I don’t want to say it but I will. Kids, I think we’re rocking and rolling.
Joe Willock looks set to leave the club for £22m.
This is good business. I mean, finally, Edu, on holiday 9 of the summer, has managed to slip in a sale between kayaking and ziplining. What a baller.
I’m going to have to take some time away from the internet this week, because I could swear I’ve been reading about our inability to sell players all summer… now we’ve sold a player who has had a total of 14 solid games on loan, and people are whining.
Joe Willock has made 78 appearances for Arsenal, he scored 11 goals and made 4 assists. Most don’t realise this, because he was mostly incredibly anonymous. He moved to Newcastle, dropped 14 appearances and scored 8 goals. That’s outrageous output, it added £15m to his pricetag and now makes him one of the most successful exits from the Hale End Academy. But always remember… Reiss Nelson scored 7 goals from 12 shots, we thought we had the next Jadon, we didn’t sell… and we are where we are with him.
I think Tim Stillman made an excellent point, sometimes you have to take a chance on a sale. Deep down, we all know he’s likely not at the level, but if we wait a season to qualify those thoughts, guess what, everyone else will know and there won’t be a premium. It’s really hard to sell players everyone knows are rubbish (look at the dross we can’t move). Also, massive shout to all the fans that were calling Joe a bum when he was in our first team under Emery, now pivoting their narrative.
The good news? If we’re letting Willock go, that means we’re feeling frisky about the chances of bringing in someone to replace him as a #10 or a dynamic #8. 100%, bet your bottom dollar, there will be incomings and outgoings by the end of the window. Will you like them? Who cares, just give me bodies, that’s where I’m at.
There’s an ITK thread doing the rounds at the moment that states Arsenal are £10m short of what Leicester want for James Maddison. The price is £60m, we have £50m, negotiations are positive and ongoing. Who knows what’s going on here, but if this were a smokey fire, you’d see the yellow flames licking the Twitter feed.
The biggest move for me this summer, beyond a CAM, is a striker. We’re woefully short in that department and it’d verge on gross negligence for us to head into this season with a broken Auba, a teenager, and a striker that is painfully short of what we need physically (and in the last year of his deal). People keep reeling off that our chance creation is shocking, and whilst it’s not 2015 Ozil levels of ‘on a plate’, it’s not that bad.
- Hibs 19 chances
- Rangers 19 chances
- Watford (don’t have the number, but we scored 14 and ripped them apart)
- Millwall (don’t have the number but we cored 4 and ripped them apart)
- Chelsea 14 chances
- Spurs 11 chances
Look at the spaces we move the ball into, the system produces good crosses, great opportunities. Imagine replacing Pepe’s STOP/THINK FOR 5 SECOND/MOVE approach to wide play for Saka or Smith Rowe’s direct running. But more than that, think about how much better everything would be with a striker. Imagine Tierney crossing to someone that didn’t sit at the back post and hide? Imagine Lokonga or Xhaka knocking balls over the top to someone that could control high balls and bully centre backs? Imagine having someone truly aggressive in the box?
Maddison makes a big difference, no doubt, but I think we’re kidding ourselves if we think Auba and Lacazette are suddenly going to turn the taps on the way we’re playing.
Part of me is desperately hoping Gabriel can be a difference-maker, but again, our eyes are bigger than our bellies when we talk about young players. Martinelli didn’t start a single game in an Olympic team. This is a tournament Serge G, off no Arsenal games, dominated 4 years ago. Are we really going to expect him to come in and be our saviour as a #9?
As for the backup keeper. I still cannot fathom the flapping around we’re doing on Ramsdale at the prices being spoken about. Here’s what I would do, as a total amateur: I would get a list of keepers with a St Georges flag next to their name with one year left to go on their deal and I would go to the poorest of the clubs and wave a fee at them. Just get me someone that can catch a ball and kick.
Fraser Forster would be an excellent back-up keeper and I’m sure he’d jump at the move. Then you can keep your pennies dry and move for Onana on a free transfer in January, not fearful you are one slip away from a 19-year-old keeper taking over as your keeper.
With the monstrous savings I’ve just found you, I’d hire a branding agency, then go to work on a really nice deck that showcased all the things you’re getting with Hector Bellerin as your brand new right back. It is devastating that we have 4 players that can drop in as right-backs and none of them hit the level we need. The Spaniard doesn’t want to be here, I’d be shocked if he signed a new deal even if offered, we need to ship him out, we need to find a loan for Soares, and we need to get someone that can do a Tierney on that side.
My word, we have a lot to do by the end of the month, but that’s the job of Edu and we can’t be hearing excuses like, ‘oh, I was on the slip ‘n slide in a Mallorca waterpark and missed all the calls this summer.’
Ok, that’s your lot. Podcast tomorrow combined with a Twitch Stream. We’ll be going LIVE at a slightly later time because I am moving house this week.
See you in the comments. x
Walking the chihuahua gone midnight, bet you’re spoken of on the block
Basically agree with all of that Sal. I like Maddison but I just don’t see that one happening. It would be very un-Arsenal to splash out 60+m on Maddison after spending 50m on White.
Bruno doesn’t top my list for CM options but I would take him for sure along with sexy vowel man.
Also, just LOL on the Aguero situation. Poor bastard went to play with Messi only to get absolutely bent over by the Messi exit news.
Charlie
Too Rock and Roll for ya? Life fast, die old I say much like another great man in David Brent. We don’t play by the ‘rules’.
Those who call Willock’s success at Newcastle a purple patch must also agree that selling Martinez was the right thing g to do because of his purple patch. Glad you’re not in charge at the club. Willock deserved a chance in the preseason at least and as I stated before, the few minutes he played against Chelsea, he scored. But that was obviously just more purple patch
”Not sure how this is your takeaway simply because I prefer a talent in the 22-24 bracket with experience and readiness over a 19 year old setting tongues wagging at Ajax. Probably a dozen guys of that profile that make our midfield a totally different proposition vs marginal gains.” I agree, problem is that they are much more established and hence expensive. I’m not normally a sucker for the yute, I quite like that we paid serious money on a seasoned pro like Partey to address the CM for example. This Gravenberch fella is different gravy though, you can’t turn… Read more »
Br0wnie
Martinez had his purple patch here at Arsenal and played a vital part in us winning the FA Cup as opposed to Willock who had his at Newcastle. Apples and oranges.
And pretty sure that he didn’t score vs Chelsea, no more so than Lampard ‘scored’ in the World Cup against Germany.
WE
So you seriously don’t believe he earned more of a look in the preseason? What’s the point playing Elneny? Was Arteta going to have an aha moment about how he could put him to better use? Ridiculous player management
Br0wnie I don’t think that Willock will succeed in an environment like Arsenal myself. He excelled at Newcastle in a team that surrender the vast majority of the ball and hit teams on the break. Tailor-made for powerful runners like Willock and St Maximin. He’s not good enough on the ball for when teams sit back and invite us on which doesn’t happen a lot now but it will be the case as we improve in possession which will happen by bringing in better players. Teams at the Emirates barring a few sit back and play a low defensive line… Read more »
Turning down the Willock cash at this moment would be mutinous behaviour for me. On his best day Willock is below where this club needs to be at baseline.
Eagle
Sorry a mid of Aouar, Bruno and Partey has porno written all over it, one of those properly filthy ones that leave ZE stench on Levy’s digits in his weakest moments. You’ll get on board with that once the chihuahua all played out this evening.
That’s my point WE, Why is Elneny getting playing time when you could be getting a look at some of Arsenal’s youngsters whether it be Willock or Azeez or Patino or the guy cleaning Arteta’s office. Any one of them were more deserved.
Gravenberch can play both cm and cam btw. Sorry cc but it’s really a no brainer that making a move for gravenberch while he’s still young and we aren’t priced out is a good move. 3 years at Ajax, he’s become a key player in a side that’s regularly in the champs League in his teens, has all the ingredients to go on and become better than all the players you’ve suggested like Renato Sanchez, he’ll definitely be better than madders who we’re allegedly going for, yet at half the price as things currently stand, and it would frankly be… Read more »
I said it earlier this summer that the person arsenal should be doing absolutely everything to sign is that woman from Chelsea who handles their sales Roma told us they are too poor to pay 17m for xhaka and now will spend 38m on Tammy. Go figure This tells us a few key things: 1) Roma do/did have money 2) that lady is awesome at negotiation as always 3) arsenal suck at negotiation as always 4) even a club with money only values xhaka at 10m, which for all this bluster of him being pretty good underscores that he’s really… Read more »
“It’s all good to say that not all academy grads are going to become the best things since sliced bread, but the actual barometer being used is what currently exists at the club. Nothing more, nothing less.Was emi better than Leno? Yes he was
Is willock better than xhaka? Yes he is
Is Nelson better than Willian? Yes he is
Is amn better than bellerin and elneny? Yes he is
Is saliba better than holding and Mari? Yes he is”
Is guendozi better than elneny? Yes he
I agree with that Anonymous
“Arsenal do need to improve our goalscoring and assist potential in midfield. This has been a problem for at least 3 years.” And yet you are happy to sell Willock who just scored 8/14 games from midfield. I believe a poster said that goal tally was more than our combined midfield goals all last season. What did Willock get for working hard, leaning from Bruce and scoring goals. How was Willock rewarded for that monumental effort ES? Zero pre season chances and then sold to Newcastle for less than Buendia to AV. You constantly talk rubbish to support your narrative… Read more »
Chins1
Look no further, just see how Brighton picked our pocket for White and the way we keep going back to Sheffield for a crap goalie.
