We have always been famous for not doing it early in the transfer window. However, the window is slow for others as well this time. Chelsea have got couple of incomings for free from Fulham and Liverpool, Man United and Man City are yet to make a move. Newcastle bought Lewis Hall from Chelsea in a 28m deal but that’s going to complicate things for them even further, they need to sell some players to not break FFP rules.
We did have a clear-out though. We have let go of Mohamed Elneny and Cedric Soares from the first team. Contracts for them ended at the end of the season and we have no reasons to renew it now. We have also released some of the youngsters in Kido Taylor-Hart, Tyreece John-Jules, Arthur Okonkwo, Henry Davies. These are some names we have heard, seen on bench and thought they will have a bright future a year back. Teams like City, Man Utd, Newcastle, Madrid, Bayern, Chelsea have made it tough for anyone else to grow a pair and give time to young guns. When the margins are negligible between the winner and the 2nd place, you can’t afford to drop points because you played few 18 year old kids against Forrest.
We need ready made players who can make an impact from the first game in red and white. We have tightly coupled team, no one important is going anywhere and we have challenged for the title for consecutive season. We need a player or two who can push us that extra bit.
Right, so what’s my expectation?
Assuming we don’t have enough free money to spend, we would have to generate some first.
Goalkeepers
We have Aaron Ramsdale, David Raya and Karl Hein on the books. There is already some money owed to Brentford for Raya, and if you remember, we did a loan + buy because we needed to comply with FFP.
I think Aaron will make a move. The rumours of us putting a 50m price tag on him is absurd. He will fetch a handsome 35 odd million pounds, and we will go again in the market and get his replacement. We are not going to splurge a lot of money, since Raya will be the main man next season.
Me, personally would ask Ramsdale to continue. We will play a lot of games and it’s not like he is that bad with his feet that he can’t play at all. He was our main man a season back.
Mikel, when asked last season about having 2 GK, said ‘WHY NOT’! Well, we will find out if he meant that.
Defenders
We have Saliba + Gabriel CB partership, Ben White at RB and Timber is going to be the preferred player at LB. Tomiyasu is a great utility player who can play both sides, and is primarily a CB. Kiwior played some brilliant games at that LB position so that’s that. I think we are covered on both sides but we might need a CB to assist both Gabriel and Saliba. Saliba played all minutes last season, but it’s not going to be that every season. Gabriel gets fatigued as well.
Even if Mikel decides to try out Ben White or Tomiyasu at that CB, we need a back up. How are going to do that? By selling Zinchenko (sorry mate).
Midfielders
Our preferred ine up is Odegaard on the right, Partey in the middle and Rice on the left. havertz can cover that left side andRice can play in the middle but we do not have a competition for Odegaard. We saw our captain drop some bad games, and any injury to him can jeopardise our chances.
I still believe Emile Smith Rowe should have been developed as a competition to Odegaard but that ship has sailed in Mikel’s book. Fabio Vieira showed some glimpse but he still can’t do it for 90 minutes. We need a starting XI player who can take up what Odegaard does without a drop in quality.
Oh, and I forgot Jorginho whom we renewed. He is here to stay, and is going to be a part of that midfield. I fail to see both him and Partey continuing this year, so this is probably an end to the Ghanaian’s days in red and white. We get some money hopefully, we encash ESR and we bring in a midfielder is what I hope. I can be happy if we keep Vieira for one more season, see what he does except getting injured.
Forwards
Saka on the right, Martinelli on the left and Jesus/Havertz in the middle. I know the club is trying to bring a specialist CF and I hope we do it as early as possible. Getting a CF gives us that edge in the middle and allows Havertz to rotate and cover in the midfield if the need be. For Gabriel Jesus can compete on the wings where he plays best.
We have Trossard as well. A very important utility player, who loves to score. He can cover the bad days of Martinelli.
Reiss Nelson and Nketiah needs to be sold. The money we get will help us get that CF.
On loan
Right, we do have some players that we sent on loan. Tierney is back with the squad, and I am guessing he will be sold as well. Tavares was bright prospect when he came in initially, but he is not going to make it in that playing XI. Lokonga will be sold as well. That’s about 50m of money that can be spent on filling the spaces that gets vacant when do a clear out.
We can generate some money. We don’t need a complete overhaul in our playing XI. A decent CF can fix the playing XI and it will be a matter of getting back ups and/or competition in different places, which can be achieved without shelling 100m.
Lets see what Edu and Mikel has in mind.
Wrapping up
Sorry for ghosting you guys. The work’s always hectic and I need to take care of my health seriously.
As a tradition, I have revamped the website before the new season begin. I might change it further in coming days, but if you see/face any issues, give me a shoutout.
Note : I went through the 470+ comments on my previous post and some older ones. I expect that we respect each other’s opinions and we don’t make it personal. Readers come here to feel good in a rather distressing time, and lets not make it worse for each other.
Lets keep it to football. It’s the views / opinions / ideas that should be criticized, not the person. I will keep a tab of such, and please refrain from doing so.
