We’re really in the thick of things right now, there’s cash in the water and MEGA agents, clubs, and players can taste it.
The latest move that seems to have caught fire with the big rumour monsters is Raphinha to Arsenal. The story follows a familiar one with Barcelona, they tap a player for months, then when it comes to payment, they plead poverty and hope no one else goes in for the name… no one goes in for player because they are fixated on moving to one place, Barca get a fat discount, the end.
Well, Leeds aren’t about that dynamic, Barcelona aren’t what they once were, and now Arsenal are at the trough with a very serious cheque and look on their face.
It all feels like stepping up to the table for Dusan Vlahovic. Commendable, but unrealistic.
I have absolutely no idea though, my gut says that it seems like quite a mad thing to do considering where we are as a club. This is the sort of move City or Chelsea make. Unless there’s a really big plan, I’m not sure that putting £60m on a right-winger is exactly what we need. We’ve just signed Vieira, Bukayo Saka is the Starboy, and Odegaard can also do bits out there.
If you are spending that much as a Europa League side, you are going to play that person every week. Do we see a world where that happens with Raphinha?
I have no idea. This has the hallmarks of Wenger needing to address a really important defensive issue, then dropping £25m on his 9th #10. Standards merchants will say you need two top-quality players in every position, and sure, I can vibe with that, but you need to address the things that broke you the season prior first. Chance creation from the right doesn’t need £60m right now.
I’ve lived in the transfer desert for 10 years before, so I’ll never look away from a top-quality 25-year-old Brazilian… but it would be a little bit at odds with the mission this summer. It would also make us a Champions League squad a year early, no doubt about that, because he really is top, top talent.
This rumour works for Leeds, it works for the player, and it might work for Arsenal who will no doubt be desperate to make sure we have as many of our targets in the building by June 28th when preseason starts. Leicester is dragging their feet, City seems to be doing the same on Jesus… the fear of seeing our cash go somewhere else might see more people pick up the phone, because there’s not a huge amount of cash going around this summer.
The Lisandro Martinez story is trying to find the next level now and United has entered the picture. Again, in moments like these, you have to ask where the story is coming from. It reads like it’s mostly a Dutch rumour right now and that could mean Ajax is a little pissed at the low fee and now they want to invite bigger clubs into the mixer. It could also be that United have a terrible mix of players in their squad and Ten Haag is a big fan of a very good player.
This is why Arsenal need to move in the shadows when they can, we’re not the biggest pig at the feeding trough, so we have to wait our turn for players.
The one thing you can be confident of is that Mikel Arteta is a very good salesman. He’ll have an extremely structured plan of how he wants the player to operate, he’ll probably have some sort of presentation ready for the agent, and he is selling a vision of competing for the league next season. United has the finances to deliver something big far quicker, they have more money than us, but really… would you trust that club with your career? It’s ruined so many names.
For me, the Arsenal brief is still very clear:
- Left-back
- Centre midfielder
- Striker
- Wide player
If we land those four players, plus the already done upgrades to our back-up keeper, and centre back… we’re cooking next season.
People keep pointing to midfield being an issue, but as it stands, I think Sambi, Xhaka, Partey, Elneny, and Tielemans gives us more than enough depth. It’s clear that there’s a new role for Odegaard coming at some point as well. I am actually very excited about Lokonga, fans wrote him off so quickly, but that kid has Vincent Kompany rummaging around in his phone book trying to contact Pep and Arteta because he loves the player so much. He has pedigree, he’s barely 22 years old, and I think he will step up when he’s given more minutes in the same way Eddie did.
There’s a video doing the rounds of Brazil expert Tim Vickery saying that Gabriel Jesus has been in an identity crisis for four years, basically, since he went to a World Cup as a striker and didn’t score any goals. I’m not too worried about this, the angle of the content was basically, ‘Arsenal should check they know what they are buying’, and I think it’s pretty clear that no club in the world is better positioned to know about Jesus than Arsenal.
This stats card kind of Men In Black’d my memory of slagging off small strikers.
When starting, he has 76 goal contributions in 99 games.
That is top tier.
We’re not trying to win the league next season, we’re trying to make top 4, those sort of numbers in our forward line are literally going to be the 10 points we need on their own.
Do I still believe in tall boys? I do. Arsenal might need to adjust that when we move to the next level, but right now, we just need more goals from the person paid to score them. I think Eddie and Jesus give far more end product than the old boys Lacazette and Auba.
