Well, you know it’s a sign of the non-banter era when the biggest international break debate is whether or not there’s a conspiracy against William Saliba because the club wants to loan him to a Championship team.
A few things I wanted to clarify.
Talent
I think he’ll be a top player. The signing, as a standalone investment, was kind of wild, but I think his first season in Ligue 1 showed that he has the tools to make it big for us at some point.
Business
Although I think the deal was bad business, I don’t think it was failed business. This should be a good signing. My overarching point was that signing him was a little bit like spending $16k of your £18k home-improvement budget on beer cooler… before you’ve addressed the fact you don’t have a roof or running water.
Ligue 1 Quality
I 100% believe the Championship slander is off the mark. It’s a very strong league that consistently produces top, top talent. Ligue 1 is superior technically, because France, as a general rule of thumb, does its shit right. However, there’s a reason only one teenage centre back managed more than 300 minutes of football in the last 4 seasons in the Premier League… because it is far more competitive. In France, nine U20 players were given +600 minutes (thank you @GiantGooner), why? Because it doesn’t boast the same pound for pound quality as the Premier League… and I think you’d find that our top Championship clubs would battle it out in the top 8 in Ligue 1.
Generational Stuff
People keep batting around the notion of ‘generational talent’, it’s the new hot thing to talk about. However, it’s worth reading up on the early years of VVD. Things weren’t going off for him at 19 years old. He was apparently ‘overtired’ from playing a season at Willem II reserves. Even more interesting than that, and something that might be a consdieration for Saliba is this little snippet from when the player was 17 years old.
Van Dijk’s long rise began the summer he turned 17, in 2008, when he shot up 18 centimeters (7 inches) in height. Before then, Van Dijk has admitted to the BBC, he was a slow, short right-back with an unstable knee, not a player who was good enough to dominate as a central defender.
Saliba is 6ft4, has a huge frame, and he’s only 19 (debuted younger). That’s rapid growth. That sometimes comes with challenges that are best ironed out outside a top 4 challenging team in the Premier League.
Back to VVD, things eventually clicked at Groningen. He then moved to… Celtic. He left Celtic at 24 to go to Southampton. This generational talent didn’t make it to Liverpool until he was 27 years old. Why am I telling you this? Because we need to drop the idea that this loan says anything about Saliba’s future, and we need to take seriously the reality that it is VERY hard to make it as a young centre back at a big club.
MOVING ON…
The Premier League announced that we, the fans, can watch all the games this season. The games that aren’t shown on the normal channels can be purchased for £14.95. Wow, what a treat?!
This is a dreadful decision that reads like it has been made by a group of people that would be more likely to know the exact price of an AP Royal Oak, than that of a pint of milk.
The pricing structure makes so little sense on so many levels. Firstly, shouldn’t the league be looking to draw in new customers, versus hammering people you know will already pay £20 for a ticket (the captives)? The price point is so high, you immediately rule out casual fans from the party, that’s money only obsessives pay.
Also, is that sort of price point not a bit detached from humanity in an era of mass unemployment? There aren’t many places to find joy right now. Food, booze, and sport is where I get my kicks. Making football really expensive right now seems really unfair. It’s also counter-productive, because the thing with the internet, is if people think the price is too high, they simply find it for free. The music industry learned that the hard way, then Spotify reimagined its structure for the internet. I’m not sure why the Premier League thinks gouging fans is a smart move?
£5 would be fair. £7.50 would be pricey. £10 for me would be a monthly subscription. £14.95 is just a rip off… it is especially jarring when you consider clubs just dropped £1.2b on players. Between them, the couldn’t come to arrangement to calm down the pricetags and wages of players… so they just dumped the bill on the fans.
I speak out of both sides of my mouth because the reality is I love the signings and I’ll pay the price of the games… but as always, it’s a losing game to be a fan. Still, at least we can all be skint watching Thomas Partey beating the press.
Right, that’s me done, tune into our podcast if you like to hear things. Also, sign up to the newsletter by giving you e-mail to the the box on the right (desktop) or scroll to the bottom if you are on mobile.
I’ll also get you some darker font colors for the comments box.
