Bloody hell, Edu and Vinai only went and done it.
LaLiga informed Atlético de Madrid at 11.28pm on Monday that Arsenal representatives have paid Thomas Partey’s release clause at the sports association’s headquarters.
The player has therefore unilaterally terminated his contract with our club, which ran until June 30, 2023.
Ice fucking cold. Have you ever seen Arsenal do a deal so bereft of humanity? Unbelievable. That’s a Panenka in the 90th minute of a World Cup final. That’s a rainbow flick against peak Stoke in the 1st minute. That’s rolling into a Bermondsey pub on an away day singing ‘What do you think of MILWALL.’
This transfer will go down in folklore as the moment we stopped being a banter club.
I was told over and over that Arsenal were going hard at deals, even on Sunday. Arteta and his team pushed the club as hard as they could to do as much as they could afford. I suspect the original plan was to bring in creativity, when that deal stalled because of the rumoured whisperings of Zizou, Arsenal knew the details of the Partey release clause and went to town to activate against it.
I think, on the face of, we have made an immensely positive decision to bring in Thomas Partey. He gives us control in midfield. He is explosive over short distances, he boasts power we don’t have, and I think the club is betting they can unlock a player we haven’t seen in a more expansive system.
What I love about this move is; like the FA Cup laid to rest the idea that Arteta couldn’t handle the job, this buries the notion that we need a dirtbag like Raul running our transfer business. This summer was an unbelievably tough one to navigate. We plundered a ridiculous amount of money on players in 2019 and they didn’t deliver. We had to sell this summer, restructure some debt, and probably get a bit of help somewhere from KSE (I don’t have that sourced).
We made a deal happen for a player that can greatly enhance our ability to get back into the Champions League. This move is massive. Can you name many players better than him in that role? It’d be tough.
I’ve seen some whining from the radar merchants. I can’t have it. Arteta knows a player and he has a group of excellent analysts supporting his judgement. I also find it incredibly weird to read people critiquing his age and his salary.
Firstly, this is a guy that has played consistently at the very highest level of the game for one of the best coaches in the world (188 appearances). He has been part of setup so caked in shithousery, it’s rumoured your face burns when you walk into the training ground (something we badly lack). Simeone is a disciplinarian, a fitness fanatic, and will have imbued winnertivity into the Partey’s bones.
Secondly, he has just turned 27 years old (June). When Auba’s deal finishes, Thomas will be 30. Sure, his resale value won’t be high, but this move is a shrewd attempt at Champions League qualification right now. Questions over his salary are also nonsense. Football players love to play with great names. The squad will be buzzing about his arrival, they won’t care what he earns because he’ll be worth it. This move ticks all the boxes, it’s an extremely consequential transfer for the ambitious vision the club now has.
We still lack depth when it comes to creativity. By not signing a #8, we are relying on a creatively shy group of players like Reiss, Pepe, Willian, ESR, Saka and Ceballos coming up with a more ambitious approach to their play. There’s still time to do something with one of the clubs in the lower league. Benrahma and Buendia are the standout players that still haven’t move. We have a great relationship with Brentford and we also have ESR who could be a makeweight for a season if that works. A stretch idea though, I suspect we blew all our cash at 11:28pm last night.
Still, Arteta is a progressive coach who has not shied away from reality. He knows his job is to make players better and innovate his way out of problems. Partey gives him a different set of strategems to work with. Let’s see what he can do. Worst case, we can have another crack at Aouar in January.
Quick note on the exiting players. Matteo G moved to Hertha Berlin where Jens Lehmann is on the board and acting as a Sporting Consultant. Good luck if the Frenchman makes him look silly, that’ll be a big mistake. It was also great to see LT get his loan to Atletico. The rumours we’d pulled the deal sounded wrong, petty and counter-productive. Hopefully, he proves himself under Simeone and pumps his value.
Mustafi, Sokratis, Chambers, Reiss, Kola, Saliba, and Ozil all stayed. That wasn’t great for our bank balance, but most will exit next summer on free transfers. That is a huge advantage for our Europa League push. It means we’ll have a group of players that are very capable shop-windowing themselves in those games. That’ll give our first team players one less game to worry about until February. That could reap huge rewards for injuries and freshness when we head into crunch time next year. Every cloud, eh?! Thankfully, we don’t have a manager that’ll play his full strength 11 against Dundalk.
