Something rumbling at Arsenal HQ (long read)

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Buckle-up people, I think something is going down at Arsenal HQ. Smoke is in the hallways and it looks like there’s a good chance it’s fire. I’ve heard from multiple sources that there is movement at the club.

The rumblings on the internet are centered around there being an abrupt leadership change at Arsenal. Factor that in with the searing story from ESPN yesterday about the internal investigations into the way Arsenal deal with transfers, particularly the outrageous fee we paid for Pepe, and it’s not hard to see where this could be heading.

That particular story is interesting, I understand that the source wasn’t an official leak as such. ESPN had the news from corroborating sources elsewhere and they ran it with no comment from Arsenal despite asking.

What is absolutely clear is this: Tim Lewis is putting our dealings under the microscope. Do not be surprised if he doesn’t like what he sees.

That shouldn’t be a surprise if you’ve been reading Le Grove for the last year. Under the leadership of Raul, we’ve gone from a club that wouldn’t know how to contact a super-agent if they wanted to… to a club that probably has an office with Kia’s name on the door.

The optics have been really poor. Raul isn’t even subtle about how he does business. He’s Donald Trump shooting someone on 5th Avenue. To be clear, I’m not accusing anyone of doing illegal things, my focus is on the dreadful waste at Arsenal football club when money is tight.

The long and short of it: We do a lot of business with close pals of Raul, that business isn’t good, subsequently we are not succeeding on the football pitch. Those three working in tandem would raise red flags at any organisation, and let me tell you, it has not gone unnoticed among Arsenal staffers.

Decisions at a football club should always be transparent in nature. Fans should be able to look at a deal and know that the best intentions were always at the heart of the rationale. Under Arsene, love or hate him, you always knew he was doing things because he thought them right by the fans. Under Sven, love or hate him, you knew he was bringing in players because he thought the data supported the move. Under Raul, it’s hard to discern any sort of coherence in his dealings, outside him really, really enjoying working with a small collection of people and clubs. That is a recipe for wastage, average decisions, and conflicts of interest.

Let’s talk through some of the deals I’d be asking about if I were Tim Lewis:

Unai Emery:

Arsenal had a list of candidates to replace Wenger, it looked like we were going to appoint Mikel Arteta, then out of nowhere Unai Emery dropped into contention. This is Unai talking to the Spanish press.

“As Ivan Gazidis explained on the day of the presentation, I was on a list of eight candidates they were going to interview,”

“Thanks in part to Arturo Canales (his now agent), they insisted I was the best candidate of all.”

I simply refuse to believe that the Arsenal analysts pulling info on managers looked at Emery’s record and said he was a top drawer manager that was perfect for the job. I’m not even an expert and 3 hours of Google told me all I needed to know about him.

  • He couldn’t speak English.
  • Every foreign job he’d taken he’d been maligned for his poor grasp of language.
  • Big players didn’t respect him.
  • He couldn’t organize a defence.
  • Players thought he was negative in his approach.
  • He had no sauce and wore gilets seriously.

… but then a super-agent pal of Raul makes a big recommendation and we sign him up. Canales lands a new client. Did he get a fee?

After year one, it was clear things were going south. Underlying stats were atrocious, he hadn’t fixed the defence, and there was no clear identity. So what did Raul suggest? Let Emery tell you.

“We were now looking to how we could develop together, even to the point where they were looking to offer a renewed contract.”

Why? On any level, how could that be a justified suggestion knowing what we knew?

The following season predictably went off the rails and Raul delayed and delayed the decision to pull the trigger on his man, saying he wouldn’t listen to the ‘noise’ from the fans. The delay for me was the difference between top 6 and 8th. Why delay?

Well, I think we can all see that it’d be advantageous to have a weak manager in control of your club…

Nicolas Pepe:

‘I met Zaha and he wanted to come. The club decided Pepe was one for the future. I said: ‘Yes, but we need to win now and this lad wins games.’ He beat us on his own.’ Big Un, wearing a gilet in a studio

Emery was a soft touch, he knew he was lucky to be in the job, he did what he was told. Raul shifted attention to Lille’s wide man. Clearly an exciting player, but no one in world football expected Arsenal to pull budget from the next season’s transfer pot to land a prospect for £72m! It was a mad bet and it’s now the focus of an investigation according to ESPN. Did Arsenal’s analysts recommend Pepe? Which agents were involved in the deal? How did we land on the valuation? The connect? Marc Ingla, exBarca.

