Let it out
I know you’ve had it rough this season.
We’ve been through some hard times together.
It’s been disappointing.
… but the end is nigh.
So instead of a big match preview about how amazing it would be to down Troy Deeney today, why don’t we make this a farewell post to an average season, written by you?
Share your hopes, dreams, and even those ‘OH MY GOD I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT HAPPENED’ moments just so you can vent. Let’s leave it all behind us.
Today is about getting over the pain. Admitting that it was shit this year, and maybe opening the door for a hopeful Premier League next season.
Before I hand the keys over, I just want to say thank you for your dedicated support this year. I’ve been to some dark places this year, so know this… nothing makes me happier than knowing that no matter how bad it gets, there’s always someone waiting in the comments section ready to call me an oatmilk drinking whopper who doesn’t know shit about football. I love you all. You make this supporting Arsenal malarkey a lot more fun than it should be. Thank you.
So go on… this post is for you, let it all out, no one here is going to judge those tears (they will).
xx
Sokratis will be let go. Mavrapanos is sent on loan to Stuttgart. Mustafi, Chambers have long term injury, so will not be sold. Mari just joined and is injured so no departure. Saliba just joined and unless somebody made a stupid offer will stay. David Luiz just signed his undeserved extension so will bring his own brand of defending to the Emirates for hopefully his final tour. So Holding is likely to be sold to raise fund. Personally I would not have re-signed David Luiz and would have given a final chance to Holding to play on the left side… Read more »
Pedro, long time reader- first comment. Thank you for this forum that I can lean into for my Gunner Passsion. Only wish you could have the commenters you deserve cause half these dumbasses always look for th negative! Arsenal is at a crossroads and this summer, huge future. Get it wrong and we are F’ed! Get it right and Arteta can work with it. The only way we don’t lie in bed with super agents is if we have an internal structure that can think for Itself. Delicate times ahead!
Cap America
Players that could be realistically sold from the current squad this summer =
Sokratis
Holding
Torreira
Guendouzi
Kolasinac should be moved on but high wages plus a few years left on his contract makes it unlikely he leaves.
Ozil we all know his story.
Willock should be loaned out for next season.
Ishola
I’d add Lacazette and Bellerin to that list as possible high profile swaps/sales.
What about:
Bellerin
Chambers
Nketiah
Nelson
AMN
Elneny
They will all be for sale also.
Leeds are after Martinez. I’d rather let Leno go though…Purely for his size and catching ability.
I don’t think any of those you listed as extra will be sold guys.
Elneny unsaleable it seems.
Samir
If Leeds come in with a decent enough offer than Martinez could be on his way then.
It could be a case of Leeds guaranteeing him no.1 spot there and Arsenal not being able to to do the same.
It is of course not in the best interests at all for Arsenal to sell him but we have seen before if a club comes in and the player has a real will to leave then we see them go.
Martinez isn’t going too be a number 2 goalie anywhere after his performances since the restart.
If Kia wants Arsenal to help him he needs to start helping Arsenal. Instead of trying to flog to our club players that we don’t need, help our club sell the players that we don’t need by opening doors for these players… we all know who they are. After all, he’s supposedly a super agent. Well, he needs to to start exercising his super powers… and Arsenal needs to start transforming this relationship into a two way one. At the moment, Arsenal looks more and more like Kia Joorabchian’s personal cash point. Raul, time for you old boy, to start… Read more »
Dissenter
“Martinez isn’t going too be a number 2 goalie anywhere after his performances since the restart.”
Maybe Leeds will turn their attention to Leno then.
What it does do for Martinez this reported interest in him from Leeds is give him extra leverage for his claim for no.1 spot at Arsenal.
If Leeds make a good bid for Martinez he will go to Arteta and want assurances from him that he will now be seen as no.1 ahead of Leno. If this is not forthcoming from Arteta then he could be on his bike to Leeds.
Heres something to throw into the mix – Nelson plus a bit of cash in exchange for Zaha?
I would.
Leeds and West Brom will be hungry for players with EPL experience…
We should be breaking their doors down with our fringe players…
Mustafi, Elneny, Sokratis, Torreira… if they were attractively priced are all saleable to these clubs and others.
Even £20m to £30m from the sale of our fringe players should be achievable… after all this is where Don Raul needs to start stepping up.
As someone said the other day, Neuer is getting on a bit so Bayern may come in for Leno.
