William Saliba tells Telefoot on his future: “I belong to Arsenal, I still have two years left. I will be back with Arsenal”. ⚪️🔴 #AFC
“I have played zero matches and I still want to show them that I can play for these fans and this great club”, he added to @JulienMaynard. pic.twitter.com/GFxRuEQvxc
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) June 5, 2022
Morning all.
Wow, what a concert that was last night in celebration of Her Royal Highness 70 years of reign. Thoroughly enjoyed it, apart from hear Rod Stewart doing his best to break a few windows. He was awful in my opinion and if his wife has any day in his career, she really needs to tell him to put down his microphone for good.
In the football, England lost to Hungary 1-0 courtesy of a dodgy penalty. I didn’t watch it which if reports are anything to go by, was a good decision.
So, the biggest news of the summer so far relates to the chap above. He’s returning to Arsenal. Mikel Arteta has attracted a bit of criticism over how he’s handled William Saliba, especially as the club went out and spent £50m on Ben White. What’s done is done but there’s no denying the Frenchman has enjoyed a very good season in France with Marseille. Whether he brings that form into the Premier League remains to be seen. Just as he might make Mikel Arteta look a bit silly, he could just as easily prove him right. Regardless of how good Marseille have been, or Saliba, the Premier League is very different to the the French League. English football is physical over an entire campaign and not just a few fixtures. The weather can be rotten, cold, windy and raining. What about when it’s -2 in the middle of winter? Matteo Guendouzi is doing well in France but in England, he didn’t get away with so much.
Not every player suits English football and English football doesn’t suit ever player but for Saliba and Arsenal, I hope the two click. We have to look forwards with him in the managers plans now, rather than look back on what’s just gone by. With Ben White and William Saliba, we have two players who can cover at right back so that’s an added bonus. Four centre-backs is imo, a minimum requirement going into a season with the club being back in Europe.
The Gabriel Jesus rumours continue to rumble on. The Daily Mail is just one of many newspapers who suggest Arsenal are offering him double his current salary of £100,000 a week. True? I doubt it because why would any sensibly run club do that? A pay increase perhaps, but doubling the figures would be bonkers. What message does send out to the agent of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli or any other young player who Arsenal might want to sign a new or extended contract? I still wonder if all the talk out Jesus is his agents way of getting his player a better contract at City. We’ll see soon enough I’m sure.
It looks like there are a few clubs interested in Lucas Torreira and Hector Bellerin which is good. The more money the club can make on sales the better chance they’ll be of heading into the new season with a stronger and deeper squad.
Enjoy the rest of the jubilee festivities, tomorrow it’ll be all over.
🥂🥂 Cheers to HRH, and thank you.
Since Raul Sanhelli and Edu joined the club, we’ve been paying so much transfer fees and wages and also giving our players away for free.
Sanhelli got himself sacked but Edu is still there. What’s going on.
Good day Rico, Saliba is at least saying the right words let’s wait and see if can back them up.
One paper this morning suggested Arsenal will pay Jesus £190,000 per week, if he signs, I just don’t believe we are even interested in his signature.
I watched the England game, in a word, crap.
Well that’s the first test wrapped up, all over in three days and half a session, a poor advertisement for the red ball game in general and test cricket in particular.
I see UEFA are whitewashing the events surrounding the Champions League final, it was all a misunderstanding and lessons have been learned.
Welll at least England won but sadly batsmen are not taught the art of defence. Smash , bang , six hitting limited overs games have taken that away.
Howard, I don’t think it’s just since Edu arrived, the market has been inflated because of the likes of Chelsea and City etc. Arteta and Edu had nothing to do with Pepe, or the amount paid for Ozil, Mustafi or Xhaka.
Afternoon Cicero. Long gone are the days of Gooch, Boycott etc – I think the whole view of a boring five day match which ended in a draw has had its day. The new brand of cricket is more exciting.
It’s a bit like the difference between watching a Mourinho team or Klopp’s. Lol
You always tried to get tickets for the fifth day . Not anymore.