Edu:

Raul scoured the world for a Technical Director. He landed on Edu. Handsome, an invincible, with some work under his belt in Brazil. His agent? Kia. So far, we’ve signed Luiz, Soares, Mari (Canales), and Willian. Does signing your own agent’s players seem like a normal thing you would do if you were trying to come across as a data and analytics type of person? I’m not so sure. It seems super dim to me and a bad way to show your new boss you are creative in your approach.

Denis Suarez:

The squad needed bolstering last January. We lacked wide players with power and pace. Who did we bring in? Denis Suarez. A meek player accused of lacking character, power, and the ability to impose himself on games. £5m loan deal for barely a full 90 minutes.

David Luiz:

The club knew Laurent Koscielny was leaving Arsenal 3 months before the end of the season. We eventually cave after he goes on strike, Arsenal immediately go out and sign the Brazilian. A 32-year-old in decline, a rep for being disruptive in the dressing room, and, very error-prone. His agent? Kia. The Athletic ran a piece that suggested that deal, all-in, was worth £24m. I was told that he was on about £200k a week in December. Why would a club with money issues do that to themselves?

Cedric Soares:

Southampton thought he was going to leave on a free transfer at the end of his contract in June and go to a lower league club. Arsenal picked him up for a loan fee + wages deal worth £5m. The jury is still out, but again, who was the agent? Kia.

Kia:

Let’s talk about this guy because he’s basically on the staff. A few weeks ago, he went on Talksport to lament the deal issues with David Luiz, he assured everyone that structural changes were coming to Arsenal. 3 weeks later, all the scouts were laid off, and we made 55 redundancies. On any level, it is pretty horrendous that an outside supplier has the inside track on our HR reworks. The fact he goes on national radio to tell everyone he knows is so painfully amateur. It’s also unprofessional. This sort of thing would never have happened under any regime prior, it’s shambolic.

Two days ago, he goes on Talksport AGAIN, this time to take aim at Sven Mislintat’s record and to set the record straight that he doesn’t influence Arsenal. It is absolutely outrageous that he has the swagger to take aim at Arsenal like that. Raul should have banished him after the last appearance, and at the very least told him not to do that… but, he has no control over his friend.

A day later, we do a deal for…

Willian:

Now, there’s been a lot of debate on how you frame costs for players, so let me be clear, when you bring in a free transfer, it’s quite fine to lay out what the total deal is. Sami Mokbel, the closest person to Ornstein levels of insight at Arsenal, thinks the whole deal could be worth £220k a week. It is not unfair to describe a deal like this, because if that’s what ends up in Willian’s pocket, that is what he’s paid. Bonuses are easily attainable, otherwise, players wouldn’t agree to them… according to the article, there’s a loyalty bonus. Imagine needing to put that into the deal of 32-year-old player?!

Forget about the player for a moment, we’ve taken another older player from a rival and basically paid them double to join. The player didn’t want to go to Miami. He didn’t want to go to Spain. He wanted to stay in London, he stated that publicly. We had all the leverage and it looks like we’ve been rolled hard here.

Last week Arsenal were pleading poverty saying we needed to pull the trigger on 55 people, this week we’re topping up Kia’s fee pot, and giving a player £35m. It looks awful

BUT BUT BUT… what about Martinelli? Tierney? Saliba?

Yes, good players… but the litmus test for non-wasteful leadership isn’t whether there’s at least one player in there that cuts the mustard. Look at the body of work and the outlay, it’s not good.

I have no idea what is going to happen at Arsenal over the next few weeks, but I struggle to see how anyone delves into the above deals and walks away saying, ‘damn, these guys are fucking sharp.’ Tim Lewis is a Clifford Chance partner, I assume he loves Arsenal, let’s hope he sees what we all see.