Today is a great day. We’ve had a transfer window that felt purposeful. Each player made sense. We improved in most of the areas we set out to make ourselves better. We made the blockbuster signing we all wanted. Our spine is looking… strong. How oddly satisfying it feels to write that. On that high note, enjoy the moment, and start getting excited about the season ahead!
Pluuuuuus, listen to my podcast right now.
Pedro I don’t give a damn about Barca and United. I’m just laughing at how one player can scuttle the transfer plans of the new manager. Imagine if we had to move Ozil out to get a new midfielder in? There’s such a thing as project Arteta that is exciting as not is taking shape. I just don’t think that’s the only major reason why Partey joined us. We pitched the project to him with the same sweetened deal that almost got him signed in 2019 but for Emery’s insistence on signing a winger first. C’mon man, you too read… Read more »
*There’s such a thing as project Arteta that is exciting to behold as it is taking shape.
Diss, no one is saying it is the only reason.
London, training ground, club history, money, England… loads. But painting him as a mercenary is nonsense.
Right, I am off the bed. Good night to you all!
off the bed… lol.
“Pablo Marí and Cedric Soares have been left out of the Arsenal Premier League senior squad…”
Stranger things. Ozil is back. I can’t wrap my head around this one.
Ha ha, I agree in a way with regards to the cult of Arteta.
He has someway to go before he can earn the “AKB” status.
Whuuuut no Cedric or Mari in the squad? That’s nuts
My point isn’t just about ozil in this case, it’s that we’ve signed two players in the last 6 months and not registered them for the PL
What the actual fuck lol. Like I said, forget ozil for a moment because we’ve all done that argument to death, but how does this happen where we sign TWO players and don’t include them in the PL squad???? This is so odd
Why did we sign Mari? I thought he was one of arteta’s as well???
Bought him, played him like once. Injured then royally binned off. At least Cedric got a few games in the league already.
Mari and Cedric are in genuine danger of falling into the Park Chu Young and kallstrom tier of banter signings now. Didn’t we pay combined about 10m for these two?
That better not be true that they weren’t registered hei because that’s off the scale nuts
seriously
Mari and his injury is baffling…
Anyhow, he never impressed in those little cameos. Too casual….
backup ok… but not even that great a back up
amuary bischoff
SO sad Eddie died. My first ever music anything was Van Halen 1. My cousin used 2 tape recorders to make me a copy of his original cassette. I kept that thing forever. The other day I was cranking this on a walk. RIP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X6e7uctAww
China1
https://www.premierleague.com/clubs/1/Arsenal/squad
This is from Arsenal. Mari and Cedric are not included in the squad….
Reports today that Kronke may have funded personally the Partey deal. If true he altered materially his commitment to club.
I hope so ET
Honestly Nelson I’m so surprised by this. On a footballing level I don’t care much. It’s not game changing for us. It’s that we just fucking bought these guys. How on earth does this happen????
But what if we loan saliba out to a championship team which is possible. Can we then register Mari after?
Since ozil is registered you would guess he’s above ESR in the pecking order.
If ESR and Saliba go out on loan, maybe Cedric and Mari can register? I don’t know
This Arsenal 2.0 is awesome . We are shafting clubs who dont play by our rules . I am interested to know why didnt we didnt do it earlier though , Its like Aouar was our first priority . When it was certain he aint coming we decided to go for Partey .Also what happens when African Cup starts ? Do we lose half of our squad now ? EmiratesStroller you there bro ?
Pedro I just bought my first oat milk latte (Starbucks)
It’s drinkable enough but outside of bellerinism (veganism+environmentalism), I cant say I’d order another at least from star bucks. Tho tbf star bucks is not high end stuff anyway
Actually the more I try this oat milk latte the more I’m starting to like it
What does this mean about me? Have I adopted bellerinism? Do I need to wear silly trousers now? Pedro pls advise
ESR and Saliba are both under 21 years old, and the rule is over 21 yo, non-homegrown, so they don’t count towards the 17 non-homegrown we are allowed to have. ESR is also homegrown and Saliba will become one with most certainty cause he was registered in our squad although not playing for us, so 1 year of him towards the 3 needed so he could be considered homegrown has already passed, he is 19 so in 2 years he’ll be exactly 21 yo, with 3 years in England #homegrown. The rule is that you can register 25 over 21… Read more »
Apparently as part of the guen loan deal to hertha, an 18 CB is coming the other way for less than 1m quid. No idea about the kid tho or why this is being said now rather than before the transfer deadline I’m really curious as to what formation and lineup arteta has in mind with partey. If xhaka plays does it mean we convert Ceballos to an AM? Or do we have xhaka at the base with partey and Ceballos both kinda as 8s from back to front I can’t wait for him to get bedded in. Dunno when… Read more »
Xhaka needs to make way for Partey
in a 4231 or 433, no room for xhakatack
What is Xhakas contract anyhow? Up in year? this summer?
got to say bye for sure
why is not Ozil the gunnersaurus?
