Well, it’s not going to be a very positive article.
Latest news from the club is that we have let go 13 players, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Matt Smith among them the important ones.
Maitland-Niles has played 132 times for the club. He is 25 year old and is English. It was only a couple years back when Wolves were ready to pay 20m for him, but Edu and Co. rejected it. He spent his last season on loan and now leaving for free.
We bought Nicolas Pepe for a club record fee at that time, he scored few under Emery and Arteta and then faded away. He spent the season on loan to Nice where he scored 6 goals from his 19 games. It’s a decent stat from a winger but the rumours says we are going to terminate his contract this summer. He will leave us on free.
So, we either let go of our players for free, or in some cases, pay for them to leave. We paid Aubameyang to leave, he joined Barcelona who sold him to Chelsea for 15m+ Great Britain Pounds.
This was from the outgoing. Let’s talk about the important part – incomings.
We are in the market for midfielders. West Ham wants more than 100m for Rice. A player no one else want (or can afford). A player who is willing to join us over anyone else. A player who wants to stay in London and we are his best options. Yet, West Ham are lowballing us and we don’t have a way. We can’t force a way like Real Madrid is doing with PSG. We can’t convince a player to join us and have a fight for it (Mudryk, Rice, Caicedo). This is when we finished the season 2nd best and are going to compete for the title this season.
For Havertz, we are ready to spend 60m and put him on a 220k+/week wages. Although Pepe and Kai plays in different positions, there is not much difference between them. Both are lazy, both lack end products and both were bought for a very high fee from their club. Yet, we couldn’t sell Pepe 2 years back for a pack of cigarettes and are ready to buy Havertz for 60m. I understand Arteta prefers him but then he also preferred Runarsson but we didn’t pay such extra-ordinary money for him, right?
We don’t sell well, we don’t buy well.
The only relief is, we have managed to tie down the important players of our playing XI which finished 2nd in the league. Frankly, I’m tired of keeping a check on money we spend, but if we overpay for Rice and Havertz and we miss on Caicedo (or a CF), we would basically have to wait for another bag of money and another transfer window.
We want to see sensible signings like Trossard, and good sales like Iwobi. I’m not complaining about Rice, Caicedo and even Havertz because I’m so desperate to see us fixing that midfield. Xhaka will be gone, Partey can’t keep himself healthy for a match a week, and we have Champions League too this season. We can’t rely on stop gaps like Jorginho and Elneny, Vieira is not the answer against the Citys, Bayerns and Madrids of the world and Arteta didn’t really try to fix it from the academy. But if spending too much on one players costs us an upgrade in the other areas of the pitch, it would be frustrating. How many of us remember that we paid 50m for Ben White when we clearly needed a midfield upgrade and ultimately ran our of money to fix it?
We are in this mud because of our own. At least, the players in question will improve us massively (Caicedo, Rice), or at least match our performance (Xhaka=Havertz). Pay extra like we do, and hope they turn out to be as good as the sum we are spending.
What’s your take on it?
‘We don’t sell well, we don’t buy well’
How the hell did we finish 2nd? Was it because of masterful coaching from Arteta then? What a conundrum!
Ambarish-top marks on the whole ‘don’t sell well, don’t buy well’ narrative…we’ve overpaid for underwhelming players, we’ve nickel and dimed for players of consequence, we’ve ghosted players that needed to be in the shop window, we’ve paid players to ply their respective trades elsewhere and we’ve dithered and lost…as for this season, we all know that we took advantage of a rather sleepy start by others in this rather unusual world cup season…this was further bolstered by our lack of first-half injuries, which anabling us to start the same 11 week-in and week-out…if you examine our post winter TW record we’re a smidge above a middling team level with much to still do…minus Ode and Jesus, pre-injury, the focus of our victories rested squarely on the shoulders of those who he had inherited…Ode has been the one player of MA’s doing that I missed the mark on, as he’s actually starting to find a way to matter against the big boys, whereas Jesus, post-injury, proved that he might not be clinical enough to lead the line on a bona fide contender who requires more than just some crafty link-up play up top
Bob
One of the reasons for our finishing position (not the only one because I think we improved) has to be because we were slightly better (or less shit if you prefer…) than Liverpool, Manure, Chelsea and Spuds were this season. They’ve all tended to finish higher than us for the last 3 or 4 seasons but this year we bucked that trend. Anyone saying it’ll definitely be sustained is as ‘finger in the air’ as saying we’ll definitely regress. Newcastle and Villa might also come more permanently into the picture. To that extent it’s imperative that we aim high and make the right personnel adjustments. I know it’s all bleeding obvious what I’ve just said but I think that helps to explain why any backsliding and trophylessness next season must surely sound the death knell for A and E’s reign.
