WELL GOOD MORNING TO YOU!
It’s FriYAY and we’re having a pretty decent week as far as Arsenal goes.
We signed Fabio Vieira. We’ve tied down Eddie. Matt Turner left New England Revs. But there are still things to do but I think it’s becoming a lot clearer where this window is trying to land.
Raphinha now reads like a priority, it doesn’t seem like Barca are coming with the cash, and it seems likely it’ll be a straight shootout between Arsenal and Spurs.
Gabriel Jesus wants Arsenal, Arsenal want Jesus, a deal is going to be struck there. He’ll be our striker. We’re gonna make him top boy and in return, he’s going to score at least 35 goals next season.
Youri Tielemans talk is dying down a little bit, but don’t fear, I really don’t think we’ll be letting the window pass without going hard for the player. He’s been on the agenda for a while, I suspect there’s been some backchannelling, and I do wonder if the player has stated he just wants Arsenal and that COULD be a hard pill for the Leicester board to swallow.
There are likely going to be a few exits but it’s still not very clear where they are coming from. Leno, Torreira, Bellerin, maybe Holding, maybe Xhaka, certainly Pablo Mari, and hopefully Nico Pepe for an actual fee.
Then the big one, that no one is talking about… Bukayo Saka needs to sign a big fat new deal with Arsenal. His deal is up in 2 years. The beastly vultures of Europe will be circling. He needs to be earning the fat dollars because he is 100% our main man.
Was I a little worried about our obsession with Raphinha because he plays in the same space as Bukayo? Maybe.
My hope here is that Saka is young, he’s grounded, he’s the king at Arsenal, and he might peak at what is going on at City with 27-year-old Jack Grealish and not fancy that level of competition this early in his rocket ship career.
Needless to say, it doesn’t matter how much good work you do transfer-wise, it could all taste a little salty if the chips aren’t sauced with a Bukayo 17 year deal.
There’s also a very, very big backroom signing we need to take care of… we need a new head of performance to replace Shad Forsythe.
For the OG Le Grovers, one of my first iconic campaigns against Wenger’s regressive behaviors was tackling his complete blindness to how injuries in sports worked.
Here’s the topline gist: Every November and February, Arsenal would have a massive pile-up of injuries.
Wenger would blame the weather, he’d blame luck, he’d blame hair pills, he even had some weird chiropractor witch doctor like guy head down to the training ground to help with the problems.
What was really going on was this: Wenger had a PE teacher looking after the fitness of the players, totally unqualified to look after the strength and conditioning needs of the team, but he was also working off a busted theory. Wenger would train players to match level during the week so they’d be extra fit in games, ready to kill off teams in the last 10 minutes. That worked in 1998 when half the league were pub teams. When everyone developed the same fitness standards, the benefits of overtraining started to collapse in on themselves because players would fatigue and pick up soft tissue injuries.
Once Wenger understood he was causing injuries because of the lack of technical nous at the club, they hired Shad Forsythe. His job, in a nutshell, is to keep players on the pitch, and make sure when they get to game day, they’re not under cooked, or overcooked. At a club like Arsenal, where fitness is so key at every level, the position is arguably one of the most important. No one notices when everyone is fit, but when things go off the rails, like they did at Leeds under Bielsa, everyone pays attention.
Who will Arsenal hire?
Will Arteta hire more 14 year olds to cover off the vast experience of Shad? Or will they go out and find the best possible man/woman for the job and ensure his good work is continued?
I do not know. But we will find out soon enough. That position needs to be filled by June 28th.
Ok, short post today. I’m off to come to terms with the reality that I live in a place that loosens gun laws after kids get massacred in schools, and my baby is coming into a world where she’ll have less rights than her mum. Sad times.
This is a very positive window so far. I wish we would offer 50m to Bayurn for Gnabry instead of spending the outrageous fee that Leeds want on Raph. Who knows, Bayurn might be fine with it.
