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.
Marc
Tut…tut. Talking the team down to bring about regime change would, in the old days, have caused Emirates Stroller, AFCF and Pedro’s eyeballs to swivel and start frothing at the mouth. I’d never miss the opportunity…
You’re right. I can’t feel more for this club while the little bastard remains at the helm. We have a decent squad but he has a stranglehold on their potential as winners. Thank fuck that we’re able to express these truths on LiR.
Nottingham Forest were not happy with how Tottenham handled their approach for England midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White, 25, and would prefer to sell him to another club.
From the BBC. Things don’t get any better for the cunts in N17 do they? Here’s an appropriately sized violin 🎻 of commiseration.
Enjoyed watching the England Women semi yesterday real fight and determination with a fairytale ending for a rookie 19 year old gooner.
The final should be a fun watch. Yes it’s sub par men’s levels but decent enough to bring excitement to the game and viewers’ enjoyment.
Junior paid £15 for the Arsenal streaming service for their pre season games. Watching the Milan game live now.
What was worrying they showed the lads training and shooting where Rice was as poor in training as he is games.
Ho hum ….,,
Kroenke
Its amusing that Kim Dum Pedro took on the mantle of “its not for fans to demand regime change” when that’s what started his fucking blog.
Just a few points:
(1) the more I scan the web, the more I believe that something truly unexpected would have to happen in order for our club to sack the manager…it’s so bonkers out there that the blinders bunch are actually applauding the shit show that has been the VG transfer, which still isn’t quite over the line…the Kool-Aiders see this as us finally putting our foot down when it comes to conducting our business…how could you ever have a rational conversation with anyone who would die on that hill…this is some Jesus level walk on water disciple-type shit
(2) thankfully titles aren’t decided on paper or we might find ourselves fighting for 4th, especially if Chelsea and Pool continue to bring in top quality pieces and City can find answers to their wide side issues…meanwhile the usual limped dick suspects are already calling this our best window ever, which might make sense if windows were ranked according to quantity not quality…of course, if we can somehow manage to get another attacker who brings something different to the equation, such as Eze, who can score from distance, I might have a bit of a rethink…whomever it is they simple must be a readymade starter with goals in their boots
Marc—so true, as Pedro’s LG origin story involved his disdain for the club’s unwillingness to move on from Wenger…in fact, I think he had an online “falling out” with his father about that very issue, but I could be wrong…just another do as I say not as I do fuckwad, which is likely why he so admires our current manager
Been a bit behind the curve this last week with some things, but not with us and our TW nonsense.
As I previously posted junior found the club was offering streaming deals for the pre season games, which I normally take with a pinch of salt being a prelude of things to come initially, which should be fine tuned during the first 6 games.
Except we have a baptism by fire for our first couple of months. Not that there is likely to be any easy games this season where you can bank points, there won’t be, unless in-game circumstances warrant, such as a dubious red card where I believe VAR will have license to review yellow cards this season.
So, knowing what awaits us for the start of the coming season I paid our £15 for 5 games to see what, if anything, has changed from last season?
Our first pre season Milan game showed promise in the first half with Ethan, Marts & Sake just behind the newly beefed up but now slower Havertz. With Rice & Nargarad as a double 6 kind of.
Ethan looked very lively and mostly likely to score where Havertz was …. well usual Havertz, just a bit bigger with no real improvements.
Rice had his usual free license to roam with a couple of “Rice” long-range ‘swing and miss’ shots and then the usual slap of the hands and cheesy grin for the cameras & team mates that suggests that he normally has a 9/10 strike rate, which is more accurate if you go with the 1/10 success rate equation.
Only Ethan made us look different in the first half, but MA played our ‘A’ team for the second half with little effect. Zubi looked efficiently average at £53m+ or not as fluent as £15m Nargaard who is as tidy as the intended Partey 2:0.
I saw nothing to suggest the needle has moved at all. Yes, we were solid at the back with 2 DMs when needed. We looked infinitely better when Skelly replaced the hapless Zinny who simply has to go being way past his sell by date. and we have Noni and VG to add to the squad, but both likely to miss pre season.
But what’s new with our summer transfers who all end up suffering the ‘deep-end sink or swim’ fate that is solely down to our lack of ability to get deals done with the swift efficiently that Pool and Slot and other clubs seem to do so effortlessly.
I know it’s only one preseason game, but the writing is on the wall that nothing is changing only a few moving parts have been replaced with inferior parts compared to our competitors’ acquisitions, which is going to include Frank with the Spuds. He did well for Brentford on a shoestring budget and has a managerial reputation to build.
I would have loved to have bought Mbeumo, Radford and Kudus to give us more firepower.
