We can hardly expect Saliba and Gabriel to produce another ever present season especially after the additional summer exertions so we need to think about cover there and Calafiori provides that. Not sure that we can consider it as steal of the summer as i doubt if he would start if Gabbi is fit and in form. If Tomi gets fit he should in theory have reduced game time which should reduce his injury risk. I like him as a squad player, always produces a decent performance (when fit!)
I have been looking at the market for #6 options. And there are still decent options. We can't depend on Partey and we have to bring in one alongside an 8.
Joao Neves:- would have been my preference after Guimaraes, but he is close to going to PSG. Still time though. €70 to €75 mil price tag.
Zubimendi : Nothing spectacular but a good player we can get if he leaves Spain. €60 mil release clause.
Alan Varela: hugely impressive Argentine that played well against us with Porto. Great passing ability and only joined Porto from Boca a year ago for £10 mil. I reckon £40 to £50 mil will get it done.
Adam Wharton: Really talented 20 year old. Only joined Palace from black burn Rovers in January for £22 mil. I would expect Palace won't sell him for anything below £65 mil + considering they are already losing their best players.
Morten Hjulmand: Danish defensive midfielder who has been playing well for Sporting the past season. 25 years old and has been getting good reviews in Portugal for his performances. I suspect it will be £40 to £50 mil price tag for him as well. I have to add as well he is a huge Arsenal fan and he has the Arsenal crest tattooed on him.
Man City - Injury prone players : Kevin Debruyne, John Stones
Arsenal - Injury prone players: Partey, ESR, Tomiyasu, Zinchenko, Jesus
We have to reduce this summer. We can't depend on Partey as an option. And there are no takers for him this summer. So consider him as an Elneny. We have to bring in a #6 regardless. ESR will probably be sold so he is out. We will bring in an 8 in his position. We can't depend on Tomiyasu either. Sell him now (ideally) or the coming January. If Kiwior leaves, we need another defender on top of Calafiori because we can't depend on Tomiyasu.
"Nobody in this market is likely to gamble on 2 injury prone players, on wages likely outside what maybe 15 clubs outside Saudi will be willing or capable of matching."
But we did gamble and signed them paying top dollar and putting them on top dollar. The gift that keeps giving.
Of all our injury prone players, only Partey had a prior healthy record. Others we knew and still signed them. And they have barely contributed meaningfully to our course and will still lose us money. ESR wasn't bought so doesn't count.
Someone needs to start holding some people accountable cos it does not seem like we are learning.
"Arsenal will be without Takehiro Tomiyasu for their pre-season tour in the USA because of a knee injury.
On Sunday, Mikel Arteta's 26-man squad heading stateside was confirmed with Tomiyasu a notable omission alongside the likes of Declan Rice, Aaron Ramsdale, Bukayo Saka, David Raya and William Saliba. Participation at Euro 2024 and Copa America is the reason for those five missing out, however Tomiyasu's absence is because of an injury."
I saw this subject was talked about below. You all know my take. I wanted Tomi sold last summer. His injuries will not stop. Instead of renewing him we should have sold him.
If he was top class and the 20 games he's able to play he's absolute insane class, sure. He's not even that good when he's healthy. To be both injury prone as fuck and nothing that special - there are tens of better full backs out there, he's just not worth it.
Tomi is supposed to be that dependable player that you can always rely on. Except he is the exact opposite. I can't believe Artedu didn't make the obvious decision. It's deja vu over and over again.
Not only that but we've got Zina, Tierney, Timber (who for all we know could be Aaron Ramsey v2) and now Calafiori - all full backs and all injury prone as shit (Timber is a ?). White vs the world 3rd season in a row it is.
FFS stop echoing the clueless Nigel Tufnell. Both of you are oddities who jump on anyone making any observation that is not 100% Arteta is wonderful mantra.
Nothing to do with Nigel, whoever you are. I don’t mind people criticising but when it becomes moaning…..that said I probably had too many beers when I posted that
Not even in the US yet, and Tomi is out with a knee injury. Don't tell us that injuries do not matter, especially if they come with $40 million dollar price tags, risk analysis matters.
