I am like, so embarrassed… I forgot it was the 13th birthday of LE GROVE… YESTERDAY.
Can you believe it? The site is now a teenager. Well, this week, it’ll be getting a new cleaner template. The site will work better from a mobile perspective so you have more space to comment. It’ll also look a lot sharper. I cannot WAIT.
Anyway, I wanted to say a massive thank you to all of the people that tweet, listen, comment, and visit the site on the daily. It’s a massive privilege that anyone pays attention to our mutterings and I am very happy you didn’t all bin me off for the fancy YouTubers.
Right, what do we have today?
I did some rummaging around yesterday on the Ozil stuff. I don’t have a++ stuff, but I think the return of the German was more a result of circumstance than a key indicator of how we’re going to operate this season. I think it’s still positive for the player, at least the coach is trying to include him, it’s probably also an indication he’ll be here all year.
At the end of the day, it’s in the interest of Arteta to get something out of a player costing the club £18m a year. It’s also in the interest of the player to show prospective clubs that he’s worth a punt at a rate he deems acceptable next year. Let’s hope this potential rebirth has more substance to it than the other 13 false dawns.
Then there’s nothing particular new to share on the transfer front. Arsenal need to sell before they can buy, but it sounds like the club is fairly confident of making something happen this summer.
The thinking seems to be that a lot of deals are going to happen towards the end of the window. I quipped that maybe clubs are thinking of holding onto players this summer in the hope of higher prices next year. PSG Tech Director, Leonardo, poured cold water on that idea when he said,
“All the clubs today need to sell. There is also FFP. PSG are in this situation. We made a big investment on (Mauro Icardi). We need to be creative. Player departures are anticipated. We finished playing in August and not in May. We have up until October 5th to sign players. But we have to look at the exit door before.”
I think it’s likely that a few big balls need to get rolling then we’ll see the merry go round kick into action.
Arsenal has a collection of players that could move this summer. We need to gather about £90m to make our dreams of midfield completion come true. This is the list of names.
- Kolasinac £4.5m (£120k p/w)
- Torreira £18m (£65k p/w)
- Holding. £8m ( £40k p/w)
- Sokratis £5m (£90k p/w)
- Lacazette £35m (£120k p/w)
- Reiss £20m (£40k p/w)
- Mustafi £15m (£90k p/w)
- Matteo £30m (£40k p/w)
Conservatively, there’s £140m we could bring in if the stars aligned… not to mention we’d clear £785k a week in wages which is £40m a season. I don’t even think the above is a long shot, we need to make it happen. We have far too many players on our books that we need to shift, transfer fee or not.
The imperative is to clear the wage bill this summer, so if you moved on the above players and took £100m, you’re still winning. You can afford to add Partey, who at the very most would command Lacazette money, and I reckon you could land Aouar for under £100k a week.
The really crazy thing about the above block of players is you probably don’t need to backfill any of the roles… the only area I’d say might need looking at is the striking department. If we could take Edouard from Celtic, a player who has two years left on his deal at a Champions League-less club, then we’d be in top 4 shape squad wise.
The imperative for the summer though is reshaping the midfield. We need more creativity and it’d be a dream to add more power and pace.
Though I will say, I still think we’ll improve on last year regardless of what we do from now. A strong start is imperative. We need to go into the second international break within touching distance of the top of the table. That then sets us up really nicely. 9 points from 12 would be ideal.
We also have quite a nice advantage of playing a lot of our tough away games in the front half of the season. Liverpool, City, United, Spurs, Leeds, and Everton all come before January. We’ll be playing to partially full stadiums. Hopefully, the return legs, we’ll have bigger crowds.
I’m feeling pretty positive about our chances this year, but I really do feel so much of our success this season is built into how we start. This is a team that needs momentum. Winning the Community Shield means nothing if we get shithoused by a late Mitrovič goal in the first game, and save David Moyes job with disastrous follow-up against West Ham. We need Arsenal versus City, Chelsea and Wolves energy… not ‘do I even like football’ vibes from Villa and Watford.
This is a huge season. I am very excited to get started. JUST SIGN SOME MIDFIELDERS PLEASE.
P.S. Xhaka doing bit against Switzerland, you hate to see it.