Add Gibbs White and Eze to our attacking midfield to push Ethan and Ode, and we would have been challenging this season making a clear statement that we are “in it to win it”.
Instead of bricking it for our first game against the mighty Manure, we would have exuded confidence that we had the right pieces in depth for any of the 60+ coming games.
The reality of our TW actions tells a much different story to our real needs, which is MA’s par for his TW course.
We have a possible world number one at 6 in Rice, so MA buys Zubi who is inferior to Rice as a 6, and lacks any DM box to box versatility. To overcome that little deficiency MA buys Nargaard who can play a more AM role, as Rice and party can/could. MA has player options now in depth but can only play one option at a time for his same rigid tactics, which will never change nor have done for 6 years.
Partey was the architect of his own demise and would have had a year by year contract if his past was event free of current serious misconduct allegations against women.
I think MA held on for as long as he could using the ostrich head/sand approach, which is unusual as MA usually prefers the head/arse technique, especially having talked out of his arse for nearly 6 years now.
So my preseason conclusion for this meandering post? I saw nothing to suggest MA is going to change his 6-year “process”.
I think Ethan will get his chance and will have to take it, as he has done before. Noni the same and I sincerely hope they do for their career struggles MA will present – look at Ethan’s lack of minutes last season or play being directed through him when he did play.
Our new additions are not going to move the required needle. They are 2025 Zinny, Jorginho and Jesus type buys that only offer the guaranteed inconsistency Merino gives us or Rice playing his coveted 8 position that is holding us back. Eze won’t come to play 2nd fiddle to Rice for the 8 spot.
Newcastle at the weekend so will watch that one with interest. Will Isak play or is he really going to join Slot’s revolution he’s assembling.
So far, I can safely say we are not going to be 2nd or 3rd this season with Pool being champions again unless VG turns out to be the 2nd coming of Haaland and Rice morphs into a a Paddy V for next season with no long term injuries meaning little rotation t worry about……….
Somehow I see neither happening……………
This kid looked good for his years against Milan…. Thought good enough to give him his own post:
“Arsenal wonderkid Max Dowman, 15, is ready for the big time after dazzling on his Gunners debut, writes CRAIG HOPE”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-14934477/Arsenal-Max-Dowman-15-dazzling-debut.html
“Ethan Nwaneri was the coolest teenager on the pitch amid the sauna of Singapore’s National Stadium, at least until a team-mate three years his junior came on and whistled down the wing like a breeze.
Max Dowman is 15 years old. He will be completing his GCSEs next spring, at roughly the same time Arsenal will be learning if they are finally Premier League champions under Mikel Arteta. He could yet be juggling exam room and dressing room.
The schoolboy made his senior debut here last night and looked anything but junior, and that was before he kicked a ball.
He has height and poise and a physique that belies his youth. In short, he looks like a footballer. We soon discovered he plays like a very good one, too.
Dowman took a match, not a hose, to the hype that surrounds him. When you make your Under 18s debut at 13, expectation is inevitable.
You would ordinarily call his half hour during Arsenal’s 1-0 win a ‘cameo’, but this felt more like an announcement. It felt like a boy saying he is ready for the man’s game.
Dowman receives the ball with the delicacy of puck on stick, and glides as if on ice, too. When it came to a ceremonial penalty shootout, he sent the goalkeeper the wrong way with a left-foot swoosh that cut through the nonsense of the convoluted attempts of his elders. The socks at half-mast spoke of his confidence and swagger without the need for a Panenka.
Nwaneri’s first-half showreel was a distant memory by this point, but it should not be. He does not look 18 and nor does he play 18. If anything, his new shirt number, 22, would be a better guess of his age if not knowing otherwise.
The England Under 21 forward was used at No 10 but caused havoc left, right and centre. Indeed, Milan defender Strahinja Pavlovic would rather Nwaneri had not drifted right at one point in the first half. He thought he had the Arsenal youngster trapped against the touchline.
It was Nwaneri setting the trap and, with a piece of skill akin to escapology, he made a statue of his opponent before fleeing into the penalty area.
There was very quickly another moment of magic, a snap turn on the edge of the box that sent Christian Pulisic for the half-time noodles. His shot, a crisp half-volley, was turned behind by Milan keeper Pietro Terracciano.
But it was Dowman who Arteta was asked about first after the victory, secured thanks to Bukayo Saka’s second-half goal.
Dowman’s first involvement — against AC Milan, no less — was to beat two men and watch as his shot then went just wide. His first-team career was less than 60 seconds old at this point. It was fearless, but at the same time scary to consider this boy’s potential.