Tierney getting fit before the end of the window, not in this lifetime.
And for the price that AFC payed for Kiwior, he plays, can play multiple positions, and has been improving. Loan him out? Why, might need him to come in for Gabriel or heaven forbid the Italian kid.
Why not play Timber on the right and build minutes when White needs a breather. Timber just came back from a serious injury and people were saying he was going to play during the sharp end of the season, I said nope. ACL's take up to 2 years to get athletes back to optimum effectiveness.
AFC still need a replacement for Partey if he goes, and someone who can deputize for Saliba as he can't play the entire season without rest!
This is one of the best breakdowns I have seen on Calafiori.. Looks like a good player.. not that concerned about injuries any more then I am with Timber. Cala pretty much could be our left sided Ben White.
I'm not overly excited just because I think we need to improve our goals scored from open play.. and I'm not sure we moved the needle in that regard. Our defense was already the best in the League. If we sign somebody for that left sided midfield to play opposite Odegaard then my excitement level will ramp up. I don't want to rely on Partey to take a midfield spot for another season and I think Havertz will play at the #9 spot.
The EduBBQ site is great if you want detailed analysis of players and matches, Middy. I don't know what he does for living but he seems to spend all his free time researching and thinking about Arsenal.
Love it that others prepared to spend so much time analysing players and stats. Haven’t got the time and even if I was retired I still wouldn’t have the time
From arsenal website, Arsenal squad flying to America today:
-----------------
Goalkeepers: Karl Hein, Tommy Setford, Lucas Nygaard, Alexei Rojas
Defenders: Ben White, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Jurrien Timber, Josh Nichols, Jakub Kiwior, Ayden Heaven, Omar Rekik
Midfielders: Thomas Partey, Jorginho, Michal Rosiak, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Martin Odegaard, Emile Smith Rowe, Fabio Vieira, Ethan Nwaneri, Salah–Eddine Oulad M’Hand, Jimi Gower
Forwards: Leandro Trossard, Reiss Nelson, Charles Sagoe Jr, Gabriel Jesus, Eddie Nketiah
"Due to their progression in Copa America and the Euros, Gabriel Magalhaes, Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz will join the squad from July 25.
Meanwhile those players involved in the latter stages of Euro 2024 - Declan Rice, Aaron Ramsdale, Bukayo Saka, David Raya and William Saliba - will link up with their teammates upon our return from America.
Kieran Tierney (hamstring) and Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) will remain in London to receive treatment ..."
Let's say we want to sell timber now, what can a buyer class him? He missed the whole of last season to an injury that players rarely come back from and remain the same. Yet everyone expects him to solve all of our problems.
“To be honest, he has a point when you take the emotion out of it. Calafiori has had multiple serious injuries in his career. And has never played past 2500 mimutes”
Except when you take emotion out of it, Calafiori’s last two seasons were 2800 and 2700 minutes respectively.
If Kiwior isn't leaving he'll barely get any time to play so his selling value will only go down now if Calafiori is joining for sure. I wonder if a loan is the way to go, so he can play and build more value. I wouldn't put an option to buy on it though. I think he could increase value with a full season playing.
Yeah but you know Kiwior won't be happy with his playing time. He should keep his career in mind. His good trajectory can suffer if he can't even make the bench.
Someone should have a chat with him about this. Also, I'd feel bad for him if he plays so little, having such promising skills.
To be honest, he has a point when you take the emotion out of it. Calafiori has had multiple serious injuries in his career. And has never played past 2500 minutes. We already have Zinchenko and Tomiyasu who don't play more than 1800 and 2000 minutes respectively every season. And Tomiyasu played 2500 minutes for Bologna the season before he signed for us. Now he hasn't played more than 1800 for us in 3 seasons. So It isn't just about Calafiori. His concerns are very fair.