That said, if PSG seriously come-a-knocking on the next few days, I’ll drive him personally to the PdP. Doigts croisees. 🤞🇨🇵
Ambarish
Cheers man. Yet another thought provoking piece. This TW is a threshold moment. No one knows what’s really happening behind the scenes but there’s been nothing so far to suggest the auguries are strongly positive. Let’s see where we are in a month’s time.
Cricket was a little disappointing this, afternoon. Bairstow’s a terrific batsmen but Foakes would have been a better option with the gloves. That ugly bastard Labuschagne getting golden 🦆was a wonderful moment.
/On Soap Box
@Bob
Are you daft or just ignore the obvious facts, or worst an Edu and Arteta enabler? You judge the incoming players by what has their valuation has done after some time at AFC. Have they gone up or down? We often buy trash or rejects, don’t have to remind you of Kiwior, Lokonga, Tavares and Vieira add to that the Chelsea rejects and the dreadful decision to up Auba’s contract and then pay him to go away. The few that Arteta has gotten correct is summed up in this saying “Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while”.
We sell horrible! the whole GK situation with selling Emi, a brain dead decision, cycle through a few GKs to end up with Ramsdale. Onana was available in 2021 for 5mill but the imbeciles in the power corridors couldn’t be arsed. Destroying Guen’s valuation and selling him for peanuts. Don’t be so stupid and ignore the obvious mistakes made by Pep’s gimp and Edu his partner in crime.
/Off Soap Box
If we’re selling it’s because the players we sell aren’t good enough. It’s going to be a hard sell. If they go on loan, we receive a fee.
I don’t think we’ve bought badly, barring the odd Viera and I feel it’s too early to write him off as dross. In the main, the players we have bought over the last few seasons have made us better. Job done.
Pete was one who was bought badly, as a result he’ll be sold badly. This predates AnE. Park that one.
If West Ham won’t sell Rice at a price we feel is correct, them we won’t buy him. That’s sensible and we won’t have to add him to the list of players not bought well.
Trossard was a good buy, Jorginho the same. He did a job and still can. Arteta should have been more decisive using him when Partey was falling off.
If the argument is that we’ve paid too much for some players, I’d agree, Ramsgate and White were overpriced but proved their worth over time. We have three choices with Rice, pay too much, and I fear West Ham are being unrealistic, pay what’s ‘correct’ and that’s going to be a matter of opinion on the margins, offer too little for West Ham and not get him. It’s not complicated, getting deals done often can be.
If we don’t get Rice, much like in our tw, we’ll shop elsewhere.
Mudryk from what I’ve seen wouldn’t have offered more than Trossard, he was also underused. I think we dodged a bullet on that one so I’ve got no angst not getting him for the stupid money he went for.
For the first time in a while, we’re in serious convos for serious players. This change in culture is new territory to the top brass. If we assess things on what happens not on what we think might happen we’ll keep our heart rates lower.
I’ll be disappointed if we don’t get Rice/Caicedo but I’ll be equally disappointed if we get mugged off like Chelsea did for Mudryk
The talk of Havertz, I’m not averse to it. There’s a player there and in a less chaotic environment and with a more cohesive system and structured style of play under a better coach than Potter or Lamps I think talent like his can thrive. As long as we don’t get mugged off of course.
As KP suggested, let’s see where we are in a month’s time. Up to now, the hits have been more than the misses.
Bob
You get offended when I mention “fan boys” well you need to get your head of both your own arse and Arteta’s.
We finished second (out of the clubs you expect to contend) because everyone else had a shocking season.
Someone isn’t tall because they’re stood next to a short arse.
