Yesterday, I touched on the David Luiz deal that all fans should find abhorrent. Today, I wanted to map out the journey Arsenal are on. We’re fast-moving from a club that was mocked for not moving with the times because we believed in the integrity of the game, to one that is seen as a feeding trough for super-agent fees.
This is a rundown of what’s happened since Wenger was fired.
Raul hired Unai Emery despite data pointing towards him being a super bland manager. Unai Emery actually thanked his agent, Arturo Canales, in an interview he did with AS before he moved.
“Thanks in part to Arturo Canales, they insisted I was the best candidate of all.”
Canales wasn’t his agent at the time but switched over soon after. Unai Emery was a bad candidate. He couldn’t manage egos, he couldn’t speak English, and his record with defences was abysmal.
Question: Did Canales land a finders fee?
It was clear from Emery’s first season that he was an absolute disaster of epic proportions. The data around his tenure showed that he’d performed worse than Wenger across the board. His football was bland, his communication was atrocious, he fell out with big names, he was meek, and he dropped the most cowardly end to a season in living memory.
He should have been fired, he wasn’t, and to make matters even more perplexing, Raul Sanhelli tried to give him an extension to his deal. The next season got off to the worst start in 38 years, but Raul held off firing him until mid-December, to the horror of Sir Chips according to Tim Payton. Eventually, the position became so toxic, the club had to exit Emery.
Sven Mislintat left Arsenal because he didn’t like the way Raul’s approach to transfers. The contacts approach wasn’t for him, this was common knowledge around the training ground.
With no Sven at the table, what happened? We unveiled a mega signing. Arsenal brought Nicolas Pepe to Arsenal (yes, I was excited). The rumours are that the fee was eye-watering. Italian clubs were leaking they wouldn’t deal with the number. Even this deal is based on contacts. A guy called Marc Ingla used to work with Raul at Barcelona in the marketing department. Famed in France after landing a 3 month suspended sentence from footballing activity in France for alleged false reporting in May 2019. The deal helped the €140m debt arrangement Lille had Elliot Management and staved off a Milan like takeover (according to the Financial Times).
The transfer fee we paid for Pepe was outrageous. If you’d said at the start of the summer, ‘where should we spend £72m?’, I’m not sure many would have said blow that on a winger. Especially not on one that was still incredibly raw and far from the finished article at 24 years old.
This sort of weirdness was all going to be solved by Edu. The Brazilian boasted Arsenal DNA and we hoped, Arsenal values. He’d put us on the straight and narrow, right?
So what do we know about Edu? Well, we know his agent is Kia. This would be fine if he at least pretended to act independently of him. His record so far indicates he does not.
Cedric Soares. A player Southampton thought was so bad, they leaked to The Athletic they were shocked to get a fee because they thought he’d end up at a lowly club after his contract expired in June.
As deadline week drew closer, news of Arsenal’s interest surfaced and Southampton could hardly believe it was true. They saw barely any logic in the approach and put it down to certain relationships between Arsenal and Soares’s people, yet there were no complaints from the south coast. A deal was done that suited all sides — the package is worth around £5m to Saints and Arsenal feel that, once fit, in Soares they will get exactly what they were seeking from the market.
It is quite stunning that the only person in world football that Arsenal could find to play right-back came from Kia’s portfolio (the same month, we were also linked to Kurzawa). He was also injured when we signed him.
David Luiz, another very odd signing. 3 months prior to joining Arsenal, he inked a 2 year deal with Chelsea. Edu then oversaw a £24m one-year signing that involved a £6m intermediaries fee (this has been denied by Kia, or at least he says he personally didn’t take more than £600k), an £8m transfer fee and a whopping £10m a year salary. David Luiz had been average for Chelsea. He was well past his prime, but Edu thought it wise to give him a 60% pay increase. Does that strike you as a normal thing to do for someone of his age and playing profile? Kia has fought back on the fee story, saying it was only £600k. Pretend for a minute the fee didn’t exist, we still spent £18m on a player we’re either having to sign up to a new deal or letting go for free.
