Well Arsenal fans, I think we’re at that stage of the transfer window where we’re starting to see slight patterns emerge. 4 days. Yep, I have patterns to share.
- We’re going to be in a scrum for players this summer
- We’re going to sell a lot
- We’re going to buy a lot
Arsenal has money to spend, no doubt about it. The KSE apology tour comes with Benjamins.
Arteta seems willing to move on players we thought were his favorites, Granit Xhaka proving out there’s a ruthless streak we didn’t know existed, especially after last summer when it felt like he hoarded.
If things go well, we’re likely to see a very different 25-man squad next season. Wenger said you shouldn’t add more than 3 players, well, we’ll need at least 5 to stand still.
This is a hugely consequential moment however you cut it.
The thing that’s exciting me the most is the profile of player we’re looking at. I’ve been writing for years that we need to shift to a Dortmund+ model if we want to get back to the top. That means you adopt a model where you create a good coaching environment for the best young players in Europe and you snatch at them before it they the top level. Monaco, Leipzig, Atleti, Lille, Dortmund, and Ajax are superb at this.
The better you get at it, the more you make in player sales, the bigger the pot you have to play with each season. Arsenal needs to get good at selling if we want to get back to the top. That’s why it’s essential this summer is clever.
Ivan G convinced himself we could get back to the top by signing ‘experienced’ players in their prime. It did not work. Sven Mislintat barely got going before he left after seeing what the Barca guy was up to. Don Raul, the least creative of our football hires, thought you could beat the market using ‘contacts’ scouting, it did not work. Now Edu has the chance to show the world he can do something more interesting than what has gone before.
Edu has done some VERY weird stuff, but if we’re going to be kind, maybe we can lay the blame at the door at over-controlling scuzzy execs that are now out the door. This summer will be his last if he fails. Career death has a funny way of sharpening the mind. It is not a surprise that the Brazilian player cartel has told Willian to move on this summer. I expect best behaviour and signings closer to Martinelli and Partey vs Willian and Cedric Soares.
So far, things are looking sexier. The average age of the players we’ve been linked to is lower. The names are coming from less obvious sources. There have been very few names linked to mega-agents. Everything on paper ‘feels’ smarter.
Emi Buendia is the sort of player Arsenal SHOULD be looking at. Young, great technically, perfect athletic profile, ready to bang… without doubt we moved for him, there are just too many big journos on it to think otherwise. Something clearly put Arsenal off, because we are a bigger pull and no way he’s says no if we’re at offer stage. However, the ‘why’ it failed doesn’t fuss me. Who cares? Didn’t like the slag anyway. What seems clear is:
- Martin Odegaard might be harder to sign than we hoped. No way we’re signing two creators in that #10 role this summer
- If the Norwegian is off the agenda, we are might be looking for someone who can bring energy and numbers to the operation
If you can’t make Buendia work, fund someone that has lookalike statistics. Rodrigo De Paul? Sure, maybe last season when the Le Grove comments section was repping him, but probably too late now, once Mino is involved, you’re dead. But what does he have that we need as well? Bang-bang energy, chance creation, power, pace, ability to transition the ball PLUS sexy versatility.
Who else could we find? Well, we’re being linked with Lazio’s Joaquin Correa, for £17m. He plays as a second striker, but can very much occupy that hole in behind like a #10. He has pace, strength, great technical skills and he can move through tight spaces. Do I know if we’re in for him? No. But do I like the idea we’re looking where other clubs aren’t? Absolutely.
We didn’t nab Buendia, but two players that could do something similar are linked right after. Again, I have no idea if I’m the conspiracy theorist piecing together the relationship between Elon Musk and the Bill Gates tracker bots he put in the covid vaccine… but the rumours feel smarter than they did last summer.
Our transfer window cannot be about chasing the coattails of clubs already in the Champions League. There is a HUGE opportunity to take advantage of a burning European transfer market and build a squad that can bang. Give a stupid Tech Director £100m and they blow it on a player that will return fuck all. Give it to a smart one, they’ll turn that into £250m.
Do we have the Edu who took £36m and turned it into Willian over 3 years? Or the guy that pulled Martinelli out of Brazil and made him a £50m youth sensation that Klopp called a GOD? Who knows. Who knows.
