Morning all.
Having taken a moment or two, or a step away from the emotion attached to football, or Arsenal to be more precise, I’ve realised that there’s little point in being overly emotionally attached at all. Arsenal isn’t the football club it once was, it hasn’t been since the day we left Highbury. From that day, money mattered more than the fans, more than the players too.
We fans expect players to care about the club, yet the reality is, the club doesn’t care about them. Don’t get me wrong, they get spoiled rotten whilst they’re with the club and paid extortionate amounts of money for doing their job but ultimately, they are just objects who all have a price tag.
Not for one minute would I expect Aubameyang to be at Arsenal at the close of this transfer window if another club came in with a big offer for him. Arsenal might want him to stay, Mikel Arteta might make all the right noises when a microphone is waved in front of him but business is business. And football is now a business. Balancing the books comes first in my opinion.
Arsenal are going on £100 million summer spending spree to bring in prime targets Thomas Partey, Gabriel Magalhaes and Dani Ceballos according to The Sun. However, Lucas Torreira, £35m-rated midfielder Matteo Guendouzi, £25m-rated utility player Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Shkodran Mustafi are the players set to be sold so the books can be balanced. Henrikh Mkhitaryan – whose contract could be cancelled, Mohamed Elneny, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Rob Holding are also listed by The Sun as being available to any other club willing to make an offer.
Personally, I think every player has their price. Even Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli, albeit probably not this summer.
Logic alone suggested Arsenal needed to sell players this summer if Mikel Arteta needs to bring in players of his choice and who he believes will improve this Arsenal squad and that was long before Covid-19 struck. The business, or rather, Arsenal FC has suffered financial difficulties because of the virus which has led to redundancies and I reckon Arteta’s original list of players who could be sold, has grown. My own list, which is totally irrelevant of course, was always long but AMN was never on it which is why I was so disappointed to read about him potentially being sold. I’m not telling you who the other four are. Lol
Anyway, the penny has dropped. Finally I hear you say. There’s no point in getting ‘attached’ to footballers anymore because no sooner I/you do, they could be gone. Because football is a business, Arsenal along with every many other clubs in England are a business.
Yes is sad that people have lost their jobs, but so have many others across the country as cuts have been made but of course, when footballers employed by the same business are earning multi millions each season, it looks worse. But put that into perspective with John Lewis for example. Shop floor staff are being made redundant yet those who make the decisions, potentially earning ten times their salary in some cases, keep theirs. It’s just how it is.
Any business will make cuts where they believe they can cope with less numbers. Where one person can do the job which two were doing. Supermarkets are a good example. Years ago, when I worked for Sainsbury’s there were two types of shop floor staff. Departmental staff and checkout staff, but now, every shop floor staff member is trained to work the checkout so during the busy times, anyone can help out.
Arsenal have binned a few scouts. Outrageous decision was my first thought but then my sensible head took over. What have they done for Arsenal lately? Martinelli? I thought Edu was the guy behind his signing? Other than him and Pepe, who many on here were thrilled over his signing at the time, which players have the club bought to make us go ‘wow’?
Why pay a scout to track a player when the internet is full of data and footage of him? The only information which isn’t out there relates to a players personality, what makes him tick, how he mixes etc.
Anyway, I’ve rambled a bit. I guess what I’m trying to say is I understand why the club are cutting back on staff. It might not look good but to keep on carrying on and expecting things to sort themselves out whilst the board bury their heads in the sand would be foolhardy to say the least.
A trimming of the squad must surely be next….
See you in the comments guys.
Good morning Rico.
I shall be very disappointed if Arsenal sell good, young English players, such as Holding, AMN, Nelson etc, in order to afford Willian’s demands, particularly as he is currently unavailable through a long lasting Achilles injury.
Hi Rico nicely put The problem I have with YouTube is that you only see all the good things the player does but never his mistakes anyone can look on YouTube
Good morning Rico!
