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
Mornin’
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Good Morning
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Tr4phy
Well played Thorough. Out of curiosity, were you waiting for it, or just lucky?
It’s Christmas, Dixon scores.
I’m happy to become a part of Legrove folklore, so we’ll dersved, like Martinez cracking it after 10 years waiting in the wings.
Well deserved
DM.
100% ucky. I didn’t even know the post was that young. I read through and saw 2 comments.
Glad to see that we can retain AMN and Martinez. Losing 2 homegrowns would suck and it would be a bad precedent for binning out improved players for a pittance. I’d also rather they stay and fight given that there are countless games to play.
This is what I hate about Arsenal. I swear if we were any other club we would be fetching at least 30m for Torreira – he’s a good player! Just hasn’t quite fit into our system, but remember that for the first 5 months or so when he joined, every pundit was talking about how we did amazing business there. As for Martinez, after the season he just had, there is no way we should even consider selling him, but if we did, it should be £40m+. Yes, I know that might be ridiculous, but genuinely, isn’t that what every… Read more »
The key improvement area for me is we need that creative midfielder who can break the lines with a shimmy or a clever dribble. I appreciate Willian might give us that for 1 to 1.5 years but he has always been better cutting in from the flank. Partey would also be great to absorb pressure and break the lines on a counter.
What’s taking Gabriel’s announcement so long? Or is he in quarantine already?
Good decision from the management to keep both Niles and Martinez.
“I’m not sure we’d need to do much outside that to contend the top 4. ”
The top 4 trohy!!
Old habits die hard…
@DM,
I think clubs are looking at how botched up our transfer strategy is plus we have a glut of players that need to be shipped out, who may be on weak form. That alone reduces their price. Most clubs will wait it out until the last days or hours of the window for a bin bargain and they know we will acquiesce.
Andy
“Just saying something repeatedly doesn’t make it true. Ozil is a has been.”
As you repeatedly keep telling us..
How come Aubemeyang doesn’t appear in the Fantasy football?
Guendozis and Torrs value going down is squarely on Arteta.
Torr playing for Uraguay is top class
Samesong,
They must know something we don’t…
….. …….. …………………………………………………………. .
benrahma being linked , balogun plus 10 mil could be a good deal if we don’t have 40 mil for Aouar
” How come Aubemeyang doesn’t appear in the Fantasy football?”
He does as a Midfielder
Pedro, can you honestly see all of those moves happening? We have so much business to do, probably more than any other club in the league and in boringly typical arsenal fashion, everything we do takes an age. Auba still not signed even. Honestly, how long does it take!
AML should be kept, for at least one more season, as we don’t want another Gnabry!!!
Get Partey and/or Auour and get Ozil off the wage bill and this will be one of our best windows✅
@Matt
I think Auba is waiting to see the inns and outs to ensure what he’s been promised (ambition of club) is actually delivered.
These are positive signs, in addition to the obvious footballing improvement under Arteta but still only rumours and we can’t let the footballing joy cloud the big question marks operationally, the club has much to prove in squad building, contract management, sales and asset development. I’m not sure how you equate taking a loss on torreira given his profile, age and international caps as ‘not bad’. It’s badly managed. If it’s a 8m loan then loan him and hope it pushes his value up don’t loan him recouping not enough to replace him now and then sell on the cheap… Read more »
Did Gabriel pass the medical test?
The media, agents and clubs seem to assume that every time there is interest in an Arsenal player we are going to offload players at bargain transfer fees, swaps with their unwanted players or “free” loans. The latest report today is that Sokratis is leaving for Napoli and we have accepted around £4 million from Napoli. Factoring in that he is 32, that he is unwanted and no longer a starting X1 player and we are offloading his wage bill that is a realistic fee. I suspect that the next player to go will be Kolasinac. I suspect that Arsenal… Read more »
Saïd Benrahma?
I swear some people want us to have 8 wingers in our squad.
In a depressed market, 25 million is crazy for a player with one good season in the championship.
I didn’t think I’d ever say this but I would keep Elneny. He can be a decent back up DM. I believe we will get Partey in a Lacazette swap with very little cash if any exchanging hands. I don’t think we’ll get Aouar as I suspect Guendouzi and Torreira will be last minute deals – we won’t raise the cash in time. I do like the look of Benrahma but he surely can’t be a priority for a position that is already taken care of? But provided we wrap up Gabriel and Auba this week and add Partey And… Read more »
“Personally I would accept any
offer over £20 million each for both these players in current economic climate.”
