I echo putting out the welcoming mat for Kai and Declan and even more so that Mikel has got his men where any excuses for next season issues won’t be accepted in this quarter.
I agree Timber shores up our RB/RCB with White nicely. White tends to run out of gas after 60 minutes at RB, so I can see some rotation for RB but only when Saliba needs a rest to play CB.
It’s not the numbers so much but the lack of negotiating nous that played into Sullivan and Brady’s hands as the controlled the leverage and we have Declan to blame for that. He could have stepped in earlier to seal the deal, but his loyalty was to West Ham: I hope the lad shows us the same courtesy when and if he moves on. I believe he will.
Can Declan become Mr. Arsenal? If the price is anything to go by, then yes he will, as our most expensive player. I also don’t think the pressure of his price will bother him; how Arteta tries to use him might, though. Junior and I watched him quite a bit last season and he can pivot into 8/10 when he makes his runs from our half, but he’s ungainly in his stride and not fleet of foot, as one needs to be in that position – more Xhaka like than say ESR or Trossard who both defend well when needed.
We no longer need Holding with Rice also being a CB. It’s easier to see how Rice is going to be employed at 6 but how does Kai fit into Mikel’s intricate jigsaw puzzle of plays?
I don’t see KH as an 8, but a 10 back up, yes. False 9 and 9 yes he can play, and he has enough pace to go wide left when interchanging with our attack. Kai has the requisite technical skills to be successful in the opposition’s final third, but expect Pepe’s levels of defending, as Kai doesn’t like the physicality of defending and another Ozil like cupcake.
Mikel said he has five roles for Kai, so he’s going to be busy and probably confused. Kai also needs to toughen up and add a bit of bulk to his overall muscular frame although he looks like an ectomorph to me, so very difficult for him to add muscle. Mikel loves to play his shiny new toys, so I would hate Kai to be in front of ESR, and I hope Emile has a great pre-season. ESR is better than Havertz just younger and needs regular minutes to shine.
If we get Timber then we need to address the LB cover for KT and buy Lavia as MF back up or buy similar. Vieira needs to go out on a PL/Championship loan and be judged on that next summer. All in all the window is being kind to us and CL football is a magnet to quality footballers. Will we be stronger at the end of the window? That depends on the outgoings and who else after Timber A&E bring in.
I hope lessons were learnt by Mr. Lewis/Edu and Mr. Garlick. Never negotiate without leverage and a sound strategy, and next season is already looking like it’s shaping up for Mikel & Edu.
I’d say this coming season is all or nothing for Edu & Mikel – sink or swim?
Nice piece Tony.
“Mikel said he has five roles for Kai”
This worries me, if most managers said that you’d ignore it as a bit of fluff for the media but in Arteta’s case you begin to worry – GK, CB, DM, RW and Striker?
Arteta’s propensity to not only overthink things but to think he’s far smarter than he actually is a major flaw. It not only makes it harder to the player to be effective but unbalances the team as a whole.
I think most observers believe Havertz will take Xhaka’s role. He could obviously fill in elsewhere if needed but don’t make an assumption that he’ll get messed around by Arteta.
He’s a serious upgrade!
Bob
For £65 million I should hope so!
Would have also preferred Mount for £5m less, but he preferred Ten Hag, can’t blame him really although CL and finishing 2nd I thought might have tempted him. English as well and best mate of Rice.
TRVL
Shame Zaha wasn’t out of contact last summer.
I think I called it yesterday saying this is really a sink or swim window, and as much as I don’t like Arteta the man, I have to say he’s not shy in coming forward and holds firm on his beliefs, which is highly commendable until it goes tits up like the last 2 seasons.
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Blind enthusiasm is one thing, but risk assessment should quickly follow to bring in a more measured approach. One can’t argue that ‘Winners’ are always making fine adjustments to a carefully thought out meticulous planning.
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Of course I’m talking about elite and generational managers, such as Pep & Klopp et al.
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There always seems to be something left untended to with A&E; our midfield notwithstanding, there is always a glaring hole in which we are our own undoing. Either the defense is not shored up with adequate cover or our midfield is like Swiss cheese at the best of times and this almost 4 years into our aspiring generational one’s tenure with us.
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Now on our umpteenth final rebuild like a The Eagles farewell tour 6.0, Mikel is bringing in the heavy artillery with Rice, Ode and Havertz midfield with ESR, Trossard and featherweight Vieira who sadly can’t be played on very windy days, as left mid back ups for rotation, but in reality will rarely start if ever, especially if Havertz hits the ground running.
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Clever ruse by Mikel having 4 players for LCM because the gamble on Havertz is easily remedied, so when ESR is once again was the missing Calvary, hiding in plain sight balancing our left and interchanging with Ode confusing the fcuk out of Arteta who is claiming it’s his process.
