A bolt out of the blue & thinking about the summer.

Morning all.

Well well, Everton dealt Liverpool a big blow to their league title chase last night. A 2-0 win for Dyche’s side means Liverpool need us to lose at least one game and Man City to lose two if they’re to win one last trophy under Klopp. That’s assuming Liverpool can win their remaining four fixtures which is far from being a certainty.

There is no certainty for any club in football, especially at this stage of the season when players are virtually running on empty, certainly those who’ve played many many minutes in the last nine months. For a while, adrenaline can carry them through, especially when there’s something left to fight for but when that ends, a body can give in both mentally and physically.

It would have been so easy for Arsenal to collapse after being beaten at home by Aston Villa and then losing to Bayern Munich but the players bounced back to beat Wolves away and then thrash Chelsea on Tuesday. One might be tempted to suggest Arsenal ‘should’ have won both games anyway but I don’t believe that to be true. I think it took passion, dedication and determination. Everything Arsenal lacked in the late Arsene Wenger and Unai Emery days. That’s not meant as a criticism of either manager but the club for the kind of players we signed. How many times when we went a goal down did we see players heads drop, almost like they accepted defeat at that very moment? On other occasions players would have a mini tantrum, seemingly blaming anyone other than themselves for something which had gone wrong. The one which almost made me laugh is when a player would be directing his teammates to mark someone yet do nothing himself.

What a contrast to where we are now as we play as a team rather than a team full of individuals.

Regardless of what happens over the next few weeks, the upcoming summer is likely to be another busy one for our transfer team. No great club stands still and nor should it because the only way to improve on this season is by adding quality to what is already a mighty fine squad. Depth in strength is what’s missing though because with both, Mikel Arteta will be more confident about rotating his squad.

Like it or not, I think we’ll be saying goodbye to a number of academy players. ESR, who I love, could be one who moves on for a fee similar to Joe Willock if not more. Eddie Nketiah and Reiss Nelson could join him, both for a fair amount of money I’m sure. All three should bring in enough money to sign at least one top notch player. There or thereabouts anyway. Their wages together, should be more than enough to cover the wages of one player too, with some left over perhaps.

Cedric Soares, Mo Elneny, Jorginho and Thomas Partey – all of whom are probable departures, will free up even more cash as far as their wages go and we can add a few quid to that because two of the three still have a year left on their contract. According to TransferMarket, Partey is valued around €20m, Jorginho €15m. We might scoff at the values but age and fitness isn’t really on their side, certainly not for Partey. TransferMarket have Nketiah valued at €30m but I think we’d get more than that for him. Same goes for the €25m rated ESR and €15m rated Nelson. (TransferMarket uses Euros)

We’ll all have our own ideas of what position needs attention this summer and who we should buy but the latter in my opinion is a waste of time guessing as Mikel Arteta and the transfer team around him, will already have their targets and they are likely to be very different to the names written on blogs and social media. A good job too otherwise we might have Mudryk and Caicedo in the squad whereas thankfully, we have Trossard and Rice who have had a fantastic for the club. I know I’m guilty of criticising Havertz and Raya but I look a bit foolish now. I don’t mind though because Arsenal come first when it comes to being right or not. Jesus and Zinchenko might not be everyone’s favourites now but when they arrived, I don’t recall anyone being disappointed and let’s not forget, we need a squad and not just a top 12/15. Surely Arsenal need to sell who Mikel Arteta doesn’t play, not who he doesn’t?

For what it’s worth, I think we need a strong and solid midfielder in the mould of Partey or Gilberto, a winger to give Saka a breather and a striker. Maybe a right back too and, and, and….  I could go on really but football doesn’t work like that, not really. A, there’s the financial side of things, B, there’s the homegrown rule and C, any player(s) we sign, have to be as good as our best, if not better. There’s the profile of a player to consider too which is hugely important and I don’t mean his stats, I mean his personality. Look at the Chelsea team we thrashed, who was metaphorically rolling up his sleeves and fighting for the team and his teammates?

Spending money is the easy part, spending it on the right player is a totally different matter.

I’ve gone on a bit….

Catch up in the comments.

 

 

 

29 thoughts on “A bolt out of the blue & thinking about the summer.

  1. Cicero says:

    Good morning. Rico,

    One name we could do without the lesser spotted Viera. Injury prone and lacking physicality, just not suited to Premiership football.

