do it, then after to study how to do it, and then to understand during this process you’re going to have some good moments and some difficult moments but you can never change your mind, you can never change your mentality and you will always have to come back to the beginning and understand.”
You could write this off as a puff piece, I normally would, but this feels a little more from the heart than Auba telling the cameras with a sullen face that he was happy under Emery. This is a 6 minute video that goes well beyond basic platitudes and it’s coming from a guy that has won a Champions League, 2 Europas, league titles in 3 countries, and countless cups. He doesn’t need to say the above words, but he’s out there trying to get the fans onboard with the journey.
… and that’s what it is. What we’re undergoing isn’t a quick managerial bump from a table-thumping ‘experienced’ leader. It’s something more thoughtful, something more ambitious, something more exciting.
It’s going to be a process. Results need to come. They will. We just need to trust that this is the correct direction for the club.
If Ornstein is hearing great things and David Luiz is prepared to back a ‘novice’ manager with such aggressive positivity, then we should too.
I also liked hearing that Arteta blew everyone away with an incredible speech before the United.
It was also interesting to hear that Kia, super-agent extraordinaire is also a massive Gooner. I’m sure he’s not giving us mates rates, but maybe, just maybe, he’s going to unlock something special for Arsenal this summer. I feel gross saying that, but when you’re in bed with these people, you’d best hope the rogering you are about to receive is a memorable one… amirite? Yeah, I’m right.
Key thing for me about all of these interviews is that the energy is ticking upwards. There’s a different vibe with the staff, the players and the fans. That positive energy takes you places. That comes from knowing where you’re going combined with strong leadership. It’s the sort of thing that allows you to outperform your talent and move to a higher level.
Fingers crossed it starts to translate into results.
Ok, I’ll see you in the comments. x
1st
2nd
3rd
Grand Slam
So close…yet so far.
Marc
Answer to your question on Qatar
https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/10873476/arsenal-arteta-blocked-ozil-qatar-transfer/
http://dailycannon.com/2020/02/arsenal-received-late-offer-from-qatar-for-mesut-ozil/
https://onefootball.com/en/news/arsenal-received-late-offer-from-qatar-for-mesut-oezil-en-28987615?variable=20200206
It was all over the internet
Pedro,
“He also has the wider club behind his ideas, everyone is absolutely sure he has what it takes to succeed at Arsenal, people feeding back that this could be a special journy”
How do you know this?
Nelson,
There was no offer for Ozil. Cap!
GunnerDNAFebruary 6, 2020 15:23:17
“How do you know this?”
Little birds GoonerDNA little birds.
Nelson
I know there was interest in Ozil but you didn’t answer my question.
How much was the offer for him? Not what wages they were going to offer how much cash were they going to pay for him?
Go on tell me it was a free?
130 m for
Mustafi, Luiz, Ozil, Auba, Sok)
Kola, Chambers, Matteo, Eddie, Martinez, Lacazette)
This is very ambitious
No way both Auba and laca being sold in the same window.
If you take Auba off the list the figure drops by half
Pedro
“5 players enter the final year of their deal (Mustafi, Luiz, Ozil, Auba, Sok)
6 players are down to 2 years (Kola, Chambers, Matteo, Eddie, Martinez, Lacazette)
There’s a good £130m to be had in that pack and a lot of money.”
Could you give me a breakdown of how you got to £130 million bearing in mind we won’t be able to sell Chambers in the summer?
I really think you’re believing you’re own bullshit on this because you think it means we can give Arteta a £170 – £180 million transfer kitty in the summer.
Sid
Take off Chambers he won’t be sold with an ACL, take off Ozil that’ll be a free.
Pedro’s list is wishful thinking.
“How do you know this?”
Pam the tea lady, Becky from accounts and Dave from operations.
Pedro doing the daily Arteta bulletin
David Luiz probably laying the foundation for joining Arsenal’s coaching staff soon.
Dissenter,
Thought it was Pedro who was the one laying the foundations to join Arteta’s coaching staff…..
Words
Nah he want’s a job heading up the PR department.
It turns out that after throwing terms like “pizzaz” and “sauce” for 18 months, what the young manager really needs is MONEY derived from a player clear out.
Honestly Arteta has to be smart enough to ignore all the smoke the players blow up his arse.
The way to ingratiate yourself to a manager is to perform well when give n an opportunity. Talk is cheap.
Marc
From other post
Been reading this since 2010 and generally like the style the author writes.
Much prefer reading about Pedro saying a story then reading everyone’s threads afterwards better than watching AFTV.
Initially I like them but the baby has grown into a monster .
As I say was previously on gunner blog as we’re a few other oldies… That was good fun as well.
Gionee magazine is making a surge for some of AFTV audience .. not sure bout that .