We have got the reputation of being soft touches it goes back to Wenger’s treatment of Fabregas and Van Persie his fatherly attitude allowing them to go because they didn’t want to stay .
Arteta has bits of Wenger in him , hopefully he’s studied and inherited a bit of Georgie Graham too.
The new brand of cricket Rico, you mean the dummed down versions invented to appeal to the present younger generations who cannot sustain the concentration needed to either play or watch anything more than some short term crash bang wallop actions accompanied by blaring music and fancy dress pyjamas instead of cricket whites.
You may gain a slight impression that I am not enamoured of the “modern game”. 😉
Exactly Potter, Wenger bent over backwards for players imo.
I realised that a long time ago Cicero. Lol
I don’t see it that way though, I just think it’s cricket moving on as it mirrors life in general. Fast and furious.
Ramsey misses the target when it would have been easier to put it in the net. Plus sa change plus sa meme chose.
Afternoon Rico and all
Hope you all enjoyed the Queens Jubilee,
As for cricket I find it boring I can not Hack the 5 day test, way to slow for me but if nothing on tv I might watch a little bit of the one day matches or the new 20 20 matches.
It’s a shame Laca left but it was the best thing for all, so Thanks Laca good luck
Hopefully soon we might start signing player for our men’s team.
The clock is ticking but negotiating with an agent must be mind-numbing especially when you have so many to deal with in such a short space of time. Edu and his team, I’m assuming he has a team, must be dealing with these sharks 24/7, every one of them trying to shaft you and the club, I wouldn’t want his job.
We have players to sell, pillagers to loan, new players to sign, players to re-sign and then the manager can change his mind or we get injuries to further complex things and it’s not only dealing with agents out to turn you over you’re dealing with footballers and they range from the Elneny’s who are happy to stay to the prima donnas who don’t know what they want. Then you have the media scrutinising your every move and finally the fans, ah yes the patient, considered and deeply understanding fans. We all know what we’re like don’t we?
Good luck Edu…
pillagers?
I see that Steve Bould is back in work.
Morning Geoff, Kev.
Not for one minute do I think negotiating transfers is easy either. As you say Kev, other clubs seem to mess us around from start to stop, pushing for extra money. The only way around it is to give in but why should we? It’s one of the many reasons I detest the likes of City and Chelsea. Utd too who don’t seem to have a problem with being in so much debt.
Marseille want rid of former Arsenal man 6 months after signing him
Marseille manager Jorge Sampaoli wants rid of Sead Kolasinac just six months after signing him on a free when Arsenal released him.
Sead Kolasinac signed an 18-month deal with Marseille when his contract with Arsenal was cancelled.
Now, just six months later, they want rid of him.
Described as ‘incredibly disappointing’ by Get French Football News, who confirmed the Ligue 1 side’s desire to move the 28-year-old on, Kolasinac made 17 appearances for Marseille, grabbing one assist.
He did not play the full 90 minutes once.
Currently valued at around £2.7m, it’s not clear if Marseille will seek to sell Kolasinac or if they will do what Arsenal did and just cancel his contract.
Sue will be devastated… 🙂
Morning Rico
Rico, I do not trust a Man City for one moment, there is no way Guardiola wants to sell a player to Arsenal who can make a difference, so signing Jesus or the Ukrainian guy are not deals I’ve invested an awful lot into because of who we’re dealing with.
Ibrahim Ba anyone…..
Good morning Rico and all
Jesus rumours gather pace you said???
Is that the 2nd coming? Does it mean the end of world is nigh?
Off to read the post properly. Then the comments.
https://le-grove.co.uk/2022/06/06/premierleague-and-atos-need-to-answer-for-statistical-anomaly-that-disadvantaged-arsenal/
No surprise re Kolasinac Kev, in fact all the players Arsenal have let go under Arteta have hardly gone on to do well. Auba had a good start at Barca but that all went a bit quiet. Really disappointed AMN didn’t do more at Roma but imo, he should never have gone then. Just as Gnabry should never have gone to play under Pulis.
Re Jesus Kev, I think he’ll stay where he is. £200k a week? Long run off a short pier springs to mind.
Morning Devil.
Good morning all.
It’s fill your boots time with the underground strike Kev. Make hay while the sun shines, even if it is p*****g down. 😉
In the case of Jesus I am with Cicero. I feel that we would be having the Ozil, Auba scenario all over again.
then again as you have pointed out….it might just be his agent trying to get a better contract for him
What I dont agree with Cicero is with regards Gnabry. Although he went to Germany to play it is evident that he still loves Arsenal. it wouldnt be a 2nd coming for him because in reality he never played in a regular position . just a few appearances. So its like he has been out on loan and matured.
Given a choice my preference would be Gnabry over Jesus all day. Infact I think that if Gnabry comes it will be MArtinelli and Nketiah up front. I dont think Arteta will buy a striker. Its more likely that he will go after Tielemans or maybe Bissouma plus a LB. Cedric Soares will stay until Norton Cuffy gets a bit more experience. I feel that Arteta values Norton cuffy highly. And with regards CB since Saliba is coming I doubt we would sign anyone……keeping in mind that Rekik will begin playing in the Europa/Carabeo cups as it seems Arteta values him highly
They’ll all be working from home Cicero and it’ll be dead after 6pm, but I’ll give it a try.
Rico, is it just me, but I really don’t get all the fuss being made over Serge Gnabry, I mean if he was the world beater some are describing then would Bayern even let him leave?
Nope, for me that train had left the station.
DG I’ve just read your comment so I wasn’t deliberately disagreeing with you, well not much… 😄
Tbh with Saka, Martinelli, Saliba and John Jules out of contract in 2024 I think we need to secure them as a priority before we worry about any new faces…
Bissouma would be a priority for me, a quality alternative to Partey and a player who importantly stays fit.
I kind of get the feeling that Arsenal are limiting transfer fees to around £35m max and a lot less for signings from the abroad.
For example the guy from Sassuslo, if now transpires that Inter are in for him so was the link to Arsenal more to do with his club and his agent maximising the amount Inter have to pay. I last saw his fee quoted as £50m – good luck with that!
Not just you Kev, never go back I say…
Agree on the contract renewals too, even John Jules because it’s not just about him at Arsenal, it’s about getting a transfer fee for him if Arteta doesn’t rate him. Same goes for a number of younger players who might not be right for us, but for other clubs, they could be perfect.
Yes Rico, I know that Adam would be disconsolate if Arteta allowed John Jules to slip through his fingers as would I…
😂 Kev
This is eerie….
https://twitter.com/_ikenna_/status/1533427768091938816?s=21
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/61711713
Kevin Betsy joins Crawley Town
Rick, if you’re out there who do you think will replace Betsy, could Ljunberg return? What about Jack Wilshere or Ryan Garry?
Rico, that was spooky
Disappointed about Betsy Kev but can understand him wanting to go into management.
Can’t see Freddie coming back Kev, Garry is a good shout. Is he still with England?
It might be better to be someone with the much vaunted Arsenal DNA . It really depends on where Freddie’s ambition lies , as he has not got a manager’s job , perhaps he can be persuaded to return . I am sure it would be popular with the young players.
I wonder why Freddie left in the first place though..
Santi Cazorla might come back, there have been rumours before about him joining Arteta’s coaching team.
The academy setup looks really interesting.
So is the hope that Martinelli will (ever) play up front. No, he will not.
Gabi played 79 minutes as a CF this year and 89 last year. He didn’t score a single goal or made a single assist those games.
He is a skillful dribbler and a decent passer of the ball. Critical skills for a winger, but you don’t particularly need for the sole striker, or only as secondary skills.
Regarding the Jesus’ salary (currently making ‘only’ 90k at Man City), I don’t think we would be paying less than 180k for Nunez, Gnabry or Vlahovic. Don’t you remember the fans demanding “pay him whatever he is asking” – and it doesn’t matter if we were talking about Auba before his new contract or Saka to tie him down.
By the way, Partey makes 200k, