Apologies for the delay, but I am now with child, the heir to the Le Grove thrown has been born, and she shall inherit it all.
Before I crack into the post, wow, women are awesome. It’s been a rough year, but the circle of life truly is something special. Even more special that she decided to be born during the off-season. x
OK, let’s talk some soccerball.
We beat Everton.
It was a very preseason-ish friendly. Some sharp reminders of what you missed last season, some big ol’ kippers to the face when you realise how low we were, and how naive some of our hopes were (mine), and to cap it all off, a result that means next to nothing.
There were some areas of the game that I really liked.
Firstly, Gabriel Jesus really is a stark reminder that playing with forwards that can’t do it physically in this league is going to cost you 10 points. What I love about Jesus is he has all the build-up play and work-rate of Lacazette, he has finishing potential that will hopefully move closer to where Auba is, and he has the system understanding that no striker we’ve had over the past 2.5 years has been able to offer. He’s a very intelligent player schooled at the MIT of football.
Mikel Arteta called him ‘chaos’ and that is a leading comment. Chaos, until The OG Lord Of Chaos Nuno Tavares landed in the side, was not really something you would associate with Arsenal. What were we? Very structured, extremely organized, generally very difficult to beat… but there was nothing particularly unexpected about the way we played. No bang-bang, to joga bonito, very little of the stuff that made peak-Wengerball special. I think the manager recognized that and if you asked him he he thought being overstructured impacted us, he might say our inability to come back in games. I think we did it once, against Wolves, when THE AOP Podcast was at the ground.
To my mind, Arsenal are making a move on chaos this window. We are signing players that unlock doors with wild imagination, we are targeting players with power, pace, and explosiveness up front. We’re trying to bolster our weaknesses to give us more in the final third. Zinchenko means we don’t have to drop a midfielder into left-back to start play. Two inverted fullbacks means our #8 can roam into more advanced positions without exposing the team (Xhaka was doing that more at the end of last season and he did it against Everton). Having 5 players in the final third that can run, pass, control, and finish means we’re going to be a nightmare to play against.
Think about how balanced this squad will be.
You won’t be able to press us because we can move the ball around at speed with precision.
You won’t be able to play a high line because every single one of our defenders is a longball specialist and all of our attackers will be electric.
You won’t be able to sit back because we’ll pick locks and finish.
You will struggle to chase games because every player in our team can keep the ball.
If we add a Tielemans and a Leroy Sane to the mixer, what weakness do we have outside lacking experience?
I don’t see one.
Back to the game. Bill Saliba made his debut and he showed a lot of composure. What I liked about his afternoon was the maturity to not overplay. There’s a lot hype around the player. There’s a group of Arsenal fans that truly believe they discovered he was good and they are propping him up for every 6 yard pass. Saliba looks like he should be the best defender in the world and the strengths of his game mean he’s very friendly for a Youtube generation of scouts. He’s dominant, fast, he’s brave, and he looks like a superstar. What I do worry about is Oziltologist like hype that is surrounding him. It is going to be tough for him next year, let’s give him chance before we crown him the new VVD. I’m excited regardless, the fact he can drop in as a right back or a centre back and look comfortable in both positions gives me a lot of hope for the variety that we’ll have tactically next season.
Talking of a young kid and hype. Reuell Walters has dropped out of nowhere and seems to be drawing quite a bit of love from Mikel Arteta. He has all the elements we’re looking for, he has bundles of pace, height, sound technical ability, and he looks very comfortable on the pitch with the seniors. He should look for a loan this season like BNC did. But again, the quality of players coming from the academy is exceptional, even if we did pinch this one from Spurs.
There were some horrorshows. Hector just ain’t it these days. I love the man, I love what he was as a player, but he doesn’t have what we need at this level. Ainsley is in a similar boat. He has the technical level, he could be an elite back-up right back, but he doesn’t have the concentration for a centre mid and that is what he wants.