Jesus and Vieira are very good signings. Would like another physical CDM tbh even if we get Tiels
Agreed, letting Rangnick go was nuts, He’s been on the inside, he knows what the issues are, and he’s got a very good track record of building clubs. Ten Hag now comes in blind, any senior players United don’t want, and are stuck with, he’ll have to give them a chance to fail, which they inevitably will once the honeymoon period is over. United are in a bit of trouble, they’ll struggle to replicate their sponsorship + commercial deals over the next decade, and maintain their revenue, if they don’t deliver a team that the global fan base can identify… Read more »
Weagle, not for me.
Too many cooks in the kitchen comes to mind, and if ten Hag is as good as they say he is, he’ll get the measure of the players through his own lenses soon enough.
Not like Rangnick’s United stint was anything to write home about either; players seemingly confused about their roles, rumors of outdated training schemes conducted by his No two, and not to mention his public remarks re the total rebuild needed and six years to do it in.
WengerEagle It’s crazy to think how amateur hour a club as huge as Man Utd can operate. It wasn’t that long ago we were saying the same things about Arsenal but we put our house in order. Last season I watched Ronaldo standing on the touch line next to OGS arms waving and I said on here that wasn’t healthy. When you have players bigger than the club and manager you’re headed for problems. That had a knock on effect to other players. It was similar to the issues we had with players. Nobody listened to Freddie at the time,… Read more »
If we sign Jesus it will be the best we can do given where we are and hope he can produce miracles. I cannot for the life of me get why posters writing about the state of Man u or any other club for that matter. Who the fuck cares what Man U are doing or not doing. Maybe someone can enlighten me ?
It’s just general football talk on an otherwise slow news day Bard, relax.
Beats politicking.
Signing Gabriel Jesus is very interesting for the amount in fees and salary. There are several positives and also some unknown with him. Someone mentioned why didn’t Pep keep him(City signed Alvarez to replace Jesus it will seem) . I was looking at Pep’s player sales especially strikers and he sold Mandzukic, Zlatan and Eto and they left to have prolific scoring careers too though Jesus is more Laca than Auba for me. Now, this is the issue for me; under Wenger when we were calling for a decent striker we were creating loads. We knew there were lots of… Read more »
Bard
“Who the fuck cares what Man U are doing or not doing. Maybe someone can enlighten me ?”
It’s called general football talk. We don’t always want the comment section to be full of non-stop whining & trolling. Nobody complains when we have to suffer all the pro-Spud chat. Don’t like it, you don’t have to join in mate. Simple choice.
Nothing wrong with .mocking other clubs bard
No some posters talk about spurs like they are the next big thing that’s not on imo
City sold Jesus because it makes sense. He is 25 and coming into his prime years now, he was never going to be happy playing second fiddle to Haaland. Whereas Alvarez is a similar profile of player in that he offers City an alternative in style to Haaland and he will be ok with being back-up as he is not established or proven in Europe. Haaland looks a generational ST talent and you cannot let those slip through the net or worse again, to a rival like Chelsea, Pool, etc. Style-wise he is not as obvious a fit as Alvarez… Read more »
Weagle,
Maguire captain of man u makes me so happy. Suits them to a tee.
I hope they keep him there til he retires haha.
You’re right on their backline too.
I hope ten hag doesn’t rise to the occasion there.
With their shambles behind the scenes and squad wise I like our chances of that not working out for them.
Also just want to mention the article on the Arsenal website in regards to coaching for life.
This club really does make me proud to be a Gooner.
Benkind Pep did not want to sell Jesus. His comments on that are well documented. Year left and n his contract and Jesus wanted to join Arsenal. In his 99 Premier League starts for City, he has scored 53 goals and provided 23 assists, whereas in his 60 substitute appearances, he has only netted five goals and set up another six, his productivity rate markedly lower. Hence why he wants to start more game, not be used to tactically affect games. It is important to remember that Pep is a rotator with a squad full of talent. He often plays… Read more »
* He often plays with a false nine too, Jesus operating wide.
WengerEagleJune 25, 2022 11:51:22
City sold Jesus because it makes sense….
WengerEagle, I like your post and explaination. I get the player. When Jesus first got to the EPL he player differently and was very prolific that 1st season. I just wonder if playing has a false 9 / winger for a while now and switching to a striker predominately affect him. I watched a reporter on Sky say he not scoring at the world cup might have affected him mentally. So maybe Arteta can unlock his scoring instincts again.
