SESKO TARGETED BY RIVAL TEAM?!

SLOVENIAN ACE HAS A VERY RICH CLUB ON HIS TRAIL

The nightmare scenario of another club coming for a player we tried to sign last summer MIGHT be manifesting itself in France. PSG is reportedly interested in bringing the Slovenian to Paris after being impressed with him this season. Would be egg on the MUANI IN crowd if Arsenal's taste in better strikers was confirmed by us losing out on our main target. A Pyrrhic win for me, but a win I’d take on the battlefield of the Le Grove comments section.

I still think the most likely name that lands in our squad this summer in the shape of a striker is going to be Benjamin. Alex Isak at £150m or whatever number they'll put on him just feels like a bit of a batshit move considering how few of those big-boy signings actually pay off. Find the next guy and make them a star... as long as it's not a 3-season project.

My view is that Arsenal are signing a rotation option striker that we can develop into a killer - Isak feels like a wishful headline more than anything. An Arsene Wenger ‘we tried’ move. Arsenal need someone with those Isak attributes. A player who can do all the off-the-ball bits, hold up in the box, and punish with a fox-in-the-box mentality. Sesko scored a lovely goal Sunday night, he surged on the counter, cut the ball back onto his right foot, skinning a defender in the process, and curled a sweet finish home. The pace is real, I've seen him do it against Madrid... but someone who works in sport told me the pace is mostly irrelevant at Arsenal when you're playing sides that dig in with low and mid blocks.

BUT... what you might say to me is: Against teams like Aston Villa, being able to go over the top would be very handy. Having a lurker from corners (Watkins style) we're defending that can skin defenders would also be a handy weapon. Pace, you might say, is never a wasted attribute... unless it's Nuno Tavares, bless his soul.

We're also being linked with Moise Kean. The ex-Everton striker flopped under Carlo but has found his stride in Serie A, banging in 19 goals this season. He scored zero goals last season. 8 in 40 the season before. The Italian might be having his breakout, finally realizing the outrageous potential, but it'd be quite the risk on Arsenal's part. Especially considering some of the attitude and focus issues that have followed him through his career - he had a lockdown party, I know how the Brits felt about those types.

It's a no from me... smells like agent talk from a player who likes to move every summer.

William Saliba has been linked to Madrid by 'the most reliable Spanish journalist' of all time. One I've never heard of, despite personally being a transfer tweaker of the highest order. Amazing how every summer I always hear about ten absolutely disgusting transfer stories from 'the most reliable' so and so and in the end, the only person who is doing God's work is David Ornstein. The pile-up of ITK dead bodies in January was spectacular. You always have to remember, no one is putting their job on the line for consistent leaks unless they are getting paid for them. The big papers will put cash down for them because they drive subscribers. But no one is giving ZubiZubiDo69 insider info that could cost them one of the best jobs in football.

Madrid are a destabilizing threat to Saliba, no doubt, but only if we can't offer him the sort of money he needs to stay happy. Arsenal are likely trying very hard right now to get our superstars tied down to new mega deals so we can push our wages spend on players a little higher than 5th.

I do think one of the things that goes under the radar with the Arsenal transfer spend is that we're behind our rivals over 5 years mostly because we didn't need to spend any money to get the best young winger, the best young centre back, and the best young creative midfielder. That's £400m worth of players we picked up for... £70m. Crazy, crazy, crazy.

Even Gabi Martinelli, who has fallen from grace quite badly over the past two seasons would probably collect £70m on the open market. Not bad for a guy who cost Arsenal £5m. Probably Edu's best piece of work when you consider Manchester United had him on trial and sent him home.

I do think there's going to be a bit of a reboot of our forward line this summer. There's a lot of talent on the market that looks better than what we have on the left. I suspect Trossard is going to take a move to Saudi. He's an older player that'll finish his career with less than £15m in the bank (poor soul) because he moved to a big club late. That makes a Saudi move a necessity for him like it was for Ivan Toney. That then leaves us with Gabi Martinelli on the left and I'm really, really struggling to see him start next season if there are options like Nico Williams and Semenyo on the menu. That left side right now is not very reliable. I love what Martinelli stands for, but the G&As are not where they should be, and I think we can find someone to step ahead of him, and my hope is they come from the Premier League.

My big question is this: I think Arsenal might need to spend £250m this summer and I think that is what they'll do. But... the big wrench in the machine is this: You can't sell Gabi Jesus now. He is f*cked. Even if he came back from this injury early, no one is giving him £200k a week after he blew out his other knee. He is now a giant red flag that will sit on our wage bill for two more years.

But... someone has to go to fund a lavish summer.

Reiss Nelson, Nuno Tavares, Mika Biereth's sell-on clause, Tomiyasu, Zinchenko, Kiwior all get you money... but not big dog money. I don't want to put names down here that could curse us for all eternity, but there are big dog players we love who now have competition for their place in the starting 11. Arsenal haven't let a single player go in 5 years that all our fans universally love... that might change this summer. It might break our hearts. But we'll see.

Finally, Spurs lost another game. Big Ange wants everyone to know that it's not his fault his team that are extremely intense on and off the ball are totally broken. The media just likes narratives like: 'You said you always win in your second season' and I agree. That is a narrative. The media do like it. It's fair game, mate.

Man City signed a really expensive Rodri replacement for above market value and he has a history of injury problems and he picked up an injury in his first game against Leyton Orient. Pray for Pep.

Arne Slot put out a weak side in the FA Cup with no stars on the bench because I suspect... and please don't call me crazy... he wanted to be out of the competition.

Job done. If Arsenal had an effective media, they'd be savaging his disrespect of the FA Cup on TalkSport right now saying things like 'he's foreign, he doesn't get what it means to the fans.' But we don't have that sort of narrative control. Never forget, the week we beat City 5-1, a trouncing for the ages, we spent 7 days debating a hilarious counter-punch from an 18-year-old who scored his first ever Premier League goal.

Hold on, am I part of the media eco-system? Did I just criticise my own pathetic ineptitude around messaging? AM I ONLY GOOD FOR PGMOL POLICY BLOGS? This is a very sad day.

But NOTHING and I mean NOTHING is as sad as being a United fan. Remember when INEOS arrived, promising to fix the Old Trafford roof and Matt Kandela said on the podcast this was a good first point of action? Well, they didn't fix the roof, they want government subsidies for a new stadium, and their new manager is a systems zealot to admirable/hilarious levels. Look at how few times he's tweaked the shape of a United side on its KNEES. CRYING OUT HERE. This man should be trying things his way for 2 minutes, realize it won't work with his bag of mess squad, then switch up to the dirtiest deep block ever seen. But he's too fancy for that line of thinking. Too laaahhh de dah. Too 'hipster' with that lovely clean-cut beard, playing his Fontaines DC soundtrack, musing over whether to buy that Porsche jacket on the ALD website. Did I just describe you? Grow up. You're 47 next week.

Ok, that’s basically all the juice I have to give. Why don’t you get some AOP in your system. Johnny said some mad shit on the podcast about Harry Kane. This one is free to listen to, just buy the ‘men’s’ pills I’m selling, and give us a 5* review. Don’t put that I told you to buy the pills on the review either. Can’t have my meds sponsors getting angry. Enjoy!x