Well then, thank Christ you aren’t in charge of the transfers.
“Personally I would accept any
offer over £20 million each for both these players in current economic climate.”
We have spent the last 20 years being fucked over when selling players that fans are now so conditioned to it they make statements like this.
Whether we sell Laca and use the cash for Partey or just do a swap one way or another Laca should equal Partey. As Emirates says above Sok and Kolas will go for low fees but it clears them off the wage bill. What I’m concerned about is the general opinion on here is that we’re then going to spend £27 million on Gabriel and £40 million on Aouar- can we raise the money. I don’t see Guendozi bringing in the £30 million plus so many seem to think he will and the rumoured offer for Torriera will cover what… Read more »
Jim
I hate to burst your bubble but if you are desperate to sell an asset it’s only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.
Combine that with the “assets” in question also have a maintenance cost and in Guendozi’s case his value will depreciate then Emirates comment is not unreasonable.
“I hate to burst your bubble but if you are desperate to sell an asset it’s only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.”
Who is desperate to sell either player? Both have time left on their contracts and both are young quality talent.
Arsenal fans have been conditioned to believe our players are worth next to nothing because the club are horrendous at getting a decent fee for their players. Always have been.
We should take a page out of Chelsea’s book when selling our fringe players…
Nathan Ake was sold to Bournemouth for £20m. Chambers and Holdngs should be going for similar valuations each considering the so called English premium.
Mata, who was completely cast aside by Mourinho during his second spell at Chelsea, was sold to Man Utd for £30m.
We seem to regularly overpay for players in and undersell players out.
Looking more and more like the Dortmund Eye & Spiv Transfer window of 2 seasons back a bloody disaster.
Lick – Disaster and gone at a loss.
Sok- Disaster and gone at huge loss.
Little Legs- Disaster and going at moderate loss.
Genduzi- Disaster and might break even.
Leno- Excellent and now probably surplus to requirements but might break even.
Thats the recurring problem at Arsenal FC
Stan allows amateurs to run the show.
Still does.
Back in april during the lockdown I spoke of the conundrum that Arteta faced regarding Saka now that Tierney is fit and Arteta understandably prefers Aubamayang wide left. Saka not playing in the cup final was to me, confirmation that Arteta hadn’t solved the conundrum. The arrival of Willian increases the problem for Saka , as William will play I assume either on the right or as a CAM. Will Arteta revert back to playing Saka as a left wing back, especially against lower opposition when we are looking to break down defences. It will be interesting to see how… Read more »
Before I get shot down for my valuations of Holding and Chambers… Concsider this. Ake had nowhere near the same level of first team experience that Chambers and Holding now have when he was sold to Bournemouth.
Chelsea just have better negotiators when they sell their players.
Leeds
No Chelsea have players people want – we also have tended to have players on dis-proportionally high salaries.
If the players were so good we wouldn’t be looking to sell them.
For the second time this year I find myself agreeing with CG – the Mislintat transfer window of 2 years ago was a disaster and an expensive one at that.
@Leeds –
Arsenal are incapable of getting a decent fee for their players. Always have been.
Right, out of:
Patrick Vieira
Thierry Henry
Samir Nasri
Cesc Fabregas
Alex Iwobi
Robin Van Persie
Alexis Sanchex
Alex Hleb
Emmanuel Adebayor
Ashley Cole
Jose Reyes
Who was our record sell??!?
Jim
We got over £30 million for Iwobi and had an offer of £60 million on the table for Sanchez when he had a year left on his contract and was refusing to sign a new one.
The problem has been playing Auba wide left Pierre. Until MA gets real on this we will have wasted talent. Pepe should be main choice for RW and now we have Willian it seems to me he should be LW. Auba needs to play the CF role even if he drifts off to the left in Henryesque fashion. As. Per my previous post we have 3 or 4 players that can vie for CAM – Willian (if not LW), Saka, ESR and possibly Ceballos too if he returns. This assumes we don’t sign a CAM such as Aouar which to… Read more »
@Marc –
“We got over £30 million for Iwobi”
That is the point, out of all those quality players I listed, Alex Iwobi is the best deal we have done, ever. Says a lot about the club.
