ELITE PRODIGY EXITS - GET USED TO THEM

CHIDO TALKING TO BAYERN - HE WON'T BE THE LAST

Well, good afternoon to you all. I hope you are in good spirits. We have Copa America and Euro 2024 coming up. What a month June is going to be!

It’s Father's Day as I write. I want to thank my dad for leading me to the righteous path of Arsenal, preventing me from a lifetime of supporting Nottingham Forest.

I had no choice. In the world we live in now, I could probably claim being bullied into supporting Arsenal as a childhood trauma… especially during the banter years. But I don’t need to go down that path now. I have friends that were bullied by their parents into supporting Spurs, the passed that curse onto their kids knowing what it entailed. That’s the real trauma IMO.

The most entertaining youtuber in the world shows this is no joke.

Anyway, to all the dads out there who bully their kids into supporting the same team as them… I salute you!

It’s always interesting to me how, growing up, international football was the peak. Now, it’s really a second-class offering. Football has moved way beyond the best players being the best football. Coaching is at such a high level now that the system plays a far better role in entertainment value.

Spain mauled Croatia. I wasn’t overly impressed with Nico Williams. He looked a little lost, especially compared to Lamine Yamal, who has looked good every time I see him. Nico is the priority for Barcelona this summer, which makes me think our interest is kind of pointless. Based on that outing, I’m not going to be crying into my cereal if we don’t move on him.

Italy were given a really decent game by an aggressive Albanian team. They took the lead after 29 seconds following an Italian mistake from a throw-in. The finish from Bajrami was world-class. Also, I like Chiesa. He was Man of the Match. Is he really that great? Or just great on the international scene? Who knows.

England vs Serbia produced an xG lower than any Premier League match last season. It really was drab. The heroes were Saka and Bellingham. A moment of magic from out wide from Saka allowed him space to put a delightful cross that Bellingham headed home with all the aggression a peak CR7 would have taken to the chance. Two black players saving the blushes of a nation, I hope the BBC editor made the correct decision with their photo choices.

Transfer news is a little quiet. There are some links to Branthwaite by The Mirror. I tend not to believe anything unless John Cross has his name to it. We need to look at a left-sided centre-back this summer. Kiwior ain’t it. The club needs someone aggressive, tall, and great on the ball. We can’t bank on Gabriel always being fit. I don’t think Kiwior over 15 games would be ideal.

The same paper is trying to link Arsenal to Onana. This feels like agent talk. The player isn’t better than Jorginho, he can’t do the things Partey can do, and he’s nowhere near the level of Declan Rice. Why would we add a player to the squad that wouldn’t get the trust needed to succeed?

Chido Obi-Martin is apparently talking to Bayern Munich. The Danish youngster has been terrorizing U18 defences all season. He has a monster frame, he’s a great finisher, and he’s in high demand. My view on him is that the chances of him making it at Arsenal are slim to none. At best, we could loan him a few times to get a Balogun fee. If the player wants to exit to Bayern so he can get paid a year earlier, versus getting the Arsenal coaching that will next-level him, is that really the sort of player we need to worry about? I don’t think so. I wrote a few years ago that a sign of success at Arsenal will be that we’ll start losing good young players. We have been, but I’m not sure there’s been a single regret so far. You can’t be crying over a 16-year-old. The only two kids worth our attention right now are Ethan Nwaneri and Max Dowman. That’s where there’s actual excitement. The only regret of losing anyone else is the potential transfer fee.

There’s a lot of heat around the transfer of Ivan Toney. Brentford have apparently dropped the price of the striker, a sign that no one is that interested right now. He’s a great player, in my opinion. Arteta was most certainly interested in him. Quite incredible that the narrative shifted to ‘actually, we just don’t like him.’ Like, did anyone watch him play and post on social and think he was going to be a really lovely person? Weird thing for the club to get upset about, but also the reason we didn’t sign Housem Auoar when the heat was, you know, very hot.

We’re also being linked with PSGs Xavi Simons. Arsenal fans love him. He bagged a lot of G&A last season with Leipzig and the fee PSG are looking at is around £52m. He was great for the Netherlands yesterday. He dropped 10 goals and 15 assists for Leipzig last season. The season prior for PSV he scored 20 goals and bagged 12 assists. These aren’t powerhouse leagues, but if you wanted to give Sesko a chance, why not the provider? He’s good in possession, he can carry the ball, his ability in tight spaces is great, and he’s been a standout against Arsenal in the past. If you wanted to add a trusted body into our midfield… he’s probably doing more than ESR and Fabio. Also, he’s 21 years old.

Ok, that feels like enough content for you today. I’m on holiday next week, first of the year, but fear not… I’ll be ruining it for my partner by podcasting and blogging erryday. Back tomorrow x

P.S. Check out the latest podcast with Janan Ganesh, one of the best columnists in the world. Members podcast dropping a little later. Sign up if you like that sort of stuff. xxx