People on the internet are making a big mistake. They are fighting over the records of Raul and Sven. This is an incorrect comparison. We need to put a stop to the madness because it is making it difficult to see the mess at Arsenal with any sort of clarity. My patronising hope is that this article might help you understand why the situation at Arsenal is as nuts as it is at the moment.
First things first, let’s get into the history of Arsenal’s latest mess.
Ivan Gazidis had a pretty good plan post-Arsene Wenger (give it a chance), at least on paper. He had three things he needed to accomplish:
Firstly, he had to find someone that could upgrade the way Arsenal scouted. We’d become bloated, dated, and the hits had dried up. We were Disney under 90s-Katzenberg. After Alladin, The Lion King and the Little Mermaid the future wasn’t more 2D animation, it was guys like 3D world builders like Steve Jobs and John Lasseter at Pixar. Disney moved on their problem, Ivan didn’t have the power to, but when he sensed the end, he geared up for action.
There was very little creativity in the way Arsenal approached things and the good people were being crowded out of the important decisions. We were missing out on too many gems and there was a bottleneck in the system. Gazidis spent a very long time headhunting Sven Mislintat from Dortmund, who arguably had/has one of the best scouting records in the world over the last 15 years. We beat out other Premier League clubs for his signature (Spurs/United). What we were hiring was a data-centric approach to recruitment and a new way of doing things.
Secondly, Ivan needed to replace Dick Law, who was the man in charge of negotiating deals for Arsenal during the Wenger reign. The club needed someone ruthless, that knew the dark arts of agents, that could work the angles with UEFA. He found Raul Sanhelli, reportedly Ivan had been captivated by him at UEFA shindigs.
Now, let’s talk about what Raul did at Barcelona, because people get very confused.
He was not a scout or a talent guy. In the industry, they call his role a fixer, a runner, or a bagman. The role is important because you can’t have actual talent messing around on long flights or doing laborious jobs they aren’t suited for. There is a clear split between bagmen and talent spotters.
The Barca approach to buying football players is as followed.
The Sporting Directors picks the players, likely sourced through intense data and scouting. Once they decide on a player, then people like Raul would be activated to make the deal happen. They’d be given the rules of the road and sent wherever they needed to go in the world to make the deals happen. Raul would be instructed to lowball clubs, work with the agents and families involved, to plant stories in the media to unsettle the target players, to do what was necessary to bring the deal home. Arguably, the murkier side of this process (though legal) was what we lacked. Remember, we were the club that missed out on Mbappe because of a £7m fee.
Let’s get this straight. Raul is not a football guy. That is not what he did at Barcelona. He was a fixer of deals. He executed whatever plan was handed to him. To bring it back to film, the magic of an excellent production is technically down to the person that negotiated the fee for an Oscar-winning actress (Raul fan mindset), but the truth is the real smarts lie with the casting director or the film director that helped the actor bring the story to life.
The idea on paper was that Sven would find the players using data-driven smarts, because that’s what he was excellent at, and Raul would push the deal over the line because that was his thing.
If Sven was the architect, Raul was the estate agent.
Simple, right? Wrong.
There was a third thing Ivan had to oversee. A new manager.
Ivan G set up the new system, then caved to a Raul-special-friend-agent recommendation to bring in Unai Emery. To make matters more complicated, he had promised that Sven would be made the Sporting Director at Arsenal when Wenger left. However, when Ivan was supposed to be CEOing and ensuring his new leadership team was playing nicely, he was actually negotiating a sweet deal with The Elliot Management Group to take over at AC Milan.
Disaster.
He quit without seeing his plan through. When he fucked off he left a big fat power vacuum at Arsenal. A bland CEO was allowed to suggest what his succession plan looked like and it was fucking garbage.
The club decided, in its infinite wisdom, to give the leadership of the club to a 37-year-old finance guy, and to make Raul his partner. One did commercial deals, the other ran the football side of things.
This was a huge mistake.
Sven was not given the position of Sporting Director. We can point to many reasons why this didn’t happen, but the reality is that his process wouldn’t have worked for Raul who doesn’t seem to believe in data, and that eventually played out when Sven decided to leave because he didn’t like the way the new leadership team did business. I was told there were allegedly tensions dating back to the Auba deal, with someone preferring to bring in a Brazilian forward that is now playing in Russia instead. An additional clue to Sven’s angst might be how the Iwobi deal grew in complexity (adding more agents to deals), per the Nick Ames Guardian story yesterday. That is pure speculation of course. Whatever the issue was, Sven didn’t like the way Raul did business, and Raul didn’t like Sven. The friction between the conflicting philosophies was well known on the training ground.
