Morning all.
Did you read the story about Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard? Both had promised to give their shirts to kids from Arsenal’s under 9 team after the game at The Emirates. Despite losing, they kept their promise but the young lad who Rashford gave his shirt to had it nicked off him just moments later. What kind of person does that to a 9 year old? Anyway, Rashford found out and jumped on to Twitter in hope of finding the kid so he could could send him a replacement shirt. what a good guy he is, away from the football pitch. His actions will no doubt ramp up the rumours that he’s heading our way in the summer.
Talking of strikers, forward players, goal scorers, what do you guys think this Arsenal team is missing up front? Power, pace, height and the ability to hold onto the the ball? A tricky, nifty, skilful player who can weave his way into the box and around defenders before scoring for fun or just a ruthless goal scorer who’ll chalk up 20+ goals a season? Basically, do Arsenal need a Lukaku kind of player or a Salah/Jesus/Martial kind of player? Does it matter as long as they know where the back of the net is?
Mikel Arteta seems to prefer the passing game rather than lumping balls into the box in hope that someone gets their head to it, but that doesn’t always mean crosses aren’t part of our game and what about corners and other set-pieces? I think it’s fair to say that we aren’t that good at making set-pieces count. Probably because as a group, Arsenal possibly have one of shortest squads as well as the youngest. Gabriel is 6’ 3”, Rob Holding and Takehiro Tomiyasu 6’ 2” and Thomas Partey, 6’ 1” but after them, height goes out the window.
Did Arsenal’s attempt to sign Dusan Vlahovic, if they really did back in January, give us a clue as to the type of striker the club might go for in the summer? A complete striker, known for his physicality, technique and eye for goal. A specialist of scoring from close range: 41 out of his 44 goals for Fiorentina were scored in the penalty area. (Wiki) Mind you, he’s only managed 7 goals in 16 appearances for Juventus since his move in January and that’s in all competitions. Lol
One thing we do know and that’s Arsenal will be linked to many many strikers as we get closer to the end of the season and beyond. Probably until the club actually sign one although that won’t stop the glorified headlines from appearing on the internet. From Alexander Isak, Tammy Abraham, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Darwin Nunez, Cody Gakpo, Victor Osimhen and Jonathan David to name just a few which have already been included in the same sentence as Arsenal. Fans who watch a lot of football across all leagues will no doubt have their idea on who might ideal for Mikel Arteta’s footballing philosophy but as we know with this club, who we think might sign is seldom who actually arrives during a transfer window. Out of last summer’s signings, the only player I thought might go for was Martin Odegaard. The rest, well until the names popped up, I didn’t even consider them a possibility pre summer. I’d not even heard of Nuno Tavares or Takehiro Tomiyasu. Nor did I know a jot about the two American players the club agreed deals with.
Getting the next two or three player signings right is vital for next season and the future. Easy for me to type but a lot more difficult for the club to do as every signing comes with an element of risk, especially if that player comes from a different league. The Premier League is like no other and not always in a good way. The standard of officiating is below average in my opinion and there’s certainly an element of bullying which by that I mean nasty challenges, brutal in some cases. Plus there’s the weather. The good old English weather.
If someone had asked me 18 months ago whether or not Edu and Mikel Arteta were capable of scouting/signing the right players for Arsenal, I’d have probably leaned towards replying no but after the summer of last year, I’m very optimistic that any money the club has for transfers will be spent wisely and well.
See you in the comments.
Nice write up Rico, yes I heard that about Rashford and Lingard, we as fans forget that most of the young men who play football are just ordinary, decent fellas who have worked hard at their profession, made sacrifices and against all the odds earn a living out of the game we love.
Do Arsenal have any interest in either, who knows?
Lingard did really well at West Ham when he was on loan there so he has the talent, but as we know Man Utd are a basket case club who chew up footballers so it’s difficult to judge. Maybe the new manager at Old Trafford will be more encouraging for the young players up there?
I don’t see either of them moving to Arsenal, I’m not sure they’re what we need and we have better players than Lingard already whilst Rashford doesn’t play centre forward and that’s what we need.