Granit Xhaka Vs Germanypic.twitter.com/JOCOAUwP9X
— BNS Comps (@BnsComps) September 6, 2020
The wait for movement bit frustrating as season starts next week and we are short in midfield. Will all be worth it if we end up with aouor and partey
Here for the Trophy
3rd
Trooooofy
You have added Kolasinac twice in the players list. Maybe due to his stature.
Happy birthday Le Grove! Been following since 2009!
Granitétrophy.
Kola twice and no Elneny..
Pedro
You count Kola two times!
8 players who need to leave and what, 3 to come in. Anyone really think we are going to move on 11 players before the window closes!?
Pedro,
You missed out El Neny from your list of potential departures….unless you’re a believer in the Great El Neny Resurrection?
Nice of Germany to sit back and not press Xhaka. Maybe we can petition the other PL teams to do the same so Xhaka doesn’t have to play 4th CB again? Because then he’s a decent option at CM.
Happy 13th birthday Pedro.
A remarkable job keeping le grove the best Arsenal blog for so long and with a comment section without peer.
I’ve been reading for at least 12 1/2 of those years. Fml.
Mazal tov Le Grove on your bar mitzvah 😊
Kolasinac just like Djemba Djemba – “so good them named him twice”
So we have to wait until 5 October for a midfield upgrade?
Pedro I have spoken to Arsenal about season tickets this season. Interestingly the credit for last season 4 home games and Cup games is the equivalent of deposit for this season and entitles you to enter ballot for games when attendances are restricted. So I have renewed. I have yet to decide whether I wish to enter ballot. Frankly our home games in EPL until 26/12 when we play Chelsea is fairly uninspiring. Most of the best games are in second half of season. The ballot will be initially for 3-5 games with no entitlement to choose the games you… Read more »
Matteo for £30m? Really? I doubt it.
On the potential incomings I see a lot of mentions for Edouardo and while no figures have been mentioned the implication seems to be that we would get him for buttons.
Give that Celtic played hardball to get £25m for Tierney I think that it’s likely they would want more for their striker, maybe even a similar amount to what we might get for Laca.
Kolasinac even got 2 different valuations, how nice of you Pedro there’s been 0 links with Mustafi and he’s injured, Holding is looking like he’s going on loan to Newcastle this week, Nelson hasn’t been linked away and I doubt we’re selling, no one seems to want to buy Guen but hopefully we’ll get 20m for him from somewhere. I’d try Lille in part exchange for Soumare, they like a french youth player they can sell on in a year or 2. Bellerin and Laca seems to be the only 2 that could get us decent money. Torreira for 21m… Read more »
Andy
Seen anything between 25-45m for Edouard. Probably land somewhere in the middle, or it would smash the scottish transfer record to pieces.
Would still be good business if we put all the Laca money into him, 7 years younger and much higher potential. With him and Martinelli at the club we wouldn’t have to worry about when Auba starts dropping off.
andy 1886
I agree transfer fee for Guendouzi is unrealistic. You will be lucky to get more than £15 million.
Interesting that Bellerin has not been listed since there appears to be so much
demand for him
Will diet Pep beat his mentor David Moyes? Thats the big question.
@Freddie, yeah, Scotland is the new first division/championship for PL clubs looking for value. I wouldn’t be adverse to that deal but I suspect all our efforts will be focused on midfield for now.
@Stroller, I think that we can scrape together enough from sales for one decent midfield addition but as we both agree some of the valuations suggested are somewhat optimistic. On Bellerin I’d repeat what I said before, we’d need a replacement, despite what some might think Bellerin is still far better than our current alternatives which is why moneyed clubs are interested in him.
Xhaka looking good coz he was afforded time to dictate play.
If he was a tad faster and nimble, he’d have been a terrific player.
Edourd should be priority over a midfielder since its looking likely the tactic this season against smaller teams is to use a battering ram like Costa, jackson Martinez, Morata as Simeone does.
And what rating did Eurosport give Xhaka for this epic display? A very average 7 out of 10!
What is interesting is that Arsenal are not pressurising season ticket holders
to renew. I think that they accept that there will be limited ticket revenue this
season and have presumably covered the shortfall.
My guess is that the Kroenke family have made arrangements to cover shortfall
this season.
I see we have two Kolasinac’s to sell. One for 4.5 mil the other for 5 mil.
