The transfer window is finally picking up some speed. We have made an enquiry for a Italian defender, gave green light to Lokonga’s departure and made our no. 1 goal keeper a permanent and we are going to get some free money.
Most exciting of them all is our pursuit of Riccardo Calafiori. Mikel has approved the transfer, the club has present their long term proposal to the player and he is open to join. But there are couple of complications! Bologna wants a hefty 43m GBP (50m euros). Riccardo is on the younger side (22years of age) and that’s a lot of money for a defender who will sit behind Gabriel and Saliba. He has played only one season of top flight football at Bologna, before which he was at Basel for couple of season. You get a very mature, proven defender for that amount. The other complication is that the player had, in the past, shown interest to join West Ham or Chelsea in the future, and the later is interested in the player as well. I mean, Chelsea are interested in every player being sold in the whole world, but they get what they want even after the Russian left. Mudryk is the case in point.
The positives about the players is that he is on the younger side. He joins a pack who has matured in last 2 seasons and he will learn and adapt like Gabriel and Saliba did. He had a very good season at Bologna, helping them qualify for Champions League after 60 years and was one of the best players in the league. He has played really well in the ongoing Euros and played all the games in group stages. Playing in the Italian team at the Euros level is a confirmation in itself that player is good enough.
Verdict? I think it’s only about the money. I feel we would be paying more for a CB defender who have Gabriel and Saliba ahead of him in pecking order; but, then we had shelled 50 odd millions for a CB earlier who plays at the right back, so yeah.
Sambi never looked promising enough to break into the team. He did get a few games to prove himself and even played couple of good games but that isn’t enough for a team that is fighting and going to fight for the title. He had to leave, Sevilla was interested for which the player gave a green light and the clubs are negotiating on the fees. If Sevilla has a bag full of 15m, take that and run.
This one isn’t particularly exciting, not anymore. Everyone knew David Raya’s loan move would be made permanent, and we have done that finally. We have activated the buy option and Brentford are going to receive 27m GBP.
The club hasn’t announced it yet officially but it’s a done deal. Raya has proved his worth, he kept the most clean sheets in the league even when it was the Ramsdale who played the initial few games for the club. This is just going to make life difficult for the Englishman.
Remember we sold Omari Hutchinson coule years back to Chelsea? Well, they are selling him to Ipswich Town for 22m and we had a sell-on clause in that deal. We would get about 4m from there.
Frankly, I have no idea how Chelsea can sell a player who played half a game for them in 2022-23 season and was on loan for the previous one. On the other hand, we will get half that money for Tavares and Lokonga if we are lucky.
Right, so 27m outgoing for 4m incoming as things stand. If we win the race for Riccardo, we would have to go on a sell spree because we still need to address the midfield and the striker situation. A RB back up as well.
Short one today, let me know in the comments what you think about these.
“Arsenal have had a quiet transfer window thus far. There has been little speculation linking them with players which suggests that they are working secretly behind the scenes. Calafiori appears to be one of their targets and the club are moving closer to an agreement after their opening bid. They are likely to make a renewed offer to meet Bologna’s demands.The Gunners’ main competition comes from Chelsea, but they should be confident of securing a deal, considering they are in the Champions League which the Blues can’t offer next term.Calafiori would be a fine signing as he would cover two defensive roles. He can comfortably operate from both sides of central defence and also has the ability to play from left-back. His ball-playing skills and aerial presence are his main strengths. The Italian is also superb with his tackling and ball recoveries. He can chip in with goal contributions as well”
several things to unpack here:
(1) “quiet transfer window…suggests that they are working secretly behind the scenes”—–hardly secretive, as we all know about our Sesko cock-up and there’s no way this defender was part of our plans until he became part of a lot of teams “plans”…does this mean one of our two starting CBs are on the outs, as Saliba appears to be on Real’s and PSG’s wishlists and Gabs hasn’t re-upped yet…I like what I’ve seen from this player in the Euros and at Bologna, who I watched on numerous occasions when we were initially linked to Zirkzee, but surely he’s not going to choose us so that he can be a periphery piece like Kiwior
(2) “main competition is Chelsea”—–this could be problematic considering both our recent history, as we’ve been their bitch in recent times, and the fact that they can offer him a starting gig right from the off
(3) “has the ability to play left-back”—-more fucking shoehorning is the last thing we need…what about good old Timber, who was already pushed to the left due to White being shoehorned on the right…enough said
(4) “aerial skills”—–seems rather wasteful to put someone who’s clearly profficient in the air out in wider spaces where that skill will rarely be required, except when it comes to set pieces of course
like I said, I really like this player but this seems to be another attempt by MA to try and secure his first in-demand recruit, minus Rice, who chose us because, unlike City, there was no real positional competition, and MA gave him assurances regarding his up-field aspirations…now if we’re losing one of our starters or we’re tweaking our tactics, so as to deploy our CBs further up the pitch on occasion, this could be a really positive transaction, but if not, we should be exceedingly more focused on our far more pressing needs
as for Raya, I’ve been pleased with his shot-stopping capabilities more recently, as he performed admirably against Porto, in the shootout, and has looked the part for Spain, but he can hardly be considered a new signing…hopefully this newfound form will continue in the upcoming season and he won’t simply revert back to the less than stellar form he displayed during the first 3/4ers of his tenure here
good luck with all your endeavours Sambi!! I will be interesting to see if we managed to get a buy-on clause into that deal or not
btw Tony I responded to you on the previous article thread…Cheers
TRVL
Precisely what type of cunt breaks up what’s been the best performing CB pairing in the PL for the last 2 seasons? There are only a handful of clubs who can match our wages so why wouldn’t Gabs sign up? Selling Saliba with 3 years on his contract would help turn the fans on Arteta as he’s either the best CB in the league or will be in a season or 2.
Calafiori can’t be backup and if he’s being bought for LB where the fuck does Timber play?
Usually I’d put this type of thing down to click bait but with the fuckwit brothers in charge of recruitment it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest.
Marc—-I think it’s imperative to remember that neither of our present CBs were of MA’s choosing…in fact, if the mishandling of Saliba hadn’t evoked such enormous public discourse, he likely would have been sold for peanuts following the White overpayment…not to mention, early last season MA benched Gabs, for whatever reason, so MA might view him as expendable…like I said before, I think MA falls in lust with a whole host of players, so I find it very difficult to believe there’s a definitive blueprint when it comes to recruitment…maybe MA is simply looking to once again mimic his former boss by deploying 4 defenders with CB-like skillsets across the backline
TRVL
I may be adding 2 and 2 here and coming up with a fitwit of a manager but Arteta copied Pep in the inverted full back tactic, Pep’s now dumped that and has a CB push into midfield.
Could Arteta have decided that’s the route to go down and neither Gab’s or Saliba is that player?
Beyond that paying £50 million for a backup will get him sacked and selling Gab’s because “he didn’t buy him” will come back to bite him in the arse.
Ambarish
Chelsea selling a reserve (even barely one at that) for £22 million?
Our record fee is still the Ox for mid 30’s! Arteta bombs the value of any player that leaves – what did we get for Torreira? What will we get for Vieira who we paid €35 million for only 2 summers ago?
Honest to God Arteta would end up paying a man dying of thirst in the desert to take a glass of water off his hands.