Jim Lahey
Our record sale was Iwobi I think, followed on by the Ox.
A large part of our inability to sell our players on is our ridiculous wage structure. We simply pay average players too much… started under Wenger as a bribe to keep players but the real talented and ambitious ones took off anyway.
Jim – I agree Guen should fetch at least a £30m if we hold our nerve. I’m not so sure about Torriera but again if we stop looking so desperate to sell then we could get £25m.
It’s our semi-public pronouncements on who we need to sell that is a large part of the problem.
LG
“””””We should take a page out of Chelsea’s book when selling our fringe players…”””””
Forget Chelsea Thats a given they are superior.
Take little old relegated Bouremouth.
Wounded, in a very weak financial position but they:
still sold Ake for £40 million.
still sold their wretched keeper for £18.5 million
will sell others too for large fees( Brookes etc)
Just face facts. We have the biggest Dopes in world soccer running the club.
(Although Barcelona are a mighty close second)
Thank heavens ,Arteta has brought some order to the chaos.
Leeds
That’s the problem – we’re having to subsidise the buying club because the salaries are too high. The alternative is letting them walk on a free.
Just think about that for a moment… Alex Iwobi brought in more cash than Cesc Fabregas… and Samir Nasri.
Arguably the two most talented creative midfielders we’ve had in Arsenal colours since we moved into the Emirates.
@Leeds –
I don’t mind not getting much for the wage bloated houseflies like Bendtner and Sokratis.
But it says a lot when you look at that list and Iwobi is the best we have done.
Vieira and Henry where both 30m+ players back in the mid 2000. We sold both for £13m and £16m.
Cesc was one of the best midfielders in the world when he left Arsenal, what did we get for him? £25m?
@Leeds –
“Just think about that for a moment… Alex Iwobi brought in more cash than Cesc Fabregas… and Samir Nasri.”
Also brought in more cash than RVP and Sanchez!
Jim Lahey
Incompetence personified.
Our defensive record signing? Mustafi for £35m… from Valencia if I remember correctly… and now they want to take Guendouzi on a loan? They seriously can do one.
@Jim
Lest I be misunderstood, I’m not implying you’re incompetence personified… 😂😂😂
Jim
You do realise that the players you’re complaining about the fees on were all sold under and by Wenger who’s left the club?
The fact that we’re still sorting some of his mess and Mislintat’s disastrous 2018 summer is not down to either Arteta or Edu.
Sabitzer anyone ?
You can’t set your selling price in concrete, that’s now how it works.
It’s not the North Korea stick exchange market.
We wanted a certain fee but the market is suggesting otherwise.
I guess we can keep them until they walk away for free.
@Leeds –
“Lest I be misunderstood, I’m not implying you’re incompetence personified… 😂😂😂”
Well… I am! But that is beside the point!!
Its pretty grim that Bournemouth have a higher record sale than Arsenal. I would say there are few teams in the Premier League that don’t actually.
As long as Xhakalson is in midfield we have to play 343 which means Auba cant play in the middle, then the domino continues
We overpaid for Pap Sok in the first place, his exit fee is a bit generous.
If Edu wants to make his mark on the club, let him do so not only with the players he manages to bring in but by those he sells.
I have said for a long time a transfer window can only be judged a success if we bring in quality and jettison our deadwood.
Sokratis is out.
Let’s see the same for Elneny, Özil, Guendouzi, Holdings, Chambers, Kolasinac Torreira and Macey.
Pascal Cygan is the greatest business we ever did. Bought for 1m sold for 2m DOUBLED our money! 🤣🤣
Northbanker “The problem has been playing Auba wide left Pierre. Until MA gets real on this we will have wasted talent.” You need to look at it through the manager’s eyes, and Arteta wants a striker to do a lot of the dirty work which Eddie and to a lesser extent Lacazette are very good at Aubameyang is always in self preservation mode and consequently will never put his foot or head in where it hurts. I’m not saying I agree with the manager’s stance on this, it’s just how he likes it. Aubameyang will score goals from wide or… Read more »
@Marc –
“The fact that we’re still sorting some of his mess and Mislintat’s disastrous 2018 summer is not down to either Arteta or Edu.”
I never said it was… When I talk about the club I mean the club, not any specific individual.