Sven left.
Now Arsenal was fully at the mercy of a bagman who had ambitions to be the club lead who ran the football side of things despite not being qualified in that role.
Say what you want about Sven Mislintat, we were a very short amount of time into the tenure of someone that had an actual track record with talent.
He was responsible for: Saliba, Auba, Leno, Guendouzi, Tierney, and Torreira.
No one has truly thrived at Arsenal over the past two years, but it’s hard to sniff at those players and not think that we were at least on the path to a smarter way of working.
Raul ran last summer then brought in Edu, who was represented by Kia. As far as I am aware, Sven didn’t have a super-agent repping him. Let’s try and imagine a world where it’s a good idea that a super-agent brings a Technical Director to a big club, and then starts buying from his portfolio. If you were Business Affairs Manager at any reputable company, what would you think about that setup?
As expected, the Raul/Edu era hasn’t exactly been coherent. We blew £72m on a winger last season when central midfield and defence was the problem. I won’t relitigate some of the oddities of that deal (read here), but needless to say, there was a connection to Raul in the Lille exec team. We spent £24m on David Luiz for a single year according to The Athletic who as far as I am aware have not retracted the story. We signed Pablo Mari to a 4-year deal after about 22 competitive games in his career (out for 4 months), we’re having to justify giving a 29-year-old right-back that Southampton thought was good for glue a 4-year deal, and we signed David Luiz for another year despite performance issues (now injured). Yes, Gabriel Martinelli was a good signing. He was a recco from Cagigao. Do with think he’d have recommended the other players? I have my reservations.
Letting Sven Mislintat go has been a disaster for Arsenal, not because of the person, but because what ditching someone like that means for your standing as a club. We don’t believe in data, we’ve put scouting on the back burner, we are making it clear even to other agents that the game at Arsenal is only played by a select few. It’s so bad, we have Kia in the press talking like he’s an Arsenal representative.
We have cleared out a bunch of scouts. We didn’t replace Sven. The StatDNA guy left. We lost Lord Harris and Sir Chips from the board. There’s very little accountability. According to multiple outlets, there was a fight to make sure David O’Leary was not added to the board, why? I have my concerns it was his behaviour at Leeds that was the tipping point.
The best thing Arsenal have done in the last 6 months is Arteta, but even that decision is slightly tainted by the kingmaker concern. Though I will reiterate, he is not a mistake and I don’t care how the club landed on him. He’ll be the reason Edu and Raul keep their jobs for longer than they should.
So in short, we’re not being run by a football guy. We’re being run by a fixer who made deals happen. The guy that was widely praised for his role in the Neymar deal is the person we’ve entrusted to use his contacts to get us back to the top. Does it look like that’s working out? Do you read the story of Liverpool and think Arsenal’s leadership is capable of making that many good decisions over a 4 year period?
I have my doubts. We’ll see this summer though. Will we bring back the scouts we lost and add something different? Will Edu put forth a plan and explain what value he’s offering the club? Will we put the Willian deal in the bin and spend £150k a week on players that actually have a future in the game beyond one season?
It remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure, the pressure on those two is now immense. They have to deliver this summer and the deals have to look like they are for the good of Arsenal, not their mates.
It’s time for Josh and Stan to wake up. Every year we entrust chancers with the keys to our club is another £50m down the drain. We need to act smart, build out a proper infrastructure around Arteta, hire in the right talent and put the super-agent recommendations in a very deep hole. Contacts football sounds sexy, but it’s a load of shit. It’s like pining after dickhead players that cause problems because they are perceived as more passionate than the cause. No serious business would allow this type of carry-on. No one would let the conflicts of interest slide so easily. Ownership needs to put a stop to the madness now before we have another shocking summer.
I will leave on a positive because there is always a path to a better future.
Liverpool just won the league.
They did it the proper way.
It wasn’t grotesque, it was about smart people, and money well spent.
Tomorrow, I’m going to lay out how Arsenal can borrow from their playbook and bring back greatness to N5.
Right, that’s me done, see you in the comments. x
Sven is another fraud, he is
Diet Zorc
GOH
Ive seen some of Balogun and he looks a good prospect tbh. Fast , strong , scores with both his feet and got a great record for the youth teams.
Brentford reportedly bid 5 mil for him in Jan.
