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
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. I dunno where Sabitzer came up but 30 million isn’t that much and would he improve us? Of course he would because he’s better than anything we currently have in CM which isn’t that hard AMN is an academy player who is already better than Soares and possibly can get better than Bellerin too. So again we’re in another situation much like Joel Campbell and Chambers where we’re forgoing a decent fee now (that’s… Read more »
This doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.
“Arsenal are ready to pay £25m to sign attacker Said Benrahma and are also targeting goalkeeper David Raya in a double swoop on Brentford, according to reports via The Sun.”
Unless we have more to spend than is being reported or I’ve just been a victim of cliskbait.
I cannot see anyway Arteta is going to let Nketiah lead the line this year. Not unless he starts upping the ante but so far he hasn’t looked that dynamic at all and really seems lightweight.
As Martinelli is not going to feature for months it has to be Auba playing CF as we’re stocked up already on wingers. He may not play in the traditional sense in that role but who cares? If we hadn’t signed Laca already he would have been a CF from the get go.
Why not go for Emi Buendía and Max Aarons from Norwich? Both would be cut price.
“Sampdoria are interested in signing Mohamed Elneny on loan this summer, according to Marco Conterio of Italian media outlet TuttoMercatoWeb.”
I imagine holding on to AMN means that Bellerin is on his way to Paris. If Bellerin’s best days are behind him as seems likely then that’s a great Decision.
City might be looking at him as a replacement for David Silva. If City don’t pursue him, I think he will be ours. Well pep has said Foden is the man to replace David Silva and they brought in Ferran Torres as well. But TR7 we ain’t affording him without sales and we definitely ain’t making sales if we’re this scared to pull the trigger on getting 20+ million for a squad player. Genuine question because you seem to be quite militant on the issue of AMN but where do you see him playing next season? As a starter? Over… Read more »
Just for those saying we should hold out and get “market value” for the players we want to unload – Holding, Chambers, Torreira and Guendozi cost us £10 million a year in wages. We’re supposed to getting the wage bill under control not bringing in more players whilst keeping out of favour players in the reserves. Also Guendozi and Chambers now have 2 years effectively left on their contracts – not selling them now will just see their values decrease. Mustafi has entered the last year of his contract and we don’t seem to be hearing a peep about him… Read more »
Marko
I seem to remember plenty on here going bananas over AMN in the EL final not so long ago.
A professional footballer should not need to be coach in “fucking paying attention”.
Arteta seems to have an issue with letting players leave – seems he wants to hoard them.
You know who is in the final year of their contract and no one is talking about it?
Paul Pogba.
would LOVE to see him leave United again on a free!! They let him go, bought him back for 100m, he did fuck all then walks away on a free!
For me it is simple – we should keep AMN and sell Bellerin. Cedric as back up. Then take a view next year and buy a new top RB if need be and sell AMN.
We need focus on getting midfield sorted and not get distracted on RB. It takes us long enough to negotiate and close deals (Probably because we’re penny pinching on win bonuses I suspect)
Marc – Mustafi has a ligament torn off completely from the bone. No one in their right mind is going to buy him so get real.
Marko
‘Also I wouldn’t even consider him better than Soares considering Cedric’s experience of the RB position and considering unlike AMN he knows his actual position.’
Sam Allardyce had more experience than Arteta as manager yet AFC preferred a rookie to him. AMN has more to his game than Soares, any unbiased observer will tell you that. When it comes to AMN, you lose all your rationality.
Interesting stats on ball progression forward. Matteo and Dani feature highly:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Gunners/comments/ijvhi1/ball_progression_statistics_in_pl_20192020_season/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
AMN gives us something we don’t have in abundance. Physicality & pace. He’s a big lump. Difficult to get around. Good man to man marker. It’s why we’ve done well recently against big teams and nullified their superstars. You need that balance in the team.
Sellinging AMN will cost us many points this season. Perfect no nonsense midfielder for EPL.
Northbanker
Then that’s £35 million fee that we’re not going to get even a consolation amount out of all whilst costing us another £5 million in wages.
Upamecano to United would be a blow.
As usual city, Chelsea and united are shopping at the high end and arsenal and spurs are shopping in the bargain rack. Oddly Liverpool aren’t shopping at all so far.
Top four is looking like a pipe dream right now. Winning Europa looks like the best path to champions league. Partey and Aouar have to be bought just to have a shot at competing.
“Sellinging AMN will cost us many points this season. Perfect no nonsense midfielder for EPL.”