Who are we being linked to this summer? Willian. A 31-year-old winger from Kia’s portfolio. My suspicion is this free transfer will look great to Josh K, and the player will come for a pay rise and there will be another fee. That deal was as rumoured to be very close a few months ago. Not sure where it is now, but would it surprise you? Why would Arsenal keep lining up at the same trough?
We are also being heavily linked to Coutinho. A good player, but Arsenal, per Josh K, has a wage bill problem and we’re apparently thinking about taking the 3rd highest-paid player from Barcelona on for next season. What’s the fee there? Are we really in a position to be exploring a deal of that size when we’ve cut the entire squads earnings by 12.5%? This is a player that can’t get a bite from anywhere in Europe because he is seen as overpriced. We are literally mainlining Kia’s players into the squad.
Then we go to Pablo Mari, a player I’m sure we’d all love to see come good, but he’s had 22 top-flight games and his agent is… Arturo Canales.
Even the interview process for Emery’s vacant role saw Kia inserting his clients into the mixer. Why would anyone consider Vítor Pereira? An absolute joke suggestion. He would be nowhere near any top clubs shortlist of names, but once again, Arsenal Football club indulged agent suggestions, despite the disastrous consequences of doing that exact same thing the first time around.
Where does scouting play out in these deals? Is it just a coincidence that most of our players come from a small selection of agents Edu and Raul like? Are we using our money to sign the absolute best talent to move us forward? Looks questionable.
There are four positions that are important for the smooth flow of unaccountability in football.
The club: Raul doesn’t own Arsenal, but he might as well do. Josh doesn’t understand the game in enough detail to be potent or nuanced in his questioning. Unless he truly did think £24m was a good deal for a 33 year old for one year, then we really are fucked. Geraldo Lopez of Lille tried to build a football agency so he could ship players around the world, then third party ownership disappeared, his solve? Buy a club. Jorge Mendes runs Wolves for a reason. Own a club and it’s a fee printing machine.
The Sporting Director: Wolves Sporting Director is really a super agent. According to Reuters, Jorge Mendes sees the only profitable part of football is player trading. This from the Reuters link.
“Trading in talent is often more profitable than owning soccer clubs, say academics who study the sport. But it is also a business model that some fans, officials and club owners criticise and oppose. They say it diverts money to agents and financial investors that would otherwise go to clubs and help sustain the vibrant competition that fans pay to see.”
A Sporting Director should be single-minded in delivering a club the best players, for the best price, that offer the best value. Arsenal is a club under financial strain. Where was the value in the Luiz deal? Can anyone fathom Soares at right-back?
The board: This is the final layer of scrutiny on deals. Raul, according to The Athletic, bypasses the board now, which is part of the reason Sir Chips packed in his Chairmanship. When you have owners learning the game, the board should be packed with knowledge and be afforded the power of veto, especially without a strong CEO in place.
The manager: It helps to have a compliant manager in charge. Nuno was Jorge Mendes man at Valencia. The fans hated it even though he took them into the top 4. Now he’s at Wolves. It’s clear why. Unai Emery had very little say at Arsenal, he was lucky to have the job. He was well paid and Raul was his king, but he had no true power according to his grumblings post-sacking.
Arteta was the best candidate for the job, this is true, but he is also in a very weak position. This is his first job, he’ll have very little power at the club right now, Raul is his King. The same was true for Unai Emery; who was going to Real Sociedad before his agent put the call in.
Say what you will about Arsene Wenger, the guy always had righteous views when it came to super-agents. To a fault, no doubt, but I tell you what, I wish we had some of his values at the exec level of Arsenal football club right now. I can’t believe I’m writing that but this is not a good moment for Arsenal.
We cannot allow our club to be a vessel for agents/intermediaries/family fees. I understand that it is hard to bypass them in totality, but the simple truth is Arsenal have shifted from a mindset of paying them as a necessity because we want a great player, to almost shifting our entire transfer approach to be solely focused on certain agents portfolios… to the detriment of the football that has us sitting in 9th.
