Morning all.
Thank goodness Vinai Venkatesham told us that we mustn’t believe all that is written about Arsenal because otherwise I’d be really disappointed come the end of the transfer window. Lol. Goodness only knows how many players we’ve been linked to already this summer and bearing in mind there’s over a full month of the transfer window to go, that number will no doubt double.
Player names come and go but two in particular seem to have stuck. Gabriel Magalhaes and Thomas Partey with Dani Ceballos widely expected to return either on another season long loan or a permanent deal. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is expected to follow in the footsteps of Bukayo Saka and sign a contract extension too. Having already Cedric Soares and Pablo Mari down to permanent deals, David Luiz too for another year, plus Willian leaving the west of London for the north, this Arsenal squad could possibly look the strongest and most balanced it has for ten years or more. If of course the club can get Partey of someone similar through the door.
Gabriel has gone from rumour to an almost reality. A fee has been agreed with Lille and an Arsenal announcement confirming his signing is imminent according to Sky Sports.
Lille president Gerard Lopez spoke to Sky Sports News about Gabriel’s next move, although no final destination was confirmed.
“He is a great kid and that is one of the most important things,” Lopez said. “He didn’t have an easy start with us given the fact that the coach at the time didn’t trust him because of his age.
“He is a real fighter and has immense physical presence but knows how to use it smartly. He is still raw and I know the Brazil national team are looking at him very seriously for the A-team.
“I think he is at the start of something big, and he does everything to succeed.”
Thanks to Brazil Scout Premium on YouTube, here he is in action.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=U5DbMje7Dv8
There’s no doubt about it, Gabriel Magalhaes is the defender many clubs want to sign this summer. City, Napoli and Utd have all tried to sign him if newspaper reports are correct but it seems Arsenal have won the race.
I think it’s important to remember though, that like William Saliba, he’s young and has no experience of Premier League football. Both will have faced exceptional players like Mbappé and Neymar to name just two but the Premier League is full of clubs with not only pacy strikers, wingers and midfielders but dare I say conmen too. I would suggest they ask David Luiz but most of the time when he’s involved in a penalty decision, it’s justified. The red card which sometimes follows too.
I’m not suggesting either aren’t ready for the first team, not at all. I’m just saying be kind and be patient. Experienced Premier League defenders make mistakes too.
The Arsenal defence, although improved, still has its weaknesses and defending set-pieces is one. Well, that might soon be resolved as the Evening Standard claimed yesterday that Mikel Arteta hopes to tempt another coach away from Brentford in Andreas Georgson. While Freddie has gone off in search of a new beginning, his fellow Swede could make a short trip across London for a new challenge of his own. Apparently, his expertise is defending set-pieces.
Finally, Bayern Munich beat the big money bags of France last night in the Champions League Final. I thought it was a great game to begin with but the longer it went on, the worse it got. Well done to Bayern though, they certainly proved that spending multi millions on great footballers doesn’t always guarantee success.
Transfer stuff.
- Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is could put as many as 15 players up for sale as he looks to restructure his first-team squad. (Daily Express)
- Leeds hope to sign Rob Holding. NN headlines/newspapers.
- Arsenal are to rival Barcelona for the signing of free agent Malang Sarr. (The Mail)
- Mikel Arteta wants Dennis Bergkamp to replace Freddie. (The Mail)
There are more, but I can’t be bothered.
See you in the comments guys.
Morning all and thanks Rico.
Love this!……………………………BREAKING: Greek police have set Harry Maguire’s bail at €5000 but Manchester United are willing to offer €3000 plus Jesse Lingard and Phil Jones.
………………..and it`s probably closer to the truth than 99% of the Arsenal transfer rumours!