The bigger question for me is why this sort of ‘maybe’ movement taken so long? KSE waste so much time with average hacks. It is really painful.

Let’s see how the next few days pan out… see you in the comments.

UPDATE: Raul is gone.

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Trask

Raul gone

Was wondering yesterday why Edu in his interview for Willian mentioned himself and Arteta as the key players going forward in the TW

Hmm

CG

Jamie

“””””What half-decent European club is going to let him run things knowing he’s been sacked for effectively diverting club cash to his super agent friend(s)?””””

He will find a home.
He is owed a lot of favors by clubs.

(Eg. Paying over the odds for overrated players)

Sometimes even stray dogs with fleas find a home.

underrated Coq

Oops

Egg on face for Marc and Charlie?

Goobergooner

Raul is gone. This is shaping up to be an extremely saucy summer.

Mr Serge

Huss will be the next to go watch this space

salparadisenyc

Marko

As Radio said, Arteta must of really wanted the player. And to be fair he’s earned a bit of latitude to maneuver in building his side.

In the end good managers get what they want.

China1

Marko the situation with Tim Lewis is a bit unclear

His remit might have been entirely to focus on past dealings with no involvement in Willian. You’d think the club wouldn’t sign off on Willian without already knowing Raul is in big trouble and reviewing it – but still who knows how the Willian deal has gone down

Goobergooner

Good morning to ya peds. And wouldn’t ya know it 😂😂

NJ Gooner

Pedro,

I work in a world where you spend years on a project. So, I don’t know what instant gratification looks like. But you must be enjoying the afterglow this morning.

Congratulations!

What comes next? Are we to be led into this brave new world by Vinai, a person without any football knowledge? Doesn’t sound promising.

Mr Serge

Well done Pedro you were right and it’s going to be a great day
Reckon we are going the data driven route after all hooray

CG

PedRo 1 Le Grove patients 0

Receding Hairline

Interesting turn of events… Now we are being run by Vinai, Edu and Arteta.

Can’t see much experience and leadership in there. And is Kia Edu’s man or Raul’s.

If Raul’s then he is gone too. If he is Edu’s then yikes!!

Mr Serge

NJ Vinai will run the business side not the footballing side hopefully that’s down to Edu and the team now maybe Kia can do one after we sign Coutinho

DivineSherlock

If Raul is gone and Edu is in charge of footballing matters is it still not worrying ? Considering Kia is Edu’s agent ? Feels like a false dawn to me . I think Raul knew his goose was cooked as soon as ESPN ran that story .

andy1886

It is indeed a Good morning Pedro.

I’m sure more will come out in the wash but Raul has form so I’m glad he’s gone before he did something that might drag the club down with him (as he did with the Neymar deal at Barca previously).

Uwot?

As serge said looks like Huss famhy is next on the block.Being reported by the gooner fanzine site.

Marc

I posted a longer comment earlier that failed to appear. Sanllehi’s gone – I’ll live, my concern is the timing. If there was an issue (which clearly someone in power thinks there was) the timing is terrible. You do this 3 months ago not a few days after the transfer window has opened when we need to do some serious business (incoming and outgoing). I hope that Edu and whoever is supporting him is up to doing what we need done because if they’re not we’re in trouble. Of course it could be we’ve seen all the incoming’s this summer… Read more »

China1

Edu will now have a rocket up his ass to make sure he’s on the ball from here on in

NJ Gooner

Serge,

Let’s hope at least some authority over transfers devolves to Arteta. Who knows given the current state of affairs at the club..

I still want to know Vinci’s credentials for anything to do with AFC.

China1

If Raul is gone does this mean Kia is promoted to head of football?

Tom

I feel Kia isn’t getting the credit he deserves though………he did say there were changes afoot at the Arsenal structure- wise. I wonder if that’s what he meant ha ha ha!

Marc

Sherlock

“If Raul is gone and Edu is in charge of footballing matters is it still not worrying ? Considering Kia is Edu’s agent ? Feels like a false dawn to me . I think Raul knew his goose was cooked as soon as ESPN ran that story .”

