DESPERATION IN THE AIR (SOON)

WINTER IS COMING

STUNNING news from FABRIZIO - Eddie's deal to Marseille is OFF as they look to move on an RC Lens player.

People are mad. Spitting feathers.

‘Why didn’t Arsenal just accept a substandard offer?’

We need to get a bit of tranquillo in the coffee and take a breath. Arsenal will not have a problem shifting Eddie this summer. Come September 1st, he will be at another club on a permanent deal, or they’ll be writing “Loan With An Obligation To Purchase” on Twitter.

Arsenal don’t need to get rolled by a Marseille that paid big money and wages for a tainted player. Eddie has admirers around the Premier League, he has a great profile, and he’ll score goals wherever he goes.

If you’re feeling the stress—don’t. We’re early in the night at the discotheque, and more options will come onto the market as we get closer to lights up. The full force of desperation that will be in the air in the last week of August isn’t there quite yet. But trust me… it’s coming. Arsenal aren’t going to be one of those desperate clubs because the team that ended the season on fire will start the season in the same way.

That won’t be the case for a lot of other clubs. Desperation will be the theme that gathers heat over the next few weeks as broke clubs do their best to meet financial targets.

Here are some things you need to be watching:

Disaster Starters:

There will be some clubs that start the league season with three losses on the bounce. Mid to lower table clubs will be pushed into action because they will not want to let a bad start put them in a zone where their fan bases are talking about January before the clocks have gone back.

Squad Bloat:

There are a number of teams that have excess in their squads, pushing them close to PSR issues, causing friction in the dressing room, and possibly leading to expensive names being left without squad numbers. Chelsea is one of those squads, so are Barca, Real Madrid, and Bayern. Players with big asking fees will turn into small asking fees, and will turn into loans with obligations, or just easy loans.

PSR Panic Sellers:

There are rumors that the Chelsea deal for Conor Gallagher might be off, which means £35m of PSR cash for a homegrown player that won’t hit their books now. That is nightmare juice for a club already in the danger zone for fines and dropped points. Clubs like these are ripe for the picking at a certain point in the window. It’s not just them; plenty of the smaller clubs in the Premier League are also dancing with danger.

Cash Strapped:

The Premier League is not healthy at the moment. Lots of the smaller clubs are struggling. That means there will be opportunities to make trades with squad players. Eddie, Reiss, and Ramsdale are all players that could add experience and heft to smaller teams looking to survive and thrive. If there are players we like at those clubs, don’t be shocked to see some horse trading going on.

The Arsenal window, as it stands, has been pretty bland so far. No winger, no left-sided 8, and no backup keeper. However, you have to contextualize it against where we are as a club. We are not desperate. When you’re in the club at closing and you’re not desperate, you can make the choice. Arsenal will have lots of players they’re tracking, lots of agents they’re keeping on top of, and lots of clubs putting their names in the ring for our boys that are on the periphery.

We might have to take a hit on some of them. I heard Reiss earns close to £7m a year. That’s a monster salary for a player who offers very little. He might have to be packaged out with a lower fee, with part of the saving going into a lump sum for him so he doesn’t lose out by taking a move. But that’s the sort of trading that we can make work for us.

So in short, repress your panic, understand that we are not desperate, and move into the final weeks of the season with confidence.

Ok, that’s me done. See you in the comments. xxx