“Torreira is said to be a £27m target for Fiorentina, while Guendouzi has an asking price of £40m”
pierre i don’t think auba is permanently staying LW if we sell laca (seems very possible) and don’t replace him (highly likely) we’d be going into next season with only auba martinelli and eddie as CFs and I really doubt auba would continue to stay left to accommodate eddie if we could be playing auba CF with Willian on the left and the other two CF on the bench instead Willian is likely to be LW/AM/RW, Pepe RW, Saka will compete for minutes at LW/RW/AM. He might not be a nailed on starter but he’ll get loads of minutes because… Read more »
One gets the feeling that we’re going to regret not being open to selling AMN for 20+ million when it’s all said and done considering all the other potential sales don’t seem likely to be bringing in much. Holding (loan), Elneny (loan), Guendouzi and Torreira are being linked with loan moves and Lacazette might end up being a swap but potentially it’s only him AMN and possibly Bellerin as legitimate assets this summer. And we seem to be afraid to let go of AMN and god knows what we’d get for Lacazette and Bellerin if they even go. To be… Read more »
Re-scheduled games
Fulham v Arsenal
Saturday, September 12
Kick off: 12.30pm
TV: BT Sport
Arsenal v West Ham Utd
Sunday, September 20
Kick off: 2pm
TV: Sky Sports
Liverpool v Arsenal
Monday, September 28
Kick off: 8pm
TV: Sky Sports
Torr is twice a footballer than Elneny. Torr can tackle and wins the ball while Elneny can only cover.
“To be fair the scenes around here when we rock up next season with more or less the same squad with Gabriel and Willian and AMN reverts to type and we’re still struggling to get European football will be something to behold.”
Time will tell
Swapping Lacazette for Partey and promoting Balogan in his ranks seems like taking out two birds with one stone. But, it may as well backfire due to the relative inexperience of both Balogan and Nketiah and we are better off playing Auba, Pepe, Martinelli on the wings.
Since Valencia are being mentioned, we could trade Guendouzi for Kondogbia (Left-footed though slightly a lesser hot version of Thomas Partey, who can also deputize at Cb and Lb).
Trading both Guendouzi and Torreira for Partey and getting to keep Lacazette would be massive.
yeah our world class players always sold for comedic prices
why on earth would Henry, one of the best players on the planet be so cheap?
China
Will repeat, Arteta wants a worker up top as the first line of defence.
Aubameyang has no inclination to be a work horse and rightly so..
Martinelli fits the role perfectly, although I believe that Arteta thought he was a bit of a headless chicken in his closing down and preferred Eddie’s more astute way of closing the angles.
Divine
Sabitzer is a hard working and intelligent midfielder but he is not someone who can take us to the next level. Still a solid player and better than the likes of Xhaka, Elneny and Torreira.
he was a bit of a headless chicken in his closing down and preferred Eddie’s more astute way of closing the angles.
Careful your agenda is showing
@Pierre –
“Martinelli fits the role perfectly, although I believe that Arteta thought he was a bit of a headless chicken in his closing down and preferred Eddie’s more astute way of closing the angles.”
Eddie Nketiah is a Championship level player at best. The fact he starts at a club the size of Arsenal is an embarrassment.
TR7 you’ve got some cheek talking about the next level while wanting the club to hang onto AMN. It’s about as contradictory as you can get
Arsenal should not be interested in any loan deals for Torr and Guen. It does not serve our purpose. Either sell them on permanent deals or keep them. A loan deal for Holding makes sense though as he still has a future at the club and can take Luiz’s place next year.
China
Think back to when Pep arrived at city ,he dropped Aguero as he wouldn’t do the donkey work up front.
He soon learnt that if he didn’t work his nuts off he would be out of the side.
Aubameyang is 1)too old to do the donkey work 2) plays in self preservation mode most of the time.
That’s not to say that Aubameyang will never play up top, sometimes it’s horses for courses .
Pierre – China’s right. Auba will be CF – your idea of a CF certainly wasn’t how Henry contributed as he as highly effective in part because of his understanding with Pires at LW (the other part being Dennis of course). They could also swap roles whenever occasion demanded. i could see the same with Willian – Auba. Nelson – Torreira is a liability – his poor timing gets him into trouble and he is on the cusp of being sent off every game he plays. Elneny has a better all round game and could do very well under MA’s… Read more »
Marko
We are not going to regret not selling AMN.
