ODEGAARD VS MADDISON

by .

Well, here we are again, mulling over players we’re not sure we have a chance with.

This morning, everyone is thrashing about in the water because the choice is apparently Odegaard vs Maddison.

Now, I still find the idea of James Maddison a bit nuts. £70m plus whatever a player of his calibre earns… feels a bit of a stretch. But what can’t be denied is he’d be an absolute powerhouse of a signing. We’re absolutely awful from dead-ball situations, he delivers massive amounts of chances from setpieces. He’s a brilliant binder on the pitch, he creates chances, progresses the ball well, and last season he started adding more goals to his game. He was the difference between Leicester being in the title-chasing pack, to finishing 5th again.

Now you’ll remember last week.

‘Oooohhhh, bit pricey, right?’

Skip forward to this morning. Martin Odegaard, our primary target at the start of the summer, is apparently going to be fishing for a move back to the carpet for about half the price.

‘He’s shit, no end product’

Now, a few things we need to be a little wary of here… the player loves Real Madrid. There was a moment a few years ago when Cesc Fabregas had the chance to come back to London because Wenger was sniffing around him. Now, I don’t know if I have this perfectly narrated… but United were circling and Wenger didn’t want him to go there. He waited, but in the end, Cesc used our interest to get assurances at Barca, he stayed another year, then moved to Chelsea after we’d secured Mesut Ozil.

Time is running out in the window, we cannot be allowing Martin to rattle the commitment cage, then find ourselves up shit creek without a second creator again.

On the Norwegians talent profile, please, get away from me with ‘he’s no good’ rubbish. That is such a drossy statement.

Things to remind yourself of:

He’s 22 years old. An absolute baby in terms of the position he’s playing. There is still a lot of space for him to grow as a player and a leader. Where was Jack Grealish at that age? In the Championship scoring 5 goals and landing 5 assists with Aston Villa with big questions over whether he had the right mentality to succeed. Where was James Maddison? With Norwich in the Championship about the bang. Where was Serge Gnabry? Bumming around in Premier League 2 about to get moved out of Arsenal to Germany as a massive flop that wasn’t right in the head.

Players get better. Odegaard is a very good player. He’d played about 14 minutes of football in 6 months before he joined the Premier League. It takes time to adapt to a new culture, to a new fitness regime, and a new style of coaching. He still delivered a good showing. 90th percentile for progressive carries, 86th percentile for progressive passes, 96th percentile for passes attempted, and 98th for passes completed… in a totally broken squad.

Give him a system that doesn’t require him to drop so deep to force things to happen with players like Ben White and Lokonga declogging our slow play and aversion to playing through the middle and you have someone that can really find a next level.

It’s also worth referencing his season with Sociedad where he had a better run into a team that wasn’t on its knees like Arsenal were at Christmas.

Odegaard created 62 chances that season when he was 20 years old. Last season, the biggest chance creator in La Liga was Messi with 77. He is so far from average it is painful. If we can’t land Maddison, then we wouldn’t go far wrong with Odegaard. If you want to land a glimpse of what he could offer us next season, rewatch the Brighton game.

Honestly, I cannot fathom some of the chatter that goes on… Maddison is too expensive, let’s unlock European talent. Odegaard? Nah, not enough end product. Pick a lane. You want now talent, it’ll cost £70m, you want to take a chance on talent, it’ll look like Odegaard. Neither player would be a bad option.

Young players get better, especially those adapting from foreign countries. People complaining about our lack of goals seem to forget that up until matchday 14, we scored under a goal a game (0.85 per game), after we added 2 creators (ESR/Odegaard), we were only outscored by United and City (1.79 per game). \

Imagine what both of them could do in a more balanced team with a captain that has his head in the game?

Right, that’s me done, see you in the comments.

463 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Gonsterous

Pedro

Martinelli played 2300 minutes
Saka over 2000
ESR over 1500

I call bs without even needing to check. Either you added in minutes they got under emery or your calculations are all wrong

Anyone who watched arsenal last season knows, saka got the most minutes out of any of the youngsters. You don’t see people complaining about martinelli getting over played, do you??

Fk sake, pedro drowning his credibility all in support for his man crush Monday, Mikela

Guns of SF

Yea those numbers looked weird when I first saw them.
Martinelli did not play until late in the season it seems or at least winter/spring

martin will be pushing to get more mins. how is mike going to make that happen?