I’m of the opinion that Arteta-Edu are looked at with derison.within the small communtiy of football.
We sell a very good keeper for 17 million and then are seeking to s joke goalie for almost double the following season
They’ll see the 4 year deal for a 32 year oldn for 200k weekly
https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/leicester-city-accounts-premier-league-5755728
Interesting to see how Covid has affected clubs’ finances.
Scrolling up the comments and the first one i see is
“ I said it earlier this summer that the person arsenal should be doing absolutely everything to sign is that woman from Chelsea who handles their sales”
God we need a signing right now
Why are we looking at TA when we cannot create chances (better still the right chances other than crosses) from midfield and in the final third. So what’s the thinking buy Tammy and he’ll head in all the crosses? Then the inevitable injury to Tammy and that’s it from crosses but they will still fly them in from both flanks to go unanswered by our forwards who have had no game time to bed in. Why is the most important position needed left to last? I’d have thought the simplest approach to this window would have been to buy our… Read more »
?
Can’t post a link from team talk as it must have a non negotiable word in it.
The link says Rogers is looking ar loaning or buying Lingard to replace Madders.
Moyes got 9 goals from Lingard on his loan to Wet Ham. Shame we didn’t loan him instead of giving Auba his retirement deal.
Almunia
I thought you could do something with this. I was going to give it a crack but you are the sketch king here so I leave it to you I Thin k there is great milage in this:
It’s 3 days before the Brentford game and our season’s start.
Mikel and Steve Round sit down in Mike’s office to discuss the training for the game.
“Anyway, when I look at the other Arsenal blogs,none of them have anywhere near the volume of comments that this place has yet le grove only just makes the top 10 Arsenal sites on traffic. How is that?”
Simple
Majority of folks who read Arseblog are mature and reserved.
While majority of folks who read LeGrove are mouthy and a bit rebellious.
The nature of the people here and the comments here will be off putting to many.
Its chaos in LG land
sky sports reporting that abraham has signed w roma
Welp Roma definitely had the money for xhaka in that case, just didn’t want to pay the inflated fee that the wonder duo were asking for. I wonder if his protected value will interest any clubs in future.
Anonymous
The answer is no
I bet we sign no one moving forward bar Ode, who might not want to come here as well…..
so much for our attack
Thought this was spot on from the Athletic: Behold Arsenal and their unfinished revolution. Supporters and indeed technical staff went into the summer expecting a significant turnover in personnel, and a dramatic remodeling of the squad. Thus far, that’s noticeably incomplete. The club have struggled to sell the likes of Xhaka, Bellerin and Lacazette, meaning there is a more familiar feel to the squad on the eve of the 2021-22 campaign. For many supporters, it’s an underwhelming outcome. What’s the biggest unknown about Arsenal? Probably still the coach. When Arsenal appointed Arteta in December 2019, they gambled on a first-time… Read more »
MD what you doing up so late man ? Im about to turn it in in cali
Guns,
Ode will stay at RM because they have a very aging midfield and can’t afford to splurge money on players. On the other hand they will let him go for 50mil and Arsenal again gets taken to the cleaners.
Retired don’t mind sleeping until 10, having difficulties these days sleeping so have to wait 2 hours before the melatonin kicks in.
Ahhh gotcha
Wish I was retired
I am tired tho
Stan will get fleeced by Edu on the deadline day. Bank on this happening.