on a side note, for those who rail aganist English officiating, just take a gander at the Copa shit show, which is being officiated by Conmebol refs…it’s like a fucking remake of Bloodsport out there…I swear to God there were 30 fouls in the first-half of the Brazil/Columbia match…it was like old school Stoke on fucking speed…if that was played in the PL there would have been no less than 8 red cards shown and the Brazilian manager would have been physically restrained like Hannibal Lector in Silence of the Lambs…strangely enough the best player out there, on either side, was none other than James Rodriguez, who looked like he was being sponsored by Red Bull & HGH…maybe it’s just because he was wearing his national kit, with the armband to boot, as we’ve seen that used as a motivating force before, but if not he’s the best 3.5M player in the world
Marc—-unlike Timber, Calafiori has actually played a decent amount of matches at left-back, mostly in inferior Leagues, until Motta converted him into a regular CB at Bologna…the fact that he was far more effective in the middle of the pitch, both with his Serie A club and the Italian national side, seems to suggest that moving him back to the outside would be unwise…unfortunately, we both know that MA won’t let logic dictate his shoehorny ways…furthermore, in the Euros, where interest in this player soared, he was given license to get into more advanced spaces, as Spaletti adopted some of Motta’s tactics…just can’t imagine MA giving him tactical license to do likewise, except if we’re chasing a scoreline, which would make it decidedly less effective
“Motta’s tactical approach brought the best from Calafiori, who blossomed into the prototypical version of a modern central defender. His tally of five assists was more than any other defender in Serie A, while his pass completion rate of 89.8% ranked third. Yet more than just the sheer volume of his passes, it is the purpose with which Calafiori plays which most catches the eye. According to WhoScored.com, he completed 1,783 passes and that tally included an impressive 76 accurate long balls and 17 goal scoring chances created. When a team-mate was not available, Calafiori was happy to drive forward himself until one got free, completing 13 successful take-ons over the course of the 2023/24 season. Those forays never seem out of sync with Motta’s game plan either, with Bologna’s other players moving around him as if they fully expected his decision. Similarly, Calafiori is happy to rotate into a midfield position to help the Rossoblu break an opponent’s press”
all of this sounds incredible, especially the “impressive 76 accurate long balls”, but I’m just not sure it fits MA’s one-trick script…can you even imagine him foregoing his robotic ways in favour of a system that allows such tactical freedom at all 3 levels…who knows, maybe he’ll steal a page from another of his former bosses, David Moyes, and put him alongside Rice in the midfield, then deploy them in a rotating 6&8 roles, like with Rice and Soucek
there’s still hope for MA, as even the ultra-negative Southgate appears to be contemplating switching to a 3-5-2 formation…I’ll believe it when I see it
TRVL
Saw below yesterday, but was busy getting things finalised for my wellness week’s retreat staring tomorrow at the villa.
Rather than stay on site in a room or small suite, I arranged for their doctor to visit for treatment and I’ll go for treatment they can’t do off site.
As always, I completely agree with your findings and hope we keep Nwaneri at least.
(1) Ethan Nwaneri
(2)Charlie Patino
(3)Chido Obi-Martin
(4)Reuell Walters
(5)Amario Cozier-Duberry
(6)Myles Lewis-Skelly
Marc/TRVL
As for buying another CB to follow Pep? I’m speechless, which is probably best for the blog.
No point in giving reasons, but looks like another “White” buy when we desperately need an 8-CAM and striker.
LB as well with Kiwior being a shoe in at LB and a better back 3 or CB.
Like I said yesterday: same shit different window.
Totally agree with your thoughts, Marc.
El B hasn’t worked out yet that following Pep’s tactics will always leave El B one step behind (not beyond) Pep, and thus will never beat Pep and City to top spot.
Now if El B can be creative by himself?
I know silly me; wishful thinking. El B has always been a follower, and will always be a follower was his last 5 years in charge has proven.
88522 says it all. Real managerial winners, such as Klopp, Emery, Pep, Ancelotti et al all were brilliant tacticians winning Euro glory as well as league trophies.
One day Josh and Stan are going to wake up and smell the coffee regarding El B.
Maybe when someone has the guts to show how much El B has cost the club in tanking player values. £200m+ probably.
Just what we need to spend this window if any decent players want to play for El B?
As yet, El B has no-one knocking on his or Edu’s door.
You don’t need rocket science to work out why?
In tennis, you ask for new balls.
I’d just like a manager with balls and tactical nous in that order.
Sadly, we have the opposite.
TRVL
“I’ll believe it when I see it”
As I said above, I’d just like a manager with balls and tactical nous in that order. Sadly, we have the opposite.
I’ve wanted 3 at the back for 3 years now, but what do I know?
For starters, I wouldn’t have made most of the signing El B has.
I wouldn’t have copied Pep or Klopp. I’d have played players in their best positions.
I would have played every game to win and not play to not lose.
I’d have kept Emi and played ESR more and other youth players, because not playing them didn’t win us the league, and now they would be PL ready, as Saka, Marts was and ESR.
Just think for a moment if Nwaneri had had good game time with Ode? I feel Nwaneri could be better than Ode.
Ode is all rush and high tempo.
Nwaneri can do both and seems to always have time on the ball with 2 quick feet. He can slow things down and play high tempo as the game dictates when unlocking a low block or creating a quick counter attack.