Declan Rice calls him the best 15-year-old in the country, and what the England midfielder has seen behind closed doors we enjoyed here in public.
‘I’m happy with all the kids,’ he said, after also giving a debut to centre back Marli Salmon, another 15-year-old.
‘I think they are able to play at that level at 15 because of the environment and culture within the team. It gives you the best chance, but then you have to have the qualities this kid (Dowman) has to deliver against opposition like this.’
There was also praise for Nwaneri and, while this may sound like the hottest of summer takes, he looked like a player set for the World Cup next summer. That tournament will come too soon for Dowman, but Euro 2028 will not.
Before all of that, both players have a title to contend for with Arsenal. They might just play a bigger part than anyone expected.
With the Isak to Pool press picking up pace I wondered if Eddie Howe would fancy hijacking our VG deal?
We dodged the Micky Mudflaps bullet purely by chance, and I would be happy for Newcastle to take our overconfident ‘Snotlout’ Viking and Isak’s countryman (VG) up north. Weather and dragons shouldn’t be a problem.
If he starts pulling up trees up there, then Oops my bad!
If he’s, as expected, patchy at best, then Noni and Ethan with Havertz will have to do unless Eze can be sold on MA’s aging project that should have been collecting mothballs 4 years ago.
Would Eze go to Spuds to take over Son’s role?
Good read Tony—lots of chatter about the “kids” online yesterday, largely due to the somewhat mass exodus of academy pieces last season…I’m sure all the usual “media” suspects got their orders from our PR department about resetting the narrative…I didn’t watch the match, but from what I read it was a rather disjointed affair with a few highlights of note from both Dowman and Ethan…first time out is always going to be a mixed bag
Rice has come out swinging in defence of Noni…even though I get why some were quick to go into full-on attack mode, the fact that the player took the bulk of the blame wasn’t a good look…MA’s antics and the like tend to bring out the worst in us at times…Noni has something to offer but that money never should have been used until we had brought in two bona fide forward starters…under those conditions that sort of move could have looked like a statement of intent about our desire to up the ante when it came to addressing our lack of viable depth…instead it was viewed as another shortsighted Chelsea purchase that would invariably lead to annother exercise in shoehorning
isn’t it just like us that as soon as what some are aptly describing as a tortuous transfer process appears to be coming to an end, Isak makes it be known that he’s seriously contemplating his immediate future…either we’re to stupid to live, by not even putting in the effort, or he was actually waiting for us to complete our business so we weren’t in the running…like I said before, if Pool get him, along with Hugo, we’re fucked for the foreseeable future, which might be the case regardless
So predictable Liverpool would get Isak and we would get the dregs. Berta showing it was Simeone who was guvnor at Athletic Madrid.
Madueke, Nodegard, Keppa, Gyokeres.
Zubimendi is probably decent but massively overpriced for a midfielder that does fuck all apart from spray some safe passes from his own half.
Only our cunts could spend another 300 million and not make the team look better.
Liverpool look like they are on for 120 goals next season.
Any fans of the thankfully dead wrestling bullshitter and all round bastard Hulk Hogan out there? Here’s a limerickial homage to the old cunt…
A racist motherfucker called Hulk
Took dick shrinking steroids in bulk
As he fluffed Donald Trump
Heart attack caused a slump
And left all the magas in a sulk.
Not fit to suck the sweat off of Kendo Nagasaki’s balls.
TRVL
Now Isak has formally said he wants a move what is to stop us buying him and Eze?
Do we really want to make a statement or not?
KP—obviously not a fan of the post-WWE version, but I’ll never forget the time he slammed Andre the Giant…supposedly he was at least 3 inches shorter by the time he hit the half-century mark due to all the spinal-related damage…as for his more recent public personna, he definitely made his own bed
Tony—there’s no way we would ever sign two Strikers in the same window…look how difficult it was for us to even sign one, which btw still hasn’t been announced…the only way this happens is if MA has an absolute shit-fit and locks himself in the bathroom until we reneg the VG deal and go for Isak…talk about a snowballs chance in hell
Tony—just imagine if Pool lands both Hugo and Isak, then Newcastle signs Sesko, which was all the rage in the rumour mill today…I never really bought into the notion that Isak head wasn’t turned, especially once Newcastle stopped shopping for backup options, like Calvert-Lewin, and ramped up their pursuit of Hugo…I truly feel like they were hoping and praying that Isak wouldn’t go public until everyone with the financial wherewithal had spent the bulk of their respective budgets…it should an interesting couple of weeks on that front
you do have to wonder why we never even tried to open talks with his camp, regardless of Newcastle’s claims that he wasn’t for sale…when the fuck has that ever stopped anyone of consequence, which speaks to where we actually stand in the grand scheme…personally I’m not convinced that MA was really enamoured with Isak, as his mere presence would have required him to completely reinvent his tactical wheel…not to mention, it would have severely hampered his summertime quantity over quality plans…furthermore, I would think that if Isak was really at the top of his wishlist he would have turned his attentions squarely in Hugo’s direction, as most of the so-called experts feel that he was the closest comp on the market
right now our window looks like that of an aspiring middling club who got an unexpected injection of cash and is looking to make a European push, whereas Pool and Chelsea are in a Braca/Real-like arms race of a decade ago…as such, if we don’t get a low-block breaking left-winger, like a Barcola, we’re likely going to lean into the defence-first agenda from last season…scoring in Portugal is like comparing dog years to those of a human, so even though VG should pot far more sitters than our previous lame-ass options, it still won’t be enough, as we’ll likely drop too many points against the bus-sitting sides again…Cheers
TRVL
Spot on with every point.