Edu paying full price on deadline day for Ode… watch
40 M plus
bank on it
It is an Arsenal thing to do bad deals on deadline day, so I am not really excited about the team assembled, really can’t get behind the squad, but then with the broadcast rights in the US being with Comcast and me being a cord never I might just find delight in Serie A (Forza Napoli) or the Bundesliga until Arsenal got their shit together and have again a half decent squad with European football. In addition I really have taken to Rugby and there is a slew of games coming up in the Southern Hemisphere plus in September the… Read more »
Old maureen trolling arsenal from afar, 10mil for xhaka as their skint yet suddenly theres 34m for abraham. Pure banter.
I can’t see Ode going anywhere, Kroos is injured and they’re saving to attain Mbappe’s services next year.
China 1) Roma do/did have money 2) that lady is awesome at negotiation as always 3) arsenal suck at negotiation as always 4) even a club with money only values xhaka at 10m, which for all this bluster of him being pretty good underscores that he’s really not There’s no doubt that Marina whatever her name is clearly is a top negotiator but and probably the biggest but what so many just haven’t grasped is that she has one massive benefit that Arsenal can’t offer when it comes to it and that is Chelsea aren’t in need of the cash… Read more »
So Roma got 33m for tammy but not an extra few m for xhara… Did they really want hi. Or Jose mind games again…
The usual comment regarding Willock is he is not good enough on the ball so will never be good enough for Arsenal, this type of comment is also said of Eddie… I actually do not think their ability on the ball is an area i would question, it is more their ability to GET on the ball often enough, to demand the ball, to find areas on the pitch to receive the ball. For me , it is more a confidence and personality on the pitch issue. Willock has already broken down that barrier during his spell at Newcastle ,… Read more »
Terraloon
I think you have it spot on regarding Abraham and chelsea accepting a 4m initial downpayment as they are not desperate for cash.
Some think it is a level playing field in the transfer market with Arsenal and Chelsea but it is far from a level playing field and always will be whilst abramovic is at the club..
Willock scored more league goals under S. Bruce’s management in his 14 games (8) than Arteta’s Arsenal’s ESR and Saka 52 games combined (7).
Saka 32 games ( 5 goals)
ESR 20 games ( 2 goals)
Willock 14 games (8 goals)
Marina wouldnt have sold Joe W for £20 million!
Pierre It also says to me that they understand FFP and have used the rules to their advantage whereas Arsenal naively thought FFP was going to work to their advantage. But and here’s the but RA seems hands on yet he clearly is distant all the while somehow be it through fear ,empowerment or motivation one thing is clear he has individuals who he trusts to make appointments and whilst many don’t get the revolving door that is in place to deal with under performance their support structure is constant very much following the model of the likes of Bayern… Read more »
CG maybe Newcastle played to Joe’s strengths we would not as we do not play counterattacking football and go for the win the last 5 mins like they do
Terraloon I’m not sure we are anywhere near ready for the new season and this may cost Arteta his job. I feel we are going to get caught out defensively in the channels inside the full backs. Pushing both full backs up high and also having a high line at the back wiĺl leave us open to one direct ball into the channels. Xhaka or Elneny do not have the pace to cover the vacated areas so it could leave Mari and White very exposed at the back. Arteta can only hope that we control the game with long spells… Read more »
Its like MA forgot that he just scraped 8th last season. The new signings should have been bedded already in time for the new season, yet here we are, a couple of days away and no new creative mid and no back up goalie. He could have at least tried some how to get in the fans good graces but he thought fuck that, like his mentor Arsene. There is no buzz, this club is run by a bunch of wank amateurs
Tony
Arsenal have made a decision to recruit a top class AMF in this transfer window who will be
presumably in starting eleven.
That being the case you have a choice between Smith-Rowe and Willock and it is clear that
Arteta prefers the former in his squad.
As I have posted consistently Willock is a 50/50 option, but the facts are the club need money
to pursue their transfer priorities.
I have said on several occasions that Willock is a decent player and I will be sad to see him
leave.
As long as the £20 million fee we receive from selling Willock to Newcastle is invested into the quality CAM(Maddison/Bernado Silva) we need its a somewhat understandable transfer. The ends justifies the means and all that.
What I don’t want to see is our next two transfers being Ramsdale and Sander Berge followed by a late attempt at signing Odegaard on loan.
