Word on the Tweet is Folarin Balogun will exit to Monaco. There is a verbal agreement between the French club and Arsenal and the fee being mooted is about €45M.
Is this the best fee we could get? Well clearly. It feels a bit low in a world that contains Todd B.
So why do I like it? Well, Folarin can’t hurt us in Monaco. The big fear when you let a kid leave is they come back and haunt you in important games. Samir Nasri and Adebayor spring to mind. By going to Monaco, we don’t have to see him every week, and the bonus is that if he is eventually sold by a notorious selling club we’ll get a lovely kickback that’ll make up for the lack of a Premier League fee.
My gut says that if no one in the Premier League fancied him, no one thought he was at the level to do the job for them. Strikers are at a premium always, if Palace thought he was good enough for 25 goals this season, he’d have been playing against us on Monday.
It pains me to see him go, but Eddie is better than him.
I don’t really like the narrative of ‘HE DIDN’T WANT TO FIGHT FOR HIS PLACE’ because that would assume he had a chance. Timing is everything in elite sport and I don’t think that’s on his side for an Arsenal career. Eddie is way ahead of him, Jesus is a monster, and it’s clear that if those two don’t bang we’ll move on Ivan Toney or Evan Ferguson.
Eddie has been very good this season. No one fancies him, but Arteta does. I loved this comment from him in The Telegraph.
“I always try to train like a beast at Arsenal and give my all every time whether I’m playing or not. That’s the mentality I have. I train full gas because I think if you train well most of the time it reflects in the match. That’s the way I look at football and life.”
“You have to try and turn your situation around through hard work and showing your quality. That’s the mentality I have and always grown up with. Where I grew up, feeling sorry about yourself doesn’t get you anywhere. That’s a value and motivation that’s been instilled in me from young by my family. ”
“Where I grew up, no one cares if you’re upset, it doesn’t get you where you want to be so I think through hard work and resilience, you’ll get to where you want to get to. It might not happen straight away but over time you’ll get your rewards.”
Matt Kandela delivered me the best piece of advice I’ve had in two years when I was making excuses about failing (legitimate excuses, like ‘new baby’). He said, ‘No one cares. The sooner you understand that, the sooner you can make a choice about whether you’re going to work through your excuses. Either way, no one cares about the reasons you are failing.’ Brutal, but true. Now every time I moan about something, I doubletake.
I’m like, three years older than Eddie, so it’s wild that he has that level of maturity. Good on him, let’s see a BIG season from him, and hope he gets to where he needs to be career-wise.
Kieran Tierney has exited the club, he’s going to Real Sociedad for the season. He’s moving for minutes and Champions League. I can’t lie, the idea of Keiran Tierney speaking Espanol has me excited. That taste palette of his is going to get a severe working. No more Tesco bags for that boy, it’s El Corte Inglés all the way. I’m glad he landed his move, he’s a top player, just not suited to the system.
There are only three more players that need exiting now – Cedric, Pepe, and Rob Holding. The first two feel like TERMINATION BY MUTAL CONSENT. Not sure what’s happening with Rob. He’ll make a top centre-back for someone. Not sure why his agent hasn’t exited him yet.
I don’t think Big Mo is going to go, he’s there for the culture. He has no ambition to be anything more than a squad player and everyone at the club adores him. People don’t like that, but it’s hard to knock Arteta and the culture he’s building. He’s been a monster for 2 years, if he wants to keep Mo, he’s earned the right to do that.
Right, I think that’s all we have. Jump into our weekly round-up and tell us what you think!
P.S. Remember when people were telling you Jesus was out for 8 weeks and I said, no, he’ll be on the bench for Palace. I was wrong, but he is back in full training this week and could be on the bench for Fulham.
Pete, can’t you see the irony in calling Diss ‘sensitive’ when you revert to childish insults when anyone says something that you disagree with? Lack of self awareness old chap.
Marko
If you’re looking at the defensive situation over the next 9-10 months of the season, then maybe you have a point.
However, a good decision maker ask, can this set up get us to January unscathed, then we reassess. By January, we would have situation reports about Timber’s progress to determine how acute our needs are.
I really think you’re getting the timeline wrong. It’s about can we get to the January window with this cast of defenders?
Mike Dean’s self awareness is shocking. I always knew he was a mad man. He basically admitted what we have all thought for years. These refs are highly incompetent and have their own club which won’t hold them to any accountability – Yep it’s a bizarre admission but then the truth always does slip out by some means.
PGMOL – needs to be turned upside down with root and branch investigation and reform where necessary. I’m wondering now whether it’d be better to get a solid ex pro to lead it. Back in the day I’d have nominated Trevor Brooking . We need someone of that calibre who’s got some nous to look at the issues.
Here are some I can think of – the racial makeup of PGMOL does not reflect the players of the game. Geographically it’s solid NW England which means we have situations where Manchester refs are hosting big North v South battles in Manchester. Potential dislike of certain teams due to historical or managerial reasons leading to perceived bias against these teams.
Too enclosed and matey – camaraderie has led to insular possibly corrupt decisions. No one calls anyone else out.
I’d look to see if we could start with guest appearances from foreign refs and then start training academies focusing on lower league players who wish to transition upon retirement
He would have been a perfect £10-15 million sale to Saudi, nice bloke who fits the demographic that will settle easily into Saudi society.
Diss
Are so you are aware that certain demographics do and don’t assimilate well into certain cultures?
🤔
Real Sociedad is a great great opportunity for Tierney to showcase his talents and I sincerely hope he’s successful and comes back in a years time with his value enhanced, because that’s not a given, it wasn’t that long ago that Ainsley Maitland Niles went on loan to Roma with the prospect of showcasing his talent and that didn’t end at all well…
Un
I’m not going to provide you the segue to hijack the blog with your right wing conspiracy theory nationalist drivel.
As you were, Unteroffizier
However, a good decision maker ask, can this set up get us to January unscathed, then we reassess. By January, we would have situation reports about Timber’s progress to determine how acute our needs are.
One I would ask why take the risk when you don’t have to. Two historically it’s unlikely and hard to find players you want in January it’s more desperation. And three Timber is going to be out for most if not all of the season so forget about him this season.
I think Mike Dean must have been on the beers – it’ll be a hell of a hangover when we wakes up and checks the news to see if it was a dream. The cat is well and truly out of the bag, breaking his northern covenant.
I’m not for proportional representation per se but, in a country where football is as a tribal birthright as it is here, there does need to be some sense-checking of geographical breakdown along with proper performance reviews and promotion/ relegation.
On top of that, rather than shy away from technology – VAR has been atrocious – we need to lean into it; not as a ref replacement but as a tool to support their decision making. I’d be surprised if there wasn’t a way to embed tech into football boots to see who touched it last, register when it’s out of play and then picked up/ in the near vicinity of a player to reduce time wasting. The possibilities are endless and the PL has no excuse given the almost limitless budget they could put behind it.
It’s about can we get to the January window with this cast of defenders?
Honestly that’s a stupid way to look at things. We should be planning for the season not just the next few months and who’s available in January that isn’t available now? Ridiculous thinking
Rap:
That deal for Balogun looks about as good as were going to get selling him outside of the EPL, wasn’t the AOC deal £40m with add-ons?
Not sure if we actually got the add-ons?
Un, I’m not sure if Rubiales is a ‘playa’ but he’ll certainly be able to brush up on his tan on one now he’s being given his P45.
Diss, Kudus is decent and is injury record is right inline with our usual recruitment profile https://www.transfermarkt.us/mohammed-kudus/verletzungen/spieler/543499
Marko,
I suspect it won’t be long before Rubiales gets the sack for being a filthy sex pest.
Marky
The racial makeup of the game doesn’t represent England.
If we are talking demographics then 6% -10% of premier league players should be black.
I agree that the old boys club needs the club hammer treatment but surely we should be promoting excellence no
Matter the race.
