Arsenal’s summer of madness is about to kick off very soon. Mikel Arteta and the squad will jet off around the world to recuperate and get planning for the season ahead.
The club will have majority of the deals they want to progress well in the works, but I suspect there are is a number of potential players they are interested in that are more complex and risky that they are keeping and eye on.
Players exiting is going to be massive this summer. There are names we know are most certainly gone. Rob Holding, Kieran Tierney, Sambi, Tavares and Granit Xhaka will be out the door, no doubt.
Then there’s the second layer of players we need more information on.
Emile Smith Rowe has been out in the cold for the whole season, clocking a meagre 240 minutes – but according to David Ornstein his people spoke to Arteta and they are assuring him he is part of the plans. This is the best news of the window for me. Kicking out a player coming back from surgery always felt harsh, especially when you consider the output he offers, and the love the fans have for him. There’s also an U21 Championship this summer – last big miss from a youth tournament was not giving Serge G a deal before he smacked up the Olympics.
Reiss Nelson is also an interesting one. The internet cooked me a few weeks ago because I said I thought he’d exit – and some sites said he’d signed. Well, we’re 30 days out from his contract expiring and still no deal signed – he’s had 4 offers which tells you where we are with numbers. There was a Premier League club pushing hard for his signature – my guess is they’ve offered him more money and more minutes. Will he stay on at a club that gave him 600 minutes in the hope that as we level up he’ll get more time? Or will he take the game time and prestige of knowing he’s a starter – kind of like Zaha did when he moved from United to Palace. He might have penned the Arsenal deal already – but it was far from cut and shut. If he stays, it’s love for the club over serious minutes. A bit like John O’Shea at United.
Eddie is going to be an interesting one. He played plenty of minutes, he did really well, but he was only really used once Jesus picked up and injury. He’s top talent, has all the attributes to be a starter in the Premier League – what will Arsenal tell his people when they come knocking?
We also live in the same situation with Folarin Balogun. He’s just scored a bucketload of goals, landed 3000+ minutes, and he’s about the become an All American Icon as he moves towards WC 2026 – will he risk a season like Eddie? Or will he see striker openings at clubs like Brentford and push for a move. On this topic – we need to get bank if we are selling. If he was French and United or Chelsea were bidding on him from a Ligue 1 club, the fee would be astronomical. I want to see a big number for him.
‘Remind them of Mudryk’ should be the negotiating strategy.
Thomas Partey, one of the best players in our team under pressure, has interest from Italy. BUT, he is expensive, and he’s important to us. Do we really want to shift him out this season? Italy will be there the season after. If the number is big enough, it helps us with other players, it also gives more flex on wages. It would be a HUGE decision to move him on now – but it could happen.
Then you have other positions the club might need to invest in. There’s no back-up for Zinchenko UNLESS the club is thinking Tavares is the alternative. If you keep Smith Rowe, do you need a Maddison? Or do you go for a Tielemans. Matt Turner needs minutes, he can’t do what Ramsdale does, so do we we look for another backup keeper? I simply refuse to believe Arteta has attempted to buy a back-up to Saka 50 times, only to decide he’ll have that be Reiss. Or… does he go for a striker instead of a back-up to Saka and genuinely move Reiss up a level? Are we going to sign a right back or will we have a #6 dropping back next season like Partey has for us and Caicedo has for Brighton.
There are so many questions.
The great thing is this: Arsene Wenger would have finished at 5 points off City and been very satisfied. He’d have moved again with the same squad. Mikel Arteta know he has to roll the dice and he will, even if it costs us. I like that – he never settles, he never lets a bad idea fester even with good results, and he’s keeping the club moving forward at speed.
This summer will have twists and turns and I’m here for it.
See you in the comments. x
Bob N16
The talk is he is on 40k and Arsenal offered him 120k and they were aghast at it. Don’t know if his head was turned by WC inclusion or his team saw that they have Arsenal over the barrel. However once he was selected for the WC, that should have set off an alarm bell to renew his contract.
No matter how you twist and turn it, for me always the same conclusion. Wasn’t someone brought in to correct our terrible ability to get players to extend their contracts since this seems to be a repeat?
The main obstacles to our transfer plans are that Chelsea and Untd need rebuilding and Newcastle will buy. All have significantly more money than us..
If we’re really serious we have to accept we pay over the odds for quality players. That the game we’re in right now. Either that or we shop in the level below as we have been doing.