We have Eddie and TJJ (who looks the real deal if you ask me) . So I don’t mind letting go of him rn granted we can insert the following two clauses
1- Buy back at a reasonable price.
2- Hefty sell on if sold to another club.
Hahahahaha Pedro
Saliba, Tierney really? Next you might be giving him credit anyone we sign in the future. Add Martinelli and pepe to that least while you are at it. He also signed Sokratis, Licshtiener, Miki. Or don’t they count as Mislintat signings because they don’t fit your agenda? This is a garbage post pedro. I am sorry but I call it like I see it.
GoH
Why the need to show your ignorance here on a daily? There’s plenty of articles about him today. He’s not leaving because Arteta thinks he’s shit, smh.
He’s leaving because HE doesn’t want to sign a new contract because he’s not likely to see much playing time in the future and hasn’t even trained with the first team in a year. Nothing to do with Artetas opinion of him
“You can bet your bottom dollar that the majority here who are saying Mislintat is a no mark would be the same ones bigging him up if he was still here and saying we hope he can find the so-called “diamonds”
No shit.
You would think that fans would be optimistic that scout should find “diamonds”. That is what they are for, right?
Even if you were the scout presently, Fans would surely hope you find “diamonds”.
Wasi
Careful, with intelligent answers like that and good ideas for the club you may just get a call from Stan!
But, we will probably pay the receiving club a fee to let him go. That’s how poor we are at business.
Valentin
“Is that so difficult to understand continuity of work? When a scout leaves his jobs, all his leads, investigations are passed to his successor. His successor may be the one in charge when the player is signed, but all the talent spotting work has been done by the person who has left.”
Just as you were there to see he compiled it and passed it on.. Conjecture.
I can be a lot more ignorant than I have been, so watch this space.
Peace.
Yeah Danny- o’ Leary blotted his copybook big time that night at Leeds in 99.Was trying to prove the big time Charlie manager & he was better than wenger .Should have acted with a lot more humility if he’d done so might be on the board to this day.The gutting thing looking back is that it Guaranteed those Manc c ** ts a foothold on their jammy treble……….
I think 98% of people on here are posting from Broadmoor.
Let’s please stop talking about who is responsible for every player who is recruited. All that matters now is whether they are good signings and will fit into the planning of a successful team. Arsenal recruited last summer Saliba,Luiz, Tierney, Ceballos, Pepe and Martinelli. Ceballos was a loan. Personally I don’t like such deals, because they are seldom successful at Arsenal. However, he did not cost us mega bucks. Luiz was and is a short term deal. He would not be my choice of player. However, if he is a second string squad player next season I can live with… Read more »
The Backpass What is going on is that really deep down fans are still a little sore that Mislintat left. Why keep arguing about him otherwise? If he was this over-rated nobody then he would have been forgotten about now and no-one would go on about him. And yes to keep going on about him and get all prickly because it is said he “spotted” Saliba and recommended him to Arsenal is further proof that fans just need to get over him. He is gone. Get over it. What is currently in place is always better or not worse than… Read more »
Regardless of whose pulling the transfer strings the club must do better, find value in areas of the market many will be shopping. That task is getting more difficult as the luster of Arsenal tarnishes each year.
When I read in the press that Mislintat says “Arsenal is an absolute mess” that should worry everyone regardless of agenda. This club is being run into the ground.
Or should I say we don’t know if the current set-up can improve matters.
Quite clearly the club has been failing for several seasons now.
Freddie
Apparently Balogun trained with the first team today. Maybe club trying to convince him to sign.
Ish, I don’t think fans are sore about Sven, I think they are sore that we gave up being a data-focused and handed our scouting to super-agents and friends.
“‘Our new physio is rumoured to be Bruno Mazziotti recently sacked by PSG because of the number of injuries they have suffered!” Wait for it —- Emery Alert! He worked with Emery. Pedro will have field day. some articles have already written themselves in auto-pilot mode” Diss, apparently he worked with Edu in Brazil, see below (from The Athletic): It enabled Arsenal to begin searching for a replacement and the process is thought to be nearing completion, with sources indicating that Brazilian medic Bruno Mazziotti is lined up for the job. Mazziotti has been with Paris Saint-Germain since 2018 but… Read more »
Wasi
“””””Brentford reportedly bid 5 mil for him in Jan.””””””””
If Brentford are sniffing around – I would say the lad can play.
They maybe little old Brentford, but they know what they are doing.
