Good morning Gooners! It’s been a while since I’ve posted and now the season is starting to become tantalisingly close, I’m trying to get back in the swing of things and get back to putting some of my thoughts on this crazy summer to virtual paper!
So what’s happened so far
So quick summary – so far we’ve bought a third choice goalkeepr in Illan Meslier, what we assuming is a back-up left winger in Christos Tzolis and a top, top class midfielder in enemy turned frien, Bruno Guimarães.
In terms of the outs, the serial linked Leandro Trossard move to Turkey finally came to fruition, all round guy good (Premier League Winner!), but admittedly bit part player, Christian Norgaard, moved to Everton and expected transfers of Polish defender Jakub Kiwior and Estonian goalkeeper, Karl Hein, went through, with the duo signing for FC Porto and Werder Bremen respectively.
So all in all, you’d probably call that a quiet-ish start to the summer, but with some solid business already done, with the exception of the purchase of Bruno Guimaraes, which for me has the potentially to be a game-changing which therefore has to be classed as an unbelievable purchase.
Now for the bad news…
For me there are two burning issues with what has happened so far, which is completely warping our perspective on our dealings to date.
Firstly, the above feels like a good start – but that’s the problem, this isn’t really the start – the season starts in two weeks, the window closes in just over three and it feels like we have A LOT of work still to be done.
Secondly, and probably most poignantly, the above does not include the deals that we didn’t manage to get over the line and that’s the bit that really starts to sting.
I was annoyed as anyone with the way the Morgan Rogers deal went down, but that’s how it goes sometimes, we stuck to our principles, we moved on and I could get my head around that. We then seemingly pivoted to the best left winger in the world, made every Gooner dream of what might be, only to end up empty handed once again.
That was a few days ago now and what really irks me on this one, and what probably drove me back to the keyboard, is we don’t seem to have reacted at all!! Recent history has shown that Arsenal are quite good at the whole spinning plates bit and are quick to move onto the next signing if the deal doesn’t go as planned. However, on this occasion, we’ve had this knife in our backs for what feels like an eternity now and have still heard little or no news around potential alternatives. What is really troubling though, looking at what’s around on the market, to the untrained eye, there doesn’t seem to be many alternatives out there!!
Bradley Barcola seems like the obvious next target, but the fees being banded around by PSG are ridiculous at present and he seems Liverpool bound in any case. Julian Alvarez would undoubtedly elevate our attack, but Atletico don’t seem to want to play ball, he wants Barca anyway and he’s not exactly a left winger anyway – so there’s three big problems with that deal! A few loose links to Ilman Ndiaye don’t seem to sound quite right and there’s an argument that this is not much of an upgrade on what we have already, so who else is there?
Historically we’ve been linked to Kenan Yildiz, an apparent superstar in the making. This one seems plausible, even despite his recent new contract, as Juventus are knowlingly a bit strapped for cash, so I could foresee a scenario where we revisit this deal. I know little about the player, but what I do know of Yildiz, he isn’t the pacy fleet footed winger that we seem to be looking for. Normally I wouldn’t call that much a deal breaker, as although I’ve been obsessed with pacy players since the days of Nicolas Anelka, Marc Overmars and, of course, Thierry Henry, it’s probably a trait that is less and less important in the modern game, particularly how Mikel Arteta’s teams play it anyway.
That said, I’ve been watching (and re-watching and re-watching!) the season review for last season (where we won the Premier League – you know the one!) and the one thing that I probably didn’t notice that much at the time was how much Gabriel Martinelli’s pace came in handy.
He came up trumps in some massive games, most notably against Manchester City at The Emirates and also against Bayern Munich, and if we were to replace Martinelli with a so-called upgrade – something that I think most Gooners will agree that we have needed for a little while now – but one that didn’t have what you’d call ‘raw pace’, I really think we’d be missing the point. We want to add new dimensions to this attack, not take them away, so bringing in a Yildiz like signing, would likely elevate us in a lot of ways, but we would still undeniably be losing a key asset from last season and I just don’t think you build squads that way. You’ve got to find a way to add to the squad, without losing whatever you had to start with and with a couple of weeks to go, I really don’t see where Andrea Berta goes from here. Admittedly, this is driving me insane and is making me look at my phone – in search of transfer rumours – a lot more than I should be doing!!
We need to talk about the thing that also was a thing but ultimately didn’t become a thing
I don’t want to spend long on this, but we have to talk about the Vincius Junior dagger, that left all Arsenal fans feeling pretty empty inside. I want to start with a bit about why I was excited about the deal, a bit about what this means for us as a club, another bit about what actually went down and then a petty, bitter bit at the end.
So firstly, I was really excited about this deal for two main reasons. I’ve seen him play, I know he’s really good, but I don’t have an encyclopedic knowledge about him as a player so I didn’t get carried away too much with about what he was going to bring to our attack and what we could look forward to seeing him do for us. I didn’t break my rule of not watching YouTube clips until a deal was either done or near as damn it, so thankfully I hadn’t tortured myself with all of his skills and goals and pictured him wearing the shirt and so on. The first reason that made me really excited about this deal was the message, the statement, how much everyone else would crap themselves at the thought of us getting a deal of this size over the line. That was a very exciting thought. The other main reason for my excitement, was Bukayo Saka. We’ve seen Saka been doubled up on in every game in the past two seasons, sometimes triple marked and it just feels like a slog, seeing him facing up a quarter of the oppositions team every time he got the ball. If we had signed Vinicius Junior, that would just have been a thing of the past. That just could not happen anymore and I was loving the idea of freeing up both sides of our attack in that way. So that’s where I was coming from.
In terms of what this means for us as a club, I think this could be huge, even though we didn’t get it over the line. The intent was there and we took a swing, a pretty gargantuan swing at that and everyone knows we did and everyone knows that this sort of deal is no longer beyond our reach. We didn’t get it over the line because the player wanted to have an easy life in the sunshine (Edit – save it for the petty section!). It was not through lack of ambition, lack of funds or lack of vision. This deal was a lot closer than many people with the corridors of Real Madrid will like to admit and I don’t think this is the last deal of this nature that we try and get over the line.
So the deal itself was apparently a goer and Arsenal were growing in confidence of getting it over the line as Real Madrid had drawn a line in the sand that they were unwilling to cross and then they realised that Vincius Junior wasn’t going to cave, so they caved instead and broke their wage structure in a way that is going to have ramifications from them as a club down the line. I think that’s it really.
What Real Madrid offered him was enough for him to feel loved and wanted again, so he took a pay cut to stay at the so-called biggest club in the world, to have Kylian Mbappe and Jude Bellingham carry all of the heavy stuff for him and so he didn’t have to venture out of his little Real Madrid cosy cocoon. In case it wasn’t already apparent, I’ve now moved onto the petty, bitter section bit now. Vinicius Junior passed up the chance to become the biggest name in the strongest league in the world to be the third best player at a team has a 50/50 chance of winning the league every season. For his loyalty, he also gets to enjoy racist abuse on a fortnightly basis and has the privelege to play for a Manager who believes he brings it on himself anyway. Seriously, stop me at any point, when I say something that isn’t true!! I actually had a look over his numbers the other day as well and he’s not exactly prolific either and I don’t remember him doing anything of note against us in 180 mins of football (aside from tapping in after being given the ball due to a defensive error) so whatever. We move on. Vinicius Junior gets to stand still, but we move on and that’s all I have to say on the matter.
What else are we trying to do
In other transfer news, I really think there’s a good chance that we bring in Ezri Konsa, and despite my initial snobbery, I think it’s a deal that makes a lot of sense. This one just depends on the price. We can’t pay £60m for him. I saw a quote the other day that said if we bought Konsa for £60m, he’d be our most expensive defender in the current squad, but the worst of the lot and I don’t think that’s far off, despite seeming very harsh! We have good defenders. We really do and a lot of them have come at very reasonable prices, so I think, aside from maybe Cristhian Mosquera, Konsa would be our worst defender. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t bring him in though.