If it was between selling Leno or Martinez I’d rather Leno go. He’d also generate a bigger price.
Ian Wright made a comment that even Chelsea could be sniffing at Martinez due to their recent goalkeeping problems.
Again what this does is back-up Martinez and his claim for no.1 spot at Arsenal.
Arsenal and Arteta have this decision to make.
Just looking at players who are available from the teams that are relegated..
Watford – Deulofeu, Doucoure, Sarr, Capoue.
Bournmouth – Fraser, Ake, Brooks
Norwich – Aarons, Cantwell, Godfrey
Any of them worth looking at and would they improve Arsenal?
Thought Sarr was quite decent today.
Him in as squad player in replace of Reiss Nelson would strengthen the squad.
Deulofeu would also be a decent acquistion as squad player for the left wing.
But very unlikely to happen.
Aarons would be of interest as squad player but again not happening as Arsenal have enough options at RB now.
Ramsey joins the list of Van Persie, Nasri, Fabregas, Chamberlain, Hleb
Martinez needs to perform like this for a longer period with fans in the stadium. Most sports athletes get purple patch in their careers and this could be his, no way Arsenal should entertain selling Leno. If Martinez was this super GK, no way he would be comfortable sitting as a number 2 at Arsenal for almost a decade now. I hope there’s some club stupid enough to spend silly money on him that could help with the transfer budget. Arsenal fans have the tendencies to overrate our players once they hit purple patches. Joe Willock, Eddie and Nelson are… Read more »
If Bayern want Leno we shouldn’t be afraid to play hardball.
If Liverpool and Chelsea were willing to pay top top money for their keepers Bayern can afford to do so too.
Think about it £60m for Leno basically buys us Ceballos and in the form Ceballos finished the season in, I would be very tempted to buy him.
It’s clear that Arteta understands what makes Ceballos tick… a good buy at a good age too.
Matt Macey as our no.2 makes me nervous though. The word on the street is that he’s nowhere near good enough to step up.
Overmars, mate -you’d improve Arsenal. (and I do not think that you are Marc Overmars.) We have so much shite on our books. Look at today – realistically only Auba, Laca and Tierney are better than their opposite at Watford. Maybe Ceballos too. Foster Kike Kabasele Dawson Mariappa Tierney Dacoure Ceballos Sarr Auba Pepe That side probably beats us. Id like to thknk we could offload the Soks Nelsons Eddies willocks and AMNs to the relegated clubs for swaps for their better players. Those lads would be solid contibutors in Championship. Godfrey, Cantwell, Brooks, Foster, Sarr, Dacoure would all improve… Read more »
I was going to type something about arsenal but Pedro is such an oatmeal drinking whopper that why really bother?
Oh dear, Marc is excited because we had two bad games.
Lol £60 million for leno from bayern? They have his replacement already in Nübel.
Thanks China 😂
Disenter
“Does “giving Arteta time” exclude honest criticisms here.”
There is nothing wrong with honest criticism at any time but you and a couple other posters here are using Arteta as a stick to beat Pedro with. Nothing honest about that.
Another honest criticism. Arteta is obsess with a left footed CB on the left side. Kola is a bad player. He is not even a CB. Arteta insisted to play him as LCB. It costed us the NLD.
Bojangles
“There is nothing wrong with honest criticism at any time but you and a couple other posters here are using Arteta as a stick to beat Pedro with. Nothing honest about that.”
Suck up to Pedro’s balls for all I care.
You don’t have any reason to question our integrity or honesty. Pedro has the sharpest elbows here and can bin anyone he chooses.
Managers are praised and criticized all the time, Arteta will be no different.
Pedro knows how to poke certain posters here. He’s skilled at keeping the blog going, It’s not personal for the vast majority of us – it’s just banter.
Bojangles is correct Dissenter, nothing honest about your criticisms these days.
I’m just kidding. You are a man of prestige.
Pedro
What’s up with the xG vs xGA numbers for Emery and Mikel or those stats are irrelevant because Mikel will get 5 yrs to get it right?
Disenter
“Managers are praised and criticized all the time, Arteta will be no different.”
I could accept that if you had been honest with your take on Emery. You was one to defend him to the bitter end even while we, as a team, was falling apart.
Over mars 00.24.
I’m sure at least 3 of those would be an
Improvement for us,
Barca trying to offload Rakatic and Vidal in a swap with Guendouzi after offering Coutinho in exchange for Guen +50 mil, which apparently was turned down.