I like reading the magazine tho.
Gooner magazine
RSPC
I was just taking the piss out of Pedro!
He still hasn’t answered my question on how he got to £130 million from that list of players!
The way Marcelo Bielsa has been whinning endlessly about Nketiah reinforces my belief that there’s a player in there. Someone just tell this man to stop acting like a jilted lover. It’s almost a month damn it.
You guys crack me up, pedro using the words of and paraphrasing david ornstein and you’re all trashing him.
You can’t handle the truth!
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-ornstein-chapman-podcast/id1488521447?i=1000464545066
Thorough
If he liked him so much why didn’t he play him more?
Auba- 40-60
Kola 20-30
Sok- 10-15
Mustafi-15-20
Ozil- 15-30
Elneny- 10
Mikhi- 10-20
A low ball would be 110 plus the additional 50-60 from the budget plus a huge drop
In the wage bill post ozil/auba
Thats a chunk of change fellas
Zach
What’s this supposed truth I can’t handle?
Marc
The truth is ornstein. Isnt that his nickname? I posted the podcast where he discusses what pedro has based todays blog on seemingly
Dissenter, agree, sounds like he wants to stay on in some capacity. Certainly think he’ll be integral to Saliba’s career next season, worth keeping him on for that. Also for his leadership, which has been electric behind the scenes.
Not quite sure what you’re getting at with the money comment, I haven’t ever, in the entire existence of this website, said that I wouldn’t buy new players or improve the squad. For that to be your ‘gotcha’ moment is quite something.
Zach, a great listen, thank you.
Zacharse,
You’ve just discovered the answer to the biggest philosophical question of all time: “what is truth?”
Answer: “The truth is Ornstein.”
Interesting the naysayers on Arteta are springing to life so early. We all know the circumstance with which Arteta has walked into, i’m optimistic we’ll see the needle move further with remainder of season. Bare minimum we need Europa league to give some sort of foundational budget to summer. That said think we’ll sell both PEA and Laca who can hopefully find an inkling of form in next couple months and use to rebuild. Abidal already laying the foundation for a PEA summer move, which will sting but I don’t see how we hold him unless we make Europa at… Read more »
If the universe were arsenal fans i’m sure many cutting edge scientists affiliated w elite sport would back me
Pedro
Agreed. Its nice to have that pod during the window, there is SO MUCH BULLSHIT spewed about transfers it amazes me people are still biting. Still… would love to get the inside scoop on that ozil offer from
Qatar wink wink nudge nudge
Zach, we might also move on Matteo, he could be good for £50-60m if Paris come calling.
Zach, I have tremendous doubts that Ozil would entertain a move to Qatar. No culture, shite football, and a horrible climate.
I think he’s an MLS player.
No way we keep auba eithout chanpions league is my take. How many hears has he played for us w/out it?
Pedro
What??? Guen for 50 to psg is a fucking dream summer move. We could even buy… wait for it… NDIDI with that kinda dough
Zach
Fuck me you don’t need the truth you need medication.
Ozil will go for nothing 0!
Sok for £8 – £10 million
Mustafi for £10 – £12 million and I’m being generous
Kolas no more than £15 million.
So you can knock circa £25 million off that whilst having to replace a world class 20 PL goal a season striker, a CAM, a CB and a LB (first choice or backup?). We also won’t have a starting budget of £50 odd million either unless we get EL football.
And ya I think ozil would be smart to move to mls.
Pedro
If Guendozi is worth £50 – £60 million then why the fuck can’t he start in front of the fuck up machine Xhaka for us?
Marc
Do yr own tab then. I don’t think im being unrealistic in seeing ozil go for 15m, nor sok for 10 nor kola for 20. Seems perfectly
Fine give or take a few mil here and there
Zach
Ornstein is a journalist and therefor a fucking moron.
Every word he says is lies.
Words
I mist correct you. The biggest philosophical question of all
Time is the hard problem of consciousness, and even that has become a lot less ‘hard’ over the last decade w thinkers like donald hoffman and bernardo kastrup.
KEEP UP MATE
Marc
Thats like, your opinion, maaaan
Zach
Ozil will won’t big wages or he’ll see the last year of his contract out so no fee. Kolas is on big money as he was signed on a free and will therefore want decent money or he’ll sit out another year before taking a drop. Sok will be 32 and have a year left on his contract and is on £90 odd thousand a week, he’ll go for a minimal fee.
Think things through for fuck sake – it’s not a game of Football Manager.
want nor won’t!
Stranger things have happened than two centre forwards being sold in the same window. If Raul is true to his word and both Auba and Laca don’t sign new deals, both will be sold this summer.
Bob
Those two players scored 35 league goals between them last season and we still missed out on CL football by a point.
