Auba is back at London Colney and he’s looking pretty awesome in my opinion. New hair, some tie-dye shirts, and he’s smiling. He also told people on his Twitch he’s going to work on persuarding Odegaard to join the club this summer.
That’s positive talk. Let’s see if he can take that mood into the Liverpool game.
Arsenal are being heavily linked to £30m playmaker, Nabil Fekir. The Frenchman lost his dream move to Liverpool over a medical. He’s only 27 years old, but given our record with injured players over the years, would you roll that dice? Not sure I would. It’s clear he’s talented in the extreme… but that’d be no good if he was never on the pitch. Partey had 15 seconds of injury time in 12 years before losing most of this season to problems. If there’s an underlying issue, no doubt we’d activate it a day after he signed.
Talk hotting up over who the right back will be this summer. A lot of us are hoping Inter Milan’s money challenges open the door to Hakimi. He’s a monster, fast, great final ball… we’d kill for someone of that talent to step in. Question is, how deflated is the market and generous are the owners going to be? Best to assume not that generous.
Bit of blowback on the post yesterday.
‘What about homegrown talent’
Yep, that is an angle I hadn’t though of (because working it out is so, so boring)… but also, how many kids do you think want to hang around to be squad fluffers? Bit embarrassing. Game time is all you should want as a youngster. Not sure many of our Hale-Enders are going to hang around if there’s no chance of progress.
We also have some kids coming through the ranks that might be worthwhile. Patino, Azeez, Matt Smith, maybe Flo Balogun if we manage to secure him.
Again, there’s a case to be made for moving on Luiz if Cal Chambers can fill that quota.
There will hopefully be a case for AMN returning to the fold, possibly replacing Elneney. The capped England player had this to say.
“I think I’m developing a lot quicker here because you’re consistently improving your game and fighting to be the best, even when the odds are against you”
“Personally I want to play in the centre of the pitch because I feel comfortable there & there are a lot of things I can bring to playing in the middle. You can control the game as much as possible from there & I think my attributes can help me do that”
Talent wise, he has it. He can pass, he has vision, he’s calm under pressure, and he’s the best athlete at Arsenal. His issues for me are all in the mind. Currently, he doesn’t have the concentration levels to play such a pivotal position. Maybe the stint under Sam Allardyce will give him what he needs? Arsenal fans would love to welcome back a more mature player.
This summer is a big one, get it right, we’ll be in good shape next season… get it wrong and it could be tough.
Raising funds is the most important thing we can do right now. Martin Odegaard is the most important signing. Then we have to be really cute with our remaining money and make sure we sell and promote to the right levels.
Can’t wait to see what they do.
More tomorrow. x
P.S. Someone get Edu and Arteta out of Aguerro’s DMs… he’s not what we need this summer.
Fekir is a good shout if we can’t keep Odegaard.
Ooh top 4
Let’s hope the boys can do the same next season, to far a stretch for this one I think
Not another 30 something
Fekir is a talent but I would prefer we spent the money on ode and hakimi and bisouma these are the 3 players we really need, plus a fresh striker up top
Not sure about the t-shirt Pedro
Money does not give you taste does it his cars are awful and his clothes are worse
Bisouma all the way he’s prem ready and can’t go straight into the team fekir will have to get up to speed then fit ….all that takes time time we don’t have and 27 no sell on at all as he will be 28/29 before he hits his stride.
Look at party ? He’s still finding his feet…..
Bisouma all the way he’s prem ready and can’t go straight into the team fekir will have to get up to speed then fit ….all that takes time time we don’t have and 27 no sell on at all as he will be 28/29 before he hits his stride.
Look at party ? He’s still finding his feet…..
Fekir has also played in slow leagues that give him space all his life not sure he can handle the pace of the prem we know ode can as can bisouma
“Talent wise, he has it. He can pass, he has vision, he’s calm under pressure, and he’s the best athlete at Arsenal.“
I really do wonder what constitutes an “athlete” for you here Pete, you’re forever talking up AMN in that regard and he’s average Joe footballer. Tierney is a league above.
Not sure what you’re watching with him as far as passing goes either, he doesn’t ‘have it’ given he’s poor at retaining possession, picking the right pass, passing through congestion…..like all the major ones for CM.
Genuinely baffled how you’ve landed such a romantic view of him. He takes ice cold pens and played well in some cup games back end of last season, outside that he’s bottled a 1v1 against Hector for 1st choice RB when it was there for him, been ousted by Elneny as a central option, and went to West Brom where he’s not even pulled up leaves, nvm trees, centrally.
