Morning all.
That’s the summer transfer window over for another year. Arsenal football club has had a busy summer with arrivals and exits aplenty.
Jorginho, Tierney, Tavares, Marquinhos, Tomiyasu, Partey and Lokonga have moved on for good whereas Kabia, Vieira, Kiwior, Zinchenko, Nelson and Nygaard have left on loan deals.
Eight new recruits in Zubimendi, Mosquera, Gyokeres, Eze, Madueke, Norgaard, Kepa and Hincapie.
The difference between the two groups of players is vast as only Partey was a regular starter for Arsenal last season with Jorginho, Kiwior, Tierney and Zinchenko used sparingly but the eight who have been added to the squad are what I’d call, first team options. Players who Arteta is likely to use on a regular basis out of choice rather than circumstances forcing his hand.
Personally, I think this squad is the strongest we’ve had for a few years now and I don’t just mean under Mikel Arteta. I mean back to Arsene Wenger’s latter years.
All we really need now is for our attacking unit to gel because defensively, I think we are extremely strong. I include our defence minded players within that group as well as our two keepers. We have more than two players for every position. Admittedly, one or two are injured at the moment but barring Jesus and Havertz, they could return after this international break.
GK – Raya, Kepa
RB – White, Timber
RCB – Saliba, Mosquera
LCB – Gabriel, Hincapie
LB – Calafiori, Lewis-Skelly
CDM – Zubimendi, Rice, Norgaard
CM – Odegaard, Nwaneri, Eze, Merino
LW – Trossard, Martinelli
RW – Saka, Madueke, Jesus
CF – Gyokeres, Havertz,
Also in contention for playing time, albeit limited I would have thought, is Dowman and Harriman-Annous, both of whom were on the bench at Anfield.
Not everyone will be happy with our summer signings of course but to put it bluntly, it doesn’t matter what you or I think, it’s about what Arteta can get out of them.
Hopefully, come May 2026, it’ll be a piece of silverware.
Catch up in the comments.
Good Morning Rico and all.
A good roundup of what went in and out Rico.
The reason for the above is simple (imo of course)….Arteta wants two teams so that he can use a very strong team in the FA Cup and the Carabeo cup as well. He wants them both or at least one of them. The first 11 will only be played in the EPL and the CL. Obviously rotation of certain players due to injuries or suspensions will be taken into consideration. However as you pointed out today and a few days ago Kev as well, there will be a couple of places for youths from Hale End.
Whoever Arteta uses, the quality level will not drop.
Good morning Rico, thanks for a top notch post.
I certainly didn’t expect to see eight incoming players. All of which are potential starters in Premiership and C L matches. To many newbies in one window? Well at the speed with which players get crocked I doesn’t think so. Witness after only three games we have lost through injury Saka, Odegaard, Havertz and Saliba four of our top team starters. If that had been the case in past seasons we would have all been in despair, now we are able to ride out the storm.
Morning Devil, Cicero, all.
I like the fact that not only do we have a deep squad but it’s strong. Very strong.
I didn’t either Cicero but maybe Arsene brainwashed us into thinking too many signings are a problem.
I thought we’d sign a few because of the comments from Mikel at the end of the summer but eight? No. Certainly not 8 top quality players which is imo what the club has done.
I think Hincapie and Mosquera are the centre back pairing of the future.
Watch out Saliba and Gabriel there is strong competition for your places.
As do I and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Saliba move for big money eventually.
Afternoon Rico and all,
I for one are pretty happy with the this transfer market, we have let go of players that would struggle for game time, and replaced them with player that we need and have been calling for, now lets hope that they all gel well and Arteta gets a chance to rotate players,
Afternoon all, very good window, I’d say only Liverpool done better because of the big one. We could never have risked holding on to last day if we had focussed in on him for our striker. And I believe Eze and Madueke will be big for us and finally give Arsenal the attacking guile, along with Saka and Odergaard that we want to see. Only concern is one fit striker, but what’s new😀
White, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori is the present.
Timber, Mosquera, Hincapie, MLS is the department that will be taking over in the future.
If only it stays like that.
It won’t. Injuries, suspensions and rotation will see to that.
I feel that the first group will play EPL and CL.
The second group will play in the FA Cup, CC and some of the CL games.
I too happen to think that Saliba will be sold the coming summer….funding our next batch of players. He will go for anything between 85M to 125M. Arteta and Berta recognized this and bought Mosquera and Hincapie. Gabriel will remain for now.
Devil, I reckon White/Timber 50/50 if they both stay fit. White for the overlap with Saka, Timber for the inverting and generally being more skilful?
Afternoon Geoff, agreed.