Finally, before I go, I just want to leave the below graphic in place. I had some friends that said hiring a PHD level statistics person to go through Arsenal’s fixtures was a mad move. They said you can’t influence fixtures. They told me to get back in my box. One even said you can’t call out a 3% chance roll of the dice.
Well, I present the below with no comment other than: ‘I am 100% responsible for the good fixture list we have’ and you know what, you’re all going to have to eat the W with me.
Tastes good right?
But remember who put that tasty W on the table.
I did it for the community and the most beautiful thing about that tweet thread I posted had over 180,000 engagements and it was mostly carried around the world by… Spurs fans.
What is that?
You want to contribute to our Patreon because of the good work I did with the stats PHD person?
Why thank you. Below is the link to our exclusive work AND we’ve put out a transfer window special podcast. It was the most-watched show we’ve had live, which was pretty cool.
Just be warned, I’m calling in Ws on that show, so brace for impact.
Thought we were announcing Viera today ?
Samesong
“Thought we were announcing Viera today ?”
Why, have you got a party planned or something?
Happy birthday Pedro
Many happy returns
Why, have you got a party planned or something?
Yeah Pedro and Viera joint bashment wasn’t you invited? lol
Partey is aging at 29
Lokonga is fledgling at 22
What age meets your requirements gd4?
Is Pedro’s age ok ?
Happy birthday… chin chin
Thorough For the last few days now, this blog has gone and become obsessed with Raphina. Good player obviously but we ve gone too tunnel-visioned on him. There’s no reason we should ever be paying 55-60 million for any player this summer unless its a world class and a game changer player. We are acting as though hes the only good wide player in England and Europe. Antony like you mentioned is a much better player in my opinion and maybe a better fit than Raphina. Hes also 20 million cheaper Same situation with Tielemans. Is he the best we… Read more »
Wicked willy
Great post earlier. Pedro should catalog that one in the Legrove classics.
Inter close to sealing the loan deal for Lukaku for a £10m fee.
Chelsea essentially paid £90m for a year’s loan, lol. Pretty outrageous.
Niaja+soccer
I agree, that post from Wicked Willy a 09:09:46 was 100% on the mark.
Un
Had no idea you were Un na na nai & Don hahahaha. All this time I thought I was talking to a cool new poster.
But you are cool with me, your comments never rubbed me none.
Samesong
“Yeah Pedro and Viera joint bashment wasn’t you invited? lol”
Okay, hope it’s a good one mate have a beer for me…..!!
Naija
Thanks fella, been some nice comments I see, I’m glad it was well received 🙂
Wenger Eagle re Tottenham Tom.If the cap fits & all that.Besides he appears to be quite enamoured with the title if you read back.Takes all sorts.
Wicked Willy
Yes mate, brilliant comments at 09:09.
Absolutely smashed the nail on the head with that.
The only transfer that would get me excited is Chelsea Marina Granovskaia replacing Vinai.
Straight away, we would be taken seriously. Both sponsor and other clubs would stop taking the piss when negotiating with Arsenal.
Naija.
Edu is shocking. Antony is Brazilian btw. How can he not know. I watch Ajax almost on a weekly basis and the players that always stand out for me are Antony, Gravenberg and Bergvist or whatever his name is.
Bayern bought Gravenberg for 25 mil, that could have been a Partey partner/understudy.
It’s just ridiculous.
These smart transfers should be our thing not these moneybags.
Valentin,great idea.couldn’t agree more.The woman knows her stuff.Anyone working on it?If not.why not?Shell be snapped up if not already.
Wenger Eagle “Inter close to sealing the loan deal for Lukaku for a £10m fee. Chelsea essentially paid £90m for a year’s loan, lol. Pretty outrageous” That may have been the last of the Abramovich I was never his biggest fan but I did say he’s better in a 2 where he can run defenders ragged in the channels. Pinning him in the centre isn’t playing to his strengths. Still, that’s a typical. Abramovich signing. In Euro 2020 Lukaku said: “When they talk about [Robert] Lewandowski, [Karim] Benzema, [Luis] Suarez, [Harry] Kane, they would say it’s world-class level, and with… Read more »
* That may have been the last of the Abramovich vanity signings.
Marina Granovskaia has been at Chelsea for nearly 20 years. There’s a good reason not to hire her.