And we don’t.
they even beat us at home the other week- and we gave them a 2 goal start.
“Is that so difficult to understand continuity of work? When a scout leaves his jobs, all his leads, investigations are passed to his successor. His successor may be the one in charge when the player is signed, but all the talent spotting work has been done by the person who has left.”
Also, I remember you saying Martinelli signing had Edu’s fingerprint all over it.
list * least
See I dont have anything against Sven. Reportedly he has made a lot of good signings for Dortmund and he got us Guendouzi and Leno thanks to his data driven approach and those 2 have world class potential.
But since Pedro constantly reminds us how far Wenger has fallen by saying look at his current employers.
Why doesn’t he use the same way of thinking with Sven who went straight to a second division club.
G of H
“””””I think 98% of people on here are posting from Broadmoor.”””””
I think that’s quite a conservative estimate.
Dissenter, Saliba was not well known at the time he was spotted by Sven and Dortmund made an tentative offer for him. He had not yet made his debut for Saint Etienne. However six month after he made his debut, people were raving about him. You are right for Nkunku. Any scout knew of him because he had played for PSG, however even last year there were still a lot of doubt about him really stepping up. The PSG academy has so many talented players who are not given a chance it is unreal. Even In the case of those… Read more »
‘If Brentford are sniffing around – I would say the lad can play.’
Nothing but the truth here.
Pedro
“I don’t think fans are sore about Sven, I think they are sore that we gave up being a data-focused and handed our scouting to super-agents and friends.”
Well they keep talking about him in the first person.
When Mislintat joined the club the overwhelming majority were very entusiastic about it.
He was only at the club for a short period.
So in this short period he has gone from Arsenal saviour to over-rated tosser.
Pedro
After all the agenda driven posts you have been providing, What are you going to do if we have an incredibly clever summer? Last season’s was our best and I believe Raul will do his job again and get us proper players this summer. If not we will join you on your agenda. If he does so you should write a lengthy post apologizing.
We are trying to nick Brentford targets now?
They are good at what they do but in their own pond.
What player that they have bought in the past has gone onto greatness?
Only useful players.
Arsenal have to look higher than that.
Wasi, Stuttgart is a fallen giant that could fill 60k in a relegation battle. He was given that chance to start from scratch and rebuild them. He wanted that control at Arsenal, he didn’t get it, so he found a club he could make a mark on.
Similar to Paul Mitchell going to Monaco to rebuild them to greatness.
Going to a place that is already great doesn’t appeal to a lot of folk.
‘Saliba was not well known at the time he was spotted by Sven and Dortmund made an tentative offer for him.’ So in Valentin’s dream realm. Dortmund had gone from looking for the player to making a tentative offer. The story in the past keeps developing just like the Dark Netflix series.’ ‘Since Grimandi left, nobody has been doing that full time for Arsenal. ‘ Another revelation from Valentin’s dream realm. Big clubs have a lot of scouts. some part time some full time. And Im not certain but im pretty sure we have plenty of scouts in France.( given… Read more »
Wasi,
I was wrong on Martinelli. I thought like many that Martinelli was signed on Edu recommendations before he had even officially started for Arsenal. It turns out that it was deal entirely initiated by our Spain and South America head scout Francis Cagigao.
Martinelli was not supposed to join the first team. In fact he is in the official U21 team but not the original senior team photo. However when they reshoot the senior team photo in November, he was then added to the squad.
Valentin, you are collapsing two stories, one imagined, to make a headline that doesn’t exist.
We don’t have a lead youth player leaving because the manager is too harsh.
Ishola
“So in this short period he has gone from Arsenal saviour to over-rated tosser.”
No one called him over-rated, but I guess you knew this.. Simply who he signed and who he didn’t as Pedro alluded to in his post today.
Stuttgart are back in the Bundesliga…so let the games begin.
Sven will do his magic now.
So Balogun is set to leave because the club are offering him a performance based deal rather than a guaranteed contract. A club short on money letting a potential star go just like that? Not smart. But, there is money for backups like Mari and Cedric. This is poor management
Bris, we’re in 2020 and the world of football has already judged Wenger’s last decade and that’s why he can’t find employment.
That final decade will be remembered for the things it didn’t have.
Major trophies, progression beyond the last 16 in the CL, an updated vision of football, an evolution of the backroom team, transfer hits when the money came in
He wasn’t hounded out, he was fired because he tanked us and let the competition pass us by from far worse positions.
Can we not give Balogun some minutes in the remaining league fixtures and see how he is?
