So it seems that as well as Arteta being on holiday, so is Edu, hanging out in Portugal. I like it, working up that bronze tan so there’s a distinct contrast between his skin and that crisp white shirt. Nothing says Technical Director like a dreamy summer bronze on white combo.
The transfer window is now a day in and we have signed NO ONE.
That doesn’t mean things aren’t happening.
I love the Buendia story and its evolution. Arsenal were beaten by Aston Villa for speed, until they submitted their own bid, then didn’t go back with a second bid. So it would appear there was a price point we didn’t fancy dancing past. Makes total sense for a club with limited funds this summer. I totally forgot that Villa also put the feelers out for Smith Rowe. I suspect they’d not have moved for Emi if they’d landed our guy.
There are fresh links today to Neves, Lokonga, and Onana.
Granit Xhaka is close to making his move to AS Roma according to Chris W over at Football.London, making him one of the first signings for Jose Mourinho. This is fantastic news. He’s a good player, but don’t ever forget that his presence in our side correlated perfectly with the decline of the club. Too many errors in his game and a ceiling that hasn’t moved us up a level. It’s a good thing that he’s out the door. If one of the best leaders at your club tells the fans to fuck off, you have a leadership problem. I wish him all the best.
Reuben Neves is a similar profile player with Premier League experience. If there’s a busy summer of ins and outs, it’s important at least a few of the players know the league so there’s not a painful bedding in period. I’m not excited by Mr Neves, but how many of those sorts of players thrill? Not many. He’s a good player, he’s a better defender than Xhaka, and I think we’re all underestimating him because he’s not the P&P midfielder we were hopeful on / Wolves were shite last season.
Lokonga looks much more like ‘thriller’ talent. He has a similar profile to Thomas Partey, but if we’re building out midfield, we need young players like that. We can’t be losing Partey and hoping Elneny finds a level he doesn’t have.
Onana had his sentence for doping reduced to 9 months, so he can play as of November. He can play football the way Arsenal need a keeper to play. Fast off his line, good with the ball at his feet, very decent shot-stopper, and very young for someone who is capped with 50 games in the Champions League. Would he represent our first black first-team keeper? I can’t think of anyone else?
James M over at The Athletic has Arsenal linked with American right back, Tyler Adams. The Leipzig player can operate both as a right-back and a midfielder. He has a Tierney like athletic profile, and his versatility marks him out as talent because he can play that inverted role. Honestly, how excited would you be if you had a right-back that could offer us effective play like Tierney? It’d give us so much more balance and hopefully open up that right side so we don’t look so lopsided next season.
Sky Sports are saying that Arsenal are interested in Brighton defender Ben White. Again, it’s clear why, Brighton’s style is what Arteta wants. They are excellent in possession and Ben White has the experience we’re looking for in the Premier League, he’s with England, and he’s very young at 23. I honestly think we might see a shock exit this summer from our centre back collection. It’s also notable that Sami Mokbel has us linked to Tosin Adarabioyo, another 23-year-old English centre back of a right-sided nature. Someone has to leave and it’s obvious that there are those in the group that can’t do what Arteta needs. I also think any links to Brighton players should be taken seriously because I think Eddie would be a steal for a team that creates high-quality chances in the box but WILL NOT FINISH.
Finally, great that Daniel Ballard will take a loan in the Championship next season, promoted Blackpool will be interested, but apparently there are other suitors. I wish Saliba had moved to the Championship at the start of last season, he’d have done well and picked up the language in a more complete way. Arsenal are also bringing Patino into the first team, high hopes for him, which is great news for creating the image that Arsenal is a great place to develop.
Right, that’s all I have for you today. See you in the comments.
Sid. Unless some wires crossed in Eddie’s mind not sure he’d be a realistic alternative to Laca, even Edouard. We simply don’t and likely wouldn’t have the creativity to mouth feed Eddie, and he hasn’t shown he’d find something from nothing 😉
Thats the big problem,
1) are we going to sign creative players to feed Eddie and Auba ?(there are signs of chemistry between Eddie, ESR, Saka )
Or
2) do we sign a CF that can bring others into play?(laca is not good enough for this role)
My guess, is as good as yours
I seem to think Ode would play a better false #9 than the ESR/Willian experiment. Also a better CF than Laca, like Firminho who isnt a prolific scorer
Morning Tony, Appreciate your thoughts. I have to say the sun does not always shine in N16. Without going into details my oldest son was hospitalised for a month due to mental health problems in February and is still in recovery. Arsenal has always been my way getting away from the rest of my life, since the age of around 8. Up to my 20s an Arsenal defeat would ruin my weekends. Getting married, having children and generally maturing has got to where I am now; still obsessed by Arsenal but in a benevolent, half full kind of way. It’s… Read more »
Sid
Do you mean to say how KdB played there in CL finall is what we should do with Ødegaard ?
