TRANSFER DEADLINE DAY: HOW THE SEASON SHAPES FROM HERE

by .

Well, the weekend was very interesting.

Spurs lost. Leicester lost. UNITED DROPPED POINTS LOLOLOL. Everton lost.

Project #Top4 Hope continues, even if unlikely.

What has been interesting is reading a whole number of Arsenal fans trying to reframe the last 5 weeks to keep up the pretense that actually, they were right.

Here’s some things we need to deal with.

The Squad

Arteta stumbling on ESR as a creative solution isn’t a problem. In the apocalypse, if you stored canned fruit, no one would say… ‘fuck that guy and his peaches, that was luck.’ Arteta and his backroom staff massively rated ESR, they kept him around when they could have loaned him, so ‘stumbling’ on him is a bit like calling the canned fruit guy a wanker for being well prepared.

Reacting Under Pressure

I’m also seeing a lot of ‘he caved under pressure’ with the kids. Well, sure, he changed tact. But when you cave, you generally don’t do something more risky. Going with youth was always the right thing to do, but let’s not pretend that was easy option. The easy option would have been to bring Mesut back into the mixer. To whine in the press about a lack of talent. To stick with experience. Going with the kids was balls out, especially against Chelsea. Dropping Willian and Luiz was a big move. It worked, thankfully.

Also, we live in this weird world where people think changing strategy is a sign of weakness. NO. Pivoting in the face of new information is the adult thing to do. ‘haha, you changed to get to the right solution’ in any real-world situation would not be something that you’d say… because people would call you a fucking moron.

He was close to the sack

Here’s the big one, ‘he only did it because he was nearing the sack.’ Actually, he wasn’t. Not at any point. Arsenal didn’t flinch. They told the world he was part of the longterm plan. They held their ground. This seemed to have worked.

Chelsea is called elite because they fire loads of managers. I think this is an incorrect assessment. Sacking people isn’t elite, it’s a luxury. Players at that club have a direct line into leadership. When things go south, they whine, they’re listened to, they normally get their way.

We are thankfully not Chelsea. Vinai and Edu stuck to their guns and it paid off. The players found out the hard way that they couldn’t down tools on Arteta. The club shipped out the problem players. They totally backed the manager. This might have been because they didn’t have a plan. It could have been that they worried for their own careers if this decision went down the shitter, but whatever it was, so far, it looks smart.

Aston Villa didn’t fire Dean Smith after a narrow miss last season, that decision looks smart right now.

Southampton didn’t fire Ralph Hassenhutl last season, that looks really smart right now.

Brighton didn’t fire Graham Potter, again, it hasn’t fully paid off, but it looks pretty smart now.

That said, if Arteta had been fired, it would have been fair. You couldn’t have argued it. However, it might have set a Chelsea like precedent with the players.

So, moving on. It’s transfer deadline day. The club is in far better shape than it was. There’s a vision forming and the football is getting better.

Today, I really hope Ben Knapper pulls his finger out and moves on the players we need to move on.

The back half of the season is about preparation for next season, which will look a little more like normality.

Joe Willock and Reiss Nelson made a fuss about not leaving last summer. That ‘we’ll be good’ experiment failed dismally. Time to get some game time into their legs and get them firing. There can be no excuses for them staying. They aren’t going to play and we have no cup games for them.

AMN, a player I really like, needs to find a loan. If his beef with the club is that he wants to play as a midfielder, we need to find him a club that’ll give him midfield minutes. I think I’d prefer to see him at West Brom than Leicester or Southampton. He should go and play for Sam Allardyce and be a star. Keep them up.  Sharpen the concentration. Learn the lessons Serge G did in the midlands. Come back to Arsenal next season a more mature player.

Callum Chambers also needs minutes. He has a 43 year deal with Arsenal, so it’s important he gets back to full fitness. The path is blocked at Arsenal. I think he could be really useful for us and apparently he’s a bit of a gem at the training ground. Get him to a club and develop him. He was doing great things before that horrendous injury.

Then we need to move on Mustafi. Get him out. He’s played 43 minutes for us in the Premier League this season, give him no more. It’s so sad to see a 28-year-old see out his deal for the money. What a waster.

Players in

Unless it’s more loans, I really don’t see the point in spunking money on 30-year-olds. We have cover in most positions. Go with it. No more deals for players fading physically.

