Congratulations to KSE on ANOTHER big trophy. Hot off of winning the Lacrosse Cup of the Universe, the Super Ball in LA, they’re now Puck Champions of the world.
KSE are winners.
I love that one day, they all had Christmas lunch and Josh – hungover to shit – said, ‘guys, winning trophies in sport could be fun, what do you say?’
And they all said yes.
The pace of signings kicked up.
Matty Turner has landed. The best keeper in MLS. America’s number 1. Some even say he ‘might’ be the best player in the league. We picked him up for peanuts as well.
I think this is a good move. Aaron Ramsdale needs competition like any other keeper. He was shaky at times last season. Bernd Leno was never getting back into the mixer after some of his meek keeping at Brentford. I’ve done some research on this player and I like what I see… I saw someone pulled together a comp of his passing, he can do bold things, he’s not afraid to break the lines, he’s nowhere near as nuts as Ramsdale, but he’s more than capable of taking big decisions to break a press.
American fans are bothered that he’s their best keeper and he’s coming to sit on the bench. I suspect there must have been a chat about the World Cup. No doubt for me that he’s getting the domestic cups and the Europa League this season. That should be enough to develop him and keep him sharp for the WC.
Anyway, more interesting than Fraser Forster.
The news on other signings gets better, we’re going big, no one can stop us, the club like the coach and they want to give him the things he needs so he doesn’t whine.
Dembele is apparently going to stay at Barcelona on a hideous contract they can’t afford. Which means Raphinha’s door to Barca looks like it’s shutting, which makes things a little easier for Arsenal to move on the Brazilian. There’s also hot chatter that Antonio Conte is going to put his money down on Richarlison, a player that is a real pain in the arse when things aren’t going for him apparently, so I’m quite pleased about that.
The big journos reckon £50m should do the job for Raph, then we just have to hope Edu whispers Portuguese sweet nothings in his ear.
The Dutch media reckon we have gone back in for Lisandro Martinez, this time with a bid closer to £35m. It’s a lot of cash, but not when you consider all the positions he can play, and the reality that he’s probably going to play more than half our games next season.
I can’t imagine we’re exiting the transfer window without a serious upgrade to our midfield. Tielemans has everything we need, but there are rumblings we’re looking to France at Cheick Doucoure for £30m. He’s playing at Lens, he seems to be a bit more of an all-action box to box than Tielemans, but he also has a bit of flair about his passing. I think Premier League fans would feel a lot better having a midfielder like that in the mixer next season. Obviously, there’s a lot of risk buying from Ligue 1, Soumare tanked big time at Leicester, and Tielemans has already done it in the league… so who knows.
What can’t be denied here is that Arsenal are building hard for a title challenge in 2 seasons’ time. The investment has been immense and shocking if I’m totally honest. This is going to be the most WOW transfer window in 30 years. Yep, I am gonna go out on a limb and say this is as wild as the one in which we signed Sol Campbell… if all the pieces fall in the right place.
Right, short one today, get on our latest podcast.
WengerEagle
The Raphinha links as always been suspect haha. Are we signing him because Saka has refused to sign ? Like you said there a couple more wingers in the league better than him that won’t cost 65 million.
Then there are guys like Gnabry, Gakpo, Sterling all players that 65 million can get, yet Raphina is the one we are linked with. It better not be Pepe 2.0.
Orny reported that we bid for Raphinha. It’s similar to how people couldn’t believe we were bidding for Ramsdale, until our like 3rd offer was accepted. If Ornstein reports it, it’s almost certainly true.
If the guaranteed money is around or under 60m then I don’t see better wide player than we could realistically get. Ajax want £70m for Antony for comparison.
WengerEagle
Honestly Raphinha is as good as we can get. Apart from may be Gnabry there aren’t a lot of better wingers. He isn’t just an attacking threat, He also defends. The number of sprints he made last season was enormous. I can’t name 5 players better than him that we can realistically get. The fee is big but just like Jesus, he is a top player. I think the fee will be around £55 mil plus addons if you go by the rumors.
Rap
Wasn’t Ornstein also the one that had Lemar as a done deal? He’s good but he’s not infallible and occasionally is wide of the mark.
Raphinha openly prefers Barca as per Deco his agent and £65m is silly money considering the state of play in our CM.
New post.
Habesha
If you are shelling £65m out for a wideman then first and foremost you are looking at his attacking production. And Raphinha’s this season was fairly ordinary if we are honest.
Excluding pens he scored 7 and assisted 3 in 35 PL apps. Those are not £65m numbers I don’t care how many sprints he does or tackles he makes.
He was quite a bit better in his first season but even then he scored 6 and assisted 9. Those are anything but mind-blowing numbers. Saka at age 20 is already considerably more productive.
Pepe already has 20 more GA in less starts for arsenal than Raphinha had for Leeds