Morning all.
Sky Sports News and David Ornstein report his morning that Marseille have returned with a whopping £17 million bid for Eddie Nketiah. Ornstein goes on to write:
The Ligue 1 side’s new offer is similar in value to their previous approach but closer to the formula Arsenal want for the forward but given their considerably higher asking price, Arsenal are still likely to deem the bid unrealistic; however Marseille continue to work on the situation and the clubs remain in conversations. Should they strike a deal, the 25-year-old has already agreed a five-year contract with Marseille and is keen to join head coach Roberto De Zerbi’s team.
For the players sake, I hope he gets the move and turns out to be like Ian Wright in that it’s not until later in his career that he makes his mark on the game. Perhaps Arsenal will include a clause in both his and Emile Smith Rowe’s Fulham contract which gives Arsenal first refusal should they be sold.
I think it’s shameful that other clubs value our players so low but the truth is, if they’re not playing regular football at Arsenal, their transfer value is seldom going to be high. It’s easy for us to suggest Arteta should play his fringe players more often but if he doesn’t believe in them, why should he put his job on the line? Football is a results driven business and you can bet your bottom dollar that had he played the likes of Nketiah, Nelson and even Vieira and they’d not performed well, the knives would be out. Not necessarily for the players but for Arteta for making such stupid decisions.
84 minutes against Bournemouth followed by 45 against Manchester Utd suggests that this could be the breakout season for 17 year old Ethan Nwaneri. Possibly the reason Mikel Arteta wasn’t afraid to let the much loved Emile Smith Rowe leave. He’s already played for the first team of course but now, we might see him more often. His opportunities will come I’m sure and the more games we can take a healthy lead in, the more those opportunities will probably arise. Perhaps he’s earmarked for the domestic cup games too. If he can stand up to a Utd team, he can stand up to any team in England in my opinion. Sometimes sink or swim is needed but not for one minute do I expect him to sink.
Arsenal take on Liverpool overnight tonight in what’s their last fixture in the USA. Then it’s back home for a match against Bayern Leverkusen and Lyon, both of which are at The Emirates. That’s when I think we’ll learn more about how we’re going to look this coming season although I’m not sure if Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Aaron Ramsdale and David Raya will be back for the two fixtures on home soil.
Making the transfer gossip headlines is Leroy Sane who is into his final year of contract at Bayern Munich. Sky Sports reported yesterday that Arsenal are keeping close tabs on him and should he reject the offer of a new contract to stay at his club, Edu and his transfer team will try and bring him to Arsenal. Sane worked closely with Arteta at City and has only ever had good things to say about him.
The Daily Express report that Arsenal have reached an agreement over personal terms with Real Sociedad midfielder Mikel Merino ahead of a potential transfer. I’ve seen these rumours elsewhere too but of course, it’s probably just one rumour which has repeated many times. Although Fabrizio Romano has announced on social media that once the transfer of Smith Rowe has gone through, Arsenal can proceed with a deal for the Spaniard.
Catch up in the comments…
Good morning Rico and everyone.
Sane will be a massive addition to the team no matter how you look at it. He brings alot to the table.
Seeing Smith Rowe go is sad but understandable, I just hope we have better replacements for all players leaving.
From the look of things we are clearly a stronger side and we are fast having covers in all positions.
With the current team list I expect we add a striker, midfielder and probably a winger.
As for departures I would want one of Joginho and Partey to go, Partey most likely due to his injury woes and I just feel like we don’t need a player like Zilichenko on our team anymore, he is too unstable.
I really do hope Arteta take local come competitions seriously as we need to grab a silverware this season unfailingly(we should also hope cup fixtures favour us cos we haven’t had such good luck for 2 seasons now).
Morning Rico and all.
I would except 17mill for Eddie, but a bit surprised by how much we are hopefully getting for ESR, I thought both would have been valued around 15 to 20 mill each
Morning Mexy, I think Arteta takes the domestic cups seriously. His team selection would suggest that but as others have pointed out, the draw hasn’t done us any favours of late.
If we can add a midfielder and forward, I fancy our chances of winning something this coming season.
Morning Geoff, I thought Eddie would be £25 million plus and I think Arsenal are expecting that too but if rumours alone are anything to go by, few clubs are interested in him, Nelson too so the club is hamstrung.
True @Rico.
I just hope we get an easy ride. I must celebrate my club winning trophies this coming season. I’m so happy we have gone past the era of Arsenal being pushovers, we are feared currently, I hope this new season we take it a step further, becoming bullies 😀😀
We need to bully small clubs to submission, make them feel lost before kickoff, I need Aston villa and Fulham to pay for their crimes against us last season.
Definitely re Fulham and Villa Mexy, especially the latter. Wipe the smug grin off Martinez’s face in the process..