1st
And
The
2nd
Boom!
Tr4phy
4th its then
Damn you g14 (and USG)
I was aiming for Europa spot.
The Saliba bitching is truly something else, have read that a loan to the championship isn’t in the players best interests and it’s a short term thought. Like what… it’s clearly the exact opposite, they’re plotting his next step to best ensure he becomes the player we all hope he can be. He might be vastly more talented than many on the books, but if he can’t get the game time that we think he’s in need of then we’re not helping ourselves with him at all. Reading tales of Arteta devaluing players too, some truly odd views getting surfaced… Read more »
Relax – the price is perfectly okay. Most times one guy would get pay the 15 quid and call a bunch of his friends over. Per person it will come down 2/3 quid.
How could I forget Martinelli… Benched in favor of Nketiah, Nelson, Saka? Anyone I missed? Biggest impact benching of Martinelli? Being a sub against Olympiacos for 105 minutes (yes, he only got a chance in the ET), when we were so shit to oblivion. His 3 changes, before Martinelli being the 4th, were Torreira, Willock and Sokratis, in a game we were bossed around by the Greek team at the Emirates losing 0-1 since the 53rd minute, with our first shot on goal coming at the 77th minute. Martinelli, surprisingly or not, was in the box to fight for a… Read more »
Raptora… Auba plays in his position?
Correct me if I’m wrong… but we gave him a new contract, which is an odd show of faith for a blackballed player.
Relax – the price is perfectly okay. Most times one guy would get pay the 15 quid and call a bunch of his friends over. Per person it will come down 2/3 quid.
And a £1,000 fine?
Pedro,
Martinelli can play anywhere in a front 3. He was used as a LW mostly but has at least 2 games for us as RW vs Frankfurt and Burnley. He also played the CF for us in most Europa group stage matches and in Carabao cup. Actually his statistic as a CF is in 5 games he has 7 goals including braces vs Not. Forest, Liverpool and Standard Liege. Nketiah is a better choice according to Arteta. So was Nelson as a LW compared to Pepe and Martinelli.
The only thing more boring than the Saliba debate is the Ozil debate , and reading ( skipping) the Legrove top four race.
The fact he’s 19 and a CB in the most physically demanding of leagues should be the beginning and the end of why he’s not ready to play debate.
Asking whether the money was spent wisely has some merit but that’s about it.
Sorry Pedro, I know your beer cooler/roof analogy was tongue in cheek but it’s dumb and not helping.
Arteta should speak to Saliba honestly and communicate his take on him going to a championship club (Brentford, Watford) to get game time and get a feel of English game.
If William prefers to stay close to home then, January we give him what he wants. Case closed!
“Ligue 1 is superior technically”✔
” I think you’d find that our top Championship clubs would battle it out in the top 8 in Ligue 1.” poor attempt at spin
Unless diet pep prefers Championship football over superior technical football
Just to be clear about certain details, let’s note that when Saliba was signed in late July 2019, we already had the following CBs under contract at the club: Sokratis Mustafi Holding Mavropanos Chambers Koscielny was out, as he indicated in early July that he wanted out, and he was sold in early August. To replace Koscielny and to make sure we had a CB who was available immediately, they signed Luiz in August 2019, right after selling Koscielny. Therefore, given that we had five CBs — six if you count Mavropanos — who could play right away, I don’t… Read more »
I think with martinelli Arteta was just trying not to overplay. Technically he could play anywhere up front and in particular he and Auba could switch LW and CF. All ironic really given his current serious injury
The total Saliba outlay over four years under current conditions would be around 37m, so if he’s even marginally better than Mustafi in four years time, it still would’ve been worth it.
I do agree that Saliba could have been used in Europa group stages and in the League/FA cups. That’s 8 games guaranteed until late January when he could have been sent to a Championship team if we so desired. Have him for half a year, let him train with the team, see where he’s at, show him the level he needs to be, then if needed loan him for the remainder of the season where there are no easy games left so he won’t be playing as much. Arteta’s move is more of a manager who doesn’t like what he’s… Read more »
Curtains for Saliba, jesus christ. He’s 19. Get a grip.