Good grief – the guy’s only ever managed one match in CM for us under 4 managers.
A completely average player who is so unprofessional he needs to be told to concentrate.
We will also need a lot of luck with injuries and our saucy manager needs to make it work. Hopefully fat frank and Ole are as bad as some posters here think they are.
Chelsea break club record for Havertz at £72m, what a summer they are having.
Pierre, Totally disagree with you on Auba. It makes much more sense bringing in Auba centrally provided we can find a great option on the right wing. Auba was great at closing down defenders and the keeper when he played CF and he can conserve his energy for that purpose rather than endlessly tracking back on the right. The only internal options to play on the right wing would be Willian, Nelson and Willock which is why the Benrahma rumours might have some truth to them. Benrahma might not fit unless he has more defensive workrate and discipline than he’s… Read more »
Bellerin always overrated and has been on the decline for many years. Sell for decent wedge will we can.
Off field nonsense and wokeism hasn’t helped. Lost his focus.
If you turn vegan your going to lose pace and power. Bad career move.
Only 36 days to go.
Heard of tactics Marc? Sometimes you need to nullify the opposition.
We’ve got no choice as only Auba does the scoring.
That’s why you need cloggers like AMN. Probably the only one we’ve got to why lose that option.
Marko
Please please stop saying that we should accept the 20m offer for AMN. That was what Arsenal apparently valued him at (and no, his value doesn’t increase further because of one cup final performance). I don’t think Wolves were going to pay anywhere near 20m for AMN and so we’re not going to sell. Happens all the time!
Bacaryisgod
“Totally disagree with you on Auba. It makes much more sense bringing in Auba centrally provided we can find a great option on the right wing.”
Should read ” totally disagree with Arteta.”
Marko
As long as we play 3 at the back, AMN starts for certain. He has a role to play as quasi wingback cum midfielder.
If we play back 4 which is not going to be anytime soon, he will be a back up to both Tierney (assuming Kola goes) and Bellerin. He can play as a CM in Europa games. If he continues to perform well, I can see his dislodging Bellerin from RB position. Even if that doesn’t happen he will be quite useful as someone who can play across positions.
Sam Allardyce had more experience than Arteta as manager yet AFC preferred a rookie to him. AMN has more to his game than Soares, any unbiased observer will tell you that. When it comes to AMN, you lose all your rationality. I mean the first part is a really dumb comparison you probably would have been better mentioning I dunno a CM with no real experience in a full back position being better than someone who’s spent his whole career as a full back. Keep in mind we’re talking about a 23 year old as well. But anyway do you… Read more »
Hitman
It’s bad enough we’re stuck with Xhaka in CM and you want to add another poor player there?
Why not sell and bring in better players? We should have done it with Xhaka in Jan and it looks like we’re repeating the mistake now.
Hopefully it’s all bluster to push the price up a touch.
Pierre-Arteta didn’t have a suitable option on the right and we had Laca as the CF option until his form dropped off. He tried Nketiah but that’s not going to work.
I’m very confident that Arteta would prefer a frontline of Saka and Pepe on the left, Auba in the middle and a strong option on the right. If he can’t find that option then maybe Auba starts back on the right but we will wear him down if he stays in that position for too much longer.
*Saka or Pepe
This is a solid thread on our 3-4-3.
https://twitter.com/HalfSpaceFtbl/status/1300127165552488450?s=20
TR7
“As long as we play 3 at the back, AMN starts for certain. He has a role to play as quasi wingback cum midfielder.”
Er well what happens when we sign Gabriel and Saliba is ready to play? We only signed Mari in Jan and Luiz signed an extension but we’re going to continue to play Tierney who has good delivery from the left as a CB and a right footed player as LWB?
It’s like a collective hysteria and amnesia has taken over a lot of posters on here.
@ Hitman Sorry, but as soon as you stoop to using the term ‘wokeism’ we all know it’s about your politics rather than the player’s ability. Surprised you didn’t thrown in a ‘snowflake’ comment while you’re at it. And being a vegan makes fuck all difference to his performance, as do his outside interests. Care to slate Auba for his love of bling and flash cars? Thought not. Bellerin was out with a long term injury and it’s surprising to absolutely no-one that he’s taken time to come back to decent form. Like Rob Holding or hadn’t you noticed? Actually… Read more »
As long as we play 3 at the back, AMN starts for certain. He has a role to play as quasi wingback cum midfielder. For certain you say? Wow. Well lemme break it down for you if it’s not that obvious (it really should be) but he’s only starting right now at LWB because (I’m counting Gabriel as signed here) our two LCBs in the squad aren’t fit or ready… and that’s it. Once they are Tierney is LWB it’s guaranteed and I’d also like to point it out while we’re here since the restart AMN has only started one… Read more »
NorthbankerThen that’s £35 million fee that we’re not going to get even a consolation amount out of all whilst costing us another £5 million in wages.