When you have to be your own hype man it’s a worry. I said sell Bellerin 2/3 years ago when Barca were dangling 40 mil and replace with AMN. He should’ve been our RB years ago, he’s pissing/pissed it away.
Fekir is sexy footballer, but Draxler at the same age is a better fit for me (and on a bosman). He’d be the player I’d try and bring on board instead, ideally letting Willian leave out the back door for peanuts. Still miles on the clock, and a lot to prove after never really cracking Paris.
Fekir is circa 25 mil, and imo spending any money like that should be on a player of a certain profile ie under 25, healthy, on the up, with resale value.
CC, watched the Italian game the other night, Milan keeper is great with his feet… also on a free. Curse of Ivan contracts rears its head again
CC, raw power and pace, he’s perfect for the league. I think he has a high ceiling. His passing is way better than he gets credit for, he’s a brilliant defender… he just lacks concentration.
Pedro
William needs someone to play chess with in the old People’s room.
Can’t let Arteta’s marquee signing get so lonely especially as you are campaigning to get Luiz out.
Pedro
Donnarumma? He’s a baller, is there attitude problems there though, because rare you see an outstanding 22 year old at a big club simply walk (am I missing an obvious one?)?
Either way, there’s some super sharp moves that can be made on a free, we’ve just been the leading light in how NOT to do it a lot of the time. Amavi, Draxler, Thauvin, Depay 4 players from Ligue Un that better the squad this summer imo. Moreso than 25 mil punts on 27/28 year olds with an injury history to get the nerves going.
Pedro
I like Ainsley, just think he’s reaching/reached a point where the club is going to cash in on him because he’s not seriously defined as anything. You don’t want projects at 23/24, not with actual projects like Saka and ESR at 19.
Same shit with Pepe, think Arteta would bin him tomorrow if there was a buyer at 40 mil. He’s another half-footballer that needs massive work.
CC, no idea on the keeper, assumed he was playing the Bosman game like a hero. No idea where he lands this summer though
CC
Agree regarding AMN and Pepe. Both too inconsistent and unpredictable. Priority for me would be Odegaard and a top CM. Someone who offers what Xhaka does but with more attacking threat.
AMN can be as good as Wijnaldum
I also find AMN has power and pace. For someone who can stop Adama Traoré, he is good enough for this league (when focus). I hope he can make it as a midfielder. Arteta has a habit to bin young player after a bad game, even when the youngster hasn’t played for awhile. They happened to Martinelli and AMN and to some extend, Holding. But he’ll keep selecting Willian and Auba even after some bad games.
With the incompetent people in charge, expect laca to get a new contract and xhaka to be in the starting line up next season.
Biggest mistake we made was hiring raul, because we completely turned from a self sustaining model to spending mega bucks. Why would stan spend more money, when after 5 years, we have a net spend of 250m, only lower than city and utd who are playing in the CL.
People asking stan to pay up should be looking at the tools who have mismanaged the money and have been pissing it up on the wrong players.
Pedro – I agree with most of your posts (and have been following every day for many, many years). That said, I feel you have rose tinted glasses for AMN. He had a couple of good games, many average games and even more shocking games. He is not what we need in any position.
Same comment for Bellerin. He was good when he first arrived but has be awful for a long, long time. Not a great defender, garbage going forward and shits the bed more often than not trying to pass in the final third. Watch how many breaks occur against us due to misplaced passes from him when he is upfield.
Sell Saka, ESR, AMN and Martinelli for £200 million
If im ever in doubt on one of our players I ask myself if I would be happy if we bought them from another club.
If we paid the 15 mio it would take to get AMN or the 20 for Bellerin I would be horrified.
I’ve never known a fan base to love its players like we do. If you’re a Hale End player you get free passes for years.
AMN woul just give that free pass to an opponent and then go to sleep when the opponent runs off and goes past Bellerin like he’s a child.
We can do better. We should try.
The lack of chemistry between AMN and Diet Pep is the biggest stumbling block
The best way to unlock guys with pace in power is to mix it up with technical geniouses at CM,
simple formula, Coquelin next to Carzola worked better than Partey and Xhakalson.
N9
Nah not yet, you don’t sell when the stock is rising, you sell when it’s hit its peak, and I feel these players will hit that peak next season, that’s enough games to show the world these are world class players and we will have every club lining up to buy them.
N9
With the exception of AmN, who we won’t get more than 20m.
By then AMN would be around 30m, the other 3 a minimum of 70m to 80m, bring us to a range of 240m to 300m
Not bad considering Mertesacker would have unearthed more gems
Sid
I don’t think mertesacker is part of the scouting, isn’t he just a coach for the U-18??
He works and develops players, not go round unearthing gems. He isn’t brad Pitt in moneyball.
AMN is a very average footballer. He had a chance at RB which he blew
As a midfielder he is nothing special
Sell him this Summer to Fat Sam
N9 – so ridiculous I can only assume that is your version of a joke?
Pedro
Nabil Fékir is a French world cup winner with Algerian roots, not Moroccan. Charles Watts is saying the interest is real? Apparently, he just switched agencies. Wonder if it’s him or his reps who are pushing for the move. We’ve been linked to three Betis players over the last couple of weeks. Something must be up
I like AMN a lot. He has had quality performances at either fullback/wingback positions dating back to Wenger’s last season up to the FA Cup win last season.
There is the issue that he wants to play in midfield. But, I feel he is not in Arteta’s good books.
Whats happening
Christmas coming early on Le Grove. We might be in for a right back circa £25m but that’s it. I think the focus will be on getting the wage bill down.
We’ve got no chance of signing Ode.
All the fuss about AMN is odd. He’s a good athlete but he hasn’t got the mindset to be a top player. Next season will be another transition one. The club have slipped too far on and off the field for there to be any kind of quick fix.
Apparently, Elneny is close to agreeing a contract extension.
If I was on £250k per week, I wouldn’t be able to stop smiling.
The Bard
Think unless there is a stupid offer for Bellerin ( which I just can’t see happening) then I just don’t see him going anywhere and as his six and a half year contracts comes to an end in 2023 I can’t see anything other than a new contract for him in the next year
The Milan keeper is the youngest keeper to ever play for Milan he was Italy’s no 1 at 19 and has the world at his feet I don’t get why he is on a bosman he is a 50m talent
He must want big wages for a keeper for Milan to say no
He is an upgrade on Leno for sure
Just as good a shot stopper
Better command of area and passing then our number 1
Oh he is better than EMI as well for you fans of our former keeper
as for Auba; its all play-acting and superfluous,
Interesting article on Szczesney in this mornings Telegraph, on how good he is , how well he has done and why Wenger let him go.
If this article is to be believed, it seems a lot of it was not down to the Poles ability to Wenger backing the beyond useless Gerry Peyton at the time., as many have already suggested.
It seems our two Polish keepers didn’t rate Peyton…at all….and WS would arrive early in training to work with another rival gk coach. It seems, u believably, this irked Wenger. The Pole ended up our number 3 keeper, behind Ospina!
Wenger has his moments of greatness, but A real blind spot for keepers, and the competency of backroom staff. No wonder it has been so hard for following managers to rid the club of this ingrained culture.
His stubbornness cost the club millions over this keeper
Terraloon I tend to agree. We certainly won’t get 30m for him. Maybe he would be tempted by a new challenge. The problem is not many clubs are flush with money. I’m not sure we will see too many big money transfers for a while.
It is unlikely any frenchman will be signing for Arsenal
For Aguero it might be worthwhile ditching the ‘young and vigorous’ rule. Easily the best striker in the years he’s been in PL, Kane included, A change of clubs often reinvigorates players of his talent. A last hoorah. A better bet than Willian, IMO.
Agüero £200k + a week for an injury prone 32 year old, really?
No to Aguero for me, let someone else take the chance on an “OLDIE” for a change
Amn’s problem is his very poor concentration ( worst I’ve seen for a player playing in the PL) and his stubbornness to play in midfield.
When Arteta came in, he devised a specialised inverted RB role for Amn, where Amn thrived. Chambers and Heccy B were out injured and Amn had a clear shot at becoming the first choice RB for us. Instead he decided to blow it by demanding to play in midfield which led us to get Cedric.
Niles has top class physical qualities, many can only dream of. His composure on the ball is so so good it sometimes turns into complacency. But his concentration is so bad, no manager can take the risk of playing him in the centre of the park. The risk-reward is way too lopsided towards risk. I think Ramsey is a good comparison here. Just like Amn, he had great athletic ability, but used to get caught out defensively. But managers love him because there are a lot of rewards against the risk when playing Ramsey. Namely the goals and assist numbers he puts up are very very good for a central midfielder. Amn doesn’t have any such outstanding quality.
I believe Amn could become a world class RB if coached correctly, given the player puts his head down and start working instead of whining.
He may also blossom into a very good midfielder later in his career, but thats a big if and will require him to get consistent game time in that position. Arsenal cant afford to do that.