I too was disappointed by the cuts until on another site I saw the numbers we have compared to other rival clubs, apparently bloated in Arsene’s reign. On that basis I’d expect many more to go as time moves on. Timing is key but when the forecast is for this CV farce to continue well into next year and doubts exist, the club has to protect its main asset, its survival as a ‘business’, a cash cow in KSE terms.
I’m actually more disappointed in first Mikel getting ‘outvoted’ which can’t be great for our budding genius, the loss of a yet to be explored very capable, flexible player athlete, namely AMN. I would have thought his views would be paramount as the person using this relatively cheap talent yet to be expressed fully.
Second is the lack of dispensing with the majority of the squad which we know to be incapable of Mikel needs yet we consider losing our pearls before offloading the ones causing our money leaks.
Unless we are looking at a very small outlay ultimately finally dealing with those problems should attract more focus!
Afternoon, thanks for the post Rico…
Arteta ‘outvoted’, maybe that’s the narrative the club want everyone to hear Pat, I’m sure that when the figures were considered and the need to sell to buy was discussed that Mikel was on board, he obviously likes AMN but if Raul said to him it’s AMN or Partey, you can’t have both, that he soon dropped any objections.
He still comes out the good guy and gets what he wants.
Now if we could have moved on Ozil then probably AMN could have stayed, but it is what it is.
It’s ok to say we have a lot more people on the books then any other clubs but the problem is why use the virus as a reason to sack these workers if it was an issue before then why not sack these people earlier or even stop Wenger from hiring them in the first place.
This is just a case of Kroenke not giving Arteta the money to buy the players he want’s so these 55 workers are now paying the price.
It seems to me this club have offered Arteta one thing and then changed there minds.
At times I wonder if this board deliberately set up Emery to fail to hide the truth about what is going on in the back ground especially around the money the club has for transfers and players payments.
Hi All,
Magnificent point, I had the same discussion re.Attachment to players only last week.
Football is a job!
Work to the pros!
Also in full agreement….. our scouting/ recruitment has been abysmal.
People tend to forget that Arsenal/ Mr Kroenke own their own analytics company, so why would you not utilise technology
Side note…. I think Willian will be a superb signing. He is always a threat. Excellent attitude. We need some ‘now’, not 2 or 3 years down the line.
Also ‘Fans’ need to get behind the team/ club.
It’s a new day!
An intelligent post with your thinking head on, Rico.
Kroenke will never invest his own money in this club unlesss we changed our name to LA Rams, so it is as you say, sell to buy, loans, swaps and anything a Swiss euthanasia clinic discards……………..it`s where we got Xhaka from!
Auba aparrently was a ManU fan as a kid, if they make an offer he would go!………………talking of him, he has won Arsenal player of the season!……………similar to me!………….I have won Arsenal behind the sofa fan of the season, just edging out Sue!……………………did you really think you had a chance, Sue, there`s only room for me and my ego behind my sofa! 😎
Harry Kane is a Gooner, Bergkamp was a Spud, it don’t mean anything, apparently Aubameyang was angling for a move to Chelsea last January, or his agent was, it’s what Rico says you can’t get emotionally attached to players anymore, not even Kolasinac…
Afternoon Rico and all. Interesting post this morning. We sometimes forget that Arsenal are more of a business now than they have ever been, with all the caveats that entails.
Afternoon all.
Not to mention all the carve ups and entrails, either!
I just wonder if the loss of the 55 is the start of the financial pinch that will see football start to slide into the pit of destruction. The whole of the PL is bloated and the leeches have been getting fatter and fatter on the proceeds of Sky tv et al. A correction and a rebalancing of the cash that has been swilling about was almost inevitable. Is this the beginning of the slimming down of the franchise?
Hi Rico, what a tremendous post 👍 Which leads me to a question… who are the other 4? Come on spill the beans 😄
I saw this on Twitter:
Gabriel has been excluded from Lille’s squad to face Alkmaar today. And his number 4 shirt is being worn by Nassim Innocenti.