Thanks Ambarish
Ambarish–long time, no see…hopefully things aren’t too serious, health-wise that is…take care…don’t worry though, while you were absent I made sure everyone played nice…you know how I abhor even the slightest bit of negativity on this site lol
just one comment regarding your article…you still seem convinced that Marts is the starter and Tross the backup, whereas the end of last season suggested otherwise…now that might have made sense a month earlier, when Marts got injured, but even when he was back to full health nothing changed regarding MA’s pecking order
TRVL
Big Marti fan I am. :)) I think Trossard will take a back seat, the injury effect for Martinelli will be over and I am hoping he will be back to his 15 goal a season performance.
I just noticed the footer have lost my ‘About me’ after the theme update. Please ignore for today, I will fix it.
How’s readability overall? Anything to complain?
Ambarish
A lot of rumours which is par for the course this time of year however most of the supposed targets are going elsewhere. Perhaps they are not targets at all – I doubt we will ever know unless El B goes full on Wenger and in a few years time starts stating ‘ I almost signed …………?
From the Athletic:
“Arsenal have been linked with a number of strikers but it is not actually certain that they will sign a new number nine, perhaps choosing to stick with Gabriel Jesus and other makeshift forwards”
rather disconcerting update…btw this was an excerpt from an article about MA et al no longer pursuing Zirkzee, who appears to be on his way to AC Milan
Kind of frustrating because both Edu and Mikel were interested in buying a CF.
Gabriel Jesus is not the answer. In games where there is a stalemate and you don’t find anything happening, we need that individual brilliance which Haaland, Salah provides.. you can’t expect an unexpected goal from midfielder or a winger, it has to be a CF.
Ambarish-as I’ve stated on a couple of occasions, I’m not convinced that MA wants an out-and-out Striker…just look at how much money he’s spent since Auba left the building and not once did he sniff in the general direction of a real bona fide Striker…even his supposed pursuit of Vlahovic seemed incredibly contrived at the time, as the player literally told anyone who would listen that he had no interest whatsoever in joining MA in North London
Today was a far more typical pre-window rumour mill gig with all sorts of players being bandied about, some of whom weren’t even Strikers…none of names were revelatory in nature, but there was one name that stood out for me and not because I’m convinced he’s the best option, he’s just an intriguing midfield prospect…I remember a time in February or March where a rumour or two emerged about our supposed interest, but upon further investigation I quickly realized that there had been a lot of chatter about several of his fellow countrymen due to the unprecendented success of Girona…anyways the player of interest was Georgiy Sudakov, a 21 year old midfielder for Shaktar…if memory serves me correctly Modric was his idol, which makes perfect sense, as he’s a smooth, creative and industrious midfielder…now that’s quite a high bar, but if he can find a way to get anywhere near that sort of rarefied air, this stylish yet understated player could fit quite nicely in MA’s Arsenal…of course, it won’t be easy prying him away, especially after Napoli failed to do so with a 40M bid, which then saw him sign a new deal with a 150M release clause, but the fact that his bestie, Mudryk, hasn’t lived up to his price tag just yet, might provide any potential suitor with a little leverage when push comes to shove
“No Sesko, potential problem. Or not? With the Slovenian opting to remain with Red Bull Leipzig to continue his development, Arteta has decided to ditch any pursuit of a centre-forward and leave the centre-forward market altogether”
it’s my belief that MA’s stubbornness regarding our gangly German tweener playing up top, combined with his inability to properly rotate, essentially scuppered any potential deal for Sesko…why would this young Striker, who many have compared to Haaland, rightly or wrongly, move on from his present club to sit behind such a lacklustre option…to make matters worse he then signed a new deal without a release clause, which means he’s likely not coming here anytime soon unless we’re willing to pay substantially higher fees and wages
who knows, maybe Sesko’s stock will take a hit if he doesn’t perform well at the Euros and Havertz will actually show glimpses of his former self, which will somehow be viewed by Artetites as another savvy move on MA’s part, just like when Mudryk was gazumped by Chelsea in the 11th hour…of course, this sort of thinking makes literally no sense, as MA would have gladly bought both Mudryk and Sesko…regardless, the Havertz dilemma, especially with Jesus still on the books, will undoubtedly make it exceedingly difficult to convince any Striker of consequence to sign on the dotted line…fuck me, I hope I’m wrong though
Ambarish
The new look looks great where the font seems bigger and clearer. Thanks for the change.
Now, Ambarish, look after your health and let us help when you are too busy.
Stress is a killer. KP & TRVL are both excellent writers with by far the best written skills here. Reach out and ask them for help. Ditto me, but they are far better than I am.
The being kind to new posters part from you, was I thought, uncalled for. We collectively welcome all new posters here and hope they stay. We engage with them positively.
However, when such posters come here to be belligerent, and to wind us up by nonsensically using troll arguments to praise El B. There will be serious disagreement when they come here to provoke or worse to get TRVL binned.