And your point is Marc? Must be the most irrelevant point today. Mustafi is injured. It’s not about whether i’d like us to sell him – no one will buy!! Can it be any simpler?
Northbanker
It’s why didn’t we sell him last summer or before?
It’s another example of paying too much for a poor player and then dealing with them when we should have.
About as relevant as it gets for Arsenal at the moment.
He also is never going to play CM for us. He’s gone through how many managers in his career and not one of them have made him a CM.
Who is/are responsible for player sales including decision over fees and terms (eg sell on)?
Edu? Arteta? Vinai?
We were so shit in getting money for our players. Like ingrained in our values!
Could Arsenal players be worse than those from the relegated Bournemouth? Seriously.
Our fees make Chelsea‘s youth sales look extortion!
Edu must sell Elneny, and stay away from loans. Valencia can take a number if they want a loan. …
Loan fees should align to the level we recently pay like Ceballos, Soares etc.
Fingers crossed rumours of an offer from Saudi Arabia for Ozil are true
Auoar rumours beginning to heat up….multiple sources claiming we have submitted a 55mn bid
Yup, both Joel Campbell and Callum Chambers are prime examples. Refusing to sell players for a good price that would eventually have almost nonexistent contribution to the team. It was a Wenger trait in general. I can see the same mistake being repeated right now though.
I consider Havertz for an overhyped player. We’ll see how he does in the EPL.
Marko Gabriel and Saliba have been signed to replace Sokratis and Mustafi (Holding will be loaned out and Chamber out injured). Their signing does not impact AMN’s role in the team. Moreover both Saliba and Gabriel will be integrated slowly in our team and Luiz will also be slowly phased out. AMN has pace and physicality and is very good in one on one situations. He stays at Arsenal because people see potential in him, not because he has a terrific track record. So if you always assess him on what he has done till date, you will always have… Read more »
Useroz, there are a whole bunch of reasons why we’ve been bad at selling. > We give ok players contracts too good to leave (Ozil/Nik B/Kola/Djourou) > We mismanage contracts (Ramsey/Welbz/Auba/Wilshere) > We stopped thinking longterm. I think we’re getting back into the swing of things. Young players are tied down to longterm deals, we’re at least attempting to shift the profile of the type of player we’re bringing into the squad, I suspect we’ll start selling big names for big money. AMN is a £40m player in a normal market and if Emi Martinez maintains this form, he’s a… Read more »
Arteta can be blamed for depreciating the market value of Guendouzi.
Moreover both Saliba and Gabriel will be integrated slowly in our team and Luiz will also be slowly phased out. Are you okay TR7? Seriously cause you’re suggesting that either we’re playing nearly 60 million on two CB’s to barely play them or you’re suggesting that Tierney will be a LCB going forward. You’re trying way too hard to find a way where he starts way too hard. So if you always assess him on what he has done till date, you will always have plenty of negatives to point out. Okay. Sure. Very interesting that with him it’s don’t… Read more »
Can someone please explain to me what is exactly going on with Arsenal concerning the sale of Gabriel. 1. Has he signed? If so why has it not been announced? 2. Is he in England undergoing quarantine? If so when did the 14 day period start? 3.If he has not signed what exactly is the problem? One can also ask a serious questions about the state of play in negotiations with Aubameyang’s contract and for that matter what decisions have been made with Maitland-Niles and Martinez. It seems to me that the Management and PR Department at Arsenal have gone… Read more »
Sabitzer is actually someone I think will suit Arteta’s profile better than Ceballos . Better energy , better baller. Whenever Ive seen him he looks the deal while Ceballos is still a bit inconsistent.
I’m with Jim L on how we sell our players for peanuts. Look at the way Chelsea and Liverpool do business.
They always normally sell their surplus players for good fees.
I remember when we sold Cesc for £35m to Barca, when he was clearly a £50m player at the time. Same with Henry, we sold him for £16m when we should of done so for at least £40-50m.
Holding can never take Luiz’s place. He can’t pass properly while Luiz has an excellent long pass. The problem of Luiz is that he is too slow to play in a back 4 formation.
