I’m really struggling to keep my emotions in check with regards to this summer because all the noises are positive. In fact, even the noises that aren’t positive are positive.
There’s a story doing the rounds that Ryan Bertrand is going to take the Leicester offer over Arsenal. I find it odd that a guy who grew up in Gillingham would head to Leicester (I’ve lived there, it’s nice, but it’s no London), but hey, who knows if our offer was real in the first place. He’d have been a very solid back-up left-back, but I don’t think there will be many tears shed on that one.
Granit Xhaka is top of the list for Jose Mourinho’s rebuild. Shows how rated he is. A managers player, one that baffles the fans, but over and over he gets the nod. I’m a bit surprised about this move, I’m not sure he’d have been an expected exit this summer, but fuck it… good for him. He’s 28 years old, the Italian league will suit him down to the ground, and we have to be honest… Arsenal has to be doing better if we want to go back to the top.
There’s a bit if fear about how we replace him. A lot of detractors don’t understand that Granit Xhaka does a hard job very well. He’s a server, he moves the ball between the lines better than anyone in our side at the moment. Sure, he’s one-paced and slow, but he’s very effective and our midfield without him not as good.
The rumblings that I’ve heard is that this summer will see a focus on Premier League players, so clubs like Wolves and Brighton will be attracting interest. I hope our Premier League hunger is not at the expense of the deals that’ll be available in more financially fucked leagues, but I suspect the logic is pretty simple here: We need a good start next season. If we’re shipping major names in our team, our fans will not tolerate a rough opening.
There’s a bit of fear in the system we’ll be going after Reuben Neves. A player that isn’t exactly a mobile monster in the midfield. I have absolutely no idea who we will go for. I think we’re more likely to move on someone like Bissouma, knowing that Brighton are going to be in the hunt for Eddie Nkeitiah. Remember, we have replace more than one central midfielder. Bissouma is an excellent party crasher that has done really well in Brighton’s midfield, he could do the dirty work next to Partey and give us that athletic bite next season. You still need a midfielder that can be an outlet though, fastballs through the lines with absolute efficiency. We’re looking for a rare breed, but hey, that’s what scouts and analysts are paid to be good at.
Sorry, we have to interrupt this blog to see a SAUCY SHIRT.
Damn. That’s my Klaxons reunion gig outfit set. Neon face paint. Dusted down bright blue skinny jeans. New rave is back baby. Gonna be magic. WHAT A SHIRT THAT IS. Love it. Adidas brings me so much damn joy.
The word on the street is that KSE is absolutely going to try and buy our love this summer. We’re not in a sell before you buy mindset, we’ll be making moves, there is cash to spend and we will spend it. Arsenal lost 22% value according to Deloitte. Honestly, it means fuck all, because no one is bidding for Arsenal based on a pricing, but it’s important because it does show that if KSE don’t get a grip on their prized asset, it’s going to get more and more expensive to fix it longterm. The money injection isn’t just to appease fans, it’s to reduce noise in their lives, and it’s to make sure their star asset is healthy.
That’s not to say we won’t be selling players, we absolutely will. We have plenty of opportunities to make the summer even bigger. Willock, Reiss, Hector, Guendouzi, Cedric, Kola, Torreira, and maybe one of our centre backs will bring in at least £80m. But we’re not in the mess we were last year where we had to run the clock down because everyone was low-balling us.
The market is deflated though. Roma offering £10m for Xhaka is going to be par the course this summer. It’s so amusing to watch fans turn their nose up at getting any fee for an expensive player that will be 29 in September. Move on players that aren’t good enough, find younger models that don’t need galaxy brain systems to protect their weaknesses, do all of the business as fast as you can so we don’t get off to a clunky start next season.
Also, I swear down, if Edu fucks up moving on Willian because he sought out a big fee, I will go to London myself to hand-deliver a stern letter of disapproval. Let him go on a free, don’t top up his salary, move on from this absolute debacle.
There’s a real opportunity to move to the next level this summer, every signing has to be perfect, but if we can manage that, next season could be a major surprise to the league.
I’m excited.
See you in the comments.
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Yo
2
Time for a quick
Tr4phy
Nice one DM
Why should be be worried about a fee for William? If anybody is daft enough to take on his wages, give him away. After all, we signed him on a free.
