June 20th. Put the beers on ice.

by .

The papers are hotting up with stories about Coutinho. The Spanish press is working very hard to connect Arsenal, Kia, and Arteta to 2016 fever dream.

What we know for sure.

  1. Barcelona need money, they are on an all-out assault to let everyone know that they are open for deals.
  2. Coutinho is struggling to find a home. He didn’t work out at Barcelona on the left. Bayern wouldn’t put him in the #10 position. He’s a bit lost.
  3. He’s very, very expensive. £250k a week in wages + £110m buyout clause.
  4. His agent is Kia.

Now, I’m not quite sure what’s going on here, but a move for Coutinho makes little sense for me. He looks a bit like a younger version of Mesut Ozil. He flourishes in a position that’s being sidelined. You have to build a team around him. He may have his best days behind him.

I’m not sure why Arsenal would entertain another traditional #10 that has failed at his last two clubs. Even if it’s just a loan for the season, that still seems like throwing money in the fire. Shouldn’t we be looking to find a player that can become what Coutinho was, but in the shape of now?

Bringing him to Arsenal for a season would cost a minimum of £13,000,000 in wages, and likely a £7,500,000 fee if we’re lucky. Maybe there’s a masterplan for him, I’d happily be proved wrong, but I just don’t think our approach to picking up expensive risks has worked out very well. We’re also very, very bad at loans going back to Julio Baptista.

We’ve also asked all our players to take cuts to their wages this season, I’m not sure piling in with big money on Coutinho is the right move politically (also worth noting his Barca salary is 75% less than it was last year, which might be driving some of this panic to move to the Premier League).

More of a worry, I’m not sure he’s right for the team. It’s certainly a terrible look that the two big names on Kia’s books are both being heavily linked (Willian). We’re like the new lottery winner that suddenly has hangers-on. It’s appalling to watch.

Talking of agents, it’s amusing to see that Mino Raiola is looking for Arsenal to take out the option to extend Mikhi’s contract another year and loan him back out to Roma. Nuts. We need to move the Armenian on ASAP. Another disaster signing, though I will say, a gamble that I could agree on at the time.

Players on the out seem to be shaping up. David Ornstein thinks Holding, Mustafi and Sokratis will be moved on. It’s a shame about Rob, he looked like a beast in the making after his FA Cup heroics, but injury and poor form hasn’t helped him. Sokratis needs a longer deal. Mustafi will now likely find himself a better club. What will be interesting is whether we sign another centre back, or we roll into next season with Saliba in the mixer. I heard that we were very interested in Diallo last season, but instead, opted for David Luiz for obvious reasons. It’ll be interesting to see if we go back for him this summer. Also, we’ve been linked to Fofana at St Etienne. All rumours, but the sort of young players I can get behind. It’s such a shame our footballing execs are more interested in having a seat at the table with elite agents, versus dealing with where we are as a club and playing in a market we can really dominate.

Jermaine Aliadiere has some not so subtle READ BETWEEN THE LINES commentary on Matteo Guendouzi.

“He’s like my little brother & I always told him that Arsenal would be a very good team for his development as a player & as a human being. He took my advice & came to the club, but I just feel Matteo hasn’t grown up as a human being yet”

“He’s grown up as a player, he’s matured massively as a player & every year he gets better. But unfortunately, as a man, he hasn’t grown and matured as much as I thought he would by joining Arsenal

“I think thats what he’s missing & why he’s not playing as much under Mikel because Mikel isn’t really up for that. He wants players who are going to do a job for the team & do what they ask him to do. If they arent happy to do that, then he’ll have someone else do it”

I’ve been telling you for a while that the noise around the young Frenchman hasn’t been great, one day I’ll share some of the stories, but not worth it right now. Needless to say, don’t be surprised if we ship him out somewhere this summer. He could probably do with a stint under Diego Simeone.