But the rumours are sexier…
Lokongo, yes please. Huge potential from a country that has players banging all over the world.
Caqueret? Absolutely. The French league is full of diamonds and their clubs are BROKE.
Onana? What a good bit of business that would be.
Locatelli? He’s a big boy, but what a player.
Barella? OH MY LORD YES PLEASE.
Smart money can still be sexy.
There are obviously going to be positions we have to stock with Premier-League-ready players. I understand that. If you ship Xhaka, you can’t give his role to someone that’ll take 5 months to settle in England because that position is so important and the fans will oust Arteta if that doesn’t work.
Same for the RCB position. I honestly find the rage surrounding Saliba baffling, because it generally comes from the people most critical of Arteta’s inexperience. No club in the world takes a chance on a 20-year-old center-back for the first team with no Premier League or Championship experience. That. Would. Be. Absurd.
… but, if you bring in Ben White or someone of his profile, then Saliba has a good mentor and we can develop an amazing talent over the season in conjunction with a player that can give us stability (To just regulate how crazy starting Saliba in our defence at 20 is, remember, Brighton sent Ben White to Leeds at 21). I honestly believe Saliba is the safest of our centre-backs because he’s the only one that can play football the way Arteta needs him to play.
People also need to move away from the idea that you sign players in order of need.
No one slags their mum on Twitter for not loading the weekly food shop in order of physiological priority.
‘MUM I NEED TO SEE LEGUMES IN THE TROLLEY FIRST, WHY WOULD YOU PRIORITISE PICKLED ONION MONSTER MUNCH YOU LUNATIC?’
A transfer window is a jigsaw puzzle. There are 5 or 6 pieces that need to drop in. It doesn’t matter which order as long as each piece is filled come the end of July.
So there’s the view of the summer patterns.
Hopefully, we can ship players out in a ruthless fashion.
Hopefully, we can buy with intelligence and do it with speed.
Hopefully, 80% of the deals we do can impact the starting 11 before December.
This is the true start of a new era. Let’s see what the club has. If it’s shit, we’re absolutely finished.
____________________________________________________
The Christian Eriksen collapse was the worst thing I’ve seen in live sport.
This is not a moment for finger-wagging about things we do not understand.
We should celebrate the rapid reaction of everyone involved, especially the talented medics that kept him with us. We should celebrate the leadership of the players on the pitch. We should pray to whoever we pray to and celebrate that Christian is alive.
Life is really precious, there’s nothing more important, let’s hope he gets back to his best as soon as possible. xxx
Whoaaaaa instant classic.! They can thank their Keeper for standing on his head earlier today.
Fantastic game.
mad
Cracking game.
AFC
Liverpools best player has always been Anfield…! When they sold Coutinho they received a huge amount of cash. Not so Wijnaldum. What a player to Lose.
That’s exactly what I said to him he said they will just buy someone to replace him lol
Curse
Yep, best game so far. The tempo of both teams. I’ve had a few beers tonight but I’m wide awake watching this. The two Ukraine goals are top drawer!!
What a comeback from the Ukranians. Two great goals from the Ukranians.
In all honesty,feel Holland should have buried this game,beyond any shadow of a doubt.Wijnaldum being the heartbeat of the Dutch national side today.
But anyway,good game.
All the attacking talent England have yet we don’t play anything as exciting as this.
PhD
Yep, should have been over. They’ve gone to sleep defensively, not sure they made the right substitutions.
That’s the keepers fault he should have put that out
“Pools transfer dealings have been hit and miss I would love them to spend ,40m and get a dud I really dislike the bin dippers”
Problem is their hits have been big and their misses have been small, cheap or overshadowed by the hits.
Pretty much the exact opposite of Arsenal over the last 8 or 10 years
AFC
definitely, I’d place the talent level of the Dutch above the Ukraine but only just.
dumfries!!!
Ohhhh and then Dumfries… makes up for his miss.. crazy.
Went to the gents and didn’t realise that Ukraine had equalized! Suddenly it’s 3-2.
both keepers shouldn’t be letting headers in from that far
Brilliant cross from Ake.
Nice entertaining game-3-2.
Good call on Dumfries Raptora.