The David Luiz deal was a huge waste of money. Unai Emery was a terrible hire. Cedric Soares should never have been signed. We did not need Dennis Suarez. Nicolas Pepe was overpriced. Now we’re looking at Willian, Coutinho and continue to be open to suggestions from the same stable of ‘friends.’ It’s a worrying trend and all the traditional checks and balances have gone. Absent ownership under Arsene Wenger was bad, but at least he tried to run the club like it was his own. What is the new world? Where is the fierce independence that makes Arsenal, The Arsenal?
We are better than this. There’s never been a greater leveller in football than what has happened now. Let’s hope we don’t blow it by meekly handing over our future to fee merchants.
1st
Boom
1st?
2nd
Trofee
Tr4phy!
Hard luck, ads 🙂
lads*
Not enough superlatives for this blockbusting post.
10/10.
Vitor Pereira is the Portuguese coach?
Good post Peter.
I think that those values are gone for good. Who aside from Wenger will be able to bring them back? I also have issue with some of Wenger’s values as well.
I think your point is, Wenger never dealt with super agents, fees, family, entourages, etc.
The game is what it is,,, its the reality now.
The only solution is to go with the youth,,, from within the club or outside where you avoid this BS to some extent.
PedRo
“””””Say what you will about Arsene Wenger, the guy always had integrity. “””””
100% correct.
Wenger**made bad decisions but always for the right reasons.
This mob make bad decisions for all the wrong reasons.
And that’s the difference,
If supporters think its acceptable that sleazebags like Kia and Raul should be sitting in Arsenal directors box- they can not be real Arsenal supporters.
**incidentally so does Arteta. He will probably come unstuck too- but like our Wenger the man, has his integrity.
Look Pedro, I agree that Emery turned out to be a bad choice, but really mate, the way you are painting him now is totally disproportionate to what he did. Twenty odd games without loss? that’s not REALLY results what a manager who has crap ideas about defending turns out, is it? We managed the Europa final… fell apart when Hazard turned it on and we were knackered.. but again not bad mate. . And we were within an ace of European Cup qualification… again we were knackered at the end of the season and if Auba and Lacka hadn’t… Read more »
Great piece Pedro. Add to all that the recent news we let 10 scouts go. Is that really where we’re cutting back now? We could probably pay all of them by forgoing half of one Kia fee. Not a great vibe around the club, is it?
pedro, You are putting a lot on the line by these accusations. And soton didn’t land 5 m fee , the whole package till summer including wages cost arsenal that much. If they turn out to be decent players than you are saying here, your arguments from now on will have weak narratives. Now you see pepe struggling a bit and he is the raw winger? You were saying he was the most polished winger available on the market last summer. You flip flop between agendas and it doesn’t make you look good. If you say Arteta has standards and… Read more »
Habesha, quite the opposite. The narrative is very strong. We use a contacts approach to player aquisition and that is validated by the concentration of agents around majority of our deals.
Dissenter
from the last post
“The total package is worth around £5m to Southampton”
I understand the argument just fine thanks. Even taking into consideration once again that this is just speculation from a journo it still doesn’t mean we paid 5m, or that the deal cost us 5m. It means it was worth that to Southampton (allegedly). Not the same thing at all and something that many people, including yourself and Pedro gets wrong. Again, the 5m number is still only pulled out of the ass of Ornstein, not fact.
It’s the kind of post expected after the 24 million Luiz stuff was refuted publicly. Anyway all very expected it’s a narrative that’s been built over a number of months for whatever reason. Worth noting there’s no connection between Cedric Soares and Kia and the Nuno Santos and Jorge Mendes stuff is painful when you consider how well he’s done and how strong and stable both Valencia and Wolves are currently.
We had Tierney out injured, Kola injured, Saka being played out of position where he doesn’t want to play, even though he did it excellently.