Gabriel Jesus seems like a positive move but I’d guess it’ll rely on Haaland going to Eastlands and I’d imagine he’d cost a lot more than £35m. The more goals he score the more the price will increase.
Nunez looks very useful, but doing deals with Portuguese clubs is very tricky, they’ll shake hands on a deal and then jack up the price, you can’t trust them.
Abraham would have been just the right fit and he’s proved his worth in Italy this season, apparently Chelsea have a buy-back clause set at €80m so that looks to be the going rate, we could have got him for £36m a year ago – but maybe Chelsea wouldn’t have sold to us then.
Things change…
I reckon we’ll sign at least one, possibly two goal scorers, extend Eddie’s deal and loan out Balogun to a Premier team.
Midfield could be interesting, we need cover for Partey as his fitness is an issue, so will the club extend Elneny and hope that Mo and Albert Lokonga can cover for TP or will the club go for a quality midfielder and only one goal scorer, personally I’d go for two goalscorers…
Lindgard and Rashford – No thanks. Both spend more time on social media than on the pitch.
Rashford is the better of the two, but reminds me of Sterling – fast, but struggles to find the net regularly. He is more of a winger and we have plenty of those.
We’ll get a big centre forward.
Good day all, thanks Rico for another good one.
Watching City last night was interesting as they don’t play with a central striker and despite a lot of media hype didn’t sign Kane last summer so are probably not looking to change their style of play in the near future. It’s no secret that Arteta his hugely influenced by Guardiola so I suspect that we won’t be looking for a big lump up front when the window opens.
Arsenal have settled into Arteta’s chosen style so we will be looking for a more technical type of striker who will fit right in, thus the interest in Gabriel Jesus. Incidentally, it is reported that Edu has been holding talks with Jesus, so who knows what might happen.
Thanks Kev.
For what it’s worth, I don’t think we’ll sign a big name striker or midfielder, I think it’ll be more of a Tomiyasu kind of signing than an Auba. Same in midfield.
Like you, the arrival of Ten Hag will give Utd the lift they need. Van Beek, Martial and Rashford will no doubt improve. Who knows but thankfully, that’s their problem…
What makes you think that Pete?
If Arteta is following the Pep way, he might opt for the opposite.
I would like a Mohamed salah style of player looking at his stats he is leading the goal scoring with 22 and also leading the assist with 13 at least if he is not scoring he is assisting another team mate.
Thanks Cicero. We’re on a similar page I think.
Regarding the American’s I always wondered if they were an attempt to raise Arsenal’s profile in the states and then strabngely we announce a pre seson tour of America
We already have a surfiet of players capable of setting things up a chiming in with goals on the way Saka , Smith Rowe , Oodegaard and Martinelli all find the net but with 5 games left both City and Liverpool have scored in excess of 80 goals where we have amassed just 52 .
That is a stark statistic and shows that we do need a player to score at a higher rate than those mentioned above . But what style of forward will bring us that ? A Giroud type might get more headed goals and certainly would lay things off for the four to latch on to Whereas a Jesus / Gnabry type might get near to 20 or so but would they be at the cost of the 10 to 15 the existing players are getting. ?
It depends on the style and tactics that Arteta chooses to employ. We have seen quite often our full backs putting in crosses to nobody if that’s where he wants to go , then it’s the Giroud type that we need.but if it’s to copy the city style then Gnabry might be the better bet , he would not be as costly as prising Jesus from City and is a very similar player that has scored goals for Bayern both in their league and Europe.
Good points – albeit optimistic – Rico, and fine thoughts from Kev.
Nunez and Abraham would be priced around 70M, while Jesus for 35M. And while I understand that a few good performance from Gabriel should drive his price up, I think it wouldn’t apply to this situation – unless there is a serious competition for him. Because City is under a sales pressure, and would not not be able to snatch the reservation price.
A possible problem that could arise is related to Tottenham. If they manage to sell Kane (possible buyers: Manchester United, PSG, hell even Bayern if the cannot hold onto Lewandowski) then they will have to replace Harry with a cheaper yet almost equally talented striker. And they could turn towards Jesus, just for the sake of pissing us off.
IF we buy a single striker I don’t think Balogun would go on for another loan. I agree – and hope – that the club will persuade Eddie to sign a new deal, but Arteta is not the kind of coach who would start the season with 2 strikers only, if we have 8+ European games in our calendar.