Emirates
I’ve been asking similar questions for days now. Everyone’s seem to think there’s no hurry without taking into account not only is there a quarantine period and Internationals this weekend but you’d want any new players to have a bot of time training with the squad.
We really need to step things up.
Comparing transfer figures from 2007 and 2019 isn’t really fair. Yes, Henry sold to Barca for 24m int 2007 but he was also 30 then and the highest transfer fee that year was paid by Liverpool , 38m for Fernando Torres ,who was 23. Iwobi sold for 30m but that was including the English premium PL clubs pay for players sold within the PL , and he is young. For reference, Griezmann sold for 130m last year and I don’t think he’s a better player than Torres was when he sold for a third of that in 2007. Different eras… Read more »
ES
I read that Napoli has improved their offer in order to stop the sale.
You can’t sell players at market value when their wages are too high for the buying club to match.
You either sell at a lower price to allow the buying club to match their existing wages, or you’re stuck with them for the duration of their contracts.
80% of deals will be made in the last 10 days of the window, same as any other year.
Marko ‘Seriously cause you’re suggesting that either we’re playing nearly 60 million on two CB’s to barely play them ‘ You’re twisting my words. Slow integration of a player does not equate to barely playing him. Keita at Liverpool is a prime example. They spent a fortune on him and still he did not play much in the first few months. As for Harvertz and Van, I haven’t commented on them let alone declaring them flops even before they have played a game in EPL. Long story short – I see potential in AMN as a versatile utility player and… Read more »
TR7
Didn’t AMN come out and say he wanted to leave to get regular football?
Not sure he’s going to want to stay as a utility player.
Havertz is a good player. But is not worth £72million.
I’m hearing that Gabriel passed his medical last week. But apparently the hold up is due to Arsenal having issues in their PR department, to announce the signing.
Not sure if that’s true or not.
TR7, I think Guendouzi himself is to blame for depreciating interest in him.
And apparently Auba has more or less signed his contract, according to Troopz of AFTV who has close links with Auba and his brother.
But just waiting to announce it officially.
Let’s hope we hear some good news sometime this week.
Arsenals problem with sales was the same we had with buying Ie wenger has this idea that the market rate was always way beyond reasonable and you always buy players for 20-50% of what others would pay for a player of said quality But when it came to sales he seemed to actually believe his amazing players weren’t worth that much, presumably because he didn’t pay that much in the first place? When it came to sales we were always proper nice boys, not looking to haggle too much and easily low balled for our prime talent. Then the pressure… Read more »
“Eduardo Hagn
@EduardoHagn
·
1h
Al Nasser, famous Saudi Arabian club, have made an unbelievable offer to Mesut Özil. €16.8m a-year in wages. Mesut is yet to make a decision.“
Please please please let it come true. Take it Mesut!
Not surprised Guendouzi’s availability has been met with collective tumbleweed from Europe’s elite.
Why would there be a stampede for someone who can’t defend, rarely plays progressive passes, doesn’t assist, doesn’t score?
Really tho peak wenger transfers were seriously hype because you always assumed the best
Whether it was senderos, Diaby, nasri, Sagna, you always just assumed these nobodies were going to be beasts and in those days they very often were
“I remember when we sold Cesc for £35m to Barca, when he was clearly a £50m player at the time.”
GS88
Arsenal sold a 24 year old Cesc to Barca for $37.4m ( transfermarkt) and Chelsea got him back three years later for $36.3m .
Unless you’re suggesting he’s lost a third of his value while playing in Spain, then maybe Cesc was never a 50 m player in 2011, or still in his prime in 2014.
Leeds if that’s true that’s seemingly a pay cut pre tax but probably a big pay rise after tax
Surely that’s all he gives a fuck about anyway? TAKE THE MONEY OZIL. TAKE IT
I think we have a realistic chance of buying both Aouar and Partey, perhaps a little lower than 50/50, but not much. I actually think the depressed market will aid, rather than hinder Arsenal. It will cut the number of competing clubs for our targets – the impact on lower incoming sales will be matched by a dimilar impact on purchase price. I would like another loan of Ceballos with an option to buy IN ADDITION to Aouar and Partey. The problem that we may have is the second striker position. I’m not convinced by Nketiah. If Lacazette leaves we… Read more »
Tom Chelsea bought an undervalued player who wasn’t wanted by his club and was happy to leave.
He went to Barca a bigger name than he left imo, regardless of trophies.