Totally agree if MA wanted Isak the same as he wanted Rice, we would have broken records to sign him.
As usual our foray into the summer TW is NOT going to win us the league or CL. With a strong prevailing wind we might get lucky winning a minor cup.
The players were available this TW to really move our needle and make us a winning club again, but MA’s favorite song is “My Way” so we will win nothing of note as I predicted nearly 6 years ago.
Our loser manager has proven me right eased season for the last 5 seasons and counting.
This season will be no different. Just excuses and next summer we will be needing 4 or 5 players to win a major trophy again.
Wash rinse and repeat is MA’s adage. Let’s hope the 2025/2026 season is MA’s last My Way!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w019MzRosmk
every season*
Looks like Newcastle want Sesco if Isak goes to Pool, and with Amorim looking elsewhere regardless of the PR spin as to why, when they could have kept Rashford, who I think will do well at Barca, and could have done so for us too.
While that little drama is unfolding we look like we have finally netted VG who the DM says is “In Demand?”. By who I ask myself? Newcastle could have offered VG Isak’s position for good coin. Anyone else interested in paying up to £70M?
The reality is no one wanted the Swedish hitman other than us.
I’m sure there will be a ceremonious roar from the AKBs of we’ve landed our Haaland mini me, where they will be expecting similar goals and assists stats from Haaland’s fellow Scandinavian. After all VG has been reported as saying he is better than Haaland
But what happens if this is another MA Havertz pipe dream or Willian/Sterling fantasy?
I ask myself if this is really a Machiavellian move by Berta. MA wanted Sesco, but Berta dished up 3rd-time-lucky-in-the-PL, VG literally no top club wanted when they were all looking for a striker.
Let that sink in.
If such a devious ploy has been orchestrated by the footballing director Maestro, Bertha, then I say bravo signori and will look forward to very public MA falling on his sword and fall from football’s managerial grace. I mean who could afford his TW war chests? Those that can will be too savvy to hire the myopic loser and specialist in failure with 85222(4 or 5?) on his resume.
Then MA’s moniker “The nearly Man” can be added to such accolades as “Wally with the Brolly” & “Turnip Head” for all time immortalization.
Tony—above all else I hope that whoever lands here thrives, but, as you said, VG was hardly an in-demand player, minus maybe by his old manager…that said, even he hardly made a serious push…the over-the-top response to his signing is easily explained considering how long we’ve ignored that position and his “inflated” numbers…even those who’ve lapped up MA’s every word, Striker or no Striker, will find solace in this acquisition, as they’ll undoubtedly hope it will quiet the dissenters, at least for the time being…all I would say is that context matters…in previous seasons, when many top sides were in transition, this move would have given us a decided advantage, whereas now it seems a tad underwhelming in light of what they’ve been up to in this window…a day late and a dollar short might be a common refrain by year’s end
KP – your wrestling mate has passed on but no problem – we have a replacement in Havertz. His new bulked out frame will have opposing teams quaking in their boots. Perhaps he will borrow an action from Ozzy and bite off chicken heads during the warm up of every game. His giraffe image has now moved on – added muscle will certainly make him even slower – now more like a hippo.
TRVL
I echo your thoughts re VG hitting the ground running and hitting 25+ pens this season. So will wait and see how it all pans out,
If we add Eze with Ode and Ethan, Merino can be the bench warmer.
Noni Is a Saka back up , and as a false 9 maybe?
Looking forward to seeing more of Nargaard as he could link better than Rice in the final 3rd. Kind of makes Zubi a redundant buy.
As you and I have said the competition is buying from the top shelf while we pick the low hanging fruit or shop in the bargain basement.