(David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
Morning all.
First up, there’s a great article in The Athletic about Carlos Cuesta, one of Mikel Arteta’s right hand men. It’s worth reading that’s for sure. Who knows, when Mikel Arteta hangs his Arsenal boots up for good, Carlos might be his replacement. Granit Xhaka had nothing but praise for him:
Of course, you are always surprised when someone of that young age comes to a big club like Arsenal. My feeling from the first meeting with him was that first of all, as a person, he is very honest, very straight. But he also had great knowledge about football. He knows what he’s doing: he knows how to speak with the players, what the players need. It was just amazing from the beginning. How Carlos improved — day by day, month by month, year on year — was unbelievable. The individual meetings that we had with him were always on point, very clear to understand, and I was very grateful to learn many many new things. He helped me a lot. We had so many individual meetings, video sessions, and conversations. To be honest, these things helped bring me where I am today.
Maybe Carlos is the genius…… lol
Man City’s legal case against the Premier League begins today in attempt to get the Associated Party Transaction rules thrown out.
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire told Sky Sports:
Manchester City feel they have historically been disadvantaged – as have many clubs. We’ve had spectacular success in the Premier League, which has allowed the creation of global brands such as Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and so on. If Manchester City want to be competitive with those clubs, they’ve had to go through the commercial route and with owners’ assistance, as opposed to building a global fanbase first and maintaining it.
City also feel they have a disadvantage being in Manchester. They will point out that ticket prices at the Etihad are much cheaper than at the London clubs, because London is a bigger tourist market and has a price premium, and therefore being able to compete on the commercial side of things gives them an opportunity to be at the top table, where they want to be. They’re not saying they want to be ahead of the competition but on a par with them as otherwise you end up with a duopoly. We have now arguably a Big Seven, given the Newcastle takeover.
I think people at Man City forget that London is more expensive full stop. Fans pay more for their tickets, more on travel, more on fuel, more on their homes and to buy local means to spend more. If anything, it’s the fans who are being penalised, not Manchester City because they’re based up north. It’s not London clubs fault that Man City needed a super rich owner to turn them into serial winners, after all, Liverpool and Manchester United have never complained. Well, not about the financial rules and regulations as far as I know. It’s not London clubs fault, or any other for that matter, that City were pretty average on the pitch before they spent billions on the best players and the best manager. Yet still they want more, much more.
The very fact the majority of other clubs are reportedly not in support of their beliefs or actions says a lot really. I think City are in fear of other clubs because they’re catching up. Liverpool have been there or thereabouts for the last few seasons, Arsenal are lot closer than City would like and if Chelsea’s new manager hits the ground running, then they too could be closing the gap on City this coming season. Utd too if they finally get their act together and who knows what Big Ange’s second season at Totts will bring.
That in my opinion is what’s behind this fiasco of a hearing which is taking place this week and next. City fear their dominance of the Premier League is soon to be over and for the sake of the game, I truly hope it is. Just as I hope this case against the Premier League falls flat on its feet.
Lastly, a bit of transfer gossip from Sky Sports Paper Talk:
Arsenal have been told they will need to spend £50m to sign Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz, according to the Mirror.
Bournemouth striker Dominic Solanke is available for £65m this summer and Arsenal are one of the clubs interested, according to the Express.
Sky Sports News’ Lyall Thomas and Dharmesh Sheth: Arsenal and Manchester United remain interested in Bologna’s Joshua Zirkzee amid strong interest from AC Milan.
Catch up in the comments.
Good morning, oops, it’s gone twelve G’day Rico an interesting post thank you.
Football is a global business, run by and for the advantage of greedy money makers. The last thing on the minds of these moguls is the good of the game and the health of the players. Always the focus in on squeezing in more games in order to boost advertising revenues and increase broadcasting incomes.
The Premier League need to understand that it is the competitive nature of the it’s “product” that fills the stadiums and signs up the subscriptions to pay-per-view fans. If a few elite teams are allowed to run rough shod over the rest of the league, then the competitive element will be destroyed and the league will become as boring as the Scottish version where two clubs dominate the rest.
Between them the FA and the EPL must put their houses in order or suffer the imposition of government regulators. Although how that will work out is by no means clear as the two main parties are currently battling it out for power as well as battling internally for who is going to exercise that power. Letting the government of whatever complexion get their grubby fingers into the football pie will be the ultimate disaster as far the poor old fan is concerned.