We had Bellerin just returning from a long layoff and he was in terrible form and is liable to break down at any time, AMN isn’t a RB and doesn’t want to be one. Sokratis and Mustafi played RB ffs, how didn’t we need someone that could play both RB and LB?
Oh, yes, I forgot about the VAT and the billions in agents fees and validated parking. Terrible deal.
Pedro I accept that Luiz was not the correct acquisition. However, you seem to be changing your tune somewhat from what you were saying on Le Grove about the other acquisitions and departures last summer. I seem to recall that you were quite positive about most of the decisions made at the time. Let’s be clear I am on the same wavelength as you about Emery. I gave him the benefit of the doubt when he arrived notwithstanding that I was concerned about his communication skills and lack of rapport with certain players. The end of season was a disaster… Read more »
I think you guys are missing the point. It’s not about if a signing works out or doesn’t, it’s about the approach. Do we want to be a club that conducts business primarily through our top exec’s connections? Is that a healthy way to operate? Is it smart financially? Does it serve our club’s ethos? Is it proper fuckin’ Arsenal?
Good to see that Edu is being questioned.
He has seemed to get a free pass so far in comparison to others probably due to him being an ex-player.
I saw his interview last year which was quite long and the most you have heard him talk since he joined.
He had a habit of clicking his fingers between sentences during the interview. Who clicks their fingers between sentences on a consistent basis?
Naff.
Pedro
Thanks for the vindication regarding the Soares deal.
The club is in this position because the owners have no knowledge of football or football clubs.
They seem to be easily led by bullshitters like Raul.
We are now seen as a soft touch and attracting spivs who are putting their noses in the trough.
Arteta is a soft touch and I think is using the club to get experience so he can return eventually to run Man City when Pep leaves.
We are in a huge rut.
Say what you will about Arsene Wenger, the guy always had righteous views when it came to super-agents. To a fault, no doubt, but I tell you what, I wish we had some of his values at the exec level of Arsenal football club right now. I can’t believe I’m writing that but this is not a good moment for Arsenal. Ugh. Absolutely slaughtered for years for missing out on brilliant players because he was tight fisted and refused to deal with agents and now it’s he’s right and we shouldn’t deal with them. Shame that because if you want… Read more »
Pedro Really? This is you from the 27th May: “This might sting Arteta, he seemed to connect with the player. Luiz has been a real leader at the club during a messy time. He’s a behind the scenes banter machine, he’s been towering on the pitch at times, and he seems very bought into the vision. Key thing: He’s a legend. He’s a good learning instrument for the young players. He’s a winner.” Today ” David Luiz had been average for Chelsea. He was well past his prime, but Edu thought it wise to give him a 60% pay increase.… Read more »
Didnt Wenger approve the massive salary contract of Ozil? The man who wanted to run things so frugally? He went from one extreme to another.
And yes, I would take Nuno as a coach…Wolves are doing quite well and they all know how to play with each other.
Hope Arteta can get something good going, but I think connecting Nuno’s good coaching to anything else is a little off.
I have allways felt that raul is like fire.. or a marketing man. Something good to have around in a strong leash but a disastrous master at the top. The same thing with sven thou. Probably a great servant but poor master. Too bad we didnt poach a top dog from red bull to run the show. But hey at least i have faith in mikel. He is gonna do great!
Saying that “even Italian clubs” shied away from the Pepe deal because of the fees isn’t really saying much Pedro. Outside of the occasional splurge from Juve they’re all cheap as fuck and mostly deal in loans, swaps and low balling. You can only judge someone on what they actually do, not what the papers speculate about. The facts are we signed Pepe, Martinelli, Saliba, Tierney and Luiz under Rauls window and 2 of those looks to be world class talents, Tierney unless he keeps getting injured is going to be excellent for us and a mainstay in the team… Read more »
Does it serve our club’s ethos? Is it proper fuckin’ Arsenal?
Might as well go back to the days of not signing anyone honestly.
Again worth pointing out that every footballer has an agent and there’s simply no way of avoiding them.
