Saliba is staying

Rice has one year on his contract left plus WHU can extend it for another year, so he has 2 years to go, that is my understanding. He should do what MBappe he gave a letter to PSG 6 weeks after he signed a new contract that he will not opt in for the last year, now he sent an official letter he will not sign an extension and it may put a bit of pressure on WHU or do a personal understanding with AFC. However there may be other suitors in a year or so.

Fixture lists for next season

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-12197353/Chelsea-Fixtures-Premier-League-2023-24-Pochettinos-receive-favourable-run-in.html

Oops

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-12197859/Premier-League-fixtures-team-hardest-softest-six-games.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-12197301/Arsenal-face-tough-run-trips-Tottenham-Man-United-four-games-2023-24.html

We are definitely going to need to finish strong next season to win the league

Tony

Just checking mate in case you’re having a senior moment – you do realise who our manager is?

as per usual, we’re amateur hour personified when it comes to conducting our transfer business…of course I get that under normal circumstances no one wants to pay over “their” number for any player, but this particular situation is far from normal…we’ve clearly identifed Rice as our priority signing, on the heels of another end of season cock-up, knowing full-well that the Hammers have valued their captain at upwards of 120M or 100M plus a player add-on…whether or not you agree with their evaluation matters not because as soon as we showed our hand most of our bargaining leverage went out the fucking window…so instead of coming to the table with a good faith offering we did what we normally do when it involves in-demand players of consequence, we insult you from the offing…I agree that the notion of a 80M bid being insulting seems ludicrous in the real world, but this ain’t the fucking real world, it’s the PL…furthermore, why do we always seem to adopt a more frugal stance when it involves potentially seminal hires…we certainly didn’t balk at paying above the number for White, Ramsdale, Vieira, Jesus, Tross and of course Pepe…meanwhile, it appears as if we’re out of the Caicedo wars, whom I rate more, and we seem to be engaged in active talks with Chelsea about a player who’s missing the very thing we most covet up top, a clinical finisher, and who likewise has a strikingly similar disposition to one of our former players, the highly divisive Ozil…now unless we have a 300M transfer kitty that I’m totally unaware of, what the fucking fuck are we doing

TRVL

Its very easy to say we’re doing what we always do – harder to sit back and watch it happen again.

As you say why are we so happy to throw money at certain players and yet baulk when at face value what did you expect with an England International, 24 and the Captain of the club we’re looking for buy from?

Marc-I get that it’s a negotiation and that we don’t know how reliable the reporting is, but would anyone really be surprised if we tried to play hardball then either lost the player or wasted a month nickel and diming only to pay full ask in the end…not to mention, we’re the kind of club who can’t seem to walk and chew gum simultaneously, so maybe it would be best if we just went in with our best and final then focused our energies on other transfer matters…opportunity costs matter!!

I guess if the plan was to have Havertz replace Xhaka in more advanced positions, as that’s more in line with his positional success at Bayer, then I kind of get the thought process…it does raise a few concerns though, as I kind of thought that one of the main reasons why Rice favoured us was that he was being lined up as Xhaka’s direct replacement, even though the DM position better suits his skillset, and I’m likewise not sure that the oft-times “lazy” Havertz can handle the box-to-box rigours of this particular plan…all I know is if the plan is to have Rice lying deep, we better keep Partey, especially if Caicedo is off the transfer table, because relying on the likes of Jorginho and Elneny for cover could be a big mistake considering what’s on tap next season

must admit I’ll be incredibly pissed if we drop the ball regarding Caicedo, especially if we functionally provide Chelsea with the monies they will need to make this purchase by taking a player of periphery interest to Poch…not to mention, we will be paying more for Havertz than they paid for Nkunku, who will undoubtedly replace Havertz in their starting 11…we’re always chasing fucking shadows

Morning all
Marc
I was about to fall asleep, which was how I posted the Chavs first. Then a quick glance at our run in, and thought it best if I wake for the start of the 24/25 season. Sadly, cryogenics are not that far advanced. You’re right, though, it’s Groundhog Day coming to The Arsenal soon.