WE
“Haaland looks a generational ST talent”
Yep.Powerful & clinical.
The oil clubs have so much money they can buy who they like. It also prevents rivals from having them and improving their teams. No way City would let him go to Liverpool at any price.
Goober, completely agree about ‘coaching for life’. Arsenal in the Community also does wonderful work.
Do feel the ‘visit Rwanda’ sponsorship should be replaced. My friends and I have joked in the past that we’ll celebrate a PL title with a victory trip to Rwanda. Now the joke’s gone stale with unsuccessful asylum seekers could be sent there. The Rwandan tourism industry has got their work cut out!
Benkind
If you look at the huge difference in numbers between his starts and substitute appearances it’s all blindingly obvious why he wanted to leave. And why Pep said he understood it.
AFC Forever, I really agree with your comment and really clarifies somethinhs. I am not against the signing and the potential of Jesus. Looking at Jesus stats on transfermarket in details, he playing as a striker and the returns are really good versus a winger. So, I hope he finds it in him that edge he had before (Coming to Arsenal might remove the pressure of playing as a Pep`s striker and might help him). Having Eddie and Jesus together at this point as our main strikers concerns me. They are very similar but Jesus is more technical of course.… Read more »
Seedy Sid, I’ve been happily married for many years. I’ll leave the sexual exploits, imagined or otherwise, to your fevered brow!
https://paininthearsenal.com/2022/06/25/arsenal-need-spend-big-money-raphinha/amp/
Can’t disagree with any of this although Lisandro remains (for me) the highest priority once Jesus is confirmed
Sid is a weird lad firmly based in the 60s with his mindset
I think most of us in agreement that if we can get both Martinez and Raphina great but if we could only get one of these targets my choice would be ‘the hybrid’ LB CM LCB.
Would make our defensive strength Top 3 quality and would mean we could sell Holding as surplus to requirements and get good money for him selling to an appreciative PL club with spare cash. It would also marginalise Xhaka to the extent that he might leave and allow Nuno T to go out on loan. Win, win, win!
Bobn16
Agree although I can’t see Gabriel appreciating a bench position and holding doesn’t make waves, rarely makes mistakes and is a hugely popular member of the staff.
If lisandro comes in then it’s Gabriel going at some point.
What a player though. I’d love to see him pinging balls from left centre back on a 6 pence for Jesus or Saka or Eddie
Cope lol
*catholicism intensifies*
Latest updates look like Jesus is a formality now and a matter of time and given we’ve increased the offer for Raphinha that is surely now highly likely to go through sooner or later As much as neither are the players I’d have been in for, both are very good. With these two our attacking setup (+vieira) is absolutely CL knockout stage good on paper. I don’t know if throwing some much money at attack means CM and LB are going to get missed this window, which is a concern. The good thing is though that with both of these… Read more »
AFC ForeverJune 25, 2022 09:19:30 “Something you need to understand is why EVERY manager has their ‘favourites’ These are what they consider to be their best players. Ask yourself why all the best players are being picked for almost every game. There is a reason Van Dijk, Rice, Kane, Hoijbjerg, Cancelo Ward-Prowse etc play 35 plus PL games. In fact the players above who played Europe were selected 48-50 times. They are in the results business, not playing Football Manager.” Hard to argue with that, but it is also hard not to believe that if there had been better rotation… Read more »
Seen similar comments and i agree and i hope this Martinez can actually defend. Again, i hope we add a body or two to that midfield because it’s so lightweight it’s scary. Viera is new Partey is only fir for half the season and with the World cup mid-season we may have him for less Xhaka will be fit but we know what we get with him and it’s not good enough El Neny is basic Lokonga needs a loan We need more than we’ve got there and please let it be an actual athlete and not another technical player… Read more »
Un, fair point about Gabriel but unless we need to balance the books by selling Gabriel rather than Holding, I’d sacrifice Holding being ‘a good bloke’ for Gabriel’s greater pace. Let’s not forget that if(!) KT gets injured then Martinez would need to cover there which would mean Holding possibly coming in if Gabriel had been sold. If he doesn’t, he’s so far down the CB pecking order that as a 26 year old you’d have thought he’d be dissatisfied with his position in the squad. Holding is not fast or agile enough to play a high line so we’d… Read more »
Assuming Jesus is final next week, then our priority should be Lisandro rather than Raphina. He will add so much more. Actually I think given his size he will not play as a LCB other than in emergencies. He will in the first instance imo be cover for both Tierney and Partey. I think it is the latter role which he is ultimately perfectly suited for. The injuries to those 2 were the main reason imo we missed out on Top 4. Buying Raphina concerns me not because I don’t think he can add to the team / squad –… Read more »
Bob
But if Lisandro nails that position then Gabriel is gone anyway. He won’t have that. So why sell good cover now when we will likely have to buy someone just like holding when Gabriel leaves?