North London bound? Looking likely I say!!
😂 Le Coq!! Shucks!! I thought I had it in the bag 😂
True enough Allezkev but I’d rather see us dump the brat and Torreira besides the likes of Kola, Elneny…..after all Partey will replace them surely? Maybe times against us…
Kev`………..I`m just re-writing what I read on newsnow!………………….well apart from the bit about my behind the sofa fan of the season…………..no…………… that`s a life time award!………………………DFS have a statue of me outside the Plymouth store!
Afternoon all and thanks re the post.
Phil, sorry you’ve been stuck in moderation but it’s just me and I was out and about.
I don’t think Willian is injured Cicero, just Lamps justifying not picking him.
Kev, I didn’t know Dennis was a Toots fan. And there was me thinking he was intelligent. 😆
Pat, I’m of the same opinion re AMN. He’s one of a few players who can pretty much play anywhere on the pitch too so keeping him makes sense to me. If Arteta wants him to stay, he should. Same goes for any other player imo.
Kev, or sell Kolasinac and keep AMN. That gives us two back up right backs, the same with the left back situation too and a deep lying midfielder if things go belly up injury wise. I get why the club would be tempted by a big money offer for AMN or any player but why not sell in numbers and get the higher salaries off the books. AMN is probably on less than most.
What a win in the cricket! Heroic stuff.
Buttler and Woakes were superb. Great win indeed..
They were Rico. I thought the chance had gone.
Rico, Lampard quite clearly stated in an interview, that William was not available for tonight’s match due to an Achilles injury that he has been carrying for some time.
That is not my opinion, it’s a statement of fact.
I read that DB10 was not a Spud, but his favourite player was Glenda Hoddle!………………..at one point my favourite player was Pele, but I`m not a Santos fan!
Pat, I think that Torrieira will go, I just hope that we get our money back on him, ditto Guendouzi,we’ll get a nice wad for him.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d like to see AMN stay but if he is going to be sold then there must be a good reason or I’d really hope so, Ceballos coming back, Partey joining, a n other?
Rico, I’d quite happily see Kolasinac sold even if it leaves Sue bereft… 😉
Good point Rico regarding AMN’s salary, but hasn’t Niles just changed his agent, I wonder if this might have affected the clubs decision on the player?
I think the agent is the same guy who represents Nelson, Saka and Balogun, so I wonder if there’s some history there?
Yes LC, I think you may be right about Dennis and Hoddle…
I only caught it late on Adam when Buttler and Woakes were in the 70’s… nervy end..
Cicero, and you believe him? I don’t, not for one minute.
😂 Kev re Kolasinac.
AMN is tied down until 2023 I think Kev so he might have changed his agent again by then.. lol
Seriously, you might be right..
Chavs off to a good start then…
Evening Rico and All
Very humble post Rico brings it to reality
AMN is a lovely player but he can not be trusted due to lack of consentration at times I agree with Kev in that Micky is not a shrinking violet his quiet clear on what he wants I think.
My concern is the grassroots and our young 16/18 year olds talking to one of groundsmans today it could be the upper earners that have been laid off.
Evening Fred. Pre the so called telling off of AMN by Arteta, I’d have agreed re his lack of concentration but it seems to me, that gave him the kick in the pants he needed. He seems to have a totally different attitude of late. No pun intended.
Which upper earners? In the academy set up?
The vast number of scouts that have been let go by Arsenal over the past 48 hours are not part of the proposed 55 redundancies that the club announced on Wednesday.
The departures – including that of head of recruitment Francis Cagigao – are separate to the planned cuts as the scouts are contractors and are in fact the result of a review that has been carried out by technical director Edu, who plans to now implement his own blueprint for the recruitment department at the north London club.
As well as Cagigao, who had been at Arsenal for more than two decades, senior scouts Brian McDermott and Peter Clark were also told on Wednesday that they no longer had jobs.