The real issue is who gets the left wing spot?
Willian, Saka, martinelli? Esr?

Tony

I’ve always stated here that I’m very much an Odegaard-in poster where I believe he has a very high ceiling. If RM weren’t in so much disarray financially and managerial wise, I feel Odegaard would be in the first team squad and getting game time regularly at age 22(?), such as in the cups and early round CL and against a few bottom dwellers in their league. Last season Ode came to us from the January TW: a generally very difficult time to join any club, let alone one that was a complete train wreck heading towards a relegation dog… Read more »

Guns of SF

we need to sell Kola Xhaka Torr, Willock ( maybe)AMN Eddie

Like wtf is the delay here

Guns of SF

I would drop a 50 note on martinez
also 50 note on Dani Olmo

100M for those 2 and its worth it big time! A cam and world class striker- both starters on their club and national teams

that is the profile we need to move up the ladder

Guns of SF

Sell

Kola- 10m
Eddie – 12m
AMN-12
Xhaka-18m
Willock-25m
Torr-15m

92M by my count

Guns of SF

Not only do we trim the team squad by 6, we also reduce our wage bill too.
So bring in a few super talents- needle movers and pay them well.
I can live with that versus what it is now

DivineSherlock

Guns

Lautaro Martinez is just a more physical version of Werner. His finishing is average , he misses more than he hits.

DivineSherlock

Atleast thats what I saw from Copa , havent seen any Inter matches .

Leftside

16 days till the opener and how much have we improved? You could argue not at all. How many vital first team additions have been made? How many surplus players have been sold? The answer is zero, even if messiah Ben White comes in.

Maybe we aren’t as attractive as people would have you believe, maybe players don’t fancy coming here to play for a novice who wants to scream and bark at the touchline to control every facet of play.

Leftside

Its been a weird market in the Prem though, most teams have not done anything of note. I personally see this as a potential opportunity missed, there’s still time but this has been an utterly underwhelming window. Very few things I detest more than the tedious summer transfer window.

Guns of SF

Left side Im with you. I hate the TW when it comes to Arsenal. My worst part of being a fan is sitting through 2.5 months of absolutely nothing, reacting late, overpaying, and choosing the wrong player
Its just wonderful

Leftside

Its kind of why I like deadline day Guns, because one way or another it all comes to a head although there’s a strong case to make against us leaving deals late.

I can only see one more incoming assuming White goes through in this lifetime, at CAM and we wouldn’t have done nearly enough to put ourselves in a position to compete.

Guns of SF

Edu got TP for full price on the last day when Aulas rejected our low ball offers for Aouar.
I hope Edu has learned something since then but seems he has not.
There is talent and gems out there. how hard is it to spend someone elses money?
Camavinga?
Aouar
Maddison
Martinez
Bissouma
Aarons
Ilaix -barca kid

Guns of SF

Dani olmo!

DivineSherlock

Guns

If Arsenal land Dani Olmo , I would fly planes having Arteta knows best banners xD . He is one hell of #10 and can play #8 if required .

MidwestGun

All this talk of Odegaard vs Maddinson reminded me of the classic Walcott vs Hazard debate back then . Was it Keyser who triggered it ? _____________ As unofficial Le Grove historian.. I can tell you it was London Gunner who started it.. He put up a ferocious statistical defense.. of Theo. Triggered about a month long debate. Theo was on one of his better runs at the time, to be fair. Then he did his usual injury and disappear act. and the debate died with his injury.. It was epic.. although The Martinez v Leno debate recently was getting… Read more »

Guns of SF

what if Edu actually did it… bought Olmo, all hush hush and then wham! done! I think the fans would be quite forgiving Divine…
It would buy him more time with the fans and put him in good graces

Muppetman

Didn’t we mess up trying to sign Olmo a couple of years ago? Classic case of Arsenal trying to low ball

Habesha Gooner

Odegaard hasn’t shown half of what he is capable of last season. If he comes back, I will be very happy. The kid can play. I have seen him before he came to us at Sociedad and he was mesmerizing. We won’t do better for the price we will pay.
I think he is capable of performing like he did at westham half the time. The trick is getting that consistency out. If you do then he is capable of being a debruyne level player in the future.

Alex

Odegaard is is the best option we can afford if we don’t land Maddison. People forget how ESR&MO saved our season post Chelsea.

