Morning all.

Half the figure Brentford, or rather Thomas Frank said Raya is valued at but, in my opinion, a more realistic price for a keeper into his final year of contract. Chelsea have just agreed a £25 million deal with Brighton for their keeper Sanchez who is a couple of years younger so unless Brentford want to lose Raya for free in a year’s time, common sense should prevail and Raya will soon become an Arsenal player.

Arsenal could be about to sign another player too as according to Italian outlet TuttoMercatoWeb, a €20m[£17m] bid has been submitted to Dinamo Zagreb for Croatian defender Josip Sutalo. He’s 23 years old, 6’ 3” and I’ve no idea if it’s true but if Rob Holding is on the move, Sutalo could be his replacement.

We seem to be overrun with defensive players right now with 16 in total on the books, including our defence minded midfield players. That number is likely to decrease though as it’s expected Cedric, Lokonga, Holding and Tavares will be gone before the transfer window shuts. Zinchenko seems to be injured more than he is fit and with Tierney’s injury record, it’s a good job Arteta has Kiwior and Tomiyasu to fall back on although the latter has suffered a string of injury problems too since joining Arsenal.

Arsenal suffered on the pitch from the day William Saliba was ruled out through injury. Mikel Arteta had options in defence as far as numbers go but not in ability. Ability to emulate the role of the Frenchman. His calmness, pace, footwork – just everything about the way he plays. A Rolls Royce in an Arsenal kit.

 

I know YouTube can make any footballer look world class if only his/her best bits are captured on film but Sutalo does seem to have an element of calmness in the way he defends and by the looks of it, he’s good with both feet. Perhaps there is some truth to this rumour. Who knows.

In other news, Aaron Ramsdale has released an article about his life, or certainly part of it. It’s certainly worth reading in my opinion because what he says is poignant. None of us know what the person next to us is going through, especially if that person isn’t in our circle of life which is why it’s important for all human beings to just be decent.

Here is Aaron’s story.

Catch up in the comments…

 

 

 

 

Discover more from Highbury House

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading