Norgaard is here, Madueke by tomorrow

Christian Norgaard became the third player we have signed this window, so far. After Kepa from Chelsea, and Zubimendi from Real Sociedad, we have got a Jorginho’s replacement from Brentford in a relatively cheap transfer. Lets look into these in details –

Kepa and goal keepers

Kepa became the 7th GoalKeeper Mikel Arteta has signed for Arsenal. Mind you, he inherited two world class goal keepers in Bernd Leno and Emi Martinez and made these signings on top of that. Selling Martinez was poor decision after his great run for the only trophy Mikel won while Leno slowed down and wasn’t suited for playing from the back. Mikel did try some cheap tricks initially to not spend much money so he got Runarsson, which was a complete failure. Ryan was on a 6 months loan in 2021 but failed to make any impact. Matt Turner joined us on a long term contract for 4.5m and was later sold on to Forest for about 7m, he was hardly average and didn’t deserve to be in the team. We got Ramsdale and sold him after 3 years, while Raya took the number 1 spot. Neto joined us for a season-long loan after Ramsdale departure to fill the vacant bench.

Out of all these signings and loan moves, Ramsdale was a good one. He played for 3 seasons, helped us in qualifying for Champions League and had some great energy on the field. Loved that lad, but the errors in him under pressure started costing us lately and Mikel decided to bring in David Raya. Raya has been solid, much calmer and we will probably don’t need to upgrade him any more. Overall, we spent a lot of money to get back to where we were in goalkeeping department, under Mikel.

Frankly, I don’t care about Kepa’s signing. It’s really poor that we are looking for loans each season and it’s good that we have got a permanent back up to Raya. Kepa will sit on bench and will only be used for dead games. I don’t mind that if it costs only 5m.

Martin Zubimendi – the new DM

Well, we were told that Declan Rice is coming in to take the Thomas Partey’s position eventually, but during this ‘eventually’ era, Mikel found out that Havertz is not a CAM and Merino is a better CF that Havertz, so he had to shift Declan Rice in an advance role. I am guessing Rice will keep his spot this season as well, and with Partey left out of a new contract, we needed a DM. Zubimendi is coming for that role, I have not watched him much but hoping that he can handle that pressure and picks up where Partey left. Midfielders aren’t cheap, and he costed us 51m GBP. Thomas Partey, 5 years back, was a 45m transfer so it’s an okay-ish fees we have paid to Sociedad.

With Declan Rice’s move to a CAM role and Jorginho leaving, we needed a DM and his back up. So we have spent another 9m an brought in Norgaard.

Christian Norgaard – a back up to Zubimendi

Again, about 10m for a back up who is a starter in a good Brentford team is a good transfer. He played 34 games last season for Brentford, so certainly he can keep himself fit, scored 5 goals and assisted another 4, which is a good output from a DM. Zubi, or for that matter any other DM, can’t handle more than 60 games in a season so Norgaard will get enough starts. Good for the player, good for the club.

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That’s all for the completed transfers so far. There are 2 more in pipeline and worth discussing.

Noni Madueke from Chelsea

Noni Madueke is almost a done deal with the clubs agreeing for a deal for a whooping 52m GBP. A medical will follow pretty soon, and we would then announce him. Now, I am not behind this deal. Yes, he is on the right side of the age and is only 23 years old. Yes, he was a regular in that Chelsea team but I have a lot of doubt about this transfer. Firstly, he is a RW. I don’t buy the versatility nonsense. He played almost all his games as a RW and we have a world class right winger playing for us in Bukayo Saka. Saka is fit, can handle 60 games in a season without any drop in performance and it would be very poor to make him sit on bench for any other RW in the world.

Madueke will get those 15-20 min towards the end, and the midweek not-so-important games. He will also be useful if Saka picks up an injury. But, you don’t spend 50 odd million GBP for a player who is needed scarcely. Also, Martinelli can play on either wings so it’s not like we didn’t have a back up. Now, if this transfer was for a left winger, it would have made more sense as Martinelli does struggle some times. A LW transfer would have fixed the Marts problem and would have also got us a cover at RW.

Trossard might leave, there’s been some chatter, so we will have to bring a LW eventually.

Victor Gyokeres Saga continues

It’s pretty much confirmed by various outlets that we have dropped the plan to bring in Sesko due to their mad demans. We are targeting Gyokeres now, but there has been some disagreement on the transfer fee with Sporting. Gyokeres wants nothing else than Arsenal, has given up 2m euros per year in salary to facilitate the move and has revolted by boycotting the pre-season. I think Sporting will ultimately fold but come one mate, if you are going to pay 50m for a back up RW who is not needed at this moment, spend 5m more to address the most important place in your playing XI.

We need a CF. If we go into the season without a striker, we are winning fuck all, again. Pay another 5m if the need be, and get done with it.

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Well, these transfers are going to create some problems which no one is bothered to address or talk about. With Zubi and Norgaard, the DM role is covered. What happens to the CAM? Rice will be the first choice, fine but are you going to keep 2 back ups to him in Havertz and Merino? If I put my Arteta’s thinking hat, I am getting the vibe that we will shift Merino back into the midfield as a back up, and Havertz remains up top as a back up to Gyokeres.

65m for a player that will be back up to a 100-goal striker, for whom we are going to pay 60? Doesn’t make sense to me. We should recoup some of that money if anyone is foolish enough to pay for him when he earns 250k/week in wages.

Gabriel Jesus? Another 250k/week for posting pictures of himself on Instagram and remaining injured throughout the season.

At the LB, with the brilliant performances from MLS and him getting a new contract, we don’t need Zinchenko. Calafiori will rotate with him and in a worst case scenario when both of them are injured, Timber can play in that position. We need to get rid of Zinni (sorry) and be done with another player who in mostly injured.

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Right, that’s all for today. Here’s the incoming and outgoing lists so far this window.

Incomings (65m GBP) –

Kepa Arrizabalaga from Chelsea – 5m
Christian Norgaard – Brentford – 9m
Zubimendi – 51m

Outgoings (8m) –

Jorginho – end of contract
Marquinhos – 2m
Partey – end of contract
Tavares – 6m
Tierney – end of contract
Tomiyasu – released

That’s a 57m deficit when we had a team that was 2nd for 3 seasons in a row and is playing in Champions League. We still don’t know how to sell, do we?

See you in the comments.