Dissenter –
The way you conform to modern pop culture really shows that your moniker is untenable. Unless you claim to be a dissenter in jest.
The Spanish manager probably forgot where he was/had an emotional reaction due to the achievement. Interesting how we make massive allowances for women’s hormonal behaviour, while destroying any man who does the same.
Equality is just women’s privilege dressed as good manners.
Be interesting to see what old Don would do if some man grabbed his dick while standing next to his daughter. Would he clap him on the back and buy him a beer exclaiming what a man’s man? Sounds like it
You can encourage, but you can’t force anyone to become a referee, it’s a thankless task at the bottom of the pyramid where most referees begin and operate.
Then we have all the abuse and threats on any given Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning that is dished out to the officials trying to control ‘players’ who couldn’t trap a bag of cement.
Therefore is it any surprise that those from an ethnic minority give it a swerve and who could blame them.
https://twitter.com/mohayesh6/status/1694639970915385670?t=Z-t7ohKbEUX25suyTfSo9w&s=19
Not great by Martinelli.
GonnerDave
You must have misread my post about Rubiales
All I said was it’s interesting watching from the sidelines how it will pan out
The rest is you projecting you whatever at me
*your whatever
Arteta on Jesus:
“Yes, I am really happy. It was a big blow after pre-season. He is looking really sharp and ready to go.”
Ready for tomorrow? “Yes, he is back. He is ready to go.”
From the start? “We’ll see.”
__________________________________________
Derby Sign Arsenal Striker John-Jules On Loan
Trossard just dropped even lower on the pecking order, now that Jesus is back
Errr Andy old bean.Think you’re being a little disingenuous with that accusation.I’ve had a different point of view with many on this blog over the years.And have not reverted to insulting them as you call it.No surprise either that you were the first to raise your head above the parapet.to jump to Dissenters defense.Think it rankles with you prob more than most hey?
Mikel Arteta on Gabriel’s potential departure:
“Gabriel is a very important player for us and there’s nothing going on with that, at the moment.”
Wha…
I wouldn’t expect any awareness PP, given that you think that throwing insults is just ‘banter’. I’ll just keep my fingers crossed that the ‘bedwetter’ mob eventually reach puberty and grow out of it.
Marko, Gabriel leaving now would most certainly not be part of the plan and clearly a function of an obscene amount of money being thrown his way and an agitation to move. That said, long term he can definitely be upgraded. Maybe we’ve got someone in mind and may just bring it forward in light of the $audi $hower?
Feels like a lot of change and would be haphazard, though
Oh I absolutely agree. If you’re going to sell and replace Gabriel you do it earlier in the window but the last week? Dumb as hell. But clearly there’s something going on there because he was a starter in every game for two seasons and then he gets dropped for the opening two games of this season. There’s some break down there
Tierney on loan to Real Sociedad. It’s done. I like Tierney and I regret that he never was part of Arteta’s plans.
There’s always lots of movement towards the end of transfer windows.
I’d be very surprised if we weren’t involved in several ins and outs over the next week.
Well Andy.At least we’re agreed on something.😉
MarkymarkAugust 25, 2023 12:50:07
Mike Dean’s self awareness is shocking. I always knew he was a mad man. He basically admitted what we have all thought for years.
that paper quote was straight from the mind of bret easton ellis for sure
China1August 25, 2023 04:57:03
Terminating Pepe’s contract would just be lazy imoHe’s hardly a crap player, he’s just not good enough for an elite team
brother, he is on 150/wk… no chance any team is even considering a purchase. the debate has more or less been about his skill/power/physical attributes- but whats shown up really over the years is his mindset. it shows up on the pitch very clearly
Balogun will be successful in Ligue 1, and score lots of goals. Good luck to him!
In theory a referees academy sounds good as lower league and non league players maybe won’t have the financial security when they retire and may want to stay in the game and earn a living, plus the prospect of being involved at the highest level may tantalise. You could have these academies across the country.