Willian*
That an overly optimistic post Pedro. Of course the Kroenke’s are going to spend some money. They don’t have a choice. Getting players to sign up to a place on the Titanic is another matter. I doubt very much whether it will be enough to appease the fan base. My personal view is that something has broken between the fans and the owners and the Kroenke’s must be aware. Wemger took the brunt of shit that went down as we slid into mediocrity, now they have nowhere to hide. Buying a couple of cheap players from Brighton or Wolves ain’t… Read more »
Soooo have we signed anyone yet ?
If we accept £10 million for Xhaka both Edu and Arteta should be sacked. He’s supposed to have been much better this season but we turned down a bid worth between £23 and £27 million 18 months ago since then he would have earnt in the region of £7.8 million so we’d be taking a hit in the region of between £20 million and £25 million. Add that to what Arteta did with AMN last season and we’re back to pissing money up the wall because we don’t know when to let players go. If Sanllehi did that piece of… Read more »
Clubs are moving early , Konate To Scousers confirmed , Leicester going hard for Bertrand . I believe we want to buy Ødegaard asap , no Madrid manager makes it difficult . I wont mind if Xhaka is kept though , his fitness levels are so good. Give him Elneny’s spot and keep Willock and buy another CM/DM .
Marc
Agree ant the Xhaka valuation but disagree on your Mourinho/Xhaka angle.
Xhaka is a perfect Mourinho type player.
Will play any position in any system and not worry about getting glory points.
Tom
Mourinho has always built teams around power and a degree of pace. The only reason Xhaka doesn’t lose his entire salary every week for being late is because he turns up from last weeks meeting 7 days late.
‘There’s a bit if fear about how we replace him. A lot of detractors don’t understand that Granit Xhaka does a hard job very well. He’s a server, he moves the ball between the lines better than anyone in our side at the moment’ Xhaka moves the ball between the lines better than anyone in the league not just at Arsenal. He has the most progressive passes in the league( better than Thiago, Fernandinho, Rodri, Tielemans, etc, players considered world class or close) and also ranks in top 5 percentile maybe top 3 in Europe in progressive passes distance covered.… Read more »
Bertrand looked at Soares’ plight and said no thank you to Arteta?
London might be a great city to live in but a manager and money are still two biggest draws for players and in case of Arsenal it is money, so Stan better get his wallet out.
If we had any ambition we’d go and get Declan Rice
He’d cost a lot of money, but he’s a big character and a leader, who could marshal our midfield for the next decade
Losing Xhaka + Luiz is the right move, but it’s a lot of leadership to lose from the dressing room
Hopefully we get a bit more than £10 million for Xhaka though, he’s the much better player than that
Xhaka £20mill
Elneny £5-£10mill
Guendouzi £15mill
Torreira £12-£15mil
Niles £15-£20mill
Most of Zhakas passes are 3yds backwards, some statistics that.
He has so many flaws it’s difficult to know where to start, get rid
Dave
How you doing mate?
The only reason Xhaka’s looked better is because the system was changed to cover his numerous shortfalls. We then wonder why midfield can’t contribute anything going forward. When we’re short of money to lose £20 odd million when selling one player is criminal but we’re going to see Guendozi go for way less than what he was worth a year ago and the same will be true for AMN.
The worrying factor is that the reduction is not solely down to COVID.
I’m excited, too. So are most fans, the background noise has become a triumphant roar of approval. That leaves the pessimistic minority scrabbling around for reasons why they should be miserable.
Pedro The first point I want to make is that the club have already contacted season ticket holders about next season and the pricing appears to be realistic. Obviously there is still uncertainty about how many games we will be able to watch this season. Second it is beginning to look like the club have already fixed its transfer budget for next season. I think that there will be some early acquisitions. If Xhaka leaves as is now suggested I am pretty sure that the club has lined up his replacement. I agree that the main priority is to recruit… Read more »
Arsenal fans used to get excited about rumours of players joining. Now we get excited about rumours of players leaving.
How times have changed!
Emirates
I haven’t been able to see any detail on what matches are included in next seasons ST. Have you any further insight?
Marc – its 21 games – Your 2021/22 Season Ticket includes all 19 home Premier League fixtures and the first two home matches in the FA Cup.