KDB seem closer in profile to ESR than to Ode
Useroz “. We simply don’t and likely wouldn’t have the creativity to mouth feed Eddie, and he hasn’t shown he’d find something from nothing 😉” What you will find is that even a world class striker/poacher/goalscorer like Aubamayang struggled to make any impression pre Christmas with no creativity/service. I’m not sure how or why anyone would think that Eddie’s handful(less than) of league games during that period of chronic lack of creativity is enough to assess his qualities. We had exactly the same comments about Joe Willock and his supposed lack of ability and his inability to make an impression… Read more »
Bob
Best wishes for you, and a full recovery for your son.
Your insight mirrors my own. Supporting Arsenal has been a kind of escape from reality. I guess we all need a safety-valve facing the daunting world out there.
It is interesting that the two local newspapers in Camden and Islington are suggesting that
Arsenal’s priority in this transfer window is Odegaard and they are hopeful that a deal will be achieved. They believe that Real Madrid need money to fund their own transfer programme.
From my perspective the signing of Onana, Nunez and Odegaard would be a very good start
to the rebuilding of the team. Realistically we don’t have the budget to make wholesale changes to our starting X1, but this would be a good start.
Eddie goals per shot and goals per shot on target is up there with Lautaro martinez, the difference is 4 starts against 30.
Players that age need a run of games and the team structure to compliment their strengths
Thanks English, we all need our comfort blankets, even if they need a clean sometimes!
Useroz – tbh I don’t mind that we can’t compete with the big 3 or 4 (accepting that no longer includes us) What grates with me is that we have wasted hundreds of millions on poor players since the days of Wenger’s decline. You watch clubs like Leicester punch above its weight with astute buying (and selling) and see that there is a clear model to build here. We should be able to more than compete with Leicester and now Aston Villa and yet we can’t. We should be and need to become top of the next tree. A proper… Read more »
ES
””””From my perspective the signing of Onana, Nunez and Odegaard would be a very good start
to the rebuilding of the team.”””””’
That aint rebuilding- that is just re -arranging the furniture.
Leno is superior to the Doper. .
Nunezzzzz is no better in my opinion than Xhaka and most certainly not £20 000 000 better.
As for MO2 he aint as good as MO1- who the Imbeciles could’nt manage.
Rebuilding is buying 2 of DCL, Toney, Lukaku and playing more direct and getting some goals.
x10 goaless games at The Emirates last season.
Lowest in the clubs history!
By Nunez you all mean Neves?
Pierre
You have forgotten to include Reiss Nelson. That poor kid wasted a whole year!
CG First of all Arsenal averaged two goals per game after Christmas. So goalscoring was not such an issue in the second half of season. Arsenal did improve as Pedro has posted many times once we started shifting out of club t some of the deadwood and adding creativity. Most of our defeats and points lost were the result of “errors” originating from players like Leno, Luiz and Xhaka albeit the latter improved in the second half of season. What kills me is that vociferous critics of the management and team like you are now already finding fault with the… Read more »
I’m rooting for England and France in the Euros.
I think England could make the best out of these talents, if they had a better tactician. Here’s thinking that Southgate could be found out again, if he met a tactically-superior and more inventive manager.
North Banker
”””””By Nunez you all mean Neves?”””””””””
Nevezzzzz not the Wolves manager. What a ‘nothing ‘ player. Just what we don’t need.
You get these types on a Bosman or don’t bother.
(If A. Wenger could not do tippy tippy- this lot aint going to either.)
We need to be more direct. Liverpool of 2 seasons ago were direct ( before Thiago scuppered them and Klopp started to get too clever)
Music to my ears.
https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2021/06/11/arsenal-locatelli/
CG
For the record Lukaku has managed to score 20 goals+ in one season when playing in EPL.