I don’t think squad selection will be as simple as one set of players for PL and CL, the other for the domestic cups and nor should it imo. Team selection should imo be based on who is on form, who could exploit the opposition best and who are perceived to be better at nullifying an opponents strengths.
Nice post Rico, everyone has happily put Sunday behind us it seems, 35 games to go, let’s see where we are in May?
The transfer window, thanks to the dickheads in the media, has become a competition in itself, you know ‘who won the transfer window’ guff we often hear from the talking heads. Well let them say that Liverpool won the transfer window, who cares, I don’t, so they signed the headline grabbing players but was their window balanced? Liverpool have spent about £300m on attackers whilst leaving their defence vulnerable.
Arsenal alternatively have covered all the areas of concern we’ve had. Strengthened the attack, got quality cover for Saka, upgraded the midfield, upgraded the defence and got a quality No.2 goalkeeper. I personally think that Arsenal have done the best business overall. Yeah you can point at individual signings being better than ours but in general we’ve covered all the bases and Liverpool have not…
‘thanks to the dickheads in the media’……that’s a first from you Kev. never imagined to hear from you something like that. haha
yes it seems last Sunday has been put behind many. And for many reasons. Were we dire? NO. Were we crap? No. Were we calculating? YES. Did we play chess moves? YES.
For all those who might lambast the team and/or Arteta, not me for sure, the game plan to nullify the dippers was perfect. And we lost to a worldie while refusing to be brow beaten like in the past.
Our transfer dealings were evenly balanced. And as Rico pointed out we dont have Defence A and defence B although I alluded to that. However I do think that in the early rounds of the FA/CC we will see that…..a totally different defence to the EPL each time. They will get their own playing time during the early rounds for sure. Fingers crossed we get an advantegeous draw each time so that they will gel together, practice and be ready to step in like Mosquera did.
Thanks Kev, that’s how I feel too. Our squad has gone up a level, if not two. No weak links in my opinion and we’ve not thrown all our money into none area of the squad either.
I don’t think we have a team A or team B, we just have a squad which can be used a lot better than the small numbers of last season. Personally though, I think as long as they are fit, one of Saliba and Gabriel will start along one or the other of our two new signings.
Dev, I call a spade a spade or I call a dickhead a dickhead, you decide? 😁
I think we might see a few youngsters involved at Port Vale, but it’ll be a mix with the likes of Nordgaard, White, Trossard, Kepa, Martinelli even alongside Dowman, MLS, Nwaneri, Nichols, Salmon, Harriman-Annous, maybe Kancurri?
Raising the ceiling Rico, that’s how I see it… 😉
Ha ha Kev, or raising the roof. 😜
If he manages his squad properly he now has the opportunity to put the doubters to bed. I like most of us was disappointed about Liverpool but they have to come to our place and I don’t think that they will be going the season without dropping points so we just have to make sure that we drop less than they do.
Personally I am more worried about Chelsea than them , they ship too many goals to get away with it again.
I wonder if there is any truth in this
🗣Josh Kroenke on behalf of the KSE held a small meeting with Berta and Mikel Arteta
🔸️Mikel was handed an Ultimatum, win trophies or part ways with the club
🔸️They believe he’s given all the necessary resources to win trophies
⁉️Thoughts? #Arsenal #arsenalmatters #AFC #COYG #everythingarsenal #arsenalfans
Potter at 11:53 If true about Josh, I can understand it, yes we need to bring money back into the club but at the end of the day most fans and even sponsors only care about winning titles. what’s that old saying – nobody remembers runners up
Arteta should need no ultimatums or other threats to his job if he doesn’t win trophies, his salary of £13 million a year should be inducement enough, in my opinion.
If that’s true re Arteta then good because this season, he really has been given all the tools. But, I’m sure he knows that himself.
Morning all.
Guys, is anyone having trouble with the site loading other than myself and Kev?
Morning Rico, it does take longer to load than it used to and longer to put up comments.
Morning Sacking Committee:
🔸️Mikel was handed an Ultimatum, win trophies or part ways with the club.
But is there a time frame and was this season mentioned?
Move on I reckon…
Most people/fans would admit that Arteta is quite intense, that he is quite competitive and if that is the case then what point would an ultimatum make, to make him even more intense, even more competitive?
Did anyone notice one of the reasons Hincapie came to Arsenal, it was because of Arteta. I think that was the case with Zubimendi and Gyorkeres. Zubimendi could have got the same money at Liverpool, Gyorkeres likewise at Man United
Look Arteta isn’t going anywhere even if he doesn’t win anything this season, the Kroneke’s showed that when they backed Wenger, they don’t panic. Stay away from X, it’s full of nut jobs.
Morning Cicero, thanks..
They all say that Kev. 😜
New post up now, it’s Kev’s so it’s worth a read. 😝
Your too kind Rico – I think… 🤔