GOH – it’s great to always hold two positions over Arsenal both negative of course. That way you can never be wrong. If Saliba goes you get to say Arsenal are a small club. If Arsenal agree a large contract with Saka we’ve been had we’re mugs etc. Meanwhile you the great sage get to hang around in your east midland town far away and seemingly fearful of the very place you name your poster nom de plume after. It’s a good grift you run. At least you get to watch your favourite local team able to smoke your tobacco… Read more »
Bob
I suppose happy staying at Arsenal is dependent on
1. Does William have ambition?
2. Is he happy not winning?
3. Is London better than Paris?
4. Money.
We cannot give him anything different than PSG or Real or city. We just can’t.
Bob “Agents will be carefully studying what other agents are doing and will use this as guidance.” Thank you for solidifying my point, DO NOT negotiate your starting players contract all at the same time. Yet we did exactly that when it was easily avoidable. The policy of 2 years left on the contract and no renewal, sell was implemented at Arsenal after the disaster with Ozil and Sanchez. Now if you have a director and manager with talent spotting abilities you can let it slip to one year. But be very honest that is not in Arteta’s and Edu’s… Read more »
Marky mark I’m not changing my name to Guns of (insert town I live). I’m not covering bases at all. I don’t do that. Arsenal compared to PSG is a small club. They have a better team, more money, a better city, bigger stadium, more success. Whatever metric you use, we are a ‘smaller club’. I was an advocate of selling Saka. I still am. He’d fund a considerable amount of the rebuild. However, I also appreciate he’s a good player. The £300kpw is steep. Sorry but I think it is. Saliba has proved himself as more important as our… Read more »
I’ve consistently said if we can’t agree a new contract with Saliba by pre season training or latest start of August he will be gone, I don’t see us keeping him and walking on a Bosman.
The injury and seemingly little reported information on any positive negotiations, to me not a great sign.
You wonder why before agreeing the previous loan deal his contract was not extended? Most reports say his contract is expiring 2024.
Guns, PSG were a nothing club before Qatari money. Their league is poor. Saliba appears very happy with a club that he has effectively been with for only one season. This follows two previous seasons playing for two different clubs. I have no idea but sticking with a club and teammates that he gets along with, for a couple of years more could easily appeal. PSG have a galactic forward line that disfunctions outside their uncompetitive league; this could change but Arsenal are much more settled now. He’s French and PSG could pay stupid amounts and for all I know… Read more »
‘ Solidifying my point’ careful Sid might get aroused to post.
G of H First of all you don’t know how negotiations are progressing. Just because the Sun and Metro publish a story it does not mean that it is true. Next you will tell us that the player went on strike and faked his back injury. The only point that I will concede is that Saliba is the one player on our books who might want to leave in the forseeable future. Our management is no longer focussed on Francofile players. We are more inclined to look at players from Iberian Continent or Latin America. What I am not going… Read more »
Bob N16, Sure he seems to get on fine with teamates at Arsenal. But sadly it’s not Arsenal of 20 years ago with a host of WC French players, that French contingent were very close off the field, seen together around Hampstead and St Johns Wood often. He’s 22 and you would think more friends back in France, no doubt a few playing for PSG? He may well stay, sign a new deal but I repeat we have had a couple of months to really make a breakthrough in those talks. Either way two back to back loans, can bet… Read more »
Stroller
It is like having a conversation with Arteta-Out-GPT.
You know it is fruitless yet interesting at the same time.
Chat GPT would have found a way of winning the league.
We all the know the capabilities of OpenAI.
But what about Arteta-Out-GPT? Would that GPT win the league?
AI sports manager. Let’s do it.
Instant analysis. Can’t make mistakes. It could hold all the players stats, strengths and weaknesses in world football.
I’m on board.
Arteta out. AI in.
Fabrizio Romano 6m
Al Ittihad expect Karim Benzema’s final answer very soon. The official proposal is understood to be close to €100m per season plus benefits. 🚨⚪️🇸🇦
Real Madrid are waiting for Karim to make his decision soon, as he told Florentino Pérez about the bid in the last 24h.
_____________________________________
According to my calculations ~ €2m pw. What the eff?
jwl
With his record, I imagine Tierney is grateful to be an occasional player. Most of his long absences were caused by injiuries while playing. An excellent guy to have on the bench, I think Arteta will keep him.