Paulinho
https://tribuna.com/en/arsenal/news/2020-05-09-matteo-guendouzi-explained-in-x-points/
The stats disagrees with you. Except the goals and assists part but he’s a deep lying CM so that’s not really his job, unlike when you’re a Cam for example when it’s the main thing a player should be judged on.
#sidesweep#Pierre
GS88
I was told the same story about PR Department, but frankly you have to ask some serious questions about the club’s competence.
Big Dave, Aouar would be a phenomenal signing. Like getting Henry back in the day.
Seeing what Chelsea and Man U are doing in the transfer market we have no chance to get top 4.
Stan could easily fund a couple of players to get them on board but as usual he is not interested.
We are a poor club in the sense how we go about our business.
Spanish they’ve been buying well but it doesn’t guarantee anything
The signings might not settle. Some bad luck in games. Some key injuries. Buying good player is one of a good handful of things that need to align to make them have a good season. We will see
“Why would there be a stampede for someone who can’t defend, rarely plays progressive passes, doesn’t assist, doesn’t score?“
Pretty sure Guendouzi is right up the top of the scale for progressive passing and carrying statistically.
Just searched and this came up:
https://mobile.twitter.com/AniNair14/status/1300331955603427328
The chickens come home to roost. Emery expose
https://www-goal-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.goal.com/en-in/amp/news/psg-lost-two-years-recruited-emery-thiago-silva-agent/xzr6mvvl4j4c1g6fdkpy57o2i?amp_js_v=a3&_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQFKAGwASA%3D#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.goal.com%2Fen-in%2Fnews%2Fpsg-lost-two-years-recruited-emery-thiago-silva-agent%2Fxzr6mvvl4j4c1g6fdkpy57o2i
Freddie – Actually progressive – like the pass Ceballos played to Saka for Auba’s goal against Leicester.
All these clubs I’m sure are aware of these stats, and they still haven’t registered interest. Either he did a ‘Here’s Johnny’ madman routine in Dubai or they simply don’t particularly rate him despite seemingly having the ‘basis’ for actually doing something worthwhile on the football pitch.
ES
“”””I was told the same story about PR Department, but frankly you have to ask some serious questions about the club’s competence.””””
Really ES?
I am glad you are coming around.
Only the coaching prowess and all round excellence of Arteta is stopping the whole pack of cards from collapsing.
If it was not for him , the season would be unravelling before it has even started.
What on earth do The Dopes do all day?
Have they furloughed the PR team by mistake?
Chelsea showing the way.
“he’s a deep lying CM so that’s not really his job”
So, his job is apparently to ball-carry horizontally across the pitch and go precisely nowhere with it 90% of the time. Defending not part of his remit either I suppose.
Havertz is a top talent. Not sure Chelsea is the right fit for him and doubt he’ll be starting games for them. Mount,Ziyech, Havertz. Will Lampard relegate Mount to the bench? Doubt it. Looks like an expensive luxury player that will be unhappy with playing time. He must be a greedy bastard cause it would’ve been better to stay for a couple more years in Germany before leaving. Would’ve fit in at Bayern Munich for a couple seasons.
S.A
“””The chickens come home to roost. Emery expose””””
Great Link. Thanks.
And to think Raul wanted to keep him!
Thank Heavens , the pair of them have gone.
Edu next.
I think (hope?) Holding, AMN , Martinez will stay – they are Arsenal ‘products’, and that is good for morale. I’ll miss Laca if he goes, but okay if Auba stays.
Most of all, I hope Ozil goes – but I’ve been hoping for that ever since Wenger bought him on an ego trip.
paulinho
“Defending not part of his remit either I suppose.”
“He’s third-best Gunner behind Torreira and Ainsley Maitland-Niles speaking about interceptions – 1.53 per match; the midfielder makes 2.15 blocks per 90 minutes lead all midfielders which is only bettered Sokratis across the squad.”
Another strike and a miss, wanna make it 3?
AMN is not my cup of tea but even I admit since Arteta came in he has been pretty damn good. The RB spot should be his. Bellerin should be sold to PSG. People mentioning Aarons? Lol why when you have AMN? The priority should be the center of the pitch that’s where we need to make drastic changes. I don’t see us buying a RB anytime soon with the weird contract given to Cedric.