Eddie Nketiah had a solid game. He looked fit, he made great runs, he moved with the ball really well, and he gave a lot to the team. It was good to see Big Gabriel back in defence again, he’s said no to Juve apparently, so that’s that. I also thought Matt Turner looked a little more settled, it looked like he made a hash of a long looped ball, but I think that was a bit of a freak, and he saved it, so it doesn’t matter. He’s better with the ball at his feet than I think we give credit for.
Only other concern of the day was Ben White, Tomi, KT, and Vieira are doubts at the moment. Ben White is made of the same stuff Xhaka is, so I’m not worried about him… but the fullbacks are a big concern. They are too important to the team to be perma-crocks. Let’s hope we get the back-ups sorted or they get fit and stay fit.
Final piece: Zinchenko to Arsenal looks very likely at £30m. That’s a steal. There has been a bit of debate about where he should play. Arsenal fans are galaxy-braining this deal if they think he’s been signed as a midfielder.
Now, I was wrong about the Tall Boy Summer. It turned out to be Short Kings. So I accept that I might be wrong again. But this is an opinion blog, not a I HAVE TO BE RIGHT blog even though my hit rate is like, 99.9%.
Anyway, this deal is Occam’s Razor for me.
The simplest explanation is probably the right one. If the best manager in the world, who mentored our coach, thought he was a left back, and won titles with him there, then safe to say, he’s probably a left-back.
We are very specifically profiling a left-back that can build play. Zinchenko does that. That style of player is always going to be able to flex into a midfield role. Hence Martinez being a target. But just because you can play there doesn’t mean you will. Two things lead me to this conclusion:
- Arsenal fans struggle to grasp that their opinion of Granit Xhaka isn’t the one they carry at the club. He’s not seen as a problem. No one will call it a failure if this window ends and he’s still here. The player, for the clumsy faults, looks very good in our midfield when he’s next to Partey. He’s brave, hardworking, and he’s a leader. He’s the least of our problems. When we do replace him, I expect it to be a specialist, not an experiment.
- Zinchenko was immense in midfield against Scotland playing for Ukraine. The performance was outrageous. But you’ll find outrageous performances from Thomas Partey as a #10 for Ghana. The international game is different.
- In the Arteta system, the fullback inverts into midfield anyway. No reason to think he’s moving here for any other reason than he wants more than 1200 Premier League minutes a season.
If all of the above is wrong, I’ll delete it, and deny I ever wrote it under questioning.
Oh, maybe I do have two more things?
Lisandro Martinez, to United, for near £60m. Our starting bid? £30m. Do you REALLY think a negotiating team that doubled the value of a 5ft9 centre back in the space of two weeks looked at Steven Bergwijn at Spurs and said, fuck it, shall we just pay the same fee they bought him for because why the f*ck not? Of course they didn’t. Football fans really do believe anything they’re fed.
But, back to Martinez. It’ll be interesting to see if his tremendous heading ability translates into the Premier League. To my mind, at a certain level of competition, you are going to come up against physical barriers. Thomas Vermaelen famously had a tremendous leap at Ajax, but he was poor from setplays in the Premier League. The counter is Ben White, 2 inches taller, has been very good in the air. I’ll be keeping my eye on this. Arteta has gone out of his way to make sure his defenders are tall, it’ll be interesting to see how Ten Hag makes Martinez work.
Anyway, banter aside, they’ve got a top player there… but I’m happier with Zinchenko because we know what he’s about and he’s a total winner.
Right, jump in on our Patreon Podcast. It’s one of the best we’ve done behind a paywall. Check it out. Sign up. The new season is nearly with us and we’ll be putting a lot of good stuff there.
That’s me done. xx
P.S. New shirt is a bit tasty, right?
Yep I just saw that.. Hopefully the Arsenal v Chelsea match is on the Espn+ as well. .. so I get a 2 for 1 special.