China1

I’m fairly confident torreira and Lola are both going to be loaned out all the way until their contracts end and they leave on a free

No one wants to pay for either and in torreiras case he probably doesn’t want to join most teams either!!

CJ

“I’m completely on board with the theme for the summer of Power’N’Pace and front foot players, and I’m not sure Odegaard fits that profile.”

Elmo, exactly.

China1

Ode is good but plenty of room for improvement and if we sign him we need to get a reasonable price for him. More than 35m and I’d say no thanks

Leftside

You mean Saka and ESR, they were far more instrumental than Ode was.

Terraloon

Guns

Your valuations in this market are wildly optimistic.

At most if you sold that group my guess is the proceeds would be less that £60 million but even then that’s if you can find buyers and that seems to be the problem

Habesha Gooner

I would go as high as 45 to 50 mil for Odegaard. I really think he is next in line in CAM category for top tier players. You could count may be 5 players that can do what he does.

My choice in the first place was buendia because we needed to get the uncertainty gone and because of the great price he was available for. But he is gone to villa. If we are making a move at 40 mil + Odegaard would be my choice.

CJ

Bissouma, Aouar, Ridle Baku/Dumfries, Freddie Woodman. But our brains trust feel they’re the smartest guys about, operating without scouts.

Pierre

I know it’s a non negotiable to mention Ozil but my argument against signing Odegaard is not that he is not a good player , it is the total incompetance of Arteta to freeze Ozil out for over a season , costing the club millions, and then signing Odegaard ,who to all sense and purposes is a clone of the Ozil of the last few years.. Odegaard is what Ozil became , a player who recycles the ball, keeps possession well, rarely wastes a pass but ultimately doesn’t take risks with the ball.. It baffles me why fans want to… Read more »

China1

Knowing that arsenal don’t have scouts and give credence to that stat modeling, if I was a pro I would definitely be a star monster. Find out exactly what the stat criteria are and rinse them. You want high pass completion? I’d play only easy passes. You want progressive passing? I’d do the absolutely bare minimum to easily qualify (5m passes slightly ahead of me to someone irrespective of if it’s a hospital pass and the guy is under pressure You want progressive ball carrying? On goal kicks and defensive free kicks is drop comically deep so I have plenty… Read more »

China1

If you want distance covered per 90mins I’d be jogging in circles when the ball is out of play as well

I would rinse those stat machines HARD

Useroz

BBC reports “……It is understood the clubs have agreed an initial fee of £34m, which could rise to £42m, and that Varane, 28, has agreed terms on a four-year contract with the option for another 12 months.” … Varane, a World Cup winner with France, has made 360 appearances for Real Aerial duels win rate at 76%.” What’s Arteta’s obsession with Ben White that could cost a mega £50m of Arsenal money? Sol Campbell appears to cast doubt on the sensibility of Ben White deal and admits he doesn’t know much about Ben … also saying “It needs to work… Read more »

Pierre

Dani Olmo would be a game changer at Arsenal though I doubt we will go in for him, especially if Odegaard comes on the market.

Dumfries right back
Bissouma cm.
Olmo

Job done.

DigitalBob

Thanks Pedro, I enjoyed the podcast with Johnny! I’m firmly in the Maddison camp, I think he’s more of a difference maker and his transfer would also weaken a potential top 4 rival. Although as you said we can’t go wrong with either player coming in. If we have the money for Maddison we should do it if not Odegaard for £20-£30 million less is a fine consolation prize. For anyone citing Maddisons hip injury, I give you Odegaards knee issue that I believe he will have to manage for the rest of his career. How that will hold up… Read more »

Useroz

Not dissimilar to the Martinez and Ramsdale predicament, we are looking at the Buendia and Odegarrde situation. Buendia could have been an excellent addition had Arteta went about it in a more astute manner. For a CAM, why are we looking at Odegarrde and potentially paying way more than a Buendia, even worth £30 to 35m (RM probably wants 40m+)? To even approach Top 4, we desperately need goals and assists from midfielders so what’s Odegarrde’s best nunbers per season like at RM? We have many who already play a bit of possessive Arteta ball and are also expert in… Read more »

Useroz

even worth *only*

raptora

Pierre, Yup. We kept hearing that Arteta is working with what he has, how this is not the squad that can play Artetaball, even he himself has said that we are 5-6 players away from playing his favorite formation and he’s also critisized the players a fair bit during his stay. What noise do we get? That he wants to sign Ozil Jr (Odegaard), Xhaka Jr (Neves) and David Luiz Jr (White). My question is, why would he want to go back to square one and basically rebuild the core of the same squad that he has finished 8th and… Read more »

DivineSherlock

MidwestGun

I remember Nasri’s Mouth as well + Gambon and Cesc Appeal. What a comment section that was , I rarely posted back then . Then there was epic Neymargate by Bamford.