I genuinely don’t know what process PGMOL use to recruit but the perception is ‘from the North West a significant advantage’ is mentioned on the job advert.
There’s nothing called cancelling a contract unless it is mutually agreed.
The only one I know of was Willian’s, and respect to him for that.
Otherwise, the club pays off the balance of a player’s contract, with maybe a negotiated haircut for a lump sum payment instead of ongoing weekly wages.
It will be far beneficial for Arsenal to agree say a £10 mn sale for Pepe, and agreeing to pick up half his salary till the original Arsenal contract expires.
That way you gain 50% of balance salary plus 10mn.
For some reason, the club don’t want to work hard on sales. Or maybe they do but are not very good.
I love Tierney, thought he’d be the captain at one point.
But if the trade off is sacrificing him to have the Arteta ball and title challenge of now and last season, then it’s all understandable for me. He doesn’t fit the plans, and he deserves to be a vital part of a team somewhere.
So much negativity and doom about our situation in the blog comments (interestingly not from Pedro, who has a healthy, positive attitude).
Positive Pete gets it right too.
What’s all the conplaining about the defense anyway? Timber out is a disappointment- but how many goals have we conceded so far?
We played well in the community shield also.
There will be times where we struggle this season, like all teams…Can we at least save the wetting until then. Maybe not after 3 successive wins.
Wengaball, without being pedantic, if a club pays you your full wages they can cancel your contract.
wengaball
HUH??? 10m for nico pepe? his contarct expires in the summer and he’s on 150/wk. if someone comes in for him even offering half that in wages, you think theyre gonna pay a fee on top!? even saudi can see that game
at this point everyone in the wolrd knows what theyre getting w him, and it aint worth the money or he’d have moved already. cant see what move the club could make beyond termination
Bilbo – that’s paying off a contract, not cancelling it.
Maybe semantics and we are taking the same thing.
In today’s market you can’t tell me Pepe is not worth 10 million.
furthermore why would pepe do anything when hes on 150/wk for another season and then can negotiate a free?
what do we think a club in italy would offer him? 40/wk?
The point being even 5 million or any amount is better than nothing. Arsenal seem to have found a love for nothing.
Very early on Edu declared some players to be ‘unsellable’. That’s a terrible attitude.
wengaball
you’re missing the big picture, transfer fees and wages are connected. no one looks in the transfer market for a suitable fee… and then looks at the wages and says you know what, the fee isright for the market even though the wages aren’t. That’s simply not how the world works
pepe is the most unsaleable player i’ve ever seen at arsenal. if his wages weren’t 3x what he’s worth in reality, it would most certainly be a different story
Pepe would do it so he can play football, instead of twaddling his thumb in the purgatory.
We can’t sell him, fine loan him. Get something instead of paying off. I find that very strange.
So Zacharse, I am saying pick up half his wages, or ebb 85 percent.
That’s better than 100 percent.
allezkevAugust 25, 2023 13:14:17
You can encourage, but you can’t force anyone to become a referee, it’s a thankless task at the bottom of the pyramid where most referees begin and operate.
and why exactly is it like that? you ever consider that the desire to keep them on consultant/non-full employee status might play into things? You consider that the payment they receive isn’t quantified against betting companies/other darker interests? Benefits?
The problem is that PGMOL plays both sides of the fence and there is no organization that has the ability to force their hand with anything. No doubt there is a reason for this irrationale, just like there is with any other type of politically entrenched power
“Pepe would do it so he can play football, instead of twaddling his thumb in the purgatory.”
i mean, that’s the idea right… not so sure we agree on pepe and his agent’s strategy. no doubt there is some residual bad feeling from his camp w ow things turned out and i don’t expect is camp to make things easier for AFC
Jesus is dreadful. Trossard is a significantly more dangerous and direct player.
I think Jesus is my most detested Arsenal player of all time. I can’t see it. I don’t see it.
Pepe is only worth what someone wants to pay. What about buying and selling do you not understand?