Freddie
I think the player after Zinchenko will be a marquee signing that will blow the roof off.
Delighted to get zinchenko top top buy for us all we need is tielmans and we are set
Diss
Hope it’s an SMS rather than a Sane then, we’re ok on the winges for now, Saka is a superstar and Martinelli is about to break out this season, ESR great backup to both of them and we have other good options there as well. CM we have Partey and then nothing.
Would be so nice going into a season for the first time in ages without an obvious hole in the first xi.
He has agreed terms and medical is tomorrow he should be free to play on Saturday
Paqueta deal still could happen too Lyon want 34m euros for him 27m pounds
Paqueta for me would be the deal.. complete the Samba attack. That seems like a decent price to be honest.
Top player midi and can defend as well as attack we would be an exciting team if he is the final piece
And I was told you CAN’T sign 2 players from same club guess we all learn something in the dog days of summer.
Haha Sal can you imagine if you lived your life but what you learn on Le Grove.. ?
Squad’s certainly starting to shape up nicely.
If we get Zinchenko over the line, to add to Jesus + Vieira + Saliba, it would strengthen us significantly
Hopefully we can get the exit door revolving, and get 2-3 more signings, we also need to renew a few contracts.
Diss, what position do you think we’ll go for a marquee signing?
Congratulations and good luck on the future.
We would all be muscular cunts for one thing.
Paqueta would be a great signing. Especially at the reported fee, would leave us very dependent on Partey to boss midield though if we’re going with 2 attacking 8s in Paqueta and Ode.
If he’s out it’s back to a double pivot and Xhaka in the mix.
Oh well, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Rich it’s gonna be paqueta or tielmans I think
let it be sane pls LOL
Guns
Sane in and Martinelli out, or Savic in and Xhaka out? Not a hard choice imo.
We’ll see what happens, this window is looking very good so far though.
I would rather a xhaka replacement over a martinelli one for sure
Middy
Haha it’s something to behold the knowledge gleamed or ungleamed in this space, muscular cunts to the core baby.
More window unfolds definite argument to made for Arteta wanting to play with 2x 8s in the mid between Ø, ESR, Vieira and potential new entry.
Marti…… Jesus…. … Saka
Paqueta/ Vieira.. …. Ode/Esr
Partey
Zin…… Gabs…. Saliba…. TT
…………..Rammer
Now that looks like a team to me that could do some damage and still not give up too many goals.
Mid
That’s a mean looking team, with great backups in every position except RB (that can be accomodated for by moving White out there when needed) and DM, just have to hope Sambi can step it up quicker than we think.
Martinelli will kick on again this season, fancy him for 15 goals in all comps, that would be steady progress, and good numbers for a 21yr old.
I don’t see us disrupting the left side, we won’t block off Martinelli or Smith Rowe, I’d be surprised if we put either players nose out of joint.
___Ram_____
TT__Sal–Gab__Zin
Vieira –TP –Saka
Sane -Jesus -Martin
Shit man look at the all out attack
Un,
Same instincts on Saliba… just hope we’re wrong.
Warmest congratulations, Pedro.
I now expect to receive my Le Grove blog at 3 in the morning, when you are up changing nappies!
Pedro
Huge congratulations on the birth of your daughter . Treaure a special day
I don’t agree with you about Zinchenko. He hasn’t come to understudy anyone and if Tierney was going to be back up we would have sold himmand bought Hickey. He will play as a left 8:I’d sell Xhaka and bring in Milinkivic – Savic.
Guess we will find out.. Hopefully we are not done yet.. Of course it all looks good on paper…… this transfer window is kind of rare though that when there is media smoke… there may be actual fire and we land our target. Usually it’s just all bullcrap or complete silence.
And congratulations to Pedro on the kid and Bob on the grandkid!
Cracking XI mid imagine if Kroenke’s go madness on their new found titles and go hard on another attacker for flanks to add competition and depth. The links keep coming.