Eduardo
Good point, outside of Saka, Smith-Rowe, Tierney, Martinelli, I don’t think there’d be too many tears if we lost any of our other 25 senior professionals
Ahm, if Bissouma, what about African championship next year. Auba, Partey, Elneny and Bissouma?
What a load of bullshit yet again about Xhaka. He’s so good yet at the same time people are happy to see him go. He’s so good that Roma only offer 15m tops for him. And then the old “between the lines” crap. He plays simple passes 90% of the time to team mates. Not difficult ones. He plays away from the middle deep because he can’t cope with real heat from opposing players. And yet he carries out this super difficult job for the side apparently. He has the easiest role in the team playing deep and others in… Read more »
Marc
eb isn’t full of shit, he’s just a glass is extremely half full kinda guy/ girl.
He sees a once in a lifetime tsunami approaching and praises the surfing conditions.
“A lot of detractors don’t understand that Granit Xhaka does a hard job very well. He’s a server, he moves the ball between the lines better than anyone in our side at the moment. Sure, he’s one-paced and slow, but he’s very effective and our midfield without him not as good.” The problem with Xhaka is that he is an unforced error or discipline lapse waiting to happen in every game. His record is poor. There’s not a queue of clubs kicking the door in to sign him up. That should tell us all we need to know. It also… Read more »
Tom
That isn’t glass half full or just a positive person it’s a raving lunatic. They used to go at people like that with an ice cream scope and do frontal lobotomies.
Major props to Adidas for our kits for next year…haven’t seen the home one yet. I felt that they fell a bit flat with this past year’s producer, however next season’s away and potential 3rd kit are just class. The concepts I have seen for the home ones for next year seem a bit meh though. Would love to see the team lift a trophy wearing one of yellow or blue next season…even Top 4 Trophy. 😉
Marc I received email 2 days ago and have spoken to the Members Department today. I have a £417 credit on each season ticket from season 2019-2020. Each Season Ticket now costs £1,191.82 [as opposed to over £2,000 at their peak] That covers 19 EPL matches plus some cup games. Currently season ticket holders/members are being asked to confirm by June 8 whether they plan to take up their renewals, which I am planning to do. There is no clarity as yet whether the stadium will be open next season for full capacity. That is in hands of the Government.… Read more »
Ishola70
I didn’t know that you didn’t rate Xhaka?…..
Bob
Yeah I couldn’t see how many Cup credits we got but that sounds about right. The club better not try to pull a Levy though next season.
Not sure why we keep talking of London as a major draw Many family oriented players would want to avoid London. Look at what happened to ozil and kolasinac. Then you’ve got the COVID shut downs with the usual attractions being off limits. I love arsenal and I love London but if I were a player in my prime (Allegiances aside) I’m not sure I’d choose a club like arsenal over a club like Leicester or Everton or Aston Villa right now. We are a season or two from being genuinely considered a mid table club It took clubs like… Read more »
Emirates
Yeah I have a credit just under £300. I couldn’t figure out how many Cup Credits they’d put on the tickets. I think the clubs hoping we’re back to full capacity by September if they start screwing around with limiting numbers it’ll get really complicated. A lot of fans go to matches and meet up with friends etc if you can’t make plans fans will start dropping tickets.
Rich Ask these clubs who are knocking down the Arsenal door to sign him if they rate Xhaka? Xhaka has been our main midfielder and go to man deep for years and yet when he wants to leave there is only one club Roma just off their worst season in memory with no european football next season offering a paltry 155m for him. Xhaka wants to go. He is giving the green light. Nobody is interested of any real significance. Only old Roma who are in a right state atm and Mourinho a manager who most realise lost the plot… Read more »
BoZ
These players don’t often live in Central London but the draw is the nightlife, restaurants etc. If you don’t know that you’re not aware of what London’s like.
155m for Xhaka.
Take it.
Ishola
Imagine we had a peak Vieira at the club at the moment say 26 years old – even with COVID how much would we be able to get for him?
Xhaka’s worth fuck all because he’s a shit player and not worth any more than fuck all. The bid we had 18 months ago was too good to be true and Arteta fucked it.
sell Xhaka – up that to 16/17M and be done.
We have all been wanting this for a while now.
