Happy Saturday people. There are some rumours doing the rounds on the internet that Raul is exploring player financing options via a special fund that was started off the back of a super-agent transfer back in the day. The fund in question is called 23 Capital. They help clients in music, entertainment, and sport gain access to liquidity. This is from their website.
Our capital and solutions capabilities encompass straightforward advances through to more complex, off balance sheet structures. We offer artists, entertainers and professional sports teams the freedom to create, inspire and compete supported by finance that is flexible and most importantly fair.
If you are out of a job right now and struggling to make ends meet, you might find this sort of copy on a payday loans website. The operation looks opaque and it’s quite complicated to explain, but here’s The Guardian making sense of it through the lens of a deal for Silva.
A few days after confirmation of Silva’s move XXIII Capital began trading. Companies House showed a registration of charge document was filed on 11 September 2014 for an unspecified amount. The company was listed as being controlled by the Candlewood Investment Group, based in New York but registered in the tax haven of the Cayman Islands.
So what does all this have to do with Bernardo Silva? His move to Monaco was made permanent in January 2015 for €15.75m but it would be another year before the story became clearer. In January 2016 the Football Leaks website published three documents which revealed details of the transactions between Benfica and Monaco.
The first two concerned the agreement for Silva’s loan and permanent move and the third – dated 10 July 2015 – shows the mandate for the first instalment of the transfer fee: €5.25m. What seemed unusual, however, was that while Monaco were listed as the liable party it was XXIII Capital who were due to receive the funds rather than Benfica.
Other documents later explained that XXIII Capital had purchased the credit from the Portuguese club, a method employed for numerous other transfers in that period, including that of the midfielder Giannelli Imbula’s move to Porto from Marseille in 2015.
Benfica described their actions as “a normal financial operation”, although there was no mention of XXIII Capital in their annual financial report in 2015. That states the profit from the sale of Silva was €12.855m, meaning almost €3m appears to have gone elsewhere.
Given the lack of official documentation it is difficult to know exactly how that money has been distributed. It is likely that at least 10% of the total fee would have been allocated to Gestifute for its brokering services; records state Mendes’ company received €3.995m from Benfica that final year, which also included the transfer of João Cancelo to Valencia for €15m. The question remains how much was paid to XXIII Capital in exchange for the acquisition of the credit, with potentially €1.3m not accounted for from the €15.75m total loaned in three instalments – an amount that corresponds to 9%
The firm, run by a Brit (Spurs fan) and an Aussie, has gained ‘credibility’ for brokering the deals for Griezmann and João Félix. The reason Barcelona used them is because they couldn’t gain credit through normal channels… but again, read this and tell me it doesn’t sound like they’re solving a problem that is there for a reason.
“All clubs will absolutely have the same need and challenge around the fact that their intangible assets, the players, suck up all their liquidity,”
“If you think around the principles of a transfer, you have the selling club who want the money up front, and why not, and you have a buying club who for a whole range of reasons want to defer the payment. We often get involved and can say: ‘We can solve both your needs, help one have their money up front and help the other defer over five years.’ All you need to negotiate is the cost of the finance.”
This looks very much like short-termism that has been allowed to flourish (in normal times) because football clubs are not run like proper businesses. This from football finance expert Kieran Maguire, of the University of Liverpool, sums up why the game is so ripe for this sort of service.
“They have realised that the transfer market and the club transaction market is unregulated, often unprofessional and contains people who see football as an opportunity for an easy profit. If anyone can then come in and run a professional service and effectively provide a one-stop shop, then there is a gap in the market,”
“A boutique operation, and that is what they are, don’t have to go through so many layers of approval, don’t have to go through governance rules you may see at JP Morgan, where a bank of that nature is very risk concerned and will have a compliance department, which to a certain extent is the tail wagging the dog in corporate lending.”
I’ve just finished a book called Den of Thieves that tracks the career of Michael Milken and his rise to prominence in the 80s as the ‘King of Junk Bonds.’ To be clear, I’m not drawing comparisons to the man and the illegal acts he committed, but what does draw parallels how junk bonds were also marketed with a ‘this is good for everyone’ vibe. Selling club gets the cash, the buying club gets long payment terms, agents get fees, the finance firm gets fees… everyone is a winner, right?
We are about to find out.
The junk bond market in the eighties gave small companies with limited assets access to the credit they needed to buy huge companies in hostile takeovers. Everyone looked like a winner. Then it all came crashing down, because in the end, someone had to pay the bill when firms were crushed by the weight of interest payments they eventually defaulted on.