Holding is the perfect back up option in any of 3 cb positions
The importance of Raphina depends on whether Saka signs his deal or not.
Dear Pedro, I’m very late to today’s post. But as a father of three (gender-born) girls, rest assured that I have seen it all. So, if you see this post then bear in mind my offer of counseling if you need it when the time comes. Wisdom is learning from others’ mistakes. And I have made them all. I am out of town for the summer but am generally just across the Hudson if you ever want a chat. As for our beloved AFC, they should jump on the opportunity to hire Marina Granovskaia and the woman who Maureen dumped… Read more »
If we sell Saka I’ll eat my left bollock
Pedro
PS. You are always comparing us to Liverpool. So think of a Saka sale as the possible equivalent of what they did with the money that they got from the Coutinho sale.
Always needed at least two cm’s targeted this summer. Options there are pretty shite. Also if no one sees a potential issue with targeting Raphinha and Vieira when we have Saka, ESR, Martinelli and Odegaard for 3 positions. Lot of similar types in there we’ll be stacked on the right side while the left is pretty bare. Probably end up with one or both of ESR and Martinelli seeing less game time
David Ornstein @David_Ornstein
Arsenal to intensify efforts next week to sign Raphinha from Leeds. More talks planned with 25yo’s camp & increased offer expected. Feeling among other suitors is #AFC now leading & he’s said to be open to joining them. W/ @PhilHay_@TheAthleticUK#LUFC
I’m confident Saka will sign, but not until our incomings are complete.
Posts above just help emphasise further why Raphina should be least important signing and I’d swerve at 65m. If we need cover for Saka and assuming that neither Marquinos nor Hutchinson will be quite ready (5 subs rule and Europa will tell us more on that) then go for Gakpo who is up and coming and will be a no 2 rather than a rival to Saka for RW.
If Saka goes to LW to accommodate Raphina then one of both of ESR and Martinelli will soon be pissed off on the bench. .
Arteta seems to be collecting wide players. Someone else mentioned it is like Wenger – need a goalkeeper or defender? no problem I’ll just buy another central midfielder
We should be less worried about covering partey and more worried about complimenting him We shouldn’t have average (Xhaka) with quality (Partey) We need quality and quality. It should be xhaka/el neny/lokomga fighting for the right to be Partey’s backup and rotation option If the grand plan is to depend on xhaka in the starting 11 for another season we will once again be scratching our ends at the end of next season why we find it so hard to dominate midfields. There has to come a point after several years of below par midfields where we can finally say… Read more »
If we are going to sell Saka — seriously hope not — then we need to get Marina Granovskaia in first, otherwise we will have the typical Arsenalesque value gap that undermines the reason we would sell him
China
“If xhaka is there, it isn’t. It’s really that simple.”
Xhaka is the biggest lemon that Arteta squeezes.