Final player who could be moving out is AMN. It’s not been great for him this season. His attitude has been poor. He complains far too much for someone so early in his career, he took that red under Emery that looked sloppy, then continued his bitching under Arteta when asked to play a role he didn’t fancy. I think you need to be adaptable in this game. He’d rather be in midfield at a lesser club than get game time regularly at right back. He’ll move, no doubt have a solid career, but the chances are, it’ll look more Theo Walcott than Cesc Fabregas.

As you can see, the shape up this summer won’t just be about the wage bill. It’ll be a savage culling of players that aren’t up to it from an attitude perspective. This sort of squad shaping is what should have happened two years ago. Better late than never. I just hope we don’t have as many hold outs as we did before. I don’t know how you force players out, but let’s be real, the time is different now, you’d be mad to hang on at a club if there’s the chance of a long contract elsewhere.

Right, that’s me done, who would YOU sell. Notes below. Also, heard that the game is definitely going to be back week of the 20th, Dani C was NOT lying.

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Bob N16

If you’re defending Cummings’ actions Marc, you should probably stop before you start embarrassing yourself just as the sycophantic cabinet have already embarrassed themselves; Johnson getting his glasses out, saying he needed his glasses again(?) after suffering Covid(press that evening)and Gove bullshitting about travelling with eye problems on more than occasion (LBC) A man who ‘tests his eyesight’ by driving his wife, who incidentally was capable of driving and his 4 year old, for an hour drive! Really? Most reasonable people would have let his wife drive back to London or wait a day or two until his eyesight wasn’t… Read more »

China1

Well Wengers biggest strength was that he recruited either highly experienced players who could self organize and organize their team mates (sol campbell) or he recruited players who needed to be unleashed and set free (like Henry, cesc, Sanchez) Certain players aren’t built for being coached. Henry and Sanchez both looked like a different player outside of arsenal where they were given free reign. Cesc too didn’t get any benefit from being heavily coached and his best days were free at arsenal. RVP was a natural genius too but responded better than the others to management when at Utd. But… Read more »

China1

As a parent and as someone who already spent ages dealing with this kind of isolation I can easily relate to why Cummings would want or even be willing to do what he did But from a senior advisor right in the public spotlight it was a catastrophically dumb move. As much as parents will mostly move heaven and earth for their kids when faced with a danger, it was never going to be accepted by the majority that he did what he did. It was political suicide. You can’t be telling people not to visit their dying parents to… Read more »

China1

Also you really question the intelligence of some of these high profile gov people flouting the rules

It goes to show that just because someone has managed to get elected to public office or work into a highly placed role, that doesn’t have any bearing on their ability to process and make basic rational decisions lol

Just like at that SAGE advisor from UCL who saw his gf twice. You can have all the scientific knowledge in the world yet not even a basic modicum of common sense – another type of intelligence entirely

Sid

If Sanchez and Henry had grown up in England the would be working at the department store after broken legs, shoulders, arms drove them out of the football field as teenagers.
Any non English mother would never want to see their child participate in a football game a second time after watching the horrors 1st time.

Sid

The working class British are having a 1st hand taste of what others have experienced through colonialism and imperialism

Marc

Bob An awful lot of this is faux outrage driven by a media / those with a political agenda. Cummings driving to Cumbria to isolate in a separate house on his fathers property so family were near by if both he and his wife were unable to look after a young child is as far as I’m concerned no problem. They did not present a risk of spreading the virus. The “test drive” was stupid beyond belief. It should also be noted that using the “I couldn’t visit my father who was dying of cancer” line is misleading. An individual… Read more »

andy1886

TBH the whole lockdown concept is now pretty much toast regardless of if you agree with it or not. When the government changed their message it just confused people, throw in Cummings and his mates with their ‘do as I say not as I do’ and most of us just threw in the towel and went back to business as usual. I see very little evidence of social distancing , in supermarkets shoppers ignore direction arrows and just brush past people without a thought. It’s becoming pretty clear if you haven’t realised already that they’ve been making it up as… Read more »

andy1886

Marc, official government advice was that if you cannot look after a child due to coronavirus and have no help nearby you contact your local authority for help. Did Cummings do that? No.