Don’t know what people’s take are on AFTV but sad to hear Claude has passed away, was certainly passionate in his Arsenal views
Rip Claude & condolences to his family and friends
Is Fekir the alternate in case Odegaard doesn’t sign?
Wow…RIP to Claude. He was certainly a true gooner and his loss is a big one not only to AFTV but to the general fanbase. Probably going to argue with Heavy D over Auba’s form from the skies now..
RIP Claude, we will keep the fire burning!
RIP Claude.
RIP Claude Callegari
The man was a proper gooner.
who is Claude ?
I never watch AFTV they are all a bunch of nutters I walk past where they film after a match but never stop to see whats going on.
Its not the guy that owns AFTV though is it just one of the shouty guys
I’m hoping real will be nice enough to let us loan Ode with an obligation (or better yet option) to buy next summer
Would be great to get him back but keep the powder dry for a Quality CM this summer. Ode is a player worth 35m imo I just hope we can avoid paying it up front.
Maybe buy with installments? 15m up front? That would be nice as well
Ah that sucks about Claude. What happened???
Nothing released about circumstances as yet, guess we will have to wait a little while
I liked Claude OMWORD..
SO SAD A TRUE GUNNER.
X
Where is everyone?
Sad news about Claude, just 58 years of age. He had battled with mental health issues for some time, especially after losing his Mum. Hopefully, he is now at peace. His role with AFTV was taken away from him last year, after his “DVD” comment, which led to him being abused on SM, which upset him greatly. He was no racist. A generous man, he would regularly donate interview fees to Great Ormond Street (Children’s) Hospital. I didn’t always agree with him but that didn’t mean I didn’t respect him, he was a nice bloke. RIP mate, a true member of the Gooner family.
Mr Serge
“I never watch AFTV they are all a bunch of nutters I walk past where they film after a match but never stop to see what’s going on”
This is true. Most of them don’t do us any favours at all, in fact, they have a greater following amongst rival fans for some of the idiotic things they say. It’s now a money-making machine for them. However, Claude wasn’t in it for the money or to feed his ego, he was just a heart on sleeve Gooner. I met him several times and he was actually just a really nice bloke who loved Arsenal and as I said, was a supporter of kids charities.
BOBN16
“Agüero £200k + a week for an injury prone 32 year old, really?”
To be fair Bob, he wouldn’t miss half the chances our lot do!! Sign him on a pay as you play deal and get Tierney, Odegaard and ESR to feed him in the box. One of the greatest finishers I’ve seen that fella.
I was worried something like this could happen to Claude after he was dropped, the channel had became a huge part of his life. I remember 3 or 4 years ago he said he was going to quit (a bit like what Bully did) but sadly for him he didn’t.
Sad.
I am thinking RvP when I think Sergio Aguero. RvP was accident-prone but won the title for Man U. Okay he was three years younger than Aguero is now. But sign him on a pay-as-you- play deal, with a bionus for goals scored, and he might do for us what RvP did for Man U.
Signing Aguero to play for a manager that prefers workhorses is not viable
The thought of Aguero on the left wing is not funny
Sid
Is that a pic of ospinas sister? Red was obsessed with her
Nah, Daniela is much younger than this one, i prefer them like my whiskey
@ AFC – nice words on Claude.RIP.He was indeed a” heart on sleeve Gooner”,the man bled red & white.Arsenal was his life.If half our fans had his passion for the club.Through thick & thin & often frustrated.But stayed true.
They are showing the best goals from Arsenal me and women. Vivienne Mediena would rate as the best goal. Effortless and no doubt about outcome like peak Van Persie. She can walk in Arsenal XI, But women play a beautiful crisp passing game. With Williams abd Xaka galloping forward and then passing back, the girl will be left pulling her hairs out .Ditto Emery ball which Arteta favours ,but with a better defense
Sid
Danielle has divorced James. Their daughter is cute child ,has Jame’s looks and smile
AFC, peak Agüero no brainer, 32 year old , no way. He’ll have enough offers to choose from to not have to accept a pay-as-you- play deal so spunking shit loads a week on a player of his age and recent injury record would be madness.
Just came by and I am stunned to read that Claude of AFTV has passed away.
RIP Claude. As others have said: a true Gooner through and through!! A big character that will be missed (he really did know how to create a storm out of a tea cup for his TV show.)!
I should clarify that the “his” at the end is Robbie.
dude
you block comments?
you’re a fucking joke.
listening to your left wing, woke faggot shit is also annoying.
Kane scores a PK again after Sterling’s dive.