From a profile prospective, he’s Premier League proven, rarely injured, quick across the ground, can play multiple positions, has impressive passing figures and hardly ever loses a duel. Does sound like someone a certain Manager would be interested in, doesn’t it?!
The age is the issue. Same age as Guimaeres, turns 29 in October, but without the world class tag that comes with it. Still, if we can get a deal done for £45m, I think that’s good business. We’re talking about a stand-in for, in my opinion, the best defender in world football right now, in William Saliba. We can’t afford to scrimp when there’s a Premier League title on the line. We need depth, just get it done. It’s not as bad as the left winger market, but there’s not much quality out there that would hit the level that we need. Who else is there?! Cristian Romero?! We’re not going there, we’re really not.
I’m hoping for another surprise signing as well, like Piero Hincapie from last summer, where we thought we were done but then bring in a world class player at the last minute who turns out to be an absolute legend. Yeah, I like those sort of deals, let’s do another one like that please Berta!
On the other side of the book, we need to shift a few players. Below is my summary of who needs to go, to where and why.
Gabriel Jesus – anywhere. Jesus’ time with us has come to an end and I think for all parties, he needs a fresh start. There’s been some talk about Italy and that seems a really good fit for him. The only issue is they’re all broke, so hopefully they can find some change down the back of the sofa and get this deal done. Napoli? Something like that.
Reiss Nelson – I was there that day. A moment that my son and I will never forget. Thank you, Reiss. Truly, but it’s time to go. He needs to re-ignite his career somewhere else. Saw a link to West Ham which made sense to me, but I’ve also seen Benfica mentioned and I can see him going abroad, so best of luck to him wherever he ends up.
Fabio Vieira – one of those players that we sometimes forget we have. Fabio Vieira is wanting desperately by Hamburg, who, if I recall correctly we pretty much gave Sambi Lokonga to last summer so this feels like they’re hoping we’re going to do the same again with Vieira. I’m done being a charity case. If they can’t afford the £15m asking price, that’s his agents problem. Find him a club that is willing to pay it, or he can spend a year in the reserves. We need him gone, but we can’t be getting into the habit of giving players away, especially ones that cost £35m!!!
Gabriel Martinelli – IF that start new left winger comes in, I think this might be the summer where we say goodbye to dear Gabriel Martinelli. I’ve loved watching him play for this club since the day he arrived. Plays the game with so much passion. I heard a quote from a coach who said that they loved coaching him because he plays every game as if it’s the last time he’s every going to get to play football. I like that. I use that quite a lot with my son’s local football team, feels like quite a powerful example of how to play the game. That said, Martinelli has really stagnated as a player over the past couple of seasons and we need far more from that left hand side that he’s been giving us, so I think it’s time us both to start a fresh. In terms of where he can go, that’s the issue as he’s on big money and there’s only some many places that are willing to pay those kind of salaries, so he’s limited. The one thing I will say is, I don’t want him to go to Saudi Arabia. I’d rather keep him that see him sink to that level.
Tommy Setford – loan. Anywhere he can play. Get this guy some minutes and let’s see what he can do.
Ethan Nwaneri – tough one. Sale or loan? If we were to sell, it would have to be with a buy back, which would likely mean selling him abroad. I heard RB Liepzig mentioned, with a 2 year buyback arranged. I’d be okay with that. I’ve not been impressed with what I’ve seen in pre-season, but in Ethan’s defence, he’s playing in some pretty disjointed midfields and probably not in his best position within that midfield three, so I don’t think that’s all his fault. The talent is there, it just depends on whether we can get it out of him. Either a sale with a two year buyback or a dry loan, would be fine here. I really like the player, but I just can’t see where he’s going to get the minutes in our midfield right now. In 2 years time, he’ll be 21, Martin Odegaard will be 29 and so will Eberechi Eze, so the sell with buyback deal does make a lot of sense to me. One thing is for sure, we can’t be selling him outright. That has to be off the table.
In summary
So that’s it for now. I’m going to go back to refreshing my phone, hoping for updates regarding a new left winger that will probably never come, but hopefully I’m wrong and I’m back here waxing lyrical about our latest signing in the next few days. Let’s see!
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