Your revisionism on Emery is most entertaining. You are right about him now, but at least admit to being wrong about him, like a number of us were, back in the day.
Marko still missing the point even after its spelled out.
Pedro
Really part 2:
“Buy a club. Jorge Mendes runs Wolves for a reason. Own a club and it’s a fee printing machine.
The Sporting Director: Wolves Sporting Director is a really a super agent. According to Reuters, Jorge Mendes sees the only profitable part of football is player trading.”
Yet according to the last set of official figures published by the PL Wolves were 16th in the table for fees paid to agents. Only Southampton, Huddersfield, Cardiff and Burnley paid less. Link below.
https://talksport.com/football/522499/liverpool-paid-agent-fees-premier-league-clubs/
Marko
‘It’s the kind of post expected after the 24 million Luiz stuff was refuted publicly.”
Assuming you’re right and the actual cost was 18 million, isn’t that a tad too much for a 33 year old defender for one season?
Don’t discard the broad point that Pedro is making. Even the low-ball number is still damning.
Spanish
“””””The club is in this position because the owners have no knowledge of football or football clubs.
They seem to be easily led by bullshitters like Raul.
We are now seen as a soft touch and attracting spivs who are putting their noses in the trough.
Arteta is a soft touch and I think is using the club to get experience so he can return eventually to run Man City when Pep leaves.
We are in a huge rut.”””””
cant disagree with any of that,
Yeah the flip flopping is weird I remember all those years Wenger rightfully got slaughtered for missing out on deals because of a reluctance to deal with agents and it cost us big time. Perhaps the biggest example of this is missing out on Mbappe because we didn’t want to pay his agent or intermediaries 2 million and that player is now worth about 150-200 million easily
I have to say it’s funny reading these calls for caution because the widely circulated numbers are based on ‘speculation’
We’ve been arguing and conversing on le-grove on tabloid derived-information forever.
Wenger certainly didn’t get that benefit.
Dissenter
That’s hardly the low ball number is it?
That’s including the made up salary of 200k, with the only source the article in the Athletic that made up the 6m agent fee.
in reality it cost us an extra 3m and 25k a week compared to Kos. Don’t know the VAT differential though.
Pedro
I’m sorry but you’re undermining your credibility but pushing lies and media bullshit to make a point you believe in.
Mislintat is so fucking good that he ended up at a division 2 German side. His signings at Arsenal are currently at best questionable and half of them smack of the very thing you’re criticising – contacts.
Dissenter
The difference is the media consensus on Luiz’s wages is £120 – £125k – the £200k per week appeared out of seemly nowhere except Pedro who knew it all along yet less than a week ago was describing him as a winner and a legend.
“We had Tierney out injured, Kola injured, Saka being played out of position where he doesn’t want to play, even though he did it excellently. We had Bellerin just returning from a long layoff and he was in terrible form and is liable to break down at any time, AMN isn’t a RB and doesn’t want to be one. Sokratis and Mustafi played RB ffs, how didn’t we need someone that could play both RB and LB?“ Cost very little and I’m effective an elongated trial to see if he could fit in long term. Can play either side of… Read more »
Marc
Yeah, the only one of Svens signings apart from Leno that I think has a future at the club is Guen and he gets shit here daily. Still his best signing for me, just needs to add consistency and cut out some of his antics, it’ll all come with experience. People seem to forget he’s only 21 and came from the french second division, not his fault our midfield is so terrible that he had to play more than he should have at this stage.