Marc I know it’s time pool spent big on a dud like we do all the time 😂
Serge
Maybe they could go all in and poach Arteta off us – kills 2 birds with one stone.
Throw in Xhaka for free?
Isn’t it odd that in the 3 or 4 matches I’ve watched / half watched there’s been no problems with ref’s, officials , stupid decisions or VAR.
Then you remember that they haven’t let any of the morons we have to put up with week in week out.
Billion pound industry has the biggest group of egocentric moronic cunts on the entire planet officiating it.
andy
Don’t I’m still waiting for the Xhaka deal to go pear shaped.
That was a hell of a match… Harsh on Ukraine … getting nothing out of it.. But love the way the Dutch play.
I’ve always liked Liverpool, but along with city and the chavs I make that one more spot for top four. we need manure, Leicester and the tiny tots to make a meal of this window.
curse
That tells you just how far we’ve fallen.
The question is do you think Arteta and Edu have it in them to turn us around? It’s strange (concern?) how Pedro and his merry band of Arteta lovers won’t give a firm prediction on whether we’ll make top 4 next season.
Marc
Stop being so freaking negative
Best match thus far, up the Dutch after pulling what their best at bottling after dictating everything.
Roll on Euro baby.
Dissenter
Mate not sure if you’re being sarcastic, funny or need a slap?
sal
There’s something about the Dutch team (and I’m not talking about the female fans in South Africa – where the fuck are they by the way?) that just gets the juices going.
I think we should add a Dutch player or two – it just feels right.
Yep Sal…Euro’s been decent. Flicking the channel over to Neymar now. Should be his show with Venezuela basically fielding a pub team due to Covid.
Agree boys the Dutch enter and the tournament has begun.
The orange, beering im so fucking IN.
Too much sport watch my Novak take on GOAT proportions, Footie and now Copa 😎.
Would be remiss if I didn’t add ole Arry Kane turning a tap in into a near tournament ending injury.
What a moment.’
Middy
I don’t have FOX… lets up that plan!
Sal.. If you live in Texas.. They pump Fox in…. for free. Hahaha Seriously though Its on the main network.. whatever your local Fox channel is. So far Venezuela holding their own.. but getting peppered with shots.
Midwest, can’t watch the Copa in the UK, only option is the terrible MLS, it’s Kansas v Austin now, dreadful.
Brazil score… Marquinhos.
AFC.. sorry.. I don’t watch MLS .. either
Marc, I reminisced about the Dutch Total Football team earlier.. They’ve always played with emphasis on attacking flair. If they had some of the England players, I’m sure we would see them much more adventurous than Southgate has us.
Mid, yep it’s not great.
Marc I think they have already proven they have it in them to turn it around. slight exaggeration but the cogs have been turning for some time now. I not sure how any one can see all the change that has happened and not reevaluate the perception they might have had justifiably in the past. When I look at this squad now, it’s potential given the right additions I believe, will go into orbit. The links and rumours are exactly the type I would expect from guys on the right path. When I click a tube of most of these… Read more »
Curse
Nicely put.
Only MLS I could get motivated for was Henry in Jersey and Pirlo at Yankee stadium then Lamps joined and killed that.
Even that was a stretch, really tedious.
Sal,
I had the misfortune of watching Beckham’s team in their pink stadium. I’ve had more fun shopping with the wife!!!
AFC
We’ve got some serious talent kicking round the England team at the moment – I’d dare to say better or at least will go on to be better than the so called Golden generation of Scholes, Fatty, Gerarrd etc but fuck me Southgate is so fucking cautious.
He’s the type of manager who thinks it’s better to lose 1 nil than win 3 – 2. Just trying to think where I’ve seen that recently?
AFC
The BBC were showing the Copa America match Brazil vs whomever on the red button or something. Can’t remember what but they did advertise it earlier.
I will say FC St Louis feeling a bit Red Bull Leipzig.
Total Heat.
cheers AFCF
I’ve still reckon we could get Jack, of all the club’s he could go to, ours makes some sense at least. Mercenary or legend, I guess we’ll see.
Erickson’s heart actually stopped and they got him back with a defib thank god he is alive
He is talking about playing again but I can’t see it
“I’ve still reckon we could get Jack”
Grealish? If it’s not fair enough if it is you are a fucking tit who knows fuck all about football or Arsenal.