As Saliba has not been included in the Europa squad, it is imperative a loan is found for him. I hope therefore the Brentford discussions work out to allow him to get used to English football and London and indeed the English language. With a bt of luck we may develop some goodwill with brentford seeing as though they have 2 or 3 players of interest to us.
Ideally a loan with option to purchase on Benrhama but probably more likely Raya
Raptora, not sure you’re learning much from three teams most hadn’t heard of until last week.
Given how much we heard about how Arteta helped to develop Sane and Sterling, it’s strange that we haven’t heard more about how he is bringing Pepe along. After all, Pepe is a raw, young 72m wide striker; you would think that he is precisely the kind of player that Arteta would be able to develop and raise to a much higher level.
Has anyone read anything about how Arteta is bringing Pepe along? Does anyone have any thoughts on how Arteta is (or is not) bringing Pepe along?
Jamie brace yourself. These people ain’t thinking straight no more. I wonder where CG is these days seems they’re all vying for his throne
Aasim
I’d agree – but for it to cost £2 per person, that means 7.5 people would have watch the game. Anything more than 6 is currently illegal in the UK.
If anything this price point is going to encourage illegal streaming, rather than deter it.
Curtains for a 19 yr old CB based on a loan? Dramatic take to say the least.
In a year’s time we will have offloaded Luiz, Sokratis, Mustafi and probably Chambers so Saliba will fit in nicely then, being far more Prem ready than he is now. Even then i suspect he will be an understudy to Rob Holding for most of that season before cementing his position alongside Gabriel..
Bamford IMO Pepe’s major problem is that he’s too laid back and struggles to understand tactical demands. He was having the same issue with the ivorian national team. He seems a very slow learner.
Northbanker
“understudy to Rob Holding”
God, I hope not. Holding is not very good.
By beginning of January actually. 3rd round FAC is 8-11 of January. 8 games guaranteed and you still have time until the end of the Winter window to send him to a Championship team struck by a CB injury crisis where he would automatically start.
Bamford 17.24
He usually brings him in a pram?
For gods sake Bambo get a life asking
mundane trivial shitttttt.
Bamford – I think part of the Pepe plan was to bring Willian in so he can be a mentor to him and a kick up the backside as well. I’m sure Willian is ultimately going to feature centrally especially now we failed to sign a CAM. At worst he will be one of the first choice subs to change the game as he did against Sheff Utd.
I’m quite confident MA will coax the best out of him but it will be a gradual process.
Saliba is really going to miss out against Irish farmers in the EL, Championship still getting embarrassing poverty treatment.
He’s a fucking teenager, he’s moving from a mid table side in France to a side that has every right to be aiming for CL places in the PL. Was a hopeful and romantic notion he was about to turn up and be a starter here, oh well, curtains now ffs? my god.
Charles arteta is the big bad wolf remember? He even minimized torreiras worth can you imagine?
Players develop at different rate, obviously, as someone has already mentioned growing into and becoming in full control of oneself after a growth spurt might be an issue with Saliba.
When Wenger passed over Bale and picked Walcott from the Southampton academy instead nobody questioned his decision at the time.
How did that work out?
Northbanker, if Arteta could sell him, he’d be gone. Not his sort of player.
Still, he was promising against Sheffield United, if he can find his confidence more consistently, he might be a weapon this season.
Pete
So do you see us selling Pepe next summer?
I have no idea Bamford, not if football stays this way or Jorge Mendes fancies helping us out.
Tom, then he went to Spurs and he was shit for a bit. Didn’t Redknapp try to sell him?
Raulishuss Yea sorry, Arteta is here binning good players and devaluing the cream because……… Oh, have yet to actually see the ‘reasons’ behind that idea explained. Suppose that’s the part where you’ve to just shut up and accept what’s being said on the matter even if it’s senseless. Not like we’ve shown the first signs in years of improvement on a real level, backed with a complete script rewrite end of last season to win the FA cup. I’ve no idea how Arteta lasted the summer with all he’s done against institutions like Pepe and Torreira, now Saliba. Talent killer… Read more »
“Food, booze, and sport is where I get my kicks.”
