A few things on the agenda today.
Thomas Partey’s rep came out with a eulogy to his injury yesterday, then quickly backtracked and told Arsenal fans not to panic. Let’s hope there’s some good news. It sounds like he’s going to miss the Brentford game regardless, which is annoying, but it’s not a death strike on our season.
There’s news doing the rounds that Arsenal are about to give Xhaka a forever contract to stay at Arsenal. There’s no way of cutting it, the news is disappointing. The player wanted to leave a month ago, now we can’t get a buyer for him we want to offer him more money and a deal until he’s is 34 years old? He’s deal has two years left to go, shouldn’t we just be extending a year? He just had the tournament of his life and the best bid we could land was £10m. I struggle to see how a transfer bounce next season sees a bid higher? Generally, there’s been logic behind most of things we’ve done this year, hopefully that’s just bad information in the system, because that is an awfully long contract for someone of that age that wanted out last week.
Still, it does appear that the reason we said no was a simple one: We couldn’t afford a replacement with £10m and that would eat into the rest of our summer plans.
Which brings us on nicely to the news that Arsenal are in fact heading in for James Maddison. If you told me we’d keep Xhaka if it meant we could sign Maddison, I am going to take that deal. The rumour has been hanging in the air like a rich attuned cologne for months, now it seems like we’re pushing in with offerings of some of our Hale-Enders. The whole thing still feels a little nuts to me, especially when the offer is Ainsley the other way. But we’ll see. If the player wants out and we have cash, these things can happen fast.
There’s also some more yin to yang. Mo Elneny might be hanging around the squad like the guy who overstays their welcome at your party… but some of the journos are saying that Azeez is going to be kept around this summer. You know what I like about this? Everything. The player looked transformed the other day, he’s moved from a waif-like child to a powerhouse in a few months. That’s putting in the hard-work and being rewarded.
What does hack me off is that a whole section of people have to immediately made it about Saliba. Can’t we just take it as ‘well, it’s clearly not a kids thing that is going on here’ and be happy for another Hale-Ender?
It is interesting though, because a lot of the kids are looking like men right now. Eddie has looked our best striker in preseason. He looks fit, focused and he’s making a difference every time he arrives on the pitch. The shame is we’ll end up keeping Lacazette around over one of the young players. There might be some regret in the system at some point with Eddie, because with games, he’ll bang them in. Trouble is, the club seems to have put their chips on Balogun and he shares an agent with Eddie. Can’t tell both players they’ll get minutes this season. One will have to go.
It’ll also be interesting to see what happens with Joe Willock. He caused chaos the other day, had a great stint with Newcastle, but if we’re going for Maddison, where does he fit? Seems the Geordies might have found some money for him, and be willing to go to £23m.
I also wanted to revisit the Chelsea game one more time, because some of the coverage of that game was embarrassing. It’s preseaon. Nothing matters bar fitness and tactical coaching. No one has any idea how much hard-work went on in the week prior to that game. No one knows what the purpose of the run-out was. Some fans seem more intent on being the first to call the season over than to actually let things play out and see where we land. The game was messy, but I’ve seen 4 comps of 4 different players doing the rounds… so clearly, there’s some good stuff going on. Thomas Partey is going to be on fire this season, Sambi Lokonga looked comfortable against good opposition, ESR is going to be more on the front foot this season… and it’s clear we’re not going to be deep-blocking against West Ham this season. The football is going to kick up a gear with a higher line with players that can handle it.
Imagine how much better things will be when we have all our transfer business done and we welcome back the two Gabriel’s and Bukayo Saka.
Finally, did anyone notice Spurs going for one of those European bargain right-sided ball-playing centre backs for £50m? Anyone following Chelsea tracking Kounde from broke Spain with a £60m bid? A lot of people slagging Arsenal for paying the English tax on Ben White… I’d maybe suggest it’s a tax on ball-playing centre backs that are 23 or younger, because those two are certainly not coming here on the bargain prices everyone critiqued Arsenal for not leaning in on.