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I seriously don’t care whose process it is because we know Wenger is the catalyst for it from secret phone calls with A&E: cue the holidaying Almunia because we don’t believe you’re up to your ears in marking papers: Guinness? yes! That is easy believable. 🙂
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For the first time I think since we had David Dein as out transfer gate keeper – may he rest in peace because he aint doing a lot of us lately. To be honest I would have rathered David D had had the furtive calls with A&E instead of Wenger because we’ll likely sell Partey and keep the one and only Xhaka re-upping him for another 5 years and Mikel claiming it a masterstroke with Wenger marveling in his commanding presence even over a mobile phone and master of the pregnant pauses.
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So, after Tiiiimberrrrr ahhh has landed where is our little magical mystery transfer bus going to stop next? Don’t leave me here hanging brother gooners someone has to know!
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Anyone?
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8WMGBuNaus
Marc
Thanks I’m actually finding this TW fun.
‘Mason preferred Ten Hag’. Not so certain that it wasn’t more about Arteta preferring Havertz. Mount would have jumped at the chance of joining up with his best mate.
BOB
Bless Arteta
You disagree with my reasoning, Tony?
sometimes your previous windows have a way of affecting future ones…case in point, the purchasing of Havertz…with Jesus up top it did make more sense to get Havertz over Mount, even though I’m still pissed that we paid more than United…now Mount makes more sense from a passing perspective, considering that Rice isn’t nearly the pivot player that Partey is, but with Jesus coming deeper I would imagine that MA wanted someone playing along side him who could get in behind defenders, unlike the sloth-like Xhaka
the problem with Havertz is that he hasn’t proven that he can be more of a box-to-box option, whereas Mount has, so it will be interesting to see how that impacts our wide-side backers…last season Zinchenko was tucked more inside and White was allowed to push up the field more, to assist Saka, which put a lot of pressure on our CBs and Partey…I would imagine that if they want Rice to play in more advanced positions, at least when we’re pressing, our backers might need to be a little more conservative in their approach
furthermore, with Havertz and Jesus in more of a tandem up top, MA is hoping that this will force teams to think twice before double-teaming the shit out of Saka and Marts on the regular…not sure if this plan will work, but there’s no doubt we lacked the requisite amount of directness in our attack, so hopefully this will significantly help in that department..not to mention, ESR would become a natural replacement for Havertz in the 8 hole with this sort of tactical plan
much in the same “previous window” theme, if we hadn’t signed Tross, who isn’t a like-for-like Marts cover piece, and Jorginho, who’s age, size and lack of pace are a bit disconcerting, we could have likewise used this window to get a player like SImons, who can play inside and out, and another top-class DM with the proper age profile…furthermore, our knee-jerk re-upping of Eddie, on a ridiculous wage I might add, will probably cost us plenty moving forward, as we will likely sell Balo, who provides something we’re currently missing, and likewise require us to spend heavily this time next year to get another viable Striker option…this speaks to one of my chief concerns about MA, his short-sightedness
Here’s the shocker from Fabrizio
Official, confirmed. Pablo Marí leaves Arsenal to join Monza on permanent deal. 🔴⚪️ #AFC
Understand fee for Arsenal is gonna be around £6m.
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6m for Mari? Should we build a statue for Edu outside Emirates?
That was the amount agreed with Monza if they avoided relegation when they took him on loan.
the most surprsing aspect of the whole Mari gig was that he actually met the appearance target component of the obligation to buy clause after getting stabbed…overall, I’m happy for him, but he did cost us a good chunk of change for doing relatively nothing here
Mari transfer cost us almost nothing.
let’s put it this way, with his 6.8M transfer fee and 4.42M annual salary, he cost us a fuck of a lot more than we made from selling him to Monza
Pennies you miserable so and so!
Good one or nice try?
Says a great deal about how low the bar is for A&E that a transfer out is being celebrated as “he didn’t cost us that much” – anyone ever heard of turning a profit?
Mari was on Man City’s books so Arteta should have had the low down on him and he was playing in Brazil so Edu should have had some idea about him.
Between them a basic fucking clue is not asking too much.
Bob
“Pennies you miserable so and so!”
Doesn’t negate the fact as shown in Pablo Mari’s case that we are either terrible at selling players or are terrible at spotting talent in the first place.
Ambarish-just to follow-up our previous conversations about the Saudi League, one thing that could be a real game-changer is if they’re able to recruit several coaches/managers of some import…when I saw that Nuno and possibly Gerrard were going to be plying their trades in SA at first I was taken aback, but then I came to view this as a rather savvy move on the part of a League looking to legitimize itself…now these two might not be on everyone’s managerial wishlist, but they both have multiple top division appointments on their respective CV’s…this should help to alleviate any potential stigma, thereby opening the door to similar hiring practices in the coming years…from a fan perspective the players involved will always be the preeminent needle mover, but getting some recognizable names patrolling the sidelines could play a rather significant role in reshaping the present narrative