How about chicks!
15 Euros for a game is absolutely disgusting. I live in India and for about 12 Euros a YEAR I get to watch about 95-99% (sometime they dont show a match or 2 if the schedule is too tight and two of the big 6 are playing each other at the same time as us) of all Arsenal’s Premier league games. Some seasons I get all the matches. This type of broadcasting system is very good for the top 6 fans as we get to match most/all of our matches for pennies. But in India there arent many fans who… Read more »
Tierney, pounds, so even worse
“Tom, then he went to Spurs and he was shit for a bit. Didn’t Redknapp try to sell him?“
Pedro, not sure if Redknapp wanted to sell him but he wasn’t anything special , and I remember Arsenal fans thought we got the better of the two for at least three seasons or so.
Laugh all you want at what I said it could be curtains for Saliba.
It happened to Guendouzi, no? From 82 games in an Arsenal shirt in 2 seasons (absolutely massive number), more than 60 starts, to not making squad in 11 games in a row to getting loaned for a season. See if many people could have predicted it 6 or 12 months ago when he was starting every game. Yet it happened.
Raptora
Do you have inside info of Saliba being a fucking melt?
Because that’s why Guendouzi no longer kicks a ball for Arsenal despite your protestations that Arteta is here to kill talent in his first managerial job where all eyes are firmly on him.
It happened to Guendouzi, no?
Does Saliba have a history of disciplinary problems too?
CC,
I read Saliba is being loaned cause he goes to ground too much, when he was 3rd in Europe when it came to successful tackling and 1v1s won. Zero fouls committed in the process. It sounds like an extremely valid reasoning. Or just finding any type of excuse.
15 pounds is insane in this day an age.
When you have spotify and netflix/prime like services for around 8quid a month for the full catalogue
I think Arsenal might be playing with three CBs (and two CMs) for some time to come, maybe even another 18 months. I just don’t see this CB pairing that is going to allow us to play in a back four. Theoretically, you could play Luiz and Gabriel together in a back four, but you’d have to hold a low line to make it work, and even then there would be questions about Luiz in a back four. Therefore I think we could be watching Arsenal play in a three-CB set-up for another 18 months or so. You tell me… Read more »
Who was it yesterday that said Saliba is an adult?
Was that you Pedro?
He is still a teenager and although, legally, he becomes an adult at 18, as far as I’m concerned he’s still a long way off adulthood.
What were we all doing at 19.
I was at college, understanding the significance of ‘the yard of ale contests’ and driving around in a clapped out Mini Cooper.
I read Saliba is being loaned cause he goes to ground too much,
But no quotes from Arteta to substantiate this.
Any facts to support your theories?
For a guy who hasn’t played even one game for us, Saliba is getting a lot of attention and traction. Also don’t like the premature comparision with the likes of VVD and Rio.
Personally, I know who I would choose if I was offered Gareth Bale on loan for 9 million for a season or a 19 year old centre back for 27 million, who will be sent on loan for another season , with no guarantee that he will ever play for Arsenal football club . If Saliba is not good enough to even start in the league cup , that is not Arteta’s fault . However, if it turns out that Saliba has breached the non negotiables or similar and is being gently eased out of the club, then the blame… Read more »
Raptora
Genuine question, do you think YOU (or any Joe bloggs) has superior stats at hand on Saliba than Arsenal FC who spent 27 million pound on him?
Now, I’m not saying that deferring to authority is always the choice, but the argument you’re putting forward is making for painful reading. The comparison of Saliba and Guendouzi is incoherent, what point are you making? Guendouzi is hardly reaping the benefit of all those games in an Arsenal shirt is he, if you want to be silly about it?
Saliba couldn’t even buy beer in the greatest country Jesus himself has ever created, so how can anyone expect him to start at CB for the greatest football club in the world.