Ambarish – mate keep it up.
at least when we brought Emery in his CV somewhat fit the script…we were an Europa level team saddled with a mishmash of overagers and underachievers, which wasn’t too dissimilar from some of his La Liga squads that he ultimately led to the top of the Europa heap on numerous occasions…our only mistake was that we didn’t give him any say when it came to personnel decisions, so he couldn’t properly shape things through the recruitment process
with Arteta’s rock bottom appointment we were always rolling the proverbial dice, even though it was being packaged to the fanbase as a savvy Wenger 2.0 maneuver…talk about your apples to oranges comparisons…to undertake the revamping of an organization mired in mediocrity and still living in the shadow of it’s “greatest” manager to date was already going to be an incredibly arduous task, so to think that someone with a built-in “learning on the job” excuse and not a minute of managerial experience was the best choice seemed exceedingly rich…now maybe if we surrounded him with a veteran administrative team, which they didn’t, or cleaned house before his arrival, so at least he had more of a blank slate, which they didn’t, things could have been exponentially easier…instead they rolled up the Brinks truck, allowed him to chop and change no matter the inherent costs and when things invariably went sideways they simply rolled out the aforementioned excuse
of course, no one is suggesting things haven’t improved in the meantime, albeit it certainly wasn’t an overnight success, but I can’t help but think what might have been if, once Arteta shit the bed with his selfish retool initiative, he had been suitably replaced by someone with clear ideas, tactical nous and a much better eye for recruitment, especially with the unprecendented funds made available to him…just think for a second what this project might have looked like if he had to live under the same financial constraints of the latter Wenger regime or he was left out of the recruitment process, like his predecessor…you have to remember that one of the main reasons why some were willing to take a wait and see approach with Arteta was that few felt we could have lured a top managerial talent to North London because our owner wouldn’t properly back this sort of hire, but knowing what I know now, I think we once again missed an incredible opportunity to land a manager of real consequence…as usual, I hope I’m wrong about Arteta’s managerial ceiling, but what I’ve seem thus far suggests otherwise
I’ve seen thus far…
TVRL ‘An Edu and Arteta enabler’ that’s a new one! So anyone who is willing to give Edu and Arteta an ounce of credit is in some way supporting their ‘regime’ – that’s verging on a fascist take.
Marc ‘Get your head out of your own and Arteta’s arse’
Some of you left LG because you felt that Pedro was forcing a view of Arsenal onto you, a view that you strongly disagreed with. Do you not consider the irony of the way you respond to someone who questions that, some would argue, harsh view?
If you react to a poster in the way that you have then I suspect all you will get is an echo chamber for your views to bounce around in. Is that really what you want?
I have never felt that Arteta and Edu are the best around, far from it but it is also fair to say that they are nowhere near as bad as some of you make out. Of course other teams underachieved last year but we still ended up with 84 pts and were well clear of third with a team which has room to improve.
This is an interesting development. Fab’s reporting about our interest in Lavia. Anyone watched him?
“🚨 Arsenal have concrete and strong interest in Romeo Lavia. Relationship is excellent with his camp — talks already took place. #AFC
Timing will be crucial as Chelsea remain interested. Man United appreciate Lavia but still not advancing. City buy back clause only valid 2024.”
But I’m not happy about this –
“🚨 Understand there’s concrete chance for Thomas Partey to leave Arsenal this summer. Clubs are interested and there are discussions about his exit. #AFC
Current contract expiring in June 2025 and no talks to extend as of today.
Arsenal priority remains Declan Rice.”
Partey is immense, we should have one more year of him for transition. Going into a season from Xhaka + Partey to Rice + Havertz without any overlap can be devastating. Moreover, Champions League requires experience head and Partey is one of them.
Ambarish, Lavia has the same agent as Saka, Eddie etc so it feels possible. I can understand that he is a cheaper and more viable alternative to Caceido. I’ve only seem him a little but he looks good and a lot of people seem to rate him highly.
I share your concerns about selling Partey but I can see some sense. We’ve been rightly accused of selling badly and this might be a good time to cash in our chips, two years left on his contract.Let’s not forget there is still an off field issue that may become a problem.
If we do sell Xhaka and Partey, being replaced by say Rice and Lavia, I do think we need to sigh a versatile RB who could play in CM at a push as Jorginho and Elneny would leave us light! With Partey money in, an extra CM/ RB would be potentially affordable.
Hi Bob,
No problem at all to replace a 30 yr old with a young player, but it’s the timing I’m worried about.
We would have a completely new midfield. Chances of getting Partey + Havertz wrong is 50% at max because Thomas is already accustomed to Artetaball.
We are selling two of our playing XI, and getting two i.e. Rice and Lavia? That would still keep us short.
I know it’s too early, but I’m impatient, as always.
Ambarish, we always want our shiny, new toys asap! As long as there in by pre season, I’ll be happy!
I’m not a Lavia expert but he seems to do the things that Partey can do, receiving the ball under pressure and moving brilliantly to get into space, evading the opposition. After a full pre season (fingers crossed) he could be phased in.