Right, LIVE TWITCH STREAM AT 6PM UK TIME. Tune in… or don’t, just like, listen to the podcast later.
Bloody Maddsion, he cant play.
Gendozy mk 2.
_______
Don’t be ridiculous… Maddison averages a goal or an assist over his career in over 230 appearances in all competitions.
He can definitely play.
Raul,
Ill give .
odegard 6/10
maddison 2/10
Both not good enough. Although the Norg is a consummate pro. Maddsion , a bloody prancing and preening playboy.
Willock who has scored 9 from 9 ( linesman needs specsavers) has more talent than these 2 put together.
Rich, you are messing your head with unnecessary thoughts. What has our consummate professionals done for the club these past few years? A player has the right to do what he wants and provided it doesn’t affect his game, I’m OK. Can someone tell which game Nelson really impressed for some to be overly obsessed with? Eddie included. Elneny, Eddie, Willock and AMN can be sold for all I care provided we upgrade on them. And for people to suggest Tammy is better than Laca, is shocking and suddenly Auba should be sold because he wasn’t at his best last… Read more »
Goal or asisst every other match, bascially.
Dissenter , Ronaldinho was a fucking genius while Maddison is not even the most famous James Madison ever.
Seems as if Rodgers knows how to ride tempestuous players …….out of town at an eye watering profit.
“””He can definitely play.”””
He cant.
Thats why Southgate didnt pick him for the England squad.
And he watches all the games
All the top players this summer were playing for their countries.
This playboy was in Ibiza.
It’s safe to say that Arteta has used up all the goodwill left in his account
No more capital. He’s in major overdraft territory, the type that only bank HQ can approve.
This is Arsenal now, no more roundabouts or Rich-ism type talk. 🙂
CG save it for someone who doesnt know about your shenanigans
CG .. If your counting on Southgate as your attacking player talent evaluator.. that says it all really.
“The best managers know how to ride tempestuous players.
Kanu was like that, he never shone in training but come game day he was on. Ronaldinho and Deco were like that for Barcelona too.“
Dissenter, and what happened to Ronaldinho and Deco when Pep took over at Barca?
They both were shown the door.
midwest gun
He thinks he can play. He thinks he is Beckham
He has a good right foot.
But he cant run.
Leicester dropped him for the cup final
Southgate outed him for squad.
Anyway, this big Emirates pitch eats these types alive.
eg William, Torriera, Elneny etc.
Maybe Madisson can just retire back home in time to pay fortnite all night.
I mean Oliver Giroud once brought s damsel to the pre-match hotel and spent all night exploring his bounty.
Wenger dropped him for a game, got a taste of Sanogo and quickly brought Giroud back in. The same player now has he came over a 100 caps for France in five major tournaments.
Arsenal haven’t made any marquee signings yet, Madders and Martinez would be a good look. Leaning more towards James than Martin now tbf.
Lenore
Chambers White Gabriel Tierney
Maddison Partey SmithRowe
Saka Auba Pepe
LA Ramsdale
Cedric Holding Mari Tavares
Xhaka Sambi Azeez
Gun Martinez Martinelli
would still love a proper RB.
Tom
“Dissenter, and what happened to Ronaldinho and Deco when Pep took over at Barca?
They both were shown the door.”
yea, after the won lots of stuff for Barca, including their first CL in 15 years.
There was an el-classico that year where Madrid fans gave Ronaldinho a standing ovation.
CG-
You compared him to Guendouzi…. that’s beyond ridiculous. Anyhow it’s all probably pointless as I would wager money we are more apt to sign Odegaard as he is a known quantity and clearly Arteta loves familiarity. Rewards it even. .
If Arsenal are going to spend £70m on a player, I would much rather that player is Lauturo Martinez than Maddison. Their are internal solutions to cover for Smith-Rowe should he be injured.. If Willock is still at Arsenal when the window closes he offers something completely different as cover for Smith Rowe. He may not provide the assists Smith Rowe does, but he will score goals as a number 10. In addition Saka could probably play there. It’s where he ended up at the end of the European final.. Finally, last and least, Willian will still be around (unless… Read more »
NVM
Xhaka may become a squad player which surely is what you’d rather have instead of him starting every week?