Sal –
Yep.. move Pepe out and another winger in on top of another cm and we have done the full business. Maybe the Kreonke’s really do have title fever.. hard to imagine about 6 years ago when the sum of our business was Petr Cech.
We were trying to sign both Martinez + Raphinha
I think Raphinha was seen as more of an excellent opportunity on the market, and we tried to steal a march on Barcelona.
We need exits, but trying to sign Raphinha, suggests the club at least have the intention to do something else.
In fairness to Kroenke, would put the summer of Cech down to Wenger and him alone, he was really losing his way by then and caught in a spiral of stubbornness .
A shame , weng could and should have been a title hero one last time that season
Paqueta and Tielimans in sell Xhaka to Roma.
That’s the dream window!
Cech solo had to be Wenger going galaxy and giving himself the challenge.
“You’ll see i’ll bring in just a keeper and still hit ze target of top four, LG will be talking about it forever”.
TBF hit it but imagine if he went a bit deeper with Leicester winning that season… some things we will never know.
‘ He’s brave, hardworking, and he’s a leader. He’s the least of our problems’ He’s the least of our problems except that he’s the worst player in our starting 11 lol ——-Ramsdale Tomi-white-Gab-Zinchenko ——partey—-xhaka Saka——Ode——Martinelli —————Jesus How can the worst player in the starting 11 be the least of our problems? Literally stop and think about how silly that is Pedro lol You’ve had to qualify him as looking ok when next to partey – because you’re not confident he looks great without our best midfielder to hold his hand. Nobody says ‘saka looks good when he plays with ESR’… Read more »
Literally 80% of premiership footballers could be described as brave and hardworking.
Oh how the bar has fallen to be impressed by a player. Tho we all know you’re only saying this because you know the possibility is real that we’re not upgrading on our poor midfield for the umpteenth season in a row and what to manage expectations.
Regardless of all the above, contrast on the babber btw Pedro. May she be a true gooner!
Congrats*
Still harsh on Xhaka. Typical. Did you see his hand in hand post with Partey. That’s support, leadership. I want to replace him in midfield, but I would want him on my side in a barfight. And no,, he’s not as bad a player as most of you portray, but many of you have literally said you hate, despise him for a past action. Actual quotes. When I say here that his teammates respect and like him, and all his managers rate him…. nobody here ever refutes that or has any intelligent response. The unintelligent response to those facts by… Read more »
Congratulations Pedro!
Don’t honestly know where you find the time for everything that you do, but sleep may now be your most precious commodity.
Best wishes to you and your partner and enjoy every minute with your little one.
welp. looks like i’m eating my talk on the kroenke family’s stinginess. not shedding any tears over that. saw that seb haller left dortmund pre season w a testicular tumor diagnosed. now THAT is shit luck. still hoping for another cm and attacker, si that where we’ve all agreed? this window is insane, but might have been expected as the aformentioned kroenke family have been raking it in over the past few years, they were on all of those ‘look how much these billionaires have profited from the pandemic’ lists so good to see that money put into afc if… Read more »
Congrats on the baby girl Pedro. Enjoy the fatherhood and it’s surely going.to change you in more ways than one. All the very best and take care mate. Hope the mom and baby are doing good.
Thank you for all the kind messages on the baby, she was not named Mikaela Raptora, but that did make me lol xx
Zinchenko is not joining Arsenal to sit on Arsenal bench having grown frustrated with not playing regularly at City. He will play mostly in central midfield I reckon, his preferred position.
Congrats on the baby girl Pedro !! Beautiful phase in your life about to commence.
_____Ram_____
TT—Sal__Gab__KT
—–TP—-Zin___
Saka__Vieira___Martin
______Jesus______
Zin in the CM role
Right on pete. Best wishes
wassup big dadddy boy!
Tr7
Think zinch is headed to LB. Least i hope so, KT aint gonna play more than 10-15 games-hopefully now he gets enough rest to actually fix his body. Rumors lyon have dropped paquetas fee which indicates the obvious
Congratulations Pedro and Mother.