Pedro, how much is Uncle Stan going to give us? 20M? that is hardly spending to get the love back.
We need more like 100M this summer, get in 2-3 players, sell what we can, get in other talent if possible.
The KEY is doing it quick.
If Edu pulls a Wenger, last day bargain then he should be canned.
We should have targets lined up and reps contacted already with deadlines firmly in place
Marc
I think the point is that without knowing whether (or at least, how quickly) London will go back to what it was pre-pandemic, it loses much of its appeal. Plus the proximity to major airports means much less when you can’t go anywhere.
The only summer we have been decisive was after Wenger left and Mislintat was briefly in charge. Every other window in the last 15 years has been sheer torture.
Eduardo, London, like New York, Paris and Rome will never lose appeal to rich people.
We are waiting for the final day of the transfer window to activate Odegaards release clause, after failing to land Bwendia.
You heard it here 1st!
we better get Mr Good Day.
Eduardo
London will be back to normal in the next few months and airports have nothing to do with it.
Providing we can get the players out, I think we’ll spend £200 million this summer
If KSE aren’t selling, then they cant afford for us to continue the way we are, they have to put it right on the pitch
you all left Los Angeles, SF off your list, sheesh, Snobs
What is this obsession with selling Willock? Why do we need to sell a promising young kid after an immensely successful loan? The article says KSE will spend, then why do we need to lose a youngster? Keeping Willock has far too many upsides over selling him. He will have value 2 years down the line, because he’s English, and a kid. We need to sell Xhaka, Elneny, Guendouzi, Torreira. Willock can get mins. In fact, if we are moving to a 3 man midfield, Willock can easily fill the box to box role. Only his passing need a bit… Read more »
Rich, I agree.
A 200M summer will be like a shot of adrenaline for the team. Only Edu can fuck that up… and praying he does not.
I don’t see anyone in our squad capable of scoring that goal he did against Fulham, absolutely dominant ball carrying and shrugging off people.
The issue is that Arteta does not care for that type of play.
I loved that goal he scored.. I wish we had a coach that allowed that type of blood and guts freedom from our mids
Pedro I have to be really careful not being condescending when people write off London and you get this feeling they don’t know London or never been there. A few years ago at a company I worked at a manager retired who’d been with the company a long time and really respected by everyone in the company and industry so the threw a retirement party at a bar just off (if my memory is correct) Blackfriers Bridge. I met up with the other sales guys for a beer beforehand at just after 5pm – it was a gorgeous September and… Read more »
Chinese cities have more billionares, than the cities mentioned
Rome and paris cannot compare to moscow and Delhi, loool
Sid
Then why do all the Russian Oligarchs own multi million pound properties in London?
Or at least they used to till we kicked a load of them out!
Marc, agree, London is so special. People forget how huge it is as well. Something for everyone. 4 very distinct corners. Incredible food, art, nightlife, shops, and loads of green areas.
London is a mega draw… always will be.
There were people writing off New York a few months ago, it’s already booming. No pandemic hangover, straight back to being a wild mess of a city.
I’m sure Delhi is an immense City, but we’re talking about football cities. No one is picking Leicester for the city, cute as it might be.
Mourinho’s Inter was also a collection of senior players. He left after winning the treble. That team broke apart within a year.
Pedro
If they don’t sort out the crime that’s out of control, then people won’t stay where they don’t feel their families are safe
I read somebody say Xhaka is one of the best passers in the world. Somebody else said other day that Saint Maximin is a quality dribbler. Actually quality of footballers across the world has depreciated so much that we now celebrate absolutely basic footballers.
Erm NY is Not a football city
“”””London is a mega draw… always will be.””””
Lmfaooooo
“As Marc states his gaffes only went down because the whole system eas tailored around his weaknesses.”
We know your vendetta against xhaka.
Instead of crying wolf because Pedro praised him, think you should be more than happy he is being touted to leave this summer.