Pedro will be beat with the Arteta stick then probed with it
because he overhyped Arteta and after Gazidgate he should know better
The xG and xGA have been bad but the narrative has been the sample size is small, etc.
Pedro hardly keys in a full 500 words at a stretch , without pandering to the Arsenal management.
We had an average season, Pedro? Only 14 wins in 38 outings …. you call that average?
We were average! By Everton standards!
Sarr, Ake, Cantwell and Aarons would be decent additions.
Doucoure and Capoue would have been good a few years back.
Bojangles
Sorry. No
For Guen just straight up cash.
Getting Coutinho plus 50m (probably paid in installments) is basically zero net gain since Coutinho is likely to end up in the unproductive veteran’s corner.
Same with Vidal and Rakatic combo.
I get confused as to why posters on here are so against signing Coutinho? Let’s have a look at his stats since leaving Liverpool: 19/20 – 34 games. 9 goals. 8 assists. 18/19 – 54 games. 11 goals. 5 assists. 17/18 – 42 games. 22 goals. 14 assists (for Barcelona and Liverpool). For Barcelona and Bayern, I would say that he’s mostly been played in centre midfield, similar to Ceballos for us. The bottom line is, will he be an improvement to our first 11? Yes. And does he contribute more than our current midfielders? Yes. If the wages are… Read more »
Sid
“Pedro will be beat with the Arteta stick then probed with it
because he overhyped Arteta and after Gazidgate he should know better”
I’m not defending Pedro as such but this is his blog and can write whatever the fuck he wants. He doesn’t need to apologise to you or anyone else for what he writes. You can always find another Arsenal blog that suits the message you want to hear, doubt you’ll find many though. Tell you that totally free.
Dark Hei
I’m just the messages re the Barca Guen offers. Don’t like either of them myself.
Nubel is not as good as Bayern thought.
And Bayern will be looking elsewhere when Neuer retires.
If they come in for Leno , 55-60 mil is a fair price of him.
Overmars
It’s a combination of the wages, fee and his age for me. By the time we get our shit together and our youngsters are up to speed he’ll be in his thirties. Far better options out there imo.
bojangles
Piss poor offers from Barca if true, we shouldn’t even be thinking about them.
The hell are we going to do with a 32 and 33 year old moving to the PL for the first time? That’s doomed to fail from the start. Not keen on Coutinho either for above reasons
Overmars
Coutinho is 28 and imo that is the only problem with him. His quality is undeniable.
I would take Coutinho for a loan move with 55-60 mil option to buy .
From the relegated teams I’d be sniffing around Buendia , Ake , Sarr .
Something I noticed from the game yesterday, I think it was one of the very very few times that we’ve seen Pepe, Lacazette and Aubameyang start as a front 3 together, and we score 3 first half goals.
What does that tell you? Play your best players.
Wasi and Ljungberg
28 isn’t old these days.
We signed Aubameyang at 29 years old and look how good he’s been.
Of course it doesn’t always work out, the players needs that hunger and discipline to continue to be at his best. Hopefully Coutinho would have that.
DissenterJuly 27, 2020 01:54:22
Pedro knows how to poke certain posters here. He’s skilled at keeping the blog going, It’s not personal for the vast majority of us – it’s just banter.
It’s business, definitely not personal.
This TW is shorter and with Covid wrecking havoc to club finances and probably player pricing, it’s going to be fun next couple of months.
I just hope the current batch of Arsenal execs would be smarter in deals rather than getting into different kinds of mess while still cleaning up Ivan’ shit.
BojanglesJuly 27, 2020 05:14:25
I’m not defending Pedro as such but this is his blog and can write whatever the fuck he wants. He doesn’t need to apologise to you or anyone else for what he writes.
Flight has never been an option. Just like he doesnt need to apologise not all posters need to agree with his opinions
Opinions are like girlfriend…..
Overmars Yeah, we either have to overpay him into his mid thirties or sell him for a low fee. I wouldn’t have a problem if we did a deal like that for someone like Havertz who’s got another 12-15 years left and plenty of resale value if we need to move him on for whatever reason but I think we need to move away from giving expensive players in their latter years their last contract (with uber high wages) that’s only really ok when the rest of the squad is in great shape and you just need the missing piece… Read more »
WasiJuly 27, 2020 05:29:28
From the relegated teams I’d be sniffing around Buendia , Ake , Sarr .
I would add cantwell the others are not worth it.