DivineSherlock

Pierre

Dani Olmo has the potential to be our Bruno Fernandes . He has that guile of Cazorla and passing range of KdB levels (potentially) .

raptora

DigitalBob: “I’m firmly in the Maddison camp, I think he’s more of a difference maker”.

Agreed. For sure I’m in Maddison camp if the chance is only between the two of them.

Add Bernardo Silva and Dani Olmo and you can have a conversation about pluses and minuses.

Maddison vs Odegaard has a clear winner imo.

Sid

Dani Olmo as a false #9 might just work

DivineSherlock

Raptora

Maddinson vs Odegaard is useless debate , the point is whether you think that if we buy Odegaard that he will become a CAM just like Maddinson 2 years into his spell.

Pierre

Divinesherlock
Agreed, Olmo is quality,a very clever player who takes risk with the ball

He is the level of player we should be looking at and he is worth spending the serious money on to bring to Arsenal ..

His performances for spain in the euros stood out and at 23 is a good age.

TR7

Dani Olmo will probably move to the likes of Bayern, Real or Barca. Arsenal have very little chance of getting him.

raptora

Sherlock, I believe that ESR will be as good as Odegaard by Christmas if he is allowed to start in 90% of our EPL games and as good as Maddison in 2 years from now again if he is given the chance to start in most of our games. Hence I would rather buy Aouar who will play in CM behind ESR but could also deputize for him if it’s required to do so. With the money saved we can get Dumfries. I wouldn’t say no to Bernardo Silva or Olmo if we have chance to get one of them… Read more »

Tee

According to Duncan castle,

““Everything is agreed club to club. The fee is a guaranteed £50 million, which is the second highest transfer fee ever exchanged for a central defender.

“£30 million of that will be paid in one calendar year to Brighton and then two more payments of £10 million in following seasons.”

He is to sign a 4-year deal

Rich

Pierre I don’t buy the Ozil + Odegaard comparison, other than their both left footed, and both attacking midfielders Ozil is a supremely gifted footballer, who was a joy to watch on his day, but I was never a fan, always thought he was a luxury we could rarely afford to accommodate Ozil was brilliant at finding little pockets of space, or dragging defenders away, and creating space for others Whereas Odegaard is much more of a No8 than a No10, he goes to the ball, rather than away from it, and doesn’t expect the game to come to him… Read more »

DigitalBob

Raptora, I certainly think we need to look for a RB/RWB should Bellerin leave this summer. I’m a Chambers fan but think at the moment he’s a rotation option in that position. Dumfries would cost less than £20 million and provides an immense amount of attacking intent from that right side of the field. He can be a bit suspect defensively but no more in my opinion than Cedric and he used to play CB so probably has the defensive mindset to improve in that regard. Olmo and Bernado Silva are superb but as I don’t see them being unsettled… Read more »

andy1886

Tee, it’s not even the second highest fee for a CD between PL clubs (McGuire and VVD) let alone the scond highest within the PL or globally.

If it’s happening it’s about time they stopped dragging it out though.

raptora

Yeah, Odegaard isn’t exactly Ozil Jr. He is not as good in attack and not as bad in defence. Is that really an upgrade? Rich, you forget that Ozil was playing with the ball a lot, just like Odegaard is. You forget most of their touches are recycling the ball to the closest available player, no risks, no sharpness. Then when they think it’s the right time, that’s in 1/20 touches, they are going to look forward and try to do something with the ball. You make it sound like there are many differences but Odegaard just like Ozil, suffers… Read more »

andy1886

DB – Word is that MA has been impressed with Cedric in pre-season and is happy for him and Chambers to cover RB.

Rich

Only a 4yr contract for Ben White, surely we’d insist on a 5yr contract?