I understand your concerns over Havertz but it could be a genius move but of course we won’t know for a while. If Arteta is keen as well as Havertz, I assume there will be a plan to use him in a way that they’re both happy with.
Let’s not forget Bergkamp, Vieira and Henry weren’t playing anywhere near their best before they were transferred to Arsenal (tongue slightly in cheek)! Here’s to dreaming high!
In true Piers ‘lying bastard’ Morgan stylee, I was able to hack yesterday’s phone call between Arteta and Qatari Sports dictator Sheikh N Vac. First off, it must be emphasised that Arteta called him and not the other way around as lying journalists are reporting (for which their writing hands will be removed…)
(MA) Hey Shakey… It’s your old former ponderous, obsequious midfielder, Supermik here…
(SnV) This better be good mate… I’m on dad’s motorboat in Monaco and was getting jiggy with some of Signor Berlusconi’s 15 year old ‘ladies’ following his recent embalment in balsamic vinegar. Did you want to speak to me or your boy Edu who’s carrying out some, er, investigations on the poop deck.
(MA) No sir your highness it was definitely you and your money I wanted to talk to.
(SnV) OK.. Well spit it out (slightly away from the phone’s mouthpiece)… No, not you dear, you must use a tupperware beaker…
(MA) Well, not to beat about the bush…
(SnV) Fnarr! Fnarr!
(MA)… I want the PSG job s’il vous plait.
(SnV) But why effendi? What makes you qualified for such a prestigious, highly paid sinecure? You’ve hardly lit up football and you have a reputation for shitting the bed at stressful moments akin to an incontinent dromedary!
(MA) Some, but not me, might call that a little harsh, your excellency. I’m very good at wasting cash, alienating valuable players, making insane tactical decisions and blaming everyone but me when my teams fuck up.
(SnV) Wasting money? WASTING MONEY! Hmmmm… I could take credit for you spunking dad’s billions into a wadi as the perfect way to extract revenge for that time he made me orally pleasure Liz Truss when she went to Qatar to sell us dodgy weapons. Bleurgh – my taste buds are still scarred!
(MA) Sheikh… Give me the job your magnificence, I’m desperate. Everyone connected with Arsenal, except this arsehole called England’sbest on some wanked out blog, have seen right through me.
(SnV) OK, but on one condition. You have to bring that mad Swiss guy with you. We have a part time job that will be ideal for him in our Ministry of Beheading….
(MA). Deal. (Smiles and hangs up)
Bob
This test is delicately poised. I think England and Wales (as they should rightly be called) need to calm down on the bazball for a few sessions and bat for time. If they’ve only lost one or two wickets for 120 plus runs by the end of the day, open up again tomorrow and get a lead of 350 and turn the screw on Australia on the last day. What do you think? I’m just sceptical that this pitch will be anything other than a batting track for the entire game. Nearly halfway through the time and the innings… Perfect. Expect Tuesday evening bowling heroics from Mr Stokes.
For the sake of transparency I just want to make it perfectly clear that if our new CM turns out to be a new contract for Xhaka with one (or both) of A&E describing him as “like a new signing” I’m buying a gun.
Kroenke, I think you’re right about a change of plan. I know in London it’s as humid as fuck and the new ball will be going around corners. The Aussie slip cordon will be visualising all those knicks off impetuous drives. Let the fun begin!
Careful start by openers.
Bob-I never called you an Arteta/Edu “enabler”, that was Killroy…that said, after reading your attempt to compare Lavia to 3 of our greatest players ever, regardless of your subsequent tongue in cheek remark, I so wish I had…btw the abject hypocrisy surrounding Pedro wasn’t that he simply didn’t like those with contrarian opinions, it was that he excommunicated those with views that didn’t align with his particular narrative, even though years earlier he despised the fact that AKBers tried to silence his differing and rather harsh sentiments regarding Wenger…the trouble with you, at times, is that you have so much to give yet you have so little on offer, as lately you’ve been simply leaving little trolling easter eggs on here then acting like your surprised/offended when you receive the exact response you were angling for…Cheers
@Bob
Don’t glance over posts because you would not have attributed the comment “‘An Edu and Arteta enabler’ to TVRL because it was me who posted that. You also forgot to mention that this was the worst scenario, so your willingness to ‘give Edu and Arteta an ounce of credit’ is well within that statement. That you take issue with that statement show where you are on the spectrum of the varied opinions. You have to call it as it is and the facts / results support his being not the best for Arsenal.