Giving football clubs access to the capital they can’t get through normal channels could prove to be problematic. Barca’s £100m purchase of Griezmann; that they couldn’t afford, now looks an unmitigated disaster because the exponential growth of the transfer market has come crashing down along with major revenues streams. In response, most normal clubs have reduced wages by 20%. Barca savaged them by 75% to stave off problems (so did Atletico). The question is, how bad are their financial issues? What we know for sure is they’ll never recoup that Griezmann money if they need it, the transfer market has gone to shit for at least 3 years, but Barca are still left footing a bill for the player and the fees they had to go outside the system to get.
In normal times, no problem, but now? There could be trouble. The reason the Spanish banks wouldn’t lend is because Barca borrowed £500m for their new stadium. To put their financial exposure into perspective, they turned over almost a billion euro (€990 million) in revenue last year and only made £17m in profit. That’s a 1.7% profit margin in the GOOD times. Razor-thin margins like that mean you have little room for bumps in the road, well, that bump in the road has arrived and it’s a meteor landing on the M25 during rush hour.
There aren’t many people that are serious about risk assessment when it comes to finances. We’re optimistic by nature and short-term needs usually override rational decision making, which is why we make dumb decisions. So when someone offers you ‘fair terms’ you sign them. Did all the poor suckers that took WONGA loans worry about terms in the fine print? No. They needed the money and likely didn’t think about the worst case. What they didn’t realise is that no one gives out loans to customers with shit credit ratings without fail-safes and fat profits for the risk. The terms are always weighted to make money, otherwise, there would be no point.
Football is the wild west. It’s a naive industry that has been savaged by vultures. Super agents taking disgraceful fees, rampant back-channel dealing, transfer fee manipulation, and middlemen sucking the life out of the game. It’s all there. It’s barely disguised. Fans just let the party roll on, as long as there are superstars on the pitch. There will be a day of reckoning though. It’s out of control and I suspect we’ll start to see some of that happen over the next year or so as over-leveraged clubs start to make big financial decisions on who does and does not get paid.
Back to my point. I have no idea if Raul is interested in utilizing this sort of fund for transfers. A random twitter account saying they know stuff they don’t is an annual thing Arsenal fans foolishly engage with. What I will say is that it wouldn’t shock me that it’s being suggested. We hired Unai Emery because an agent recommended him when all data and anecdotal evidence pointed to him being a bad pick, we have football leadership that seems susceptible to cajoling by super agents. Borrowing next seasons transfer budget to make the Champions League was a gamble we took last season that will likely fail, but at least it’s money we knew we had. Doubling down on that gamble, but with an outside financier would be reckless, especially in a climate where the natural appreciation of player value has stopped.
These deals and financing offerings only work for the people making monster fees off the back of them. Junk bonds had a day of reckoning, people lost jobs, healthy companies disappeared… but you know who didn’t suffer? The people making the fees off the back of them. Beware the financiers with the ‘too good to be true’ products. There is always a catch and it rarely benefits the consumer (fan).
Arsenal might not have money. We might be struggling with cashflow. It might be a tough couple of years. What we don’t need is a ‘fair’ loan from a company registered in the Cayman Islands. We have a billionaire that runs Arsenal. He has $10b worth of wealth and he could access liquidity in a heartbeat. He’s already come out of this covid nightmare £300m richer. If we need to borrow money at fair rates, let’s go through the normal channels.
See you in the comments.
For me Laca has to go before Auba, Auba should only be let go on terms that are favouring Arsenal.
Replacing Laca is easy, replacing Auba is a gamble that involves more variables.
UN “””CG That’s a very good point. Dortmund have been better without him. There is no reason we cannot replicate that with the young talent already at our disposal, if we utilise the proceeds properly”” Off course there is not BUT…. … Dortmund don’t have Silent Stan, Raul, Vinny and Edu running their show. They employ the best.Or at least strive too. We should have the likes of Richard Scudamore as our CEO-instead we got that donut Vinny! We should have an English DOF- who has an encyclopedic knowledge of every young player that is playing in the English lower… Read more »
Gamble 1.. Sell Laca and Auba and bring in celtic forward.. Eduatdo
Gamble 2 sell Laca keep Auba.. Lose him on a free but hope his goals take us to top4 with supplemented with a couple of decent signings..
Also this was going to be a big summer for us, with maybe 4-5 CDs needing sold, Torreira, Guendouzi, and a few more before we even get to our contract-short strikeforce. We need to free up wages for Saka who may or may not stay. It’s going to be a damp squib. We may well be unable to shift half of what we wanted as players will know there is no cash in the market For delta deals and many will look to see current contracts out Rather than move. That will limit any “ins” even if we do find… Read more »
Wenger could have prevented the signing of Aubameyang but instead chose to put his own affairs above the clubs affairs.