Dissenter , you’re tying yourself in all kinds of knots here.
You said great managers put up wit imperfect players who are otherwise brilliant and you name dropped Ronaldinho and Deco as to prove the point……. and I gave you Pep getting rid of them on the one to smash that assumption into bits.
-day one-
Oi Oi GX staying the duration. Solid.
I still think Maddison is a stretch but recent links with laturo Martinez and that be at least £70m and then get odegaard for loan to buy
Torreira’s future is a mystery.
Man is literally posting photos of himself doing fitness drills alone in Spain. How has he earned such a holiday? He made 9 starts last season for club and country….
Tom So what if Pep binned them, Pep wanted a clean start with the generational talent he had managed in the academy That he binned them doesn’t subtract from the success those players had at Barca. Pep couldn’t’ work with Etoo and binned him after one season, player went onto succeed at Inter Pepe couldn’t handle Ibra;s ego, they player went on to do well everywhere else he went. Your point would ring true if “good managers” started and ended with Pep. You’re also missing the fact that Guardiola realized that he had stumbled on generational talent in the academy… Read more »
Regarding Xhaka the only thing that really makes sense is Edu’s purely a masochist.
Xhaka will start every match you can count on it with Arteta in charge. Lokonga will be warming the bench and coming on as a sub for Elneny or when Xhaka gets it usual yellow cards.
I honestly don’t give a shit about this club anymore until I see on arsenal.com that Arteta has been sacked.
Regarding Xhaka the only thing that really makes sense is Edu’s purely a masochist.
Definitely nothing to do with Arteta for sure. He’s going to cost them both their jobs
Put odds on Arteta being given his marching orders at some point in the season, even at a silly club like Arsenal he won’t be allowed to talk a good game and finish 8th forever.
I mean, why not wait until the window finishes before signing Granit Xhaka up? Why the urgency, when we’ve spent a month trying to get rid of him.
Prediction: by the end of this transfer window, Xhaka will be part of the Roman Empire, and he will go for a fee at or below the price Roma FC was looking for.
I wish we got Olmo, De Paul and Aarons,
We would be set.
Guessing about 150 outlay.
Instead Ben White for a 50M
I hope this all works out.
Why are we blaming Edu for Xhaka staying on a new contract. This has Arteta written all over it. Edu has played with world beaters in midfield. How on earth could he value Xhaka and his tardy play. Whereas Arteta and Xhaka are twins separated by about 15 years
Why are we blaming Edu for Xhaka staying on a new contract. This has Arteta written all over it. Edu has played with world beaters in midfield. How on earth could he value Xhaka and his tardy play. Whereas Arteta and Xhaka are twins separated by about 15 years.
Global
Well for starters it’s Edu’s job and as you said he should know better, where as Mikel seems to generally rate Xhaka.
Maddison is just a hype job like the Kardashians, are they beautiful ? Yes, but no one knows kim is 5 ft tall…..english hype job, there are many players out there, i wonder what our scouts are doing. If youbwill go ahead and spend excess on maddison, why ot buy a better player in buendia for cheap, edu is scam
Maddison is quality and already a rising star in a league demanding as EPL. Plus and foremost he fits our current weakness linking midfield to attack. Top transfer if we manage it.
He may save MA and Edu jobs if he comes
Gunnernet
I think anyone and their dog knows that this transfer window could be curtains for Eduteta.
Except them
shocking…
Still waiting for some real fire power to be added to the team
CC
i was wondering the same. Can’t believe his decline in his game in a span of couple of years. I just hope he is fine, mostly mentally. He felt introverted after his mother or father passed away.
Still don’t understand why he cannot claim a spot ahead of Elnenny. Most of the games he played for us he was solid. Character-wise was not a notorious person too. I dont know how things went that bad for him
Guns of SF
I am not so sure. Because quality wise we cannot compete at the moment. Even if we get Lautaro. Too many bad eggs. This will be Pedro’s excuse for coming year. The year after will be the determining one for them. But Xhaka’s renewal will definitely come back to haunt them.
