Beep, beep, beep… what’s that you hear? It’s Arsenal doing a 3-point turn on Holloway Road to head the other way on the AMN and Martinez exit plans.
Beautiful prose, I know.
I’m not quite sure the u-turn came yesterday. Ex-Chelsea boss Sarri has said on numerous occasions (before he’s sacked) that professional execs never make decisions based on one game. Whatever the process is/was, I’m pleased that the club is planning to keep two players that have turned their careers at Arsenal around with great performances.
There’s an argument that we should be using their low sample rate of games-time to our advantage by capitalising on their newfound prominence… then there’s the flip side of that argument that would say that you need to reward improving players. If you set a player a challenge to be consistent and they deliver, probably doesn’t look good to the rest of the squad when you bin them off to Wolves.
Also…
If AMN fails this season, he’ll sell for the same or more next year.
If Martinez turns into a flap monster, he’ll still return a fee larger than £10m next season.
Both players are young, they are fairly cheap, and I think they are well-liked by the squad. If both maintain their form, they will be worth considerably more by the end of this season which gives Arsenal an entirely different problem to deal with.
Edu’s focus should be on the players we know aren’t going to cut it at Arsenal. Which, apparently, is exactly what’s going on.
Sokratis has apparently sealed a 4.5m euro move to Napoli. That’s a £90k a week player off the wage bill. I like the player’s attitude, but it’s clear he’s not part of the plans. On we go.
The Torreira rumours are spicing up, the story is Fiorentina are making him a priority. They’ll give us £8m now, with a promise of a further £18m next summer. Not bad for a talent ill-suited to the rigours of the Premier League.
Kolasinac is also reportedly getting closer to a deal to go back to Schalke. He’s dealing with the reality that he’ll never land a £120k a week deal in Germany, he’s asking for assurance on becoming their captain, and he’s apparently 3 meetings deep with their execs. It’ll happen because players need security and having one year on year deal right now is NOT cool.
Valencia, a team with 4 runner beans to spend this window, has expressed an interest in Matteo. I doubt that is going anywhere, but at least it has the Frenchman in the media. He really needs to be fetching Arsenal a decent swap deal or at least £30m. Where is PSG? Leonardo, this man can ‘Frenchify‘ the hell out of that FAILURE squad you have. Follow him right away on Instagram to confirm you have read this.
Diego Simeone is looking for GOALS this summer after his side scored less than Granada last season. Alex Lacazette is the dream ticket. The story in SPORT suggests the Argentine is keen to keep Partey, but maybe that part isd there to soften the blow for the fans when we do a swap deal with them? Wait and see… but from where I’m sitting, Atleti are fucked financially, they know they’ll have to swap players to have a summer (they can only spend 25% of what they take in transfer fees, which will be a pittance this year), so the goal might be to make it look like Partey was forced from them.
Rob Holding is interesting Newcastle. Cal Chambers is interesting Fulham. Balogun will likely still head out to Brentford for a decent fee. Sam Greenwood left, hopefully with a stonking sell-on clause.
Next, we need to crack into our own transfer plans. Auoar and Partey would be the dream ticket. I’m not sure we’d need to do much outside that to contend the top 4. I think that’s where the club will focus their energy, so let’s pray to the footballing gods we can ship out the players that need to leave and make some magic happen in a short space of time.
The international break will hopefully be transfer bedlam. Club managers will be idle, the owners will have a clearer picture of where the world is going, deals will have to start moving because settled squads are generally happier.
That’s all I have today… NO… untrue. I also have a very exciting podcast for you to listen to. We basically talk Community Shield, the state of the squad, then we go deep on transfers. ENJOY AND 5* rate it you FIENDS. Thank you. x
Find it on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Play
We need a big sale…
bellerin
Laca guen
Someone please
OGS and Lampard, whatever you think of their abilities, are being backed by their respective clubs (owners). While Arteta, who I feel will go onto greater things than the two forementioned has to get by with loans and free transfers in the main. This for me is a clear indictment against our man Stan.
