Xhaka left Arsenal and won 2 trophies. He realised this is a good life, winning trophies. Yet here at Arsenal our fans keep saying “United had more awful season than us, FA cup is beyond the club like Arsenal! We have bigger fish to fry. Oh we cannot take on City, Calofori is better signing than Yoro" 🤡
Leverkusen just beat Bayern with a squad so cheaper and a young but brilliant manager. Xhaka mudding Arteta 😆😆😆. But if I say same thing I am toxic and spoilt. This is The Arsenal not Arteta FC.
"... But but he changed the culture of the club. But but everything is perfect and super Mik is perfect and beautiful ..."
I want the club to have a bigger demand of Arteta and the fan to demand more.
Arteta doesn't survive with no trophies in 4 years at City, Chelsea, Manchester United, Madrid, Barca, Bayern, Juventus, Milan, inter, PSG. You cannot even think about it.
He doesn't survive in any other top European club that spends almost a billion pounds and have zero trophies after 4 years. In the 5th year, there will be ultimatums and not a new contract.
I want the manager of my club, to be ruthlessly winning trophies, and have a bigger hunger than the fans for trophies. Madrid the most successful club have a fan base that is more hungry for trophies. They have more trophies in the last 5 years than we have in the last 20 years. That is the kind of club I want the Arsenal to be like.
Xhaka said it was two steps forwards for him to leave Arsenal for Bayer
How’s that insulting? He’s had a generationally impressive season in Germany last year, one for the record books. Of course it was two massive steps for him.
He’s not implying that Bayer Neverkursen is a bigger club than Arsenal
🔴⚫️ Granit Xhaka: “The move from Arsenal to Bayer Leverkusen was not a step back, but rather two steps forward”. “We have to do better than last season now”.
That's the guy a lot of you consider an Arsenal legend. An absolute cretin. Massively shared tweet of fans making fun of us cause of his retardness. Well done and thanks for nothing.
The fans of our competitors are literally having a field day with Xhaka's idiotic interview. An Arsenal "legend" being disrespectful to us. Incredible.
“The fans of our competitors are literally having a field day with Xhaka's idiotic interview. “
That’s because most fans are cretinous morons.
You should probably file this one under the same heading as playerX says the managerY he’s currently playing under is by far the best he’s ever played for, a comment many football fans get wet in the crotch over , especially whenever it suits their agenda.
Did you really expect Xhaka say this was an amazing season in a weaker league than he was used to playing with Arsenal.
Let’s see how they do in the CL this season.
Or even in Bundesliga, because many of their results had an are you fucking kidding me aspect to them last season.
Tom you know what no one cares about "are you fuckijg kidding me aspect" to a trophy win. Winners win, losers make excuses and belittle winners achievements because they don't have the ability to think and respect the grit, dedication, fighting spirit, will and hard work it takes to win.
This is why many of you guys on legrove always try to water down trophies. Now you are saying, "let see how they do in the CL this season", that just shows someone who doesn't respect winning enough. Well how would you, this club hasn't won or being in a final in 4 years.
They are champions, who were 1 final away from an unbeaten treble. Show some Respect!!! Maybe Xhaka knows what he is saying because he was under Arteta for 4 years after Arteta begged him to stay. He knows what it is like to fail, bottle the league, get 8th, play no European football. Now, he know what it feels like the win trophies
I’m on the fence a bit here but do think we could see a big season from Vieira. We’ve seen it in flashes before and if he strengthen up a bit and stay injury free then we could have a great player on our hands.
At one time, The Smith was on his way to be considered our highest potential young player ahead of Martinelli and Saka.
I can't believe his career has shaped up in such way where he's no longer needed at 24 yo. He's been our own for 14 years. It's a sad day for me as a fan as in his breakthrough season, he was my favorite player.
I'm hopeful it's for his own good as apparently Arteta had no intention of giving him a bigger role here even when he's been healthy for 7-8 months (courtesy of Odegaard).
ESR was given the #10 and with that, the promise and responsibility of becoming a future legend for us. In my eyes, he was exactly the way I imagine #10 should play - explosive, inventive, dangerous, quick, always trying to create something and be a menace. A bit too risky of a player for Arteta's liking I guess.
I’m not going to comment on if merino is a good signing or not (if it goes ahead) but I will trust the club if they think he’s worth it
But I do generally have the question of why had basically no one heard of him until the euros, considering he’s 28 years old?
A few possibilities:
1) he’s always been great but flew totally under the radar
2) he was a very late bloomer
3) he hasn’t been brilliant overall but just had a good last 1-2 seasons (extended purple patch?)
I’m not going to assume one way or the other and will be fine to wait and see. Obviously his YouTube comps are very good (they always are tho).