Onana to Lyon off, now is the chance Arsenal..
Gunnernet
Yea it’s really difficult to understand what’s happening with him, certainly not typical behaviour this close to a season and coming off barely anything of a physical workload.
–
Onana deal off with the emergence of bigger teams late in the day. Would prefer him to Ramsdale on value alone (though he can’t play until the new year?), rather meet the HG quota via Maddison and Tammy.
I read somewhere that we passed on Onana because Ajax anted a 20% sell on clause [which makes sense since they are selling him off cheaply]
I wonder how much sell-on clause Sheffield will demand for selling Grimsdale to us?… maybe 50% sell on.
leftside, if only, makes a lot of sense so of course we won’t do it. shame.
To be fair you’re basically getting Onana for nothing so a sell on clause isn’t an issue. A million percent Onana over Ramsdale
The one thing that saw to it that we ended 8th and got knocked out of Europa is exactly what Maddison provides. We need him. A smart organization would have spent the White money on Buendia and still go ahead to buy Maddison, we would have been devastating going forward and Saliba(desperately wanted by Newcastle before he went to France)and Gab backed by Mari and Holding would still have done a neat enough job at the back. Rejecting Saliba in favour of a brand new £50m one EPL season defender came from the genius imaginations of world class coach Mike… Read more »
FFS a 20% sell on clause is nothing when you are paying 7 mil for a top class player like Onana. He would be a starter for us by the end of the season. I am a fan of Leno. But he has looked sub par since last season. So we need an upgrade. And Onana is such a quality goalkeeper that it would be worth it to wait 3 months for him. Last season we had Europe and we bet on Runarsson for 6 months. It wouldn’t be worse to bet 3 months without Europe on Hein or Okwonko… Read more »
This Onuachu fella is 27 he needs to get a move on if he’s to become the next big thing
Guys,
I know that he gets overlooked like shit from our own fans, but literally 0 mentions of an Arsenal sensation helping his team reach the Olympic final?
It’s also the only penalty we did not embarrassingly miss after Saka and Miedema shockingly bad pens.
https://twitter.com/TheAFCnewsroom/status/1422508376177745922
Pedro, Xhaka is going to outlast Arteta.
How does that make you feel?
Re Xhaka’s new contract
“Within 18m this will look like another Willian…”
Why wait 18 months?
It looks like a repeat of the Willian debacle now.
This is a season where the bulk of transfer business will be conducted in EPL. There is clearly very little money abroad. I think that it is also increasingly apparent that most of the money likely to be spent in the market is focussed on Home Grown Players such as Kane, Grealish, Maddison and White plus players who are already playing in the English game such as Buendia and Neves. The situation with Xhaka, Bellerin and Torreira highlights the acute shortage of funds elsewhere. Arsenal have not been unrealistic in what they are asking for these players. Euros20 Million for… Read more »
A bit over the top to call Maddison a superstar. His 1 England app is as a sub in a 7-0 win vs Montenegro. Paying 70m is way overpriced. 50m absolute top. I guess we’ve reached the time when Arteta is basically pointing at players and demanding Arsenal to get them no matter what. White + Maddison for a combine fee of 120m when their real value is 80m at best? Are you insane? If only we were throwing these sums when Wenger was here. Hell, 120m brings you the absolute best players in the league maybe bar KDB. And… Read more »
Chelsea offering 120-130 + Alonso for Lukaku
Got to laugh, Maddison isn’t a star, but Denzel Dumfries is ‘one of the best in the world’ and we should buy him for 30 mil
Didn’t sound like a comeback to me at all. Haha
Has xhaka signed a new contract ? If so that’s actually taking the piss
I think the figure Chelsea are offering Inter has Alonso valuation within.