Everyone knows that he is a “flat track bully” but he is not worth the sort of transfer fee that
Inter Milan will demand.
He was not exactly a success at Man Utd or Chelsea.
Time will tell on this CG – from what i’ve seen Neves is a better all-round player than Xhaka but doesn’t really excite me. I’d sooner see Bissouma signed and Lokonga as understudy. But if thats what we’re doing then so be it
Leno is better than Onana? far from convinced you’re correct on this but of course he’s not Prem proven. Onana looks much more like Martinez in the way he commands the box and distributes.
”””What kills me is that vociferous critics of the management and team like you are now already finding fault with the players I list””””’
Well , I would not let it get to you too much ES its only my opinion.
I dont want The Doper, I dont want Nevez to replace Xhaka and I am indifferent to MO2.
We struggle for goals, the center forwards are ageing and I believe you should always spend most of your scant resources on goal scorers.
They win you them points and the punters like them too.
ES
””””””Everyone knows that he is a “flat track bully” but he is not worth the sort of transfer fee that”””””””’
They said that about Wenger.
Now Villarreal bully us instead.
Lukaku brilliantly managed by Conte won Inter Milan the Italian league this year on his own.
Scores goal after goal and never gets injured.
So goalscoring was not such an issue in the second half of season.
That’s not accurate. Post Christmas we scored one or zero goals in 16 games 8 defeats and 7 draws. We didn’t score in 9 games after Christmas so again that post Christmas form/table doesn’t tell the whole picture there was struggles throughout the season for Arsenal
Doesn’t matter if Leno is better than Onana if the reports are correct Leno wants to leave. The question then becomes who do we replace him with rather than should we keep Leno.
The question of why we let Martinez go last summer to keep Leno when he clearly wasn’t settled is a whole other can of worms.
ES
How many shots on goal (not on target just genuine attempts on goal) did we have in the two legs against Villareal?
CG There are plenty of decent Strikers aged 30+ so the age of Lacazette and Aubameyang was not in itself an issue. I don’t believe that Aubameyang is past his best, because he had a very good season in 2019/20 and scored 29 goals. As I posted there were offield issues and I suspect he will better next season. Lacazette would be in normal circumstances second string and is perfectly adequate in that role. However I would offload him if we got a decent transfer fee and can find a replacement, but that is not going to be one of… Read more »
Emirates
The problem with Laca as second string is he’s on £180k per week – Harry Kane’s on £200k per week. We can’t afford to have back up players earning this amount of money when we can’t even make the new 3rd rate European competition.
We really need a reset when it comes to our transfer business and the salaries we are paying a lot of players.
I like odegaard and for the right money he wouldn’t be a bad signing but……..
Last season was him playing for a) a big move b) to impress Madrid and work his way into their squad.
This was probably his peak effort, and it didn’t exactly set the world alight.
Once he signs that big deal, will he keep that up and even get better as you would hope he would.
interestingly most of the players we ‘off loaded’ are still on the payroll (until 30th June) or their salaries accrued until that date. The club received minuscule contributions to their salaries for some of these players.
Marc
I think that the owner and club are well aware that we had too many overpaid players on books and that issue is being redressed following departure of Ozil, Mkhitaryan, Sokratis
Kolasinac and Mustafi.
Arsenal are offloading most of the remaining overpaid players. Luiz is leaving and I suspect Bellerin, Xhaka and Willian will also probably leave this summer.
Having a couple of overpaid players on the books is no longer a major issue.
we, of course replaced deadwood with even more deadwood. The new deadwood was almost as expensive as the old deadwood.
ES
“”””Onana was not suspended because he was a druggie as you post, but because he injested a
banned substance which is not performance enhancing. Both UEFA and CASC believed his version of events.””””
I dont believe a word of it.
guilty.
I dont want him anywhere near Arsenal.
CG
Thank goodness you are not a judge and jury.
I dont believe a word of it.
guilty.
Well luckily there’s smarter people than you in the world
Having Partey on £200k/wk and extending Laca on £180k/wk doesn’t exactly show that we’ve learned a great deal. Both are probably worth around half of that (maybe £120k/wk max for Partey and certainly no more than £100k/wk for Laca).