The thought of losing another potentially excellent prospect is depressing.
Everyone making up stories and conclusions to support whatever agenda they are peddling. Funny reading.
Kudos to TR7 though, he is using the exact same metrics he used to measure performance for the last manager on the present one. None of this moving goal posts bit.
Our play hasn’t improved, we are still wank defensively surviving on luck, in game management still non existent. You can call Raul whatever names you like but those things aren’t his responsibilities.
Valentin is making a very valid point on trying to show who is boss too early.
The Backpass
That you feel the need to question whether a signing was a Sven one or not is proof that you are sore that he left.
Either that or you are wanting to give credit to the existing set-up which deserves no credit at all up to now because the team have done fuck all of real merit on the football pitch.
Who cares now who was responsible for signings. Sven or the current set up.
RH, amazing that you are congratulating someone on not moving their metrics, when you are the worst offender on here.
You went from sacrificing your cat to the Emery Gods and demanding 8 years of time, to knitting an ArtetaOut banner before he was hired.
Unbelievable.
Dream10
I believe the lad is leaving because there’s no development pathway for him. He hasn’t trained with the senior squad since March 2019. He wasn’t even selected for the 2019 pre-season tour of America.
So long as we have a resale clause on his exit we should be fine.
That’s how academies are supposed to work.
Pedro all those things you stated are just in your imagination. You maintained we have a great squad of players but a “shit” coach. Now you have spent weeks going on and on about Raul, what exactly are you seeking to distract attention from? We just signed two questionable players on four year deals and extended by one year the one player you have used his signing to hammer Raul, all of this publicly hailed as key moves in the rebuild by Arteta. We had a worse team last season and competed for top four and the Europa league till… Read more »
By the way Emery was on a two year deal and I am on record saying it should not be extended. So again figments of your imagination me asking for an 8 year deal.
Wasi,
Grimandi has stated that since he left Arsenal did not have a full time scout for the French market.
I am sure that now that Cagigao is nominatively in charge, we may see a complete restructuring of the scouting network if Raul let him.
However the type of recruitment I am talking about is unglamorous and involves a lot travel to ligue 2 and Gambardella Cup games. Without proper job security, those scouts will then sell the information to the better payers and right now Arsenal need that exclusivity advantage.
Ishola
“That you feel the need to question whether a signing was a Sven one or not is proof that you are sore that he left.Either that or you are wanting to give credit to the existing set-up which deserves no credit at all up to now because the team have done fuck all of real merit on the football pitch.”
Except, it was part of the post for today or should we be like you and start talking about Xhaka?
The Backpass
“Except, it was part of the post for today or should we be like you and start talking about Xhaka?”
I knew that was coming, Ishola left that jaw gaping …boom.
Ishola seems to be one of the few that actually gets it.
The Backpass “it was part of the post for today or should we be like you and start talking about Xhaka?” My disparaging of Xhaka is far less frequent than it used to be. You sort of get bored in what is blindingly obvious about him. And Xhaka is no longer the player least liked in the team by me. That has now fallen to David Luiz. The posters that incorrectly state that all I talk about on here is Granit Xhaka are CC and Dissenter and they give out that falsehood because they are supporters of Xhaka and don’t… Read more »
‘Last season’s was our best and I believe Raul will do his job again and get us proper players this summer. If not we will join you on your agenda. If he does so you should write a lengthy post apologizing.’ No what Pedro will do is claim those are signings too. Just like he’s done today with Tierney and Saliba. Ofc we do a bad deal , Raul will get all the credit. Valentin Dont get the comments about Gabi. Dont think we had a conversation about him. Re – Grimandi Again do you have proof of Grimandi saying… Read more »
Pedro
Maybe Sven joined them because no big club wanted him. Maybe his debacles and love for power is what big clubs dont want in their structure.
Damn.. Pedro writes a long thought out.. and I assume time consuming opinion/take on what he thinks CURRENTLY is going on at Arsenal and the problems it creates and why it isn’t good. Then you get a bunch of numpties… polluting the comment section with wanting to relitigate, reimagine, rehash and relive the last years of Wenger. Sad the AKB’s just can not let it go.. Fuck Sake. Plus this Matty G debate is starting to enter the, is Theo better then Hazard territory of ridiculousness. And yes that was an actual argument on Le Grove for like 2 weeks.… Read more »
Only three players in Europe’s top five leagues have scored 10+ non-penalty goals away from home this season:
Robert Lewandowski (15)
Timo Werner (11)
Danny Ings (10)
Not bad company for the Saints striker. Thoughts on him in case lacazette and auba go?He knows the league and knows how to find the back of the net
I think Sam Greenwood will turn out far better than Balogun,he is a better baller and can also find the back of the net..