Guns not gonna happen. Xhaka will play just like the sun rises in the East and sets in the west. Accept it!
But I agree with you on the formation
——————Auba
Saka——-Willian——-Pepe
———-Partey Ceballos
This offensive unit looks really legit
Miguel Delaney
Am also told Kroenke approved the Partey purchase on request of Arteta (who clearly sees the transfer as crucial to his team), and underwrote transfers/losses due to Covid
Maybe the Kroenke abuse will stop now. He has allowed us spend every dime we make and now underwriting losses.
This “project” talk is getting into a full-on retard mode. Now even Dembele not wishing to leave Barca to ANY club means he’s not into OGS’s “project”? What Valentin said should be required reading: “Regarding the project, may I remind people that Partey was already interested in joining us when Emery was in charge. I can’t wait how that will fit into the narrative that he was convinced to join us because of Arteta and his project. He joined us because of the money and because Arsenal name is still synonymous with style and potential success. Willian joined us because… Read more »
Still think Arteta will persevere with the 343
City, Leicester, Man Utd, Villa, Leeds, Wolves, Spurs are the next seven matches. If we’re not going to create many chances, Arteta better pray the unlikely rate of finishing chances keeps up.
Will we see Cedric/Mari in the Europa squad do we think? Something real weird going on if those two are the ones that get the axe after having just been signed. No wonder Raul left
“This “project” talk is getting into a full-on retard mode.“
Ha ha, yes it has.
If anyone should know what joining in for the project should look like it should be Arsenal fans, seeing as that’s exactly what Arteta did coming over from Everton whilst taking less money so he could play for Wenger.
Auba, Willian, and now Partey have been put on higher wages than perhaps only a handful
( probably fewer) richest of clubs could’ve offered them, so the whole project thing is a bit weak to argue as such.
Guns Xhaka got a new deal early last year he is contracted until 2024
Yes you can register Mari and Soares for uefa and league cup still
I don’t think it will be Soares to miss out it will be ozil Marino’s out injured for a while still so it makes sense he is not registered
Also could free pap Sok and it would mean only one misses out
Tom Willian wages are around 150k a week not that high Auba deserves it and it would cost an awful lot of money to replace him
50m transfer fee and a wage of around 200k a week for his replacement it’s cheaper to give a proven player the money than let him move for free
It’s right about time fans give Kroenke a break. His big sin was keeping Wenger (and fkin Voldemort) for so long. Don’t think our wages and spending has been different to Liverpool for an instance. We have decent money to compete. He and Josh need to make sure the people they are hiring know what they are doing. They acted pretty fast with Raul, Diamond eye was shown the door too. There is a feeling that if you don’t perform you’re going to get fired. Exactly how it’s supposed to be. On a sidenote, it’s why it’s so absurd that… Read more »
Mr Serge
I’m not too concerned with what Arsenal decide to pay players to make them stay or join in.
Auba deal was a no brainer, Willian’s less so although he does make us better, and Partey fills the need we have had for a long, long time.
It’s the project narrative that gets overblown.
Interesting that even Chambers is in the PL squad (but not Cedric or Mari). Cedric and Mari must be *very* low on Arteta’s ladder.
Cedric’s omission could also possibly mean that Arteta has little intention of playing with four in the back. Yes, AMN could play RB if Bellerin were unavailable, but that’s proven less than ideal at times and Cedric is the more traditional RB.
Willian stating winning the CL within three years as a deciding factor was a nice touch though
RH
“Maybe the Kroenke abuse will stop now. He has allowed us spend every dime we make and now underwriting losses.”
Probably at least ten years too late …I think they call it closing the stable door after the horse has bolted..
I wouldn’t loan out any of our kids..let them play in the cup comps.
They could play as many as 10 games by the end of January/ February, plus they may get game time in the prem when the inevitable injuries hit around Christmas.
If they join a championship club , there is no guarantee that they will secure a place in the team.
