Morning all.
If ever there was a warning that the grass really isn’t always greener on the other side, the Aaron Ramsey move to Juventus is a big fat one. I can only think that his agents were right behind this last summer. A chance to earn an enormous chunk of his deal which earns our old Welshman a reported fee of £400k a week. Great if money alone is a footballers ambition is life, rubbish if football is still the dream. Arsenal are in a similar situation with Mesut Ozil. £350k a week and he’s barely giving back £10k a week’s worth of football but Ramsey is different I think, or at least he was for Arsenal. When he played, he played! I’ve no idea what Juve have done with him but if headlines on Newsnow are to be believed, he’s no longer required. The most hideous of headlines link him to Toots. I bet Ramsey wishes he’d just signed on the dotted line for Arsenal when he had the chance. Perhaps Arsenal will take him back on loan as long as most of that £400k salary is paid by Juve, like £390k!
Not every move to a big club goes wrong though but more often than not for Arsenal players, it does. Henry’s move to Barcelona was always going to work out well and with Gnabry, it was only a matter of time before his career took off but apart from Cole’s move to Chelsea all those years ago, I can’t think of many real success stories. Man City nicked a few of our players who won a trophy or two but they’ll never be remembered in the same way as the guys who Arsene Wenger brought to Arsenal during his early days. The double seasons, the Invincibles, the relatively unknown figures who turned Arsenal into a great. They are the success stories in my opinion. Buying ready made, big money signings to win is easy. Well, a lot easier than turning rough stones into pure diamonds which is what Arsene Wenger did.
It’s probably what Mikel Arteta needs to do now. Sell big, buy cheap and get the best out of who he has. I don’t think there’s a single player who when Wenger arrived, was ageing a bit, who didn’t say Arsene Wenger and his weird ideas prolonged their career. Not many who left haven’t at some stage muttered something about wishing they’d stayed. But that’s football, that’s life too.
I’m sure that during his time working alongside Pep Guardiola, young footballers around the world were being looked at. Who they could sign, loan out again and see if they’re any good. Players like Pablo Mari who City signed just a few years ago, yet never played a minute for them and now here he is at Arsenal. Mikel Arteta must have been the man to orchestrate the loan move. My point is, there must be more like Pablo out there who Mikel Arteta might fancy bringing to Arsenal. Players who have dipped their toes into Man City but have never swam. Players who are now elsewhere. If Edu was the man to spot Gabriel Martinelli, then I’m sure he has a few other ideas up his sleeve.
With Mikel Arteta and Edu banging their heads together, there’s a big transfer pool to be tapped into I reckon. South America and the Man City ‘not quite good enough’ – which doesn’t mean they’re not good footballers, it just means there’s probably been a more experienced and more expensive player who Man City preferred.
I know football fans like to see big names arrive at their own clubs but I can’t see Arsenal treading that path. By big names I don’t mean players who the media have made look big, I mean the kind of players no one needs to look up on the internet to find out which position he plays in or who he plays for.
That’s my Sunday waffle over, I’m off to type Dayot Upamecano and Thomas Partey into my browser.
Stay safe guys.
Good morning Rico, if we are looking for “big name ” players then I guess the guy we want is Dayotchanculle Oswald Upamecano, is that a big enough name? 😉
Morning Cicero. You googled him too then. 😝
The Mail reckons AMN could go for £20m this summer, plus Smith Rowe and other ‘youngsters’….
Can’t see that happening myself..
How is Ozil only paying back 10k.. WTF are you smoking
Smith Rowe had better not be going anywhere!! He is the one I’m really excited about 🙂
Morning Rico…. nice post! Wasn’t expecting one today, thought you’d be way too busy in the kitchen 😉
Rico, we have to cut our wage bill and create funds for transfer fees. We can’t get shot of Ozil, there have been no serious bids for our more senior players, whose value is dropping by the hour anyway, so selling some of our youngsters is the only solution. 😕
Crispen, put your own pipe down and read the post again and I’ll await your apology!
Morning Sue, thanks. Day off from the kitchen today. It’s Sunday. 😂
I’d be disappointed too if ESR was sold. At least give him a season.
Cicero, it matters not if the value of our players is shrinking because those we want to sign will be. Depends on who our transfer targets are I guess. I realise we’re stuck with Ozil but at least it’s his last season.
Morning Rico, thanks for the post.
Cicero, maybe Arsenal have a bit more to spend than we imagined this summer, could be that the Kroenke guarantees from a few weeks ago have freed up some of the clubs’ reserves?
Now if Arsenal were to bring in ‘You Know Who’ then there would simply have to be a few defensive departures from our squad despite what Arteta might say publicly about the present incumbents…
Ainsley Maitland Niles would be a perfect acquisition for our friends from Everton, they could afford the £20m for sure.
Selling Emile Smith Rowe would be very disappointing to me but maybe if the fee was substantial enough and we inserted a sell on clause then that would lessen the blow?
I trust Arteta, I trust his judgement, he isn’t Emery, he isn’t a puppet, if he wants a player to stay then I think the player stays, the reverse is also true.
Morning Kev.
Funny you should say that re Arteta, I feel similarly about him. Also, I think Edu is a smart guy, he knows what Arsenal are about, the fans and the football.
I’m pretty positive about the future. I bumped into a fellow Gooner in Aldi car park yesterday, his shirt gave it away and we talked about Auba, Lacazette and co. He said the same as me, if they don’t want to be at the club, sell them. No player should be holding the club to ransom.
Since Arteta took over Rico have you noticed that we see a lot less of Raul, now that could well be just a coincidence or it could in fact be the fallout from Emery getting his P45, because Emery was very much a Raul appointee – and wasn’t Raul also very keen to give him an extension to his contract? Imagine if that had happened?
Edu has been a lot more to the forefront since Arteta arrived and I’m far more comfortable with that state of affairs, then we had Arteta breaking the impasse with the players and the executives led by Raul and Josh when the club wanted a wage reduction, more brownie points for Mikel. And if it takes the intervention of Arteta once again to secure the futures of Aubameyang and Saka then that greatly increases the influence of the manager over the DoF and that’s something I’d imagine that Raul is desperate to avoid as it’s another hit to his power base in the eyes of a KSE…
We also don’t know what was said behind the scenes about Raul by Keswick to the Kronekes after he retired? It’s all politics and power grabbing because it’s all about ego and also equates to a nice bundle in their respective bank accounts…
Thank goodness Kev. I think Raul is a man for behind the scenes. Lol
Wasn’t Gazidis behind the Emery appointment though? Edu and Arteta have a lot in common though don’t they, they both know where they want the club to go too as they said in their respective interviews.
I’m not sure I believe the stuff about Raul wanting Emery to stay but Suarez was definitely a terrible loan deal. Cedric isn’t proving to be much better either.
Has anyone seen one of Leipzig’s last games, where Upamecano was sent off? The way he plays and how he reacts he would be sent off several times in England.
Yesterday Ospina was huge!
I read somewhere that we were also interested in Thiago Silva (PSG – 34 years old?). Mentally, he is a very weak player. And the boss is the woman …
What is the reason why we are always trying to find old, worn, injured players and wanting to end up retired at Arsenal?
There are new players (less or around 20 years old) much more interesting playing at Sporting, Porto, Benfica, Braga, Guimarães, just to name a few. Why don’t Ruben Neves (wolves) think of a player already used to English football, and want to bet on unknowns in terms of getting used to the pace and all the other variables associated with English football?
Jm, one mustn’t forget that all these links to players is nothing more than media speculation. I wouldn’t knock Arsenal for signing a player they haven’t even signed.
New post up now