Hope you won’t look for another player to scapegoat when he leaves?
https://ne-np.facebook.com/GarethBaconMP/videos/sadiq-khan-is-delusional-on-6-may-vote-him-out/200778544996855/
Marc – not El Vinos by any chance? used to be a watering hole of mine
if we do get a £200m injection then that would take care of Hakimi, Bissouma and Buendia. Sell Guendouzi, Torreira, Nelson, Willlock (maybe – I’d keep him for squad) Nketiah, , and and Xhaka and that will create a net spend possibly less than £80m. So can go further – buy Oblak and sell Leno. Maybe still have change left over for that RCB (Liverpool are getting Konate for £35m – compare that to 28 paid for Saliba – something has gone wrong somewhere – probably the fat slug’s commission) Will be interesting how much impact Richard Garlick will now… Read more »
I think Anguissa would be a better fit… more mobile and better at dribbling -TP passes from deep and sits more on the mid way line.. Anguissa can break the lines, get forward with ball, also can drop deep when needed to play good defense.
Add to the duo, Buendia, coming from deep, its going to be fun
Northbanker We’ve got to be careful with African players, we’re already losing Aubameyang, Pepe, Partey, Elneny If we add Bissouma + Hakimi to that list, we’d losing losing half our team, and over a quarter of our squad, we’re linked with Tapsoba as well That would be straight up negligence, the margins are small We could lose players for up to 6 PL games, and the FA Cup 3rd + 4th round, coming off the back of a busy Xmas schedule We can’t afford to lose that many players with 18 points and an opportunity to win some silverware on… Read more »
Rich
Good points about African nations cup. There’s also homegrown to consider.
More signings like Holding should be possible, couple of million for a solid prospect from the lower leagues rather than tens of millions for someone coming via France or Spain. There’s a place for both of course.
Northbanker
Honestly I can’t remember the name of the bar – the evening got more than a little liquid, obviously not by my choice but I was entertaining many many clients and it’s rude not to drink when everyone else is!
Tee
I don’t like the dishonesty from some re Xhaka.
He is either good for the team or he isn’t.
You can’t say on one hand how important he is to the team but on the other say we need better to really succeed.
It doesn’t add up.
Just call it out for what it is.
I’m a North LONDON BOY. For 47 years.
I have lived just outside Folkestone
for the last 25 years.
Today I got the train up to St Thomas hospital for my
wife’s on going cancer battle.
Nothing has changed my mind about London anymore
It’s a complete piss hole.
Back to football.
Ishola
Agree – nearly all players can be improved upon but no one was saying we needed to shift Vieira, Bergkamp, Henry or Pires to take it to the next level.
Xhaka started shit, got worse in the middle and who’s complete shitness at the end has only been disguised by a coach so negative and defensive Tony Pulis falls asleep watching us now.
If we got Hakimi and Bissouma then I wouldn’t worry re African cup because they would b really good signings plus not all the players would b out for 6 games as some players would come back sooner
James
I hope your wife’s treatment goes well.
“We’ve got to be careful with African players, we’re already losing Aubameyang, Pepe, Partey, Elneny”
You just know the fucking league will set the fixtures up so we have matches against tough teams who don’t have anyone at the ACN.
‘Our midfield is worse without him’ I dare you to list out the top 20 worst performances arsenal have put it in the last 5 years and count how many of them included a xhaka He has this magic trick where when he’s not in the team and our CM is gash, it’s because he’s not in the team. But when he is in the team and our CM is gash, it’s not his fault Emperors new clothes BS where people will find whatever nonsense to convince themselves he’s not average. But the Italian league will suit him. Any league… Read more »
All the best James
200m summer.. as much as I would love to see it, I can’t ever see it happening with Uncle Stan at the helm! I hope in a few months time you’re all reminding me of this comment and saying how wrong I was!
Also talk of how highly rated he is
10m offer for a player we paid 40m for 5 years ago. We bought a highly rated CM last summer and it set us back 45m. You’d think if 10m is the going rate we could’ve got partey for 15m last summer surely!
I’ll leave a well and truly over the hill mourinho, manager of a team that came 7th in a weaker league to talk up granit.
‘Highly rated’ my arse lol.
It’s Stockholm syndrome. I’m sure of it. There’s no other explanation
Ishola70 Xhaka is important to the team because with Partey injured for parts of the season, our other central options were Elneny + Ceballos Xhaka is a better player than both Elneny + Ceballos The season before the options were Torreira, Guendouzi, Ceballos, and when you add Xhaka to the mix, you probably couldn’t assemble a midfield quartet who are less mobile and less dynamic Midfield has been a big problem for us for a long time Most people recognise Xhaka is important to our team, whilst also recognising we need to upgrade virtually the whole of our midfield including… Read more »
China
It’s surreal but Stockholm syndrome comes as close as any other reason why fans who not that long ago had some of the cream of midfielders in the world would start rating a player who’s just so so bad.