We sell to anyone who pays well!
50m for Leno and Raul would personally deliver him over dinner.
What’s your take on Pope , the goalie I mean?
Overmars
The club was in a different state financially at that time .
And Coutinho is already on higher wages than Auba
I wouldn’t be against a loan with option to buy but if we are looking for a permanent buy then surely there’s better options out there who will cost less, demand less wages and have resale value.
Sid
Cantwell is definitely quality. But I still don’t know what his best position is. Needs about 2 more years to consistently perform in the Prem.
Overmars “I get confused as to why posters on here are so against signing Coutinho?” I wouldn’t lose sleep over it. What you have to remember is the majority on here slaughtered Wenger for years so their judgement will always be open to question. Those very same posters then backed Emery until the bitter end and are now looking for any excuse to throw Arteta under the bus. Of course Coutinho will improve this side as will Willian, as they are both quality players who will walk into this Arsenal side. I have confidence that Arteta will bring in midfield… Read more »
If we walk away with a trophy this season then Arteta will have worked a miinor miracle.
The football under him hasn’t been great, that’s for sure, but he is trying to implement change whilst trying to win football matches which is never easy.
It’s all about the result on Saturday, nothing else matters.
If we walk away with a trophy diet Pep will be forgiven for the Olympicos debacle.
Random advice, avoid sitting on the testes on the toilet bowl, its very painful
Washing
“Nubel is not as good as Bayern thought.
And Bayern will be looking elsewhere when Neuer retires.
If they come in for Leno , 55-60 mil is a fair price of him.”
Erm, Nubel has been bought to replace Neuer, and where did you see that Bayern don’t rate him. Infact he is highly rated than Leno by Salihamidzic and the Bayern top brass, Oliver Kahn believes in a year he would take over from Neuer.
Getting £50-60 million for Leno is just wishful thinking.
*Wasi*
Effing Autocorrect
The only player from the relegated teams I’d entertain is Ake but as has been stated, he has been earmarked by Citeh. Don’t fancy our chances there.
Every half decent CB is linked to City. Weird as they conceded only 2 more goals than Liverpool this season. Scored 102 and conceded 35.
Buendia has been fantastic for Norwich. He has been creating all their chances. And he has fire in his belly which I really like. He is playing RW for them though. If he can do it at CAM as well he would be value for money. At 23 and cheaper than most, I believe we should go for him if we haven’t got much money.
Backpass Idk about that. From what I’ve seen , Nubel is not good enough to be Bayern’s no.1 . Ofc I could be wrong or he could get better. He is Schalke’s Captain and was benched for games post lockdown due to poor form if I remember correctly. Says a lot doesn’t it. Also Schalke were in fighting relegation and still didn’t deem their captain good enough for a starting berth. He did become thr first choice again as their 2nd keeper was even worse. And in a world where Kepa is going for 72 mil , 55 mil for… Read more »
Wasi I believe he was benched because he agreed a free transfer to Bayern during the season and that annoyed schalke executives. Leno to bayern is a moot point now, Neuer will still top dog at bayern now and next season, maybe two seasons from now if Nubel flops ( I highly doubt it because he is really good) then they would need a new goalkeeper. And why pay absurd money for Leno when they can get the next best thing in Germany. There will always be goalkeepers in Bundesliga that bayern would go for before spunking £60 million on… Read more »
“I would take Coutinho for a loan move with 55-60 mil option to buy .”
Well said Wasi.
But I am not sure where in Arteta’s 3-4-3 is Coutinho going to feature. I am not sure he has the legs to play Klopp or Arteta ball up front on the flanks.
https://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/the-goalkeeper-who-has-caused-civil-war-at-bayern-and-hes/3vngypk113231plczx3ta363i
Wasi
“And in a world where Kepa is going for 72 mil , 55 mil for Leno is absolutely fair.”
Does Leno have a release clause? Can people stop this Kepa stuff when trying to compare with other goalkeepers. It was a release clause.
Its just like saying because Joao Felix cost €126 million then a superior player in Sancho would cost €180 million.
The only club that can be foolish enough next season to pay such amount for Leno next season is Chelsea.. No other top club would presently.
Just thinking of all the possible out goings and think give or take we could easily take a good 190m if we could get rid of all the fringe/ disgruntled players.
Keeper 25
Sokrates 3
Bellerin 25
Holding 10
Kola 5
Guendouzi 30
Ozil free
Nelson 20/25
Mustafi 10
Torreira 30
Laca 30
Elneny free
Mavrapanos 5
Mhiki swap?