But that question is bothering me. Why had no one heard of a 28 year old until 5 mins ago but he’s supposedly good enough for arsenal? Has anyone here *honestly* been tracking this guy for some time and knows the answer?
From what I can see is he picked up 5,000 minutes at Osasuna where he started his career.
Went to Dortmund in 2016/17, but only played 312 minutes.
Then went to Newcastle and only played 1,400 minutes in 2017/18.
Went to Sociedad in 2018/19 and has since played 19.449 minutes there, including in the CL last season.
Spanish international with 28 caps.
£21 million isn’t massive money, if we get him on a 3 + 1…. Seems like a reasonable deal.
It’s not overly expensive… Won the most headers in Europe last season, and the most duels, and if we take Rice out of our midfield, we’re a bit lightweight.
Arteta is from San Sabastian, so decent chance he’s a Real Sociedad fan, and will know the player well.
It's clearly the "meta" for clubs to sell their youth. It's the best way to deal with the laws, that by the look of it, are no longer a joke. Clubs want to buy new players for a lot of cash? Easy - just bring in top youth talents that will be then sold in a few years to fund the next transfer windows.
Of course, you've got to have a good academy setup. Or the other option, just send the player in a loan to loan to loan merry-go-round and a player with 0 minutes played for the team that owns him, will reap the sweet rewards.
The sad thing is, academy players are not seen as the future of the club, they are looked as financial tools to budget the club's other deals as their sales are "pure" profit and are instantly added to the calculations in comparison to selling a non-academy player where the calculations are spread over 4 or 5 years.
Instead of being persisted on, supported and relied on as the most loyal, most dedicated, most loved and celebrated, the academy players are sold at an auction. One after another.
Admittedly, we've managed to stay away from this most popular way to raise funds in football at the moment. Probably because our youth system was kind of bad.
Looking at Chavs who've sold players like Mount, Abraham, Tomori, Livramento, Guehi, Ake, Loftus-Cheek, Bertrand, Traore, Boga, Ampadu, Hudson-Odoi... The list will be even longer after this summer's sale of Maatsen, Hall, Hutchinson, the imminent departure of Chalobah and Broja. Same will happen to Gilchrist, Casadei It's also why Gallagher was touted to leave but the fans were so much against it the owners got swayed to keep him.
City have also been doing the same for many years. Under Guardiola (since 2016), they've sold more than 50 academy players including the likes of Harwood-Bellis, Doyle, Palmer, Iheanacho, Lavia, Brahim Diaz, Angelino, Sancho, Trafford, Pedro Porro, Borges, Douglas Luiz, Bazunu, Shea Charles, Gunn, Unal, Nmecha, Jack Harrison, Matondo, Aaron Mooy, Udozie, Antuna, Correira, Ilic, Denayer, Maffeo.
Same as Chavs, we're talking about over half a billion of pounds.
Arsenal are late to the party, probably because we were not happy with the antics of buying young players just to sell them, we are or were more about internal promoting, our values and the desire to be nice. In a ruthless sport as football, a time comes where you have to be just that - ruthless. It seems it's that time at Arsenal.
P.S. As I'm writing this, I read Fab Romano's post of Connor Gallagher moving to Atletico Madrid for £30m. It truly is a fire sale of academy players. It's the latest loophole abuse in the Premier League.
ESR leaving is a sad day. He is the first plauer we have sold in years that has the potential to make us regret it in a few years. But it had to be done. Between him and Vieira, he was the only one bringing in the big fee. Plus he is rarely fit these past 2 seasons and we have to make room for Nwaneri.
Calafiori coming in has made our defense even more strong. He just needs to remain fit to play a crucial role in our season.
But tonight's game v liverbirds shows defence needs tightening and Jesus is still a donkey
Who is going to be our new no 10?
New post
Pedro - your comments aren't on in new post about Cala, you can read it but no window appears to comment.
Comments work ok
That Xhaka quote 😆😆😆😆.
Xhaka left Arsenal and won 2 trophies. He realised this is a good life, winning trophies. Yet here at Arsenal our fans keep saying “United had more awful season than us, FA cup is beyond the club like Arsenal! We have bigger fish to fry. Oh we cannot take on City, Calofori is better signing than Yoro" 🤡
Leverkusen just beat Bayern with a squad so cheaper and a young but brilliant manager. Xhaka mudding Arteta 😆😆😆. But if I say same thing I am toxic and spoilt. This is The Arsenal not Arteta FC.
"... But but he changed the culture of the club. But but everything is perfect and super Mik is perfect and beautiful ..."
What a fanbase.
Ben..
What exactly do you want the club to do, hand Arteta his P45, and then give a new manager a swing at it?
I want the club to have a bigger demand of Arteta and the fan to demand more.