For all the shots that Pedro takes against Wenger to big up Arteta, its a but childish. Neither wants to be used as a stick to beat the other. They both have a standing of their own and its us ridiculous fans who do this all the time. Pedro grow up and stop this nonsense.
If i remember correctly Wenger is still the last manager who won premier league for Arsenal. Show some respect and lay off.
What a load of nonsense. Nobody is leaving the top end of the PL to go play for a dumpster fire club like PSG. Once Messi, Neymar and Mbappe leave what does PSG have left in terms of star power? If Real Madrid came knocking then sure be worried. Lol, PSG. Bitch please! Saliba will extend and you’ll be looking like the idiots you are crying over nothing. Why the fuck would he leave when he just played his first season??? Just came 2nd to City with his teammates in his first full season, why wouldn’t he want to build… Read more »
Midwest
I don’t really understand your point. Pedro for no good reason (apart from trying making MA look superior) decides to have a cheap dig at AW. I only pointed what many know – we would have won it this year if AW was in charge on 1/4/23.
Arteta will get my respect when he achieves something worth respecting. What he’d done in 3 1/2 seasons and £400m is not remarkable by any metric, apart from cult metric
Lol. Saliba isn’t going anywhere. They won’t let him leave when there is a disagreement in 100k a week. I don’t even believe the offer is £120k a week to be honest. Even if it was, say we pay him 220 k week, the pay bump would be £5.2 mil a year. Over 5 years it would be £25 mil. And I am very sure Arsenal won’t let a superstar defender leave because they are too cheap to pay £25 mil more. This isn’t Arsenal in the 2000s. They will know replacing him would cost that £25 mil plus whatever… Read more »
Rap
That contract offer is insane. No wonder he is thinking about going. He would be set for the rest of his life, if he isn’t already. He would be getting in 2 years what would have taken 5 to 7 years at a normal club with superstar status like a Casemiro at United.
A reason Rice will not arrive is the ludicrous transfer fee, another is that Arteta will not pay the wage he’ll get elsewhere. A fundamental part of the process is a sensible wage structure.The big money comes to players like Saka AFTER they leave, hence the 4 year deals with a year’s option.
Also comparing the 2008 season to last season is so insensitive to Eduardo. The game against Birmingham which led to the horrific leg break of Eduardo was the turning point. We still managed to draw that game. The pain and horror on the face of the players conveyed all the message. That tackle killed a fledging career of Eduardo. To compare that with last season is a travesty and insensitive to the suffering of Eduardo.
Izzo
PSG are the biggest club in their respective country.
They are also probably the richest club in the world.
If you offer enough money to a player, they will go anywhere. Ask Ronaldo how he feels about Saudi Arabia and his hundreds of millions.
Stop being so naive thinking that Arsenal are a destination. Man U, City for sure and probably Chelsea and Liverpool are still potentially a bigger draw than Arsenal.
Habesha Gooner
You are 100% correct. First there was the story that PSG were making a bid for Odegaard and then the follow up with Saliba.
The Sun Newspaper are not exactly the bible of truth. This is after all the newspaper who Rio Ferdinand writes for!! If ever there is one pundit to ignore when it comes to negative comments
about Arsenal it is that guy.
Habesha
Arsenal cannot offer what PSG can. End of story.
Name one thing Arsenal have that they don’t.
The Saliba chat is nothing problematic. His agent thinks he can get him X and Arsenal only want to pay Y. This is normal. Its got nothing to do with love and/ or loyalty. It’s just business. I think as fans we get too cusght up in all this ‘love the club’ stuff. That ship sailed a while ago.
Allegedly Rice wants to come to us but he will go to whoever pays him the most money..
Anyway, for those of you watching NBA – Nuggets, or Heat to win the ring?
Let’s go Heat.
Guns …
London
People don’t want to transfer halfway round world to go to Paris ..
Get real lad.
Saliba is French btw. The location being Paris is a plus lol.
Rap EtH did well and i suspect he will get united back, however it strange that you are ignoring key elements. first, Eth took over a team that was regularly in and out of UCL, arteta did not. secondly, Eth took over a team that had massive and conntinous investments already, signing the known and top quality players, arteta you could argue had maybe two or 3 but certainly did not have alot of top qiality signing and regular top tier investments. thirdly, Eth was allowed to spend a massive sum to add Quality on top, Arteta had less than… Read more »
RSPC
Arsenal is about 2 hours away from Paris.
Half way around the world?
Geography lessons must have been skipped at school.