Trouble is the club will likely throw money at middling players to get them to sign as the ‘project’ isn’t really doing it for anyone apart from Pedro and a few Arteta disciples.
Agree Marc,, Laca and PEA are all very well but our squad is not in a state where we can have a non starter earning £180,000 a week.
What’s worrying for me & its something CG pointed out.Is that we need to more direct & physical.unless we have these attributes in the prem.You’re going nowhere & will be bullied time & time again.I don’t mind Arsenal going for “ Ruby “ os he is an upgrade of sorts & error free( hopefully) but it’s very,very disconcerting not to see any progress on the Bissouma front or a valid alternative.
I wonder how ESR will feel is we sign Odegaard on big money and play him in ESR’s best position? Apparantly Saka is on £30k/wk, already a better player than Ode. There are some serious salary imbalances that don’t reflect performance or ability, it’s a mess.
Also worth noting that we have a few players down to the final year of their contracts and I thought we were to stop doing this shit
andy1886
‘ Having Partey on £200k/wk and extending Laca on £180k/wk doesn’t exactly show that we’ve learned a great deal. ’
It’s called the losers premium
Players sacrifice competitive ambition to come live a relaxed life in London
It beggars belief that we are still operating like a club routinely making £60-80 million from the CL every year.
Thank goodness the euros starts today
Life without competitive football ….
Expecting a crappy competition with players dropping like flies and lots of shitty teams in the competition, it wont come alive till the knock outs.
You want good players you want to convince them to join you you pay them well. Snapping up Partey from Atletico and paying him whatever is par for the course
CGJune 11, 2021 11:57:25 ES“””” Onana was not suspended because he was a druggie as you post, but because he injested a banned substance which is not performance enhancing. Both UEFA and CASC believed his version of events.”””” I dont believe a word of it. guilty. I dont want him anywhere near Arsenal. —————- Pretty naive to think,at the elite level in professional sports,not many athletes are doping or pretty much crossing the threshold of what constitutes illegal doping.. Very,very,naive to think that it is an equal playing field,from ice hockey,to rugby,to tennis,athletics,basketball,football,etc,etc at the top level,less talk of it,at… Read more »
andy
If Arteta is left at the club going into next season (season 22/23) we will see the likes or ESR and Martinelli sold, there’s already rumours about Saliba being sold.
Saka will be playing but will look to leave as he’ll be too good for a team who’s not even making Europe.
Dissenter
God knows what happens if a big nation has a major COVID outbreak.
Hopefully it’ll be a good tournament we could all do with the distraction.
Anyone else looking forward to the Euro’s starting? Italy v Turkey tonight. Roberto Mancini’s Italian team managed to win all ten of their qualifiers, making them one of only eight sides in the history of the competition to qualify with a perfect record. Whether or not that form will mean anything we shall see but Italy has some real talent coming through. My best mate is an Italian, so I get a lot of youtube stuff sent through from him and he thinks this is one of the best Italian sides for years, I guess we will see. From what… Read more »
“”””CG Thank goodness you are not a judge and jury.””””
That CAS always buckle.
They buckled under Man City pressure( They financially doped- GUILTY)
They are now buckling under Osana pressure (GUILTY)
Do you REALLY think he accidentally took his wifes medication???
(They all use that one.)
Standards ES! Standards!
ZERO TOLERANCE TO THE DRUG CHEATS!
Not exactly an expert on doping but I wonder what kind of performance enhancing drugs could a professional keeper be looking for. In any event, If Arsenal do sign him this summer, I fully expect Arteta having him on the bench in the match day squad even with the nine month playing ban. Along with the two other keepers of course , whoever they might be. Apparently the banned drug they found traces of in his urine was one that makes you pee a lot. I’m shocked Sid has let that one go thus far. Marijuana is also on the… Read more »
A common application of diuretics is for the purposes of invalidating drug tests.[18] Diuretics increase the urine volume and dilute doping agents and their metabolites.
I don’t think we will know the answer to that CG – could he have mistaken the packet for aspirin? Unless we saw both packets then I don’t see how you can make that judgement.
Furosemide is a diuretic for people with high blood pressure or renal issues. I don’t see how anyone could consider that would be performance enhancing
The first british footballer to test positive for anabolic steroids was a goalkeeper
Im telling you for free!