Wasi
Where is your proof that Saliba was a post Sven signing? That he had no say in it at all.
You may have already offered proof but I missed it.
As said previously this is all a waste of time really talking about who is responsible for signings but your absolute certainty in this is intriguing in itself.
Ishola
“You sort of get bored in what is blindingly obvious about him.And Xhaka is no longer the player least liked in the team by me. That has now fallen to David Luiz”
Fair enough.
I can deal with Xhaka next season as long as we get Partey and a creative player next to him. It’s not like we are winning thw league next year with this squad.
P.S I don’t even like Raul, Kronke’s and co, just want us to stop being shit.
Pedro, Which two stories are you referring to? My point regarding Guendouzi is that he may be petulant, but dealing with an immature kid with extreme severity never ends up well. Moreover he has enough talent that at this stage of his career he will fail upward and Arsenal will lose out. Fell out with the U21 coach at PSG, got a move to first team at Lorient after refusing to sign an extension. Fell out with the Lorient coach, got a move to Arsenal after refusing to sign an extension. I would rather that Arsenal avoid being the next… Read more »
Daniel Altos
I actually rate Danny Ings. His liverpool spell makes me wary though. And Southampton will demand 50 mil got him considering he is only 27.
“If Arsenal’s financial troubles prevent the manager from buying his own team, his coaching skills must come to the fore. Under Guardiola, Arteta impressed with his one-to-one work and man-management of players, while Arsenal’s Kieran Tierney recently said: ‘It’s been an absolute joy to train with him. I feel as if I’m learning every single day.’ For now, that may be where Arteta can make the biggest difference. Players such as Pepe, bought for £72million, have showed in flashes what they can do. Like the best coaches of recent years – Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, Pochettino – Arteta must prove he… Read more »
for him*
Find it strange those that beat Mislintat with a stick, look what happened over the course of his very limited time with club from Wenger to Raul. Thats quite a tidal shift to work under. If we really need a punching bag lets line up Gazidas and the owners, this clubs been trending downward for a decade with the football on a gradual decline. The last several years have taken us to new lows on the pitch, thats what matters. Its was all born in the latter part of the Wenger years. What is being done to arrest that? Its… Read more »
‘Plus this Matty G debate is starting to enter the, is Theo better then Hazard territory of ridiculousness.’
hahahahah
Ishola
Is that even a seriously question ?
Saliba was signed last summer. Sven wasnt at the club , Raul was in-charge .
Is that proof enough.
serious*
It is all Wengers fault. Even 10 years fro now. Wengers fault .
Everything is Wengers fault!
Damn Wenger
Valentin, he’s a football coach, not a kindergarten teacher. Let’s not talk about how discipline and standards is a problem. Jose Mourinho savaged Drogba when he lied to him, asked him if his mother would be proud of his lies, then dropped him very publicly. Alex Ferguson was the boss, he sent spies to follow youth players around Salford to check they were behaving. Arsene Wenger was very reluctant to let young players take breaks in midseason because he knew they’d go wild. Jurgen Klopp does not take shit from anyone, ever. Guendouzi hasn’t been hitting the standards of behavior,… Read more »
See rumours linking us to another Kia agent.
Joelson Fernandes. 17 year old player regarded as one of the top talents in Portugal. From the reports I have read about him ( before he was linked to us ) say he has potential to be world class.
Hope this gets over the line.
Wenger, Gazidis, Raul, Emery, and that’s before starting on things stateside, but the Kroenkes do have a tendency to let things drift, don’t they?
Wasi, Sven will have left a list of players he was hunting. That didn’t go in the bin when he left. Also, we were working on that deal long before the summer.
Dissenter
Probably a bit of both. A smart club like Brentford wanted to pay 5m for Balogun in January before he made a senior appearance for us. Think this one deal we may Aubameyang and Lacazette will likely both be gone by next summer too
I believe Balogun is the most talented forward prospect at the club. Ahead of Martinelli, Nketiah and John Jules.
Guns of SF
you have to admit most our problematic players were signed on huge wages during the end of Wenger years. Mustafi, Xhaka, Miki,Elneny, Kolasinac all senior dross Wenger signed. I wouldn’t Include Lacazette but he has lost form this year and he was also signed by Wenger. The new regime is at fault for the likes of Sokratis and David Luiz. Both short term stopgaps. Other than that we have done well in the market since he left.