Well exactly – it’s like arresting the bank robber but letting the getaway drive off.

I’d say it looks like the story was leaked to “prepare the ground”.

My concern is still about the other transfer’s we desperately need to get done.

Jamie

Pete, is Edu next? What do you know about Vinai?

CG

The GUVNOR

“”””This is a fucking excellent day for Arsenal FC.””””

Agreement here.

Emery the Clown gone – Tick
Raul the Spiv gone – Tick
One more to go. Edu the Ponce.

What a shame , we cant pull the clock back and annul this obscene Willian deal.

Ozil back in the frame.
Wenger back in the frame( consultation)
Rambo back in the frame.

englandsbest

Somehow Arsene still wears a cloak of respectability, the quaint idea that he always did what he thought was right for the Club. To set the record straight, he always did what he thought was right for himself. Often the two coincided: what was good for him was good for the Club. But with transfer dealings they often did not coincide, because his ego, his self-importance intruded. There were many instances, but I’ll give two. With Ozil’s transfer it was sheer ego after he messed up the deal with Liverpool for Suarez. Digging his heels in with Sanchez when he… Read more »

Freddie Ljungberg

China

Vinai is.

Nj

Vinais credentials about Arsenal? He’s been at the club since 2010 and slowly worked himself up.

No footballing background though I think so that’s a worry, but that’s what Edu is there for.

“They have a staff base that is, for instance, double the size of Manchester City’s with £145million less revenue.”

No wonder we’re streamlining and have to deal with redundancies, talk about bloat.

andy1886

From the official statement (Raul’s departing words):

The academy is in very safe hands with Per, and Huss Fahmy is a talented and highly-capable leader of our football operations”

Is that a clue? Is Huss the new Raul? (‘leader of our football operations’)

It certainly wont be Vinai.

Tom

Sanllehi’s gone – I’ll live, my concern is the timing. If there was an issue (which clearly someone in power thinks there was) the timing is terrible. You do this 3 months ago not a few days after the transfer window has opened when we need to do some serious business (incoming and outgoing). ———- Marc Maybe 3 months ago there wasn’t enough information to raise red flags , or act on them. You’d rather let Raul continue on into another window if there were “irregularities “ ?!?!? That’s crazy. Oversight ,even if arriving late ,is better than lack there… Read more »

China1

I doubt Edu is about to get fired. If the club found him worthy of getting sacked he’d be out the door with Raul.

Obviously for whatever reason they’re giving him another chance but you’d assume he’s been warned.

I would guess it’s because Edu is newer to the club and Raul was his manager that it’s maybe a bit harsher to lay so much blame at his feet. But I believe and hope he’s been warned anyway

Freddie Ljungberg

The site keeps crashing. Has Pedros smugness overwhelmed the servers? Chances are high

Marko

In the end good managers get what they want.

Kinda dodged what was being asked Sal. How do you feel about Tim Lewis being okay with Willian “getting” 240,000 a week when Raul is apparently getting sacked for another high profile deal. Seems a bit at odds with each other

DivineSherlock

Pedro

I have to say you have done an amazing job , again . I bet you want to say ” I told you so ” to so many people . Cheers .

James wood

All very confusing.
“An official statement from the club would be good.”
Will more follow.
.
This is not the Arsenal I’m happy with.?

salparadisenyc

Marc

3 months ago was pretty much lockdown days, football not being played with future very uncertain

China1

Marko but tbf we are only assuming that Tim is ok with that deal.

Maybe he wasn’t involved in the process for Willian. You’d imagine we do involve him in everything now but we’re still just speculating at this stage

salparadisenyc

Marko

Seem’s like a lot doesn’t it?
Arteta must really value him.

Marko

Or his dismissal could be interpreted as another high profile redundancy

Mr Serge

Marc they did the checks and a few days later Raul was a goner instead of a gooner that’s quick going
The restructuring has started there will be a plan in place

DivineSherlock

Marc

Yeah thats what I feel , you can sack Raul but then you have to question the legitimacy of who he has hired too . The other thing might be that since Vinai is in charge , he will have to veto the signings before it gets cleared ? is that how it will work now ?