@Left testicle, yeah, when there was just one player with an 8 from both teams,
you don’t describe a 7 as a very average rating!
So Le Grove’s turned 13.
The tantrums, bad skin, lack of personal hygiene and strange infatuations all become clear.
Happy Birthday Pedro!
Moving players on is not impossible for a well run outfit. We ain’t it though.
Clearing the dross and bringing down the wages is imperative. I wouldn’t care if we gave these pieces of shot away for free.
Edu needs to start earning his salary.
On the list of transfer listed players it does surprise me that AMN has been completely discounted. I know Arteta likes him and he’s currently (for unknown reasons to me) a darling to some on here but he came out and said he wants to leave to get first team football. The plan looks to be to go to a back 4 once the new CB’s are settled and he’s not going to displace Tierney – I’m also not convinced that he’s good enough to play RB rather than RWB. There’s £20 odd million sitting there and right now fixing… Read more »
Niles is a rinky dink pothead of a player. He makes Alex Song look alert.
If we get any cash for him, he has to go. If we can get get £30m for Iwobi…we should be able to get half that for AMN.
Jokes aside, I think the likely players to move are few. Holding will go on loan. Sokratis has some interest from Napoli, so he will move. Amazingly I see bellerin moving too. PSG will get a player they want. They will pay the 35 mil we are asking for. I am not too thrilled about it though. Mustafi will move if (and it’s a big if) he recovers from his injury in time. Probably for a fee around 10 mil. I read a rumor 2 teams from Germany and 1 from Italy were interested. The recent up turn in form… Read more »
I could go out right now and find a few players on the local field better than those named on the Le Grove official transfer list.
How are the billionaire bungles at the Emirates fucking this up?
Forgot Balogun He will probably move for 5 to 8 mil.
AMN’s value is in his versatility. He’s not a starter but can fill in at LB/LWB (no need to replace Kola), MF (can sell Elneny, maybe send Willock on loan) or at RB/RWB (Cedric having not impressed do far). That’s pretty useful for one player on modest wages.
Every side needs a utility player.
Happy birthday Le-Grove
Pedro, I’m loving the mobile layout you’ve brought on!
andy
Yeah so he’s a great utility player – the problem is he said he wanted to leave for first team football. That means we’re either going to shoehorn him into the team or shift him about all over the place either way it’s not a good option.
A good utility player needs to be able to accept that’s what they are.
Well done Pedro.
We have some good old banter here.
“Xhaka looking good coz he was afforded time to dictate play.”
I guess it’s a certainty that every player in the world would look good when afforded time.
Happy birthday Le grove and congratulations Pedro, your effort is highly admirable! Been reading since 2010. We’ve got the sauce at the wheels, so better days ahead!
Pedro
Congratulations on reaching your teenage years .
Your writing is informed, provocative and realistic and I think you have understood the issues at the club really well, much better than most commentators .
If only some of the commenters were of the same standard. There are some who are excellent but others who are very definitely not !
Pedro
Please don’t make the site like the Arseblog commenting template
“Conservatively, there’s £140m we could bring in”
I want some of what you’re smoking. Nobody is paying 30 mil for Matteo, he’s had half a decent season, 10 is closer to the mark. David Luiz is our new defensive mid, Willian is our new attacking mid. At least with Luiz the fouls will be happening further up the pitch….
So Le-Grove enters it’s awkward, surly teenage years.
The Xhaka detractors looking more foolish by the week.
I think the elite ( Man City/Bayern) will be taking a very close eye on Mr. G. Xhaka.
He is too good for our current rabble. He deserves CL soccer.
Left
I knew Pedro had been reminding me of someone lately – it’s Kevin the Teenager!
Hey guys
Lay off Pedrito regarding Kolasinach. Was anniversary yesterday.
Surely he is entitled to a a couple of sherry surely !
So not only is Pedro a teenage now but he’s become Pedrito a teenage girl!
Well done Pedro .
I cannot wait for the new format.?
You already exceed all the other sites.
Well done Pedro .
I cannot wait for the new format.?
You already exceed all the other sites.
Echo?
The big boy is 13, what a run. Keep on rocking LG.
Lot of Xhaka’s right foot in there which I hadn’t noticed much before. Two footed, he might be decent. Still slow but less limited.
Well done Pedro on 13 years of Le Grove, quite an achievement.