And Mikki’s contract is cancelled. Wonder if we had to pay a termination fee – anyone know? Pedro?
Dani back on loan is great news, especially if we have an option to buy next year
I don’t think we’re going to buy two more midfielders this summer, but if we can get one excellent midfielder then this window will be a job well done
Willian, Gabriel, Dani, new CM and unofficially Saliba in with a handful of dross or fringe out would be a really solid window
Lampard has two years worth of money to spend. OGS is at utd.
Arsenal spent most of this years transfer budget last summer.
There’s more to it than just owners throwing money at the managers
So can arsenal just cancel Ozils contract ala the Armenian? Or does it take two to tango? He gets paid regardless. At this point seems like they might as well pay him to go away if they aren’t going to play him. Won silverware without him. Send the bill to gazidis with our compliments.
LG 3.0 I see
A patreon link would be great pedders.
No to likes and votes in comments section.
I would always want to skim through the comments section.. top class banter at times
DM report
Wonder if Pierre has read the Koran? He’s probably stuck at the 72 virgins bit using all his Ozil socks.
Arsenal star Mesut Ozil ‘offered sensational £15m-per-year contract by Saudi Arabian side Al-Nassr’ as frozen-out playmaker trains with former team-mate Mathieu Flamini
Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr have reportedly offered Mesut Ozil a lucrative deal
Ozil is out of favour at Arsenal and has been training with Mathieu Flamini
The German has suggested Gunners stars were rushed into taking pay cuts
Mikel Arteta has since defended the club’s approach during coronavirus crisis”
If Habib Ozil goes and with Henrikh Mkhitaryan now gone our wage bill will be far more manageable.
If we lose Sok, Kola and Bellerin we could have around £35 million available from our wage bill to underwrite a quality young MF or add sales revenue and Party could be done.
The Athletic did a review of the Messi situation with two top Spanish lawyers and both agreed that he didn’t have a leg to stand on legally.
Spanish law takes fixed dates in contracts very literally, why those dates are chosen is considered irrelevant.
Even if Messi claimed it should be extended he was still too late in submitting his request as the length of time between the end of the season and the date he submitted his request was longer than the same period that was built into the original contract.
Bojangles, yes the vegan claim is quite funny when you consider that Lewis Hamilton, Novak Djokovic and both Williams sisters are vegan. None of whom are known to be weak or slow.
Although not vegan apparently both Messi and Aguero stick to vegetarian diets during the football season too.
Happy that dani signed. I like him but I’m yet to be convinced that he can do well in the winter months. After the lockdown, we saw the summer weather, which suits players from Spain. The winters aren’t cold like in England so let’s see how he performs then on a cold night in stoke.
Gonsterous Dani will be fine, it’s his second season here Last year he was dropped from the starting 11 not long after joining and we were an absolutely awful unit under emery during the winter months, so no one was doing well Dani will be just fine this season. Very positive to have him back Btw loads of noise about us getting diawara from Roma for 27m. I don’t know the player so no opinion. On paper he doesn’t sound like a top signing if he couldn’t nail down a spot at Roma but does anyone here watch Roma and… Read more »
Lol Tony
Andreas Pereira might be let loose to make room for their new signing by Man Utd. I like his versatility… worth a punt as a squad player if he is going cheap? Or is his role better filled by Willock?
“The winters aren’t cold like in England so let’s see how he performs then on a cold night in stoke.”
Try northern Spain in the winter months, Gons.
I’d be more inclined to think that Dani took time to adjust to the PL and dealing with Emery’s short comings far more than adjusting to the colder climate.
Reiss Nelson better get his head on straight. This season he’s going to have real serious internal competition. He really needs to stamp his authority on this team just like Ainsley has.
Emile Smith Rowe and Gabriel Martinelli both can play his position and they have good seasons behind them.
Reiss was indifferent last season… perhaps he could go out on loan to a good club? What about offering him to Lille to tempt them to sell Soumare to us?