Arsenal trying to get Gabriel Jesus, Lisandro Martinez, and Raphinha all in ready for pre-season
Really hope we’ve got a few lined up in the departure lounge:
Nelson, Niles, Bellerin, Mari, Runarsson, Leno, Torreira, Pepe
All need to find new homes, we need to recoup at least some money, and clear up some wages
Hopefully renew the contracts of Saka, Saliba, Martinelli, Gabriel, Norton Cuffy, + Patino
If we can clear a few out, maybe we can get a central midfielder as well, and if Holding leaves, another left sided centre back
Milo BurstynJune 25, 2022 08:58:48 See Sid, this is what I don’t get…Do you have your life completely figured out?? If yes great, but fixing an entire society is not as simple as listing a few things and putting a period at the end of it. Don’t get me wrong, I find you quite amusing at times, but you are dead wrong about the war in Ukraine amd you are dead wrong about abortion and gun control, no pun(s) intended. You claim to be a god(s) fearing man, yet are fixated on genitalia and sex. Not very godly. That is… Read more »
I’ll go and pick lemons with Arteta if we sell Xhaka.
Wenger Eagle
United are now becoming the fat girl at the dance and I am all for it
That made me piss my pants 😂
May be Martinez is the Xhaka replacement, at least that’s what I am hoping for.
If Saka won’t renew we may have no choice.
Whilst Tielemans is not necessarily my first pick I’d take him alllllll day right now Come on arsenal don’t neglect the midfield for the 12 consecutive season. I honestly don’t know how the club has had such a big blind spot for so long. This dates all the way back to wenger who could build an amazing midfield but totally neglected the DM role in the second half of his tenure. We just have an addiction to capitulating on quality in midfield and I don’t know why. It’s the most important position on the pitch. Anyway maybe this is the… Read more »
Tr7. Maybe.
Maybe Vieira will play as an 8 and it’s job done with xhaka benched.
There may be something we’re not seeing here.
But I’ll believe it when I see it with my own eyes.
We’ve still got Guendouzi, Niles, Torreira on the books If we can find permanent solutions for those 3, there’s talk we’d be open to Xhaka leaving as well, with interest from Italy We’d certainly need to enter the market for a midfielder With Partey’s muscular injuries, I’d be open to letting him go as well, there’s always a chance we could get a RVP 2011/12 season out of him in terms of fitness, but at this point we’d really be rolling the dice. If we can get the players out, I certainly think we’ll do something. Tielemans at £25 million… Read more »
TR7
May be Martinez is the Xhaka replacement, at least that’s what I am hoping for.
I read this morning that it’s his favoured position. I think you’re spot on
I See Raphinha (if bought) occupying the left wing while Saka occupies the right.
Martinelli and ESR as cover for both right and left while nkethia and Jesus to be rotated for the striker’s position based on forms and tactics..
Read a report we haven’t bid for Tieleman because we have agreed personal terms with him and we feel we can get the best out of the deal before the window closes.
China
Yes, will be interesting to see how all the pieces fit in together.
Does pursuit of Rafinha have anything to do with Saka not renewing his contract?
Are Rafinha and Viera being signed as replacement for Saka and Pepe ?
If Saka stays too then at least one of Martinez and Viera moves in to central midfield. Does that mean Xhaka will be sold late in the window ?
It’s going to be interesting. I really hope both Saka and ESR are integral to Arsenal plans.
TR7,nobody’s mentioned it but I think you could be onto something there for sure.Might surprise a lot of people.
Rich – I agree and that is maybe why we’re signing Martinez. He will do the Partey role with time on his side
If we sold Partey now we might get most of our money back. If there is one thing I’ve learned as an Arsenal fan over the decades is that a crock remains a crock and it just gets worse as their injuries need longer and longer recovery periods
And if that is the case then we need to sign Hickey to cover Tierney
TR7 & Jonnygunner.Here’s hoping.🙏
Think Lisandro,should we get him.Os to replace Hacker NOT Partey.That’s a job possibly for Tielemans eventually.
I’d keep AMN unless we get a great offer for him as cover for Tomi. He is better than Cedric in that role and gives us a stop gap while we wait for Norton Cuffy to get one more loan season under his belt before he is Prem ready
A fully fit Partey is perhaps the best central midfielder in the league. In my opinion he is someone we should stick with despite his injury woes.
Northbanker.Agree.Good thinking.But Will he have the brain to see it himself?
Positive Pete
Yes, replacing Xhaka is of utmost importance, has been for the last 5 years.
