Two more boring months without football and the transfer window isn’t much pleasing for any Arsenal fan!
Edu has got another rabbit out of a hat with his Brazil connection, Marquinhos joined us a week back from Sao Paulo in a 3 million bid. He is a wide forward and makes sense if we are moving Pepe. We also need a reliable back up to Saka, who was overplayed last season. Not to forget we will be playing mid-week this season in Europa and we need a reliable back up in every position.
Apart from Marquinhos, there has only been rumours and reports from the only trustable transfer source – Fabrizio Romano. It seems we have put up a €35m + add-ons bid for Fabio Vieira who plays for Porto. I’m not much familiar with the player but Porto finished at the top of Portuguese League, Vieira played in 27 of those 34 games and had 6 goals and 14 assists. Time will tell how much he can cope up with the intensity and physicality of premier league but it looks like a good signing if you judge on those numbers.
Fabrizio has also been reporting Arsenal interest in Youri Tielemans from Leicester and Raphina from Leeds. If you ask me my preference, I would pay few millions more to get Madisson instead but even Tielemans would improve our mediocre midfield which comprises of Xhaka, Elneny, Sambi and an mostly-injured Partey.
Raphina will be a pickle. It seems we only have enquired about players availability and yet to submit any formal bids. Leeds are very adamant about his valuation and I think we would leave it to the end when we count the money from selling out our dross.
Speaking of which, Fiorentina has decided not to trigger the buy option for Lucas Torreira. He would be returning to Arsenal and his contract would expire in 2023. We were expected to receive around 15m for him but that’s not happening anymore. I hate to say but Lucas was never a match to Premier League both physically and mentally and I hope he has a good time for last one year here at Arsenal.
There is another player in Matteo Guendouzi which could have seriously improved our midfield but he will be an OM player after meeting all the clauses .Arsenal will receive about €10, which is a shame if we are going to bid 35m+ for a Portuguese player with similar profile and output and same age.
On a different note, La Liga has filed a complaint to UEFA alleging financial fair play breach against Manchester City and PSG.
Personally I feel clubs shouldn’t be allowed unlimited money from certain owners just because they can. Players and clubs are selling their soul. Not only it artificially inflates the market, the gap between top clubs and the average ones keeps on widening. It’s such a shame that the amount of money Mbappe will receive in his 3 years contract is enough to buy couple of Premier League Clubs.
I will keep it for a detailed discussion for some other day but I hope UEFA does something to keep it fair.
Shout out to Rohit! for buying his first Arsenal jersey. I have managed to get Arsenal Football Club a fan here in India. He wanted a mention, we have been friends for more than 25 years and I couldn’t say no, so!
Mane had the better season Mb,no doubt about it. But Salah was far better in the previous two. There are three factors we’re not privy to. The first was contract negotiations, were they willing to sign,how much did they want,for how long etc. Secondly fitness. Do Liverpool feel Mane could soon fall off a cliff ala Torres? Thirdly,personality. Were they getting on with each other,they always seemed close to an argument to me. We’re they getting on with Klopp?
Tell you what though Mb,no one player
is going to produce for Liverpool next season what Mane did last year.
Almunia
Totally agree with your assessment of what has to be in a managers locker. On the ESPN-FC show Craig Burley made this comment that stuck with me.
“In today’s football world a manager has to be part psychologist as he has to figure our what the different players need to be comforted, feeling loved and belonging to the team in order to get the best out of the player.”
This skill is not in Arteta’s toolbox so we are truly screwed as he goes on devaluing players.
Almunia
Fair play mate. I don’t think we’ve ever disagreed about anything. But this about Mick McM.
and a pretty successful manager
Is a tough one to take for a Cardiff fan (although I accept he did at certain places and for the national team before that) . I think taking on the Bluebirds was a job too far. His methods were way out of kilter by the time he got to Wales. 80s football played 35 years later in an even worse and more negative fashion. He lost the players (even beanpole striker Kieffer Moore who got loads, albeit really terrible, service by way of hoofing it from the back into the channel). I also thought he got a rough deal in Saipan – it was just the comedy gold in Keano’s quote and I don’t recall Mick speaking out about it at the time. For Ireland supporters it was probably a nightmare.
Anyway, good luck to the guy. He certainly had honesty as a virtue.
Kroenkephobe,
McCarthy was a perfect international manager for a small nation. It’s all about results. And he got them. But boy the football wouldn’t inspire. As a club manager where people are forking out Big money to watch on a bi weekly basis I’d imagine he was infuriating, unless the sole aim was to survive!
Just my take on Pool’s signing. They are clearly building for the future and the next attacking formation and may forgo next season’s title challenge in order to be a force for years to come.