TRVL
Better get used to being pissed off as Caicedo now prefers the Chavs and Tony Bloom is going to drop father Todd’s pants and spank his fat arse with players going to Brighton in exchange.

KP
Thought I’d find a song for you to serenade Mrs KP with the lyrics to help. How’s your tenor timbre, boyo? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgWsgPwuDJ4

The following song is for the afterglow of the moon on the sand while Mrs KP recovers from your crooning.

LIR
Well we know what our coming season looks like now, and the challenges it’s going to present our commander in chief with all competitions. You’d think we’d just say fuck it and pay for Rice and Caicedo instead of us doing the all talk and no action.

Arteta is likely to beat Wenger’s “I could have signed…………..”

Personally, I think there are better out there for £100+M, but Arteta is wrapped up in his dogmatic thinking and now going back to form wanting Canceleo who can’t defend, Rice as an 8 who doesn’t play that position naturally, rating Havertz to be the reincarnation of Drogba who is who is a multi purpose utility player who plays every position with? Well er not much purpose.

Xhaka posted more goals and assists last season. KH had 7 goals and 1 assist where Arteta wants this powder puff technical snowflake as our 6’4″ striker . Wouldn’t we want a 20+ goals per season from our CF?

Ah well, it’ll be amusing watching Tony Bloom pick Todd’s Bs bones clean. As for our window I’ll go back to my football hibernation and concentrate on our music future.

About 8 weeks to normality then if there is anything normal about being a Gunner.

TRVL
Sadly we never had the Caicedo ball to drop in the first place, but you knew that, didn’t you?

Here’s one for you: name one great player who completely fitted the position bought by Arteta? Edu bought Partey and he’s crocked anyway.

Then name the players Arteta can’t appear to work with we have that are good. Players who got little to no game time last season.

Looking at the quality of the players we are likely to sign I’d say we’ll be lucky to secure CL next season, but the ink is still in the pen, so we’ll have to wait and see.

The more our supposed “definitive” plan unfolds the more I don’t fucking believe one ever really existed…so if you’ve been slurping the Kool-Aid, at least in regards to the planning side of things, you would have to believe the following things:
(btw these are but a few of the many)

(1) that even though MA ultimately wanted to play out from the back it made more sense to sell the kind of Keeper you coveted, Emi, keep the one without that skillset, Leno, then pay above the number for a coin toss proposition in Ramsdale…as an added touch of individual brilliance he then benched Leno so that we couldn’t even recoup some of those funds…I get it though, as MA was learning on the job, which is a common refrain at “big” clubs, isn’t it??

(2) that MA’s plan all along was to pay way above the number for the supposed up-and-coming RCB White with the full understanding that, instead of buying a world class RB, he intended to play our biggest defensive investment ever out of position for his entire sophomore season because our little managerial maestro knew full-well that a little LIgue 1 polishing would enable his best bud Saliba to make a triumphant return some 12 months later as our true starting RCB moving forward…pure genius, wouldn’t you say

(3) that even though we coveted two youthful blue chip prospects, in Mudryk and Caicedo, leading up to the winter window, in the hopes of both adding some much-needed juice and depth for both our pending title run and the foreseeable future, our supposed plan B was to add a wantaway forward, who wasn’t a like-for-like Marts cover piece, and an older, slower DM, who wasn’t going to shore up our defensive zone coverage should Partey suffer another injury…makes perfect sense, to nobody