If we think he’s worth £50 million at 23, then why put ourselves in a position where in 2 years time, when he’s 25, we’re under pressure

Hopefully we’ve at least got a club option of a 5th year, give ourselves a little bit of leverage in keeping him here, should it work out

raptora

andy,
Cedric was doing just fine until Xhaka was picked ahead of him in LB. A blockbuster success of a decision it turned out. I would think twice about how much Arteta rates him.

DigitalBob

Andy – Hmm time will tell with that one then. I seem to remember Cedric impressing one week and then being quite poor the next. He made no glaring mistakes that I can recall but I do think we can get more out of the RB/RWB position.

It shouldn’t be a priority position this transfer market however, we still need a CM, CAM and GK.

Rich

Raptora Ozil’s best form for Arsenal, was with Cazorla at the base of our midfield Arsenal’s best football since 2010/11, was in the first half’s of the 2015/16 + 2016/17 season, with Cazorla at the base of our midfield Cazorla got the best out of Ozil, because he could take the ball in tight spaces, beat the press, and create overloads in the final third, and when teams stood off him, he’d dictate the whole tempo of the game We’d have likely won the title in 2015/16 had Cazorla stayed fit Odegaard consistently drops much deeper than Ozil to try… Read more »

englandsbest

There is a simple (and cheap) solution to the Attacking Midfielder issue: use Willock. I have a lot of respect for the Newcastle United manager, and if he wants Willock so badly you can bet your house that he is worth every penny, and then some. The main criticism of Odegaard is lack of dynamism. Willock has that in spades.

My belief is there is only one pressing need: a GK more suited to the Arteta style of football.

Habesha Gooner

Ozil was a quality footballer. But he retired as soon as he got that new contract. I had hoped Pierre would let it go when he went. But he still on it. Ozil is so poor now that he isn’t even making impact in a farmer’s Turkish league.

Dissenter

I read there’s a sell-on clause for Ben White.
I hope it’s bonkers but everything about this Ben White deal is bizarre so who knows.
There’s nothing in his one year experience at Leeds and one year premier league Brighton perfor that screams club record fee.
Even premier league veteran defenders admit that they don’t know much of him.

It is what it is but I’m not going to sugar coat it or create faux positivity.
Same with Ramsdale, we are supposed to just trust the process and suspend disbelief.

Champagne Charlie

Dissenter

You’re not supposed to suspend disbelief at all, you never do about quite literally every player associated with the club.

We’ve a poor recent history of transfers so does that mean we shouldn’t bother paying good money for players anymore? Or should we go again, change the profile, and back ourselves to come out the other side better for it?

I’d say the latter is infinitely more sensible, but by all means revel in your perpetual disbelief.

andy1886

Rich, as far as I know MA wants Ode as a #10 not a #8. Unless you know differently?

Rich

Andy

Odegaard can play both, but I see him as more of a No8

Whereas Ozil was a No10, who never showed that he could adjust to playing as a modern No8, and that’s why Emery even tried Torreira in that role, rather than trust Ozil

The comparisons between the players are wide of the mark, other than they’re both very left footed, and are classed as attacking midfielders

Dissenter

Charlie
It’s not my fault that you’re far too willing to swallow whatever comes out of Arsenal now that Arteta is manager. I’m not the only one who’s observed this by the way.
Tavares and Lokonga are good transactions so your retort of ‘literally every player’ has no basis.

Is this the elite process you were writing about in 2018 when the other Spanish manager was around?

Tom

DB, why would Leicester sell a difference maker they didn’t have to sell to a potential top for rival ?
Also, judging by Leicester’s track record with players transfers, what kind of damage could they possibly do in the financially ruined Europe with the 70m handed to them by Arsenal?

englandsbest

Ben White is a surprise move, not at all what anyone on here expected.And at £50 mill, wildly over-priced. What it tells us though, is that Arteta knows what he needs. And to get his man, he was prepared to overpay. Fair enough. If your car breaks down at midnight miles from anywhere, you pay the man what he asks to get you out of there. From what we understand, Ben white is the man to speed up the transition from defence to attack. It used to be, say, fast running wingers, but Arteta prefers to start transition a phase… Read more »

Rich

Fenerbahçe apparently want Soares on loan, with an obligation to buy for €6million We’ve got far too many right backs, if we can get Bellerin, Soares + Niles out on permanent deals, or loans that lead to permanent deals Then we can bring in a right back, I love Max Aarons, but I don’t think we’ll go for that style of player I think we’ll go for a player like Tyler Adams who’s more of a right sided defensive midfielder, in the mould of Cancelo, rather than try to mirror what Tierney offers down the left onto the right Liverpool… Read more »