84 points was the 1st time Arteta beat Emery’s 70 points in 3+ years. Anyone is well within their hoped expectations that Tets would achieve that after the massive investment and not being canned after two 8th place finishes.
Borrowing two phrases from LG that expresses my sentiment Arteta’s success is summed up in this US southern phrase “Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile”.
For me again a poster on LG labeled Arteta as a Manager In Name Only and this upcoming season will show if that is true or if he is the real thing. How long do you think he would have lasted under Roman A. or other clubs after that massive investment with some improvement?
Monchi joined Villa where Emery is and if they replicate their success from their Sevilla days there will be an exciting EPL season ahead of us. IIRC next season 5th place will also have CL in the EPL, so Arteta again may be of the hook.
According to Transfermarkt Arteta has spent €450 odd million so that 14 point improvement (finally) on Emery’s 70 points cost over €32 million per point and that’s without mentioning being gifted 6 points by Chelsea who were abysmal.
Just wondering if everyone is aware the club have changed the season ticket set up. You used to get 19 PL matches plus 7 cup credits which covered European and FA Matches – League Cup were sold separately.
They’ve now changed that to the 19 PL matches plus the 3 CL group matches, FA Cup matches will be offered as / when they become available.
Now the only reason I can seriously think why they’d do that is because they’re fed up with being embarrassed every summer when they have to give ST holders money back because Arteta doesn’t progress in knockout competitions.
So at face value the club doesn’t expect him to achieve anything.
Ambarish-I must admit I’m a little saddened by the fact that you were inquiring about both Lavia and a potential Partey exodus, as it means you haven’t even been glancing whatsoever at my earlier posts LOL
Lavia is a 19 year old former City prospect of Belgian descent…he’s a deeper-lying midfielder who currently plays for Southampton…he certainly has his admirers, like Pep, but having watched him on numerous occasions I can’t say that I was overly impressed by what was on offer…of course, this doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have a big up-side, as that team was rather dire this past season…most are trying to get him on the cheap this summer, due to both their relegation status and the fact that City placed a buy-back clause within their seller’s contract, but that doesn’t come into play until next year…in my estimation, albeit early days career-wise, he’s a poor man’s Caicedo and should be treated as such…if we didn’t have such a tragic history when it comes to half-measure purchases I might be far more optomistic about his prospects
as for Partey, when we first started to hear buzz about our potential midfield rebuild with the purchases of both Rice and Caicedo I felt his exodus was a foregone conclusion, especially considering his injury history and wages, but when we seemed to shift our focus from Caicedo to Havertz, which could be a huge mistake, I was hoping that Partey might stay on for one year so we didn’t have to rely too heavily on Jorginho/Elneny…now I’m of the mindset that Partey will likely be sold on regardless of our other transfer window business, even though those presently behind him are considerably less valuable from a defensive zone coverage standpoint…Cheers
TRVL
There are also stories about “legal problem” with Partey – if true it would make sense to plan for him not being about.
Of course the issue is who’s going to pay any sort of serious money for someone who might be “unavailable” in the near future.
Marc-I have a lot of empathy for Partey, his potential legal issues notwithstanding, in that I believe Arteta pried him away from Madrid under the guise that we were going to be far more progressive/direct than his former employers…instead he was partnered with the defensively challenged and sideways passing juggernaut Xhaka, which meant he had exceedingly more defensive responsibilities and decidedly less offensive impact than he undoubtedly expected…half the time he had no direct options except sending a myriad of 4 yard passes to the diminutive Laca, with his back to goal, which usually led to some sort of ridiculous flopping display…his offensive chances from distance were so few and far between that when he got the rare opportunity he looked as if he had never shot from distance in his entire career, which clearly wasn’t the case…not to mention, once teams realized that we fed everything out wide they would constantly attack his right leg knowing full-well that we carried no real interior midfield threats…of course, his injuries weren’t always due to the tactics being deployed, but they certainly played a decisive role…as such I will view his time here with mixed eyes, as there were times, especially more recently, when he was clearly our engine room option, but there were also some rather disappointing periods where he looked physically unequipped to deal with the week-to-week rigours of the present day PL
we better get some business done before City and United go on their respective buying sprees, as City is losing several starters and United will have new owners with considerable funds to burn very soon…it’s funny when reports come out in the press as they will suggest things like Arsenal are very confident that they will complete transfers of consequence this summer, whereas when they mention Chelsea they will say likewise but within the next 7 days or so…just goes to show how inept/antiquated we are when it comes to the pace by which we conduct our transfer business
TRVL
According to the Daily Telegraph ManU’s shares were suspended on Friday – the new buyer is going to be in place before we know it.