Tony For someone who likes to criticise others who post on here you are hardly consistent in your views. As a matter of interest how would you have handled the Aubameyang situation differently from the decision made by the club. Would you have allowed Aubameyang to leave the club on a Bosman having scored 29 goals in previous year or offered him a new contract? I think that the difference in wages between what he earned in previous contract and what he receives now is about £30,000 pw. So his contract over 3 years is costing us £4.5 million. If… Read more »
“It also says to me that they understand FFP and have used the rules to their advantage whereas Arsenal naively thought FFP was going to work to their advantage.”
I think that it is obvious that Chelsea understand that they have cash gushing out of their gas wells.
And that this is primarily a RA vanity project.
For Kronke, it looks obvious that it is all about the $, $, $.
FFP is just something that happened. It wouldn’t have changed a single bit about how the 2 operate.
Roma had the money but they didn’t want to give it to us. Just remember that when we deal with them next time and they want a favour from us.
Has Xhaka signed his extension yet?
Serge
“””CG maybe Newcastle played to Joe’s strengths we would not as we do not play counterattacking football and go for the win the last 5 mins like they do””””
Newcastle under the craggy Bruce scored more goals at home last season than Arsenal did under Arteta- so maybe Arsenal should follow their lead.
26 Newcastle
24 Arsenal.( only the x 7 home defeats)
Willock aint the problem, Arteta is the problem.
Wow, Roma weren’t skint after all. They just didn’t think Granit Xhaka was worth it. They didn’t want to pay € 20 mil for him. On the one hand, I am impressed that we didn’t fold. But on the other I am disappointed it is for the wrong player. And to add to that we gave him a new contract. A player that a mid table club like Roma didn’t think was worth € 20 mil. There is another reason to be joyful too. Abraham going to Rome means we are avoiding him at a premium price. He probably will… Read more »
Madrid are still skint. I think they want someone different than Odegaard. Someone who is more like modric. They might sell Odegaard to us and go for Aouar themselves. They will save money and this summer they are all about that.
ES “I think that the difference in wages between what he earned in previous contract and what he receives now is about £30,000 pw. So his contract over 3 years is costing us £4.5 million. From what I read his salary uplift was from £8.1 million pa to £13 million pa. or approx £100k a week extra. https://www.spotrac.com/epl/arsenal-fc/pierre-emerick-aubameyang-24963/ Had he run down his original contract he would have left for a free at the end of the 21/22 season now should he run down his latest contract he will leave at the end of the 22/23 season. His new contract… Read more »
Habesha Gooner
Hadn’t thought of it like that. RM buying Aouar for dirt cheap and duping our clowns with Odegaard for 50 million pounds would be the most Arsenal thing ever. Can’t blame them with MA making Odegaard a priority all summer despite it being obvious he would rather stay at RM and considers Arsenal a fall back.
Pierre, I have the same assessment about Willock, Eddie and Reiss Nelson. We will regret letting Willock go at that stage of his career. When Willock came back from his loan at Newcastle he was buzzing and full of confidence. He went on holiday with Saint Maximin and Eddie. Suddenly Eddie is working hard on his upper body strength and he looks like a different player in pre-season. I would not be surprised if by the end of the season he became our No1 striker. He is a lot more complete player than he had been given credit for. Reiss… Read more »
Mr Serge “CG maybe Newcastle played to Joe’s strengths we would not as we do not play counterattacking football and go for the win the last 5 mins like they do” Anyone who understands the game would know that all the very best Premier league teams were counter attacking sides.. United, the invincibles, Chelsea , Liverpool and City could go from back to front in seconds and that is what made those teams so lethal. Without the ability to counter attack you are nothing, teams can push on to you with the knowledge that the opposition do not have the… Read more »
Terraloon You may be right, but recent reports suggest that his basic salary has risen from £220K to £250K. In any event Arsenal would need to spend at least a £100 Million in transfer market plus a salary of £300K pw to replace Aubameyang with a genuine upgrade. Last year Chelsea bought an average striker in Werner and this season they are about to spend £100 million for Lukaku. Man City are prepared to pay over £100 million on Kane and we know that when Haaland is sold it will cost mega bucks. Arsenal do not have the luxury of… Read more »