Putting trust in the government to regulate and sort out problems is an exercise in futility. It will put the action in the hands of a new department of civil servants no doubt drawn from the ones that have failed in previous departments and no doubt headed by a disparate member of the house of Lords.
One of City’s assertions however does highlight a specific problem for the average football supporter , the fact that they can’t get tickets for matches due to the many tourists that seem able to fund any number of touting agencies as well as the guys on the corner of Avenell road . There are many reports of genuine red members that have been unable to see the team live for the last two years and yes we are doing better and in consequence there is a greater demand but frequently you find people around you that are taking in a premier league game with their carrier bag full of merchandise to take back their respective countries.
All I want is an even playing field ,
One last thing , “”We’ve had spectacular success in the Premier League, which has allowed the creation of global brands such as Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and so on.””
I could have sworn that two of those teams were global brands before the Premier League was formed . The fact that football has grown to worldwide importance is not down to Manchester City but due to the artificial money being pumped in by people / countries /and now governments wanting to jump on the magic roundabout.
Afternoon Cicero, the FA/PL should remain worlds apart in my opinion because clubs are run differently aren’t they?
The only time European clubs should come together is in European competitions. Or at least that’s how I see it.
I’d go as far as to suggest football was better before the Premier League. The game was certainly more even and the limes of Chelsea and Man City were nothing special.
It’s only foreign ownership, in certain cases, dreadful ownership which has ruined the game as we older folk remember it.
Good afternoon Rico and all
The ideal model is that of Germany, where clubs cannot have an owner having more than 49% shares in total within the same family. So if I buy shares in a club my family and I cannot own more than 49% of the club’s shares. The other 51% have to be distributed among other supporters or investors. That way no one can control a club the same way like Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City etc.
The same goes for Spanish clubs like Barca and Real. They are owned by the supporters. As much as we say that clubs like Real are bank rolled by the Spanish state the truth is that for all their money, clubs like City, Newcastle etc have not won all the time in Europe.
Afternoon Devil, I had a feeling it was something like that..
I’ve thought since the 22-23 season that Arteta would be getting a big raise, and that other clubs would start to try and pick off his coaching staff one by one. Cuesta is one. Stuivenberg is being courted if not taken already…. Jover will be a major target as a specialist, because clubs like Chelsea, United and other global giants would pay an insane package financially to try and replicate Arsenals success on set pieces.
Along with the big raise Arteta is getting, he should be insisting on substantial bumps for his assistants.
Many clubs will want people associated with the Arteta system and culture.
Nigel…. one of the best traits that Ferguson had at United was the frequent changing of his assistants. That way his ideas changed and it reflected on his playing style and frequency of success. AW had two assistants during his time at Arsenal, Rice and Bould. Cazorla is being tipped to return, Xhaka as well. But, however many might leave, and however new ones may come, Arteta will remain
Agreed Nigel, I’m just hoping they stay together as a group of staff for a while. At Arsenal of course. I used to think Albert was a mystery, that was until that Man City game which we should have won a few years ago. But for a couple of dodgy decisions, we would have.
I’m not sure Arteta will stick around that long though Devil. Certainly not long enough to get through a host of coaches as Fergie did. Wenger was different though, he was too loyal to those around him which ultimately cost him. That and stubbornness was his downfall…
Morning Rico and contributor’s.
A.Bola, a Portuguese click-bait rag has reported that Porto are looking to take Fábio Vieira back on loan, with Arsenal paying a percentage of his wages of course.
Now I’m not against sending Vieira on loan somewhere but not back to Porto. The Portuguese club don’t really need to take him on trial as they developed him and know all about him. So in their minds Fábio is a stop gap whilst they look elsewhere.
Arsenal, meanwhile need to look to loan him somewhere to a club who might eventually try to buy him.
For now, it looks as if the staff Arteta assembled at Arsenal will stick together, rumours of Stuivenberg going back to Holland for one of the big jobs has gone away just as Cuesta to Norwich have faded. Once Arsenal win a big prize they may reconsider?
I’d imagine that their contracts run side-by-side with Arteta’s and if Mikel gets a raise then so do they.