Pre-final presser for Mike Malone, Nuggets coach. At 3:15 he gets asked about Kroenke’s involvement with franchise:
https://youtu.be/daGFSjSrzQk?t=195
This is what Mike said:
– Kroenkes are massive basketball fans, it’s their No1 sport to follow.
-Thanks them for keeping him in job for 8 years despite winning nothing
– The NBA Ring is the ONLY (i repeat: ONLY) trophy missing from Kroenke’s cabinet..
It’s only about 1min 20 long, but very telling.
Maybe it was just typical American ignorance not to include Arsenal in that “missing trophy” cabinet list, maybe it wasn’t. But we don’t get mentioned.
.
–
GoH You are such a miserable cunt. Why do you spend your day on an Arsenal blog and act like an Arsenal fan if you believe Arsenal is a shit institution that doesn’t offer anything? A one horse race isn’t the best motivator for players. Mbappe wanted out. Neymar has wanted out and Messi is tired of that league in 2 seasons. There is no competition there. And players don’t choose League one. They choose the money PSG pay. And as soon as they are bored of winning the title, they want out. Arsenal offer the place to test yourself… Read more »
Habesha
You still haven’t actually answered my question.
What can Arsenal give that PSG cannot?
If competition is your answer, fair enough but I imagine most players prefer winning and playing on the biggest stage. Let’s not forget that Arsenal have only just qualified for the CL in around 8 years.
We will be lucky to do that again.
I’m not miserable. I question things.
ES It is just miserable on here because of the end to the season. every one has come out of their shithole. I haven’t seen anyone under Arteta that he wanted to stay leave. He convinced Balogun who was going to leave on a free to sign a 4 year deal when there were multiple suitors. He did the same with Aubameyang. Eddie was going to go on a free too. Same for Nelson. And just this season, Ramsdale, Gabriel, Saka and Martinelli who are all big talents have signed new deals. Nelson and Odegaard will follow soon. And Saliba… Read more »
Mike McGrath @mcgrathmike 2h #Arsenal centre-back Zach Awe, 19, to leave club this summer for regular senior football. Teenager has been in matchday squads but allowed to leave when contract expires, similar situation to Charlie Patino who will depart. Awe has not been on loan but interest from Championship. Awe and Patino are out. Where’s Rich to vouch for not bringing in top midfielders so we make way for Patino? Not that I mean it in a bad way, but making plans for 2 seasons ahead with Patino in mind, while Patino was playing in the lower divisions of English… Read more »
GoH
Why would we be lucky to do that again?
Our team is filled with players aged less than 25. And most of them are attracting hege interest because they are very good players.
Saka, Martinelli, Odegaard, ESR, Ramsdale, Gabriel, White, Zinchenko, Jesus, Saliba, Kiwior are all under 25 and are very talented. Why wouldn’t they improve? We are going to add more players to that group and we are going to go for the league again. That is why players will stay. Because we are a few players away from truly competing and winning in elite football.
Under 26**
The team needs an out n out centre forward with some physical precense.
He doesn’t have to be as good as Haaland. A Giroud level striker would suffice.
Overall, next season will be very different with CL football..Depending on who goes- ill miss Tierney in particular- I predict a very busy transfer window for arsenal.
A Giroud level forward.
Arsenal fans are a no ambition sorry bunch of crack heads.
That’s sad.
Let us cut out the crap by the so called supporters who post on here their negative comments about the club’s performance and status in domestic and global football. 1. Manchester City have won the league title in 5 of the last 6 years so they are of course the dominant force in English Football. They are a well run club and importantly can outbid everyone else when it comes to buying players. 2. Arsenal finished second in the League this season. We have a young manager and group of players who are committed to the club. The club is… Read more »
ES
You haven’t included any other teams that may break into the top 5.
ES
Agreed.
Sometimes I think this blog has been overrun by spurs fans.
Modern day spuds are just about the bitterest, most self pitying people you can meet anywhere, so I wouldn’t be surprised if some of those poor souls come on here out of spite.
Sad really.
Just because you’re paranoid don’t mean they’re not after you.
NORG
Who else do you suggest?
Brighton and Aston Villa are not going to make it into top 5-6. They do not have the financial clout or
curb appeal to attract top class players.
Both are doing well at the level they are now at and will beat from time to time clubs in top echelons. Brighton may well lose Caciedo and MacAllister this summer who will be hard to replace.