Congrats Pedro from dad and me.
TR7, thanks mate!
Think Zinchenko is going to bench KT.
Or he might start in the double pivot
you guys don’t think we’re headed for a 433 or a galaxy brain style setup w 3 CBs, still 4231?!
agree w pete, altho KT kinda benches himself at this point
One more midfield signing and it’s pretty much the squad goes into the season in decent shape. Ben White would be ny cover for rb Tomiyasu failing that Bellerin if we don’t get a respectable offer for him keep him let him go on a Boman next season. Most seem very happy with getting Jesus and Zinchenko from City both 25 for a combined 75m negatives viewed as squad memebers at City. Well Ederson, Cancelo, Walker,Rodri, KDB,Silva and now Haaland apart pretty much every other City player are viewed as squad ones. They are all rotated including Foden, GundogenStones,Laporte,Grealish, Mahrez… Read more »
Congratulations 🥳 🥰 hope mummy and baby are going well
We need Tierney fit, he’s a much better player than he gets credit for.
We need to get at least 20-25 games out of Tierney in all comps, Zinchenko can’t play 60 games for us, + internationals
If we want to be successful, then we need 2 quality players in each position, and we need a strong bench.
If we end up playing Zinchenko 3 x a week consistently, we’ll end up buckling him as well, then we’ll have 2 injury prone left backs
We should use the fringe (inexperienced ) players in Europa, depending on the draw. I am
talking AMN Patino Nuno and Reuell Walters. Can’t wait for the Chelsea game next weekend !!
Pacqueta is a very good player; defo a case of myopia from AC Milan
Surely we’re at a point where we need to raise capital before we splash 40m of Pacqueta?!?!
Gratz to thee Peds
FYI, I can attest that girls stay cute to their dads for a long long time.
Rich
Absolutely right. We need not just abled bodies, but those bodies need to be abled players.
Both Zith and Tierny tick the requisite boxes.
Welcome to fatherhood Pedro, it’s a total game changer.
Good to start with a girl. Took us 6 attempts to get one of those.
Congratulazioni per il nuovo bambino Pedro.
Wishing you guys all the absolute best
One thing is increasingly evident and that is the growing gulf between spending power and
strength of the top six clubs and potential addition of Newcastle in the EPL.
I think that it will become difficult for any other clubs to compete next season as has been the case in previous seasons.
Also I think that the gulf between Liverpool and the other clubs in the frame will close this
season.
Congrats on your daughter’s safe arrival
…her arrival in the off season may have more to do with you over-celebrating Lacazette’s late equaliser against Palace — or our 3-1 win over Villa — last October 🙂
enjoy
Oh boy, a little girl. My love to all concerned.
Congrats peds.A beautiful baby goonerette!If the price for Paqueta is now a £24/27 million it’s a no brainier.Add Tielemans to the mix & we’re laughing 😆..
So nice to see the Le Grove fam le growing <3
Congratulations Pedro, on the new addition to your family!
Please get Paqueta over the line.
I think we need someone who can replace Partey when he is injured. Last season Partey’s absence cost us top 4. Not sure whether Paqueta can replace Partey, looks more of an attacking player than a traditional CDM. Even Tielemans doesn’t fit the profile of midfielder we need.
TR7
Why not both? Didn’t Bruno Guimares prove what we were missing last season? Goal scoring midfielder. And not bad defensively also.
Dear Pedro – many congratulations to you and Mrs Le Grove. Wishing you and your daughter every happiness 😊
Samesong
Unlikely we go for both unless we offload/loan both Xhaka and Lokonga.
All these talk of Paqueta when we just bought Fabio Vierra
Vierra was brought in to play as a central midfielder who can be effective against deep blocks.
He’s energetic and can find a pass to open up games. We just spent £34 million.