Great new U23 boss. Welcome to the club.
https://trainingground.guru/articles/exclusive-kevin-betsy-appointed-arsenal-under-23s-coach
New methodology guy too quite the backroom.
https://trainingground.guru/articles/balvers-appointed-as-arsenals-first-football-methodology-analyst
Of all the tested and successful football/sporting directors in the world, we picked Edu; of all the smart business people with experiences in high offices in business who could be our managing director, we picked Vinai, of all the actual football managers with intimidating credentials, we picked an untested assistant coach…and you now wonder why Arsenal are making piss poor decisions day after day?
You don’t intentionally sabotage yourself and then hope for some magic to happen.
I think the Kroenkes are the issue. I don’t think they really care about Arsenal achieving sporting success.
Gentlebris the kronkes are the main issue because if they wanted success they would hire it in the first place
Not gamble on Emery and now MA
Sorry but Onuachu isn’t good enough for Arsenal.
I’ve talked to some Nigerians who live and die for the game, and derision is the kindest thing they have to say about him .
He isn’t even a Bonafide starter for them as he is behind Iheanacho and Osimhen. Nah I’ll pass. Not gonna go crazy over Belgian league stats plus no one major is in for him. Must be a reason.
….football is just banter now
Hard to take seriously, might be my age or just everything in football just seems shit..
Rivalry dead, all players are friends hugging and shit, all smiles..
Money obliterated the game, 70m for maddison lol have a word, state oligarchs owned clubs..
Media hyping up every piece of shit player that has 2 good consecutive games, and he subsequently gets in the England squad..
No common sense VAR refereeing..
Spurs finishing above arsenal every season
I mean come on, wtf has happened
Money ruined the game
They don’t need fans like they did
Think we are making a big mistake letting Willock go.
Resigned to seeing AMN go as well as Eddie who to be honest cant really see much to his game apart from poaching.
Balogun all day long over Eddie.
But why not give Willock a chance at least.
To see if he can replicate that form he showed for Newcastle.
He has 2 years left.
Let’s see what he can do this season for us first.
Goalscoring midfielders with that knack are hard to come by.
Have they said they are selling willock ?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=z17RCZfYQLo
Dont remember ever hearing him being interviewed.
Have to say comes across really well ,articulate funny and honest.
Comes across as professional and the type of character we need to help the team.
Mr Serge
I think its inevitable.
Dont trust Arteta to actually invest time in Willock for the benefit of Arsenal.
I sincerely hope I’m wrong.
Pedro
We’ve had our differences about Arteta but having listened to your latest musings with Johnny you’ve brought me around to your way of thinking about Ben White.
Great job on the pod, your best yet…
Champagne Charlie “Onana deal off with the emergence of bigger teams late in the day. Would prefer him to Ramsdale on value alone (though he can’t play until the new year?), rather meet the HG quota via Maddison and Tammy.” With all the U21s on Arsenal’s roster, most of whom will be classified as home grown after they turn 21, home grown quota isn’t an issue for Arsenal. The restriction is on the 17 player maximum on over 21 non home grown players,. Arsenal currently have 16 over 21 non home grown players including Kolasinac, Torreira, and Runarson. Even if… Read more »
Thought this was an excellent quote from someone on football365 about the forgotten Arsenal Player Torreira:
“I sincerely hope Lucas outlasts Arteta – there is a player in there and I want to see him in the red and white again – far more than I want to watch Arteta’s dull style of football.”
So if we are broke and have to sell before we buy, why did we spunk 50m on white?
We should have kept saliba, and bought in bossouma along with lonkonga
And now sell to buy a CAM. Everything would have been solved.
If Chelsea succeeds in bringing Lukaku back to Stamford Bridge I personally would ask for a very high loan fee from Inter with an obligation to buy OR suggest to them that unless they take Bellerin on a permanent deal the talks are off.
With Hakimi and Lukaku both sold they won’t be short of money and I doubt they will sell Lautaro Martinez to us.
If so I don’t see why we shouldn’t be given a fair price for Bellerin… say £25m minimum.