The Bergkamp rumours are gathering pace, either that or Chinese whispers are working…
Don’t you just love the optimism Arteta brings with him..Now i feel like we don’t just have a manager,but an arsenal fan aswell and its obvious in the direction he’s steering the club towards.From the recruitment of personnel in the key ‘problem areas’ to what goes on behind the scenes and his backroom staff.You can practically feel what he’s trying to pull of both for the short and long term benefits of the club.Still reckon it would take at least 2 more transfer windows to have a squad capable of challenging on all fronts and with conviction too..I bet the other top clubs and managers are thinking out loud within themselves and acknowledging that “There’s something special brewing over there at the Emirates “
Good morning all. Rico I pinched this from The Telegraph, it’s a bit long so if you want to “file” it I wont mind.
Seven years ago, on the touchline of a Parisian youth pitch, AS Bondy coach Antonio Riccardi was approached by the opposition manager after a narrow defeat for his under-15 side. The coach wanted to praise the commanding defensive midfielder in the Bondy team, telling Riccardi that he thought the player was good enough to play for the under-17s.
“I told him I agreed,” Riccardi remembers. “But that the boy was only 12.” The way Riccardi tells the story, the coach simply stared at him for a moment, his face a picture of disbelief. “He said ‘sorry, that kid is two years younger than the others?’ I said yes, and he told me then that the boy was a phenomenon.”
That “phenomenon” was a child called William Saliba. And he was so remarkable not just for his footballing talent, which was obvious enough, but for his sheer size. Saliba may have been two years younger than the rest, not yet a teenager, but he already towered over all of the other players on the pitch.
Talk to those who saw him develop and it soon becomes clear that this was a common theme of Saliba’s early footballing journey. Wherever he went, he stood out as the boy with a man’s body, his frame as wide as his potential was large. Those mountainous shoulders will now need to be broader than ever, with a fully-grown Saliba this week beginning life as the great hope of Arsenal’s future.
There are few teenagers in world football who carry the same weight of expectation as this 19-year-old from the Parisian suburbs. Signed last year from Saint-Etienne for £27 million, he was immediately loaned back to France for an extra season. The delay on his arrival, and the disastrous defending that subsequently defined Arsenal’s campaign, has only increased the sense of excitement among the club’s fans.
The question, then, is whether he is ready. Those who know him insist there is no doubt about it. In the eyes of his former coaches, confidantes and team-mates, Saliba has been ready for some time now.
“He is very eager to start the new season,” says Abdelaziz Kaddour, Saliba’s coach at FC Montfermeil, in the east of Paris, where he moved at 13. “He has this desire to play right away. He does not want to be patient. He wants to show his qualities. He wants to give everything and be a starter from the first league game of the season.”
It was Kaddour who first saw Saliba’s potential as a centre-back. He had played as a midfielder at Bondy, where the father of Kylian Mbappe had been his coach as a child, but as he grew into his body he became better suited to a more defensive role. “He was bigger than any of the older players on his team,” Kaddour
Kaddour tells Telegraph Sport. “I told him, as a defender he could be a
Both Kaddour and Riccardi use the same word to describe Saliba: leader. “A strong personality,” says Kaddour. “He was always the one who was able to relax the other players,” says Riccardi. Later, when he was first called up to the national under-18 side, he was instantly made the team’s captain. “My first impression was that this was the biggest man of his generation,” says Jean-Luc Vannuchi, the France coach who selected him.
It did not take long for word to spread of the 13-year-old giant who was dominating 15-year-old forwards for Montfermeil. Two years after leaving Bondy, Saliba joined Saint-Etienne. Two years after joining Saint-Etienne, he made his professional debut. “He was a kid who was going very fast,” says Kaddour. “He was calm, he was mature. And technically, he was good. He anticipated the movements of the opponent, reading the game. He never panicked.”
Vannuchi tells Telegraph Sport that Saliba reminds him of both Raphael Varane and Virgil van Dijk. “A mix of the two styles,” says the France youth coach. “With Varane because of his speed and power, and with Van Dijk it is the interceptions, the positioning on the pitch.”
For Vannuchi, it is Saliba’s attitude that stood out when he first joined the French under-18 setup. “On the pitch, he is a competitor,” he says. “A technical and physical leader. As a person he is more reserved but all the other players respected him because he was the very best defender at that age.