It’s actually common for athletes to make mistakes regarding the WADA banned substances list. The arbitration has spurned a very profitable subdivision of law over the past 4 decades. Frusemide is indeed nit performance enhancing in its own right. It’s not like anabolic steroids that build muscle and enhance training ], neither is is like a stimulant that boosts performance. They ban diuretics because they are used to mask banned drugs, by flushing them rapidly out through the urine . Also they can be used to gain temporary weigh status is fighting sports like boxing or judo. A super welterweight… Read more »
NB
“””Furosemide is a diuretic for people with high blood pressure or renal issues.””””
I ll need them if Edu and Arteta continue to remain on holiday whilst the window has opened.
Was he really jet skiing in the Portugal seas ?
Get them back in London
“Are you married” must be the first question a defense lawyer asks the professional athlete who failed a drug test.
When Toure was found with banned substances in his system, he claimed he’d take one of his wife’s pills, too. Uncanny!
From his performances between the posts, im willing to bet he is on coke rather than steroids
CG 😂😂
If Onana is an upgrade on Leno and we can get him for a bargain fee then I’m all for it. I am willing to give him ‘ a second chance’. The likelihood of him repeating his mistake seems remote.
The message this sends out is not that we’re up for drug cheating but that we’re willing to be pragmatic in transfer dealings and that we’re willing to provide an opportunity for redemption. Saliba take note, Guendouzi forget about it!
I find it unbelievable that anyone with transfer responsibilities thinks they’re entitled to a holiday at their busiest tme of year. That would be like an accountant giving his tax staff a holiday in January
I’m throwing my opinion re Odegaard right now. He is not what we need. Replacing Ozil with Odegaard and Neves with Xhaka will not move the needle for our team. It’s like for like replacements and I was always under the impression that we weren’t competitive because we lacked pace, dynamism, strength and power. Looking at the EPL winners in recent years – neither Odegaard or Neves are anywhere close to the profile of the gegenpress players of Pool; – neither Odegaard or Neves are anywhere close to the profile of KdB or Gundogan. These 2 players will make us… Read more »
Bob – agreed. We need a decent keeper who can command the box and distribute effectively. If Onana can do both of those and YT clippings look promising) then thats fine with me.
“Standards ES! Standards!
ZERO TOLERANCE TO THE DRUG CHEATS!“
Sakho sued WADA for lost wages and personal losses , after his tests came back positive for a substance that wasn’t even on the list of banned drugs………claiming WADA cost him his Liverpool career.
WADA apparently said “Oops, our bad about the tests but Klopp just didn’t fancy you bro”
Foyth makes permanent Villarreal move in a £12m deal.
We couldn’t deal with him.
Looking at Neves’s highlight reels, anyone comparing him to Xhaka is drunk. Xhaka is a very one dimensional player. Gets the ball in lots of space, looks up for a bit and pings a long ball. Gets the ball in a tight situation, turns backwards and passes. Either way, very slow static play. And if he isn’t planted in front of the defence his off the ball movement is painful. Neves however has way more to his game. Far more dynamic with a broader range of passes and most importantly his forward play has urgency to it. He’s not afraid… Read more »
Going for Onana, and letting Leno go this summer, is risky Onana won’t play until November, he won’t have played competitive football for 9 months at that point He could be off for up to 5 weeks from Jan – Feb That’d be around half our season without our first choice keeper, and just one injury away from either Runarsson or a youth keeper, becoming our No1 We’d be playing Russian roulette with our season, and the direct competition for Onana would have to be of a high standard I do like the look of Onana from the clips I’ve… Read more »
Odegaard getting ruled out for his lack of “pace, dynamism, strength and power.”. Yet amongst the midfielders quoted there’s admiration of Gundogan.
Cant really make it up. Gundogan the powerful, dynamic, pace merchant suddenly?
Let’s not get our hopes up guys. Anyone we sign won’t be anything ‘worldly’ as anyone with ambition will not come over to be managed by an amateur run club and manager. We’re stuck for the foreseeable future in mid table limbo as long as Arteta and kroenkes remain at the club. I mean even now the muppet Arteta is trying to do away with Saliba without even giving him a chance. What player would come to play for Arteta seeing the way he’s handled and mismanaged players.