(4) we entered the off-season with the club-inspired belief that our primary objective was to finally revamp our midfield by first ridding ourselves of our Swiss albatross and then proving once and for all that our seemingly endless talk about ushering in a new era wasn’t simply lip service by aggressively pursuing 2 of the most coveted midfielders in Europe…yet within the first 48 hours of the window our savvy manager still has Xhaka on the books, even though he’s said his good-byes and a deal exists, embarassed himself at the bargaining table once again, flipped the script on our desire for Caicedo and started to aggressively pursue another tweener midfielder/forward who disappears far too often and further deepens our finishing concerns…if this is the learning curve everyone’s been raving about, maybe a fucking managerial tutor should be next on our organizational docket

it’s important to remember that I didn’t even mention the most obvious example of MA’s fly by the seat of your pants approach to planning, which goes all the way back to the whole Auba re-upping and WIllian signing, that likewise saw several of our younger blue chippers placed firmly on the back burner, as I’m still infuriated by the fact that this incredibly insightful example has been mistakenly tossed into the beating a dead horse bin in light of our uptick in results…oops I guess I did just mention it…fabricating shit must be fucking contagious

what’s next, Arteta-inspired LG articles about how we should just ignore the whole Caicedo gig, even though this could be our Kante 2.0, and instead lean into the already tiresome and far from over Rice transfer narrative

Tony-not a direct answer to your question but what I’ve written above is much in the same vein…Cheers

TRVL
It says it all and makes me despair that we can be so myopic in the boardroom. I saw Caicedo as The Chav’s Kante replacement.

I’m not in favour of Rice at £100m+++ – he’s just not that elite, runs like an ostrich and is not agile in the final third to play quick triangles et al. Is Rice better than Partey when he’s playing well? Not for me. There are better and cheaper option out there.

Arteta said several times in the press, “We have to get this window right”. The way it’s looking our ‘Right’ is far different to Arteta’s & Edus’. It’s clear Mikel is a Sinatra fan with ‘My Way’ being Arteta’s top tune. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQzdAsjWGPg

I’m assuming we don’t need a marque signing for the ST renewals; being 2nd and straw promises were enough.

Tony and TRVL
Not sure how much you’re into cricket, but the Ashes start today. I reckon Ben Stokes could do a decent job in our midfield. 🏏

One thing I’ve always wondered about TWs since Wenger, the great penny pincher, was at Arsenal – do you think clubs sometimes hold back on making expensive signings for financial reasons? In other words, if we signed Rice today, we’d be paying him a few million in wages before even pre season training begin. There’s also this international nonsense over the next few days, so it possibly makes sense to delay buying someone in case they get a serious injury. Fuck, I sound like Pedro’s alter ego Nigel Cuntfluff with my club apologist stance. Nurse!

According to the DT shares in ManU have been suspended – highly likely a buyout is imminent.

We need to get deals done before ManUs’ transfer budget is tripled.

KP
Foo-bar as the Bad Boys used with their police captain try a few of those add some Belvedere to the sangria mix should fix it, that and Mrs KP with a stethoscope and the perfect song :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6oYyG0KcvQ

I’m actually hoping we get gazumped for Rice then we’ll see the panic set in. Maybe we’ll find someone far better in spite of the A&E dept.

Cricket & ADHD have never been a god mix. The one day events are lively enough to keep my attention. I had my school’s batting record of 6 golden ducks in a row. As a fielder I was deadly accurate with short and long balls thrown.

Practice Foo-Barrrrr KP and breath deeply though the nose and out the mouth while trying to forget about the TW and get with the reggae and chocolate – zero zero if possible. Up there with the best in the world. 🙂