Arteta doesn't survive with no trophies in 4 years at City, Chelsea, Manchester United, Madrid, Barca, Bayern, Juventus, Milan, inter, PSG. You cannot even think about it.
He doesn't survive in any other top European club that spends almost a billion pounds and have zero trophies after 4 years. In the 5th year, there will be ultimatums and not a new contract.
I want the manager of my club, to be ruthlessly winning trophies, and have a bigger hunger than the fans for trophies. Madrid the most successful club have a fan base that is more hungry for trophies. They have more trophies in the last 5 years than we have in the last 20 years. That is the kind of club I want the Arsenal to be like.
Go and supporting Real Madrid might be your best option
No Bob, I already support Arsenal and will keep supporting this club even though you Artetasexuals have infested the ambitions of this club.
One day, we will be a club that celebrates trophies more than mangers, sauces, handsomenes and the victim culture.
You’re not an Arsenal fan but a spoilt brat who whines when he doesn’t get what he wants
Yes I am spoilt because we stop winning trophies. Failures spoils things. I don't celebrate failure
What a guy!
Xhaka said it was two steps forwards for him to leave Arsenal for Bayer
How’s that insulting? He’s had a generationally impressive season in Germany last year, one for the record books. Of course it was two massive steps for him.
He’s not implying that Bayer Neverkursen is a bigger club than Arsenal
🔴⚫️ Granit Xhaka: “The move from Arsenal to Bayer Leverkusen was not a step back, but rather two steps forward”. “We have to do better than last season now”.
That's the guy a lot of you consider an Arsenal legend. An absolute cretin. Massively shared tweet of fans making fun of us cause of his retardness. Well done and thanks for nothing.
The fans of our competitors are literally having a field day with Xhaka's idiotic interview. An Arsenal "legend" being disrespectful to us. Incredible.
“The fans of our competitors are literally having a field day with Xhaka's idiotic interview. “
That’s because most fans are cretinous morons.
You should probably file this one under the same heading as playerX says the managerY he’s currently playing under is by far the best he’s ever played for, a comment many football fans get wet in the crotch over , especially whenever it suits their agenda.
Did you really expect Xhaka say this was an amazing season in a weaker league than he was used to playing with Arsenal.
Let’s see how they do in the CL this season.
Or even in Bundesliga, because many of their results had an are you fucking kidding me aspect to them last season.
Tom you know what no one cares about "are you fuckijg kidding me aspect" to a trophy win. Winners win, losers make excuses and belittle winners achievements because they don't have the ability to think and respect the grit, dedication, fighting spirit, will and hard work it takes to win.
This is why many of you guys on legrove always try to water down trophies. Now you are saying, "let see how they do in the CL this season", that just shows someone who doesn't respect winning enough. Well how would you, this club hasn't won or being in a final in 4 years.
They are champions, who were 1 final away from an unbeaten treble. Show some Respect!!! Maybe Xhaka knows what he is saying because he was under Arteta for 4 years after Arteta begged him to stay. He knows what it is like to fail, bottle the league, get 8th, play no European football. Now, he know what it feels like the win trophies
Leverkusen had an amazing season and Alonso deserves all the credit he gets.
Dissenter was always full of praise for this fella but is now against Arsenal fans crying over Smith Rowe. Can't make this shit up.
What’s with all the crocodile tears for ESR?
I dunno any gooner who wanted him to stay behind this summer.
His exit is great for the player and the club.
They need to do something about Viera too because they are seeking transfers that make him redundant.
Vieira will stay and have a huge role next season (if he's given enough chances and he doesn't suffer another unlucky injury).
All the fans that want him gone now, and have wanted him gone for a long time, will see how wrong they were during the course of the upcoming season.
I’m on the fence a bit here but do think we could see a big season from Vieira. We’ve seen it in flashes before and if he strengthen up a bit and stay injury free then we could have a great player on our hands.
At one time, The Smith was on his way to be considered our highest potential young player ahead of Martinelli and Saka.
I can't believe his career has shaped up in such way where he's no longer needed at 24 yo. He's been our own for 14 years. It's a sad day for me as a fan as in his breakthrough season, he was my favorite player.
I'm hopeful it's for his own good as apparently Arteta had no intention of giving him a bigger role here even when he's been healthy for 7-8 months (courtesy of Odegaard).
ESR was given the #10 and with that, the promise and responsibility of becoming a future legend for us. In my eyes, he was exactly the way I imagine #10 should play - explosive, inventive, dangerous, quick, always trying to create something and be a menace. A bit too risky of a player for Arteta's liking I guess.
Real sociedad are anti football specialists, its the san sebastian way of playing football.
