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.
TRVL
At face value Wenger and Arteta both bought players from rivals but the actual mechanics were very different. Wenger (I have my own views on why) became obsessed with not spending large sums of money and seemed to think bringing in players from other PL teams would generate results.
Arteta is a complete fucking moron who is spending huge amounts on second rate players – has he signed a single player who you can look at and say was a bargin? Ode we got at a good fee because Madrid were looking to raise cash, Gabriel for £27 million was a great buy but he wasn’t cheap – both of these players were aso signed early on in Arteta reign I’m convinced he had scouting information from City.
I still struggle to understand how people can think Arteta has a clue what he’s doing – I’m sure he talks a good talk but how many times do you have to listen to someone tell you “they’ve got a great idea” that never works before you tell them “don’t be a cunt”?
could the reasoning behind our unusually timely Noni transfer have something to do with the fact that MA was supposedly a longtime admirer, meanwhile when it comes to Berta’s first choice Striker option, VG, the slow crawling nickel and dime treatment has been employed…if the rumours are to be believed, MA had pushed for Noni in previous windows, but Edu and several key scouts weren’t convinced…just not to sure I believe that Edu was pulling the strings on personnel matters, which is why he sought a gig elsewhere, so this might be a little proactive revisionist history seed planting by the Arteta Knows Best crew in case Noni comes good
whatever went on behind the scenes between Sesko’s camp and our transfer team clearly didn’t sit well with the young Striker, as he appears to be making a concerted push for a move to United, even though they can’t offer him European football…wouldn’t it be just like Arteta’s Arsenal if the year in which we finally went into the market to get a true number 9, we ended up with the worst of the lot…Pool lands Isak or Ekitike, Newcastle retains Isak or acquires Ekitike, Chelsea upgrades the position by replacing a misfiring Jackson with a combo of Delap and Pedro, then United gets a highly motivated Sesko…now it’s not outside the realm of possibility that VG proves himself to be the best of the bunch, but I think I’ll put my money on the field
(btw it appears as if United are making a last ditch attempt to steal VG away, which makes some sense considering who their manager is and all of our dithering nonsense)
Marc—I would never compare the pre-Emirates Wenger to our little MIT, as the former was an innovator and a world-class skipper, whereas Artta is largely an imposter with a massive budget and an unjustifiably long leash…my point had more to do with their similar missteps when it came to their respective transfer and tactical missteps, which severely hampered our ability to maximize their respective title-winning windows…Wenger choked away his last opportunity by only bringing in Cech and Arteta wasted gobs of money on various Chelsea periphery pieces and the like, when much better options were available…of those 4 potential title winning runs, we should have won at least 2, if not 3, especially with so many of the usual contenders in transition, but instead we’ve won jacksquat…it’s my contention that MA has adopted many of Wenger’s worst managerial traits, including his general disdain for alpha-level forwards and nonsensical shoehorning, due to the fact that by the time he arrived on the scene Wenger was a shadow of his former self…Cheers
TRVL
Rumours going around that the VG might collapse. If you look at our transfer dealings its very difficult not to think that when its someone Arteta really wants money is thrown at the deal – anyone else has input and its like pulling teeth.
If the deal falls through and we don’t get a good striker (you know my thoughts on Arteta not even wanting one!) whilst spending £50 million on a squad player and not only can’t I see the fans accepting it but more importantly I think the media will smell blood.
A poor start to the season and Arteta’s going to be under serious pressure.
Imagine a club who spent almost 90M on 4 players (Vieira, Zinchenko, Nelson & Lokonga) actually bragging about the possibility of being able to recoup less than 2/3rds of their initial investment, not including wages, by selling them off this summer…only Arsenal would actually shine a light on a 30+M loss…of course the article in question failed to mention anything about how much these failed Arteta-sanctioned transfers have actually costs us or how little they’ve collectively contributed to the club…instead they acted as if it was just another example of our good business practices…to make matters worse, I think it will be a considerable struggle to even raise that amount…ever since Arteta’s hiring we’ve become a fake news echo chamber…Trump must be so proud of his little buddy Silent Stan
It could have been very simple with another thinking:
Buy:
Mbeumo
Rashford loan Manure to subsidise his wages……
Eze
Nico Williams or if not possible then Kudus
No need for Zubi or Noni with the new above reinvigorated attacking pieces for Havertz to compete with & Rice at 6 where he excels most.