Serge
It’s good to see some lessons have been learnt and the right equipment is on hand even though these events are thankfully rare.
As you say I can’t see him playing again at the top level – who the hell would insure him?
We have more chance of winning the lottery than getting Grealish I wish people would stop saying that kind of thing
Serge
It’s pathetic it’d be one thing if the poster was past his bed time but he’s an adult who’s allowed to vote and stuff!
He would be 80 plus mil we could get 3 players for that money maybe 4 if you get onana as well
If Marko was here he would call him dense
For the record they may be a few dense ones one here but none denser than lil Marko.
Serge £80 million? Stick £20 or £30 million on top. Villa won’t have been so much as touched by COVID it’s fucking laughable – https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/revealed-huge-cost-aston-villa-19900567 That piece is talking about Villa losing almost £13 million in gates receipts last season (20 – 21) because of no fans in the ground and calls it a huge cost – Arsenal would’ve lost almost that much missing just 4 home matches the season before when lock down first hit. Villa are rolling in cash because of the PL TV money they don’t need to sell, they certainly don’t want to sell and Grealish… Read more »
sal
He’s argumentative but you shouldn’t bait him if he’s not here to defend himself.
Marc,
Lil doubt he’ll appear…… n o w that roomie of yours.
sal
Er? no room at the inn here?
I thought Pedro binned him earlier hence my comment – if he’s just not here right now then go wild!
Marc,
Hard to keep up with Marko’s bin’s… does that inn have a vacancy? My missus on the edge with current intake and addiction to footie.
Actually nodded off a bit during Brazil.. haha
Neymar did his usual though… looked like a whirling dervish .. blows past 2 or 3 players then misses the shot.. Did that about 3 or 4 times.. But he did score a PK where he runs up, almost stops… tiptoes and then.. shoots it in the corner after the Keeper gets bored with his run up.
Anyhow, not unexpectedly Brazil going to win 2-0, easily.
OOps sorry 3-0. Neymar… with an assist.. in the dying moments.
sal
Only if you pass the admittance criteria –
1) Alcohol is compulsory
2) No Oatmilk
3) No leftie scum
4) No scousers
5) Got to like good food and agree beef must be cooked rare
6) Think Arteta is the worst manager we’ve ever seen.
If you pass that mate no worries – I do televised sport, documentaries and more sport.
Forgot – not fucking veggies!
Marc villas owners are the 3rd richest in the prem and they have spent over 120m a season since they bought them
Serge
That’s just on top of the basic math’s. Their match day receipts for a season are about double a round in the Tolly.
If Grealish leaves it’ll be for a big fee, a big salary and at minimum CL football.
City mo all over that lad
Marc
Solid.
I’m so in barring the politics which is for simpletons and the gap wide from NYC to UK. Cultural thing. As for Arteta i’ve stop caring, I just want delivery.
Best T shirt i’ve every owned, weathered perfectly. Sleeves faded into a perfect iridescent blue, On front it said SHOW ME THE WAY where left pocket would go.
Arsenal need that.
does that inn have a vacancy? My missus on the edge with current intake and addiction to footie.
_______
No worries Sal.. Ill put you up… no criteria for entry.. However, it does come in handy if you can shoot a rattler at 20 paces with your sidearm and you don’t mind an empty Frig except for chilled Margarita mix. But the footie is on 24/7.
Marc
Solid.
I’m so in barring the politics which is not for Le Grove as it really brings out the dead and the gap wide from NYC to UK. Cultural thing.
As for Arteta i’ve stop caring, I just want delivery.
Best T shirt i’ve every owned, weathered perfectly. Sleeves faded into a perfect iridescent blue, On front it said SHOW ME THE WAY where left pocket would go.
Arsenal need that.
Marko gets such a hard time here it’s crazy. So many folk don’t tolerate his content, but yesterday’s piece about signing Ben White was essentially everything Marko was saying in the comments the day before.