Try and get Geoff on here once in a while, would be nice!
Xhaka balling out for Le Groves birthday, what a lad.
Cheers to you Pedro, brilliant stuff to have created such a vibrant online space. Tantrums ahead entering the teenage years of course.
Pedro
Congratulations le-grove
Many more scintillating and thought provoking post devoid of agendas
Keep flying
Will Le Grove come out in spots?
Through good times and bad you can always rely on there being a load of tosspots on Le-Grove debating a load of crap, that we can do nothing about.
Happy 13th Anniversary Pedro!
Marc,
If Pedro plays up can we send him to his room?
Or threaten to ration his oat milk?
CG
September 7, 2020 12:39:28
The Xhaka detractors looking more foolish by the week.I think the elite ( Man City/Bayern) will be taking a very close eye on Mr. G. Xhaka.
……
Is this a piss take? Priceless.
There’s just not enough Özil talk at LG.
“Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is considering involving Mesut Ozil in the Gunners’ opening Premier League game of the season on Saturday, according to a report.
“And with Arsenal playing newly-promoted Fulham on Saturday, The Sun says Arteta could give Ozil a chance to impress in a rare taste of Premier League action.
It is unclear how long he will feature for, but Arteta hopes he can find a formation in which Ozil can rediscover his form.”
It’s a shame Kroenke can’t give us a sort of interest free loan
Players will never be cheaper than in this COVID19 market.
Atletico lining up a replacement for Partey but need to sell him first.
“The report now claims that Atletico are targeting Roca but the move is dependant on whether Partey is sold this summer.”
LT
“”””CG September 7, 2020 12:39:28 .The Xhaka detractors looking more foolish by the week.I think the elite ( Man City/Bayern) will be taking a very close eye on Mr. G. Xhaka.
……
Is this a piss take? Priceless.””””
No.
I always state what I believe .
Happy Birthday Le-Grove . Good luck on website changes . Pedro how about weekly guest blogs man , Something like when you used to invite other clubs fans to preview matches. I remember Aston Villa and West ham guys did that. Dont remember their names.
Fairies and unicorns?
Thirteen eh? Time for first love, perhaps some saucy dusky foreign type with great hair….
They always break your heart though.
Pedro
Big question.
Why hasn’t this site been monetised yet.
Great content, good community and there must be around thousands of refreshes per post.
I wont mind an ad or two.
Bournemouth , Edu free Bournemouth have sold £80 million of players( and counting) since they got relegated.
£40 million Ake
£18.5 million Ramsgate
£20 million Wilson
Arsenal and not Edu free- yet to receive a penny.
Le grove maybe 13 years old- but nothing really changes -amateurs are still entrenched at Arsenal.
CG
Well Xhaka was shipped around the market this Jan.
We had 1 suitor. The mighty Hertha who at the time were fighting relegation iirc.
I don’t hate the player and like what Arteta has done with him but City and Bayern a big stretch dont you think when we were ready to offload him for 20-25mil.
CONTINUE
And no one other than Hertha were interested.
Well done Pedro #Legrove@13
I want to reiterate the fact our current squad under Arteta can do great work for us this season. I’m not tryna sound blindly-optimistic, our team has all the potential to do better than last season.
However, signing Partey/Aouar (or both) would give us passive boost.
Captain Tierney
September 7, 2020 13:54:30
PedroBig question.Why hasn’t this site been monetised yet.
Great content, good community and there must be around thousands of refreshes per post.
I wont mind an ad or two.
……………….
Great! Ads for oat milk, hummus and The Guardian.
LT
Yup, one or two about sauce and ofc Arteta.
What happened to all the Soumare and Diawara rumours. Seems we have placed all our eggs in the Partey basket!
Todays post was brought to you by our friends at ALPRO.
The Oat Milk that’s good for you, good for the planet.
Tomorrows post will be brought to you in association with
EXTINCTION REBELLION
Here today, gone tomorrow.
Captain
“””””””I don’t hate the player and like what Arteta has done with him but City and Bayern a big stretch dont you think when we were ready to offload him for 20-25mil.””””””
I ll bet you – his next move is to an elite club.
Eg Bayern/Man City/Juventus.
If folk cant recognise his continued and consistent excellence- that’s no surprise to me,
Arsenal fans, for the most part are not the most knowledgeable.