‘When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.’
Just a small thing I noticed but here’s another reason why Arteta is still not ready. On Pepe: The Spaniard said: “He’s changed his mindset. He wants to work, he wants to be the best. When that happens with the talent he has, I think it’s a really good mixture.” Now imagine he had said this: “He wants to work, he wants to be the best. When that happens with the talent he has, I think it’s a really good mixture.” Just take out the first few words and instead of making it appear that Pepe was a bad trainer… Read more »
Ishola
What dishonesty?
There isn’t a single Arsenal player who couldn’t be improved upon, including everyone’s darling, Saka.
None of Arsenal players start for Man City for example.
When was the last time that could’ve been said about Arsenal players and the league winners, whoever it might’ve been.
The only point is Xhaka isn’t a 10m player, and if you believe that he is, then you just forfeited your rights to complain about Arsenal squad mismanagement, or praising the Chelsea woman for her business acumen when she sells their second string player for 30-40m
bac
Arteta’s comments after ESR’s first goal sounded more like a bollocking than congratulating a player, “you lose more than you win”, telling the press he was going to conduct an investigation to find out who leaked the Luiz / Ceballos fight story and then repeating it a week later and telling the media prior to kickoff that Auba had been dropped for disciplinary reasons before the Spud’s match.
Arteta’s made more man management fuck ups in 18 months than most managers do in a career.
And they’re just the ones we hear about.
Good post
But if it comes to jack all…
I agree with xhara if we can squeeze to 13m… Cool
What about the boy cotterill at lb as cover
Youth youth youth
If it was on the North Bank of the river, you might have been getting spanner Ed in the imaginatively named, ‘the Blackfriar’. Lots of wood inside a copper plate as I recall. The most notiabke thing about it though us the art nouveau design and furniture. Or maybe you were further up the hill at Holborn paying homage to Terry Neill.
No to smoker schezeny coming back
Bacary, what absolutely inane comment. The player is focused, he’s improved and the output on pitch suggests quite the opposite. Thomas Tuchel, LG fave, double subbed CHO in week one. ‘Positive’ behaviour? Rookie Jurgen Klopp on Lovren. “The first goal was a little throw in and we are not really there,” Jurgen Klopp said after the game. “It was just really bad, bad, bad defending. The second, a counter attack, when the ball passes Lovren it is already too late. If I am involved in this situation on the pitch, then Harry cannot get the ball. It wouldn’t happen if… Read more »
Inter announcing to the world, they are broke and somehow still want to stay competitive. Losing Conte.
Time to see if we can get some players from them. Hakimi will still cost, but lets see if Edu can apply any pressure…
His track record of signings is not great. Loans, Luiz, full price on the last day etc.
Lets see what he is made of this summer
Ishola,
With Xhaka, it’s a balancing act.
I think most fans would say he’s had a decent enough season and would pick him ahead of Elneny and Ceballos in central midfield. However, for us to move forward, we need an upgrade in his position in the starting XI.
Of course, if Xhaka is forcing his way out of the club then it ties our hands a little more than it otherwise would.
Pedro
All good examples , the only difference being all three are firmly established managers at the very top of their game.
Who the hell is Arteta?
You can take criticism much easier from a proven winner ( Tuchel apologized for his double sub btw).
I wouldn’t say no to Lukaku, quite like the look of Hakimi as well, but losing half your team for a month in January certainly isn’t ideal
Pedro-I would answer but I’m still waiting for you to explain why you call for Saliba to start next season on your podcast but then mock others on here for saying the same thing.
You’re all over the map. I’m not the first to notice.
Tom, that notion is 100% a principle of football management you’ve made up in your head. One that is totally debunked in this instance by the fact that Pepe has reacted extremely well to the coaching he’s getting.
Tom
Never apologise if you haven’t done anything wrong, the Mob never want the apology they’re demanding, they want subjugation + conformity
bac
If you’re worried about Pedro’s football judgement just re read his comments about fashion above!