Odegaard isn’t worth the money. We have ESR who I think has a higher ceiling. Not saying he’s crap as he obviously isn’t, but he’s not the player many experts were predicting he would become when they first saw him play at 17
You are aware that Odegaard is no Cazorla or Cesc who didn’t have much speed but were very dynamic, always on the look for a one-two, always looking for ways to penetrate the midfield/defence with a run or a pass. Both of them were scoring goals and providing assists. Gundogan just scored 13 EPL goals. He is a CM and he is dynamic. Yes, it’s possible to not have the pace but be dynamic. He’s making great third-man runs. Very combative too. He was a peak Aaron Ramsey for City this season doing it all in every phase of the… Read more »
Fair enough Rich, still feel it’s worth going for Onana for a bargain price. If that means holding on to Leno until Jan or the following June, so be it.
No point in arguing over players like Ode – far too many variables: would he join us permanently? can we afford him? are we actually after him or is it just talk? And so on.
Better to wait and see who we actually sign and then see how we do.
tyagn,
Agreed. I’d rather keep playing ESR in his best position – AM. He’ll give us more for free.
Splashing 50+m for Odegaard is so overpriced. He’s a £35m luxury player for us.
Odegaard is a brilliant player, who has qualities we’re in desperately short supply of, and will also get the best out of some of our other players Aubameyang, Martinelli, Willock, Pepe, are all impact players, they’re not hugely involved in the game or build up We need these guys playing as close to goal as possible, they make the runs in behind, and we need players who can pick a pass and find those runs Odegaard complements good movement, we have good movement and goal scorers, we don’t have technicians who can provide the type of service they need to… Read more »
If Saliba settles in, we sign a powerful RB, then we may be fine going with Neves and Odegaard. Otherwise I’d go with Bissouma or similar next to Partey then I wouldn’t worry about speed and dynamism in the AM position, it would be all about vision and creativity. If Aouar’s head was screwed on I’d low ball Lyon(if that’s possible), pay whatever for Bissouma and get Odegaard in on a loan again,(if possible).
Marc: “No point in arguing over players like Ode – far too many variables”
By the look of it, and according to many people, we let go of Buendia because Odegaard is the player we’re focussing on. Apparently the management don’t think the variables are that many and is willing to risk it by not going for players that were 100% on the market like Buendia.
raptora
I just can’t get excited over a link to a player when there’s a chance he’s going to say “no European football no way” on top of that if we are interested you just know Madrid will try and milk us for a fee when we’re broke.
Too jaded by 30 years of bullshit gossip with a really crappy season on top of it.
You’ve only got to look at last summers pursuit of Auour to see what could be repeated.
Bob N16 I really like the look of Onana, granted highlights reels can be deceptive It’s a decent punt, but like you say, we’d have to be very careful letting Leno go this summer, and we’d have to have a better backup keeper than Runarsson from Aug-Nov and Jan-Feb Because anything else would be negligent , hopefully we’ve got a talented youngster in our academy Arteta + Edu panic me a bit, going into the season 1 injury away from Runarsson becoming our No1, was gross negligence At most clubs serious questions would be being asked, about how that was… Read more »
Rich: “As much as we need surgery all over the pitch, a top class attacking midfielder should be our top priority”
Sure, but top class attacking midfielders either score a lot or assist like crazy. Odegaard didn’t look capable of it but maybe they have seen him be that player in training. We know how important training is for Arteta.
Odegaard looks like a Ozil who can’t assist like peak Ozil could. Also Ozil was a very dynamic offensive player in his peak which was in 2008-2016 from 20 to 28 yo. Odegaard is nowhere near peak Ozil at 22.
Sid
“””A common application of diuretics is for the purposes of invalidating drug tests.[18] Diuretics increase the urine volume and dilute doping agents and their metabolites.”””””
Sid knows.
Shane Warne used the same trick.
We have enough Dopes at the club, we dont need Dopers too.
We’re going to spend £50+m for a player who might develop under us when £50m should only be invested in ready players like Partey, Aubameyang, Alexis.
When we are buying the idea of what a player might become, we should not spend more than £35m.