ES
Take a hard look at Brighton. They are an extremely well run club and it starts at the top down. Their planning is meticulous. They have already planned replacements for Caciedo & MacAllister.
Villa could surprise quite a few people.
What is common about these two is they have a board that is focused and love football – we have Stan, Josh, Tim & Harris.
You know you can be an attractive proposition to potential signings and there can be better more attractive options elsewhere. Both can be true.
For Saliba it is worrying that he hasn’t signed up yet but one thing’s for sure it is absolutely vital that he does sign cause he’s our best defender and it isn’t even close
Agreeing with Marko. That’s twice in a week.
All change on Le Grove.
Fuck of guns you mental midget. All you do is troll make shitty jokes say something extreme and then disappear for a few weeks only to return and repeat the cycle. You’re boring mate
On good form today ES!
A lot of emotional posts about Saliba
Star defenders dint earn as much as elite attackers, goal keepers earn even less
The club offered to increase Saliba’s wages by 3-4x , apparently he wants as high as 200k weekly….which they will have to acquiesce to
They just have to be careful because big Gabby is every inch as vital as Saliba and he’s on about 120-150k weekly.
The club needs to halt this wage creep, we are going back to overpaying young players who haven’t won any thing yet.
*Star defenders don’t earn
Diss: “The club needs to halt this wage creep, we are going back to overpaying young players who haven’t won any thing yet.” That’s what I’m saying. Saka, Marti, Saliba, Odegaard, Jesus, Partey… 6 players about to be on over 200k pw with probably a couple more coming in the next few months. What happens if we don’t qualify to CL next season? A firesale? I want stability and I’ve got no issues with paying players whatever it takes. But only if Josh has given his blessing to the financial team that we’re covered regardless of CL or not. If… Read more »
Relax Marko.
No one’s trying to steal your thunder.
Everyone needs a dark and light view.
Calm.
Paris also pisses all over London as a city.
Fashion
Women
Handsome men
Food
Drink
Culture
It’s not even a race.
We should be adding, not getting rid and giving ourselves too much to do
Listen you numbskulls is the wages in football out of hand and grotesque yes has been for a while and continues to get worse year on year just look at what they pay Ronaldo in Saudi Arabia to keep him from retirement. But if we don’t get competitive with our wages the likes of Saka, Martinelli, Odegaard and Saliba you know our best players they’ll leave. It’s that simple. The important thing going forward is that if we are going to give big wages to a player he has to be a key starter and he has to be used.… Read more »
Dissenter you’re missing the point. If you want to compete at the top level you have to pay top level wages.
There’s no possibility of doing it on the cheap. City have loads of players on 250 grand + a week. Saka’s just signed a mega contract and of course others like Saliba probably want parity. Top level players that we will be in for over the window will want the same. The top end of football is high stakes poker.
If we’re gambling on sustained success
I mean we’ll only have sustained success if we keep our best players and bring in quality additions. It’s more of a gamble if you say underpay someone like Saliba while others can both pay him what he wants and offer ambitious projects. We have to show we’re willing to compete
No Bard!
Apparently Arsenal just attract players because they LOVE playing for the club. Most play for free.
Money talks. Arsenal are Poundland compared to the high end clubs.
Guns of Hackney
London has also its charms. 😉
Hey look a few years ago you could have gotten away with giving Saka 100-150k a week but the way it’s been trending that’s now 200-250k a week and in 4/5 years when it comes to a new contract he’ll be looking at 300-400k a week. Unless he turns to shit which is unlikely.
Josip
Not anymore. London was great but now it’s a cess pool.
Zero charm. It’s just dirty.
Guns, you forgot to mention that Parisians are obnoxious bastards that even other French people hate.
Also I don’t blame Saliba having big demands. He knows how good he is he knows he moonwalks into some of the best teams in Europe like PSG if we’re honest and he might still feel a little aggrieved by the way he was treated in the past. I dunno but he’s got the power in the negotiations for sure
Regards wages you have to remember that only those considered absolutely indispensable get those massive deals. Saka yes, Saliba, yes, Gabbi, no (excellent but not indispensable), Jesus no, Zinchenko no (not until he learns to defend), if Partey is extended it will be on a lower wage, not higher, and Martinelli has renewed but not at that super-high rate. I can see Ode getting a nice increase, but other than that there are no more mega-deals merited.
GOH
When were you last in the seedier parts of Paris? Even the tourist areas have dog shit everywhere.
London is a relatively safer place than Paris.