I’d have been happy with that window.
Captain Fuckwit getting in early with excuses claiming the squad is short of numbers.
Now back on planet earth and to our current reality, how would you salvage our TW?
So that we can compete with Pool now Ekitike is about to sign along with Wirtz, Frimpong, Giorgi Mamardashvili & Kerkez et al being added to a squad, that was already on a different level to MA’s tactically starved and run into-the-ground group of unbalanced players, where it wasn’t uncommon to have 5 left backs on the bench.
For me? At the very least buy Isak while Pool are wrapping up their Ekitike deal. Follow that with Eze and Nico Williams to push Marts.
I’d add another AM and wonder if Morgan Gibbs White could challenge Ode to start games or play together, god forbid, with Eze as a false 9 using Havertz as a decoy in case we need a penalty?
I’d leave the back alone this window or get a kid like the young Spain CB.
What do youn guys think?
Marc
Just waiting for VG to tell Amorim he could never play for another manager, and that it was his agent’s advice he was considering joining the MA revolution. It was a “He made me” moment.
However, facts are this revolution is currently in its 6th year where new parts are becoming harder to come by with opponents being far better equipped with real managers devoid of delusion.
What we’ve got here is the new parts are those about to go over the hill or those that haven’t yet made it up the hill even though they are in their prime.
Neither make sense or will move the needle an iota.
Would love to see a video of MA after being fired in the taxi after a Alan Sugar like has pointed the finger.
Can’t be “I cannot believe it” Sugar, as he’s a Spud and would hire the Cnut for another 5 years.
thus far this window could only be described as underwhelming…with the defending champs now signing upwards of 4 key starters to our 1, it’s clear who’s making a statement of intent…not to mention it appears as if Pool aren’t finished yet…in order for us to actually compete for titles, without continuing down the same bully-ball offensively-stunted hope for the best path, we need to bring in two bona fide starters….one needs to be a Striker, and not one to simply compete with Havertz, and the other needs to be a readymade forward with a goalscoring profile…the only way to win here is to construct a lineup that can win in spite of our manager’s shortcomings…we’ve already looked a gift horse in the mouth for 3 years running, when we failed to get our transfer dealings right, and if we do so again we’ll find ourselves squarely within another Wenger Cup-like phase, especially now that those around us have now emerged from their respective stupors…it’s put up or shut up time
I’m waiting for the fanboys to start the “can’t compete with Liverpool because they’ve spent £300 million this summer” without realising that they only spent £30 odd million last summer.
The excuses are pathetic and Arsenal fans making them should be ashamed.
Tony
Arteta buys an awful lot of players who don’t do much (if anything) to move the needle. Now all managers have signings who don’t work out but Arteta takes it too an extreme.
TRVL
“we’ll find ourselves squarely within another Wenger Cup-like phase”
Arteta would actually have to win a cup or cups to achieve that.
Marc—i meant the whole top 4 Wenger Cup gig, as I don’t give a flying fuck about FA’s at this point
If I understand the media correctly, the only reason VG’s agent won’t sanction an Amorim and VG reunion is because of Amorim’s alleged poor handing of another player VG’s agent also represents.
Manure reportedly offering the club’s £70m asking stance, we were reluctant to go to, has not assuaged the agent’s ire, and so the hapless VG could still well end up with us hoping to do better than he did with his time at BHA and Coventry before dropping mucho levels to rack up decent stats in Portugal.
We’ve been shit buying from Portugal and the Chavs under MA so………
TRVL
If Arteta doesn’t up his game I think he could struggle with top 4 this coming season.
Does the PL get 5 places in the CL next season?
Sorry I meant 5 places for season 26 – 27!