TR7

Edu too must be under Tim’s radar now. He’s got to be careful. Stan won’t tolerate anyone pissing his money away. I prefer manager calling all the shots, so kind of happy that Arteta will have more say in transfer dealings.

China1

Pedro gonna be smug strutting like griezman on his trip to Seven11 to buy a pack of gum later

DAT WINNING FEELING

Freddie Ljungberg

Looks like Gabriel is still in play, Edu needs to get moving.

“Gianluca Di Marzio claims Lille rejected a €20m offer from Everton on Wednesday”

Marko

Cheers Sal. Way to put your neck out even a little.

Anyway lad is gone feel a bit for him given that he was instrumental in a lot of good things for Arsenal these last couple of years. Sacking Wenger hiring Arteta signing up Saliba, Tierney, Martinelli and Pepe for example. Unfortunately all that gets overlooked because of Emery (even though Ivan and Sven were also involved in his hiring) and Kia. Mostly Kia. But ah well no doubt our dealings with super agents are over…said no major club in european football ever

Elmo

Looks like CG had it right all along. Called out The Spiv for what he was.

Marc

Tom

No but all the information they would’ve work on was out there 3 months ago.

It’s like sacking the manager the morning of the first match of the PL – if you’re going to do it do it before hand.

China1

Pedro you better ask out Nancy from finance before this winning streak ends

Champagne Charlie

“Egg on face for Marc and Charlie?“ Not sure how you arrive there, literally everything unfancied has been thrown at Raul to paint a picture and that’s what I’ve commented on. You think Willian, a deal closed 5 days ago, was a reason for his dismissal ffs? All 670k per week as gotten from Mokbel, but not really from Mokbel? I’ve maintained for the longest time that Raul was a smelly character, but I would refrain from criticising until there was clear evidence for it. Now there’s been an internal investigation and he’s off. Good riddance, big smile on my… Read more »

Mr Serge

Divine no that’s not how it happens in any big business if they remove the head of the department they will reshuffle have a plan and stick to it for a defined period.

They would have had this plan before they went public with Raul
If there is a further casualty it will be the negotiator who had a hand in the deal
If the deal was bad it’s his and Rails fault

Reckon he will be gone too

Marko

Edu too must be under Tim’s radar now. He’s got to be careful. Stan won’t tolerate anyone pissing his money away. I prefer manager calling all the shots, so kind of happy that Arteta will have more say in transfer dealings.

I mean it’s his first summer window but sure. And again the days of a manager calling the shots are over thankfully.

englandsbest

Pedro, ten out of ten

You have been hitting on the nail all along. Hopefully the nail will be in the coffin for super-agents.

Jamie

Can’t say that Stan is a bad owner, really. Only tolerates genuine shite for 2.5 years max. Everyone gets a fair shake to prove themselves. He gave Wenger a wide berth while the money was rolling in. 2 seasons out of the CL and he was gone. He gave Emery plenty of cash, who failed in getting back into the CL then tanked our league position and was dismissed in 18 months. He let Raul run the club until [I assume] it was deemed he was wasting the club’s resources. Sacked after 2.5 years. It seems to me like KSE… Read more »

Dr Emil schauffhausen

Well said “englandsbest” 👏

Words on a Blog

Well, well, well.

What with Barca’s drubbing last night and Raul’s sudden sacking it really does feel like the Barcelona era, and Arsenal’s Barca-lite era, have come to an end.

Elmo

One question that now arises: when Kia talked to the press a few weeks ago about some issues within the internal structure at Arsenal that needed to be resolved, was he talking about Sanllehi, and why would some super-agent be briefed on high-level business like that?

The Ghost of Sanllehi

Pedro doing the McGregor walk through the streets right about now.
Well called, Agent Pedders.

Gonsterous

Please don’t get Wenger the ditherer. Guy must be stuck at his front gate every morning for hours deciding whether to take a left or a right.

Just Another Customer

so now are we really in safe hands?

Victorious

Raul gone!