Marc

China @ 10.31

No shit mate – the guy at SAGE wasn’t just a member he was one of the most senior figures and apparently the guy who produced the model that panicked the government into bringing the lock down in.

What Cummings did is bending the lock down rules to the extreme but people need to understand that there’s a difference between seeing some tart to get your leg over, visiting a holiday home for a joyride and being terrified about the well being of your child.

Dissenter

Why is Boris staying his prime ministership on Cummings
Is a a cum-buddy or something?
Everyone serves at the pleasure of the PM, they know they are to take to the sword for him.
Surely that’s how it’s supposed to work. Cummings shouldn’t be placing Boris in that position because he should have resigned. I’m assuming he’s only still around because Boris has assured him that this will all blow away.

Dissenter

*staking his prime-ministership

Trask

Other kids looking muscular, putting the work in

Matteo still there looking like a twig

Tom

To all my British friends if this is what passes for a political scandal then I envy you.

Marc

andy His kid is autistic – I can understand why he did what he did. The guy broke the rules in a safe manor in relocating – the “test drive” was stupid. Anyone who says they wouldn’t break the rules to protect their kids is lying – as for contacting you local authority for help, the Government were going to include in the advice that if your father owns a fucking great big farm with separate buildings on it where you can isolate then this was an option but decided it wasn’t worth it for the 0.000000000000001% of the population… Read more »

Bojangles

Can’t you guys see the pointlessness in arguing politics. If the opposition had won the election with the same chain of events occurring, those condoning would be condemning and those condemning would be condoning. Hypocrisy comes to mind.

Marc

Bob / Andy

As what Cummings did is so heinous and clearly against the lock down rules I’d like to ask the pair of you three questions.

Did you see the news footage on Saturday when the story was breaking with the media outside his home?

If yes where is your moral outrage at the media breaking social distancing rules when they were jostling each other to get at Cummings?

Do you think it’s hypocritical for the media to act in this way whilst taking the moral high ground over what Cummings did?

Marc

Bojanges

Exactly

alex cutter

” If the opposition had won the election with the same chain of events occurring, those condoning would be condemning and those condemning would be condoning.”

You have no way of knowing this, so maybe shut the fuck up?

Bojangles

Fuck off Alex, get back in your box

Tom

This is the latest from the CDC website:
1. If you believe your vision is impaired due to the covid19 virus, then you should test your eyesight by driving in traffic, preferably with your loved ones in the car.
2. If you believe your vision has been compromised to the point of causing risk to yourself and those around you, try looking directly at the sun just before or after the eclipse.
3. In the event the “solar eclipse” solution isn’t readily available to you try rubbing bleach or Clorox into your eyes.

andy1886

Marc, 1. Yes I did. 2. Firstly the media are doing their job, social distancing is required only if you can do your job in that way, clearly that wasn’t possible in this case, so all the deflection tactics are just that I’m afraid with regards to the media scrum. If you want to be completely accurate the advice would have been that they should have worn masks. 3. No, it’s not hypocritical. Hypocritical would be if you were part of the group that set the rules in the first place and then did not follow them yourselves. Like Cummings.… Read more »

Graham62

CG

Away from politics.

What’s your take on Mr Wenger never wanting to return to the Emirates?

You must be gutted.

Doesn’t surprise me one jot.

James wood

Seems to point that the book will reveal more than his one time friendship with the club.?

Tom

Marc
Did you just admit to being a hypocrite lol?

Graham62

James Wood

Are you saying he’s openly communicated this to increase book sales?

Surely not.

Marc

Andy

“What get’s people’s goat is that Cummings is an arrogant unelected toady who thinks that he’s above the law.”

This is where we disagree on a basic level the public at large react to the media. What get’s the media’s goat is that Cummings is an arrogant unelected toady who is a driving force behind BREXIT or has complete disdain of the media – he won’t play their games.

As for you defence of how the media behaved – good grief.

Marc

Tom

You’ll have to be more specific.