I wouldn’t have kept making the same mistakes and capitulated for four seasons in a row.
That’s what I know….. How about you guys? What would you do differently…..?
How much is William Saliba worth and how much will the magnificent two sell him to RM for?
Marc / TRVL
I don’t think either of Saliba or Gabriel are going anywhere. Not now atleast, may be in couple of years when they ask 400k/week wages. Riccardo is being brought specially for that I guess, to sit behind and to rotate (because we are going to have a lot of games again).
We were lucky last season. Saliba played every minute. Gabriel was injured for few and we suddenly were talking about putting Ben White or Tomiyasu in the centre. Riccardo fixes that problem as well. I don’t see him as a LB. Timber is going to make it his place, and we are going to encash Tierney and one of Zinchenko/Kiwior. If it was up to me, Zinni would be leaving. Kiwior had some good games and I like that lad.
Ambarish
Currently Saliba earns 200K per week – 170K per week less than Havertz.
He is probably the best CD in the premier league. Like Bellingham he has a desire to play for RM and they know it. They want him and they usually get their man. When Saliba joined up with the squad before he went to Marseilles there was a falling out between El B & William. I think 2+2 will definitely equal 4 in this case – eventually and sooner than when his contract ends.
Ambarish—you’re being a tad naive if you think he’s choosing to come here to not play for a couple seasons…it’s not like he doesn’t have several other options where he came get starting minutes from the off, like at Chelsea…btw Gabs was benched at the start of last season, even though Artetites tried to push the whole “injured” narrative…furthermore, Calafiori is far more experienced as a LB than Timber, unfortunately he didn’t make a name for himself until he moved into the middle at Bologna, for whatever that’s worth
Tony–Cheers…enjoy your wellness week retreat bud
I’m over the moon that we were somehow able to sign Raya…I can’t figure out if it’s another savvy piece of business by MA et al or an homage to the old “like a new signing” bullshit…fuck me it was all a prearranged weaselly transaction from the get-go
‘When you are analytical and you gather all the stats and everything the team has done over the past 11 months in the Premier League, we should have won it. That’s what the stats say.’ Arteta’s fucking words
I guess it’s now confirmed that MA’s paid his LG dues…what a twat!!
Biereth has also been sold to some Austrian club, for 4 million with a sell on clause.
Hi Marc
Getting ready to watch your boys take a hammering tonight? Don’t worry however – the Tories are playing their own B team so it’ll be business as usual once the political dust settles. In fact, I’d bet money on you becoming a quiet but committed Starmer fan once the horrors of his reign start to take shape. Just like Tony Blair was an enemy within back in 97.
“How much is William Saliba worth and how much will the magnificent two sell him to RM for?”
Worth – £150 million minimum
What would fuckwit and fuckwit sell him for? No more than £70 million.
Kroenke
I’ve just voted for Reform – the Tories need a kicking because they’ve become left wing / Bliarite.
We going to need a savage right wing leader to come through in the next couple of years because Starmer and co are going to make the 08 crash look like a “whoops spent a bit too much last month” credit card bill.
Their manifesto commitments on tax increases won’t make it to lunchtime tomorrow I reckon the first “its all the Tories fault” will be by 7.01 tomorrow morning.
Only a moron thinks you can grow an economy by taxing it even more.
Out of interest do you know what the Laffer Curve is? I’m curious because its something Labour don’t seem to be aware of even though any economist will tell you its basic common sense – and lets face most economists aren’t the sharpest tools in the box.
Tony Blair ;’ Sadam did have weapons of mass destruction’ – they are still looking to justify the poor bastards who went to an early grave.
Norg
How the hell Bliar never faced either a war crimes trial in the Hague or a trial over here for High Treason I’ll never know.
Marc
El B must have employed Alistair Campbell – Pedro swallowed the spin hook line and sinker.
Alistair Campbell (Burnley Supporter) was probably the best spin doctor around. He made Brown sound like a saint. It just shows how gullible the British electorate are – Campbell said Brown was prudent and they believed him. He sold the crown jewels (gold reserves) for peanuts because he got the timing wrong. It cost the British taxpayer 1500GBP each.