Up to 190m
We are not selling Bellerin, Mustafi and Nelson. Others are realistic ( bare minimum tbf with those prices).
Martinez has matured and will be an asset to any team that acquires him.
His saves are far from reflex. It is about proper positioning ,decision making and confidence.
Backpass You are most probably right about Bayern. They wont bin Nubel without giving him a chance. Even then there are many a clubs in the world who could do well with a keeper like Leno. If Dortmund are serious about competing for the title then they need a serious upgrade on Burki. Same goes for Chelsea. ManU might decide De Gea is not good enough. Psg will soon require a new Goalkeeper. All of the clubs mentioned above have the enough money to pay 50m+ for a goalkeeper. And 60 mil for Leno in a Covid hit environment may… Read more »
I believe the club will give Martinez a new deal.
Dark Hei
Arteta will shift to 4 at the back if he gets his players in and he’s shown that he likes to play with a 10.
Backpass
So what do you want?
Just because we don’t have a release clause in Leno’s contract doesn’t mean we should sell him for cheap
The backpass
What a load of rubbish. If any good offers come in for those players. They’ll be gone.
Ok Pedro, here goes:
Arsenal fc has been very badly run- neglected even.
Despite the deck chair moving post wenger, the reality is that the club has continued to drift.
We are way off the pace right now.
BUT
Arteta looks extremely promising and I’m looking forward to a genuine rebuild this summer.
I’m also looking forward to beating Chelsea in the cup final.
Wasi “If Dortmund are serious about competing for the title then they need a serious upgrade on Burki. Same goes for Chelsea. ManU might decide De Gea is not good enough. Psg will soon require a new Goalkeeper.” Dortmund would go into the bundesliga market before spending on Leno Man united already have Henderson. PSG wouldn’t need a new goalkeeper for the next two seasons, they are safe with Navas. Chelsea, this is the only club that needs a goalkeeper like Leno presently but they’ve set their eyes on Oblak ( wishful thinking from them), Onana and Rajkovic. “So what… Read more »
Backpass Martinez is turning out to be a better goalkeeper than Leno. Martinez is a gunner through and through. Leno has more market value than Martinez rn. Martinez is on 1/5th of wages Leno is on. If we are selling a goalkeeper , it should be Leno and not Martinez. Personally I wont look at a goalkeeper sale this summer unless we are desperate for the funds. Leno is probably better than all the goalkeepers in the Bundesliga currently. Psg are safe but it doesn’t mean they wont look to secure thr future of their Goalkeeping department. They also have… Read more »
Samir “What a load of rubbish. If any good offers come in for those players. They’ll be gone.” Yeah if any * good offers”, just like if any good offer comes for any footballer they get sold regardless. But, for the amount that was posted, l doubt Arsenal would be selling this transfer window. Mustafi: injured and would be out for a long time. Bellerin: AMN according to Ornstein wants to leave that effectively rules out Bellerin leaving this season. Nelson:This one is a bit tricky, if an offer comes for him it would be lovely, but i doubt Arteta… Read more »
Wasi
“Martinez is turning out to be a better goalkeeper than Leno.
Martinez is a gunner through and through.”
Based on 1 month of football from him where there are no fans in the stadium? Same bloke that Four managers of Arsenal didn’t think he is first choice material. Same bloke that has O apps for Argentina and Can’t seem to bench Andrada, Musso, Marshesin and Armani?
“Personally I wont look at a goalkeeper sale this summer unless we are desperate for the funds”
Agreed.
Wasi
“Leno is probably better than all the goalkeepers in the Bundesliga currently”
Maybe, but dortmund are a selling club, I dont see them spending £55 million on a goal keeper, when they can get a €20million goalkeeper in the bundesliga that would do no worse than Leno when he was at Leverkusen.
I think Sanchez has scored 4 or 5 goals this season. Lukaku over 20.
If you make Martinez number 1 don’t you think you’ll have to increase his salary accordingly? If his agent has a pulse I think he/she will already be on the case.
New post
Sanchez is on £390k per week, Inter paying £175k of that currently. Very unlikely they’ll keep him except he decides to take a massive pay cut 😃😃
Partey, Upamecano, Stones and Sarr in.
Luiz, Mustafi And Sokaratis out.
Ozil out and Grealish in.
Keep Guendozi