Barca have nothing to offer Arsenal, Dembele is a stinker,
Whatever happener to Malcolm? hahahehe
The Aubameyang signing was more about keeping Wenger in a job than building a successful team…
“””””And no Sanllehi in sight.”””””
He did all of that window. Fact.
And here is another one.
When Raul arrived we had £250 million in the bank, playing in Europe and sitting in 5th/6th.
two season later with the tubby Spaniard in charge we are:
Potless, out of Europe , 9th/10th and permanently scarred by the Emery appointment.
As PedRo stated , you are always on the wrong side of the argument- basically on everything.
I don’t know anyone that gets as much wrong as you Walt!
What’s with this wild praise of Arteta?
‘ Don’t be so pessimistic
Emery is gone. The last 10 games of this season are going to be really enthralling’Arteta couldn’t even manage a simple last 32 tie against Olympiakos.
He still has a lot to prove.
Going along with most posters today. Would imagine that it’s unlikely PEA will sign an extension, although I can accept there is a slight possibility. So if he doesn’t leave this summer he will next. There is the argument that players like Martinelli and Nketiah with another year under their belt, supporting PEA, would be more able to take over the CF role. I’m hoping PSG will splash out on him. Not only would we adding to our CM transfer fund but his wages could be spread between two incoming players. Not sure what we can get for him bearing… Read more »
GMay 24, 2020 11:41:05
Gamble 1.. Sell Laca and Auba and bring in celtic forward.. Eduatdo
Gamble 2 sell Laca keep Auba.. Lose him on a free but hope his goals take us to top4 with supplemented with a couple of decent signings..
1a. BuyEduoard, midfielders AM and CM to contribute Aubas goals.
1b. Eduoard flops and we have another deadwood in our hands
2a Aubas goals fail yet again to take us to top four
@Red, I don’t disagree. But it’s hard to knock Auba for his application and his output.
The fact is, his output and his transfer spend prevented investment in areas where we much more urgently required to improve our capabilities; he was the cherry on top of a partly cooked cake. But Auba himself is blameless. Even if he does look like Catweazle.
The argument isn’t about whether we sell Auba (Laca is all over the place use him as a make weight if we can) – it’s if we sell do we need to bring in another striker to replace some of his goals or do we have “enough” goals in the current forward players? Last season Laca and Auba scored 35 PL goals between them. This season with Laca having a terrible season their on 24 so it’s not unreasonable to say they should hit a combined 30 this season. You’d be asking Saka, Pepe, Nketiah, Nelson and Martinelli who have… Read more »
Auba’s exit shouldn’t be predicated on a replacement at this point.
He has only one year left, he’s not extending it…so he has to go.
That’s it.
No ifs, ands or buts.
Auba’s exit shouldn’t even be tied to Laca. Laca doesn’t have one year left in his contract.
Aubameyang’ s goals haven’t secured CL for us. His goals didn’t win us the EL last season. His goals didn’t get us past Olympiakos this season.
He is but one player who cannot be allowed to go for free.
Sell him and invest the proceeds on a quality midfielder.
Un
I agree it was a panic buy but it was a Gazidis panic buy – he was negotiating the new shirt deal, had just lost Sanchez and felt he needed to make a statement.
It’s the exact same reason he did the Ozil deal.
Dissenter: This holding up of the Olympiakos defeat ‘couldn’t even manage a simple last 32 tie’ as some sort of evidence that Arteta might not be up to the job, is a highly dubious argument.
You could as easily point to the positives in his first three months in charge.
Most people would believe that it is unrealistic to expect a new coach, (let alone a novice) inheriting a failing team, to turn everything around completely without any setbacks.
Of course he’s got a lot to prove- I’m sure he’d agree with you.
Marc What did those 35 goals Auba and Laca score get us last season. Aubameyang is not a ThierryHenry or Drogba type striker that carries a team on his back to do big things. He scores… and that’s just it. We have to rebuild the entire team. We are far from competing at the high test level, even with Auba’s goals. Why are we even tip-toeing around the idea of moving-on a sellable asset who has ONE year left on his contract. There’s nothing difficult about this and this should be as clear as a bell. What are you afraid… Read more »
Agree Dissenter 12.01
If it wasn’t for the consequences being so extreme I’d actually like us to sell both Auba and Laca and not add another striker.