AFC Forever The whole thing is pretty bizarre. He’s clearly never been in that bracket or even close to Benzema, Lewandowski, Kane and Suarez but he is a much better player than he showed for most of last season. He bullied us at the Emirates on his debut last season let’s not forget and had a very good game. I have never in my 20+ years of watching football seen a player a couple of months into a marquee transfer use a public forum to openly pine for their ex-club as well as bitch about how they are being used… Read more »
Thorough We are currently front runners to sign Ajax’s player of the year for something in the region of £30m (we hope given £25m got knocked back). We’ve obviously attended a lot of their games and analysed the data. It’s clearly not just how talented they are, but also their applicability to our system. Auba is supremely talented, but he just didn’t fit. Maybe some of these players you are hot on aren’t considered the ideal fit. or maybe they don’t have the psychological profile they are looking for. Did you see The Athletic piece this week on the very… Read more »
Happy Birthday Pedro!! Thanks for allowing us this platform to praise and vent everything Arsenal, greatly appreciated! Hope you have a good one!
Wicked Willy if you want balance and positivity dont read a football blog. Football is an emotional game. Its tribal and partisan, hence sometimes you get the vitriol and abuse. Im not with you on ‘sustainability’. Which football clubs make money or operate on a sustainable basis. I suspect hardly any. Its for gamblers and dreamers not accountants.
Wonder who would City buy if Bernardo goes to Barca in Frenkie’s place.
Who remembers when we used to be linked with Mario Goetze
Gotze was a beast before his health issues derailed his career. Would have been up there with the Hazard’s and Isco’s of the world and was arguably better in his early 20s.
Up until 2014. At least he got his moment with the WC Final winner, how many can say that?
WengerEagle, yep that interview was an incredible PR own goal. Think he regretted the move but he cant blame anyone but himself.
Yeah WE
Mario was a baller back then.
Happy Birthday Pedro! Enjoy your Tuesday beers!
Salomon Kalou is still only 36….just saying.
Thorough
Gravenberg too. When he moved to Bayern Munich, I thought but we need him more than the German club. Like you said that was an obvious move i mean the guy can play, he’s not expensive, he can be a Partey partner/substitute.
Thats why I don’t understand the fixation on Tielemans. While we are staring at him so hard, moves are happening in other places.
But don’t worry we are focused
Bard One can be incredibly passionate without being an emotional ignoramus. Vomiting your emotion into a public forum is not a barometer of one’s love for the club, it’s a barometer of how many unresolved personal issues the individual is carrying. Projecting them onto a board actually serves no one. It’s lowest common denominator bullshit. If you ever played me at sport, you’d realise I’m as competitive as they come. But that doesn’t mean to say one need lose one’s class just because one wishes to win. Anyway, you may be right. Maybe I’ll pull the ripcord on the message… Read more »
Wicked Willy “We’ve obviously attended a lot of their games and analysed the data. It’s clearly not just how talented they are, but also their applicability to our system. Maybe some of these players you are hot on aren’t considered the ideal fit. or maybe they don’t have the psychological profile they are looking for” I have said this many times. Fans often ignore all that and just produce a list of players they ‘think’ would be a good signing and those they think would be bad ones. Some may have no idea who a player is and have a… Read more »
Wicked Wily. The way we are turning over players and/or making them redundant once they get signed a neutral football fan will actually think everybody but us use data to analyze how players fit in to systems. Last summer alone we had Tavares and Lokonga who were as good as useless in the grand scheme of things and it all over the news Tavares may be on his way out. The year before our Marquee signing was Willian who had to lose money to free himself. . I doubt if Edu and Arteta have the littlest idea what you’re talking… Read more »
Naija.
Thanks. I hadn’t even read what you wrote before I replied WW. Gravenberg could have been a perfect understudy and partner for Partey. We just never see the obvious.
WW: “Vomiting your emotion into a public forum is not a barometer of one’s love for the club, it’s a barometer of how many unresolved personal issues the individual is carrying. If you ever played me at sport, you’d realise I’m as competitive as they come. But that doesn’t mean to say one need lose one’s class just because one wishes to win.” Being convinced that all people should be the same – like you, and act – like you, is a sign of unresolved personal issues, not what was explained above. I’m not condoning people who come here with… Read more »
Thorough
I agree with your above post once again. There’s this feeling with Arteta and Edu that they are being too clever as opposed to being smart. Of course I want to be wrong about this, as I want whats best for Arsenal but its an unshakable feeling nonetheless.