Site then turned shit!

The fvck is happening at the club?

Words on a Blog

Jamie,

You’re right: lots of people (myself included) made the charge that the Kroenkes were disinterested absentee landlord-owners.

That claim no longer holds water.

Victorious

Egg on face for Marc and Charlie?”

Definitely I’d imagine..

Gonsterous

But I’m all for getting in people who belong to arsenal. Ex players who love the club, and will do what is right for the future of the club.

Words on a Blog

Not sure whether this below is speculative……but there’s talk Huss Fahmy is next in line to go…..

https://www.onlinegooner.com/articles/view/5322

Northbanker

Great – he’s gone and we can move back to a respectable and sustainable way of building the club. Of course Lewis may still be investigating and this may only be the beginning. However what i think is interesting were the stories emerging last week of Edu wanting to adopt a data approach. At the time it was questioned how this would work while Raul was using his buddies to tuck up deals. Now it makes more sense. I’ve no doubt that Edu has been told in no uncertain terms he needs to take this moment and begin to shine.… Read more »

Marko

because looks very much like Kia is part of the rebuild.

I’m not sure it’s true a bit more coincidental. We just happen to be interested in Willian and Coutinho because they’re fortuitous deals for us. No connection with Kia and reported targets Gabriel, Partey, Upamecano etc etc. Like I really think that people are reading too much into the Kia stuff I really do.

Bergkamp63

This shit has been going on for years at RM & Barca, look at the state of those clubs now.

These super agents and their pals have been getting fat at the expense of the Sky subscribing public for longer than I can remember.

They should have been kicked out of the game long long ago.

Paulo

You’re treating it like a serious football club but it’s a badly run business. Just needs to tick over as an asset for the owner, keep the customers coming through the doors.

Just Another Customer

so what is the direction for this transfer window now?

Victorious

Pedro for director of football of Arsenal FC

Seriously guy gets so plenty right at the club he probably deserves medal

Nailed on about Raul from day one, unbelievable foresight.

Mr Serge

They should have a couple ex players on the board like Keown to explain what it means to be Arsenal Dixon, seaman etc

andy1886

@Words – Huss looks okay, he got a positive mention in the official statement as I pointed out earlier:

“The academy is in very safe hands with Per, and Huss Fahmy is a talented and highly-capable leader of our football operations.”

Captain Tierney

Pedro was right all along. Great call Pedro. Looks like the club found hard evidence against Raul which us fand couldn’t. Tho you did pushed that agenda so kudos to that. If Edu is the one who kickstarted that investigation then maybe he is not the meek yes man , some people think he is. Also if Vinnai is the top man now then we are moving towards a Manu type structure with a finance guy at the top but with the addition of a technical director. This move showed Arteta certainly isnt a meek yes man and defo has… Read more »

TR7

Marko

First window for sure but Tim will have a close eye on how deals are structured I reckon.

Elmo

Mr Serge

None of those ex-players have experience running clubs. O’Leary was proposed as football consultant to rein in Raul, by board members Keswick and Harris in the second half of last year, but Raul managed to block that move.

Clearly his wheeler-dealer, play fast and loose with the rules approach has disgusted a lot of the establishment at the club, and he’s now been shut down by enough of them bending the Kroenkes’ ears and convincing them that Raul’s slimey way wasn’t the Arsenal way.

Captain Tierney

Finally we can stop talking about Kia and shoddy agent deals.

Jamie

For sure this is Pedro’s biggest win. He called Raul a bad actor from day 1. I’m still not sure if the shit he was up to was nefarious or just incompetent. Either way, glad he’s gone after the shortest internal investigation in history.

The Ghost of Sanllehi

i just hope we can now have a successful transfer window. We might be back to square one in terms of transfer targets unless there is a plan b already in place?

Jamie

Apart from the “King Raul” headline last summer, obv. Nobody’s perfect.

CG

Huss Fahmey

Another one that needs to go.
If he signed off on that Willian £35 million deal, his position is untenable.

No one can sign off on that nonsense.

Edu has to go
Fahmy has to go.
Vinny has to go.