Soumare is a defensive midfielder like Partey but 6 years younger…
I wouldn’t be bothered at not having a right to buy Dani at the end of the season: that would only be an issue if Dani became indispensable.
Even though Dani played well towards the end of the season with Arteta guiding him, I’m not convinced Dani has a long term future at the club with such young talent emerging from other leagues as well as the PL.
I’d take N’Gola Kante or Partey over Dani any day as a DM and Saka, Pepe & Aouar as an AM in the 8 or 10 roles or other mentioned here.
Habesha “Any way this will brighten up your evening guys. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wos-r4cDUnk” This video highlights the problem of playing Saka on the right. Saka is a better footballer on the left. Saka looks more comfortable on the left. Saka creates more from the left. Saka uses his dribbling skills more from the left. Saka has fantastic delivery from the left. Saka should play on the left. Of course he won’t play left wing due to Aubameyang taking that position. The alternative is if we play wing backs , start him at left wing back or preferably, play him on the left… Read more »
Like the guy, but Ceballos back on another loan , if true, isn’t something to celebrate about. Good thing is we didn’t buy him and hopefully have no obligation to buy.
Ceballos is not much of a creator nor box to box, and with no pace ( ie a squad player). He ain’t going to move us forward. We still need 2 great midfielders if Arteta still aims to win the. CL in 3 years.
Perhaps we’d be more comfortable selling more dross with Ceballos back. I hope we don’t pay a loan fee through the roof
Being a vegan in GP and tenniss is not the same as a footballer vegan
Im telling you for free!
At £40 millions even at 29 years old N’golo Kante was a better option both Ceballos and Partey IMHO, but now that Conte threw a tantrum and wants to buy him, Chelsea has slapped a new unrealistic price of £60~80 millions on him.
Ceballos last season despite only being first choice consistently a bit after Arteta came in – Making the most successful defensive actions [93], most interceptions [40], most ball recoveries in opposition half [26], won the third most loose balls [10], made the made passes in the final third [69] and assisted the most shots [11] for Arsenal in the Premier League,
Kante is greatly under appreciated at Chelsea imo I know everyone likes this idea of a modern Jorginho, xhaka sort, but imo this is just a fad. Chelsea were a better team with Kante doing what kante does best. I find it very hard to believe that football changed so much in the last 2 odd years that one of the most brilliantly effective midfielders in the world is suddenly no longer that relevant because the game has evolved so much… Reminds me of when conte came in won the league with wing backs and the next season everyone and… Read more »
China1
“There’s more to it than just owners throwing money at the managers”
Please enlighten me.
I already did bojangles Utd pay more because they can afford more. Chelsea can do what they have this window because they did nothing at all last year Arsenal already spent money that was supposed to be for this summer to help pay for Pepe last year Comparing us, utd and Chelsea is comparing apples oranges and bananas. As well abramovic has not gone overboard pumping money into Chelsea for quite some time now, they’ve been playing a pretty sustainable game for years. The days of Chelsea just getting a 200m loan to go out and buy all the best… Read more »
Sid
“Being a vegan in GP and tenniss is not the same as a footballer vegan”
Take your freebies to Liverpool, they’re fans are more in need.
*their
China I don’t think it’s a question of Chelsea under appreciating a Kante I think it’s more to do with his age ( yes I know he is 29) but above all he has started to pick up injuries. In the 2018/19 season Sari paid no attention to the defensive side of the game and to be fair a 3rd place and EL win was in relation to what PL clubs were up against ( City & Liverpool ) wasn’t a bad season for them. Then last season Kante suffered injury after injury . If they sell any midfielders it… Read more »
As well both of those clubs also just got CL money, which for the third year in a row we didn’t.