Merino score 1 headed goal during his time in the EPL, he is the football equivalent of a neanderthal and happy to sit on the bench
I will keep doing the good work, even though they keep throwing stones
I see you cancelled your ‘I love my longstuff, is that positive enough for you? ‘ post for your deluded, cult of Sid vibes!
Masterful fortune cookie malarkey!
Just try and post something positive, challenge yourself!
Or even try to post something that makes sense
I’m not going to comment on if merino is a good signing or not (if it goes ahead) but I will trust the club if they think he’s worth it
But I do generally have the question of why had basically no one heard of him until the euros, considering he’s 28 years old?
A few possibilities:
1) he’s always been great but flew totally under the radar
2) he was a very late bloomer
3) he hasn’t been brilliant overall but just had a good last 1-2 seasons (extended purple patch?)
I’m not going to assume one way or the other and will be fine to wait and see. Obviously his YouTube comps are very good (they always are tho).
But that question is bothering me. Why had no one heard of a 28 year old until 5 mins ago but he’s supposedly good enough for arsenal? Has anyone here *honestly* been tracking this guy for some time and knows the answer?
From what I can see is he picked up 5,000 minutes at Osasuna where he started his career.
Went to Dortmund in 2016/17, but only played 312 minutes.
Then went to Newcastle and only played 1,400 minutes in 2017/18.
Went to Sociedad in 2018/19 and has since played 19.449 minutes there, including in the CL last season.
Spanish international with 28 caps.
£21 million isn’t massive money, if we get him on a 3 + 1…. Seems like a reasonable deal.
It’s not overly expensive… Won the most headers in Europe last season, and the most duels, and if we take Rice out of our midfield, we’re a bit lightweight.
Arteta is from San Sabastian, so decent chance he’s a Real Sociedad fan, and will know the player well.
Pedro
Podcast was good, you need to get Ash back on the regular.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5650166/2024/07/30/arsenal-calafiori-transfer-profile/
Long read but insightful.
It's clearly the "meta" for clubs to sell their youth. It's the best way to deal with the laws, that by the look of it, are no longer a joke. Clubs want to buy new players for a lot of cash? Easy - just bring in top youth talents that will be then sold in a few years to fund the next transfer windows.
Of course, you've got to have a good academy setup. Or the other option, just send the player in a loan to loan to loan merry-go-round and a player with 0 minutes played for the team that owns him, will reap the sweet rewards.
The sad thing is, academy players are not seen as the future of the club, they are looked as financial tools to budget the club's other deals as their sales are "pure" profit and are instantly added to the calculations in comparison to selling a non-academy player where the calculations are spread over 4 or 5 years.
Instead of being persisted on, supported and relied on as the most loyal, most dedicated, most loved and celebrated, the academy players are sold at an auction. One after another.
Admittedly, we've managed to stay away from this most popular way to raise funds in football at the moment. Probably because our youth system was kind of bad.
Looking at Chavs who've sold players like Mount, Abraham, Tomori, Livramento, Guehi, Ake, Loftus-Cheek, Bertrand, Traore, Boga, Ampadu, Hudson-Odoi... The list will be even longer after this summer's sale of Maatsen, Hall, Hutchinson, the imminent departure of Chalobah and Broja. Same will happen to Gilchrist, Casadei It's also why Gallagher was touted to leave but the fans were so much against it the owners got swayed to keep him.
City have also been doing the same for many years. Under Guardiola (since 2016), they've sold more than 50 academy players including the likes of Harwood-Bellis, Doyle, Palmer, Iheanacho, Lavia, Brahim Diaz, Angelino, Sancho, Trafford, Pedro Porro, Borges, Douglas Luiz, Bazunu, Shea Charles, Gunn, Unal, Nmecha, Jack Harrison, Matondo, Aaron Mooy, Udozie, Antuna, Correira, Ilic, Denayer, Maffeo.
Same as Chavs, we're talking about over half a billion of pounds.
Arsenal are late to the party, probably because we were not happy with the antics of buying young players just to sell them, we are or were more about internal promoting, our values and the desire to be nice. In a ruthless sport as football, a time comes where you have to be just that - ruthless. It seems it's that time at Arsenal.
P.S. As I'm writing this, I read Fab Romano's post of Connor Gallagher moving to Atletico Madrid for £30m. It truly is a fire sale of academy players. It's the latest loophole abuse in the Premier League.
ESR leaving is a sad day. He is the first plauer we have sold in years that has the potential to make us regret it in a few years. But it had to be done. Between him and Vieira, he was the only one bringing in the big fee. Plus he is rarely fit these past 2 seasons and we have to make room for Nwaneri.
Calafiori coming in has made our defense even more strong. He just needs to remain fit to play a crucial role in our season.
https://x.com/AfcBanks_/status/1818032494551384151?t=O-u3nJjckLwvaGnAHclXEg&s=19
For les miserables.