  2. rico says:

    Morning Cicero. He’s talented but he doesn’t look like a PL player. He’s not robust enough as you say.

    I think the club will target more PL players again this summer, it seems to be their preference.

  3. Pete the Thirst says:

    Morning Rico

    I reckon Mik will prioritise two positions:

    CF – With power or pace, maybe both. I wonder if they will mix and match with Havertz?
    CM – Partey will need replacing. A player with similar passing ability. Could Zinchenko do that role?

    It looks like Timber will fill in a left back. This guy looks some player, a real shame he got injured so early.

    The rest of the team picks itself. Some decent bench options would be nice. Nwaneri possibly regularly getting on the bench next season?

    All in all we’re in a positive position.

  4. Cicero says:

    Pete, I don’t think Zinchenko has the pace to play in midfield, he certainly doesn’t to play wingback.

  5. Brian Price says:

    Hi Rico
    Transfers will always surprise us!
    One thing to note, there is a requirement for a minimum of ‘home-grown’ players. so we would have to be careful selling ESR. Eddie and Reiss.
    Have you heard anything about Charlie Patino? he could return

  6. Aussie Geoff says:

    Afternoon Rico and all,
    I would speak to Zinchenko and if he is happy I would could keep him and play him off the bench and start him in the small cup matches next season and possible the early FA cup rounds. as for Timber I will hold my judgement untill I see him play at senior lever.
    New players, personaly I think we need a striker and someone in the midfield / wing who can sprint with the ball on the the quick brake.

  7. Aussie Geoff says:

    Brian I may be wrong, but from what I can remember, Arteta has given Patino the green light to be sold.

  8. rico says:

    Morning Pete, Brian.

    Definitely a new signing for midfield imo. Zinchenko isn’t for me really. He’s too slow and not physically strong enough. Plus we can’t rely on his fitness either.

  9. rico says:

    Brian, there’s always a chance Arsenal might replace those leaving with English/homegrown players. I’ve forgotten what the ruling is in terms of numbers required though.

    Hi Geoff, I don’t think Arteta will check whether Zinchenko is happy or not, the player simply has to play the role Arteta expects of him.

  10. Pete the Thirst says:

    Re Zinchenko…He plays midfield for Ukraine and is their lynchpin. He has a great range of passing and can defend. His drawbacks are his lack of fitness and he’s not the biggest.

    I can’t see Zinchenko or Jesus being sold, but Nketiah and Ramsdale are almost certain to move. ESR will probably join them. Throw in some youth and fringe players this should bring in £75-£100 million.

    Patino, unfortunately, has not developed and is warming the bench at Swansea. He will leave also.

  11. rico says:

    I’d forgotten there’s a good chance of Ramsdale going. That should be another £40/50 million into the transfer kitty.

    I’d imagine a number of our current loanees will be moved on.

  12. Cicero says:

    The Ukrainian foreign minister has called for all male Ukrainians of military age to return home to boost the army in it’s war with Putin’s Russia. Zinchenko may feel he is morally obliged to answer his country’s call.

  13. potter says:

    I think the footballers were given dispensation because they send a large percentage of their exorbitant wages to the war effort

  14. potter says:

    After the acrimony following White and Trossard incidents a few days ago , I never thought that they would.

  15. rico says:

    Can’t see where City will drop points really, Totts will roll over if there’s a chance we can win the league. Unless, a win against City is must for them to secure CL football next year.

    Mind you, I think us winning the last four games is rather optimistic.

  16. allezkev says:

    Interesting that Reiss Nelson couldn’t get on the bench vs Chelsea, we really should award some flowers to our medical and fitness team for the work they’ve done this season.

    Not just on the injured but on also keeping our fit players fit and going throughout this endless season.

    It might also point to the club policy of targeting players who have exemplary fitness records.

  17. allezkev says:

    Rice and Havertz have been exceptional whist Timber was just unlucky. No more punts on players like Francis Jeffers.

  18. potter says:

    As you intimated , I can’t see where they may drop points but I can see where we might. United and Spurs will raise their games against us and only Spurs and forest have anything to play for against City. Forest apart from City have Chelsea , Burnley and Sheffield United to play , I can see their concentration being more on those games . As for Spurs they will go all out to stop us and play well above their usual standard then they have Liverpool, Burnley , City and Sheffield United. Villa have Chelsea , Brighton , Liverpool and Palace
    We must beat them to make sure that they go all out against City and we have to hope that Villa keep collecting points to keep the pressure on.

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