He’s an awful player. Terrible signing.
“Rubiales is a palayaaa 😎
Good to see a man being a man”
Why do I have a sneaking suspicion one of Un’s daughters might end up as a truck stop waitress or a pole dancer?
I can just envision him slouched over the kitchen table in his overstretched, ketchup stained wife beater telling her: now go fetch daddy another beer, sugar tits.
Someone should probably alert the social services.
Mike Dean admitting to doing what another ref did just a week ago at OT.
Said at the time that was the reason too.
Tyreece John-Jules is 22 years old and stil being loaned out. Why isn’t he being sold???
Mike Dean admitting to ignoring a clear red card incident, because he didn’t want to cause his mate any more hassle…
Is truly amazing… If he’s so brazen to openly admit this… WTF is he hiding?
It was Mike Dean when Saka got booted by McArthur against Palace a couple of seasons back, and when you watch it back, Dean is looking right at it…. If Saka’s leg is planted, that’s a leg breaker:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlOQTKUvsXU
The market makes no sense. In fact it favours the lesser team when it comes to fees received for players.
One thing i’d say is this: Lois Openda went from Lens to RB Leipzig for around e40m. He scored the same amount of goals and he’s a year older the Balogun..
So based on that, you could argue that we did a bit better than Lens (who, unlike Monaco, have champions league football) when getting a good fee.
But what boggle the mind is how the fuck Utd paid £70 to Atalanta for Hojlund who’s 2 years younger but with an inferior record.
A whole book can be written about Mike Dean’s shitty decisions. He’s as corrupt as they get. Mike Riley’s right hand.
Openda scored 20 non-penalty goals in 2500 mins.
Balogun scored 15 non-penalty goals in 3000 mins.
Openda is 14 months older, same height.
We’ll see who has the better career in 10 years time.
Un – there are no black professional referees I can . Doesn’t matter whether it’s 5% 10% or whatever. You can also take your stats and totally reverse them as the vast majority of professional clubs are in large towns or cities where the ethnic make up reflects the player ethnic make up. The PGMOL is completely crap at the moment so your comments about excellence are patently ridiculous
It’s not a bad deal for Balogun honestly he scored 2 goals in 200 odd minutes for us at 22…you gotta take that shit. If you start thinking about it in terms of the Hojlund deal you’re just asking for pain cause he was overpriced beyond ridiculousness.
In Spanish-speaking countries
“”A common casual greeting involves a kiss on each cheek, starting with the left. This form of greeting is especially common between women. Men may be more likely to kiss women hello and goodbye than to shake their hand.””
The English pushing their victorian morality agenda
Lads please I’m begging you this place is turning into untold with the amount of referee talk these days. We don’t want that here
What about him grabbing his junk around the Spanish queen and here 16 year old daughter? Is that just another social etiquette that’s being confused?
Dos besos
Im sure the queen has watched Carnival of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
This is controversial, and will have Pierre spitting bullets… Bruno ahead of Ødegaard… I’m not buying it.
https://x.com/skysportspl/status/1695096192768577642?s=61
Yeah, I didn’t want to comment on it but kissing on the cheeks is totally different to kissing on the lips.
I couldn’t care less about the fella grabbing his balls in public. It’s not nice but honestly, not nearly close to be considered a crime.
The guy genuinely looked like the happiest person in the world. He lost his mind, he went a bit overboard and crazy. We’ve all done some stupid shit.
The kiss was a .5 sec kiss on the lips. It wasn’t pretty, I know. Did it look like it was done in a predatory or in a way ? No way, not at all. It was a .5 sec kiss.
Not the best view, but a career ending deed? Not in my eyes.
He should apologize to everyone involved and move on.
The people asking for his head based on the two acts reported are imo, overreacting a lot. Unless there’s some other stuff that we don’t know about. But grabbing his balls on public in a “eat that you fools” and a 0.5 sec kiss when his team lifted the World Cup? I don’t think they should end his career based on that.