Arteta probably wanted to keep Xhaka all along as he hates his favorites leaving. Ode vs Madders? Madders offers more immediately IF he can stay fit for the season and, if Xhaka had left, I would opt for Madders. However, it seems Xhaka has Arteta’s trust for what that is worth, but seemingly worth enough to bypass Arteta’s non-negotiable for Xhaka wanting to leave the club; therefore, I’d prefer Ode over Madders. I disagree with Pierre (it had to happen sooner or later) Ode hasn’t become less of a player now older nor has he reached his ceiling. In Ode… Read more »
Lucas Torrierra looked terrible in the Copa….. Was subbed off in most matches. He doesn’t look mentally in the game anymore. Best to sell him. Physically too.. you cant make up for lack of size even though he tries, it’s not enough when you face other physical teams all the time. and like in the Copa… it was a physical tournament… he looked gassed by 50 mins. He clearly is not loving his time in Europe either .. every single quote by him .. is how much he wants to go back to South America. I think fans who want… Read more »
Mikel Arteta wasted no time sending a pointed message to the decision makers at Arsenal about what would need to happen this summer. “They’re going to get better and they’re going to strengthen, so we need to get better.” After failing to qualify for European football for the first time in 25 years, the Gunners boss pulled no punches about the job at hand. “I think a project has its phases and I am telling you we are in a much better position today to be where we want to be very soon – if we do what we have… Read more »
If we signed Maddison it bcomes quite possible he may also play a deeper role from time to time so that the CMs would then be him and one of Xhake, Lokonga and Partey. If Partey can remain fit then he will be the only one in a near-automatic place. I think it is quite likely that Xhaka will not be an automatic starter anymore. I also think it is possible that he and MA have privately agreed he can leave next Summer. He will be 29 then and locking into a longer contract may help us to achieve maximum… Read more »
The wise move would be to go for Harvey Barnes , his emergence is why Leicester is open to sell Maddinson. Not that I am against Maddinson , he is pretty much what we lack in attacking option. Has some fitness issues though.
So I for one am not that concerned about Xhaka staying. Lokonga and Azeez have more of a through route to develop and get first team football. I suspect Lokonga is actually quite Prem ready even now.
i wasn’t that enamoured by the suggested replacements – Neves and even Locatelli – better players (although have to say that in Euros Xhaka looked better than both) but not enough of an upgrade to make focusing on that position a priority.
Tony – I get your points on Xhaka but the key difference is we will have more options if JM signs and Lokonga and Azeez come of age. More importantly Elneny will also move down the pecking order with a bit of luck.
What we have in said position
Willock
El neny
Xhaka
Partey
Torreira
Lokonga
Im sure that’ll scare the crap out of a lot of top teams
Also there’s no European football which means less games for the youngsters to get a run out in say the Europa league to impress not like Arteta trusted them a lot last season anyway.
https://twitter.com/Arsenal/status/1422467272598179843?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
Northbanker I agree with your thinking but what worries me most at the moment is we end up either out of sight by Xmas for CL and possibly EL cup qualifications or playin g serious catch up. It’s not just Xhaka although he should no longer be with the club and should have gone during Emery’s tenure. It’s the combination of Xhaka, Arteta and probably Edu as well that really troubles me. I always live in hope with Arsenal and never want us to lose but I just can’t stand incompetence in life as well as business. With The Arsenal… Read more »
I remember when it got to the point where I couldn’t see the fly’s name, hear it or see his bug eyed face without wanting to smash something.
Lucas is in the same boat. embarrassing signing. Who ever thought it was a good idea to put a man child as DM needs a serious talking to.
And we wonder why we’ve become a banter club.
