23 Comments

And he’s not taking a pay cut. Were just covering half of his wages

Expand full comment

Wild take from Johnny. Would happily pay 10mill and 180k a week to have Sterling for a year?? So basically 20mill. Mad

Expand full comment

We signed a guy that runs like he has wet nail paint, has a safari ants in his anus and silicone in his chest. Diversity for Arsenal, everyone should feel welcome.

Expand full comment

Concern is, at 29yo could he still be able to run quick enough 🤔 ...reportedly we re paying c.150k pw so should be better than Nelson who was on 120k

Expand full comment

150k is too much for a rotational player. Will hardly feature, should have been 100k. I'm really surprised why we didn't go for a south American player given Edus knowledge of the market there.

Expand full comment

Noooo, not fking Sterling. Do we need more of these semi retired, past it players with the mindset of just being here for the money?? What terrible news to wake up to.

Expand full comment

Hopefully better than Willian

Expand full comment

Overall I think the transfer window was okay, and based on everything we’ve seen happen, the summer we might have all hoped for just wasn’t in the cards this time around. All the top clubs were relatively quiet for whatever reason in terms of blockbuster signings, and while you could say that’s the ideal time to grab a big name and bridge the gap to City, I’m not sure I’ve seen anybody move this transfer window that really leaps out as the player that we needed to move to the next level.

Maybe Julian Alvarez? But that was never going to happen. Toney ended up going to Saudi for £40m, which means no serious clubs were in for him and I don’t think Arsenal were interested. Maybe Dani Olmo, but again that wasn’t going to happen.

I’m never particularly been a Sterling fan but he’s had a good career. It’s not a stretch to say Sterling is the most accomplished attacker besides Mbappe to have moved this summer. He’s here now, so let’s hope he can smash it for us.

Aside from that, we cleared out a number of players at good value, and loaned out players like Nelson and Vieira who can really build their transfer value for sale next summer. Vieira sucks but Porto seem to like him, they loaned Conceicao to Juve and gave Fabio the 10 so he should get a lot of playing time.

All in all I think about as good as you can expect considering the landscape. Fitness will be key but that’s true for anybody. If we can start seeing some real rotation that would be my next hope. Also really curious to see where we land in terms of a settled first 11 when we start getting to the thick of the season in October/November.

Expand full comment

There must be a garbage can somewhere at Stamford Bridge with our name and phone number on it, just once can we get someone from that awful club that’s both in form and relevant.

I can already see it, Arteta is going to piss off Trossard big time, by picking his new favorite over him no matter how bad Sterling's form and lack of contribution is.

Someone please remind Arteta that Chelsea finished 26 points behind us last season and 40 the season before, they have a mid-table squad. All we’re doing is helping to balance their wage bill, so that they can sign more players.

Expand full comment

WengerEagle was back earlier, hope he sticks around. Sal has been missed too. We need more normal posters like those guys. Right now this place is dominated by weirdos like Nigel and Mystic Leaves, while we’re left with Dissenter trying to be the voice of reason, which is kinda like watching Rob Holding going for goal: always amusing, sometimes inspiring, and almost never ends successfully.

Expand full comment

If he plays well Sterling has a chance to serve as a real rotational player for Arteta, not just someone to take 6 minutes of action from Saka at the end of games. If he can reach somewhere near his peak potential then he could make the LW position his. A front five of Saka, Kai, Sterling, Ode, Trossard is pretty interesting.

Let’s hope this is more Jorginho and less Willian in terms of end result.

My main concern is that he is a new player signed for Arsenal, meaning his leg probably going to fall off after his first training session.

Expand full comment

I'll be surprised if he does anything. He's mostly going to be used for the league cup games.

Expand full comment

Well boo fucking hoo for you then innit?

Expand full comment

That's a good move for me to have mature experienced players in champions league, and develop young ones else were through loan deal,look for example arsenal playing PSG,saka leaving the field in 70 minutes and sterling comes in compared to nelson

Expand full comment

Sterling will be 30 in December so we are definitely not winning the youngest team trophy. It became evident that we only get players coming in when we move on players. If Nelson would not have gone out on loan, Sterling would have never come in. That tells you something about Arteta and developing academy players.

If you move on Nelson very late, then have something in the pipeline for covering it, that is why the not so dynamic duo is being payed millions, not to bring in a Chelsea reject because you didn't anticipate a late Nelson move and now have no plan B who to bring in.

