Morning all.
The one thing the British media are good at is telling a tale. Journalists have become experts in all fields yet all they really have is opinions along with the freedom to put such opinions in print so that you and I can read them. What percentage of the football stuff they write do you believe? Well, if you’re anything like me, zilch, nada, nowt! I don’t mean facts by the way. “Facts is facts”.
Shock horror, but what they write about Arsenal isn’t necessarily factual, like the story about Mikel Arteta being angry with the board/owners over the lack of signings this summer. Two days into the transfer window, and the same board/owners who must had given the thumbs up to paying off Ozil and Aubameyang and allowing the likes Mustafi and Kolasinac to leave for free, whilst Martinez, Guendouzi and Mavropanos go for peanuts. Not to mention the glut of talent out on loan who’ll probably end up leaving for less than they’re worth.
Why would Stan Kroenke allow all of that to go ahead IF he wasn’t going to support Mikel Arteta during this transfer window and those to come? I read another story about how every transfer deal the club makes, has to go through him first. Evidence? There wasn’t any really other than ‘a source close to the club’ which could just as easily mean someone who lives near The Emirates.
However much we like or dislike the clubs owner, until there’s concrete evidence to support the idea that he/they are not going to back Mikel Arteta during this transfer window, then I’m choosing to ignore every negative story about Arsenal which is written in the newspapers. Until Arsenal.com announce a player has been signed, I see little point in getting stressed over whoever is linked to the club or who might be leaving.
It’s only natural for football fans want their club to sign the best but only the clubs who have very deep pockets full of unlimited funds are able to do that. The rest, and I include Arsenal in this group, have to spend whatever money they have, wisely. That’s not an excuse for being unambitious, absolutely not but hypothetically, if the club have a cap on spending, there’s no point in blowing every single penny on one player, when we need two. Arsenal need the right players for the right money but without compromising on quality. Easier said than done I know.
As mentioned earlier, the club are possibly one of the worst in the league when it comes to selling players but of course, contracts and quality of players has a lot to do with that. To be fair on Arteta and Edu, they had nothing to do with the signing of players like Leno, Guendouzi, Torreira, Bellerin, Pepe etc but doesn’t it make selling them more difficult when it’s made clear that their parent club doesn’t want them?
Lucas Torreira is just 26 years old, so why can’t we sell him for a fee similar to what he was signed for, why hasn’t Matteo Guendouzi been on the market for twice the amount we paid for him? Why aren’t clubs around Europe battling it out for Nicolas Pepe and Bernd Leno? More to the point, why are so many seniors players out on loan in the first place? All they’ve done is use up another year on their Arsenal contract.
Anyway, there’s a few more rumours to chat about today but remember, they might not be true. Lol
Arsenal are among a clutch of clubs monitoring Marco Asensio’s contract situation at Real Madrid. (Mirror)
Bayer Leverkusen are interested in Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka, whose departure could force the Gunners to step up their pursuit of Leicester midfielder Youri Tielemans. (Mirror)
Arsenal have had a “genuine interest” in Leeds forward Raphinha since March. Leeds’ price is reportedly set at €55m. (Fabrizio Romano on Twitter)
Arsenal are in negotiations with newly-promoted Fulham over the sale of goalkeeper Bernd Leno. (The Athletic)
Catch up in the comments.
I know I’ve been advocating the small squad + financially reasonable signings concept to much of your dismay, but even if Kroenke hands Arteta a modest 50M transfer budget, the expected transfer kitty after the sales of the fringe players is well over 120M. And I’m not being optimistic with the price vs. value ratio either.
– Pepe: 25M
– Bellerin: 15M
– Torreira: 15M
– Leno: 10M
– Guendouzi: 10M
– AMN: 5M
– Mari: 5M
– Mavropanos: 3M
– Rúnarsson + academy players: 2M
That’s 90M on top of whatever the club provided Edu & Mikel, and apart from granting free transfers as a favor the figures are all well below the reasonable value of the players. So I think it is not unfounded that even with a modest support Arteta should have 130-150M on his disposal, which not a step back from last summer, and would enable him to buy 3 decent 40-50M players or 2 in the 70M region.
I can understand the frustration of the supporters who hoped for a 200M check from the Kroenkes, and even Arteta (if true) that he would rather spend significantly more (as Tottenham, Chelsea, Newcastle and Manchester United are expected to break the bank this summer), but I cannot relate to them. If he wanted to spend more, he should have sold/released valuable Arsenal players with more financial awareness, and/or should have finished in the top 4.
But Rico is right, let’s not believe everything from the rumor mill, and wait for the announced transfers to see where Arsenal positions itself in the quality/quantity map…
Nothing much happening to get excited about. So back to the first rule of sports journalism. “ make it up “
and slant it to get the most hits . I’m off to the beach bar , need a beer. As cold as possible.
I’m sure there are a few academy players to add Pbarany, we seem to give them away far too easily. Also, if AMN wasn’t in the plans why didn’t the club just accept a decent offer for him last summer. If Nketiah doesn’t sign, that’s more money the club have missed out on.