But any Arsenal fan likes new signings. That is the emotion I am talking about. The player looks good and Arsenal fans want him. But they can't see past the house of cards we are building when we already have Tomiyasu (who is already injured) and Zinchenko. So Rich has every right to think this is a bad idea. But I would do it another way, I would sign Calafiori and remove Tomiyasu from the house of cards by signing Pepe.
We can hardly expect Saliba and Gabriel to produce another ever present season especially after the additional summer exertions so we need to think about cover there and Calafiori provides that. Not sure that we can consider it as steal of the summer as i doubt if he would start if Gabbi is fit and in form. If Tomi gets fit he should in theory have reduced game time which should reduce his injury risk. I like him as a squad player, always produces a decent performance (when fit!)
Can’t Moussa Diaby be the best avl winger to reduce Saka’s workload. And, also give all of us some break from Saka’s (now boring) moves?
Has Lacazzate retired? If not, Why doesn’t Arsenal sign him back for a CF. He will score 2x more than Jesus.
https://x.com/EmiSmithShowe/status/1815145898709557671?t=5bNOzl5Cy2KYlzGDQTsTTg&s=19
Respect the Captain.
I have been looking at the market for #6 options. And there are still decent options. We can't depend on Partey and we have to bring in one alongside an 8.
Joao Neves:- would have been my preference after Guimaraes, but he is close to going to PSG. Still time though. €70 to €75 mil price tag.
Zubimendi : Nothing spectacular but a good player we can get if he leaves Spain. €60 mil release clause.
Alan Varela: hugely impressive Argentine that played well against us with Porto. Great passing ability and only joined Porto from Boca a year ago for £10 mil. I reckon £40 to £50 mil will get it done.
Adam Wharton: Really talented 20 year old. Only joined Palace from black burn Rovers in January for £22 mil. I would expect Palace won't sell him for anything below £65 mil + considering they are already losing their best players.
Morten Hjulmand: Danish defensive midfielder who has been playing well for Sporting the past season. 25 years old and has been getting good reviews in Portugal for his performances. I suspect it will be £40 to £50 mil price tag for him as well. I have to add as well he is a huge Arsenal fan and he has the Arsenal crest tattooed on him.
We need one of them.
Charlie Patino is better than Joao Neves, Wharton and Hjulmand. Give him a chance in the team
Man City - Injury prone players : Kevin Debruyne, John Stones
Arsenal - Injury prone players: Partey, ESR, Tomiyasu, Zinchenko, Jesus
We have to reduce this summer. We can't depend on Partey as an option. And there are no takers for him this summer. So consider him as an Elneny. We have to bring in a #6 regardless. ESR will probably be sold so he is out. We will bring in an 8 in his position. We can't depend on Tomiyasu either. Sell him now (ideally) or the coming January. If Kiwior leaves, we need another defender on top of Calafiori because we can't depend on Tomiyasu.
Yeah, I forgot to mention that Tierney is also out of the tour due to harmstring injury (lol)!
"Nobody in this market is likely to gamble on 2 injury prone players, on wages likely outside what maybe 15 clubs outside Saudi will be willing or capable of matching."
But we did gamble and signed them paying top dollar and putting them on top dollar. The gift that keeps giving.
Of all our injury prone players, only Partey had a prior healthy record. Others we knew and still signed them. And they have barely contributed meaningfully to our course and will still lose us money. ESR wasn't bought so doesn't count.
Someone needs to start holding some people accountable cos it does not seem like we are learning.
"Arsenal will be without Takehiro Tomiyasu for their pre-season tour in the USA because of a knee injury.
On Sunday, Mikel Arteta's 26-man squad heading stateside was confirmed with Tomiyasu a notable omission alongside the likes of Declan Rice, Aaron Ramsdale, Bukayo Saka, David Raya and William Saliba. Participation at Euro 2024 and Copa America is the reason for those five missing out, however Tomiyasu's absence is because of an injury."