He’s one of the most improving players on the squad and is a player on the up.
Aren’t you capable of reassessing your previously held assumptions?
AMN needed to have a killer mentality and apply himself properly, he’s had that under Arteta.
Get over your dislike of the lad.
@TR7 –
“A loan deal for Holding makes sense though as he still has a future at the club and can take Luiz’s place next year.”
I think we are looking to go back to a flat back 4 set up when Luiz leaves, Gab and Saliba at CB, would free up another position in midfield.
Holding is a player who really have not done much with the time he has been given. Still time for him though as he is a CB. He really needs to step it up.
Marko
Did Arteta not prefer Eddie to Martinelli?
Juve are nearing an agreement to sign Rolando Mandragora from Udinese – according to Calcio Mercato.
More and more there’s a clear path to Aouar
Marko
“Careful your agenda is showing’
Not sure you should be calling out anyone on their agenda’s with your continuous calling for the transfer of AMN. May need to get used to the fact he’s staying, for the time being anyway.
The reason Arteta needs a worker up top is to act as an extra midfielder because of an inadequate Xhakalson
With proper midfielders Auba would play uptop similar to Vardy.
Auba is not exactly playing as a winger more of a left forward.
We are not going to regret not selling AMN.
Yes we are. When everyone’s in and fit he’s on the bench and we needed to make sales in order to fund transfer incomings so either way keeping him is dumb.
Marko
Sabitzer will cost the club north of 30M. For the club to spend that sort of money, it should get a player who significantly improves us. AMN is an academy player who is already better than Soares and possibly can get better than Bellerin too. He won’t cost the club a fortune even in terms of wages and of course no transfer fee. No comparison between the two situations.
TR7 – agree completely. We need to sell Guen and Torriera but also be prepared to hold out if offers are derisory. We have got to sell at MV. If Holding has a god year he can return as back up or we get a proper fee next year. CG – I find it ironic you keep criticising the club for incompetent management but the biggest issue – that the club let Wenger have free reign to tie up layers on over-priced deals – you just simply ignore. The reason we’re in the shit is because of Wenger’s incompetence in… Read more »
Players not layers
Marko
‘More and more there’s a clear path to Aouar’
City might be looking at him as a replacement for David Silva. If City don’t pursue him, I think he will be ours.
When pep arrived at city the midfielders were inadequate though not as much as Xhakalson so Aguero was left out.
As soon as Pep got quality midfielders Aguero was played centrally and he was unplayable.
May need to get used to the fact he’s staying, for the time being anyway. Yeah it’s looking that way isn’t it. And much like Xhaka last January and Chambers a couple seasons before I think we’re going to live to regret it. Think about it this way how much do we actually improve by keeping these players? Would it not be best if we were to reinvest their likely fees? I suppose not. Here we are meagre budget looking at getting players out of the club before we could potentially be able to sign up the likes of Partey… Read more »
Comparing Nketiah to Martinelli. Oh boy. Next we’re going to compare Laca to Auba. Wait a minute. We’ve done that already…
Here’s a thought, the transfer window would have been shutting down TONIGHT…!
Martinelli not playing has to do more with communicating in English
Our main problem as mentioned above is the salaries we pay. It’s one thing to attract a Ramsey by doubling Man Utd’s offer but another to be buying in experienced Mid-range players like Sok on such high salaries. This is why we cant get rid of them, or if we do it’s for fees lower than their real market value. This started under Wenger and it’s almost impossible to get this inflation out of the club, even more with Ozil sitting around at home on a king’s ransom. Partey’s on around 65k per week. He’s apparently demanding upwards of 200k… Read more »
NB “”””CG – I find it ironic you keep criticising the club for incompetent management but the biggest issue – that the club let Wenger have free reign to tie up layers on over-priced deals – you just simply ignore.”””” So , Wenger didnt finish in the Top 4 for x 2 Decades? Didnt leave £200 million in the bank( now spent)? Didnt sign off with a 5 zero at home? Didnt have x 9 of his players starting the weekend? Wenger did HIS JOB! Top 4, 20 Times consecutively. All the other stuff that surrounds him is ultimatley irrelevant.… Read more »
If it turns out that we don’t buy any of Auoar and Partey, because we decided to keep “I’m a chill man” Ainsley, then a lot of questions will need to be answered. And a lot of people will feel like fools.