New deals

I really, really can’t stand listening to Arteta pump David Luiz the way he does. His one true weakness is a men in their thirties. He CANNOT possibly be considering a new deal for a player that was all over the place earlier in the season. You ‘hope’ it’s just fluff talk to get us to the end of the season, but we’ve seen him double down on his love once before, so who knows. That temptation should be killed.

Same with Lacazette as well. I love what the player has given us, but it’s time for the next plan. We need to be thinking about fresh blood. We have to ship him out.

Summer transfers

The hope is that we’ll make some cash this summer. Covid vaccines are rolling out, which is superb. That’ll mean fans will be back in the ground. That should awaken the markets. Matteo G will fetch a pretty penny, the Fail-Enders who don’t cut it will bring in good fee, and Torreira will have plenty of suiters. If we can rake in £70m, that’ll give us what we need for a world class centre midfielder and the loan fee for Odegaard for next season.

The remainder of this season is low pressure. Rack up points for a speculative run at top 4 (8 points to 4th now). Try and win the Europa League. See how the team handles the next blip that’ll arrive.

All eyes are on next season though… we need to see the project come together for a full 9 months. Fingers crossed, we’re shaping up nicely.

P.S. We dropped an ON THE WHISTLE with Johnny (check out his Youtube), Dom, and Matt. It is a GOOD conversation. Tune in.

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Emiratesstroller

Interesting that Arsenal are loaning out two players Willock and Maitland-Niles who earlier today I suggested should be moved on as they are unlikely to make the starting lineup at
the club.

What needs to be discussed now is whether Arsenal will offer playing time in first team for
youngsters in Arsenal U23s. It will not surprise me that one or two will be sitting on bench
this season.

Crimson

I hate skysports. Just full of empty airheads. I watched for 5 minutes. It hurts my brain.

I hate Green Bay

Pierre is either living with his grandparents or is on meth-amphetamines. No other explanation.

I hate Green Bay

The only good thing about Sky Sport News is the tits.

Pierre

Jamie “Guys, cut Pierre some slack. He’s finding it hard to celebrate anything since Ozil moved to Turkey.” Before you all start jumping on the Pierre hasn’t a clue bandwagon, I’m finding lots to celebrate actually, I called it perfectly back in December when we were sitting in 15th position in the league. In mid December i predicted that Arteta would turn it around and that he just needs the luck to turn . I predicted we needed injuries or suspensions to give the young guns a chance. I predicted that Arteta would stumble into a line up and system… Read more »

Pierre

“PierreDecember 26, 2020    12:11:20

Un
Have to agree with you , I’m hoping he learns from his mistakes but the decision to play runnarson v city was a strange one. .

I have a feeling he will stumble on his best line up more by accident than design.”

Pierre

“PierreDecember 24, 2020    18:43:03 6 weeks ago , I warned that a relegation battle would be on the cards due to our lack of creativity in the side. 6 weeks ago, I was slaughtered on here for even mentioning relegation. Seems like you’re all a little late to the party .. Actually, I think we will be fine , it will be a slow turnaround but I have seen enough to convince me that mid table or possibly 6/7/8 th is achievable as long as we can keep 11 men on the field, stop the own goals and start believing… Read more »

Pierre

“PierreDecember 16, 2020    00:02:14 The difference between Emery and Arteta is that Emery took over a team that finished the previous season scoring at a rate over 3 goals a game in Wenger’s last 8 home matches and that open expansive play continued into the first third of Emery’s first season. However , once Emery’s football philosophy took hold our results and performances regressed and then we all know how it ended for Emery the following season. Arteta took over a team that was on it’s knees and to his credit slowly brought Arsenal back into contention for a champions… Read more »

Jamie

Pierre quoting himself.

Proper meltdown.

Pierre

Yep , called it spot on…

Plenty to celebrate thanks ..

Pierre

It’s all about having an opinion Jamie……you should try it sometimes

Crimson

Pierr. Nobody cares

Pierre

Crimson
Have a look at the previous comments and then tell me nobody cares what I say..

I said this window is nothing to celebrate and they all come out of the woodwork.

AFC Forever

Arsenal has had the best transfer window. They are begrudgingly admitting it on Sky now. If you think about what Mikel Arteta said in the News Conference last month & what he wanted Arsenal to do in this transfer window, he’s got his way. He said he needed to offload players, send them out on loan because “I can’t work with a squad that is this big” He then said, “If we get enough business done then maybe I can bring in an attacking midfielder” So he freed up enough wages and space in the squad and bought in Odegaard.… Read more »

G

Good post, only point disagree on is that during that run if we had sacked MA it would have been stupid and harsh..
A good transfer window all in all.. Ozil,Soc, Kia, and Mustafi out..think most Arsenal fans would of hoped for that..