We’re all people ffs. Unless there’s some bad shit, we’ve all done things we’re not that proud of.
Did it look like it was done in a predatory or in sexual a way?**
In regards the Spanish fa chief, think it’s starting to become a witch hunt at this point. A picture can tell a thousand stories! Seem everyone is running with the “perfect” picture and not bothering to watch the video for context. He hugged every one of the girls (too firmly for my liking though) and the kissing incident was a brush of the lips that didn’t even last for more than 3 seconds!! And he is supposed to lose his job cos of that??
Exactly Rap.. Well said!
Hermoso said she didn’t like it….. typical dike.
Not like he grabbed her by the pussy, which would obviously disqualify him from holding a public office.
Oops!
And I didn’t see any online outrage when the sexy Croatian lady (prime minister or something) was dishing out firm hugs to the male team after losing out to France in the world cup final some years ago! Like this wokeness shit will be the end of humanity!
Tom
Hermoso only came out to say she didn’t like it after the picture started blowing up on social media and the feminist and woke cretins started an online campaign to remove the Spanish fa chief from his position
The irony of Pepe situation is that he was imposed on Emery (he wanted Zaha) because of his re-sale value.
It’s well and fine pandering to the baying mob till shit like this happen to us or a loved one!
Pappy
I think she said she didn’t like it when a reporter asked her about it immediately after in the locker room.
didnt know there were so many dedicated womens football fans on here. even as someone who has zero to little interest in it, i can do the simple addition of recognizing the shitshow for the spain womens team before their world cup even started, and now ending as champs, the male bureaucrats invade, a grown man grabbing his cock in that setting, live on tv, very clearly and for all the actual fans of the womens game, and having him grab a player and kiss her on the lips…
ya it doesn’t really seem much of a witch hunt to me- pretty obviously the guy has no biz being in the position he is.
zero respect or awareness for the context of his position means he isnt suited to it. pretty straightforward logic
Back to football.. Pepe will be staying put to offer depth and take minutes off Saka in the carabao cup and fa cup. Then another versatile defender would be brought in to replace timber .
I see us winning all our games till the game against City and should have enough to lead the table till New year.. How we handle the second phase of the season and the fitness of key players would determine if we will best city or not
I predicted that we will play less exciting football this season unlike last, and I still stand with my belief. Think this season is all about getting the result irrespective of how we play. We will be more dominant, functional and give away less goalscoring opportunities , which will affect the fluidity of our play.. Unlike y’all, I’m pleased with how things are going so far and I can clearly see the idea that Arteta is trying to instill in the team. It would be painful at first but we should be dominating opponents for 80% of the match pretty soon when we are used to playing this way. It would be less exciting than city but effective nonetheless
My only criticism of arteta will be his in game management, especially his use of subs to affect the game. He needs to improve real fast if we are to win any big trophy during his tenure. He needs to quit imitating pep in that regard as we are still way off the quality and experience of the city team
Joke Friday
Don goes to the doctor and says: “Doc, my bum is bleeding and it hurts….”
Doctor: “Where specifically does it hurt the most?”
Don: “Right around the entrance.”
********
Doc: “Yeah, that’s an exit. As long as you think it’s an entrance, it’ll continue to hurt.”
“Lads please I’m begging you this place is turning into untold with the amount of referee talk these days. We don’t want that here”
Marko prefers waffling about ficticious transfers than actual events that happen….
New Post
I think it’s astounding that no one seems to care about the Balogun exit. Eddie has performed admirably but Jesus has been a disappointment. Can’t score consistently when he’s not on the table and he’s a flop artist. He should be Saka’s backup on the wing. That way Eddie and Flo could share striker duties. Both of them deserve to prove themselves this season.
I think it’s astounding that no one seems to care about the Balogun exit… [@Brunwie] – – –
Why should we? Balogun by his actions on social media threw his toys out of the pram and made his sale inevitable. Now he can go play elsewhere, and Arsenal can use the funds his sale generated. Bye, Felicia!