@Pedro Regarding the Buendia debacle your statement “we are a bigger pull and no way he’s says no if we’re at offer stage.” is DELUSIONAL!!! Lets analyse this “we are a bigger pull” HOW? After over a decade of declining with lower finish on the table for the past 5 years and no CL football since 2017/2018 and now no European football at all. In what universe is that a great pull? Players live in the NOW and the great history of Arsenal in the past means nothing to them when they look at what their lives and future prospects… Read more »
Marc
if you say so lol.
we dream different.
sym
MD yeah buendia chose villa. That is the reality. If he had wanted to come to arsenal why wouldn’t he wait a bit longer for arsenal to make a better bid or kick up some fuss at the club to get them to accept arsenals offer? He could barely even wait until the window opened to go to villa of all teams.
He chose them. Pedro needs to take it on the chin and stop doing PR for the administration when we fuck things up
“Does Arsenal have a well respected manager and DOF among their peers where raw talents would like develop their skills? ”
———————————————————————————————————–
There is no argument that Wenger was a big pull, but Arteta, not so much. That’s why we have to offer higher salary to attract players.
Also people who think arsenal are still a massive club with a massive pull are wrong Besides a few exceptions, very few highly sought after players are going to be falling over themselves to sign up. They won’t care that wenger used to be amazing or Henry played here. Only those who were fans growing up will hold any special kind of status for arsenal. The rest will need to be sold on the direction we’re trying to go or high wages. What we did 15 years is totally irrelevant in 2021 It’s no different than we see in Italy… Read more »
What player wants to come here and play this dictator football anyway? Under a manager who’s arrived before he’s even left his house?
Good news is, there is no hiding place for Edu and Arteta, if they mess up the window and we don’t make the CL then they need to be discarded.
Other than the stupid amount of money (Willian, anyone?) there’s practically little pull for great players to join Arsenal… London cannot be used again , I spent time in London, both business and pleasure, and surely it’s be fun for a month (max stay I had)… But if I pick a location where I work, say 3 ton5 years, personally not sure if it’s all about entertainment, restaurants and clubs… i doubt many players would go see museums , galleries, and churches during off days! So not a pull unless we pay way over the top like we did in… Read more »
I agree, I do think the lad is a bit targeted on here also. I genuinely can’t recall any of his takes being so preposterous over the years, differ though they may from popular opinion at times.
#FreeMarko
Ah Marko is grand he is just a grumpy prick.
Is he targeted? Besides Pedro permabanning him.
We could be having so many bargains this summer it is ridiculous. Players of top quality are available for low prices. Marcel Sabitzer, Aouar, Anguissa, all players that would improve our CM options instantly. Now that I think about it signing someone like neves for 35 mil might not be the best option. Sabitzer and Lokonga could be had for the 35 mil and we would have addressed our CM options even with a backup. And Lokonga would be one for the future while Sabitzer can be for the here and now. The stupid thing about our CM options right… Read more »
We the problem with Marko is he calls people dense etc for no reason except that they do not think the same way as him I find that kind of poster intolerable
He would never speak to another person like that face to face so why do it on here ?
China my sentiments precisely. No one seems to have factored in that we aren’t a big pull anymore. There is no guarantee Arteta will be manager after Xmas if he doesn’t start pulling up trees. Why would you sign in those circumstances ?
Useroz, If you are a foreign,young, unattached professional footballer, London is much better than any other city in UK. You have the clubs, the party scene, the restaurant, the fashion show, the anonymity, museum, cinema premiere, the musical, the cultural events. If you are a family man, then you can pretty much guarantee that a school in your own language and in some from your country exists. The adaptation for your kids will be much smoother. Also it is a given that there will be a small community of your own countrymen and countrywomen making integration for your wife that… Read more »
Man I hope we sign a couple of classy players soon. I know it’s early days but the summer will be a lot calmer for us if we know we have some key weaknesses dealt with early. I don’t mind us going down to the last day on some luxury fine tuning on squaddies and the like, but at least I hope we can spend most of the summer break knowing we have an actual midfield again, that would be good. Some good and not so good names being linked to us. Some good deals and a lot of horrifically… Read more »
Yeah London is a world city. I don’t think that many 20-30 year old men with cash burning a hole in their pockets would prefer to be anywhere else in England.
London’s the best and the worst of the UK, but if you’re filthy rich you’re swimming in the best of it. Easy choice!
Pedro has an itch for Marko. Probably because Marko is more knowledgeable.