Paqueta ain’t coming. He’s just newspaper talk
Pedro
Congratulations to you and your partner/wife on your little baby girl. Hope you are all doing well.
I imagine you are both buzzing right now, it’s an emotional thing bringing someone into the World. I still remember my kids being born like it was yesterday and not 30 odd years ago. Still brings tears to my eyes. Best feeling in the world.
TR7 “I think we need someone who can replace Partey when he is injured. Last season Partey’s absence cost us top 4” It was a big loss especially when you consider the difference in points per game with him in the team. If he had stayed fit we would have finished third based on the ppg. Missing a third of the season is massive, there are 36 points to play for. It does concern me because from a team perspective he has massive influence on those around him. We just have to hope he is going to be able to… Read more »
Congrats Pedro, all the best for you and your family.
If zinchenko signs I would say we had a pretty decent summer and need to start moving on players before we can add more. A CM and winger would do but don’t see it happening unless we offload the likes of pepe and Xhaka
Pedro I hope the mum is well
In these times we have so much excitement for the baby but hope her mum is doing well too. Mums are the best
Nigel no one refutes that his team mates like him and managers like him because nobody thinks that’s justification enough for him to be a starter at a club of this size It’s like when people trot out the ‘he’s professional. First one tk training line’. All true. Very good. Can the players on the pitch, when the going gets tough, look to him to light the way and dig them out of trouble either by inspiring them or stepping up with exceptional quality – and do so regularly? If the answer is no, it doesn’t mean much. El neny… Read more »
Diss Depends if we plan on permanently moving away from a double pivot in midfield?… When you look at the profile of defenders we’re signing, it would strongly suggest we are. We bypass the midfield by going directly into the final third, by pushing our defenders high, and ensuring they have the technical quality to keep us there, and the physical qualities not to leave us defensively vulnerable. If we’re going to be playing consistently with 2 No8s, and develop a consistent style of play, then we’ll need 4 players who can operate at a high level in that role.… Read more »
Arsenal play football. We don’t do bar fights. If the justification for liking him if what he’d do in a bar rather than what he does on a football pitch that I dunno how to break it down how badly skewed that opinion is
I think Tielemans is the most sensible choice. He has been playing in the PL for years and he wants a step up. And he is very much capable of that. Paqueta is untested at CM and we wouldn’t exactly know what we are getting. His numbers for pressure, defensive actions and passing is very good though and that tells me he can be a CM if given the opportunity. I don’t care who it is between the two though as long as there is a clear upgrade on Xhaka. We can’t be stupid enough to go with him again… Read more »
China1 Respectfully], I think you’re deluding yourself intentionally if you don’t realize by now that Xhaka is central to whatever Arteta is trying to do at Arsenal. The manager has stopped him from leaving twice. He obviously values him as a team leader and professional. Xhaka is the one that channels Arteta. He’s also respected by his team mates. Whatever you think of him, how much loathing you have of him does not matter It’s not about what the fans think in this particular instance. Xhaka is the manager’s prerogative player. He’s the one you have to look past for… Read more »
Many congratulations Pedro!
May your daughter bring you many happy drawings of how she loves her parents, but especially her daddy… and then the Arsenal.
Then when she hits her teenage years she’ll probably start supporting Spurs but don’t worry… it’s just a phase.
My lad started his football journey supporting Man Utd after Van Persie left for them but then watching Auba’s Arsenal beat Chelsea to win the FA Cup brought him to his senses.
If we were planning in signing Tiellesman, we would have done it by now.
Leicester are not going to be bullied, they’ve seen us spend above market rate for the city players so the idea that they will fold over is not plausible.
Arsenal know everything about Tiellesman, … and yet they tarry. There has to be a reason for that..