The Kroenke are not underwriting the losses out of their good heart. They owns Arsenal, they have no choice other than underwriting the losses or selling Arsenal. If they really wanted to help, they could have given Arsenal a loan at 0% interest instead of having Arsenal take another loan on not so good terms to repay the initial loan with hefy penalty fees so that the new one did not have any covenant on minimum reserve cashflow. They are not leeches to the level of the Glazers, but they are not fans in it for the glory. Just absent… Read more »
Bamford chambers is in because we need 8 home grown players registered from the 25 same as holding bellerin AMN etc
Tom, They are trying to get the good vibes back in the club, the feel-good factor. You can’t blame them. There was a lot of negativity during Wenger’s late years. We need a fresh start. Arteta and the club need to set high standards, high goals, so everyone is 100% on their game. We are trying to be a footbal club again. I actually believe that Arteta has said it to Willian, and I actually believe that Arteta believed himself when he said it. He needs to push everyone to the limit this year so we can get back to… Read more »
Cedric omission is the proof that Arteta does not rate him good enough as backup to Bellerin. That shatters any pretence that he was brought as squad building.
I wonder who made the decision to give him a 4 years contract! More money down the drain.
Signing Willian improves us and probably turned to tide in our favour in signing Gabriel nothing like having a few compatriots in a team if you are coming to a new country it will help him assimilate quicker
Also look at the training ground picks Gabriel always arriving with either Willian or Luiz plus long term he has martinelli
Love the Partey signing, was always the one i wanted as wasn’t so impressed with just Aurora as the signing
Also, the remit for Arteta is to get back into the champions league either through the league or by winking the Europa league especially with the new additions. That has been the remit since we dropped down from the champions league for Wenger, for Emery and now for Arteta.
A bit disingenuous to now not be setting targets for Arteta if you ask me. Anything short of the champions league anthem at the Emirates next season and id consider this season to have been a failure but maybe that’s just me
TBH, I feel like a complete twat for trying to make a case for Ozil yesterday, to be fair though, this was before his latest stunt he pulled offering to pay the club mascot. He has been been registered for the season so it looks like this isn’t the last time we have seen him in a gunners jersey. Obviously this will have the fans divided, but like I said yesterday, we didn’t replace him so we might as well use him. We can hope that his time being frozen out has given him time to reflect coupled with being… Read more »
“Cedric omission is the proof that Arteta does not rate him good enough as backup to Bellerin. That shatters any pretence that he was brought as squad building.”
The bit we did see of Cedric wasn’t that bad, he puts in a decent cross. As an Arsenal fan, you gotta look for the positives or you’re in for a miserable life
Pierre Complete bullshit. The club has been spending *tons* of money for years now, including under late Wenger. When we needed to spend and didn’t spend, this was due to Arsene Wenger, his frugality, and his “old world” principles, not Stan Kroenke. It was Wenger who told a friend that if given 100m to spend on players, he’d give it back, not Stan Kroenke. The only way in which Kroenke ever held this club back was in that he placed full and complete faith in Arsene Wenger and in that he didn’t replace Wenger sooner or revise his role and… Read more »
football.london understands the date to register squads is October 20.
https://www.football.london/premier-league/premier-league-squads-register-date-19061023
As Pedro said, there is a lot of time left still. Nothing is final as things stand, I believe.
Mr. Serge
Thanks. That hadn’t occurred to me.
We don’t “need” 8 homegrown players unless we’re submitting a 25-man squad list.
It works the other way; clubs can only register 17 non-homegrown players.
Bamford
FYI
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://amp.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/7n20uz/epl_net_spend_for_top_6_clubs_over_the_last_15/&ved=2ahUKEwjr9d_xlqLsAhVztXEKHRzdAdwQFjAOegQIFRAB&usg=AOvVaw3ZD5sVJLOI2JmJYRV_84yN
What this shows is that in comparison , Arsenal’s net spend is a fraction of the other big clubs in the prem.
Camavinga with his 1st goal for France after 9´minutes
17 years-old…
Mari is a long term injury. Rumours were he would be out for the season.
Mr Serge.
Luiz & Williian are best mates, own a restaurant in London. They are both close to Edu too. Mari came from Flamenco in Brazil (although Spanish) & was recommended by Edu. Martinelli & Gabriel add to that Brazilian group. As you say it helps, especially younger players, with compatriots around. What is so good about this is the mix of experience with youth. Will benefit Martinelli who I personally really rate. Shame Mari suffered such a nasty injury he looked decent.