Graham62

Did anyone watch the Dortmund/Bayern game?

CG

Walt “””””CG You really are full of shit.””””” ? Bergkamp- signed by Rioch- flourished under Wengerism Cesc- Made by Wengerism RVP- Made by Wengerism Bellerin, AMN, & Holding – looking distinctly average without Wengerism. Our Wenger might not go down as the greatest manager of all time ( certainly in the top 10) but he will go down as the greatest nurturer and world -class player producer of all time. From Anelka to Weah to Ramsey to Vieria to Ox to Walcott to Nasri. the list is endless. how Genduzi, pepe , Saliba would love to have a careers like… Read more »

bennydevito

The whole lockdown’s a fucking joke. More people die of flu every year but we don’t lockdown then. This is nothing but a smash and grab to take our liberties away, introduce mandatory vaccination, digital identification, cashless society and 24/7 surveillance. If the governments cared about us they’d ban smoking. Smoking kills 8 million people worldwide every year and 1.2m of those are nonsmokers dying from 2nd hand smoke. In the 6 month period from the first case in China to now twice as many nonsmokers have died than from CV19. I as a non smoker am twice as likely… Read more »

CG

Graham

“”””””CG Away from politics.What’s your take on Mr Wenger never wanting to return to the Emirates? You must be gutted.

Non , I am actually pleased,

the club is currently a stinking cesspit.
We don’t deserve him or his class and wisdom.

We deserve the likes of Kia, Raul and Edu instead.

Tom

Marc By agreeing with Bojangles’ post you kinda admit you would’ve condemned this sort of conduct if done by the opposition party member. Andy How quaint you guys still expect your politicians to adhere to the same rules as the general public. Here, in my country it’s a given they are above the law. Otherwise what’s the point of spending millions or even billions to get elected if you have to act like a regular Joe Schmo. A free , top notch healthcare while denying others a basic one, insider trading perks and first hand knowledge where to park your… Read more »

Dissenter

bennydevito
Lots of quality drivel prose written like a proper coward
I bet you’re safely hunkered down in lockdown with enough rations to last you the next one year.
Comparing a pandemic to smoking now?

Terraloon

Andy Cummins is unelected of that there is no doubt so despite his senior advisers position he isn’t a law maker he advises those that do. For me no one should be subjected to different laws or indeed different degrees of the law. If you are guilty of breaking a law then that’s it but the same statute applies . When it comes to penalty then yes that may differ but not when it comes to the actual offence. What was Stephen Kinnocks fine for breaking lockdown travelling to his parents home? or what about the over 70 year old… Read more »

Terraloon

Bending the rules is vastly different to breaking them

Tom

Bennydevito

How many ICU doctors and nurses have died of the second hand smoke though?

Redtruth

benny

The lockdown is a joke compared to Spain and China where lockdown meant lockdown with no trains and buses operating and no daily exercises allowed..
Only one person was allowed out every 3 days for 2 hours to get provisions……that’s lockdown…

Bob N16

Marc, I would certainly have much more sympathy for Cummings if he showed an ounce of remorse for his actions. I wouldn’t wish the media scrum on anybody’s door step but he’s 100% brought it on himself. I understand why he chose to drive to his parent’s farm, in his position I might have done the same but the bullshit about testing his eyesight going to a place of interest was enough for him to resign in itself. We all know how important a contributor he is to the messages put out by Johnson and this government. To blatantly ignore… Read more »

andy1886

Tom, yeah we expect a bit more subtlety from our lot, hundreds of years of managing the plebs so you’d think that they would be better at it than this. We know that they are a) in it for themselves and their mates, b) mostly incompetent inbred, chinless, spineless, half wits but usually they manage to keep it at a level that doesn’t kill too many of the electorate.

andy1886

Terra – yes our levels of journalism are pretty pathetic, like you I’ve sat at home watching interviews frustrated because they don’t ask the bleeding obvious question or they don’t follow up when the interviewee either dodges it or tells a blatant lie. As I mentioned previously Cummings reminds me very much of a modern day Mandelson, more influential than your average ‘advisor’ and likely to wield influence or someone who let’s be honest, is hardly an intellectual heavyweight. Boris will try and stick with him, or in the worst case he’ll be sidelined for a bit and then brought… Read more »

Bob N16

‘Anti-porn filters are stopping Cummings trending on Twitter‘- made me laugh 😂

Bob N16

Tackling in training allowed from Thursday…getting closer to restart!