Rico I would agree with that amount if they played more games, but the lack of games drops there value for me.
But if they don’t fit into Arteta’s system/plans Geoff, how can he play them? We may not like or understand it but it’s Arteta who sees them train every day..
If that’s the case, Rico then why didn’t Arteta sell them last summer.
Afternoon Rico, yeah I agree, £25m minimum for Nketiah, I mean we got £34m for Balogun. The reason we are continually low-balled is because eventually we cave. I mean everyone got a fee for Aubameyang except us and £3m for Leno is a joke.
If Marseilles won’t pay then Eddie stays, same with Nelson, we still have space in the 25 man squad for new signings. At a push we could loan them out…
Don’t know Geoff..
Afternoon Kev, would make sense to loan if there’s a chance of increasing their value but perhaps we need the money, however little it might be.
It’s been going on for years Rico, Kanu, Edu and Wilford running down their contracts and leaving for nothing, Fabregas sold cheap to Barcelona when we should have told them to do one and told C’est to man up, Van Persie sold cheap to Man U and winning them their last title, Ramsey running down his contract and leaving for Juventus, Ozil and Walcott doing the same and costing us a fortune in wages, Wenger turning up the chance to sell Alexis for £50m to Man City and losing him for bugger all. It’s been going on for years and it’s a reputation we need to shake off but we won’t do it by selling Eddie and Reiss on the cheap.
Well fortunately Reiss, Eddie and Aaron are on long deals so loaning them isn’t going to damage their value and might enhance it, we’ll also get loan fees that could add up to a few million and save on not paying their wages.
Exactly Kev, it’s nothing new now under the current board/manager but I guess as the quality of player we sign improves, which it has in recent years, we should become better at selling.
I dread to think how much money we’ve lost on transfers…
I thought similar re their contracts. Personally, I think all three will prove their worth elsewhere as none are poor players, just not players Arteta seems to want.
It was forever thus under previous managers and ownerships Rico and once you get a reputation it’s damned hard to shift. Even Brady and Stapleton were sold on the cheap due to poor ownership and management and that’s 1980 and 1981, pre- David Dein!
Wenger got decent prices and rebuilt the squad by selling Overmars and Petit to Barcelona when they had money to burn, but he lost his way, Dein left and nobody negotiated contracts, Wenger thought his footballing ethos would persuade players to stay but they chased the money and trophies elsewhere because Arsene had lost his way
Arteta knows he has to win trophies this season to ensure his best players trust in the process. That’s why I think he’s going for some more experienced players as a short term fix, sensible prices for players who won’t have any resale value but who can see us over the line. Small incremental improvements in the squad because we’re not that far off winning a trophy or two.
I know Kev, it’s not just a recent thing..
I agree re the ready made, older and more experienced players who’ll hopefully see us win something but then you already know that. 😂
Trophies have to come soon with the squad he’s built, otherwise fans will surely get restless..
https://x.com/FCBayern/status/1818630207529746531
Sane not in the Bayern squad for preseason… is he injured?
Probably still on the beach after the Euros, Rico. 😎
Havertz is back though Cicero. I’m sure he had some kind of surgery..
Man City have been fined £2million by the PL for 22 breaches regarding kickoff and re-start times over the last two seasons.
Do we really want another Manchester City cast off? The latest two have not exactly been that impressive. Neither Jesus or Zinchenko have been pulling up trees since we bought them and their seems little chance of moving them on when there wages are taken into account. Sane will no doubt expect to be very well remunerated even if it means wreaking Arteta’s pay budget.
Apparently Marseille have upped their bid from €17m to €20m but Arsenal won’t accept and are looking for an uplift. L’equpe are suggesting a final bid of €25m plus a sell-on clause, maybe that’ll break the impasse even if I think it’s still undervalues Eddie, we needed other clubs coming in but Eddie seems set on France and who can blame him. If he’s successful at the Velodrome he’ll be treated like a film star.
Jesus and Zinchenko brought a winning culture with them, a professionalism which I think has rubbed off on the others and in any other period this Arsenal team would be going into the forthcoming season looking to win a hat trick of titles.
Events dear boy, event!
I think the Sane story is about getting a new deal at Bayern.. A pay rise perhaps although he doesn’t really need one..
“Events, my dear boy events”. Harold Macmillan 2020.
Super Mac
Could have done with him in the US, quite a lacklustre performance against an energetic and quite physical Liverpool. Slot has them firing and they have a pretty easy start so don’t be surprised to see Liverpool top of the league after 5 games – you heard if here first.
Well we lost 2 – 1.
Actually if Macmillan did say the words it was not in 2020, he died in 1986.
Morning Cicero, all.
New post up