It’s no coincidence we have never qualified for CL with him in our team.
Pepe, Bellerin, Leno and Mari are among the highly paid members of our squad. In case we sell all of them our wage bill will remain more or less the same even with new signings.
How did Mari become one of the highest paid then?
That sounds a bit doolally to me.
Un, don’t think we’re going to ever agree about Holding apart from that he’s a good bloke and is a very good penalty box CB. You suggest he’s ‘perfect cover’ for our other three CBs but he’s much slower than Gabriel, White and Saliba( as well as TT) so we’d have to adjust to accommodate him. It’s recent I know, but it’s hard to forget his playing a high line against Son!
Mari is on 75K which makes him one of higher paid players (top 10)
It’s both a good thing and a bad thing but none of us really knows what the club is thinking this summer
The positive side is there can be some good surprises.
The negative side is we aren’t really sure if some of our biggest weaknesses are actually being addressed
I’m not really sure we’ll have answer to these questions until the window closes tbh
Mari was a failed player in europe or at least didn’t hit the heights previously had to go to Brazil to resurrect his career and with respect a player of his age that has to go to South America to re-invent is a red flag in itself and then Arsenal decide to put him on a very handsome wage.
Mari was a nothing signing but if what we are being told is true regarding his wage at Arsenal not only was it a nothing signing it was a very silly one as well.
Mari though he shouldn’t have been signed at all should have been recruited in the squad player bracket and the wage offered to him by Arsenal should have reflected that.
Saka on merely 25K right now. We can easily increase his salary by 500 percent given Pepe who contributes little in comparison earns 140K and should be offloaded. Pepe signing a complete failure from financial point of view.
I get the feeling that the Mari signing was seeing a few back handers going on.
As for Pepe well that was down to the ridiculous Spanish vacuum salesman we had in charge for a period.
Edu shady in that Mari deal.
Bob
By “perfect cover” I mean that he’s a high quality back up who’s happy to be back up but still offer professional performances and give his all.
Gabriel won’t and one of Ben White or Saliba will be gone within 24 months too.
We aren’t city, we aren’t offering 25 games per year and chance for the medals. We won’t get the likes of stones happy to play second fiddle to the best big £50m centre half
If Lisandro comes in at lcb then 2 of Saliba white and Gabriel will leave within 2 years
Well done USA for at least offering states the option to ban abortion. I hope European countries will follow. Killing the innocent is wrong and nobody has the right to do that.
And tighter gun laws on law abiding citizens won’t stop crime. Let’s see a zero tolerance policy towards criminals with unlicensed guns. Severe mandatory prison time for offenders with illegal weapons. Doing something about the poverty and the mental health issue would be useful too. Pretending that you can write laws to fix social problems is not politics. It is performance art to appease the gullible.
Un, just wonder if Holding is happy to be a back up. He’s obviously a great pro, just like Elneny and I understand your argument about having the mentality to accept a squad role. I think Holding has two years left on his contract and I guess if he lets it run down, he’ll still only be 28 on a free, so he should have decent offers. I just think we’ve got to get better at selling and Holding might generate some good money.
Gooner Dave, I’m not sure your post is on the right forum
As far as I am concerned neither White nor Gabriel is necessarily a better centre back than Holding.
It’s crystal clear the way the club are trying to evolve this squad. Ball playing defenders, who read the game well, and have the athleticism to cover the space in behind Full backs with the technical quality of central midfielders, as they’ll mainly be playing as left/right defensive midfielders in possession, who’s jobs will be to win the ball back in the first phase of play, and then progress the ball back into the final third directly A keeper who’s decent with the ball at his feet, Ramsdale isn’t Alisson or Ederson, but he’s still got a decent range. Forwards… Read more »
Most teams – inc the best – have at least one Xhaka-type player, one more noted for his manly virtues – courage, stamina, leadership, etc – rather than the finer points of the game. Sadly, for him, he has been at an Arsenal that had a dilettante as the main man. With Ozil gone, Xhaka improved, with Partey alongside he improved more, and with, say, Lisandro’s arrival, he will get even better – and rarer. Some on here still whine about missing out on 5th place. But after a blank Jan window, the squad should be applauded for making 5th.… Read more »
Englandsbest
“Most teams – inc the best – have at least one Xhaka-type player, one more noted for his manly virtues – courage, stamina, leadership, etc”
Load of all nonsense though isn’t it apart from perhaps the stamina angle.