DigitalBob

Tom – The players willingness to move, coupled with the fact that he is not indispensable to Leicester, they seem to be happy to let him go if we meet their valuation. They also setup in a 442 towards the end of last season with Kelechi having a great few months, Harvey Barnes is coming back, Soumare will also get plenty of time as well. So I think top 4 rival or not its a transfer that could happen. But I agree they can and probably will spend the £60m-£70m very sensibly as they have done many times in the… Read more »

Matt

I have only just got round to watching the video of Odegaard in the post. I can’t believe that Pedro included that as some sort of proof of what Odegaard can do. Talk about underwhelming. One good past that led to a goal and, a couple of good passes that advanced the play and a couple of good tackles all mixed in with lots of sideways/backwards touches. If that is that best he can offer, it’s quite frankly not enough.

Dissenter

The Ben Whjte deal is certainly complete
I wish him al the best. He’ll join the likes of Pepe, players who have to justify their price tags even though it’s no fault of theirs.

Dissenter

englandsbest ‘ From what we understand, Ben white is the man to speed up the transition from defence to attack. It used to be, say, fast running wingers, but Arteta prefers to start transition a phase earlier. And if it works, then Ben White is worth every penny.’ Fair enough Any manager deserves to be supported with the type of players that best fits into their playing style. ‘The contrary opinion of some fans is that would committing those funds to sign an elite central/ attacking midfielder transform the team more that a Ben White type of central defender. Especially… Read more »

Dissenter

Rich
It makes little sense to sell Bellerin and Soares in the same window to be left with Chambers who’s not a right back

I would have thought Chambers would be in the chopping block.

Olumide

Ben White for £50 million. Jesus wept.

Champagne Charlie

Dissenter I have reservations about the calibre and price of each player, mainly through ignorance, but that’s a stark contrast to declaring transfers a joke before a ball is kicked and condemning moves that are yet to even materialise. “Is this the elite process you were writing about in 2018 when the other Spanish manager was around?“ This summer is more coherent in terms of talent profile than I’ve seen in years, and exactly the sort of approach I’ve been calling for. Doesn’t mean all transfers will work out, but the majority are more likely to and that’s what we… Read more »

Tom

If you think Maddison is worth £120m in transfer fees and wages then fair enough……….Arsenal have been pissing money up the wall for years so this wouldn’t be the worst case of blowing north of 100million on a single player, but you can’t tell me this is a smart, outside the box thinking kinda transfer.

WengerEagle

Hate to say it but that Bryan Gil lad that the Spuddies signed looks a bit special from footage online.

Albeit it’s a very small sample size but he waves through the lines with ease and is very reminiscent of a younger David Silva.

Jaroda

Nailing my colours to the mast.
Odegaard is a generational talent.

TR7

WE

Bryan Gil looks a quality midfielder at least in YT videos. Christian Romero is a highly rated central defender who Spurs are being linked to, not sure whether they will get him. Messi apparently wants him at Barca.

Tom

EB
Wildly overpriced and worth every penny in the same post ?
The only way White is worth every penny would be if….. …….,actually, I got nothing.

VVD proved worth every penny when their goals conceded fell from 38 to 22 in his first full season, and Pool won the CL and the PL.

Can Arsenal make top four because of White?
Can he lower significantly our goals conceded ?
What milestone achieved by Arsenal would make the White transfer worth every penny, surely not just how much more quickly we play out from the back?!?!

Rich

Dissenter We don’t play with a traditional style right back, unless when Tierney has been out, and we’ve mirrored our formation from left to right We’ve just signed Tavares, who looks in the same mould as Tierney, so we don’t have to mirror our formation Tierney was our most creative player last season, in the same way Robertson and Alexander Arnold are Liverpool’s biggest creative outlets But where Liverpool sit their 3 midfielders in front of their two centre backs We only sit Partey + Xhaka, then our right back joins them in possession, to create 3 players in front… Read more »

China1

The question I am wondering is who will partner white

If it’s a back 3 or 2 as well

WengerEagle

TR7

Grim times when you envy Spud signings eh?

Let’s hope that there isn’t complete transparency with who we’re after and that the likes of Ramsdale and Abraham are just smokescreens for other players.