Crimson

You opinion is invalid. Pierre
I read all and you are a silly goose

MidwestGun

Damn Pierre your having a bad day,? huh… lighten up, no need to dig out the archive qoutes. Sorry but.. I’m gonna celebrate a transfer window we get rid of Mustafi, Papa and Ozil … New spine.. Gabs/ Holding and ESR going forward think we have learned a little something. Old senior dudes weren’t good enough and were malingering but now they are gone for good replaced by youth movement .. Feels like spring cleaning. Get rid of that high dollar driver which was good 5 years ago and use the one with modern technology you won at the raffle… Read more »

G

Pierre forget mid table..I reckon top 6 all day long which to me she b a minimum requirement

Crimson

Nothing really matters…

Time Up

Pierre,

You also told us Ozil is a football player for the last 2 years!.

So, you got something wrong too.

Graham62

Is this le-grove or is it le Pierre.

Who in their right mind would quote themselves?

Sad really.

Pierre

Mid “Damn Pierre your having a bad day,? huh… lighten up, no need to dig out the archive qoutes.” Ha , just reminding the snide jamie who likes to dig out old quotes of mine.. Having a nice day actually, The window changes nothing on the pitch , absolutely nothing . Odegaard is a back up and has to reach match fitness, so he may (or may not) add something to the squad.. The rest is irrelevant as they don’t affect what I’m watching during a game.as they have been sitting on their arse doing nothing for months….so nothing to… Read more »

AFC Forever

Often you hear managers say it’s going to take a few windows to sort things out but what we have seen under Arteta/Edu is, in a short period of time, they have addressed the problems he inherited and which we have all been complaining about.

Putting agenda or bias to one side, surely everyone on here is pleased with what we have done this window, getting rid of the deadwood, the toxicity within & trimming the squad.

Jamie

Pierre’s distraught because a bunch of Wenger boys have left this window. Shame they were worth a combined £0 in transfer fees.

Time Up

In Pierre case,

He’s experiencing the second stage, which’s anger, after the denial stage in his grieving has passed.

MidwestGun

Pierre I think your being a bit curmudgeonly .. due to previous attachments..

Sometimes it feels good to lighten the load… There is no possibility ever again of Mustafi and co. messing up my game days.. That makes me happy.

AFC Forever

Midwest

“Feels like spring cleaning”.

Love that comment.

salparadisenyc

One really has to put effort in to NOT take positives from this window.

AFC Forever

Who can be unhappy about never having to see Mustafi sliding 20 yards on his arse again, only to miss-control the ball and give it straight back to the striker?

Pierre

Crimson
“You opinion is invalid”

Back in December, pedro and all his disciples had given up on Arteta , they had written him off …

My point is, I could see a change despite the fact we were losing every week and hadn’t scored from open play for 13 hours .

So when I say now , the window is nothing to celebrate, there really isn’t anything to celebrate as it has cost us millions and makes no difference to our performance on the pitch .

azed

Guys we all owe Schalke something for taking Mustafi and Kolasinac off our hands.

I hate Green Bay

Pierre,

Reading your reviews about your own posts is turgid in the extreme.

I am now ignoring anything you post.

Pierre

AFC
“Who can be unhappy about never having to see Mustafi sliding 20 yards on his arse again, only to miss-control the ball and give it straight back to the striker?”

My point is, he wasn’t in the side, so it’s all irrelevant.

Though actually it was said earlier in the week that we won more games and conceded less goals in the premier league with Mustafi in the team…

salparadisenyc

Pierre

Everyone had a wobble on Arteta, he found a trench that looked insurmountable.
Zero crime in that or embracing him on the resurgence. This season’s been a goddamn rollercoaster and its just over half way thru.

Rich

We’ll still have a first team squad of 28 this summer, providing we let go of Luiz, and don’t sign any of our loans

If we don’t have European football, that’s far too many

Even with European football, it’s too many

Moving players on is going to be a nightmare, receiving fees even more difficult

We’ve made a dent, unfortunately the purge is nowhere near complete

£70 million incoming fees this summer, seems extremely optimistic

Samir

Letting Mustafi go on a free makes it even more strange not playing Saliba in those Europa league games.

Pierre

Samir
“Letting Mustafi go on a free makes it even more strange not playing Saliba in those Europa league games.”

Exactly ..