Graham62

Redtruth

I agree.

Our lockdown wasn’t tough enough.

Then again, Spain is twice our size, with a much smaller population. Our infrastructure and control of it makes it difficult to implement and control such a lockdown.

On top of this we are too soft to apply such tough measures.

Paulinho

“The whole lockdown’s a fucking joke. More people die of flu every year but we don’t lockdown then. This is nothing but a smash and grab to take our liberties away, introduce mandatory vaccination, digital identification, cashless society and 24/7 surveillance”. Yep, said right back in March the lockdown was a colossal waste of time, the whole thing a laughable overreaction. The science was readily available back then to come to that conclusion as well, but so many bought the narrative hook, line and sinker and had a cognitive breakdown that only let the doom-mongering prognostications of the clowns at… Read more »

Graham62

Paulinho

Are you a medical expert?

prvhc

Pedro
Why wouldn’t you share those juicy stories about Guendouzi now,when there’s no football ?

Paulinho

Graham – Is Ferguson from the imperial college a medical expert? Nope, he is not, but he is an expert at getting things hugely wrong(Swine Flu, bird flu), and it was his model most of the world based their decisions on.

Maybe you should’ve spent more time reading the opinions from the actual medical/virologists experts back in March rather than agenda-driven clowns that have a history of grossly exaggerating epidemics, and you would have been able to put this virus into perspective very early on.

Aussie Gooner

In truth the UK lockdown was too little, too late and too confusing. Most other countries had already instigated strict lockdown regimes before the UK even though about it.

A friend of mine was in Bali with her sister in early March. My friend returning to Australia was subject to interrogation, temperature testing and 14 days self isolation at home (including one visit from the police to make sure she was at home!). Her sister walked through Manchester Airport without seeing as much as a poster regarding COVID!

Emiratesstroller

I have personally no sympathy for Dominic Cummings on two counts: 1. Leaving aside the circumstances he found himself in he should not be driving 250 miles if both he and his wife were feeling unwell or 35 miles if his eyesight is impaired. That has nothing to do with Corona Virus. It is basic common sense and the law if you have an impairment. 2. In such circumstances the least that he should have done is say “mea culpa”. If he had done that from the outset the worst outcome would have been a slap on the wrist. Boris… Read more »

Wasi

Pedro ‘I’ve been telling you for a while that the noise around the young Frenchman hasn’t been great, one day I’ll share some of the stories, but not worth it right now’ Telling people not to beleive in ITK and then claiming to be one. Irony at its best. Liverpool definitely got overpaid with the Coutinho deal but had Valverde built a good system he would have been a great player for Barca. He was the best player for Brazil in the last WC and was the Liverpool’s talisman except for his last season there. To say Valverde misused him… Read more »

Aussie Gooner

Cummings appears to be a self righteous knob of epic proportions. Typical “do as I say not as I do” merchant who couldn’t lie straight in bed! Others have had to suffer, particularly those on the front line, while Cummings decided to take his family away for a little break for his wife’s birthday! All this bullshit about his sons welfare – he had plenty of family in London who could have helped him out. And the eye test argument is just lamentable. Puts a whole new perspective on driving while blind drunk! “Oh Officer I was seeing double so… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

Aussie Gooner

That is precisely the point you do not drive when you have an impairment. That
is the law and has absolutely nothing to do with Corona Virus.

Personally I feel sorry for Boris. He cannot win in the situation he finds himself.

If he capitulates to the the press it will be seen as weakness on his part. Until
now Boris has always ignored criticism whether in Parliament, during Election
or even this Pandemic.