Don’t discard the broad point that Pedro is making. Right forgetting the fact that he’s making a point with inaccuracies his point in scaremongering dealing with super agents is at the risk of yet another pointless ban stupid. If you want to sign up good players you have to deal with agents. It’s that simple. Examples of Nuno Santos and Jorge Mendes and Wolves again is stupid considering how well everyone involved made out. I mean Wolves bought Ruben Neves for 16 million and he’s likely going for 50-60 million if he ever leaves. That’s huge any way you look… Read more »
Freddy If we were to wait for 100% clarity before comenting, nothing with get written or posted here because every point for or against, is based on ‘speculation” The Soares deal was especially troubling, because Southampton laughed heir way to the bank … just speculating of course. I don’t expect that Raul and Edu will get every deal rightbut when they do, I don’tthink we should mae excuses for them, The player was injured – that should have disqualified him for a short term loan deal. The player had 6 months left on his contract. That should have called for… Read more »
“Arteta was the best candidate for the job, this is true, but he is also in a very weak position. This is his first job, he’ll have very little power at the club right now, Raul is his King.” Pedro Is this you putting down an early excuse for Arteta? Don’t get me wrong, I want Arteta to succeed and I will allow him one season to restart project youth 3.5 if he wants to but I cannot let you forget all the “Emery wants Banega” and the likes you posted last season. You, Valentin, Un and some others went… Read more »
Marko
I bet you too will make mistakes with numbers if you ran a busy blog along with your day job.
Freddie
You forget the insider information that Pedro has (and won’t reveal) about Guendozi about issues behind the scenes.
So as it stands Leno is the only Mislintat signing that can be considered a current success.
No-one would care if we were doing deals with agents for exciting up and coming players. But no. David fucking Luiz and another old boy Willian linked. Fuck this Kia and his shite portfolio. It’s not about agents per se as several have pointed out it’s about getting involved with one particular agent who wants to dump on Arsenal past it players or journeymen and the club are getting involved going in head first. And wtf has Edu done or achieived since he has been at the club apart from his obvious close connection to Kia? Mislintat went down a… Read more »
Dissenter
But Pedro’s point is all about the numbers – if he’s not getting them right the whole piece is a complete waste of time.
Marko
I doubt Luiz was on 120-125k weekly.
He was on the highest cadre of salaries at Chelsea then went to PSG [presumably on higher wages]…before returning back to Chelsea.
I think he’s one of those crazy high earners.
It’s all speculation of course. I haven’t seen his contract.
Ishola
If Mislintat is so fucking good why did he have to drop a division why couldn’t he get the role at a “big” club?
Dissenter
So now we only matched what he was on at Chelsea we didn’t give him a huge rise when he joined us?
Marc
“Mislintat is so fucking good why did he have to drop a division why couldn’t he get the role at a “big” club?”
Because this is his first stint at the higher Sporting Director role.
And let’s be honest Stuttgart will be back in the top league soon enough anyway.
“No-one would care if we were doing deals with agents for exciting up and coming players.”
Pepe, Tierney, Saliba and Martinelli.
Remind me who did we sign whilst Mislintat was Head of Recruitment?
Axed
“””””Pedro ,Is this you putting down an early excuse for Arteta?””””
PedRo is probably coming around to my way of thinking.
No matter , how talented Arteta might be : how much coaching potential he might have in his locker.
What chance has a basic novice got when he has Josh, Raul and Edu as his sidekicks?
The irony is – if Arteta was left alone with a competent CEO- he could flourish.
Fans will soon realise ( if they have not already)- if Wenger can’t crack it under Silent Stan & Playboy Josh- no one can or will.
What I want to know is why couldn’t Wenger crack it and get another job in management?
“””””What I want to know is why couldn’t Wenger crack it and get another job in management?””””””
he is like us Walt
he only wants The Arsenal.
Ish We signed Luiz yes, who else of Kia’s clients? We’ve been linked with about 134 players this season, so a couple of them happen to have the super villain of the day as agent, means nothing until something happens one way or the other. Doubt we’re going near Willian. What has Edu done? He joined too late to have an impact last summer so all he’s had is a winter window where we had 2 mars bars and a half eaten burrito to trade with (and the millions in VAT and agent fees of course) so it’s a tad… Read more »
Marc “Pepe, Tierney, Saliba and Martinelli.” It wasn’t said that there have been no deals for younger players. What was said is that the club should not be getting so much involved with Kia and his journeymen portfolio of players. But we know that unfortunately Kia is stuck like a clampet on the club now. I’m sure you don’t want to see discard signings keep turning up at Arsenal on a consistent basis. Well this will keep happening if Kia is not told to fuck off out of it. And if that means ditching Edu in the process to get… Read more »
Marc
I think he was on more than 120-125k weekly at Chelsea. He was one of their highest earners.