KP-anything is possible, but history would suggest that we still lack the backroom nous to get business done in a timely fashion…now if this was simply a due diligence issue, which had enabled us to unearth gems, save on fees and ultimately win the day when it came to highly coveted targets, then it would be difficult to argue the method to their madness, but considering that we’ve excelled in none of these aforementioned categories, makes it all the more difficult to come to terms with…let’s face it, minus the 11th hour Partey get, we’ve bought like a team vying for a Wenger Cup…just imagine what this project would look like if MA hadn’t inherited the likes of Saka, Marts and Saliba…with this in mind, there’s no way this team should still be sorting out their midfield and not be employing a clinical finisher up top, considering the monies made available to him since arriving, which includes those players who could have been sold for considerably more if they weren’t handled so fucking poorly

on a side note, it appears as if Romeo Lavia is becoming our 2nd choice Caicedo option, which isn’t surprising as he’s a former City prospect with a fraction of the asking price…this isn’t to suggest that he’s not a viable option, but this was the window when only readymade, PL proven targets were supposedly on our “get this window right” wishlist

Did we not get Jesus and Zinchenko done early last summer or am I just imagining it?

Bob-July 4th and July 22nd, respectively, hardly “early” in the window, except if you’re only using our past TW history as a barometer…the interesting part was that Jesus’s siging was exceptionally early for us, as there were supposedly other potential suitors, although none submitted an official bid, only “proposals”…important to likewise note the more nuanced components that aided our cause, like they were both deemed as expendable, from our manager’s former team and neither had another “serious” option, minus claims that were used to get us up from our original 30M bid…frankly it speaks to your inherent bias, in that of all the issues you might want to hang your provebial hat on, timely business dealings should be near the bottom of any such list

Just out of curiosity what rating does anyone give A&E for the transfer business they’ve done?

I only ask because today I’ve seen we’ve released AMN on a free having turned down a £20 million plus bid and then hardly played him and stuck him out on loan at a team that got relegated?

They really do piss money up the wall like a lefty council.

Marc-I might have understood the whole AMN mismanagement gig if it ever seemed like MA rated the lad, but the player didn’t want to be deployed at RB and the manager never saw him as a DM, so watching him leave several years later with nothing to show for it speaks to both our oft-times piss-poor asset management and talent evaluating acumen…of course, we all know that all clubs swing and miss at times, whether it be from an incoming or outgoing perspective, but this duo are world-class in this regards…just imagine what might have been if we had the ability to recoup even a fraction of the monies they wantonly lost along the way…at the very least they’ve cost us a world class player or 2, or in their case 1 decent player, 2 old farts and a couple young loan candidates

on a couple of occasions I mentioned my skepticism regarding Saliba’s injury status, specifically as it pertained to his potential availability at the end of the season…as first I felt that it might be his “people” who were instructing him to be overly cautious, considering the importance of not making matters worse heading into a very important off-season…it’s certainly not the first time I’ve seen this sort of “shut it down” approach when there’s a big money deal hanging in the balance…so when the narrative went from nothing serious to a couple weeks or so to it ultimately being treated as if it were an obvious season-ending injury from the get-go, it seemed to confirm my suspicions…I kind of get it though, as this manager had already done him dirty, so to speak, so why would he potentially jeopardize his future for someone who hadn’t always had his best interests in mind

my mindset started to considerably shift in the days and weeks following the season when I started to see some rather interesting verbiage being used in some seemingly innocuous articles about the re-up process….things like “the Gunners were reluctant to hand him any minutes throughout the rest of the campaign” had now replaced the much more definitve messages about his obvious no-go status when the title was still up for grabs…maybe it was just a sign that our organizational directives had drastically changed when it came to “rushing ” players back in light of some previous mistakes in this regards, as this was the same manager who had actually pushed an injured Partey back on the pitch…or maybe it was their way to protect those players who might need to be sold off in the summer, which would likewise explain the kid gloves treatment ESR received this season…of course, it could have been a little bit of both, as it’s not like I don’t believe that Saliba was actually injured, and as someone who’s had their fairshare of back-related injuries, I know that it can be rather fluid situation, so maybe as our title hopes started to fade they decided to err on the side of caution…regardless, I believe at some point decisions were made at the managerial level that negatively impacted our title hopes that weren’t predicated solely on the advice of medical personnel…after all, why was there seemingly no trepidation whatsoever by those other interested suitors regarding the potential long-term ramifications of his rather “serious” back injury

in the end, I’m ecstatic that he appears to be in our plans for the foreseeable future, so long as he fully recovers(lol?), and maybe both Saliba and ESR will go on to have stellar careers, thus making this “situation” appear rather insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but I refuse to ignore the level of sketchiness that’s been on display during our present manager’s tenure…I obviously don’t need to provide a detailed list of the multitude of examples as anyone with even a modicum of good sense knows full-well what I’m talking about…maybe it’s just another excusable aspect of his rather infamous learning curve