If that happens I can see Mount and RIce ending up at ManU.
TVRL, my comment was regarding Havertz not Lavia, a talented player who has been underachieving and a move to Arsenal could reignite his career. Don’t be so serious – I tongue in cheeked it and you react as though I’ve insulted a close family member.
You need to change the record- everything is slanted by your antipathy towards Arteta. ‘I have a lot of sympathy for Partey….wait for it, wait for it……….the never ending sentence detailing Arteta’s misuse of him.
Your long diatribes might be more credible if you didn’t attack Arteta pretty much every time you post.
Killroy- you like the Abramovic approach. Personally I think Chelsea is a horrible club and Abramovic had the financial clout to do a reboot anytime he wanted hence the £1 billion debt which was written off and the endless change of managers. The inflationary spending of his time there,fucked Wenger and the club royally.
Bob-the whole Partey rant couldn’t be more pot calling the kettle black if you tried…are you actually suggesting that Partey didn’t have to endure some pretty dire football upon arriving at the club?? btw the fact that you were speaking of Havertz doesn’t change the logical impetus behind my ridiculous comparison comment…now who looks like someone insulted a close family member? finally, as to your statement attacking the validity/credibility of my club-related commentaries due to the fact that I seem to blame Arteta ad nauseam, I would simply say this, if the shoe fits…
TRVL, don’t follow your ‘logical impetus’! I’m not arguing Partey has had it easy particularly but you turn everything into an Arteta attack. All I’m saying is that your ‘club-related commentaries’ might come across as more reasoned if you changed the record a little. Otherwise for someone like myself, your passionate dislike of Arteta is fairly repetitive and gets in the way of your other views.
One last thing and this might sound really patronising but honestly I don’t mean it to be but your sentences might benefit from being a lot shorter.
TRVL,
Sorry if I missed it, if Partey is leaving, are we going to see Rice + Caicedo and Lavia as a half measure whom we are going to develop? I don’t think Arteta will trust a 19-year old to play in Premier and Champions League, against the likes of City, Liverpool, Chelsea, and Champions League teams.
If that happens, I would take it.. But I am against letting Partey leave, not when we are going into a transition in the midfield.
Bob
Have you ever considered that its very easy to turn everything into an attack on Arteta because he’s shit at his job and lucky to still be in it?
Marc, that’s your view which puts you in the minority of Arsenal supporters. So when you repeatedly attack him, that’s all it is – a repeated attack. It’s easy to turn everything into an attack if you interpret everything through that lens.
I think your criticisms would carry much more weight if you acknowledged him in some way but as you just call him shit, your comments just come across as from someone who has an irrational dislike of someone and become just a diatribe.
We improved by all sorts of metrics but you just think he’s shit and none of the improvements were down to him.
Bob
There’s nothing to acknowledge – he did brilliantly to get in a position (after a few years of complete shit) to win the PL and then bottled it something he has form for.
The difference between us is I judge on “what did he do” and you judge on “he did better than before”.
I notice no mention from Bob about Arteta lucky to still be in the job?
Ambarish-I would gladly take Rice, Caicedo and Lavia, even if it meant Partey was removed for the equation, but we all know that will never happen…Lavia is the cheaper, far less polished Caicedo option, which is likely required if MA is going to pursue another overpriced luxury option like Havertz
Bob-sorry if my responses required you to dig up your old reading ruler, but when one is dealing with highly nuanced scenarios not everything can be reduced to the length of a casual text message…as to your previous response, you seem to actually agree with my Partey sentiments, which, like it or not, means that you too have questioned MA’s tactical approach in regards to this particular player…it’s likewise important to note that I made reference to the fact that Partey’s oft-times mixed reviews aren’t always down to the ineffectual nature of our present manager…just saying
New post.
btw Ambarish I’ve spoken about Partey’s likely exit since the day Jorginho was acquired, as there was no way we agreed to pay his sizeable wage, for an unreasonable term, if he wasn’t given going to be given some significant minutes moving forward…I would go so far as to suggest that one of the main reasons anyone would want to come here presently is the fact that MA has provided players with the kind of assurances they would find difficult to get elsewhere…oft-times when a club is a desired destination such assurances aren’t required and/or expected, but it’s likely imperative with our little project…it also carries considerable weight as MA’s known for his lack of rotation, so if he says your in his future starting 11 plans if would be difficult to not believe and/or be encouraged by the possible prospects of signing on