But let’s all celebrate a window that celebrates incompetence.

Henry19

According to AFC Forever the team above us are in crisis lol

Samir

Rich
Not optimistic when we have: Willock(15m), AMN(15m), Nelson(15m), Nketiah(10m), Chambers(5m), Saliba(20m), Lacazette(15M), Bellerin(20M), Xhaka(20M)

All the above are worth something and wouldn’t really be missed.

AFC Forever

Saliba “Letting Mustafi go on a free makes it even more strange not playing Saliba in those Europa league games” No, it doesn’t. Makes no difference whatsoever. It seems people don’t listen. Arteta rates Saliba. The problem was he had a major injury and then just as he started playing the French league shut down to the pandemic. He landed here not ready to play for that reason. U23 football is not the same and it would have been a risk. Who was he going to replace Holding, Gabriel, Luis, Mari? What’s so bizarre about the Saliba debate is the… Read more »

Pierre

Sal
“Pierre
Everyone had a wobble on Arteta”

They did , but what i find on here is they all like to jump on the bandwagon and anyone with an alternate view is rounded on..

Always better to say what you believe i say…jumping on the bandwagon doesn’t do it for me , will leave that to the Graham’s and Jamie’s of this world.

AFC Forever

Samir, sorry mate.

EL is not enough games though, he really needed to play every week as he is now. He will get peak fitness somewhere else and come back to us ready to play.

Mr Serge

Willock is 6 months not 18

Pierre

AFC
Regarding Saliba , you are defending the indefensible.

Saliba could and should have played in Europe..the decision made no sense

He was fit and ready and he would have benefitted in many ways by playing with his Arsenal team mates.

MidwestGun

Haha Pierre.. There is a difference in celebrating being rid of incompetence. not the incompetence itself. see the difference there?

In the same way I can celebrate what Wenger has accomplished but not what he did the final years of his reign.. It doesn’t have to be an all or nothing scenario.

I can appreciate what Ozil did his first contract but not his second..

Not everything is obsessive or not obsessive.

I can be happy for our window but angry about bad decisions leading up to it … life is about grey areas, man.

AFC Forever

Henry the troll sucking on Maureen’s plums again. Yes mate, your title favourites are falling like a stone. They have players fighting in the changing room, another player storming out at half time, a guy on £350k per week playing almost as bad as your trolling and Ali describing the football as long ball & pissing Maureen off, fans complaining about the football style and asking for Maureen to be sacked; yes I think that is a crisis.

Tee

Pierre sees the saliba issue as an avenue to moan about ozil and the rest. God help him if nkethia is released

AFC Forever

Pierre.

The decision made perfect sense to me. Anyway, can’t change the past.

Nothing wrong with agreeing to disagree, as we shall have to on this occasion.

andy1886

Absolutely agree with Middy, clearing out a players that have handicapped us since signing under a previous encumbent is a positive thing, no question. I don’t even think of it as releasing funds for big money signings, and that doesn’t matter. Just leeching out the old toxins is a boost in itself.

Rich

Samir

Which clubs outside of clubs with wealthy backers, currently have £15 million?

The global economy is decimated

Clubs aren’t just skint, they’re haemorrhaging money, and will continue to haemorrhage money for the foreseeable future

French football is quite literally bankrupt

If KSE wanted to back us, we could go to clubs like Barca, Real Madrid + Juventus this summer, and take their Crown Jewels off them

Our government won’t let football fold, it’s worth far too much to the treasury

But the idea clubs are going to be throwing around tens of millions, seems extremely far fetched

salparadisenyc

Orn reporting Minamino could be headed to Southampton on loan. Good move for me, Ralph not messing about.

G

AFC forever..spot on
Salina can either sulk re MA treatment or take on board whatever Arteta told him and come back stronger which I’m sure he will

MidwestGun

Theo injury must be serious… Hasenhuttl calling in the cavalry.

It is a bit strange we aren’t getting a LB option.. Maybe they think Chambers can play RB if Bellerin gets injured and Soares has to play LB for Tierney. Hopefully the emergency option isn’t Xhaka at LB, that one game he played there was scary.

Time Up

Lmaoooooo,

Pierre couldn’t hide his anger about Ozil leaving and be sane for more than 2 days, now he’s back.

Time Up

The KT situation doesn’t look gods with all these injuries.

salparadisenyc

Mid

Apparently academy boy Joel Lopez ( left back) trained w/ first team today.
Former La Masia, early Bellerin type pace.