When we’re 8 matches into the new PL season and have only scored 3 goals you’ll all suddenly be screaming that you knew we needed a replacement and not bringing one in was crazy.
I’d also point out you’ve got someone supporting your argument who continually wants Arsenal to lose matches, wants us to get relegated and go bust.
Why would someone who wants that support selling our top scorer and not replacing?
BibN16
The ‘positives’ you rightly point to can be easily attributed to a new manager’s bounce.
I’ve been thinking about this Arteta situation and it does seem we have been throwing around effusive praise for him on this site based on just hope [and genuine respect for Pedro].
There’s a major chimera effect here, he was beginning to regress back to the mean with some shoddy decisions. The manner he started dropping Martinelli for his favorite is what I’m referring to.
Dissenter
You’re not hearing what I’m saying and I’ve said it repeatedly. If we can get a decent fee (I don’t even know what that’ll be now) for Auba then sell him – no problem but we would have to bring in another striker to replace some of his goals.
Do you think Martinelli, Saka and Pepe are going to score enough goals to have us competing for a top 4 place?
“What did those 35 goals Auba and Laca score get us last season.”
Er survival – where the fuck do you think we would have finished without them?
Am I correct in saying that it was widely reported that our youth/academy system was in a crisis when Wenger left in 2018. I’m sure this was being implied by lucassen in the summer of 2018 and was highlighted by the media. Well, for an academy in crisis, we seem to have done pretty good in that Saka , Nketiah, Willock and Nelson are at the very least are knocking on the door of the first team , plus Smith Rowe is ready to fight for a place. That’s 5 academy players who potentially could be regulars ( or thereabouts)… Read more »
Honestly I don’t care if we replace Auba and Laca with Nkettiah, Martinelli and Balogun. I don’t care if we move Saka to center forward. I don’t care if we replace him with an unknown quantity from Belgium that cost £9.99 I just want us to never repeat the mistakes of the past; letting a sellable asset walk away for free because we are so scared shitless. Sell Auba… get rid of Laca by any means too. Invest in a proper central midfielder , invest in a young attacking midfielder Let’s kick in from there. If Arteta is as good… Read more »
Pierre
I take a general view of if the media say it about football it’s probably false.
Marc
“Do you think Martinelli, Saka and Pepe are going to score enough goals to have us competing for a top 4 place?”
The evidence is there that they can, and you can add Nketiah to that list as his goals per minute during this season is up there with the best .
Saka , creates and scores….check
Pepe, creates and scores…..check
Martinelli, creates and scores…check .
Dis “””I’ve been thinking about this Arteta situation and it does seem we have been throwing around effusive praise for him on this site based on just hope [and genuine respect for Pedro.”””” Well said. Off course I have not. I will call it as I see it. Without fear or favour- until my next ban. I am the Martin Keown of the Le grove- with the number of bans , I chalk up! If he is charge of another fiasco like the Olympiakos one- he will get sacked Its a results business after all. It was a horrendous result… Read more »
Dissenter, There may be a dose of wishful thinking regarding Arteta, I’ll admit to that. I do feel as though he is intelligent, clear communicator and appears highly driven. No guarantees but I think that he is just the sort of coach we need right now, with a transitional squad and plenty of young talent that can hopefully be moulded into a great side. He must recognise that our midfield needs significant improvement. Not sure how this pandemic will affect our shifting of our over paid, dead weight. We may have to accept the continued presence of players who we… Read more »
Marc
‘ Er survival – where the fuck do you think we would have finished without them?’
Where did we finish with them
I’m glad you want to slice up mediocrity in different ways.
Harrods mediocrity and Tesco mediocrity.
Like Unai na just told you.
Auba scores lots of goals at Dortmund, they shifted him to us and are better off money-wise aaa well as football-wise.
Why are you tying yourself up in fear?
You’re overthinking this, surely?
Laca has to go, he’s worse than Giroud, slightly above Chamakh, his value will only depreciate and he’s close to deadwood territory.
Arteta hasnt done anything ground breaking yet and there are several questionable decisions he has made so far.
Dissenter “I just want us to never repeat the mistakes of the past; letting a sellable asset walk away for free because we are so scared shitless.” I never said we had to spend a certain amount on a replacement but there’s another mistake I don’t want to see us make. Letting too many experienced players go too quickly and not replaced because “project youth” looks so good. When those young players don’t step up because they lack leadership on the pitch young players with good potential are written off. We desperately need to get out midfield sorted but what’s… Read more »
Do I think Martinelli, Saka and Pepe will score enough goals
I don’t, that’s why we watch the games.