If they go we’re going to need someone to replace those goals.
Marc Again, thats your opinion, do your own tab. Even if ozil Leaves on a free and we lose my suggested 15m thats still 350/week we get back. Even if he goes for 10 or less, thats such a minimal impact w the wages we get back. But if u dont think a team like everton would buy kola for 20, i think youre wrong. You have roma, inter and atleti snapping up epl players and that could def be a trend in the summer. Eithr way even if you wanna squabble about a few mil here or there the… Read more »
Zach
We don’t get £350k a week back it just means it’s no longer a cost – we’re losing money so that just reduces the losses it doesn’t give us a surplus.
Assuming we make the EL? We’re 6 points off of it and our form isn’t very good.
I’m not squabbling about a couple of million I’m saying you’re tens of millions out and we’re going to need a long list of first team players.
We’re in a really bad place.
Again marc
Make your own list otherwise theres nothing to discuss. Yes WE WILL be getting 350k back, dont unserstand where youre going w any of this except to complain or mock. Make a point ffs
Sok
My guess 10
Marcs guess 8
Mustafi
My guess 15
Marcs guess 10
Kola
My guess 20
Marcs guess 15
We’re squabbling over minor details
12m difference thats 4m per player overlooking changes to wage bill
Elneny £7 million
Miki £12
Kolas £12
Sok £8
Ozil £0 – at least we’re not having to pay him to leave.
Xhaka £23
Mustafi £12
Laca – £30
Auba £50
That’s £154 million with at least 5 or 6 first teamers going – a top striker needed (they don’t cost much do they?) and a budget of £30 odd million prior to sales.
Marc, Ornstein is a liar? Quite a stretch.
Zach, agree on Kola, young, powerful, pretty productive… could easily get a good fee in Germany or Spain.
Matteo to Paris would be interesting, the home grown premium.
West Ham paid £44m for Seb Haller, pretty sure we’ll get more than £30m for Lacazette.
There we go marc!
Now who do we realistically have to replace? Strikers, mf’s and MAYBE a defender if we wind up making the loans permanent w soares and mari. Not terrible esp. w nketiah and martinelli in the wings
Also dont see xhaka leaving for another year
Pedro
All journalists are lairs and full of shit.
Marc
But a few have solid intel, confirmed by reality
Zach, this is true… I suspect Dave Ornstein, though going against the comment grain here, is probably not making things up.
City apparently going to solve their bad year by signing Messi
Now lets think about relegation candidates. Supposing west ham go down, they got a few decent players worth looking at in the irish midfielder and the brazilian winger who came from italy. Norwich have buendia. Villa have Grealish who is prob out of our range, but there will be some
Relegation deals this year as there always are
Zach “Now who do we realistically have to replace?” Are you serious? We’ll need at least the following you tell me what a replacement can be expected cost? Top class striker LW (assuming Martinelli takes over Laca’s place) CAM CM LB CB (hard to say what level of seniority, depends on what level of fitness / form Holding gets to and how quickly we think Saliba will settle) And that’s just putting a first team together. In the modern market 2 of those can easily cost £130 million. My point in all of this is financially until we get back… Read more »
You also know there are a ton of players in spain who would not mind playing for arteta at the emirates
Pedro
Do you think Pep will still be there next season? I have a feeling that if they don’t win the CL which I don’t think they will he could move on.
Last transfer window we all thought we had around 40mil to spend on players and ended up spending over 100mil. Unless you have a crystal ball showing you what’s going to happen in the summer have some faith. Or what’s the point!
Kike reckons we have two deals for the summer already done, good players.
Marc, if they sign Messi, no doubt.
City are in trouble, not many managers can bring what Pep does. Bet they are dreading him leaving.
“Also dont see xhaka leaving for another year”
Our first home match of next season – Xhaka steps onto the pitch and the collective sigh of the Emirates crowd is “why is that useless cunt still here”.
So you can knock £23 million off my sales list and we still need to bring in a top class CM.
Marc CB Not positive we’ll need to look at IF mari stays which i’m optimistic about. LB/RB again very dependent on soares/kola leaving MF definitely, i have faith in arteta to pull something out of a hat here though CAM – not sure if buendia plays in the middle or not as i’m not a big fan of nrwich, but he would certainly suffice at a relatively low cost CF definitely. LW- we got saka as back up and martinelli, not clear about this position tho a quality player coming in i wouldnt complain about. Realistically though cm and cf… Read more »
Pedro
I’m not saying Pep isn’t top class but City have the threat of a CL ban, a squad that needs a rebuild and a rampant Liverpool.
He might just decide 4 seasons is enough – he only did 3 at Bayern and 4 at Barca. He’s aware when to move on.