Mr Serge

Mustafi has gone woot

Henry19

I’d say Spurs are going through a wobble like Atsenal only less so.

Guns of Brixton

Mustafi is gooooooone

Left Testicle

Am I binned or just a comment deleted?

Left Testicle

Still here!

Marc

“Mustafi exiting is my year complete…”

Oh dear I mean I know everyone’s lowered expectations with COVID and everything but if your year is over on the 1st Feb that’s pretty depressing.

On the other hand if you’re bricking it that Arteta’s about to lose the plot again calling time probably isn’t a bad idea!

Marc

Left

Looks like Kim Dumb Snowflake’s on the prowl!

Rich

Hopefully Mustafi and Kolasinac keep Schalke up this season

They can then take Kolasinac permanently, and then come back for Willian + Runarsson

Marc

Pedro

How you doing Snowflake?

MidwestGun

It would be depressing to be in last place and be like…. and your new signing is …… *drumroll*…

Mustafi…

Schalke used to be good… Don’t know what happened.

La croqueta

How… How do Arsenal fans keep getting mugged off like this? Heres a question. People are saying its the end of the banter era. The bad eggs are gone. Arteta deserves all the credit for an “amazing” transfer window. Getting rid of all the duds. Ok… Smh. Question. Arsenal dropped to 15th. How many of the players that have left were regular starters or subs for the team that dropped to 15th? Before Arteta was forced to use the kids. Before they dragged us out of 15th. Who was in the team regularly? You’ll find that all those players are… Read more »

Biggles

Really good window! Back in June 2019 I did that the six problems we needed to fix before we could compete again were: 1) Ozil 2) Mikki 3=) Xhaka + Mustafi 4=) Koscielny + Monreal. Only Xhaka is left. £850k a week in wages from the other 5 saved. Sure we’ve signed people, but they are all better, with lower wages and a resale value. This window also saw Sokratis go, another ~£90k saved. I had no I’ll feeling towards him, he did a job, but just wasn’t good enough now. Kola also gone – at least for the moment… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

Biggles

Xhaka has been playing very well since Partey included in team.

Arsenal have streamlined their squad and that will improve morale and performance level.

I would not be surprised also if Arteta puts one or two of the U23s on the bench following departure of AMN and Willock.

Youdaman

AMN over Xhaka.
Really?

Dissenter

This was an overall good transfer window for the club.
The bigger and tough decisions have to be taken in the summer. This window just sets the stage for it.

Despite my skepticism of Edu, he has earned his paycheck this window. I wish Wenger accepted help earlier on and ran the club like this.

AFC Forever

Andy
“Absolutely agree with Middy, clearing out a players that have handicapped us since signing under a previous encumbent is a positive thing, no question”.

Yep, it was essential. The baggage had to go and Arteta & Edu have done what was promised. You can’t polish a turd. For me, the spring clean is going to have a huge impact on the harmony & team spirit within the club and is another step in rebuilding the club after years of mismanagement.

Matt

Really Glad to get rid of some of the dross. Please let’s not start bugging up the second coming of chambers though. He is average personified. In no way good enough for the team.

Rich

Dissenter Offering a bigger loan fee and a significant wage increase to Odegaard didn’t take much skill, it just took money Paying players to leave, and loaning out 3 big talents, isn’t exactly rocket science Putting €50million cash on the table, and offering Partey a reported 5 x his Atletico salary didn’t require imagination I’m not disappointed with the window, but Edu hasn’t earned any stars If Edu had been doing his job properly, he wouldn’t gave sent us into the season with a first team squad of 31 Screwed up the Saliba loan, and had us paying two senior… Read more »

AFC Forever

Harry Redknapp is as thick as mince. Just said he got lost and couldn’t use the Satnav because he hasn’t got a clue how to use it. All the mileage he must do travelling all over the Country and he comes out with this pearler. This is the same bloke who allegedly trousered backhanders and paid them into a bank account in his dogs’ name. Most of these pundits, ex Managers and players, really are a thick bunch.

Dissenter

Mustafi’s exit was 2-3 seasons late.
I will never forget that horrific performance against Palace at the Emirates in April 2019. He caused the 3rd goal that ended us – and then tried to blame Leno.
He had that weird knack of committing brain farts at pivotal moments in key games.

Marc

Pedro

Yeah I’m good mate and I appreciate the email.

I just needed a break, I was getting very close to over stepping the line with you. Despite the banter I do recognize the time, energy and money you invest in the blog telling you you were a complete CNUT seemed unreasonable.