Thinking outside the box/envelope is great but sometimes the solution is inside the box/envelope.
Looking at the 5 substitution thing..
We should just call them ‘finishers’ instead. Like rugby
At half time if a team is losing… bring on 2
With 20 minutes to go bring on another 3
Obviously it favours the teams with bigger quality squads.
Has Viera been bought for this…
Lazy ideology peni everywhere 😴
Thorough, It sounds like you’re describing Man Utd’s transfer policy over the last ten years! Long may that continue. As for Tavares and Lokonga being failures, I think that’s bollocks. They were bought as development players to participate in a team’s effort to get Europe League, with a view to them growing with the team in due course. They might end up being failures, but only time will tell. I remember Gareth Bale being abysmal for Spurs in his first season there, and not long after he’s the worlds most expensive player. I remember Parlour being terrible, maybe we should… Read more »
Naija. True. This is so Arsene Wenger. No Arsenal signing has ever annoyed me like the great THOMAS EISFIELD. I could have broken something that day. We all wanted a midfielder and we had options. I think it was circa the time we were linked to Gotze. Wenger had to show us he was wiser than us all. Playing Smart Aleck doesn’t always work. Coaches like Ferguson, Guardiola, Mourinho, Klopp et al are successful because they see the blindingly obvious. Imagine Pep ignored Harland and got a striker from Estonia just to prove he can see what we all can’t?… Read more »
WW.
Of course, Man UNITED in the last 10 years looks exactly like Arsenal in the last 5 years.
And you think Lokonga and Tavares will play more this season than the last? Seriously? Under an Arteta that’s fixated on only his first 11?
And about big money signings failing that’s the opposite exact of what I was clamoring for. Antony, Gravenberg, Nkunku when Emry wanted him, Olise pre-EPL, those are exactly the kind of talents a team like us shouldn’t be missing. I wonder where on earth you saw me pining for expensive signings?
Looking at all the good sources reporting this Raphina story. This has to be the most pushed story that will never end up in a signing. Misdirection being fed to journos, I can’t believe we would spend anywhere near that amount on a player that’s not a necessity. All transfer numbers are pumped up by media to make sensational headlines, maybe that’s also the case here? I agree with China that possibly Arteta sees Vieira as a number 8, but I’d worry about him needing time to acclimatize. I still think Tielemans is the perfect fit for our needs in… Read more »
I didn’t say you were. I think the policy you advocate is exactly right, and is certainly what we missed for a time. We lost our transfer discipline. I too wanted Nkunku for the same reason. But I also wanted Yann M’Vila once upon a time for a similar reason. Picking talents just as they’re about to pop at PL level is not easy though. Twenty years ago yes, but now? Everyone saw what Wenger was doing and we lost our advantage. Let’s not forget Ferguson signed some stinkers as well. Veron was actually a great player but a poor… Read more »
WW – Not entirely true. I don’t recall Parlour being poor even if he did concede a pen at Liverpool first time out. Consensus was that he did well despite that slip up. Cole wasn’t ‘sacked off’ by the fans that’s for sure. Wenger nearly flogged him but for a dodgy passport so that’s down to AW’s poor judgement. As for “Even The Might Thierry was pretty average in season one” that’s not true either (more of a myth). He scored 26 goals in all comps and 17 in the league (better than Giroud managed ever). Second season he scored… Read more »
Nigel
The modern media is all about fake news. I rarely believe a word of it because I know they are competing for clicks. The problem is that despite knowing 99% of it is made up bollocks or complete guesses, everyone still becomes triggered by it. Sheer madness. I’ve seen months go by with people all enraged about something they read that turned out to be bollocks, happens on this blog all the time..At the end of the day, speculation is just a word and not an Italian centre forward we’re about to lose our shit over..
“As for Mourinho, I’d say he’s rapidly becoming a specialist in failure 😉”
Just won Roma’s first trophy in 14 years.
FABIO ANNOUNCED!
WTF is it with Simon Jordan at talkshite radio.Guy f*** ng hates us. Now telling Leeds to add on an extra £20 million to whatever Arsenal offer.He is some kinda C ** t when it comes to us.what’s his problem?
https://www.arsenal.com/news/fabio-vieira-joins-long-term-contract
Fabio on the dot com. Hopefully he’ll realize his full talent with us.