Karsa The below is from James Olley: “Yet Saliba is set to join a Championship club before the Oct. 16 deadline — Watford and Brentford are among the possible destinations — as a result of Arteta’s assertion the centre-back is not ready for regular Premier League football. The deal to sign Saliba was struck during Unai Emery’s tenure but Arteta and his backroom staff believe the 19-year-old needs more time to develop despite impressing in Ligue 1. Sources told ESPN that they would like to see the Frenchman improve in defending set-pieces and mature in style, notably avoiding diving into… Read more »
Tom thinks it’s because Saliba has had a growth spurt.
Pedro I agree 100% with your viewpoint that Saliba will not be impacted by playing one season in Championship. There are plenty of top class Centre Backs who have played down the years in similar fashion either in lower English Leagues or elsewhere. Van Dijk played in a lower league until the age of 24 and so did I believe Maguire. I agree also as I posted previously that it was a mistake loaning back to St Etienne last season. It is interesting that the loan deal back to St Etienne in this window fell through because Arsenal insisted that… Read more »
Pierre, not sure lacking the right level of fitness and experience is a breach of the non-negotiables.
Let’s not have Untold Arsenal conspiracy theories on here.
Bamford10
The below is from James Olley:
Zero quotes from Arteta though.
Pierre, not the worst guess going. Rapid growth causes all sorts of teething problems in young athletes.
CC,
Long may live Arteta’s judgement. Long may live the One who knows!
Karsa So what if we don’t have a quote from Arteta? You’re not going to get a quote from the manager on a million stories. That doesn’t mean there’s nothing to the reporting. If a James Olley writes, “Arteta and his backroom staff believe the 19-year-old needs more time to develop” and “sources told ESPN that they would like to see the Frenchman improve in defending set-pieces and mature in style, notably avoiding diving into tackles,” you can generally regard that as reliable. It’s clear they think he needs more time and experience and maturity. This is why he’s going… Read more »
“Tom thinks it’s because Saliba has had a growth spurt.”
Pierre, maybe, maybe not. I couldn’t tell because I haven’t seen him play, nor have I even looked him up yet.
But I’ll tell you this much friend, when the news broke we had signed him and everyone was full of excitement I said on here he wasn’t gonna play in Arsenal’s first eleven fore a long while.
Seeing as you pride yourself as being footballistically( yea I said it) astute , I’m surprised you didn’t see it coming.
“ However, if it turns out that Saliba has breached the non negotiables or similar and is being gently eased out of the club, then the blame lays solely with Arteta. Of course , we will never learn the truth..all I can say is Saliba must be a seriously weak defender”
In case you were wondering this is what it looks like when an old fart tries to troll people. Don’t let the stink get to you. It lingers for a bit but usually goes away without much harm done.
If , and it is only an if, Saliba is not considered good enough for our 2nd string side , why would a middle to top championship side consider taking him on loan. I would say the championship is a tougher league to perform in than Europa or league cup football.. It must cast some serious doubts to these clubs as to whether Saliba is of sufficient quality. Personally, I wouldnt know but he must have serious flaws in his game for Arteta to not consider him good enough for our 2nd string… Another excuse is he’s too young …did… Read more »
I can safely say that after ten years of following Le Grove closely, it’s the first time I felt really bored with the comments section. Pedro should had never continued the useless debate by following up with a second blog.
CC, The reason a lot of people expected Saliba to start for Arsenal is that most who had seen play thought that he was ready to play. And not just anonymous guy on a blog, but His coach Claude Puel, his U18 coach Jean-Luc Vannuchi, his U21 coach Sylvain Ripoll, his teammate former France and Arsenal right-back Matthieu Debuchy. In Saliba breakout season 18/19, ASSE finished 4th, the next season where Saliba was injured most of it, ASSE finished much lower. Maybe he was one of the reason they fared so well. Maybe he was one of the reason why… Read more »
Pierre, he’s not robust enough. It’s not a talent issue, which is why he will find a club. Ligue 1 is easy on young players, the PL is not. It is very, very simple why he is going out on loan.