What an opportunity for Tim Lewis to appoint a new proven, hard nosed,independently minded but competent executive team.

Marko

First window for sure but Tim will have a close eye on how deals are structured I reckon.

Can’t be too happy with the 240,000 a week for Willian. Unless of course it was a lie and he’s on much less

Champagne Charlie

Marko

That’s my point, he’s seemingly there as a net positive aka how those types are supposed to be used versus this poisonous character playing puppet master as has been the script.

Victorious

Odds drastically reduced on Wenger returning is some official capacity.

What a day!

Marc

Wasi

“Finally we can stop talking about Kia and shoddy agent deals.”

You really think that’s going to happen? Edu will be next on the list – I wonder what Pedro will say when the nutjobs are calling for Arteta to go as well?

Marc

Victorious

That happens and Arsenal will not finish in the top half of the table for a decade.

Champagne Charlie

Edu is David Dein to Mikel’s Wenger. Love to see it

Rich

A lot of damage has been done though, that’ll take a while to clean up. Soares 4 year deal Mari 4 year deal Willian 3 year deal Luiz 1 year deal, but looks to be in steep decline, and we have 7 other senior centre half’s on our books. Moving players on this summer is going to be difficult, particularly with the wages we pay, and everyone knowing how keen we are to sell. We’ve got a first team squad of 32, Mavropanos out on loan, but Mkhitaryan still on our books, we need to lose at least 7 players… Read more »

Mr Serge

No Wenger in any capacity please that’s going backwards in a big way

Kay

I am fine as long as we don’t dither deals..

Time is right to appoint someone like Ralf

salparadisenyc

“Cheers Sal. Way to put your neck out even a little.” Please, I recall going on a limb saying the way AFC was operating was sketchy under Raul with a litany of info building in snowball effect, some time ago and had you berating me with “boogyman’ bullshit the entire road. Do I think the Willian contract is too much, yes, but perhaps the manager has made that decisions based on what he needs, getting him on a bossman etc. Happy to have a manager willing to push the boat out if thats what in fact happened. You drawing an… Read more »

Marc

Rich

That was my point – if this needed to be done and if it did any transgressions happened over 6 months ago then why do it a couple of weeks into one of the most critical transfer windows I can remember?

If a “new” structure is already in place it’s either been pre planned so could’ve been done earlier or a stop gap. Either way not a good way to be approaching such a critical time.

Graham62

This is what tends to happen when you have owners who haven’t got their ears to the ground.

Just a pity these actions are being made now when in fact questions should have been asked long ago.

When I mean long ago, I mean when the likes of Gazidis and that other guy, who’s name fails me, were making so many dumb-ass decisions..

PS:
Congratulations to CG though.👏

Marc

Graham

He will only be happy when Wenger is back doing all of the “management” jobs.

Victorious

Marc
Big Weng wouldn’t do worse than Raul honestly

The guy has really got us into some deplorable shits that we’ll take years to sort out from

PapaSok for 16M
Soares 4 year deal
Mari 4 year deal
Willian 3 year deal
Luiz for 8M

Not in a million years will Wenger sign off on those jokes for big money, almost like the guy was an inside agent on order to pull the club down

Trask

Really don’t trust Edu to be honest . It’s all well and good to say if he Fs up then he’ll be gone but think about how his mess up would set the club back again. I mean just look at the mess Mislintat made. Most of the players he brought in will be gone this summer and they were brought in just 2 yrs ago. Wasste of time and money Crazy Edu has brought in Mari Soares and Willian so far . The former, money wasted. Real poor players. One is slower than Per was and the other couldn’t… Read more »

Marko

Charlie my question is why does Pedro take such a myopic view on super agents considering the rampant criticism of Wenger and transfers and opportunities missed for many many years on here. Like it’s really dumb honestly. Now all of a sudden we hear about values and the Arsenal way but we used to shit talk those things when our rivals and major European clubs were bringing in the sort of talent that we turned our noses up at. Like I personally couldn’t give the slightest of fucks that Willian and Coutinho have Kia for an agent because they’re two… Read more »