Sid

KDB is the modern #8 Odegaard, thats the standard we should aim for

Sid

Ben white is worth more than 3 times Xhakalson,
He’d better be able to play 3 times the positions Xhakalson is capable of playing.

andy1886

“Odegaard is a generational talent.”

Unfortunately our ‘generational’ manager has somewhat dampened my enthusiasm for all things ‘generational’.

andy1886

Hey EB:

“From what we understand, Ben white is the man to speed up the transition from defence to attack. It used to be, say, fast running wingers, but Arteta prefers to start transition a phase earlier.”

Sounds suspiciously like the old Wimbledon method of ‘lump it up to the forwards and bypass the midfield’.

WengerEagle

Edouard being linked with an 18.5m move to Brighton, he had a lot of fans on here IIRC.

Seems quite cheap.

Rich

Andy It’s about having defenders with the right athletic profile so they can cover the space in behind, who are good on the ball, read the game well, and win the ball back in the first phase Look at the difference Van Dijk makes for Liverpool, or Dias made for City last season £50 million for Ben White seems excessive, particularly as he didn’t play as a right sided centre back in a back 4 for Brighton last season Giving White only a 4yr contract is bonkers, but stylistically it doesn’t surprise me we’re going for this profile of player,… Read more »

China1

I assume Messi re signed on at Barca?

The pseudo will he won’t he leave drama every year has become as boring as hell.

He should either hold his hands up and say he’s staying for life or he should’ve left years ago. The drama every summer all feels very inauthentic

Dissenter

Rich
“Look at the difference Van Dijk makes for Liverpool, or Dias made for City last season”

You’re completely messing the point
The two teams you cited have quality midfielders already, we have only Partey. What Arsenal is doing is akin to putting the cart before the horse.
We are rolling the dice mightily, betting that a lad with one year of experience at the highest level that we paid big money will transform our season.

Words on a blog

China1,

Messi and Barcelona have actually agreed terms, but literally are unable to sign his new contract until they bring down their wage costs which at around 120% of revenue, are well above what La Liga permits.

So until they get rid of players to other clubs no one (not even Messi) can sign for them.

Dissenter

*missing the point

Rich

Arsenal vs Watford being streamed for free at 15.00

Dissenter

We may struggle to move players out. There are to many big clubs around Europe with bloated squad filled with overpaid players.
The buying clubs will have to much leverage, that’s why Roma are jerkin g us around.
There’s talk that United are seeklng to move out as much as 8 players this summer.

Rich

Dissenter The idea we can’t improve our attack and overall play, by improving our defence, stands up to no real type of scrutiny In defence we’ve lost Luiz, Mustafi, Sokratis, Mavropanos, we decided to loan Saliba again to develop elsewhere That’s left us with Holding, Gabriel, Mari, and Chambers who can cover So numerically there’s a space at centre back, and we’ve decided to go for Ben White In central midfield we have Partey, Xhaka, Elneny, Lokonga, Torreira, and Niles who can cover there Until we get midfielders out the door, we simply don’t have the space to accommodate any… Read more »

S Asoa

“ DissenterJuly 27, 2021 16:18:55 Odegaard is all Arteta can manage. It’s that simple. He’s a good boy with restricted repertoire who will do the bidding of the manager to the letter. He is the great leader behind the scenes because he just does what he’s told. . He’s not capable of spontaneity which is what Arteta wants. There are better players out there but they won’t fit into whatever Arteta is trying to do. Arteta will get what he wants but will leave the club with lots of dubious signings when he’s eventually fired. “ Whoever hacked Dissenter account… Read more »

Sid
Dissenter

Roch
“The idea we can’t improve our attack and overall play, by improving our defence, stands up to no real type of scrutiny”

That’s not what I wrote though, you’re creating a straw argument to please yourself..
We have a midfield devoid of quality bar Partey so fixing this obvious weakness has to be the priority. That’s why your references to Liverpool and city are misplaced.
Are you suggesting that Liverpool and city didn’t have their midfields properly covered before they got VVD and Diaz, respectively.?

andy1886

Rich, you’ve forgotten that Tierney can (and has) play as a CB. Now we have cover that’s a possibility. I think that in a smaller squad 5 CB’s is enough. Six if you include Saliba.

andy1886

Willin starting again today. Must be trying to run off all that flab.

andy1886

*Willian (even my keyboard rejects him).