Arteta probably has (well I’m certain that he does) a much higher reputation among people inside of the game than of those outside of it, so I’m fairly sure that there are many quality coaches making their way in the game who would love the opportunity to work with Mikel and to learn from him. So if any of our coaches leave Mikel will have people of equal quality lined up to replace them, so I’m not fazed by the thought of any of our coaches leaving.
That old Dominic Solanke rumour just won’t go away and I really wish it would…
I’m not sure that Arsenal or anyone will be paying £50m or more for Douglas Luiz any time soon. Villa need to sell, everyone knows it and the clock is ticking…
Morning Kev, guys.
Vieira back to Porto would be great but if they want him, pay for him like we did initially. Unless they have a player Arsenal want then perhaps a swap. Lol
In my opinion, Arsenal will already know who they want and no matter what the papers write, rumours are just about earning money from an exaggerated headline. I’m not bothering which much of it this summer, when Arsenal sign or sell someone, the club will announce it..
Arseblog valuations:
Nuno Tavares………. – £4m
Albert Sambi Lokonga – £10m
Eddie Nketiah – …….£15m
Emile Smith Rowe – £20m
Reiss Nelson…….. – £5m
Kieran Tierney….. – £8m
Oleksandr Zinchenko – £20m
Discuss?
Apparently Rico, Porto have a player they want to sell – no doubt for an exorbitant fee – and Vieira would replace him in the short-term while they find a more permanent replacement.
Like you, regarding Porto, buy him or jog on.
There are many other clubs we could loan him to and particularly in the Premier League which would be more beneficial us.
Rico, I don’t reckon that Arsenal will do as much business as some imagine, two players, three at max.
Possibly a couple of punts looking for the next Martinelli for some loose change. Nobody can afford to blow millions atm, it’ll affect everyone across europe as England is the financial driving force of the transfer business.
To be honest Kev, I’m bored with the transfer windows already and it’s not even open yet.
Players are only worth what another club will pay for them…
I’ve given up guessing what Arsenal will do Kev..
Šeško on the verge of signing a new deal with his club. Shock horror eh… 😜
Yeah, I’ve just heard that about Sesko, that’s a shame Rico, but we do have Kai and he’s not bad so I’m not going to jump in front of a bus.
Well not today!
Maybe Edu will sign a goalscoring winger instead?
They clearly want his price to go up Kev.
Were we ever really interested in him I wonder and if so, and he wanted to join, he doesn’t need to sign a new contract.
Afternoon Rico and all.
Personnaly I believe Sesko never really want to leave and just used the premier league clubs to raise his pay.
I wonder if Australia will deliberately lose to Scotland in the 20/20 WC in order to eliminate England?
Rico, I’m not sure that a striker should be our priority anyway, after all we already do quite well at scoring goals.
Maybe Arsenal saw Sesko as an investment because of the price written into his present contract, next time he’s on the market if his development continues on its present curve he’ll be £100m plus I suspect.
Kev I’m into cricket but knowing the Australian cricket team they would be too embarresed to loose to Scotland. The 20/20 has a big following in OZ as does the one day cricket, but the the test series has only the faithfull cricket fans watch them and even then the fans drop off if the Aussie look like loosing.
Afternoon Geoff..
I doubt it Kev, can’t see the Australian’s cheating in such a way. 😝
No offence Geoff… lol
Kev, I hope we’re after a goal scorer, I really do. Yes we can score goals, but with the amount of chances we created last season, we could, maybe should have doubled our tally. Slight exaggeration perhaps but not being able to finish our chances pretty much cost us the league title last season.
Villa, West Ham and Newcastle should have been out of the game by the time they scored..
No offence taken Rico, the Aussie players that were court cheating by tampering with the ball with sandpaper should never had been allowed to play for the Australia again, unfortunitly to get into the Aussie team is not about how good you are it’s more about who you know.
Kev those outgoing price estimates seem ok but slightly conservative, even for a conservative like myself.
There are 2 players worth mentioning in particular.. in that I’m predicting will go in to have really good careers .. one is Vieira.. he has a magic touch, and will be a great player when he gets playing regularly somewhere. He could end up being the equivalent of Bruno Fernandez, which I consider a great compliment. Both have super goals, including long range and gorgeous assists in them.
Nelson for that low price quoted would be a steal, even if he doesn’t hit superstar level.. he can be very, very good.