Andy
So are Londoners. I’m pretty sure every capital city and it’s natives believe they are better than the rest of their compatriots.
Norg
It’s been a while actually and of course parts of Paris are crappy…relatively speaking. I still think Paris’ worse bits…Pigale springs to mind (not sure what it’s like now) is still classier than Tottenham, Croydon, Mile End, Hackney.
Andy1886 presumably we will be in for high end players. Is Rice going to move for less than Saka, I don’t think so ? If we’re serious about the project then we pay Saliba what he wants. Top end players hold the aces. Remember the farce of trying to sign Suarez on the cheap. And Ashley Cole for that matter.
GoH
I would have agreed 10 years ago that Paris outstrips London. But recent visits there give me a different story. Whereas London imo has progressed as a city , Paris has regressed. It is dirty and full of vagrants That might not be woke but I no longer enjoy walking around there as I did years ago
GOH
My wife taught at Broadwater Farm at the time of the riots. She could comfortably walk around the estate on her own without a problem. I have never had any problems in Mile End or Hackney – I do not about Croydon as it is South of the River. There are parts of Northern Paris that are really quite frightening. Hackney or St.Dennis – give me Hackney every time.
NORG
The Farm!
Fuck that. I don’t want to get into it but…what colour is your wife? Perhaps that made a difference. I knew people from The Farm but never went there myself.
I did have a terrifying experience in Holly Street estate Hackney (it’s been knocked down now)…I never went fucking near that place again.
Ads on this site have killed it.
I used to enjoy scrolling through the comments but now it’s impossible.
As I’m scrolling and reading, an Ad will randomly load/reload resulting in jolting me to the bottom! Arrrgh. What a cunt.
What is the point of having Ads if they break the fundamental purpose of the site?
Northbanker
I’m not woke so relax. We can speak freely.
Meh, maybe I’m romancing a bit but Paris was always a fave of mine but as I said, it’s been a while.
When I was a younger teen, I went to a strip club called Lookies. Yep, Lookies. It was meant to be a show with a hot lady and a chair…don’t ask. She had a chair but she was not as advertised, didn’t get into the role and dialled it in. No one was happy.
Ah, Gay Paris.
This TW will be exciting. The one thing you can’t criticize Arteta for is a lack of ambition. Pedro is right – if this was Wenger, you could bet your ass we wouldn’t do anything in the transfer market. He wouldn’t want to block some academy kid’s path to the first team. On the flip side, the talent ID needs to improve. It used to be great but lately more of a mixed bag. We can’t afford any more Vieiras and Jorginhos. Every new player needs to hit the mark and we should aim for at least 3 that can… Read more »
GOH
The term these days is white British. I expect the residents all knew she was a teacher so was not going to intrude into their drug dealing etc. Not all of the estate was bad. .
“ This TW will be exciting. The one thing you can’t criticize Arteta for is a lack of ambition. Pedro is right – if this was Wenger, you could bet your ass we wouldn’t do anything in the transfer market. He wouldn’t want to block some academy kid’s path to the first team”
Sorry. What ambition?
This thread on Saliba and his ‘mistreatment’ by a second loan spell is hilarious, from where I sit the club played a blinder bringing him back when they did fully primed and ready to take his place in starting XI. He signs on or goes to PSG irrespective of being loaned, if he selects PSG over Arsenal it’ll be because they’ve paid him more coupled with the extraneous. Not because he went back to Ligue 1 and did a season in Marseille. Here’s a thought both London and Paris are great city’s and with that some of the necessary grime… Read more »
This thread on Saliba and his ‘mistreatment’ by a second loan spell is hilarious
I think it’s more he was here for 4-6 months and wasn’t used once like an outcast really was where the mistreatment comes in. He wasn’t happy with it.
Sal
Ha ha. Doom posting. Long walks in a meadow.
I can’t do a better summarisation of my life.
You missed the bit about me writing sad poetry and spontaneously bursting into tears while looking at beautiful stones I find on the floor.
GoH,
You’re a bit of a bore. You don’t need to like Arteta or even think he’s doing a good job. But if you can’t see that he’s turned us into a club that invests consistently in the squad, I can’t help you.
Also I always thought it was a bit funny how dismissive people were that he couldn’t play that season that he needed another loan considering how good he’s been since he came onto the scene.
Sausage.
You’ll actually find I was one of the original investors in the Arteta reign of terror.