Marc

They really do piss money up the wall like a lefty council.

Nice one mate. 😁 I spat my tea all over the sheets reading that. Ms Kroenkephobe wants to kill me for nearly drowning her in tepid typhoo and the cat has morphed from being black and white to chai brown. 🙀

Let me just offer 5 words and a rather large number in response to that tired but deeply amusing old canard that leftie governments are more wasteful than the high tax, corrupt PPE procuring fascist cunts who have been running Britain like a fiefdom for the past 13 miserable years…

BORIS JOHNSON’S 250,000 QUID LEGAL FEES.

Keep em coming mate. I got an answer for all of them.

Switching back to the real world, you up to anything exciting this summer such as getting a break from the horrors of Hertfordshire?

Oh, and good point about AMN. It was Wolves who were willing to pay that right? And generally spot on to highlight Tets’s trashing of player values, which is almost Chelsea-esque in magnitude. Add Gunnerdoozi and Torreira (and arguably Leno) to that list and you just know there’ll be more.

Kroenke

Giving Auba a new £300kper week contract and then paying him to leave 6 months later only for Chelsea to pay Barca to sign him 6 months after that.

Yeah Marc. Aubageddon was the absolute worst on reflection. If there was a pie chart measuring the blame though, I think a good wedge of it would be accounted for by Auba’s own attitude, the remainder of course being down to the two geniuses managing and doing the deals.

Insiders at the club must have realised he had psychologically switched off. He turned into the kind of twat you’d play football with at school. The one that made no pretence of ever being onside and who would just wait by the goalposts and bang home some absolute sitters, moaning all the time that he wasn’t getting enough of the ball. I thought when PEA was bought by Chelsea from Barcelona that Kroenke should have fined them both the equivalent of his fee.

Kroenke

I spent a brief period working in recruitment and one of the guys who worked there had a favourite saying “Leopards and spots” based on a type of candidate being unreliable or a waste of time.

It applies to everyone to a degree – people are what they are and whilst they can be on best behaviour for a time they will always fall back to their base personality. If they hadn’t spotted what Auba was like already they had no business offering him £300k per week.

one question, why are we allowing Arteta to lead our most important window in recent memory if behind the scenes he’s talking with PSG over their vacant coaching position???

I know that some reports suggest that he gave them an unequivocal no, but the optics certainly aren’t great unless he’s once again using the rumour mill to get another very lucrative re-up, as his current deal expires next summer…Ode had better get a re-up this summer or it could raise some eyebrows

Trvl, he’s not ‘in talks’ as it’s ‘reported’ or ‘claimed’.

One less thing to worry about, he’s staying. For now.

he was clearly talking with PSG about their vacant position…we both understand what you were suggesting with your “in talks” comment as that would wrongly imply that he was much further down the road from a hiring perspective, which is why I never uttered those exact words…I certainly don’t mind if that were to happen, so long as all of our young talent has signed on for the long-term, but I’m vastly more worried about him being in charge of our recruitment process if his head has been turned

TRVL

Don’t tease me with what would make my decade.

Trvl
He wasn’t talking to PSG at all. You said he was. That why I deliberately used ‘in talks’. Not because I was looking to imply anything.

He didn’t successfully get all the young talent locked in to clear off to that circus.

Aitcho-as per usual you couldn’t be more wrong…little wonder considering where your allegiances lie