I think Guemboozy wants me to post my power rankings. ; -)
It all adds up to one thing…Arteta doesn’t fancy him as a player . Nothing to do with age , growth spurts death in the family , injured foot, has not played sufficient games and a few othe excuses. There is nothing wrong with that , it is the manager’s prerogative as to who he plays or leaves out, after all it his hos job that is on the line. When you add it all up , not playing Saliba makes absolutely no difference to this season’s results, so I don’t know what the big deal is . Just another… Read more »
Valentin, surely you didn’t expect Saliba’s coaches and teammates say he wasn’t ready?!?!
Bamford
I’m not sure what your point is.
My point is numerous posts have stated that Arteta has said that Saliba is useless at set pieces and can’t stay on his feet whilst tackling.
My point is that he hasn’t said anything of the sort.
A journalist has attributed such suggestion to ‘back room’ staff. Sounds a bit like ‘an unnamed source’ to me.
It all adds up to one thing…Arteta doesn’t fancy him as a player .
This is it in a nutshell. Add the word ‘yet’ and it’s spot on.
‘Just another 20 odd million down the drain ..
Kronkes got enough, a drop in the ocean for him ‘
Pierre,
Or maybe it’s a smart financial decision ( a rarity for sure) since he’s the only Arsenal CB on small enough wages who’s willing to go out on loan anywhere, as opposed to the rest of our CB roster.
Tom,
Not everybody has an agenda when they give their opinion. Sometimes they just give a honest opinion.
Claude Puel wanted Saliba for an extra season and could have said that he is not ready and needs to spend another year with us. That would have suited his agenda a lot more, but He did not. He did not say the same thing for Wesley Fofana…
Debuchy has always be honest in giving his assessment of players. That caused him issues with the players. Some players who were leaving ASSE were not ready.
“Not everybody has an agenda when they give their opinion. Sometimes they just give a honest opinion.”
This statement has been brought to you by its proud sponsor, Valentin’s agenda.
Would be a wet dream of his to have all his “honest opinions” accepted as he intends. The fact he’s referencing Pierre in this statement is unintentional comedy at the highest level.
Karsa,
When 4 newspapers have the same quote, either they have copied each of their in which case they mentioned according to, as reported by, or they have been given off the record info.
In view of the wording it is clear that they have all been given an off the record interview and that this info come from Arteta’s backroom staff. Most of such off the record communication is done with the full agreement of Arsenal management including Arteta.
This is just PR 101.
‘Given how much we heard about how Arteta helped to develop Sane and Sterling, it’s strange that we haven’t heard more about how he is bringing Pepe along. After all, Pepe is a raw, young 72m wide striker; you would think that he is precisely the kind of player that Arteta would be able to develop and raise to a much higher level.’ I have yet to see much evidence that Pepe is close to these two other players in terms of ability tbh Bamford. Sane was fantastic for Pep at Citeh at a much younger age [21-24] as was… Read more »
‘doesn’t fancy him’
Is obviously true at this moment.
The rest of your comment is just you projecting what you hope is the case.
Valentin,
Wenger thought Walcott was ready for England’s World Cup squad at seventeen, or did he?
When players get bought or called up into situations suggesting advancement coaches and teammates usually support them anyway they can, usually by a positive comment.
One would wonder if Arteta doesn’t see Saliba as good enough to play in Europa + domestic cups, where he would have had guaranteed games, compared to the uncertainty of having to go to a Championship club where we’ve seen what happened for Nketiah – 2 starts in 5 months with Leeds, Nelson – 5 starts in a full season with Hoffenheim, Gnabry – 0 starts in a full season with West Brom.
We have some record loaning players now don’t we.
Luteo, Revert to type, when you can’t win on the argument, smear, insult, belittle people you disagree. Arteta is entitled to not rate Saliba, but that does not mean that you have to be a fool and take all he says for gospel. When he said everybody starts from a clean slate, what he really means is that Everybody start from a clean state but not you Guendouzi, Mesut, Torreira and now Saliba. I can spot favouritism. Saliba and Holding have to be absolutely awful in training to rather play Luiz in a back 4 and watch him as he… Read more »
Valentin, you talk about Claude Puel like he’s some sort of legendary manager we should all be paying attention to. Guy hasn’t won a trophy in 20 years, he tanked at Leicester, and now he’s managing an St Etienne who finished 17th last season.
Who cares that he wanted Saliba back?