“He looked like a man. The difference between him and the other players was massive. When he took the ball and ran into midfield, no one could stop him. He was like a monster compared to other players of the same age.
“He is something different to what I have worked with before. When he played with Saint-Etienne it looked normal for him, even though he was so young. You never saw any difference between him and
the older men around him.
Vannuchi tells the story of an international match against Scotland when, for once, Saliba was struggling. Playing at centre-back, he continually tried to slide passes through the Scotland midfield, but lost possession every time in the first half. “At half-time, he came to me and apologised,” says Vannuchi. “He said ‘coach, I am sorry. It will change in the second half.’ And it did. William is able to reset his mind. When he makes a mistake, he can move on from it.”
Interest from other, bigger clubs was inevitable. In January 2019, Manchester United made a genuine approach. But Arsenal had been tracking him for months, and Saliba was focused on them, having supported the club as a child. United’s approach was naturally of major interest to Saliba but once Arsenal came forward, there was nowhere else he wanted to go.
As Saliba’s move to Arsenal neared its conclusion last summer, there was a late attempt by Tottenham Hotspur to hijack the process. Those who know Saliba say Tottenham’s move was doomed to fail from the start — by that stage, his heart was set on Arsenal. “I have a crush on Arsenal,” he told L’Equipe last month.
Good read Cicero. I hope his injuries don’t have a negative impact on what might be a great career ahead as a footballer.
If we get Gabriel too, we could be set in central defence for a long time. Shame their arrival might mean the end of Arsenal for Holding and or Chambers If reports are to be believed, but that’s football I guess.
I did smile at the last bit about Toots.
Welcome Nnamdi Isi.
Agree re Mikel Arteta but I think it goes deeper too. In Edu it appears that we have a guy who wants Arsenal to succeed again and there appears to be better things going on behind the scenes. I think most Arsenal fans, if they could be asked, would say they feel more positive about the club going forward.
Morning all.
Seems such a short time ago we signed Saliba.
I know many fans were disappointed we’d signed a kid, and a kid we weren’t bringing in immediately as quite obviously, we could use a top class CB but I thought I’d we didn’t get him then, we probably couldn’t afford him in a years time.
I wouldn’t have a clue what he’s worth now, but I know we have him, and the potential is massive with this kid.
He could well end up a World Class CB.
Can’t wait to see him play.
This Tim (Can’t think of his surname) seems to be clearing the decks at the club.
Is Freddy his latest scalp or did Freddy walk?
I’d hope it’s the latter, and he does deserve a go at management imo.
Morning Campers, morning Rico…
Hey Rick, did you see that Leeds are negotiating to sign Sam Greenwood and offering him a 6 year contract, if we do sell him I hope we insert a sell on clause into the deal…
Freddie said himself, it was his choice.
Morning Kev.
Another drop off Jimmy.
I love this site,carry on the good work and carry on making me smile.If it helps everyone,I firmly believe Partey will sign and Coutinho won’t.
Apparently only Bangladesh in recent times have a worse slip catch record than England…
I can’t work out if you’re being genuine or ironic Phil.
This set of slips are certainly struggling.
Fair enough, Rico.
I haven’t actually read anything other than he’s left so wasn’t sure.
I’m sure every Gooner wishes him all the success he deserves.
Hi Rico and all nice story Cicero let’s hope all the new players settle in quickly and hopefully we can get a few more players off our books
I liked bergkamp as a player but is he what we need as an assistant coach at the moment I like the idea of going for a specialist coach especially someone to help out with setting up and dealing with set pieces
Nice one, Rico…
Sky are saying Wolves are in advanced talks over a 4 year deal for AMN!!
Sanogo (remember him?!) is off to Middlesbrough!!
Le Coq.. Rather generous for Lingard and Jones, don’t you think?! 😂😂
My eldest daughter and her young family have gone to Chester Zoo today. Bearing in mind my son in law is a Manc and detests Liverpool nearly as much as I do… he messaged me and said the only negative is everyone sounds like Jamie Carragher and there are Liverpool shirts everywhere…. I said that would be my worst nightmare and hope they’re not spitting 😂😂
Sue……make sure he takes the wheels off the car if driving and takes them with him everywhere!………….even the urinal!………………although he will get admiring glances at his Yokohama`s!