Starting CM and CF will cost each 35-60. If we structure deals the way we have been then it shouldnt be a huge problem. I’m optimistic about arteta’s decision making regarding players.
Zach
I won’t comment on the new guy’s till they’ve had at least a few games. They might be good stop gap solutions. It’s Striker, CAM and CM that really worries me.
Zach
Structuring the deals like the Pepe one up’s the cost by a chunk.
Marc
those are the positions that will dictate the next few years for us so i obviously agree. I do have faith in arteta not to do crank wenger bargain bin shit or overpriced emery signings though. The player i forgot to mention who might have an impact in all of this is Ceballos. He’s got time to show he can pick up ozils slack, lets see what happens. I for one am optimistic for the first time in a LONG fucking time about this club
Marc – In regards to your earlier post I don’t disagree in that they will need to be replaced with quality but I think we have relied on them bailing us out of having a badly formed team and mentality for far too long.
Hopefully all possibilities are being discussed as to mitigate any issues should we sell arguably our two best players.
But if both Auba and Laca are sold we will bring in a proven goalscorer of that I have no doubt.
Pedro
i’ll trust you to inform us on these Kike rumors when they leak
Zacharse – you are a billionaire who just bought middling premier team and want to improve squad to make top four/Champs League. Which of our players are you buying and how much would you pay for them?
I think you wearing rose tinted glasses, you are greatly over valuing our players.
Ornstein is ignorant, not liar. He got same sources as Pedro does, bored Arsenal employees who got a lot of time on their hands but no connection to where decisions are actually made.
Zach
Ceballos would cost £60 – £70 million. You’re spending the same money in different positions.
I prefer if players kept quiet and showed positivity on the pitch.
Actions speak louder than words.
Take Luiz comments with a pinch of salt.
well he aint worth that
Regarding Overhauls Most players can replace themselves with the transfer fees that we can get. Meaning if we sell kola we will get a decent fullback for 8-15 mil. Xhaka is the same with a little Elneny and Miki money added. Auba and Laca can replace a decent Winger and a Decent forward. I for one think Martinelli should be a starting CF for us next season. If he is good enough he is old enough. We need to replace Laca if he leaves with Auba though. The positions That need real Investments Are CAM and CB with an additional… Read more »
“All journalists are lairs and full of shit.”
The sheer spudity of some people on here is beyond belief.
“Ceballos would cost £60 – £70 million. “
Explain?
CC
He’s one of the most highly rated young midfielders in Spain and starred in the U23’s recently.
What do you think he’d cost.
“He’s one of the most highly rated young midfielders in Spain and starred in the U23’s recently.“
According to whom? That was last summer mate, recently he’s failed to feature in a poor Arsenal side and spent two months on the sidelines.
He’s 24 in August, I think he’s a 40-45 mil player. 75 mil bought VVD, Lukaku, Suarez etc. It’s the 10th highest fee ever for a transfer in world football.
Ceballos isn’t approaching those levels behave yourself.
Michael thinks football journalists are honest and sincere, he also thinks PL ref’s are competent.
They really shouldn’t certain people out in public.
“That was last summer” – bloody hell in that case Laca’s worth £3.50 and a bad of peanuts.
Marc typos on your last 2 posts calm down.
You called me out last night on the same thing cool man cool👄.
“ And a bad of peanuts”
Percy Dalton a tanner a bag.
James
No it’s just I can’t type for shit!
Snap at 71 I’m useless.
🤟
Haven’t seen enough of Ceballos to pass judgement.
Don’t also know what’s going on behind the scenes.
Maybe Arteta is prepping him to take over from Ozil.
Who knows.
Marc
Laca’s stock is lower, that’s not a secret. He’s also 28 and not 26 when we bought him, so he’s at a point in his career where resale value is a null and void.
Explain who has Ceballos down as one of Spain’s next big things? He’s been on Real Madrid’s books how long without getting a proper sniff?
How do you arrive at 60-70 mil? That’s Maddison money and he’s the literal lynchpin of what will be a CL side in the prem. Ceballos isn’t at that level and his price is reflective of that.
Ceballos can’t be worth more than 30-35 million at the moment. The way Madrid need a rebuild, it might be even less than that if they clean house this summer.
To be far we might be able to capitalise on both Madrid and Barca overhauling their squads this summer.
Surely not😱😱
John Cross talking about Wenger coming back to the club to help unite the fanbase.
Where’s the logic in that?
Graham 62
That’s how you know John cross isn’t a real journalist. He makes up shit to stay relevant. It’snt worth your time to talk about the crap he feeds every one.
John Cross just wants to add another chapter to the book and re-release..
Lets just hope they don’t hire the same dude who did the CR7 bust.