Originally wasn’t mad keen on the Championship loan for Saliba but after mulling it over, it’s a good move I reckon. Gives him a year experience of English football and to be honest, the Championship is at a high level these days when you look at some of the players that have made the jump to the PL and are still there even in Watkins, Benrahma, Mitrovic, Bamford, etc who Saliba would be facing on a near weekly basis. He’s 19 and he’s a CB, they simply take a bit longer to break out than forwards do and it makes… Read more »
Pierre
“It all adds up to one thing … Arteta doesn’t fancy him as a player.”
Complete nonsense. If Saliba were 26 or so — not 19 — it might make sense to interpret the situation that way. Given he’s 19, given how highly he is rated, and given the reporting we have, the reasonable conclusion to draw is that Arteta thinks Saliba is a little immature and needs more time to develop. It is *not* reasonable to conclude that he simply “doesn’t fancy the player”.
Tom,
When the Swedish lothario asked Wenger if Walcott was ready, he thought he was being asked to be part of the squad and learn from the experience, not being an automatic starter.
He would have been a perfect substitute in games when the defense was tiring. The problem is that the press presented his inclusion as the end for some of the stars who did not appreciate that. The coach then subsequently loss his bottle and did not play him at all.
Anyway that comment is completely irrelevant with the Saliba situation.
Well said Bamford
“Overall, he has yet to even remotely justify the 72 million we spent on him given he’s not even a dead cert for a starting spot half the time and we’re hardly stacked, are we?“
And most likely he never will so the sooner people get over the inflated price Pepe had absolutely nothing to do with setting on himself, the better off you are going to be.
The better and more fair approach of judging Pepe the player might be based on his salary.
“Long may live Arteta’s judgement. Long may live the One who knows!“
See, this sort of comment just about confirms the sentiment behind your posts.
Instead of thinking the person running the multimillion pound sports team has info you might not, you’re happy to hypothesise all manner of bollocks (and I say that kindly) in place of what’s a pretty basic observation to many.
Pedro sept 11 2020: “My overarching concern here is that we’ve spent years trying to move away from a superstar manager structure, and we’ve just walked right back into one. If things go well, then the concern is moot… the problems come when things go badly, or, the superstar manager leaves. What are you left with?” We are a manager centric club again. We changed Wenger with Arteta. I hope he deserves what the club is doing for him, cause as it stands he is absolutely the main figure by far. He has the power and every decision of his… Read more »
‘And most likely he never will so the sooner people get over the inflated price Pepe had absolutely nothing to do with setting on himself, the better off you are going to be.’ Na, not having that. Come on, that’s a crock of shite. Clearly the amount that you spend on a player comes into assessing his performances, if you buy a player for 72 million and are getting the production of a 20 million player out of him, you have a big problem. We’re not in a position to be chucking around such silly money at a player unless… Read more »
“When the Swedish lothario asked Wenger if Walcott was ready, he thought he was being asked to be part of the squad and learn from the experience, not being an automatic starter.“
said Wenger after it became painfully obvious Walcott wasn’t ready and media made a bit of stink about it.
Not like Wenger to spin things up a little when needed.
I’m sure Sven asked Wenger whether Walcott was ready for a World Cup “experience “ and his suitability to the team got lost in translation lol.
You can compare players as much as you like, but at the end if he has the pedigree and the right coaching , then the player will flourish. We have signed loads of wonder kids over the years like Walcott ,Chamberlain et all. But none of them, none of them came close to be even called a good player. Forget about being great, They were decent footballer at the most. So lets stop this hoopla about some young player. Only time will tell if he is good enough. Its ok to get excited, but lets stop at that. Keep your… Read more »
Pedro, Claude Puel is not a good manager, but in France everybody agree that he is a terrific coach. He knows players and when you see the list of players who have improved under him it is impressive. Even at Leicester where he got into a fight with Vardy, he gave a chance to a lot of young players. Regarding Saliba you keep using the argument that he is not physically ready, I am sorry but this is patently wrong. This is why the leaked stories don’t mention that. Saliba is a unit, who is more than capable of handling… Read more »