The idea that the reason why we aren’t bringing in loads of expensive talent is only because our owner doesn’t give us tones of free money whilst theirs do is not accurate in 2020. As well, this Summer Stan already helped us out with our loan repayments. Those savings have probably just bought us Gabriel
Pierre Did you know he is good on his right foot too? He isn’t predominantly one footed. He has scored goals with his right foot. Also watch the pass to Nketiah in the community shield. He times it perfectly on his right. He will do great as an Inverted winger either way, he is just that good. I don’t see a lot of left footed wingers playing on the left. Off the top of my head Sane and Douglas Costa come to mind. And it’s Guardiola that used them as that kind of winger. Arteta might figure it out too… Read more »
China
And you are suggesting that the owners of Chelsea and Un**ed have not given over extra funds to their respective managers this tw. You are saying that it’s pretty much down to them getting cl football next season.
Bojangles Utd are waaaay ahead of us in terms of revenue, the CL football is just the icing on the cake As for Chelsea, they have 2 years worth of money, they have CL football, they might be expecting some money from sales that we don’t know about yet, they might be spending some of next years transfer money (no different than we did last year), maybe Abramovic went easy on a bit of their debt (Stan did with us as well). We don’t know the exact details of their finances but it’s unlikely that he’s just been writing Chelsea… Read more »
Kroenke has paid of the loan but the club repays it to Kroenke on slightly more favourable terms.. fuck me, this has been done to death on lg already. Stop being an apologist the the prick, he has enough supporters doing that already.
The days of Abramovich pumping money into the club are long gone. They have one of the best footballing structures in the world imo. Ofc it was all built on Abramovich’s money but the FFP weren’t that strict at the time and few clubs took advantage. They consistently produce top level players from their academy , loan them , develop them and if they aren’t good enough for the first team, sell them for good money. We should also be looking to move towards a structure like that in the years to come. I also like how City operate with… Read more »
Xhakalson is an awful #8 Elneny had to play that role in the community shield and playing him as a DM also means we have to play 3CBs
He is the root of all our problems.
I am not a great fan of Ceballos. Yes he is a good technical footballer, but what exactly will he contribute to Arsenal “winning games”? Arsenal do need a playmaker, but I would suggest someone who can split a defence with his passing AND provide assists and score goals. I see absolutely no evidence that Ceballos is such a player. If Arsenal have unlimited resources then of course he would make a good squad/bench player, but that is frankly not our priority at the moment. We need quality players in midfield who raise our game to compete for a top… Read more »
https://untold-arsenal.com/archives/82498
Interesting article. Dont know about its credibility tho.
Nketiah had to drop into midfield, AMN had to join midfield and Tierny had to perform the role of wingback and left side CB.
All to cover for Xhakalsons weaknesses.
ET Ceballos definitely not top class but he was our best midfielder last season post lockdown. And if only 1 of Aoaur and Partey joins then Ceballos will most definitely be our 2nd best central midfielder and will probably start most games. He also put up very very good defensive numbers along with very good ball progression numbers. I feel like he is like a hyperactive modern defensive midfielder/6. What he lacks is final ball and goal threat which we should be looking from Aoaur if we sign him or in house solutions like Ozil/ESR / Willian( If he plays… Read more »
AFC net transfer spend so far this and last season is +£103m. Chelsea net transfer spend of the same period is -£38m, a difference of £141m.
Given also that Chelsea’s revenue is £60m a year higher than ours they could spend another £260m on transfers and wages on top of the £130m they’ve spent so far and still be at the same level of investment as AFC over the same period.
Graph comparing Ceballos and Van de beek
https://mobile.twitter.com/EduardoHagn/status/1300528420342960128
The problem with Saka on the left is that 1) we’ll get fewer overlapping runs from Tierney and 2) Saka will be less effective cutting inside on his weaker right foot.
Saka was most dangerous when he was playing in the wing-back role and could be the one overlapping and putting in dangerous crosses. It seemed like he wasn’t a fan of playing in such a defensive position though and possibly part of the reason he extended his contract with us was based on assurances from Arteta he would be assigned more attacking positions to play in.