How are you getting on? Everyone safe and well?

bacaryisgod

Dissenter

That was exactly the issue with Mustafi. He always looked to point the blame elsewhere. Terrible team-mate.

I’m going to be the rare poster on here who sees a glimmer of hope in Willian. The way he blew by Wan-Bissaka to set up that chance for Pepe might be a sign that he’s not completely shot to pieces.

bacaryisgod

The other bonus to our dealings today is it gives me a little more motivation to watch Newcastle and WBA games especially when the game might impact our league position.

Very good day overall.

bacaryisgod

Welcome back Marc.

Left Testicle

Left, no one wants to hear about your hurt feelings because someone did something inclusive.
>>>>>>>>>>>
My hurt feelings when you’ve censored a comment that you decided was offensive to you?

China1

Marc you’re back, you absolute CNUT

Happy with the deadline day outgoing?

China1

Mustafi stank the house out since the day he arrived

Mentally very weak and every time I saw him all I saw was 35m and disappointment

I gather he’s a nice guy and personally wish him the best, but as a footballer I couldn’t be happier that he’s out. These mentally weak and technically dubious wenger babies all need binning off and he’s one of the last major culprits for that

Good luck to him at Schalke. I hope that works out for him

OCGooner

Ozil gone – check Sok gone – check Mustafi gone – check Kola one-way loan, not to return – check AMN loan to play – check Willock loan to play – check Saliba loan to play – check AM in (Ode) – check BU GK in (Mat) – check Summer to do list Lacazette – decision Luiz – out Willian – out Pepe – out Xhaka – out Chambers – out Elneny – out Ceballos – terminate loan Torreira – out when loan over Guen – out when loan over Nelson – play or loan/out Saliba – back in and… Read more »

China1

Wow it was only a couple of years ago when I said to my wife I don’t really like any arsenal players these days. Wouldn’t want any of their names on my shirt.

Now there are only a few players I actively dislike left and several ones I like.

That’s reassuring

Xhaka and Willian in the bin, please and I will be born again

CaliGooner

Vaccines, no more trump and no more mustafi.

Things are definitely looking up.

Valentin

Pedro, Chelsea is not called elite because they fire loads of managers. They fire failing managers because they have an elite mentality. Sign of elite mentality is to not tolerate failure and mediocrity. When Chelsea management genuinely believe that at this juncture of time the manager has no way back or refuse to work within the agreed parameters, they have no hesitation in firing him. That’s their non-negotiables. You can’t on one side champion Arteta’s non negotiables and then criticise a club that have real fair impartial non-negotiables. Arteta’s non-negotiables happen to apply mostly to people he did not fancy.… Read more »

China1

God speed OCGooner

The Godfather

Why all gang ups on Pierre?
Damn y’all got that many cyber-vendettas here?
Smh

Valentin

We are left with only 5 CBs: Holding, David Luiz, Gabriel, Mari and Chambers.
In view of the compact season and the potential for Luiz to pick up red cards and suspension, Chambers unlikely to be fit after being out for so long we better hope that nobody gets injured until the end of the season.
At least we now know that long term 3 at the back is definitely over.

zacharse

If only reality was a little more like Football Manager…

Elmo

Great to finally be clearing out the wage bill, but the fact this long sequence of players have left for nothing shows how terrible the management of the club was, specifically, in the summer of 2016. Signed: Xhaka (£40.5m; in hindsight the least worst deal, as we could probably recoup £20-25m now) Mustafi (£36.9m; mediocre 4.5 years then left for nothing) Perez (£18m; clearly not even rated by management: sold for £4m after playing 948 minutes for the club) Asano (£3.6m; sold for £0.9m having never played for the club) Holding (£2.7m; good value signing) Sales: Gnabry (£4.5m; now CL… Read more »

Marc

China & Bac

Cheers fellas.

China – Yeah we seem to be getting our house in order regarding the squad numbers. My only question is: did anyone tell Arteta some of his toys were being given away?

Valentin

Pedro, People keep talking about Chelsea firing their manager, but the average manager tenure (excluding care taker) at Chelsea is within the average when compared to the rest in the premier league. On average, then, at the start of the 2019-20 Premier League, a manager lasted 789 days, which is the equivalent of 2 years, 8 weeks and 3 days. The main difference is that their sacking is more high profile. The aberration was always Wenger and Ferguson, not the other way around. Most managers even the successful ones don’t stay forever in the same job. Look at Pep who… Read more »