Le grove is testament to that.
off course- you are one of the few exceptions , Captain.
Pedro,
The audacity to place all the players the great Sven Mislintat brought to the Club on your list of players that need to be sold. How is that possible? Wouldn’t it make more sense to get rid of the players that was acquired when Don Raul was in charge of transfers? If I’m not mistaken Sven was the best thing since slice bread. “The real ones been dying and fake ones been lit, that’s why the game is off balance” – J. Cole
CG
Forget even the mobility, if Xhaka came without the mistakes and brain dead moments, he would be a very good midfield player. Unfortunately mistakes and Xhaka come as a package.
And as good as that highlight reel is, you watch the full game and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
And sure Xhaka has come leaps and bounds under Arteta but the mistakes if less are still present.
The thing is Xhaka would suit Serie A as it’s a slow league..
Serie A > LaLiga > Bundesliga > Premier
Congrats on the blog reaching 13 years, Le Grove has been proven right on many things: Wenger, Emery and Raul among others.
I would sooner contribute to Le Grove on a pay basis than The Athletic, where quite frankly the standards are hitting new depths aside from the odd nostalgia article. There used to be sharp and fresh sports website over there.
CT
“”””””Unfortunately mistakes and Xhaka come as a package.””””””
off course- GX is the only midfielder that makes mistakes.
Party and co don’t make any.
No Xhaka at Arsenal this season- I doubt Arsenal would finish 10th.
“And no one other than Hertha were interested.”
And that was when Xhaka’s agent was phoning every club in existence to get his player a move.
And no player, let alone captain, should duck an oppositions shot at goal.
Congrats on the blog reaching 13 years, Le Grove has been proven right on many things: Wenger, Emery and Raul among others.
………….
(ahem) Gazidis?
Cg
Xhaka makes big mistakes which have cost Arsenal goals.
Losing the ball in oppositions half and gifting a player possession in our own half or better yet in our own box are two different things. And having no recovery pace makes it even worse.
Basically Arteta needs to do whatever he needs to do to win football matches. I am quite certain he would prefer a dazzling new CAM instead of Ozil, but if new signings aren’t possible right now then we need creativity against a side likely to try and defend against us (although Fulham looked a decent side in the Chamoionshop last season).
Arteta would be a hero if he can coax a 15/16 Ozil back in to the fore.
Left
“If Pedro plays up can we send him to his room?
Or threaten to ration his oat milk?”
I was thinking about making him write “Capitalism rules” a thousand times.
And no player, let alone captain, should duck an oppositions shot at goal.
………….
That should be made a ‘non-negotiable’.
Left Testicle
Yes I deliberately omitted the snake oil salesman!
LT
Tbh , that ducking was massively exaggerated. Its an instinct. I have seen countless other players do that.
Only a very very few have the audacity to put their heads on the line . Even fewer in the modern game
Tbh , that ducking was massively exaggerated. Its an instinct. I have seen countless other players do that.
Only a very very few have the audacity to put their heads on the line . Even fewer in the modern game.
…………
Twice?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-7773947/Jamie-Carragher-tears-Granit-Xhaka-lack-effort-West-Ham-front.html
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-7522279/Arsenal-fans-slam-new-captain-Granit-Xhaka-ducks-shot-Man-Uniteds-Scott-McTominay.html
… add in all the slips, red cards and swearing at the fans.
You get paid thousands per week and I’ll expect you to put your face in the way. If amateus put their head in the way of a shot every Sunday morning why shouldn’t our captain?
“Why hasn’t this site been monetised yet. Great content, good community and there must be around thousands of refreshes per post. I wont mind an ad or two.”
Monetized sites need modern functionality and full-time compensated moderators and/or administrators. Ad revenue would be next to nothing, even if people didn’t use ad blockers.
Just use Patreon and offer additional content (podcasts, guest writers) to members.
For years I’ve been saying we should GIVE Ozil away. Now I go a step further: we should pay a good part of his salary to PERSUADE a Club to take him for free. Surely there is somebody out there who will have him for £200K/week. That would save Arsenal £10 million.
I don’t see a need to bring in a front man even if Laca is sold. I fancy Pepe to score often, we have Auba and Nketiah, and there’s Nelson, Saka, Martinelli.
*amateurs