Bojangles I know that there was comment made about KSE giving assistance re the loans but I am far from sure that they paid off the bonds. For one there would be significant penalties in settling the debt before maturity, it was always said that the cost of paying in advance would not make economic sense but also there are FFP implications when an owner facilitates loans to clubs. WhatI think has happened is that KSE has underwritten the debt reserve require TFS. In other words around £35 million of cash that the club had to keep on deposit has… Read more »
Stroller, we need more than a attacking midfielder that can split defences, we need one that can carry the ball and offer a goal threat. The days of a static luxury #10 like Ozil are gone. Possibly why MA might use Willian in that role, he’s more powerful, quite direct, and knows where the goal is.
Our midfield lacks power and drive through the middle.
Guys – has anyone heard anything about fans being allowed back in to watch matches? Potentially 15 to 20k . Any word on the street?
Terraloon, it was reported at the time that the Kroenke’s had indeed incurred penalties of around £40m for early repayment but the lower rate of interest they had negotiated would more than recover that over the period of the loan.
While the club would pay less per year in future speculation was that the repayment period would be longer and ultimately the club would pay more (while the Kroenkes would therefore make more from interest payments over the loan period).
I have a sense that most supporters are fairly aligned with what is needed. GK: Ideally keep both Martinez and Leno Defence: Give Saliba and Gabriel a chance to succeed. No other CB buys needed right now. Wing-Backs: Aside from the ‘Bellerin-out’ group, no incoming players needed. CMs: With Ceballos back, at least one more quality CM midfielder is needed especially assuming Guendouzi is on his way out. Wingers: For the most part we have enough options in Pepe, Saka and Nelson but if Aubu moves to CF then a right-footed winger would be useful on the left. CF: If… Read more »
Bacaryisgod “Saka was most dangerous when he was playing in the wing-back role and could be the one overlapping and putting in dangerous crosses. ” Whichever way you look at it, the team lose a creative force without Saka on the left to lay the ball on a plate for the strikers. To me , it’s like asking Trent Alexander Arnold to play on the left, despite the fact he has exceptional delivery and creates chances at will. David Beckam never played on the left because he was lethal from the right and Saka has already shown the potential to… Read more »
ES
To compete for top 4 and beyond we ideally need 3 new midfielders, if Xhaka is a starter again we handicaps ourselves from the off and have to change formation just to accommodate him.
say we have 100m to spend after outgoings on midfield, is it better to buy 3 30m players of lower quality that we’re stuck with or buying 2 50m players and getting Ceballos in for another year and reassess next year? We’ll have far less to do next summer too if all goes to plan this window.
It’s embarrassing that Grealish is getting only his first call-up to the England team and it’s only to cover for injuries.
Bojangles you’re conflating two separate issues
Stan is a prick and a terrible owner. Always has been and I have been very vocal about that for several years now
But him being a shit owner doesn’t stop a comparison between what we are spending this summer compared with utd and Chelsea being an apples and oranges comparison
We’re different clubs, with different financial situations entirely irrespective of the owners. What we are seeing these 3 clubs behaving roughly akin to our current financial positions imo
Pierre,
“Whichever way you look at it, the team lose a creative force without Saka on the left to lay the ball on a plate for the strikers.”
Did you watch the community shield at all? From which flank did he deliver the killer pass?
Saka is not you usual static midfielder that required to be played in a particular position to blossom.
Terraloon, That’s correct. Financially repaying the loan early make little sense as the penalty fees were quite huge in proportion to the remaining of the debt. The new terms are better but do not cover the penalty fee. However the bonds had covenants that required Arsenal to maintain a certain level of cash reserve. The new loan do not have those covenant, so taking into account the penalty fee and the new term the new loan released about £20 millions worth of cash. Those millions will then be used for the day to day running of the club until the… Read more »
Irrespective of Euston Ozil’s ( sorry, that’s how it came out) beliefs and honourable charitable causes, he will always come across as someone who never gives 100% and assumes that everyone else is in the wrong and are using him as a scapegoat. Well Mesut, nothing could be further from the truth. You see, in life, when you’re blessed with talent and sublime skills, which he has in abundance, those that gain the respect and admiration from their peers and the fans are those people who show a genuine commitment and desire to put it on the line week in… Read more »
Gabriel has been announced by Luiz.