What I do know is that the current set-up will never get us there and we will be £35 million poorer for it.
How do clubs like Wolves do it?
They don’t have this omnipresent scorer of goals. They have several goal scorers playing in a system that suits them.
How often do we still have midfielders routinely scoring goals?
“Auba scores lots of goals at Dortmund, they shifted him to us and are better off money-wise aaa well as football-wise.”
And they’ve recent bought one of the highest rated most promising cant’ stop fucking scoring goals strikers on the planet.
“You’re overthinking this, surely?”
No you’re not thinking – If you think the current forward players are ready to score a ton of goals you’re mistaken. In a season maybe 2 Martinelli might be ready, I don’t think Nketiah is good enough.
If both leave we definitely need a striker. Eddie and Martinelli is not enough right now for a premier league season. I would argue we would also need another goal scoring winger. Two players for each position but We would need Eddie, Martinelli and A new C.F to make it balanced. It would be a stupid gamble to go with two players who don’t have a single full campaign in between them. But the main goal should be to add creativity and goals from midfield. we don’t have enough from midfield. If we sign really good creative midfielders I wouldn’t… Read more »
Auba and Laca need to be sold. What’s all the fuss about keeping them. They won’t get us a league title and most likely not into top 4. I warned against us signing Auba that he was a one trick pony and here we are. Yes he scored lots of goals which mind you haven’t won us enough matches just draws and losses. That’s a huge difference between having a title winning striker and not. We didn’t even fix our midfield so that makes his signing a pointless one. Look they both need to go. let’s stop talking about them… Read more »
Dissenter
“How do clubs like Wolves do it?
They don’t have this omnipresent scorer of goals”
Er They have Jimenez who’s scored 13 goals this season – that’s 4 less than Auba and Jota who scored 6 which is one less than Laca.
I can’t understand why you can’t accept a view point of if we sell a player who scores lots of goals you’re going to need to replace them.
Marc – selling both Laca and PEA may be a two step forwards, one step back:
– Cashing on saleable assets to invest in CM(as well as reducing payroll)
– Providing greater opportunities for up and coming players
-Losing two established CFs and their goal contribution
Bob N16
When are we going to be able to hold Arteta accountable, place him square in the bullseye for criticisms when the team does not perform.
Truth be said, the fixture list that followed his appointment weren’t particularly hard games and the results weren’t that great.
When are we going to stop blaming his predecessor?
When are we going to stop blaming Raul/Edu?
It seems we have a situation here where we’ve carved out a praise-only bubble for Arteta while everyone else gets slammed.
Bob
Sell them, sell for a shit load of cash and invest in 2 quality CM’s fucking great.
We sold Anelka and got Henry, we sold Overmars and got Pires. I’m not against selling players but we would have to bring in a striker as well. The players in our forward line will not score enough goals as it stands.
Un
I don’t know how I can say this any clearer – Sell Auba and Laca but we must replace one of them. The current players aren’t good enough yet to score enough goals.
Marc I think you’re clutching on some weak straws Wolves get their goals from multiple sources. Auba isn’t as good as you’re bleating about. You and Emirates stroller have argued in the past that’s its better to keep Auba in the faint hope that the benefits of CL qualification outweighs the certain loss of the £35 million that’s would accrue from his transfer this summer. You seem to think that Auba is the difference between CL qualification and further stagnation. I disagree and recent history supports me. Dortmund sold him and are now better off. There are players waiting to… Read more »
Un
I like Martinelli I think he’s going to be a really good player for us but as it currently stands he can’t get into a team where Laca can’t hit a cows arse with a banjo.
If Arteta who sees him every day in training doesn’t think he’s ready – there has to be something.
Red
Yes that’s how much we’ve relied on their goals.
In all the discussion about selling PEA their is one major issue that needs to be overcome and that is perhaps he will come to the conclusion that in view of all that’s going on he might just as well see his contract out . The fact that he has a very nice wage at Arsenal and the fact is that there are only one or two clubs that could afford to pay him more than the wedge he is on at Arsenal and if you have to factor in a fee of even up to £35 million he will… Read more »
Terraloon
Come on mate don’t be stupid – it’s easy we’ll get loads of money for him!
It’s like I’ve entered the football fucking twilight zone
Terraloon
‘ The irony for me is that so many can’t wait to show him the door yet at the same time talk about getting the second highest ever fee for a player over the age of 30’
Any fee above losing him for a big fat ZERO next summer will do.
Then you’ll have to replace him with what exactly?
I believe you missed the pint of the argument.