Did he take a wage reduction to come to Arsenal? It’s possible.
Were we so desperate that we bumped up his pay like we did for Mkhitaryan? That too is possible.
It’s all speculation.
Ishola
What players have we signed who Kia is the agent for?
Dissenter
“It’s all speculation” yeah but that’s not the line that was taken either earlier or yesterday.
This is a witch hunt for Sanllehi – if he fucks up I’ll slag him off but we constantly see a line of things he’s blamed for that turn out to be false or made up.
Marc
Nobody wanted him.
Simple.
I think debating this has become tiresome. We are signing players because we like a contacts approach in which the manager has no say on and if it is to believed he is the best thing since sliced bread. You have to make your narratives align themselves. If Arteta is elite he isn’t accepting deadwood. He will accept agents as long as they have really good players. If not he isn’t elite. Luiz was the only contacts signing last summer but the year mislintat was here more than half his signings were already known. That’s what contacts signing means. You… Read more »
The flip flopping is a tactic to create side shows as the EPL resumes in the likely case results go south.
You heard it here 1st!
David Luiz had a 2 year deal at Chelsea worth a reported 125k a week.
He moved to Arsenal on a 1 year deal, Amy Lawrence sourced at 200k a week. I also had that number shared with me in December. She has deep, deep connections at Arsenal and a very good reputation.
The Soares deal, £5m number comes from Athletic.
Where else are people confused about numbers?
Marc
“What players have we signed who Kia is the agent for?”
Well we have Edu our technical director for one.
Do you think it is a coincidence that as soon as Edu joined up we have Kia popping his head up every other week and talking Arsenal and stating what player could be good for the club? His players of course.
This is early days yet. Edu has not been long at the club himself. Kia has his foot in the door.
Graham
You know that, I know that even Pedro knows that but he needs to keep a few posters onside no matter how loopy they are otherwise the comments page will be filled with people pulling his posts to pieces.
Nice on Pedro, Raul has been suspect from beginning in approach, in ideal world for me you’re head of football has ability to be proficient on both fronts in discussion. Contacts and analytics. Which is what made Sven interesting as he was the arm to analytics an area underutilized at Arsenal and necessary for survival given current budget and standing. Once he was gone it was clear which direction Raul was headed and it wasn’t going to be a combined effort. Here we are, shelling money into a pot of agent and intermediary fees, really doesn’t have look of something… Read more »
Pedro
Are you saying those numbers are all correct?
Sal
Compare the signings made under Sven, and the signings made under Raul.
Which group of players look best for the long term of Arsenal?
Not an even contest, Sven was playing checkers while Raul is playing chess. Facts.
Marc, you’re an apologist. You dug your heels in on Emery the same way you are with Raul. Not surprised to see his apologists doubling down on why this is all wrong.
Also, ‘WHAT ABOUT SVEN’ is not a defence.
We have been here before when with the Gazidis “brain trust” fiasco
Marc, I’m saying that if you didn’t believe my numbers in December, you should believe Amy Lawrence in June.
Where is the Evidence he has signed players by contacts? May be one player in our time of need. A centerback that replaced another experienced one. Sure we paid agents for pepe but we wanted the player so he did what need to be done. Saliba, Tierney, Martinelli and Pepe have been scouted. Luiz was a contacts signing in time of need. Compare it with Ex Dortmund players, Auba, Miki, Sokratis and an old freebie like Licshtiener. Then you have Leno who was a known goal keeper at Leverkusen. The only players that we signed who Mislintat found were torriera… Read more »
Trying to rehash Pedro’s former viewpoints [and mistakes] to deflect from his current criticisms is a bit pathetic.