And since then several further figures within the scouting network have also been released – including Ty Gooden, who had been overseeing France for the past few years and played a key role in the work done to secure William Saliba from Saint-Etienne last summer.
Sources at Arsenal insist the overhaul is not down to saving money, but that Edu and the hierarchy want to ensure the club’s recruitment department runs in the most effective way possible going forward.
Earlier in the year, Edu also decided change was needed within the recruitment department at Arsenal’s Hale End academy. The decision came after a stringent review carried out alongside academy manager Per Mertesacker.
Steve Morrow, who had been head of youth scouting, was the most high-profile casualty – but a number of other figures within the academy followed him out of the door, including Kevin Beadell, Dan Rice, David Lee, Jay Leffe and Joe Sutton.
(Charles Watt)
Lee Herron, who had been head of football operations at the academy following his arrival from Reading in 2018, took up a newly-created role of head of talent ID and was tasked with leading the new talent ID department and building a team to replace the figures that had been moved on.
That rebuild saw Steve Brown join from MK Dons to be lead talent ID co-ordinator, with Ayo Durojaiye (U9s-U11s), Phil Antwi (U12s-U14s) and Conan Watson (U15s-U16s) making up the new recruitment team.
It was a major overhaul, just as the one currently being overseen in the senior recruitment department – but it is currently unclear how Edu plans to replace those who have been let go in recent days.
Sources have told Goal there is a sense of shock and bemusement at the club that such respected figures like Cagigao – credited with discovering talents like Cesc Fabregas, Hector Bellerin and Gabriel Martinelli – have been let go.
Cagigao has been at Arsenal for 24 years and has long been hailed as one of the most important figures within the club’s recruitment network, with his extensive contacts book the envy of many and his talent for unearthing some of the best young players respected across football.
But following Arsene Wenger’s departure in 2018, Arsenal – under head of football Raul Sanllehi and Edu – have increasingly moved towards an agent-led strategy when it comes to transfers.
That has seen players like David Luiz and Cedric Soares arrive during the past two windows, while 31-year-old Willian is expected to soon put pen to paper on a three-year deal and complete a free transfer from Chelsea.
(Charles Watt)
So Fred, so maybe this restructuring was always on the cards anyway, Wuhan Surprise has just been a convenient coincidence…
Kev. I read somewhere that Edu’s first job was to cut staff numbers.
Kev I’ve been battling for years with
The Arsenal mob to listen but to no avail
I linkedin with PM many years ago about
a top lad I had his parents confidence to
do the right thing,he never bothered to
call me..You would not believe who I’m
talking about.
Sorry Rico I don’t know that one
at the moment.
Liam Brady banned me many
years ago,from the academy.
No probs Fred, just wondered if you knew which higher earners…
Not bothered to look into really
Rico I’ve been retired as well.
So I can now gossip.
Gossip is good Fred. Lol
Kev I suppose with covit it has
become inevitable.
leave spelling up to you Rico.
Have to say how impressed I’am
with will-i-am comments from the
Chav’s on the type of guy willyboy
is,our young players should get a
lot of inspiration from the way he
conducters himself.
I rely on google Fred..
Have to go goodnight all
You too Fred, all…
😂😂 You’re all heart, Kev!!
What a week it’s been for the chavs – sweeeeet!! 👍
Came across this –
Dani Ceballos is looking likely to return on loan for another season. Clubs currently in discussion over the structure of the deal.
It’s currently unclear whether there will be an option to buy or an obligation to buy after 12 months, but it will be one or the other. 80% done
Hope so, really like Dani, the paella man!
Fred, I did read somewhere that both Liverpool and Man City have cut right back on their scouting and that Arsenal are following their example, so work that out…
What did you do to upset Chippy?
Sorry Sue… 😉
Happy Birthday to our new (but not yet announced 😂) signing Willian.. 32 today!!
😂 Sue.
New post up now