As plenty have noted his leadership and courage can be seen as a little plastic and sketchy.
This was a player that was shutting his eyes when going into challenges in the past.
We have a Xhaka enabler along with Arteta.
Stare in bewilderment.
The 3 English Saka
ESR
Nketiah
The 3 Brazilians. Jesus
Raphina
Martenelli
There’s some quality there
F**K Fiorentino. We should bring Torreira back, he is a fine footballer.
Xhaka is such a weird one. Almost all Arsenal fans wants him replaced, yet it seems every coach wants to keep him. The fans hate him the coaches love him. Surely if a guy isn’t liked much by those that the games are for in the first place(fans), then he should leave. It shouldn’t matter if he’s liked by a coach, if the fans would rather see him leave. How can a guy be that divisive ? Also his position is our biggest, longest and most obvious weakness position yet it’s looking like we are going to ignore fixing this… Read more »
If we get Jesus + Raphinha?… We’ll have 7 players who should all be getting “at least” 10 goals each next season Jesus, Nketiah, Saka, Raphinha, Martinelli, Smith Rowe, Odegaard I know little about Vieira, he’s got less than 3,000 minutes experience, we very likely will need to develop him physically, tactically + positionally, but he looks like a brilliant technician, with plenty of end product in his locker If we got Tielemans as well, he’s certainly good for a few goals That would be such a healthy position to be in, I’d fancy us for a 50% uptick in… Read more »
“Xhaka is the biggest lemon that Arteta squeezes”
Hahaha ishola don’t know why that made me laugh as much as it did
Ironically Xhaka’s replacement Tielemans is the cheapest 25-30 million and most easily accessible of all our targets yet we are saving the most important position for last.
Imagine getting tielemans for less than we paid for xhaka .
“Ironically Xhaka’s replacement Tielemans is the cheapest 25-30 million and most easily accessible of all our targets yet we are saving the most important position for last.”
Read we are yet to bid for him because we have agreed personal terms with him and the deal can wait till late in the window when we have gotten all we needed.
Can’t really say if it’s true or not but nothing is a given during transfers and the earlier we move the better
And I’m with tr7 and a few others, if Martinez comes in I feel he’ll be pushing xhaka out of the starting 11. At least hopefully as the season progresses and he gets used to the league. I’d be all for that. Obviously a very defensive mind, unlike xhaka. can turn on a dime unlike xhaka But can make the same direct long balls like xhaka. I’d say that’s a massive upgrade for that spot. And then we may see Viera or Martinez play in xhakas place depending on how we are shaping up. I am very much liking the… Read more »
“Imagine getting tielemans for less than we paid for xhaka ”
.
Not comparable in terms of the timing, year and the circumstances surrounding it.
Tieleman is going for the said figure because of the years remaining on his contract and Leicester underperformed last season.
For all the Xhaka takes, I don’t see Tieleman benching him if he(Xhaka) is still around.
That guy’s got seven lives.
On Gabriel mags, I think I’m one of a small few who actual rates him. I definitely agree he needs to work on his temperament. A bit too hot headed and needs to get the hell away from the ref. He’s young enough, and Arteta stern enough, that they can both hopefully train it out of him. Can definitely be a bit rash in the challenge but generally he’s great at winning the ball. But I think he is improving well. Artetas defensive tactics I do rate. But yeah for me he’s a beast. Absolutely loves to defend. He seems… Read more »
He had a bit of a bad spell next to Tavares a few times, but hopefully we can see a settled and consistent backline this season and watch our young guns prove that they deserve to be here.
Tee,
That’s what I’m worried about 😂 we either don’t buy in cm because of xhaka, or xhaka doesn’t get dropped even if we bought someone haha
I’m so glad to have some European football back though.
So many more minutes for the squad. Can only be a positive
Also Tee I do understand the nuances of the transfers.
Just a laugh