Expand full comment

Great comments today. Finally everyone waking up to Aryeta failings as a manager, especially where attack is concerned.

Kroenkes are a disgrace and have stopped Edu spending money this summer, sell before you buy.

They have to.fund their Denver 260m reap estate development this summer. Sonarsenal has.to pay the price.

Our revenue 467m yet no money to spend.

Aryeta.clewtly has a serious deficiency to buy attacking players.

I do however feel good about Sterling. He will be great for us and works well woth Aryeta, hasa point to prove , high work ethic.

Don't forget with Arteta he.jad 29, 27 and 23 G/A them Arteta left. They work well together.

We also needed Eze and Osinhen though and Keau to become squad player who can be sold next window or summer

Expand full comment

We are the dumping ground of City and Chelsea rejects. Looks to me that Arteta is on Chelsea's payroll. Havertz is OK, but not 65mil OK. Sterling is no longer the player that Arteta knew at City. Jesus, City reject and now two Chelsea rejects, we are bailing out Todd Boehly and save Chelsea's ass from PSR and FFP punishment. This is a disgrace and I am just waiting until the Kool Aid crowd is defensing this abomination of the Sterling deal.

While we are at it, City and Pool don't have the problem at GK that we have. Bought 6 or so and still haven't solved the problem. On Ramsdale we loose between 12 and 5mill plus the loan fee for Neto. Again a stunning disgrace when we had Emi.

Expand full comment

Only other comment is with all these sales and considering in the coming 12 months we’ll no doubt sell/lose permanently Nelson, vieira, partey, Jorginho, Tomi, zinchenko, maybe more, next summer has to be a massive window for us. We will be flush with cash and very short on numbers so we’ll have no choice but to make several signings

In light of the above, id expect to see us do something in January tho very possible it will be an under the radar trossard type rather than a blockbuster name

Expand full comment

Frankly I’d need to see the final squad list we have in full (not only the list of ins and outs) but my initial take is this:

Arsenals starting 11 is better this season than last because:

1) merino looks like progress when he’s fit

2) either of timber or calafiori look like an upgrade at LB vs last season

Our bench looks a bit stronger on balance than last season because:

1) whichever of timber and calafiori doesn’t play looks like progress

2) we still have partey and Jorginho but reduced dependency on both

3) despite Sterling not being my choice, he’s a big upgrade on Nelson and if Martinelli doesn’t sort his form out, probably him too

Based on the above points, it’s been a solid window. What worries me is:

1) a squad is about numbers as well as quality. Fringe players like Eddie, Nelson, ESR, Vieira, Ramsdale all had a part to play irrespective of the fact none of them are either as good as the starting 11 equivalents or dependable due to fitness etc.

2) Nelson won us the Bournemouth game with the most exciting goal imaginable 2 years back. Arteta is still in his job because when the chips were really down ESR bailed us out years back. Vieira is a lightweight but his output is very good. Eddie barely started games last season but scored a hat trick in one of the few he did. Ramsdale was the second best second choice keeper in England.

I’m not against any of the outgoings in an isolated instance because any individual one of them can be explained and makes sense. But when you balance the outgoings against the incomings what I see is a fantastic core of 18 or so players but there’s very little healthy fat in the squad, it’s bare bones lean in the forward roles.

We are playing in 4 comps and the CL has more games now. We’re only a few injuries/suspensions on attacking roles away from having to fit square pegs in round holes.

Maybe Arteta sees it differently. For example maybe he’d consider zinchenko as *genuinely* ideal to backup Ode and if he does then it’s one way to reduce pressure slightly on the attacking midfield role.

Anyway I’ve made my point

Core of the squad is better but is extremely lean and it won’t take many injuries for us to be scrambling in the forward roles now.

Expand full comment

damn man

Expand full comment

7.5 out of 10 for this window. Concerned about the lack of a no 9 and felt that Toney offered something the club had lacked since Giroud was erroneously sold to Chelsea and perhaps would be great as an impact substitute. But Toney has baggage and maybe other stuff going on..Sterling for Nelson is an excellent deal and unlike the latter he will be trusted to play and that will give Saka a rest finally. Other signings are good deals but it just sucks that one is already injured!. Looking forward to seeing Nwaneri and maybe one or two other academy products....

Expand full comment