Dissenter, I would give Arteta all next season and up until say November 2021 before he can be fully judged, just like Emery or for that matter any new coach. If it turns into a car crash this time frame is irrelevant. I don’t understand how critical people are of Arteta when he inherited a mid table team that had obvious, crucial areas of weakness half way through a season. Surely he should be allowed to mould the squad in a way that allows him to play in his chosen style. This inevitably would lead me to give him (or… Read more »
If Aubameyang is all about goals then he’s in the wrong fuckin team and should move on….
Marc
Then arteta is fucking clueless. Messi was a world beater at martinelli’s age. Guardiola had to sell anyone blocking his path. Ditto for Ronaldo at Man Utd. When you see a great talent, you don’t block his path with the whole experience crap. You unleash him.
I don’t think people realize that Aube knows how to throw up a fuss too. That’s part of why Dortmund moves him on. He spend the summer of 2018 moaning like a pig and had his agent link him to every job on the planet.
Deal with it. He is going to leave this summer.
Arsenal can’t be a scared shitless as some here.
Bob
He didn’t inherit a mid-table team, he inherited a top 5 team who prematurely sacked their manager..
Bob N16
Okay. I get your well considered points.
That’s said, that loss to Olympiakos in round of 32 still grates me. I would be lying my ass off if I said I can still see Arteta in the same light.
I think he says all the right things, knows how to use the cameras and gin up the fan base but there’s an asterisk for me.
*l’ve always wondered why my autocorrect always changes ‘point’ to ‘pint’. It must be defaulting to UK English.
I’m not sure martinelli has had any bad games. Maybe okay ones but definitely not bad. And anytime he was played as the CF, He was great. I say we unleash him next season.. And btw, Edouard isn’t all that. He won’t score 10 PL goals in his first year here. Martinelli will.
Playing Laca over Martinelli is another sign of weakness on Artetas part, not a weaknes of Martinelli
Im telling you for free!
Terraloon I think that Aubameyang is perfectly happy to see out his contract and leave on a Bosman. He is in the same boat as Ozil. Both players know perfectly well that they are able to negotiate better financial terms if they leave on Bosman. The real issue for me is whether the club focusses on improving lets say improving our midfield with two new quality players costing let’s say £60-70 million combined or blowing that budget on a striker. Arsenal are saddled with 2-3 players in last year of their contracts. This is an inherited problem with no easy… Read more »
“I will call it as I see it. Without fear or favour- until my next ban.”
This is good comedy
Marc
“In a season maybe 2 Martinelli might be ready, I don’t think Nketiah is good enough.”
Arteta does..I’m pleased to say that he looks at his overall game , his movement, awareness of space and his ability to apply the press at the right time instead of running around like a headless chicken.
And he will score his quota of goals.
Whether he is ultimately top level , time will tell.
Pierre
I know you like Nketiah and I’d be very happy if I was wrong – I’d much prefer to have youth players go on and be a success at the club but I just don’t see it in him.
As you say time will tell.
Dissenter I think you missed the point I was trying to make.Its nothing to do who replaces him or indeed who will score in his place. On here poster after poster suggest that he doesn’t add anything other than score goals ( for me that’s the main objective of a striker) that he can’t adjust to Artetas style and so on. In other words they can’t see his worth and indeed importance yet many of those same posters are suggesting that someone is going to shell out big time for him Don’t you think if he is as poor as… Read more »
Terraloon
I asked that question yesterday and all I got was “it won’t be Madrid or Barca” so basically the only option is either PSG or another PL team – ManU are in the market for a striker for example.
At least with ManU we wouldn’t be repeating mistakes of the past selling out top scorer to a team we’re competing with.
Terraloon ‘ Don’t you think if he is as poor as some are suggesting other clubs would be aware of his failings?’ The answer to that question was asked by a few [including this writer] when we we were acquiring Aubameyang in Jan 2018. Why was it an uncontested negotiations, why didn’t any other club come into the picture? Auba does what he does, very well…..he scores goals. He brings nothing else to the team. It’s not an insult, it’s just fact. He’s a Fillipo Inzaghi type of striker. Have you considered that he just wants to test himself at… Read more »
ES. I am far from convinced that there will be anything in terms of cash available to spend nor do I think that many clubs will be willing to match the inflated wages many of Arsenals players are on. There is no doubt that wage costs will have to reduce and even though the summer 2019 signings will not be earning the same as those that left the lack of CL football is a double / triple / quadruple/ negative whammy. Less match day revenue, less TTV money, less place money in the PL but often forgotten is the reduction… Read more »
Terraloon
That’s something that’s being missed by many – if transfer values drop then at first glance what you pay out will be reduced by a similar amount to what you sell at however players have values on a clubs accounts. It’s bad enough that revenues will fall but if you start writing off huge amounts by selling on the cheap clubs showing massive losses.