Enjoy Potter.
Regarding (keeping or selling) academy players, it’s up to the next U23 coach.
But I was optimistic not to expect Nelson and Ballard to be sold. If they go, that’s another 5+5M to the kitty.
The players reasonably sold from the academy are John-Jules, Osei-Tutu, Swanson, Matt Smith, Alebiosu, and Olayinka, maybe Okonkwo, Cottrell and Möller. But I doubt if we get decent money from them.
Its common knowledge the board have to sign off transfers. That means at the very least Josh has to give any financial transaction his seal of approval. Edu does not have that power. I presume Arteta signed his new contract on the basis that Arsenal would transact business quicker than in previous windows. It would appear that nothing has changed. While other clubs are getting on and strengthening, we procrastinate.
Its been three weeks since the end of the season, the window opening on Friday is incidental. All the groundwork to bring in players should be at the very least be close to completion. Otherwise we need to move onto a plan B quick. Dither and delay is Arsenal in a nutshell, and we lose out on players as a result.
It’s probably up to Merts right now, he’s the manager of the academy. My point though is that every penny counts with those we sell.
History certainly suggests we as a club don’t get deals done very quickly TH but you and I have no idea what’s really going on behind the scenes. At least I don’t.
It’s like this every transfer window isn’t it?
The press love to wind us up and we hoover up the bait every time.
I’m trying not to Adam.. lol
afternoon Rico and all
The only way we will know how much Kroenke supports Arteta will be to wait until the transfer season is over. Let’s just hope we don’t panic buy at the last minute.
Hi Geoff, well, we didn’t panic buy last summer or in January 😜
Rico. I noticed. You are the essence of calm right now. 😀
Ha ha Adam. Not sure if that’s a good thing or not..
Let’s wait until deadline day and see😀
I’ll be seething by then. 😅
Me too, spitting feathers. 😂
Rico. Do you remember David Dein? I do very well an absolute master at bringing in young talent and experienced internationals. This lot are a bunch of amateurs.
The board have to approve every transfer, its a bureaucratic process because they only meet periodically. Meanwhile Kroenke has just splashed $150m on a real estate complex he wants to convert into a training facility for his NFL franchise,
Arsenal don’t get a pass from me, the media love it because we have never been liked since the days of George Graham. And you know what, the article and some of the responses show the passive nature of our fanbase, thats why Kroenke takes the piss. When he felt the heat last year, he opened the clip.
Of course I do TH! Do you read here regularly?
If you did you’d know how most of us really feel. Also, we live in a digital world, the board don’t need to meet to discuss things.
Hi all,
I still think we are useless of late of getting value in our sales.
Bang average goes for larger sums than we do for International and U/21 internationals.
Arteta also doesn’t help the situation by saying they are not in his plans so teams know that they can offer bottom prices because Arteta wants to get rid of them.
Agreed we have enough to get rid of to make up 100m to 150m but the number of players sold for small change is ridiculous.
Agree Brad.
Fabrizio Romano
@FabrizioRomano
Mattéo Guendouzi leaves Arsenal permanently to join Olympique Marseille on a 3 year deal. Guendouzi has met clauses in his loan deal after playing 38 games. 🔵🇫🇷 #AFC
Guendouzi has already signed his contract until June 2025 with OM. #TeamOM
Sky Sports reporting that talks are taking place between Fulham and Arsenal for Bernd Leno.
Poch on the verge of the sack.
Trust Arsene Wenger to get involved in Soccer Aid. 😅
The machinations of the Arsenal board are a mystery to us all
Evening campers, well I had a lovely day all day yesterday at a birthday party and nobody talked about football not even my son, as I spent a large portion of the day following my Grandson around as he stomped about, making sure he didn’t get knocked over or fall down the many steps in the garden or into the pond and I didn’t miss football or it’s many nebulous rumours one iota…
I’ve just checked back again through all the rumours on NewsNow from yesterday and today, as I’m back to normal on the football front, and it’s all bollocks as per usual – Guendouzi mouthing off and plenty of complete and utter fabrication on Football.London and Just Arsenal News.
Untold Arsenal often mention that a news corporation called Reach PLC own The Metro, The Mirror, The Express, The Star, The Daily Record, Football.London, MyLondon and whole host of other local titles like the Liverpool Echo and Manchester Evening News, so it follows that there will be a common thread from all these titles regarding Arsenal and that thread is negative, obviously, because it encourages clicks and earns Reach much revenue via advertising.
You can see how lucrative it is by how many Express, Star, Mirror, Metro and F.London posts NewsNow carry’s with almost all of the posts being complete and utter nonsense.
It is what it is.
We just have to make sure we don’t join in.
Never Kev, not unless the price is right. 😂
Clicking on the BS sites Rico that is, but you know that anyway. 🙂
Darwin Nunez off to Liverpool for some £80m+…
I always resist the click Kev. 😂
New post up now