Nunez, Dias, Jotta are clearly being groomed for the next front line. Smart move to find out when to sell a player, still having value and bringing in a top class talent that will be part of the club for years to come.
This is what AFC is missing having a squad that ONLY needs season in season out tweaking rather than rebuilds. Klopp as one of the best managers in the world is capable of doing just that.
Killroy,
And that’s why I don’t think he’ll make it anywhere with real ambitions because those elite players come with serious egos. Even as I was saying to Mb, can you imagine the work Klopp has had to put in over the years keeping all those attackers happy both as individuals and as partnerships? Now Arteta is young in managerial terms and may learn but a club of our size should never have been his to experiment with.
KP
I feel the same. Mane was doing the dirty work and it’s going to take quite some time for any player to get used to Premier League. We have seen big names failing e.g. Lukaku, Werner, Bruno (minus first season), Sancho etc and there is no guarantee Nunez will have a big impact in his first season.
Almunia
Mane had altercation with Salah and Klopp even, at some point of time. It looks like more of a Ozil/ Sanchez conundrum we had earlier, they can only afford to pay one and thry felt it necessary to keep Salah.
Salah is a bigger brand too, and Klopp simply loves him.
Killroy – that was right on point. Klopp has a very clear philosophy, he is re-doing his team and Arteta could have learnt some things from him.
I think Pep makes it more complicated with strategies and Klopps just stick to his principal..
We even have a term for it in IT..
KISS – keep it simple, stupid! And works often.
I have come with comparative illustration. Managers of football clubs are like grand masters in Chess they know how to move the pieces (players) on the board (pitch). Arteta just played his 3rd game of chess coming from the background of playing Checkers and thinks he is a grand master knowing how the players are needing to be moved about. Delusional!!!
Ambish
Also made my living in the IT world until retirement and enjoying it. Yes KISS is a good principle and Arsenal’s problem is the case of FUBB. Fouled Up Beyond Believe.
Sticking with the rules and laws that work in IT the reason while Arteta will not last, is Murphy’s law and he will never find the solution because no matter where he looks for it, it will always be the last thing and he doesn’t have that kind of time.
So that is the good thing he is under pressure and has to produce. It is amazing that a club like United is having prospective player not wanting to sign with them and since that is the case we are even further down the line of being attractive..
One final thing the Kool Aid kids on LG are missing us as I have read some posts that ask Peds to let the Arteta Nevers back out of the bin. Not me But I will gloat on September 2nd.
much appreciated…just can’t wrap my head around the whole sin-bin initiative, as everyone, visa vie the King of Media, knows full-well, you never choose the braindead choirboys over the dedicated contributor/follower with a differing opinion…whenever I see this dynamic at work, it instantly makes me wonder what’s going on behind the scenes, as it would behoove clubs nowadays to invest in a revamped version of the old radio DJ payola gig with certain blog owners, so as to perpetuate particular club-inspired narratives…regardless, it’s a gutless maneuver, considering his “homophobic” explanation, which certainly shouldn’t be wantonly tossed around considering the new world order…no worries, I never spread myself to thin, as I have established a “presence” on several blogs of interest…unfortunately, my oft-times caustics tone tends to illicit some strong responses, both good and bad, which means I’m always one dick-slapping post away from an Admin-mandated excommunication…got to run, as I simply must prepare for the Fabio Vieira announcement gala, which has justifiably taken North London by storm…WTF
Hi there TRVL
I also didn’t get the reason for the sin binning as I don’t know what he meant by “homophobic posts” but can only imagine the expression of disdain for Arteta and Edu or better known as the Bumbling Brazilian Buffoon and his MIT Manager in Training must have been it.
On the other hand I am glad as there is too much nonsense being posted that is too aggravating and a waste of time to reply. Much is so far from the truth like their jubilation for signing a bench player for 40m euros.
There are a few that still fly the flag and once there is no more passionate chatter but just yes minion nodding and congratulating each other for delusional assumptions, it will be tiring already I get the feeling since the AFBs have no one to argue with, since we are gone, it makes for a boring blog.
Pedro has lost all journalistic credibility as he has turned into an infatuated Arteta lover and totally forgot the saying “Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer”. Unless you have critiques you will not grow and advance in live.
Fortunately LIR is a good hangout for banter as it is realistic and truthful. All the best to you. All we need now is Tony to post. He had a lengthy post on LG laying into Pedro for binning us but it was deleted shortly thereafter. September 2nd will be the day of reckoning.