Artetaball is anti counter attack. Perhaps that’s why we can’t seem to get out of our half with average teams suffocating us with the knowledge we can’t threaten with pace. The number nine drops too deep into our half and every time we win the ball in midfield with good attacking numbers, we just pass it back to Leno and restart the horseshoe. Arteta does not see anything in Willock for that reason. He is delighted with players like Xhaka, the apple of his eye, and Odegaard who slow down the pace of the game while staying well behind the… Read more »
When you look at the number of goals we scored, we are not an attacking side. If we are not a counter attacking side either, the what are we? A defensive side that hope to nick a goal once in a while! Playing the under dog works for a cup run, but it is unlikely to help us reach top 4. The old saying that defense win you title may not be true anymore. Having a poor defense may cost you places, but having a poor attack cost you more. ManCity, Liverpool have broken records in number of goals scored.… Read more »
Pierre I agree with you on the counter attack is one of the most affective ways to score in the PL as defenders are on the back foot and out of position and break with numbers and at the very least your attackers are all one on ones with defenders . Where I disagree is it’s not a personnel problem at arsenal it’s a complete system problem with this nonsense with doing twenty passes around the defence before we move forward , by the time we do all opposition are back in position . This massive flaw in arteta’s system… Read more »
Like this
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.facebook.com/newcastleunited/videos/517364259451652/&ved=2ahUKEwi5jsGgk6byAhU0lFwKHfcYAxwQo7QBegQIBBAB&usg=AOvVaw3TlGzyHz7L4XAsBWPaptCO
Dark I think that it is obvious that Chelsea understand that they have cash gushing out of their gas wells. Prior to RA shipping up Chelsea were way behind Arsenal by just about every measure you could employ. There’s no doubt that RA injected vast sums into his Chelsea vanity or whatever project the irony is in broad terms it’s probably less that Kronke has spend buying shares in Arsenal. One of those measures I alluded to was total income. Tony posted a link earlier and in that link it details turnover in the year 2019/20. Reflect on that article… Read more »
Rio Ferdinand’s opinion on Arsenal, tells it as he sees it. ” With Arsenal, I know they’re building and Arteta is trying to build something and he’s setting the foundations there, but they’re in no man’s land. They’re not a threat to anybody. You don’t consider them a real threat at all and it’s not just the Arsenal that I played against with Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Martin Keown, Tony Adams, Sol Campbell, Ashley Cole. ‘It’s just a very different time now for Arsenal. It’s sad to see because I really like Arsenal.’ ” This after 21 months… Read more »
Peckobil
Agree, It’s low risk football from Arteta and that will only get you mid table I’m afraid .
ES
Basic salary is one thing it’s the hidden bonuses that are the killers.
For instance it was said that PEA was given a CL qualification bonus at Arsenal even if Arsenal didn’t qualify as he managed to somehow link that bonus to Dortmund’s contract
I agree that Arsenal don’t have the luxury afforded to other clubs but even a blind man would have seen that his performances were declining and uplifting the remaining years of his existing contract just to get one extra year was folly
Anyway, there is still hope that willock will turn down the move, nothing signed yet hopefully.
Maybe he will stay and Arsenal will award him a pay rise similar to xhaka…..
Pierre
Agree entirely, the old way is still the best (and most exciting) way
But there is still hope. Arteta is not undiluted Pep. His aim is to switch at lightning speed from tic-tac to counterattacking football. Why else sign White?
To be fair I really can’t blame Roma in the slightest they didn’t want to overpay for Xhaka and they valued him at 10 million. If it was arsenal they would have overpaid for sure so kudos in that regard
Terraloon Chelsea is able to spend money to make money in a way that we can’t. It has to do with critical mass. I do agree that they are likely a lot more commercially viable than Arsenal right now and likely sustainable like how Man U is sustainable. That credit goes to RA. Thus it is a real pity that Kronke didn’t get the most out of Wenger and indulged him instead. He flunk with Emery and now it is going to happen with MA. I will put the decline on the owner because the bucks stops with the boss.… Read more »
Pierre
””””Anyway, there is still hope that willock will turn down the move, nothing signed yet hopefully”””
Willock will run all the way up the M1 up to Newcastle now he has been given the green light to go.
No more listening to miserable Mikel and Round and their miserable takes on the game.
Avuncular S. Bruce will be the making of him..
The Geordies already love him like the Villa fans love our Martinez.