Until now he has won the arguments despite the hostile environment.

Graham62

Paulinho

So you believe social distancing is a waste of time?

Redtruth

Emiratesstroller

Johnson didn’t win the argument on NHS surcharge for migrant health workers.

Wasi

Pedro
My bad Pedro , I didnt know about that. I thought you were an office man doing the blog as a pass time/ Hobby.

CG

Wasi Holding v Luiz. If you asked any Arsenal supporter after the 2018 FA Cup final , that in two years time – we want to oust the combative Rob Holding for that ageing Brazillian plonker David Luiz- they would think you are potty! But thats what you are in favor. David Luiz will ruin Arteta if he is not careful, damage Salibas development and seriously hinder any chance of Arsenal playing the type of soccer the premier league demands. Try and think for yourself and not just accept Kia and Edu’s trash! Holding has proved he can play in… Read more »

Wasi

According to Sky, Luiz’s contract was initially for only 12 months and we haven’t yet extended it further.

CG

Re: genduzi

You don’t need to be Einstein or mini Einstein (our PedRo) to know genduzi will be out of the AFC exit door at first opportune moment.

No coming back for him now.

redandwhite83

Would listen to offers on all, except: Leno, Saliba, Tierney, Saka, Willock, Nelson, Nketiah and Martinelli.

Terraloon

Wasi

Am just reading that as well.

The reports go on to suggest he will walk for free because his £125 k a week wages are too high

If and a big if this was only a 12 month guaranteed deal for £8 million some needs sacking

Where’s Dominic-Cummings when you need him?

Wasi

CG ‘Holding has proved he can play in the prem.’ ‘And Up an until his injury at Old Trafford was immense.’ When did Holding prove himself. Apart from an extraordinary FA cup final performance and the 7-8 game run in the Emery honeymoon period Holding has been nothing but average. And after the ACL injury he has been terrible. So i dont know what proof you are talking about here. Just being English and big doesn’t make someone a good defender. I was also quite excited for Holding but his performances have dulled my expectations now. Also I said id… Read more »

Wasi

‘If and a big if this was only a 12 month guaranteed deal for £8 million some needs sacking’

Bad business for sure. But if we recall it was a deal done in the last 2-3 days before deadline because Kos threw his toys out the pram.

Wasi

And btw for me Chambers over Holding anytime.

andy1886

Terra, Cummings would claim that he didn’t know what he was signing as his eyes were dodgy. I’m with Stroller, hold your hands up and admit you made an error of judgement and most people would let it go. By coming up with some cock and bull story he made it worse.

Emiratesstroller

RT Forgive me but for all the left wing politics, remaininers, media and mud slung at Boris he has handled the situation during his career pretty well. 1. He beat Ken Livingstone in two Mayoral Elections notwithstanding that London is a Labour Voting City. 2. The Labour Party lost a General Election by a Landslide sending Corbyn and his left wing acolytes into oblivion. 3. Notwithstanding all the mud slung at him in Parliament, The Law Courts and Media he won the Brexit debate and we have left EU at end of January. Most of his remain opponents including in… Read more »

CG

Wasi

“””””A loan is the best move for both Arsenal and Holding right now.”””””

He might not want to go out on loan or be sold.

He might want to show Arteta that he is a better defender
than these second raters we keep buying ( Mari and Luiz) and good on him if he does.

Wasi

CG

He may not want but maybe he needs to.
Up until now he has only shown that he is not yet ready. No matter how hard you train if you dont get game time your game’s not gonna develop as much.
Just look at the likes of Chelsea and how they utilise clever loan to make players ready to play in the first team. ( Mount , Tammy , Reece , Zouma being the recent examples. )

CG

“””””Just look at the likes of Chelsea and how they utilise clever loan to make players ready to play in the first team. “”””””

Chelsea know what they are doing Wasi.

We ain’t got a clue.*

Our lot make it up and jot it all down on the back of a fag packet!