Hi lads,
Pedro slings these slurs around as a distraction. Pay no attention because it’s idiotic. It usually happens when he’s lost the battle on some or other point (a pretty regular event nowadays) . He’s accused me (and I think Almunia) in the past of various ‘isms’ and its just wide of the mark. I think in my case, it was because I suggested he tone down the xenophobia after another assault on Emery (the ‘good ebening’ gambit) , in which he suggestes that UE was a poor manager because he’s too thick to learn languages. Really fucking poor on Pedro’s part. His only excuse was along the lines of, how can I be racist if my gf is from Latin America? He’s really a bit thick, and lacking any self’awareness. Moreover, he tolerates intolerance (ahem) among certain of his acolytes I suppose because they’ve also got naked at the Arteta love-in. And Pedro, you numpty, if you are reading this that’s not homophobia, it’s merely flowery imagery.
TRVL – I think your sense of unease about the transfer window is reasonable. If I can use a culinary metaphor, if Arteta were tasked with going to Tesco’s to buy ingredients to make pre-season pancakes for everyone with 10 quid, he’d come back with fancy sprinkles, 100s & 1000s, lemon juice and sugar. But there’d be no sign of eggs, milk and self-raising flower. Many other cooking analogies exist and are welcome. I’ve never watched it but I’m certain he’d be the first one off the show if there was a great British bake off for football managers! Klopp on the other hands would have some high energy, gegenbiskiits!
Right, better go. The nurse is coming up the corridor with my tablets and a huge syringe. I’d better put the mushrooms away.
Kroenke
Glad I’m not the only one who picked on Pedro’s hypocrisy on what was allowable content. Emery was on the receiving end of blatant racism that Pedro not only allowed but encouraged I got binned for saying it was going to be difficult to raise funds through selling after COVID and clubs not having much money to spend – it wasn’t even an attack on Arteta.
He’s lost the plot to such a degree that he sees any comment “next seasons going to be tough with the World Cup break” for example that isn’t praising Arteta as an attack.
The cooking analogies are a good one – Master Chef has a round where contestants are given a box of ingredients with no prior knowledge and have to make a dish. A good Chef can take basic ingredients and make something decent – it may not be Michelin Star but its good to eat. What’s pushed with Arteta is that he can only perform with “perfect” players well he “upgraded” 3/5ths of the defence last summer and conceded more goals this summer it looks like we’re bringing in attackers.
What odds we score less goals than last season if that’s possible?
Hi Marc
It could depend on how many new defenders he’s allowed to buy. He could get lucky (after all, a broken clock is right at least twice a day…). It seems like eons ago that we had all those central defenders in our squad but it must have only been about two years or so . Maybe we’re returning to that sorry state. Given that Tets is so utterly abject at coaching the (rather important) skills involved in attacking play, I can see him prioritising defence again and starting the season with (only) Eddie up front. Seen to me (and probably the rest of the sane gooners in the world) we have to get in a decent, proven centre forward
Cheers Kroenkephobe
it’s clear that he was destined to find something/anything in order to justify his long-contemplated course of action, regardless of it’s actual merits…Dame Nigel, who’s as thick as a brick and a thirsty Pedro loyalist, was making some ridiculous claims about “discovering” players, so I simply said that he was engaging in so much self-fluffing that I hoped that he had some tissues handy…now unless he’s suffering from a severe case of multiple personality disorder, how could this ever be deemed as homophobic in nature…even more infuriatingly pathetic is the fact that he strategically deletes my rather innocuous post, yet keeps his post, making these rather erroneous claims, in the thread, which means that anyone who saw this would be left to their own demented devices to speculate wildly about what exactly was on offer
as for your culinary-inspired analogy regarding our current MIT’s approach to all things transfer-related, albeit insightful in more than one respect, I would suggest that you’re actually giving him more credit than he deserves(lol)…in much the same vein as what transpired during our former manager latter years, MA so desperately desires wearing the “genius” moniker that he willingly pays above the number for some 5’s dressed up as 9s prospects, in the hopes of receiving a slathering of kudos, and he likewise ignores the obvious by prioritizing “luxury” acquisitions over our most pressing ones…for me personally this TW was all about quality over quantity, unlike last summer, but I’m fairly convinced that the powers that be are thinking otherwise
TRVL
If Le Grove were a mathematical formula these days, it would be…
Pedro = Nigel Tuffnut + Negative Nigel + Positive Pete + Raulishuss multiplied by delusional arrogant wanker (who isn’t really an Arsenal fan).
AFCF, England’sbeast and the awful Zacharse would be lapping it up and admiring the mathematical genius from their vantage point in a cage under Pedro’s desk.
There was an extraordinary exchange on there the other day where someone asked Pedro a direct question. He forgot to switch over and answered the question using his Positive Pete persona. I’ll try and dig out the reference because it was so blatant.
Killroy
Good to see the Tigers won. Sounds like it was a thriller. I also caught the last few minutes of the Blues and Crusaders.