For what it’s worth my take on Willock is that if we had managed to sell other players in our bloated squad and received some sort of worthwhile transfer fees we wouldn’t be selling Willock. If AMN, Nelson, Nketiah, Torreira, Kolasinac, Bellerin had all been sold, the money we’re potentially getting from Willock’s sale to Newcastle and the space it provides in the squad, wouldn’t be as attractive. As for his strengths, Newcastle played to them as their ‘hitting on the break after being under pressure for most of the game” tactics allowed Willock to focus what he does best,… Read more »
Pierre
Willock will go, because he will become third choice in his preferred position if he stays.
He is in a similar situation to Iwobi when he was sold to Everton.
As I pointed out he is competing with Smith-Rowe and the manager prefers the latter.
I would think twice about taking Xhaka on a free, so can’t really blame Roma for not paying up 12M for him. Mourinho still has some sense left in him. Our Mikel ‘process’ Arteta gives him a pay rise, what can you say.
We literally are nowhere, we’re not going to get relegated but are we going to challenge for the league or even top 4 under Arteta, of course not. I’m quite surprised he hasn’t attacked this market more, I know that we need to raise funds through player sells and a lot of our players are pretty much unsellable but there is a whole lot more we could have done even with what we have already spent. Maybe Arteta and the club have somethings up their sleeves or they underestimate fan discontent. We have no European football to look forward to… Read more »
On Xhaka, I have no problem keeping him as long as he is our 3rd choice after Lokonga settles and Partey returns. Next year he can be 4th choice and decide to leave as we have internal solutions or we bring in an upgrade.
He is a reliable(most of the time) uninspiring pro, who has strengths but obvious weaknesses. He makes for a solid back up player.
Pierre,
If I were Willock agent I would tell him to agree on an loan with an option to buy if the player still wants it with the possibility of recall in winter if there is a change of manager.
If Arteta genuinely think that he will still be here, then it just postponing the official transfer until next season. If Arteta is still in charge then Willock is permanently transferred. If Arteta has been sacked, then he still has the possibility to revive his Arsenal career.
Dark
Yep. Agree with that
£25m for Willock is too good to turn down. Hopefully the rumours of Holding following him up there are true. Nowhere near good enough.
Bob N16
Agree 100% with your last two posts.
Val
Mikel would read though this straight away (banking on his potentiel sacking…) and insist on a cash sale 🙂 he would not enjoy this lack of restpect
It will hilarious if we end up bringing in Lingaard on deadline day
It will fit perfectly with our banter club status.
Lingrd will do the moonwalk at his unveiling and give us the exclusive ‘fan view’
Personally I am torn re Willock
On one hand the money is desperately needed and whilst he had a purple patch in terms of consecutive goals scored he only featured for the full 90 min 7 of the 17 games he featured in.
On the other he possibly needed a full season out on loaner a PL to gauge his ability/potential fully.
I don’t get the approach of sticking with Laca and Auba
They haven’t been good enough to get us into the CL and they never will.
We replaced Giroud with a lesser striker in 2017 with higher wages and a ginomous transfer fee. 4 months later we were replacing Laca with a lesser footballer and better goal scorer for even more money.
We have to break up this Auba/Laca nonsense. It has never worked and it’s not going to change this season.
Stroller
“As I pointed out he is competing with Smith-Rowe and the manager prefers the latter.”
Arteta played Smith Rowe on the left many times last season and it would be quite easy to accommodate Willock by moving Smith Rowe out wide….saka on the right and Eddie through the middle and we have an offensive line up that can score , create, have energy , desire to press from the front and importantly they all know eachothers game.
Of course it’s not going to happen …tooooo risky.
Gbat
“£25m for Willock is too good to turn down. Hopefully the rumours of Holding following him up there are true. Nowhere near good enough.”
Replacing Holding , who is dominant in the air , is fine , but bringing in White who has neither the height , physique or strength to dominate in the air may cost us defensively.
There is a reason why we had more clean sheets with Holding in the side , he knows how to defend.
Here’s some interesting stats for 20/21
Last season ESR only featured for the full 90 minutes in two league games Arsenal went on to win
Of the last 10 league games Saka played in he only completed the full 90 minutes on four occasions . In the previous 22 he completed the full 90 minutes on 16 occasions
Hoksilato, 1) Arteta does not need to know all the details of the contract. There can be an arrangement with Edu that it is just presented as loan with an option to buy 2) Arteta cannot force a player to sign a contract he does not want to. If Willock refuse to sign and stay, then Arteta looks even more like an idiot if he then ban him from the team and our midfield fails to score. Anyway I believe that Arteta will be sacked before Christmas, so if Willock really wants a career at Arsenal, tolerating six months in… Read more »
Pierre
We have a huge number of players able to play on left wing with Saka, Martinelli, Pepe plus
Aubameyang and Willian.