Pedro, to his credit is not afraid to retrace his steps from a mistake. That’s why he’s so vibrant. He’s a big ideas person.
A big bad wolf* hahaha I don’t know where Abigail came from
Habesha, I know you love the Raul approach, but are you really asking if he operates on a contacts basis?
Dissenter, thank you. I like David Luiz, I would be totally game for him to re-sign, the way I’ve painted him above is where he was in his career at the time. Regardless of how I feel about him now, that was not money well spent.
Pedro
No I’m not an apologist – I don’t make instant judgments based on an agenda that is based on information that is at best questionable.
Habesha — Lol, I was trying to figure out the Abigail comment too
Marc, instant?
Pedro
What do you make of the last set of official numbers showing Wolves spent about the same on agent fees as we’re “supposed” to have on the Luiz deal alone?
How does that tie in with your narrative?
Nah mate don’t drink coffee!
Yes I am Pedro. Show me the evidence he signed players based on contacts approach apart from Luiz and Let’s have a debate.
Saliba, Tierney and Martinelli are the type of signings Pedro preaches the case for and yes I’m all for them but Pedro cant’ get past his dislike for Sanllehi.
It’s a shame because it’s makes the site bloody hard work on occasions without any actual football.
This post has plenty of WOW factor – it would be a good idea to send a copy to uncle Stan and he can see he has been mugged – it might remove the supercilious grin off his face. It was he that kept Wenger in a job for the past three years of Wengers reign – the Board did grow a miniscule ‘pair’ once PHW departed but Stan would not budge.
Marc, you can just read up on how the Mendes operation. Not sure it changes my narrative.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/jun/19/jorge-mendes-wolves-influence-chinese-owners-signings
CG
Wenger couldn’t crack it under Kroenke because he accepted the status quo.
That tends to happen when you’re in a self made comfort zone and are not being held accountable for anything.
Freddy
Its the approach i’m debating not whose made better signings based on a very limited amount of time for either.
Whats clear is the sides cutting it up in the game that can’t spent massive have a combined approach. Liverpool doesn’t sign Salah, Trent Arnold or Klopp without crunching the data.
Pedro
You didn’t answer my question.
What is your question, Marc?
Sal
Liverpool also paid out £17 million more in fees to agents in the last set of figures than the next highest club and almost 4 times what Arsenal did.
https://talksport.com/football/522499/liverpool-paid-agent-fees-premier-league-clubs/
Pedro
This one:
“What do you make of the last set of official numbers showing Wolves spent about the same on agent fees as we’re “supposed” to have on the Luiz deal alone?”
Marc, are you suggesting that the worlds biggest agent is not taking fees somewhere in the process with a club he built?
Pedro
Those figures are official numbers published by the PL.
You can’t just dismiss them without backing it up with something.
“ Raul Sanhelli tried to give him an extension to his deal.” That should have and remains a serious RED FLAG on Raul, but its obvious that ownership is once again MIA. Gonna say it, Pep isn’t going to hang around ManCity for long and they have the infrastructure, money and talent to keep going. Arteta, if he’s not being given adequate support at Arsenal, will do well to pursue such opportunities. As much as i think that Arteta has great potential, i am of the belief that Arsenal do not. Red flags should never be ignored, history tells us… Read more »
Sorry I lied it’s official numbers published by the FA not the PL – I will immediately go and self flagellate.
Marc, I’m not here to do the research for you. Google Fosun, it’s relationship with Mendes and look into the deals he’s crafted through his network.
Pedro
I didn’t ask you to research anything just a comment on official figures that show Wolves being 16th in the list of PL clubs spending on agent fees.
Sounds like the Kroenkes are risking running this club into the ground of they are not more careful over what’s going on. Rauls approach seems unsustainable to me at least with this clubs current finances
From what Stan reportedly thinks of Wenger, quite surprised he hasn’t pleaded for Arsene back in some capacity, unless perhaps he has and Wenger won’t go near the club as it is now?
“ Take care of the values of the club” those words might ring louder as time goes on the way things are going