Wasi
“Is that proof enough.”
No it’s not I’m afraid.
That a signing is made a season after an employee has left doesn’t mean that that signing was not previously recommended while that employee was still at the club.
So you have no concrete proof then.
Guns
Think you may of missed the point there, which is the Kroenkes let it go too long with Wenger, thus missing out a plethora of game changers and somehow hired Unai with the help of Raul.
If theres more of that type of leadership on offer, were fucked.
Was it London Gunner that was championing Theo in the fabled Theo vs Hazard debate?
Jose Mourinho, Sir Alex, Klopp, Wenger ……wow
Reading all this one wouldn’t believe Arteta is just 12 games into his managerial career, you have to at least achieve something before looking to behave like some of the greatest in the game.
RH, so your take is that great managers of the past have just eased into setting standards and holding people accountable?
I forgot the biggest elephant in the room, Mesut Ozil.
I forgot the biggest elephant in the room, Mesut Ozil.
MidwestGun The AKB’s will never let go. A very unique breed indeed. You are correct though, our midfield needs fixing……BIG TIME! Our problem at Arsenal is the snobbery when it comes to purchasing players , who we feel would make us a better team. This has always been the case. Look at John Fleck at Sheffield United. I know he’s 28( past it according to some)but would you say he’s a better option than those currently we have. I would. Imo, there have always been better and cheaper options than manyof the players we purchased over the years. I harp… Read more »
Those fans that talk of all these glamour players we could be bringing to the club should look at things closer to home.
I am convinced, to this day, that if we had purchased Chris Samba from Blackburn, at the height of his powers, he would have inspired the entire team and we could have taken that extra step.
Too intimidating for some though.
Hopefully, Arteta channels his inner Sean Mcvay. Seems the only way the Kroenke’s know how to turn things around.
Not real optimistic about them noticing bad agent deals, or bad long term contracts. As I pointed out yesterday their other teams are filled with them. The Rams were one of the worst run teams for a decade after Dick Vermeil left a huge void there.
I think London gunner was the Theo champion.. but he was not alone to be fair. Just the sheer length of that debate is what still stands as amazing
Saw Samba play four times live.
A colossus on all four occasions.
Agree Mid, without Mcvay, Arteta doesn’t get hired.
Dream10, I like Balogun. I have not seen him live for a while now. He is a quick tenacious player. Unless Arsenal change their style of play his chances here will be extremely limited. He likes to play on the shoulder of the last defender. He said that he model his game on Aubameyang, but I think that he would be better off modeling his game on Aguero. He has his quickness of reaction, short backlift allowing to shoot on sight and like the latest crop of strikers at Conley he like to make a nuisance of himself. Right now… Read more »
RH, so your take is that great managers of the past have just eased into setting standards and holding people accountable? No Pedro, i just find all the comparisons to the greats a bit premature. He should be looking at the guys at RB Leipzig and Monch over at Germany, young dudes doing things their own way, picking on 20 year old’s as some sort of power play to enact standards all seems a bit too “look at me i am strict”, distracting from the simple fact we are not getting better on the pitch where it matters. The ones… Read more »
Ishola , Pedro Maybe Sven was working on Saliba. Maybe anyone of the number of scouts we employ was working on him. Maybe someone from our data analaytics team or youth scouting team was working on him. All these are maybes. Also as far as I remember there wasn’t even a twitter rumour linking us to Saliba until very close to the summer window. The facts are these – 1- Labelling Sven as the one who unearthed Saliba is factually wrong because, one there is no proof of it , two he hasnt claimed it nor any of the big… Read more »
Pedro “Wasi, Sven will have left a list of players he was hunting. That didn’t go in the bin when he left. Also, we were working on that deal long before the summer.” Has it occurred to you that Sven may have also met a scouting list in place when he resumed at Arsenal? It’s not like we never had excellent scouts before he came. The scouting was never an issue, it was Wenger’s inability to see the forest from the trees that was holding us back. Has it occurred to you that Guendouzi, Torriera and all the reasonable signings… Read more »
As far as I am concerned we have had 4 power struggles at the top, and every time the wrong person has won. Every time we’ve lost some soul, leadership and brains. Leading to our current disaster.
Fiszman beat Dein weakening Wengers purchasing.