We have fewer options on the right, but still at least three options.
The problem with Willock is that he is at best a bench player at Arsenal. Smith-Rowe on the
other hand has been played in first team as a starter.
According to Dhamesh Sheth of Skysports: ‘We know they are looking for an attacking midfielder,” said Sheth. “There has been an interest in James Maddison. “It looks like that will be a bit too expensive to do. Leicester City are under no pressure to sell..’ IF THE ABOVE IS TRUE THEN WE ARE STUPIDLY RUN AND ARTETA AND EDU ARE NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE. HOW ON EARTH CAN YOU HAVE 50 MILLION FOR A POSITION OF LESSER PRIORITY BUT NOT HAVE 70 MILLION FOR A POSITION THAT COULD CHANGE OUR STATUS FROM 8TH TO TOP 4. I GUESS TIME WILL… Read more »
ES
””’The problem with Willock is that he is at best a bench player at Arsenal. Smith-Rowe on the
other hand has been played in first team as a starter.”””
maybe , maybe not
But , had you noticed the FA have changed the number of subs, teams can now bring on?
Name a better player in the prem, to call from the bench to score a goal than J. Willock (9/9)
He even did that in the last Arsenal home fixture.
My Lord, delusion is strong on this blog. Arsenal is sinking ship I’m afraid, there are absolutely no positives to take into the coming season. Pedro sounds more and more like a Soccer pundit instead of football one, but hey-ho time will prove me right.
Pierre
Holding isn’t dominant in the air. According to Fbref, Holding won 56% of his aerial duels compared to White’s 53%.
Holding suits defending in a low block. He can’t defend space. His passing is risk adverse. He’s not the player you think he is.
CG
This is a pointless discussion.
Arsenal need clearly to sell players and the options are probably very limited.
We have received an offer of between £20-25 million for Willock who by your own admission is a “bench player”.
If he leaves I think that it is 100% probable that Arsenal will be bringing in a new AMF. We
can then discuss the merits or demerits of that player and compare him with Willock.
I wouldn’t get too bogged down with what Sky Sports transfer centre say, their credibility is not what it was. We’ll just have to see how things play out as nothing appears imminent.
Can’t play Willock and ESR in the same team? Really?
Leno
Chambers, White, Gabby, Tierney
Willock, Partey (Lokonga), ESR
Pepe (Saka), Auba (Laca), Saka (Pepe)
We wouldn’t miss Xhaka in the slightest. Defensively he’s a liability and the more hi-energy Willock and ESR would press far more effectively. As for the occasional Hollywood pass ESR will bring far more creatively behind the front 3.
Mikel’s preferred formation is 4-3-3 he says so play it. But he isn’t going to because he’s too conservative and wants to play with two defensive/holding midfielders rather than two 8’s.
For anyone believing Madrid need to sell Odegaard to fund moves this summer or next, Madrid actually made a pre-tax profit of 700,000 last season. They had a year of austerity and didn’t make any major signings. They’ve also reduced the wage bill. Yes they haven’t splashed the cash but that’s because they’ve not needed to. They also have a lot of decent young prospects (Odegaard included). The super league was a way to maintain their elite levels and increase their wealth not like Barca to get them out of catastrophic debt. Madrid want Mbappe or Haaland next summer. As… Read more »
Gbat. This stats in themselves don’t tell the full story. At Brighton he played in a defensive unit with three defensive giants. Dunk 1.92m, Duffy 1.93 m and Burn 1.98 m. White from set pieces was often the free man if you like the main defending in these situations wasn’t his responsibility. At Arsenal he will be required to pay a key role in such situations and whilst only a couple of ins short of Holding when confronted at say corners there won’t be enough big players for him to be the be dealing with the fourth or even fifth… Read more »
ES
“”We have received an offer of between £20-25 million for Willock who by your own admission is a “bench player””””
Willock coming off the bench and scoring against Villarreal in the home semi final might have seen Arsenal back in the CL( think millions £€$)
He scores goals and any player that does that- YOU KEEP!
(He wont be a bench player in 12 months time either.)
Holding is the very definition of average. Would expect him to be a mainstay in a team which finishes 10th or thereabouts every season.