Raptora Grealish was a bit part player for Villa at 22 Maddison was in his first season for Leicester, had a decedent year, but wasn’t pulling up any trees Bruno Fernandes as playing for Udinese, and certainly wasn’t pulling up any trees Look the progress in Mason Mount from last season, to this season De Bruyne was sacked off by Chelsea at 22 Odegaard isn’t the finished article, 22yr olds aren’t supposed to be The question is, can we buy Odegaard for €40million at 22, and then develop him into an elite player over the next 12-24 months? Providing we… Read more »
I agree with Rich people are too quick to judge young players
“The question is, can we buy Odegaard for €40million at 22, and then develop him into an elite player over the next 12-24 months?”
Well that’s the million dollar question at least we can look back on Arteta’s track record of developing young players knowing he’s the man to do it.
“We have enough Dopes at the club, we dont need Dopers too.”
Sorry but bad news for you – in order to keep the fans awake during next season the clubs including amphetamines with every ticket sold.
‘Many hands wanting to be in that pot I would imagine.’
Tony,
Money pots have the habit of inviting many hands.
And about my post re your epistle, I hope you know I was just looking for mischief.
Cheers man!
“Well that’s the million dollar question at least we can look back on Arteta’s track record of developing young players knowing he’s the man to do it.”
Or if the €40m quoted by Rich is actually €55-60+m
“Also, thanks for attacking every post I make. Just the usual.“ Embarrassing comment, just the usual indeed. You’re not special, you just make a lot of contestable remarks, often baseless, or flawed ones. “Does Odegaard compete with Gundogan in his defensive midfield play or in his goal scoring play? Nope.“ For starters Odegaard is 22, Gundogan is 30. This is the second case of you making comparisons against fully established top tier players playing for a world class side. Before it was Bernardo Silva (27), now it’s Gundogan. This was Gundogans first ever double digit goal return in a league… Read more »
Rich,
Respect…your points make a lot of sense regarding ode.
But the issue is that I would pick ESR over him ten times in ten.
Then I prefer boys at 22 having undeniable fire like our teenage Saka.
I’ll be alright with Odegaard if RM sell him for £35m.
Let it be known that you compared Odegaard to David Silva. A player he doesn’t remind me of in a million years.
‘When we are buying the idea of what a player might become, we should not spend more than £35m.’
Dope…but you are even going far.
Dortmund mostly stop at £20m to £25m . £35m could even be silly money for potentials.
Buying a prospect is like placing a good bet, you could still lose. So the stake has to be weighed.
Still not sold on these ‘qualities’ that Odegaard apparaently has.
As I recall they are that he gives us ‘control’ – which is fine but is useless without any end product, and makes the occasional defence splitting pass (which you would expect to be reflected in ‘assists’ but I don’t see that so far).
Would much rather see a player in that position that has more end product.
Charlie
“””Influence extends beyond raw g/a figures. It’s such a limited picture when that’s all that’s touted when talking attacking output.
Odegaard is a super talent as Rich points out, his ability to offer control, allow others time, pressure, and find a teammate in advanced areas is a major bonus to our attack.””‘
Sound like Ozil then.
No point in replacing Nevezzz with Xhaka
& No point in replacing the MO’s.
This needle everyone wants to see move aint moving a mm if you do the same.
Window dressing.
(Anthemptamines needed)
Onana should be number 2 in his first season.
Let’s put him through the test first before we allow Leno leave.
Iwobi and Ighalo were breezing Onana at Afcon…not a good sign.
“Let it be known that you compared Odegaard to David Silva. A player he doesn’t remind me of in a million years.“
I actually didn’t though, I offered up David Silva’s goal and assist numbers following this comment you made:
“Sure, but top class attacking midfielders either score a lot or assist like crazy.“
But on the subject of David Silva, he’s far and away a better comparison to Odegaard than Ilkay Gundogan, who you even likened to Aaron Ramsey – a player that couldn’t be further from Odegaard.
CC
You do realise that you can compare 2 players without thinking that they are similar?
Marc
Maybe address Raptora with that pearl
Raptora Agree regarding price Arteta + Edu have no excuse, we’ve had a try before we buy, they should know exactly what it is we’d be potentially buying It’s a decimated market, I certainly don’t see us paying €60 million If we can get a deal done for €35-€45 mill maximum, including add ons, then it’s certainly something I hope we go for I think he’s got something special, he sounds like a leader, decent amount of experience, and with plenty of room to develop much further I wouldn’t be surprised if Ancholotti offered him a new deal and regular… Read more »