Lets see what tomorrow brings
Northbanker There’s a lot of ifs that = hope. If we sign Madders and IF Azeez is lucky to get minutes he should have got in the back end of last season. If Arteta doesn’t have his usual fixation with Arteta and Elneny who he seems to trust above others. Arteta is his own worst enemy and will make similar if not the same errors he’s made in the last 20 months. 2 in 20 months and 9 days to the Brentford game and once again we’re scrambling to find out best starting 11. Why that is ask Arteta and… Read more »
I’m scraping the positives out of this Tony – it’s too easy to dwell on the negatives and MA has so far underwhelmed me (and worse) with his apparent decision making. The one comfort I do get though, no doubt for a number of underlying reasons, is the number of our top young players who are signing on for long term contracts. This is something the club IS getting right and is a beacon ahead. If we can also ensure a pipeline from spotting and signing up emerging talent like Martinelli and Lokonga too then the future will ultimately be… Read more »
Wholeheartedly agree with you Northbanker.
I feel that at some stage Arteta will stumble into something decent that salvages our season.
However, if that doesn’t happen I believe that Josh and Stan will appoint a manager the club deserves and dispense with rookies for evermore.
Personally I think Wilock deserves more time to show potential and I would let AMN and Nelson leave.
The Tottenham game on sunday is just a friendly and it is important not to get involved in a war on the pitch. The problem i find with these type of games is that early on in the game invariably the referee is more lenient and tends to let a few things go which would normally result in a free kick leading to a card.. Some players are astute to realise this and take advantage of the refs leniency and up the anti when it comes to crossing the mark when making a tackle.. No doubt , the Tottenham crowd… Read more »
ES “The situation with Xhaka, Bellerin and Torreira highlights the acute shortage of funds elsewhere. Arsenal have not been unrealistic in what they are asking for these players. Euros20 Million for Bellerin and Xhaka would be considered reasonable in normal market conditions a fair price” It was obvious that funds were short in European football . For me your comment is odd because if we knew there was a lack of funds then so did Arsenal so despite what you say the price for Bellerin and Xhakas asking price isn’t reasonable in the current market. The irony will be that… Read more »
If we had decent owners, Arteta will be gone by the end of this season. Because no way are we finishing above 6th with Xhaka and Elneny as our options at CM. This was my concern when we went ahead with the signing of Ben White. Giving Saliba a chance and getting that Central midfield fixed was what any decent coach would have done. Arteta though likes what he likes and he is vindictive to some players. Xhaka’s new contract is the biggest fuck u to the fans I have seen in a while. It means Arteta doesn’t care what… Read more »
Anybody else feel that we should cash in on Holding, flog Bellerin and get in a 1st choice RB?
If we want to play a high, pressing line – Holding is completely unsuited to the role. I know White will be first choice but stylistically Holding would not be a like for like replacement if W was unavailable.
Habesha, sadly agree with your post. There is still time in the TW and the three positions you discussed as a fan’s priority could still be sorted but it feels like it’ll be a supermarket dash.
A back up GK on loan at the very least, has to happen.
Bob – totally agree that Holding should be sold if possible. Despite the thin market, he’s the type of player that will always interest the clod hoppers on the football world so £20m+.
However, for me a top GK is the most pressing priority. Leno’s poor command of the box and even worse distribution is a major problem to our whole build-up play. A top RB would be great but….
The biggest issue I have with Arteta squad building is that left to him, the club would be saddled with old timers on cushy long term contract. Aubameyang, Xhaka, Willian, Cedric will be well past their play by date at the end of their contract, but will still be among the top earners at the club. Bellerin may join that club as well if he signs an extension. Partey may still be a success on the pitch, but he will prove to be not good value for money. We could have hired somebody as good as him for half the… Read more »
Bob “If we want to play a high, pressing line – Holding is completely unsuited to the role” The pressing starts from the front Bob , with Aubamayang, Pepe , Lacazette and Willian taking at least 2 of the 4 offensive places then I’m afraid a high pressing , high intensity game is doomed to fail.. There is an easy solution…Put in any 4 of Balogun, Martinelli, Nketiah , Willock, Smith Rowe and Saka and you have in an instant a group who have the hunger and desire to close down the opposition and also have the necessary quality, movement… Read more »
So Martinez when asked to leave the club gets his wishes granted but when Xhaka does the same (see Roma Quotes) he gets an extended contract.
Thats our Arteta!
Making it up as you go along!