“Do you think Martinelli, Saka and Pepe are going to score enough goals to have us competing for a top 4 place?“ Marc- yes I for one honestly do. They are all rapidly maturing players and there is no reason to see why not. if goals start coming form several people rather than one outlet we will be the stronger for it. I also think that Balogun will start to be a name by the time we’re properly into next season. Their success of course will be more assured by a decent midfield and thats why it is essential we… Read more »
Honestly
There’s no reason why the combination of Martinelli, Nkettiah, Pepe, Saka and Balogun wouldn’t keep us competitive.
We can throw in a cheap athletic British striker and two new midfield players.
The more I think of it, the more …it’s like heck ya, let’s do it.
As much as I love Auba I think we have to sell him. So who do we buy? Jimenez or Ben Yedder, a striking oldie on the cheap. I actually think not buying Ben Yedder was a pivotal point in our demise. After we saw Laca wasn’t cutting it we went for him – a cheap consistent decent striker. He chose Sevilla over us. Then we went for Auba, with money we prolly could have used to get our midfield fixedin January or the summer after. And we kept missing out on bargain midifleders, both CAM and CM because we… Read more »
PEA should have been sold last year without fuss- but Raul was more concerned with his needless pursuit of Pepe and getting Rambo, Monreal, Mikki and Kos out of the club. PEA , will sit tight, laughably remain as AFC captain, collect his last year ‘loyalty’ bonuses and wait for this Corona to blow over. The whole art of this management game ,is to know when to buy and when to sell. But we have total dopes in charge. Talking publicly about ‘ Outsmarting the Market ‘ cobblers. They could not turn a profit on a kiosk at Waterloo station.… Read more »
Timo Werner would be a perfect buy for CF after getting rid of Laca and Auba. Him and Martinelli would be perfect.
CG
I actually agree with your last post 100%
Every damn thing you just wrote
Dis
Thank you.
The proceeds of the Auba sale should be used to fix the midfield. I’ll take my chances on our kids.
Juventus re set to make a profit out nothing from Rabiot.
The difficulty will be finding a buyer because the kid has a loony streak in him, possible inherited from his crazy mama.
Good piece Pedro but I wonder why you attack Raul like you do .
You are the first one to put Twitter ITK’s rumours to bed and then find a way to attack Raul based on a the same ITK rumour. Talk about Irony.
Dont know why People attacking Auba like that
. Been our most important players since day 1.
I wonder how cheap my season ticket will be once we’re in the championship.
Wouldnt mind making future midfielders with veronique Rabiot, i will box to box her
Im telling you for free!
Marc
‘I wonder how cheap my season ticket will be once we’re in the championship.“
Good to know you’re making the most of the worst possible scenario.
You really believe Auba is the safety net keeping us in the top division?
What will happen to your poor season ticket come June 2021?
Dissenter It seems you are having trouble understanding what I’m saying. When Auba goes whether that is this summer if sold or swapped or next summer on a free he needs to be replaced. Now that can be a different kind of striker, but a front line of Saka, Martinelli and Pepe is not going to score 45 plus PL goals a season which is the minimum a front 3 should be bringing in. I’m not hung up on keeping Auba and Laca I’m hung up on you being stupid enough to think we can not replace them and be… Read more »
WasI
It’s truly staggering to see people suggest the way we get better is to dispense with our top goal scorer and not replace him.
Someone above even compared him to Inzaghi, the multiple league and CL winner, like it’s a bad thing.
Chris
It really beggars belief. Crazy thing is those taking this position will be the ones screaming the loudest when it doesn’t work.
Wasi “”””Good piece Pedro but I wonder why you attack Raul like you do.”””” Because he knows he is a wrong – un, perhaps. Arsenal do not need people like him at the club. He belongs in Spain.( if they would have him) What on earth does he know about English soccer and Arsenal FC? Gazaidas only gave him a job because he felt sorry for him. What has he ever accomplished to be given that much control at a club like Arsenal? No surprise Barca are in a mess. No surprise Arsenal in a mess. That’s your Raul for… Read more »
The best scenario is for one of our strikers to go this window and the other the next. This will give time to replace them and see if any of the youngsters can move up. Possibly Laca first as he is regressing fastest.
Nobody will buy Auba unless the price is very low his wages will now be in question due to the recent flu pandemic.