“we have to improve the depth and quality”—don’t think for a second that it was just happenstance that our little MIT spoke about our need for “depth” before mentioning “quality”…throughout this window, when the overwhelming majority of the punditry has focused their attentions on the commonly held belief that we were going to upgrade our starting 11, specifically up top, MA has continually referenced our need for depth…whenever he speaks about the Striker position or adding another forward option, he always dances around the specifics…in fact, typically he would just make some roundabout reference to how the injury bug had derailed our title plans…of course this was him once again playing to his base, who were likewise convinced that if only we were healthy there was no side better…let’s not forget this is the same manager who publicly declared that we were the much better side in both legs of our PSG semi, so being delusional comes as naturally to him as fucking breathing
no wonder he favoured Sesko and Noni, as neither would be coming with assurances…this is likely why the whole Sesko move went off the rails rather quickly…according to multiple reports, he had outright rejected our approach last offseason when he wasn’t given assurances about being the presumptive starter over Havertz, so why would he do so some 12 months later…even Zubi doesn’t appear to have any ironclad guarantees, or why else would we have attempted to re-up Partey and/or pursue Palhinha
it’s my contention that had Partey not been formally charged, MA’s preferred starting 11 from last season could have quite easily liined up against United in week one, even after spending another 200M…now you would never hear this straight from the horse’s mouth, as this not-so-crafty prick typically avoids hard facts like the fucking plague, for plausible deniability’s sake, but if you’re careful not to fall for his ESL lost in translation ploy, it shouldn’t surprise you one iota that our priority signings have been mostly depth pieces
so here’s hoping that Berta wasn’t intentionally brought in to be another wag the dog rube, much like Gazidis early on, and he’s actually willing to do whatever it takes to shed the label of being our resident imposter’s bitch…of course, who the fuck knows, maybe that’s just Berta’s MO on the heels of a lengthy tenure at Atleti under Simeone, who’s no imposter but undoubtedly loves himself a good DOF bitch
on a side note, if Chelsea are actually demanding somewhere between 80-100M for Jackson, surely we can recoup 60M for Havertz, so we can get his batshit crazy wages off the books and finally right that wrong
TRVL
Its looking more and more like my feeling that Arteta doesn’t / didn’t want a top name striker is correct because that would force him to drop Havertz.
I’ve got to a point where I’d be happy to not sign a striker – when we’re as toothless going forward next season the media will pounce on Arteta like a pack of sharks and the fans will follow.
If it means the end of Arteta taking another bad season is something I can live with.
Marc—you might have to wait on that dream ending because it appears as if VG is finally on his way…of course, that doesn’t mean that he will actually supplant Havertz…just imagine how pissed he will be if he’s regarded as the 1B after that clown show of a negotiations (both he and his agent had to eat some funds just to get it over the line)
RIP Ozzy
It certainly didn’t take long for Arteta to start spewing his usual nonsense…from his out-and-out rubbish about his Job-like journey to end our “tiered” squad structure, to his laughable claims that they are upwards of 9 teams who could realistically win the title this upcoming season, it’s glaringly clear that he thinks we’re all a bunch of brainless rubes
as to the former, he framed his commentary in just such a way as to actually infer that, prior to this offseason, squad construction was completely out of his control…it’s almost as if we’re supposed to believe that immediately upon his hiring he was blindfolded and beaten about the head until he agreed to adopt a roster construction template that was not of his choosing…WTF…it’s not as if no one has ever contemplated the notion of having viable/readymade backup options, at least in key “tactical” positions, so that one could actually rotate players in and out of their lineup even when their preferred options were available for selection…talk about lacking any self-awareness…is he actually suggesting that Saka and Noni interchangeable or that he will devise a plethora of tactical plans, each geared specifically to whomever is on the pitch at any given moment, or is he actually claiming that the ultimate goal is to construct a squad of veritable clones…I swear this fuck has never uttered a single honest word, let alone have an original thought
as for his latter commentary, this was little more than another slick attempt to provide himself with an out, should he fail yet again…never have I ever heard a manager actually suggest that nearly half of the entire fucking league realistically has what it takes to win it all…of course, I could have it all wrong…considering his egomaniacal nature, he might have said all that simply to make it seem all the sweeter should he find a way not to cock things up for the 4th year running…all I know is, whatever he’s selling I ain’t buying…well at least not until he stops being the biggest stumbling block to our on-field success