😆
Hi Rico, everyone.
Its certainly been some time since i have commented on here but have started reading again in the last few weeks. The daily posts are as good as ever and reading through the comments helps keep me grounded when i want to believe some of the rumours i see (which we all know are 90% false, if not more).
Certainly Excited for Saliba and Gabriel given some bedding in time i hope they can be a more solid base for the team moving forward. And a player like Partey would be the icing on the cake for me personally. Oh and i want Ceballos back too…..as i say, i need to stay grounded lol
😂😂😂 haha it’ll be just like the Inbetweeners… they’ll get back to their car and it’ll be totally trashed!! I wonder if he wore his United shirt 😄
Mari and Spares have both signed permanent deals. From Arsenal.com
SOARES!!! Not spares, totally dumb spellchecker..
Ryan Alebiosu has signed his first professional contract.
The eighteen year old versatile right back/midfielder looks a ready made replacement for Spuds bound AMN.
Right the first time, Cicero, he probably will be a Spare!
Jonathon Dinzeyi, a twenty year old central defender has signed a professional contract and will join the U 23s. A free agent he has just left the Spuds.
Afternoon guys.
Really disappointed AMN might be going, but I guess there’s no sentiment in the game.
Rico, didn’t we poach him from Southampton?
Who Cicero, AMN? Not that I know of, I thought he was a London born lad.,
Are we ending up like The Boys from Brazil ?…………………….lets hope it`s more 1970`s Brazil than the one that got destroyed by an Ozil inspired Germany!. 😆
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EfiUlXqXYAAh46v.jpg
Mea culpa Rico, not AMN but plenty of others and not just from Southampton.
Looks like he’s Wolves bound rather than Toots. £20m seems cheap though for a 22 yea4 old Englishman as good as AMN.
I read just now that it’s he who wants to move for regular football..
Over the years Cicero, I think we’ve poached many a youngster. A right old mixed bag they’ve been too.
Evening Rico and All
Starting to really liven up now,
great When you here that a young
defender is playing 2/3 years up to
Be able at that age takes a lot of
Nerve,very excited to see him play
Leadership qualities for sure
Micky knows his onions so should
handle the lad the right way,this league
is unforgiving.
Lots of gooners getting upset about
Ainsley going,but not me.
I think Micky must of asked him
what position he liked best,I’ve
watched him from a young lad and
could not say where I would play him
in this new team shape,maybe that’s
why.
Never heard of a deadball specialist only
in American football.
Is it the Syrups first signing 😩
Evening Fred. I reckon we’ll see a lot of players being sold over the next few weeks. I’m one of them who is disappointed to see AMN leave. He’s versatile and I think we’ll miss him.
I can’t agree that Soares will be a “spare” LC. With the probable departures of AMN and Mustafi, who have both been used at right back, the only cover for Bellerin is the aforementioned Soares.
I reckon he’s going to get a fair bit of game time in the upcoming season.
I suppose if Arteta starts the season with three at the back it could mean that more attacking players like Reiss Nelson and Bakayo Saka can do the right wing back job?
I really don’t want to see Bellerin sold but who knows, maybe Hector isn’t the defender who Arteta sees as his long term right back/ right wing back option?
Alternatively with Arsenal finding it impossible to sell the guys we really want to sell, mainly because of the salaries they were given by previous regimes making them unattractive unless we almost give them away – cheers Ivan, cheers Arsene. It means if Arteta wants to bring in the players he needs to transform the squad he’s forced to sell players he’d rather keep. Therefore to raise the funds to possibly sign Partey we have to sell Bellerin?
Doesn’t Soares play regularly for Portugal and they’re pretty good aren’t they, so he can’t really be that shit can he?
Or maybe he can, I’m not that au fait with him tbh, but maybe let’s see how he is playing after say 10/15/20 games before we write him off. Or am I being too liberal, too woke even?
Sleep well….
New post up now