Hi Rico, well by all accounts we put a large bid in for Vjahovic in the last window. He’s a big centre forward. I suspect we’ll end up with somebody in the same mould.
As I mentioned a number of times previously two players fit the profile: Abraham and Toney.
Abraham ticks all the boxes. Roma have made huge losses over the last couple of seasons and could do with some money to cover Maureen’s mistakes.
We could even throw in Xhaka to sweeten the deal.
‘rico on 27th April 2022 at 12:51 pm
What makes you think that Pete?’
I’d be disappointed if we ended up with Jesus. Another average bench player in a very good side.
I’m sure every team would like a Salah type player. Not many of them around…although we do have Saka who could emulate Salah in time.
No one mentioned Cody Gakpo whom weve been heavily linked with.Essentially a winger but can play anywhere cross the front three.Have a sneaky suspicion it’s him & Abraham or Jesus( very biblical)Word on the street is there will be at least TWO marquee signings.Lets hope so.
Comment?
Hi Pete, I did. His name is in the post. Lol
I’d be happy with Abraham.
Possibly re the Americans potter, but we do need a keep if Leno is going. The defender is an odd one though.
Why do you think I’m being optimistic Pbarany?
I have always believed the only reason why Arteta took the 2 Americans was because Kroenke want’s Americans playing for Arsenal, and he forced them on Arteta during his quick visit before he went on the club holiday camp.
I am sure that i read that the keeper was signed and then was going on loan . However maybe that will change
Positive Pete, I am a huge fan of Gakpo. I would be delighted if he signed him. Probably equally satisfied if we snatch Jesus.
Nunez would be a similarly strong addition, but since he would cost more than Jesus+Cody combined I’m less enthusiastic about him. (But I think bigger clubs will sign hip up in the summer, anyway.) Isak and David could be dark horses there, as the skills are there, but who knows if they could hit the ground running in England. But to be honest I’m less excited about DCL, Toney or Watkins.
Can’t see that being the case Geoff.
Potter, I thought the defender was going on loan, the keeper joining the squad.
Rico, maybe the word optimistic wasn’t the best pick, it should have been lenient or amicable.
I am not really sure that that Arteta and Edu really made a bunch of shrewd business…
A year ago I would have volunteered to write a post on the summer signings if you would have published it, but I’m more lazy and less enthusiastic nowadays, but let me quickly summarize my impression of the 6 addition so far (Trusty excluded).
Tavares (7.2M), LB
Raw talent, but after a promising pre-season he didn’t seem to develop much. Part of Portugal’s U21 team (100% in the group stage). Good with crossing and dribbling, but his defensive awareness and concentration leaves a lot to be desired.
Quality: 5
Value for the money: 7
Albert Sambi Lokonga (15.75M), CM
To be honest I’m a bit disappointed (I was probably overconfident), but I sincerely believed that he will take the PL by storm. Sambi played almost 1500 minutes, without any goal contribution or memorable performance. I still hope that this is a transition period and he will become a tom midfielder in the PL based on his performance in Belgium.
Quality: 6
Value for the money: 7
Takehiro Tomiyasu (16.75M), RB
To be honest, I have never heard of him before. But he really made an instant impact. He could be one of the best signings in recent years, but due to an unfortunate series of injuries he played even less than Lokonga. The results are promising though, but we shouldn’t jump to conclusion based on a small sample.
Quality: 8
Value for the money: 9
Note: these figures are anticipated, not fully proven!
Aaron Ramsdale (22.5M), GK
I will be unpopular, but I’m not convinced Aaron is the savior many fans believe. He is not bad, don’t get me wrong, but the fact that he is a contender for the England #1 jersey tells more about the competition than about his skills. He had 6 good games – 3 of which were MotM quality – but in 32 games it’s not that a big deal. Everybody can have a good run of games, and Aaron didn’t prove himself to be any better than Leno. His mentality and motivation are exquisite, but his performance in 2022 is mediocre at best.
Quality: 7
Value for the money: 6
Martin Ødegaard (31.5M(, AM
OK, there is not many caveats here. Martin is a great player, beyond his super passing skills he has crazy stamina, an exemplary willingness to press, and leadership abilities of a team captain. And he is an apt set piece taker as well. While he a bit hindered the development of Emile Smitw-Rowe, Martin is the highlight of the season, as well as the best signing of the summer.
Quality: 9
Value for the money: 10
Ben White (52.65M) RCB
I will not gain new friends either, but Ben’s performance is a disappointment to me. His signing was ‘sold’ on his superior passing skills and dynamism, but he didn’t make any goal contribution either, despite playing the most minutes in the entire squad. OK, it’s not really his main task, but Gabriel scored 3, Mavropanos 5 (+1A), hell even Chambers has 2 goal condtributions despite playing 1/4 of Ben’s minutes. White made a few high profile errors, albeit not alarmingly many, however the biggest drawback is that he still “owes” us the top performance justifying his signing on the expense of Saliba, Chambers and Mavropanos.
Quality: 6
Value for the money: 3
I know, a 6 or 7 score is not terrible. But that’s not what we are aiming to. As an Arsenal fan I am kind of proud that we don’t make those ineffective prestige signings like Sancho, Lukaku, or Grealish, and don’t destroy/setback promising careers like Niguez, van de Beek or Vlasic. And in hindsight sure deals like Gil, Willock or Buendia didn’t come through either. What we want as Arsenal supporters are good players with ridiculously low price, or great players for a decent fee.
But at the end of the day (season) after spending an unprecedented 150M+ (post-Covid!) we can show only one and a half shrewd businesses. OK, the rest aren’t the Willian type clusterf*cks, but it would take a lot more to convince me that the summer transfer kitty is at the best place in the hands of Arteta and Edu.
I suppose I look at things as a whole Pbarany, have our summer signings made Arsenal a stronger team? The answer to that surely has to be yes. I truly believe that had the club been able to sign a striker alone in January, we’d be pushing Chelsea, if not beating them for 3rd place.
Also, I look at players who’ve played all season which imo, is only White, Ødegaard and Tomiyasu who until the last few games have been part of a very strong and organised looking defence. (Tomi injury aside)
Lokonga and Tavares were never for this season imo.
Yes, the White signing was odd because of the situation with Saliba and I know his fee was hefty, but that’s up to the selling club and buying club to agree and if Arteta saw him as being the idea player for his system, so be it imo.
Morning all.
Morning.
I think we will sign two forwards in the upcoming summer window. One versatile forward who can also play wide, as a false nine as well as up top. A more versatile Lacazette if you like. I think that guy should and will be Jesus.
The other forward think we will sign will probably be more of a focal point, someone who adds a extra bit of height, power and hold up ability. Who that guy will be i think depends on two main factors- what budget we have and where we finish in the league in regards to European competition.
My dream signing for this position would be Victor Oshimen as he has it all. But he isn’t gonna come cheap that’s for sure (Maybe £50m plus Pepe? worth a try). Nuno Darwin falls into a similar bracket.
If we finish 5th or lower then maybe a DCL will fill that role instead as he will go for less than half the cost of the tow aforementioned players and will be much easier to obtain.
Morning.
I think we will sign two forwards in the upcoming summer window. One versatile forward who can also play wide, as a false nine as well as up top. A more versatile Lacazette if you like. I think that guy should and will be Jesus.
The other forward think we will sign will probably be more of a focal point, someone who adds a extra bit of height, power and hold up ability. Who that guy will be i think depends on two main factors- what budget we have and where we finish in the league in regards to European competition.
My dream signing for this position would be Victor Oshimen as he has it all. But he isn’t gonna come cheap that’s for sure (Maybe £50m plus Pepe? worth a try). Nuno Darwin falls into a similar bracket.
If we finish 5th or lower then maybe a DCL will fill that role instead as he will go for less than half the cost of the tow aforementioned players and will be much easier to obtain.
Hi Iceburg.
For what it’s worth, I don’t think where we finish this season will make a difference to who we try and sign. Whether that player(s) will want Europa football or not might make a difference of course but I hope the club looks further forward than just next season. Imo, it’s about signing the players to ensure next season is much better than this and we’re more consistent.
New post up now.