I saw this subject was talked about below. You all know my take. I wanted Tomi sold last summer. His injuries will not stop. Instead of renewing him we should have sold him.
If he was top class and the 20 games he's able to play he's absolute insane class, sure. He's not even that good when he's healthy. To be both injury prone as fuck and nothing that special - there are tens of better full backs out there, he's just not worth it.
Tomi is supposed to be that dependable player that you can always rely on. Except he is the exact opposite. I can't believe Artedu didn't make the obvious decision. It's deja vu over and over again.
Not only that but we've got Zina, Tierney, Timber (who for all we know could be Aaron Ramsey v2) and now Calafiori - all full backs and all injury prone as shit (Timber is a ?). White vs the world 3rd season in a row it is.
Ffs stop your moaning
FFS stop echoing the clueless Nigel Tufnell. Both of you are oddities who jump on anyone making any observation that is not 100% Arteta is wonderful mantra.
Nothing to do with Nigel, whoever you are. I don’t mind people criticising but when it becomes moaning…..that said I probably had too many beers when I posted that
I'm trying to find where you said the same about Rich when I wrote one post and he did 10. But you come and write under my post. Jokes!
We will soon find out who is a better signing between Zirkzee and Calafiori
Not even in the US yet, and Tomi is out with a knee injury. Don't tell us that injuries do not matter, especially if they come with $40 million dollar price tags, risk analysis matters.
Tierney getting fit before the end of the window, not in this lifetime.
And for the price that AFC payed for Kiwior, he plays, can play multiple positions, and has been improving. Loan him out? Why, might need him to come in for Gabriel or heaven forbid the Italian kid.
Why not play Timber on the right and build minutes when White needs a breather. Timber just came back from a serious injury and people were saying he was going to play during the sharp end of the season, I said nope. ACL's take up to 2 years to get athletes back to optimum effectiveness.
AFC still need a replacement for Partey if he goes, and someone who can deputize for Saliba as he can't play the entire season without rest!
https://billycarpenter.substack.com/p/scouting-riccardo-calafiori
This is one of the best breakdowns I have seen on Calafiori.. Looks like a good player.. not that concerned about injuries any more then I am with Timber. Cala pretty much could be our left sided Ben White.
I'm not overly excited just because I think we need to improve our goals scored from open play.. and I'm not sure we moved the needle in that regard. Our defense was already the best in the League. If we sign somebody for that left sided midfield to play opposite Odegaard then my excitement level will ramp up. I don't want to rely on Partey to take a midfield spot for another season and I think Havertz will play at the #9 spot.
Great article. Thanks
This guy is insanely good
the writer
The EduBBQ site is great if you want detailed analysis of players and matches, Middy. I don't know what he does for living but he seems to spend all his free time researching and thinking about Arsenal.
Love it that others prepared to spend so much time analysing players and stats. Haven’t got the time and even if I was retired I still wouldn’t have the time
Mid, this was linked yesterday by jwl.
A great read for sure, and thanks for reposting it as others might have missed it!
From arsenal website, Arsenal squad flying to America today:
-----------------
Goalkeepers: Karl Hein, Tommy Setford, Lucas Nygaard, Alexei Rojas
Defenders: Ben White, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Jurrien Timber, Josh Nichols, Jakub Kiwior, Ayden Heaven, Omar Rekik
Midfielders: Thomas Partey, Jorginho, Michal Rosiak, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Martin Odegaard, Emile Smith Rowe, Fabio Vieira, Ethan Nwaneri, Salah–Eddine Oulad M’Hand, Jimi Gower
Forwards: Leandro Trossard, Reiss Nelson, Charles Sagoe Jr, Gabriel Jesus, Eddie Nketiah
"Due to their progression in Copa America and the Euros, Gabriel Magalhaes, Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz will join the squad from July 25.
Meanwhile those players involved in the latter stages of Euro 2024 - Declan Rice, Aaron Ramsdale, Bukayo Saka, David Raya and William Saliba - will link up with their teammates upon our return from America.
Kieran Tierney (hamstring) and Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) will remain in London to receive treatment ..."
I find it depressing that a player rated highly is being already trashed based on what?
Last season Calafieri missed 5 games in Serie A none of which has been attributed to injury.
He was rated also Italy's best player and the transfer fee being quoted is by any standard modest.
So why is he being written off? Most reports suggest that Arsenal are making a first class addition
to their squad.
We complain continuously that there is not enough rotation in our squad. So perhaps Arteta has
taken this on board and is expanding the depth in our defence so that we are less dependent on
just three players.
Rich
You are becoming a bit arrogant.
You imply that people like me are idiots, because we don't understand or agree with
the point you are making, which is that Clafiori is a high risk recruit, because of his
so-called injury record.
Arsenal recruited last season Timber who had no injury record whatsoever and yet
he ended up seriously injured in his first game.
Most of Calafiori's injuries were muscular. In a young player that can be caused by growth spurts. It does not mean that he is injury prone.
You highlighted his injury record. The only injury you listed last season resulted in a 3
day absence.
My daughter was an international athlete and she suffered injuries during her career.
That is an occupational hazard when you play sport. It does not mean that you are
high risk or a potential cripple.
Let's say we want to sell timber now, what can a buyer class him? He missed the whole of last season to an injury that players rarely come back from and remain the same. Yet everyone expects him to solve all of our problems.
“To be honest, he has a point when you take the emotion out of it. Calafiori has had multiple serious injuries in his career. And has never played past 2500 mimutes”
Except when you take emotion out of it, Calafiori’s last two seasons were 2800 and 2700 minutes respectively.
If Kiwior isn't leaving he'll barely get any time to play so his selling value will only go down now if Calafiori is joining for sure. I wonder if a loan is the way to go, so he can play and build more value. I wouldn't put an option to buy on it though. I think he could increase value with a full season playing.
I think Arsenal are selling him. And even if it was on loan it will be with an obligation to buy apparently.
Yeah but you know Kiwior won't be happy with his playing time. He should keep his career in mind. His good trajectory can suffer if he can't even make the bench.
Someone should have a chat with him about this. Also, I'd feel bad for him if he plays so little, having such promising skills.
Why's the whole post filled with Rich trying to convince everyone a deal that's as good as done is a bad idea because of his "injury record"
I will not stand by idly why you denigrate my manager in such way.
Shame on you.
Why do you assume someone is a ‘lefty’ and then try and link this with injudicious thinking?
I agree with you about the inherent risk of signing a player with a poor injury record though!
Lefties are emotional, something to do with weak/absent father figures or domineering female guardians.
“Why do you assume someone is a ‘lefty’ and then try and link this with injudicious thinking?”
Isn’t it obvious?
Only a lefty, low IQ moron could come up with trickle down economics mantra.
Oh wait.
Sorry I asked. Keep away from political labelling for the benefit of the stream please.
Viscious takedown.
Yea but we've pretty much signed him already. He was fit for most of the campaign last season so no not exactly a crooked player.
To be honest, he has a point when you take the emotion out of it. Calafiori has had multiple serious injuries in his career. And has never played past 2500 minutes. We already have Zinchenko and Tomiyasu who don't play more than 1800 and 2000 minutes respectively every season. And Tomiyasu played 2500 minutes for Bologna the season before he signed for us. Now he hasn't played more than 1800 for us in 3 seasons. So It isn't just about Calafiori. His concerns are very fair.
Habesha, I have zero emotional input with this signing, he was probably Bologna's best player last season and he was fit for most of it.
I'd have personally had us sign an attacking player before all else but none of us know exactly what the club knows so here we are
But any Arsenal fan likes new signings. That is the emotion I am talking about. The player looks good and Arsenal fans want him. But they can't see past the house of cards we are building when we already have Tomiyasu (who is already injured) and Zinchenko. So Rich has every right to think this is a bad idea. But I would do it another way, I would sign Calafiori and remove Tomiyasu from the house of cards by signing Pepe.