You’re wasting your time trying to use logic China. Nigel comes on here shouting into the ether about haters and losers if anyone expresses an opinion remotely crirical of anything related to Arsenal but yet it’s ok for him to “hate” on Saliba, not because he actually knows him personally or anything, it’s more that he just has a feeling in his piss that he’s “arrogant”. Of course in reality if Pedro hadn’t regularly mentioned Saliba Ultras in a condecending tone, Nigel wouldn’t hear a bad word said about him.
Diss Very simple reason, we’re massively overstocked in midfield: Partey, Elneny, Torreira Xhaka, Sambi, Niles Odegaard, Vieira Every time we sign a midfielder, without selling one first, we further decrease our already weak selling position. Tielemans is into the last year of his contract, maybe they’re gambling that someone will pay what they’re asking, and they might be right. But the closer they get to Sept 1st, with no intention from Tieleman’s to extend, the more edgy they’re going to get, they’re not in a financial position to see him walk away for free next summer. I don’t know if… Read more »
Personally, I think Eddie should start.
Arteta needs to learn from his mistakes , and he even admitted that his big mistake last season was to leave Eddie on the bench ..
It shouldn’t be a choice between Jesus and Eddie, they both should start.
I believe they could build a fantastic on field partnership if given the chance by Arteta.
I just hope next april we are not hearing the same regret from Arteta for failing to recognise what Eddie can bring to the team
Rich ‘ But the closer they get to Sept 1st, with no intention from Tieleman’s to extend, the more edgy they’re going to get, they’re not in a financial position to see him walk away for free next summer.’ Yes but that brinksmanship works both ways.. Arsenal will also be desperate at the last minute and other suitors will show up, like you said it’s a clearance sale. It’s obvious that Arsenal can do a deal on the quick; we’ve seen it with the Vierra and Zinchenko deals. I think Tiellesman isn’t the type of midfie they are seeking. Reportedly… Read more »
Dissenter
I think Tielemans is the backup choice to whoever we are targeting. The Paqueta rumor has legs. And I think we will try to sign Paqueta and if we can’t we will go back to Tielemans and sign him for the asking price of around 30 mil. Leicester haven’t got a lot of bargaining power. Surprisingly, there aren’t multiple teams trying to sign him besides being in his last year. That will give us and may be United (if they don’t land De jong) the edge in negotiations.
Spence to Spurs,a great signing for them. He ran us ragged when we played Forest.
I think in case we really want to sign Tielemans then we better pay up £25M and integrate him with the squad as soon as possible. It’s very important for a midfield player to get used to playing styles of those around him.
I think Toerrera, Lokonga and Niles will definitely have suitors for loan deals if not for permanent sale. So, we need not hold up Tielemans signing if Arteta really wants him.
Fuck spurs
On another note we are full as a squad at the moment until we sell a non HG player we won’t be able to buy another
Congratulations on the birth of you baby daughter! Happy days!!!
Congrats Pedro! I’m in tears as I lost mine 3 days after birth. Hope mum is doing great. We’re where we are because of indecision with regards to certain players. AMN should have been sold when Wolves made that £20m bid for him. I’ve never been convinced with his play. ESR, I’m sorry to say should never be a player to pin our hope on. Personally would have taken the £30m Villa offered (if we could get more from them) for him, gone to the market and upgraded the team. It’s sad but truth be told, he’s never going to… Read more »
TR7
The issue we’ve got is that Bellerin, Torreira, Niles, Leno, Nelson
Are all into the last 12 months of their contracts, unless we can strike up demand, and start off a bidding war
Then Arsenal are going to start getting edgy pretty soon.
The sooner we resolve the futures of those players, the sooner we’ll have room to manoeuvre ourselves,
Conte is indeed building a very good team.
Rich
Betis and Fulham have been strongly linked with Bellerin and Leno. I think they will eventually be sold.
In my view Niles is better than Cedric and Tavares as a fullback. But I guess Arteta doesn’t rate him, so we will have to wait and watch.
Torrera and Nelson don’t seem to have many suitors. Nelson can be released on free if we indeed want to offload him.