Mr Serge
“He would never speak to another person like that face to face so why do it on here ?”
Maybe it’s because he is dense……or maybe not.
I think that the transfer rumours, which have been circulating in recent weeks are becoming increasingly ridiculous. One aspect of Pedro’s current post with which I agree is that the club needs to focus on improving specific positions in the team. I agree that the club needs to focus on shifting out unwanted players and the probability is that this will be achieved notwithstanding that sales will be financially disappointing. What is increasingly clear is that all the rumours about players who might be recruited is for the most part a “myth” and “complete “fiction”. The truth is that no-one… Read more »
Today I learned being called dense is super offensive.
Valentin, you make an excellent point about why London is more likely to keep the foreign WAG happy, a ready made ex pat community exists in London for pretty much any nationality -of course, the shopping options are world class too! Watching the Copa last night, it was noticeable how many PL based players are in the Brazil team. Apart from the attraction, competitiveness of the PL, the wages are excellent. Arsenal, even being out of Europe, are still a massive club ( all be it tarnished just at the moment!). Short term bias is one thing but for every… Read more »
Raptora, Slagging off the blog’s host is fairly offensive!
The one thing that is noticeable so far in the euros is how VAR is used so sparingly to allow the game to flow..
The PMGO have made a complete cock up of VAR , let’s hope they watch and learn at how it should be used.
Bob,
I missed the convo so I can’t speak of it. I assume it’s similar to the other times Marko or any poster with a different opinion gets banned. Anyhow, he is a valuable poster. And like it often happens, the truth is probably in the middle. I don’t think both sides are totally innocent.
“Who cares? Didn’t like the slag anyway”
Pedro, this had me cracking up 😂😂😂😂
This was a good write up too.
“Saliba seems to be a cult hero for the Arteta Out crowd, no idea why? Not as if he’s actually achieved or done anything, other than film someone having a w*nk. Must be a bunch of pervs on here…???!!!!“ AFC, can’t speak for the pervs on here( nice touch though) but the vast majority of opinions have one common theme the likes of you seem to gleefully ignore, and that is that both Saliba and Fofana are the same age, played together for the same club, were rated equally or perhaps Saliba higher (certainly by transfermarkt), both got traded to… Read more »
Pierre, From what I’ve seen they will bother taking their time only if it’s an absolutely wrong decision. And I think I already saw 1 absolutely wrong decision – the pen that Hojberg missed in Denmark vs Finland that they didn’t reverse when they had to. And 1 decision that imo was wrong – the handball in Turkey’s penalty box that they decided not to give although the ball was flying for maybe 2-3 meters and the full back had his hand way off his body outstretched making his body 2-3 times bigger. I wouldn’t say that VAR has done… Read more »
Talking about the 2 decisions they got wrong,imo, even then they didn’t take any time at all to review the situation. Everything was over in less 30 seconds. Makes me think they will only ever change a decision that is shockingly wrong.
Agree Tom, other than possibly Willian’s ‘contribution’, Saliba’s mishandling by Arteta/Edu is the easiest stick to attack the present regime with.
Fofana’s integration and performance levels make a powerful, negative contrast to Saliba’s handling. Leicester didn’t have 23 CBS and are a more settled team but otherwise their situations are comparable.
I’m sure this is why foaming at the mouth Arteta outers are happy to regularly mention Saliba’s handling as it’s very hard to argue with!
Raptora
If you look at the Denmark pen again , you will see that the defender’s knee makes contact with the attacker’s foot ankle , almost twisting it , so I would be inclined to say it was a decision that should stand …Alternately, if the ref hadn’t given the pen it would also been right to not overturn it…it was a 50/50 decision that can go either way which sometimes you get in football when there is no right decision and no wrong decision .
Just because one 20yr old French defender signed from St Ettiene has done well, that doesn’t mean that every French 20yr old centre half signed from St Ettiene, will do well….. Saliba + Fofana are two entirely different players It’s also easier to put Fofana next to the vast experience of Evans, or Soyuncu, who’s now into this third season Than it is to put him next to Gabriel, who’d only played around 50 senior games, didn’t speak hardly a world of English, and is another younger player learning the game The idea we were going to throw a 19yr… Read more »