Brown sold the gold
Norg
We recently had the accusations against several Tory Ministers about bullying from the (un) Civil Service. The complaints against Raab were particularly stupid.
Its strange that there were never any complaints against Brown who was renowned for throwing phones against walls in a fit of rage.
As much as I’d pay to see Bliar etc all publicly hung I can admire how he, Campbell, Mandelson etc kept a seriously tight ship and the lala lefty MP’s undercontrol.
The idea that Starmer will manage that is laughable – he tried to sack Rayner a couple of years ago and ended up promoting her.
Everytime I watch Emi, who Messi refers to as the greatest Keeper in world football, I can’t help but think, thank God we got rid of that bum…Messi misses the first penalty, so what does Emi do, he saves the next 2…I would take him in a fucking walking boot over anyone we’ve brought in since…just saying
TRVL
Thanks, got to my villa and got hit by a phase power cut opened all the doors and went online, as only the A/C got hit in the villas.
Looks like a Greek, Arabic and Turkish restaurant serves this villa resort, so putting it to the test.
KP
Welcome back I thought you’d be happy for Rishi to be gone. Couldn’t stand him; it’s like he never grew up in the real world.
You know me I’m not political and never voted in my life. I would have voted for early Maggie, though. Being a nomad governments didn’t really affect my life.They all lie; manifestos are just spin for the election for me.
Let’s see what your man can do. I hope for British people the economy can bring good times again.
Marc
Thanks for your thoughts and agree with you with economists and their cycles.
My 10 pence for the football is Emi saved Messi’s blushes and showed why; although a 24 carat dick, he’s in the top 3 globally.
Timber should be played in his natural RB position. Kiwior did put in some good games last season, but not sure he’s starter material.
El B has never been a Saliba fan: facts are facts and reality is reality with El B.
Keep saying it we need an 8, have done for 5 years.
No idea what this TW is going to look like? Anyone got an idea?
Marc
After such a low turn out Starmer has a Government built on sand foundations. A quick glance at the majority of a high percentage of Labour controlled seats shows only a slight swing away from Labour will be a landslide defeat.
If he performs well it could all change – but the Labour parties manifesto is fairly vague as pointed out by most serious journalists.
Sunak will fall on his sword and resign as leader – it will not be long before he quits politics forever.
Havertz confirming why we need a specialised CF.
Norg
Agree – at face value it should be plain sailing for Starmer but they’ve won a huge majority with a small percentage of the votes so he can’t go full steam on things like tax increases for fear of upsetting voters whilst having the left wing of the party only seeing the Parliamentary majority so will be frustrated if he moves cautiously.
I reckon he’ll be replaced in a coup in 18 – 24 months – probably lead by Rayner / Miliband.
Germany trying their best to not win this…
I guess Toni Kross is gettng a free pass today, as he should have received, at bare minimum, 4 yellow cards…I don’t have any skin in this game, so it hardly matters to me, but if Spain losses it will undoubtedly be a major talking point
Ambarish—Havertz can be the man so long as he’s afforded 20 Grade A chances to score each and every goal…if he wasn’t so wrapped up with his own self-serving narrative he could have passed up that chip and slid a simple pass to a wide open teammate for an easy tally
Unai SImon is a bang average Keeper, so what does that say about our “like a new signing” Raya, who’s sitting behind him
that Yamal has a horrible attitude for a kid of 16 getting a shot to perform at the highest of levels…that seems to be par for the course nowadays though…he literally pushed Olmo out of the way after he scored then went on his own towards the crowd when the rest of the team gathered around the actual goal scorer
Oh Lord, now fucking Merino will somehow be our starting Striker next season
TRVL
Yep, Tony should have been sent off for 3 times minimum in the game.
Ambarish—especially in a match that had over a dozen yellows and a late-game red….Spain might be without a lot of players for the upcoming semis due to both yellow card accumulations and a few key injuries
Portugal v France – A good game to finish Friday night.
missing NOT without
Ambarish
You lightweight it’s a good game to start the night!
Can someone get Deschamps to drop Saliba – I don’t like it when he looks like the best defender in the world when playing for France.
Madrid are watching.
Haha, Marc we run 5 and half hours late 😀 I still agree with you, just started my weekend after a year.