*and KSE allow it to continue too. Totally and utterly disinterested.

Moray

That’s a weird story about Luiz on sky sports. If I remember correctly it was pretty nailed on that we had signed a year extension. Perhaps the ink never flowed on that. I hope not. If he wants to join as a coach then maybe so, but I see no value to him or us as a player for next season.

Thomas

Arsenal is one of the worst run clubs in world football.

Marc

Wasn’t one of the Sanllehi haters telling us a couple of weeks ago that we’d extended Luiz’s deal at a terrible time?

Moray

That’s a pretty fair comment, Thomas. We’ve gone from champions league contenders to champions league participators to premiership TOP four to mid table mainly through poor and sometimes shocking transfer decisions.

Uwot?

With regards to the “chavs” clever loan system for players then ready for the first team.If you throw enough of shit at wall som3 of it will eventually stick.They had I believe at some stage over the last couple of seasons,over 50 players out on loan .A complete piss take & manipulation of the system. Lets be clear.Financial doping.

Moray

@stroller, brexit hasn’t happened yet. I can sell anyone a Ferrari until they get into it and find it drives like a milk float. Just convincing a gullible, largely
Ignorant and under employed public to vote to leave is not much of a feat. Delivering on the promises and negotiating like a demon will be the key and he’s made a pig’s ear of the one challenge he’s had so far. If you expect the UK to come out next year with razor sharp trade deals then prepare for disappointment. These pricks won’t have one.

Valentin

Marc, Q1) Your wife is sick with the disease, your parent that are in the at risk group are currently safe. what do you do: A) drive 5 hours while your wife is sick with an autistic kid who needs to pee every twice in. 30 minutes drive and then risking contaminating everybody who would meet you. B) stay at home. isolate your wife and ask for one of your parent to be close to you in case you need them. Option A is the best option for you and your kid to catch it. Option B is what leaflets… Read more »

Valentin

Uwot,

What Chelsea did with the loan system was not illegal, but it was against the spirit of the loan system. FIFA and UEFA have now put restrictions in place which means that Chelsea business model will not be allowed anymore.

Personally I would want more people at Arsenal to have that ruthless efficient mind set.

Terraloon

Uwot It comes back to the point what rule did Chelsea break ? One of the reasons Chelsea’s approach is clever is that until you expose a player to senior football , see how they react when things are going well , how they react to not being treated as someone special then you have no idea if they have the mental strength. They get other clubs to pay for their development. Yes the6 make money from their loan army . Arsenal have made significant money from property development why is that ok when in reality it fits less comfortably… Read more »

Wasi

‘Arsenal, and it’s happening now, have youngsters that burst on the scene full of skill , full of promise but have never had to go through the challenges I mention above . Time after time the flaws or perhaps should I say the ability to take that next step don’t become evident in Arsenal players so after all the hype many of these academy players are sold on.’

Spot on
And in legal terms one could say Chelsea have exploited the academy system but they haven’t broken the rules because there were no rules like that in the first place.

Aussie Gooner

At least some in the UK still have a sense of humour!

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/yes-roadsign-declaring-rules-dont-22095663

Aussie Gooner

So the only thing stopping the Saudis taking over Newcastle is their involvement in illegal streaming of EPL matches through BeoutQ! So their solution? – Bid for the legitimate TV rights when the contract is due to be renegotiated in 2022! You couldn’t make it up! Perhaps they need to employ Dominic Cummings as a ‘consultant’ to push the deal through!

Aussie Gooner

Anyone notice that our academy only appears to produce strikers? This represents the current malaise in youth coaching in the UK. Every kid wants to be the big note striker and score all the goals! Fair enough but structured coaching at youth level should target and value defending and midfield as skill sets desirable to play at a higher level. There is still this notion that anyone without all the flair, tricks and speed will be a defender and left to pretty much get on with it without specific coaching. I should know – I was shoved into the left… Read more »

Graham62

Thomas

Unfortunately that’s been the case since we moved to the Emirates in 2006.