VIERA number 21.
A great signing
He looks very slight, wouldn’t hurt him to add a couple of lbs of muscle to his frame to deal with PL defenders.
Best of luck to the kid.
Andy Thanks for clarifying on Thierry. That’s fair. I definitely remember Parlour being shit, but then I was looking through the eyes of a late teen. My examples might not be the best, but the principle that players can be poor and then come good is irrefutable if you have a more thorough memory of the game, as you seem to. Judging a player after one season is foolish in my view. And it works both ways. Martial and Janizaj rock at aman Utd if I recall. Rashford weren’t half bad either. And Mr Arshavin looked bang tasty early doors… Read more »
“ I can’t believe we would spend anywhere near that amount on a player that’s not a necessity.”
I dunno, Pepe comes readily to mind as just a starting point – management at the time said they needed him.
Historically from the last 10 years of Wenger’s reign and onwards, that exactly what Arsenal do, giving into their wants rather than their needs, and when they finally do address their supposed needs they overpay.
Forgot to add that TH14 was also our player of the season in his first year (1999/2000) so not bad for someone who was ‘pretty average”!
No worries WW – I guess it goes to show that several people can watch the same player and the same game and have to entirely different opinions on what they witnessed. I’m certainly not giving up on Tavares, and I rather like Sambi. In particular I think that Sambi being dumped for Xhaka knocked him back. There’s a player in there if we can utilise him correctly and nurture his talent.
Andy.
Thanks for the inputs.
And I love Tavares and I know entirely why a team like Atalanta would want him. He looks every inch like a wing back compared to a full back. We just need to learn how to play to the players strength.
And welcome to Fabio – could be the #10/second striker that we need to add goals to our team. Would be nice to see two genuine goal threats play at the sharp end for a change, I’m not a fan of a lone striker or heaven forbid a false nine.
The unveiling pics of Vierra are a bit is a bit odd.
It looks like it was taken in front of a wooden shed or fence.
Fabio needs to get on the Saka training regimen.
***The unveiling pics of Vierra are a bit odd.
It looks like it was taken in front of a wooden shed or fence.
Fabio will definitely need a season to comes up to terms with premier league physicality.
He needs to be started on a special regimen.
🗣#FabioVieira: “I’ve always admired the way Arsenal play. There are many players who I remember from over the years: #Bergkamp, #Fabregas, #Cazorla, #Henry. #Arsenal are a huge and historic club. And I couldn’t be prouder.”
🗣#Vieira: “I’m a fan of #BukayoSaka and #SmithRowe, too. I really like the way they play. #Ødegaard is quite similar to me.”😍
I understand that Odegaard has his fans but in that position I rate players that are either easier on the eye like Santi or players that can do it all like KDB. Odegaard is somewhere in the middle and he’s just not my cup of tea. I’ve honestly disliked Ode’s signing and I wish we could sell him soon as Fabio has much more of the flair I am looking for in the AM. Along with ESR’s directness and dynamic we should have had our #10s. Now if the idea is to play both Ode and Fabio in CM roles… Read more »
Luteo
Get him on the Elokobi diet/workout plan for a couple of months.
Just received email from Arsenal confirming the transfer for Vieira has been finalised.
The way posters have jumped on Tom for letting that nickname slide off his back is fucking hilarious.
It’s literally the same as when a child being made fun of by other kids casually says, “okay sure I’m stupid” as a retort and the dumb cunt kids joyfully use that statement as proof they were somehow correct, like “oh my god I can’t believe he admitted it, that shows you how stupid he is! What a knob!”
Act your age. Although for some of you that would mean dying (cause you’re old). Act your age, without dying.
Raps you have disliked the Ode signing? Surprising as you’ve hidden it so well
Prob on a yacht somewhere laughing at us minions commenting on Legrove.
I wonder what Italians will do during World Cup month. Actually, I couldn’t give a XXXX what they do tbh😛
Thai Tony was proven to be “the real Vieira Lynn” … happily gone along with Kiljoy.
new post!
So we need to come up with a new Vieira song. Shouldn’t be too difficult!
Well done Pedro, now to just find more data on the refs and you can change the whole game from this blog.
Like you got Wenger fired and Emery, and more importantly, keeping Arteta forever.