Tom Yes, fair point, but we also sold Henry to Batha for the same fee that Charlton sold Darren Bent for that summer. It was clearly a Wenger ‘nice guy’ move (same as likes of RVP and Fabregas), where he genuinely believed that if you treated long-serving players ‘well’ (i.e. allowing them to leave to the destination club of their choice when they wanted, even if you could sell for more elsewhere), then it would continue a perception amongst (young) players and agents that Arsenal was a great club to progress under Wenger, keeping the production line going of turning… Read more »
Freddie – Shame there’s more to defending than intercepting every now and then. It’s the tracking the runners part he has a problem with.
I remember you claiming Ceballos was a great dribbler last summer, using stats from the same site probably. Still trying to find he baseball bat after that one.
“The Saudi Arabian club have reportedly told him that they want to treat him like the new prince of Saudi Arabia and will not spare any sacrifices to make that happen. ”
Come on Ozil, sounds like a great life for a retired footballer, just don’t think too much about their human rights issues and you’ll be fine.
Would massively boost our ability to get things done this window.
China1August 31, 2020 14:26:30
Tom Chelsea bought an undervalued player who wasn’t wanted by his club and was happy to leave.He went to Barca a bigger name than he left imo, regardless of trophies.
———
42 goals and 50 assists in three seasons at Barca plus all the trophies easily tops his also great Arsenal output of 31 goals and 54 assists over the same period.
Why was he a bigger name going there?
Was it because Arsenal wanted to keep him?
He wanted to leave both clubs, if for different reasons.
Grealish finally gets the nod for England after Southgate was embarrassed into walking back that initial overlooking.
Ball progression graph.
Showcasing Ceballos’s and Guendouzi’s ball progression ability clearly surpassing that of all our other midfielders.
They also rank highly when compared with all the midfielders in the league.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Gunners/comments/ijvhi1/ball_progression_statistics_in_pl_20192020_season/
Cmmon Mesut go sit on the iron throne of the desert, bet theres even a crown for you.
Paulinho
So Ceballos is not a good dribbler then? I mean he’s not a dribbler in the mould of Pepe but he’s hardly Xhaka is he?
I get it, you never liked Guen, you’ve made that clear from the start, but to say he’s not progressive and doesn’t defend is just bs and the stats prove it. Is he the finished article? No, of course not and we’re unlikely to see what that would have looked like with us. That’s fine if we get a decent fee and buy a better player, I have no problem with that.
Aoaur as good as he is , is nowhere near Henry.
CT, Henry was playing LWB for Juventus when we rescued him.
CT Think Aouar – Henry was a metaphor not actual like for like. Regarding Cesc, peaked in last two seasons w/ Arsenal imo. The Barca move never really suited him not having an out and out position for him to play. Shoehorned into a MF with Xavi and Iniesta in Peps 343 with very limited areas he could expose. Played on left flank, false 9 which may of been his best position at Barca as it allowed him a shred of freedom to drift and he did find net. In the end he was’t going to take Xavi or Iniesta’s… Read more »
Freddie – No he’s not a great dribbler. He’s got quick feet, and can prompt and probe and move with ball to an extent, throw a feint, but Alex Hleb he ain’t.
I don’t rate Guendouzi at all, and expect him to do very little wherever he goes, big club or small club. Ceballos gets criticised for not scoring or assisting much, but he is a level above Guendouzi in every other area, and even then a lot of fans are on the fence about him being the solution going forward.
As per reports in Turkey, Mesut Ozil has interest from Saudi Arabia. I understand a Qatari club have also made an approach, but both offers are for him to leave #AFC this summer — which he currently has no intention of doing.
Apparently they’re willing to pay him his full wage. What a fucking sponge
Tom he was a bigger name when he joined because he was the prodigal son, relentlessly tapped up by the club and leant on year after year to come back, his star was crazy high as a world class MF and still rising in light of his age and improving stats It doesn’t matter how many trophies he won at Barca, those were won by the club, not the individual. His great goals and assists at Barca we’re the mark of his brilliance but he was a player being shunted out of position and rarely being afforded the respect he… Read more »
If he fails well I am sure I will be reminded of my stance on AmN.
You think I give a shit about an I told you so to some anonymous on a football blog? No I want the club to be able to afford better players I want us to improve the squad
Marko I’m also assuming they’re giving him a longer contract, although it wasn’t mentioned. No serious football club in any of the big leagues are going to pay him more than 1/10 of what he’s on now even if they got him for free so what are his options? Sit out a year bleeding the club he claims to love dry and then move to a shit league anyway or just do it now? Would be a great summer if he did the right thing and fucked off. Regardless of any other business we do, just the knowledge of having… Read more »