Maitland-Niles looks set to join Wolves + Gabriel stalked on motorway by rabid Arsenal fans

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Arsenal has continued to rework their backroom team at a rapid-fire pace. Wherever we’re heading, Edu and Arteta are moving there FAST.

The club moved on Freddie Ljungberg and there are rumours that they might be back-filling his role with Dennis Bergkamp (Mark Irwin). I am an absolute sucker for the Dutchman. I penned a 2000 word essay on him (and Thierry) for Mundial once, what a total dream of a player/human. I have no idea what he’s like as a coach, but he’s certainly done some of it at Ajax. I also don’t know what he’d be coming in as. Still, what we do know is the man is trained in Total Football, he boasted some of the best technique the Premier League has ever witnessed, and he’s an absolute winner that can speak many languages.

Sal Bibbo is out the door, good luck to him. Arteta brought Inaki with him from Brentford. Hard to deny his impact on the keepers, Martinez and Leno have been in electric form during the backend of this season. Notable that Andreas Georgeson (seems to be spelt with an ‘e’) has already started his role as the set-piece coach. His role might be a little broader than that, but according to the data nerds, his coaching saved Brentford about 6 goals from setpieces last season. Not bad if they were theoretically in games that turned losses into points. If you want further details, James Benge has a nice write-up here.

Also, as a side note, Arsenal moved on the coordinator that had a fight at the Palace game and ran a motivational speech for the language challenged Unai Emery. Not important in the grand scheme of things, but it’s great to see Arsenal are digging out bad eggs and starting afresh. It’ll be interesting to see how many of the ‘WHY ARE YOU THERE?’ folk are still there come the end of the summer. High-performance culture means making sure every cog in the machine is elite. Great to see that we’re taking that seriously.

It was quite startling to see that we just moved on Pat Rice and Stuart Houston from scouting roles. I didn’t know they were still on the payroll. I appreciate their service, but their presence certainly spoke to the nostalgia addiction we’ve had at Arsenal over the past decade.

A manager always wants to create the right energy in a high-intensity environment like a football club, bringing in fresh ideas and new faces is as exciting for the fans as it is for the players. If the manager sets out and says he wants to make you better, seeing him deliver on that by bringing in the right coaches is great validation.

… but, you know, bringing in actual players is probably THE most exciting thing you can do. Arsenal fans are taking things to the next level today. They tracked Gabriel’s flight into Luton today and even managed to find his car using cameras on the M25. Unbelievable dedication to the exclusive. Hopefully, the club can announce his arrival with Auba signing his new deal.

PSG were beaten last night. What that will hopefully mean is this: The French press point out that what is lacking is French players and staff that truly ‘get’ PSG. Out goes Tuchel, in comes Poch. Out go a lot of international players on big money. In comes a player like MATTEO GUENDOUZI THE FUTURE OF FRENCH FOOTBALL. The price? Big. Make it English premium big. L’Équipe say they are interested and that is probably the best news Edu has had all summer.

SkySports are reporting that Wolves are interested in bringing AMN to the West Midlands. I’m a bit off about this move. I really like the player and he added a lot of value to us when he was given a specific role. If he’s off, I hope we have a good plan to replace him. The money on offer is reportedly about £20m. Feels quite low considering he’s probably out most effective right back. Still, we have to trust the process and accept that some deals that go through might not sit well with us. Hey, we might even be angling for a deal coming the other way? Who knows…

There’s also some worrying news that Sam Greenwood is interesting Leeds United. It’d be a pretty miserable summer if we lost him and Balogun. It’s very problematic that we keep losing young talent, but hey, at least we’re creating it these days. Fingers crossed something can be done there.

Right, one week until the Community Shield. Let’s see what Arsenal can make happen!

See you in the comments. x

 

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GS88

I ment to have added Sokratis to the OUTS list.

Dissenter

Greek Police in Mykonos said in a statement at Maguirure’s trial that ” “one of the detainees tried to offer money so that the trial against them would not be completed”.

I hope that individual was not Maguire, is so this situation is only going to get worse for him.

Dissenter

*if so

Tom

Dissenter
I would be suspicious of any reporting on this story that included a person of authority in Greece refused a bribe ha ha.
Have you been to Greece?
Avoiding taxation and accepting bribes is practically inscribed in the country’s constitution.
Lovely people though

Dissenter

Tom
Lol
Maybe that’s why Maguire tried to tip the officers?

Dissenter

What else does Grealish need to do to get a call up?

Pepesuave

If we end up moving both AMN and Bellerin, anyone fancy Semedo as a replacement? Despite the Bayern calamity, I still think he is a tidy player that doesn’t get enough help from his midfield/attack.
I am not sold on Max Aarons…definitely not at the quoted sums

Globalgunner

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/53911105

In truth this has implications for Arsenal. Who could Barca sign right now that would either replace Messi or be big enough to placate him to stay especially as they have given Suarez the heave ho. It is Auba of course. I think we should be in for Suarez too. He is at least a short term solution if Auba leaves.

The plot thickens. Cannot believe Messi wants to leave. Its probably the Suarez thing that broke him. Brace problems are not with the forwards. It’s the aging g midfield and dufus defending that’s the problem.