Midfield is the key here we need two proper powerful creative minds who can score 10 goals, or existing midfield is very poor.
I’ve already provided replacements for Auba. What more do you want? Our top scorer should be kept when we need the money to improve the team and plan for the future. WTF do you even want? It’s pathetic how adverse to change most of you are. Did Henry not leave? Did Van Persie not leave? Aube is not fit to lace any of their boots. Get over him already!
izzo
No one is saying don’t sell Auba, the only thing we’re saying is if he is sold he must be replaced.
As for your “replacements” how much do you think we’ll get for Auba and how much will Werner cost?
Bottom line, the midfield needs fixing badly. Need to sell in order to replenish. Auba / Laca and whomever else we can get $ for. Simple… Xhaka sell. He is not going to becoming that much better, if anything we might see regression. He is not the athlete we need anyhow Guen does not give us anything except being a spaz… sell Torreira- like the kid but is undersized. Maybe sell Willock – has some potential keep AMN- sell- will not get into the team on a consistent basis and questions about this attitude and decision making Ozil- one more… Read more »
CG
What’s your take on Brian Cloughs motorway service stations brown envelopes
This is the thing Marc, the idea of leaving Martinelli, Saka and Pepe to it is a lovely thought, and there is always the possibility it could reap big rewards, but that is a big risk to take. And should we really be placing that much pressure on those young players to succeed? That could backfire badly if things start to go bad. Teams like the Man Utd class of 92 are extremely rare. We far bigger issues to solve than Aubameyang. It is fine to say we can get £40 million for him to solve the midfield (would we… Read more »
Chris
No ones saying it’s easy but too many on here seems to exist in a Football Manager world and not the real one.
How the fuck we sell Xhaka now is beyond me – that decision could hang over Arteta for a very long time.
It will haunt us that a bid came in for Xhaka and we did not bite.
Arteta will need to be held accountable…
Xhaka is part of the gaping hole in the midfield.
Un na
I thought Inzaghi played up top on his own in the Milan team that was winning everything in sight under Ancelotti, supported by Kaka and Seedorf, may be wrong though.
You can have players like that, tap in merchants, goal hangers, whatever you want to call them, in your team and win things.
Marc
Unfortunately for you (and the rest of us!) I cannot see Xhaka going anywhere this summer certainly.
You are quite right, a lot of Championship Manager players on here I think, sell him! Buy him! Sorted!
SF
It’s worse than that Xhaka is actually some new life form that takes sustenance by sucking the talent and ability out of his teams mates.
He’s some sort of football vampire!
Chris
We’ve got Mustafi as well – equally useless and as overpaid, then you’ve got Kolas he’s an OK player but we have better but because he’s on £100k per week we’ll be lucky to be able to offload him.
That’s just under £300k per week on the wage bill.
Marc
Xhara is the shitty gift that keeps giving…
as we all agree that Aubameyang is not going to sign an extension, then the Aubameyang conundrum is pretty simple: Option 1) we keep him and losing him for nothing next year. Best outcome he fired up into the Champion’s League. Worst outcome Arsenal is poorer of £35 millions and still not in the Champion’s League. Option 2) we sell him for £35 millions this summer. Best outcome we use the money to purchase players and upgrade our problem area, and with them gets into Champion’s League. Worst outcome we do not qualify for the Champion’s League, but are £35… Read more »
RSPC
Tell me about it, it’s bad enough when it’s Birthday and Christmas but he turns up on Hanukkah and I’m not even Jewish!
Chris, You can’t have goal hangers anymore. Football is much faster and more physical. That has been exactly the reason why Italian football is reinventing itself. For decades it used a system that did wonder for them and slowly people have adapted and find a way to beat Italian teams. But Italy did not see the changes, they continue plodding along. Sure of their superior system. National teams and clubs have had no success for the last few years because of that mentality. However now it has clicked. The new breed of strikers in Italy are different. They are a… Read more »
Hillwood
“””CG What’s your take on Brian Cloughs motorway service stations brown envelopes”””””
Nothing proven.
Did he get charged of any offence?
Only GG got caught- I think.
Think a lot of that ‘brown paper bag talk’ was just pure speculation.
Valentin I’m all for selling him if we can get a reasonable fee – he’s got a year left on his contract and losing him would for nothing doesn’t help anything. My argument is with Laca gone as well we would have to buy another striker as the players already in the squad will not score enough goals – they may be ready in a year or two but for next season (which is only a couple of months away) they are not ready without support. The toughest question is what happens if the only bids we get are for… Read more »