Kroenke beat Usmanov locking us in to be a cash cow instead of ambitious.
Gazidis Sliced Wengers power away until he left.
Sanllehi beat Sven and now we play and pay for agent roulette.
Not sure if we’ll properly recover in my lifetime.
Valentin
Balogun looks to better on the ball. Hes a decent size striker who can come deep.
Yep. I’m with you with the next #9 being a big guy like Giroud. Last summer, I wanted us to sell Lacazette and sign Haller. Would do the same now. He’ll be cheaper now. Would take him and Issa Diop from West Ham. They’re both mature characters in their mid 20s who will be ready to go.
Folarin Balogun:
Games – 71
Goals – 52
Assists – 12
Why go on about who signed whom or we should sign such and such? This is an 18 year old player we have at the club now and we are willing to let him walk!
How many times did Wenger say – we almost signed player X or we came close to signing player Y? The scouting at Arsenal was always top-notch. It was the absence of good executive action on the scouting and the dearth of an over-arching strategic plan that was screwing us up. We have always had excellent scouts – go through the recent histories of what-ifs – Xabi Alonso, Mbappe, Hazard, Kante, Jadon Sancho, Roanldo, Buffon, Vincent Kompany, Verane Yaya Toure, Ronaldinho, Zlatan, – Our scouts did their jobs. It was Wenger quibbling over a few millions in valuation, refusing to… Read more »
Don’t think it’s the smartest thing getting rid of Balogun. Should be resigning him up and then sending him on loan. Better player and prospect than Nketiah in my opinion, and we should be looking to get rid of Lacazette too, just doesn’t do enough.
Balogun is the sort of raw talent we should be looking to sign and harness and not look to sell off
The could have been list is making me tear up
If we’re all agreeing that project Arteta is a long term one then we shouldn’t be selling off some of our more talented youngsters and filling up the first team with journeymen, doesn’t make any sense
Folarin Balogun:
Games – 71
Goals – 52
Assists – 12
This is utterly ridiculous.
We are selling??? Heck this guy is better than Eddie N and Laca already
Wasi
I have not said that Saliba was a Sven signing.
In contrast you have categorically stated on here previously that he most definitely wasn’t a Sven signing.
Therein lies the difference.
As said before fans need to get over Mislintat.
And yes that includes getting all agitated and prickly if someone states that he had a say in a certain transfer.
Mislintat is kaput. No more. Finished. in regards Arsenal.
‘Bloody well right, he’s celebration when Leeds beat us in the 37th game of the season to deny us the title was disgusting, see below at 2:34, what a cunt:‘ Beat me to it. Leeds supporters must have been very pleased to hand the title to MU, given the bad history between the two clubs.
Dissenter 100% accurate. Many of the brainwashed sheep don’t understand that Scouting was never a problem for us. They think the Sven was the be , all end all. A Sven no one wanted after he lost a power struggle. Maybe he is good at scouting ( wasnt that good for tbh) but his debacles at Dortmund and Arsenal prove that power is something he craves and is always up for a fight or two for that matter . Btw this same herd would cry and moan when we missed out on top players thanks to Wenger being stubborn about… Read more »
Daniel
Part of being arsenal is bringing in class players. I don’t think an Ings signing would appropriately replace laca or auba and imagine the fan bCklash after the contracts offered to soares and luiz.
Ishola If you check back you’ll see what I have stated. It is Saliba was SIGNED by Raul. Never gave him credit for scouting him or unearthing him. I full well agree that there is a possibility albeit a small one thay Sven may have found Saliba. But the way Pedro and some hail Sven as the one who made the deal happen gets me a little agitated. Dont you get agitated when someone is spinning flat lies and pushing forward his agenda . Pedro even credited Sven for Tierney. Theres a limit to how much one can lie ,… Read more »
Dream10,
I would take ISSA Diop and combine him with Saliba. Diop can play on the left side of the defense. I can’t see West Ham selling him for less than £40 millions which is outside of our price range.
I would not take Haller. He has the body and strength but he lacks technique and his run are not very good.
This Balogun, Ask yourself this. What would Chelsea do in the same circumstances? And I hazard a guess…… They would get him signed up before anything else. Then get him out on loan for 2 years maybe even for a lucrative loan fee. Posters ,like Wasi ,defending Raul is comical. We are 9th and out of Europe! He is our head of football. He arrived when we were 6th and in Europe He has spent over £250 million And We will finish 9th next year( if we are lucky) to if he stays in position. What more does a man… Read more »