The problem is you’re too busy to moderate, and we don’t take kindly to being trolled. We try to keep LIR moving daily with posts giving out time happily to put an extra post on to help the numbers.
I don’t know what the answer is, but it’s your blog, so I’ll do my best to be moderate in my responses.
But, let’s be clear here. In 5 years El B has been a failure to win a major trophy with a £billion+ squad.
Players don’t want to play for El B. Sesko is the latest raw, young player to say no to El B. It’s why El B has to go for lesser players, such as Zinchenko and Jesus with Havertz being the last player to love to lay for El B.
Rice by all accounts wanted to stay in London, and not go to Manchester or Liverpool or abroad, but he didn’t love us enough to put in a transfer request whew we could have bought Rice for about £75m if he had.
88522? Is that the results of a winner? Nope! It’s an also ran.
When El B wins a major trophy I will sing his praises for doing so, after that, it’s back to square one to win again.
City have won 5/6 PL trophies where El B had the chance to win 2 of these seasons, but blew it in April, as he’s done for the last 3 seasons.
You are only as good as your last season. El B has has 5 shit seasons capitulating in 3, so I want him gone; there are far better out there.
I’ll do my best to stay away from any trolls who come here, Ambarish, but I can’t promise. I call a spade a spade and eat trolls for breakfast. That’s just me.
Try letting good people help you, Ambarish. The blog isn’t an Indian cultural blog, it’s The Arsenal. Let Gooners help you to help your blog.
“”However, when such posters come here to be belligerent, and to wind us up by nonsensically using troll arguments to praise El B. There will be serious disagreement when they come here to provoke or worse to get TRVL binned.””
Nope, these wind ups won’t happen from any side. Everyone has their own way of seeing things, you might consider Mikel 5 year journey a failure, while some might say we have been competing atleast unlike the late Wenger years when we have up for a top 4 stop. You can say we have spent a lot while other can say good, that we are going after the cream and not make shifts like Mustafi and Elneny to keep the owners happy and budgeted.
In UK, I have had a close friend who supported Man Utd. We used to say to each other ‘you are thinking out of your arse mate’ and not ‘you are an arse mate’.. If you don’t agree with what someone posts, feel free to counter it. Someone else might not agree with you and can counter you as well.
Let’s not become the very thing we despised a couple years back somewhere else in the world.
not despised rather hated’
TRVL
Could be. I was happy the previous season when our front 5 were all among goals. But then we lost the title because we lost couple of games when one of these couldn’t create or score even if their life dependent on it.
Last season, the same. Almost everyone was among goals even Havertz had some. But how far it took us? 2nd position again behind City.
We need that lethal CF, who can score from a brilliant kick or can do a run with the ball from halfway line like Martinelli did couple of times. Individual brilliance is what I am looking for.
Ambarish
Havertz was given a certain amount of freedom by opposing teams last season. Will they this coming season? He rarely is able to adjust his play to hit first time balls unless he is acres of space. A striker with a killer touch is required. We will probably end up with Toney as our option because all of the other so called targets are either staying where they are or go to other teams.
NORG
I think Havertz was a decent player even at Chelsea. He needed that confidence and support, which Mikel has provided him. He is going to do well this season as well.
But we can’t rely just on him as CF. He can be a rotation, a back up but he is not one Haaland, Benzema, Aubameyang. Gosh, I miss Auba before he signed the contract.
Aitcho, Hoopah, KP – if you are reading this, hello 👋🏻
“KAI HAVERTZ has become Mikel Arteta’s most important player as Arsenal go for the title.That’s after the Spanish boss made a genius tactical switch”
so long as this sort of rhetoric continues to resonate with a significant percentage of the fanbase, we will continue to struggle for titles of any real consequence…simply put, after Havertz failed miserably in the 8-hole, MA pushed him forward into the only other plausible positional option…this required no managerial nous, as that position was open for the taking, and it likewise provided him with a last ditch attempt to save himself from another WIllian-like embarassment…furthermore, he committed more men in and around the box, with Tross tucking inside more and Rice bum-rushing the final third, which led opposing defenders to pay less and less attention towards who they clearly viewed to be as the least noteworthy threat…even then Havertz had one finish of some note…hardly a genius tactical switch or proof that we should continue down this underwhelming path next season…like you said Ambarish, good bench option, but that’s not really an option after MA paid over the number on the front end, then gifted him some 300+per week in wages
Ambarish
You have forgotten the in house match reporter Marc. I must admit a couple of Aitcho’s match reports were pretty good – perhaps a bit biased.
TRVL
I share your view on Havertz. The game that highlighted it for me was vs Liverpool in the FA Cup. He needed half a dozen touches from an incoming ball – by the time he had reached 5 touches he had lost the ball or misplaced an early pass. Time has moved on and after many training sessions perhaps has a better understanding with his team mates – something that ESR and Saka already had. On £370K per week you would have thought he would be up to speed much sooner.