Look, I absolutely believe in a lot he’s doing and done. But there have been some very bad decisions, on and off the pitch. Some of the signings have been woeful and bizarre and the capitulation at the end of the season was just bad.
If we do a good transfer window and get rid and get in, that’s all we can ask. We need a great start next season but if it’s another fail, he should go. Would you agree?
Why is everyone panicking over Saliba? He said he’s happy and wants to stay. The club is the best club in the world to be at right now for any aspiring young player We are the youngest team in the premier league and missed the title by 5 points We have been giving lots of game time to around 10 players of 23 and under in the last 3 years and have developed every single one of them Ramsey Saliba White Tomiyasu Gabriel ESR Saka Odegaard Vieira Martinelli Nelson Eddie All put into the first team at 23 or under… Read more »
Marko
Wouldn’t call it dismissive, whatever the process was to get Saliba to where he’s at it worked. Could he of been ahead of schedule? Sure, regardless he’s shaped himself into a serious defender fully utilising his loan spells to catapult into the Arsenal XI becoming the clubs best CB.
Thats a win.
If we’re honest Saliba looked extremely happy this season, enjoying his football quite a bit which likely lends to the PSG rumours as bullshit or agenting to up his wage.
GoH, Go ahead and read my comment again – I literally wrote that the talent ID has been spotty and needs to improve. Having ambition (which we’ve lacked for much of the last 15 years) is the prerequisite for success but it’s not a guarantee. The rest is about making good decisions. As for Arteta, the expectations will be different next season. He can throw away the Mickey Mouse Cup but needs to take the FA cup seriously. We can’t be tourists in the CL. So yes, he will be judged differently. That said, reasonable people understand that the definition… Read more »
Right but again the problem was for 6 months he didn’t even get a consideration here and again who’s to say that he even needed another loan. Both might be contributing to him potentially looking elsewhere. Plus we’ve allowed it to come down to the wire and that doesn’t look good
Serious people who observed Saliba play last season said he was definitely ready for the PL.
Most, if not all, who said he wasn’t ready did so based on Arteta’ judgment only.
Which is fine I guess, but Arteta just said he couldn’t have predicted how well Saliba has performed this season……not that it would sway anyone from their previously held position of course lol.
Name one player who wasn’t ready to start even some games for a PL club one season, and then became the most indispensable ( according to most) the next.
Because I can’t think of one.
The whole whether he was ready or not was so debatable it’s unreal. Considered the better talent between him and Fofana but whereas he needed more loans Fofana was playing regularly for Leicester.
Anyway the fact that it’s come down to the wire with him suggests that all is not well that there is something wrong there somewhere. Still hopeful he stays cause he’s absolutely vital but we’ll have to pay for it to happen now
If Saliba is going to take the club to task over a 6 month period that we know little about but are putting all kinds of context into then so be it.
y
Arteta clearly isn’t perfect, mistakes have been made but I find it a bit reaching that Saliba’s willing to pull out of this project as a bi-product of that taking all into account. But weirder things have certainly happened and we did see White shift into CB with Partey in the RB position. All be it because Saliba was injured.
Hey look Saliba will know that he won’t have any trouble finding a club a big club for that matter
Marko,
He’s looked happy this season and there hasn’t been any chatter about a rift between him and Arteta so I wouldn’t jump to too many conclusions. It could be his agent’s negotiation tactics. The best agents are brinkmanship experts. Just look at Saka. His agent used a release clause as a bargaining chip to get a short contract, which will ensure his client will get another salary bump in 2-3 years’ time. It’s scummy but the guy definitely earned his commission and I don’t think Saka ever truly considered leaving.
I made the case earlier in the week that Arsenal have 4 players in their squad who will be in demand by any club in the top echelons of the game. Those players are Saka, Martinelli, Odegaard and Saliba. Martinelli signed first on a contract expiring in 2027 with 1 year extension option. He accepted I believe wages around £150 K pw. Saka has also now signed without 1 year option but on a higher wage packet. Odegaard has yet to sign but I would expect him to sign a contract which is similar to Saka. Saliba is probably worth… Read more »
Sausage.
I would have fired Klopp. 100%. Mercy is for the weak. Now sweep the leg.
Cobra Kai soundtrack is serious entertainment.
GoH,
Well, at least you’re consistent.
That would have meant a new manager who’d want to shift out a bunch of players and build his squad. Instead, Liverpool kept Klopp, got 99 points the following season, and won the league. Weak idiots, right?