My thinking yesterday was that Sesko is most likely to stay, because there must be a lot of pressure to stay and develop in the friendly red bull organization (both his clubs) .. of course a big raise because with his raw talent will mean a much higher price in the future if he just stays at his current level… you know United or Chelsea will overpay as usual down the road.
They could easily talk down the Arsenal opportunity by saying you’ll be at a club that doesn’t rotate especially because of being in a title race… so you will not be satisfied with playing time. You’ll get a move to England later they’ll say.
Kiwior could be a fair comparison about playing time. He’s one of top European prospects for centre backs, and he can’t even get minutes at his real position.
I know Sesko could get in more games because he’s a forward, but I’m really thinking we could use a pacey wide forward more, with Havertz, Trossard, Jesus and Martinelli all available to play our false 9. A Neto type that could excel on both wings would make me forget about a big striker.
Geoff, I think that’s the same in many areas of life..
Nigel, my striker thoughts are about having a player who can start or come off the bench to make a difference. Someone more prolific, more game changing than who we currently have.
Without sounding like a broken record but throwing Eddie on with five minutes to go tells him as much as it tells me. Arteta doesn’t think he’s good enough.
Imo, we need a selfish player who thinks only about scoring goals rather than another player who looks for a pass. A modern day Wrighty, Eduardo etc would be nice. lol
If we’re looking at goal scoring wingers, Crysencio Summerville had a good season with Leeds. #justsayin….
If were are looking to strenghen our back line, I still think we should look at Everton player Braithwaite, I reckon he will do well under Arteta with Rice and white forming a defence line
Geoff, I also don’t believe that Australia would throw the game vs Scotland but it wouldn’t surprise me if it didn’t cross the minds of a few.
I don’t mind 50 over and 20/20 internationals and think that version is more likely to gain a foothold in the US, which is what the ICC want.
For me the pinnacle is still and always will be Test cricket, although I worry that younger generations, the online/social media generation’s, have the patience to stick with a game that lasts 5 days and can still end in a draw!
The Ashes is still the main event for me and if can’t come around quickly enough.
Yeah Rico, I get what you say about a goal scorer, if there’s one out there we can get and afford we should of course do it, but I can’t think of anyone who stands out, say like Rice did a year ago.
Martinelli had, by his standards, a poor season from a goal scoring perspective, it eventually cost him his place in the team. Hopefully he’ll rediscover his scoring mojo next season and who knows what a confident Kai Havertz can achieve in a full season as our centre forward, maybe we already have our goal scorer?
My biggest concern is the back up to Kai if he misses a few games? Jesus needs to sort out his fitness and try to give us a full season, who knows what he can do when he’s finally free of injury and confident? It also looks as if Eddie is staying, on the back of the Sesko deal falling through.
Nigel, not every footballer suits the physicality of the Premier League and Fabio Vieira looks to be one of those. Unfortunately for us and also for him, from a playing perspective, his salary is going to stymie his career as almost all european clubs can’t or won’t pay his level of wage and a Premier League club is unlikely to take him for the same reasons of physicality that have seen him underperform at Arsenal.
If he leaves Arsenal on loan we’ll still be paying some of his wages and if he leaves permanently it’ll probably be for a Leno type fee because of his salary.
I heard the other day, as an example, that the captain of Glasgow Celtic, the Champions of Scotland is on £37,000 per week and is their highest earner.
Arsenal aren’t the only club in the EPL who have problems shifting players, it’s endemic because of the high Premier league salaries. PSR is beginning to highlight these issues as losses are becoming more of an issue for clubs. Not everyone has an Abramovitch writing off £100m at the end of every season.
Four weeks after being told that she needs cataract surgery, my wife attended a clinic this morning. We arrived at 0835 for a 08.50 appointment, she was checked in and prepped immediately. The procedure was successfully carried out and we left the clinic at 09.40. It was a private clinic and it was all paid for by the NHS. She was also given an appointment for the other eye to be done on the fourth of July.
Brilliant, friendly and caring staff, can’t thank them enough.
Great to her Cicero, I had both eyes done last year. A weird procedure but remarkable really. Pleased for your wife…
Kev, the transfer window hasn’t opened yet. 😝
Afternoon guys..
New post by the way..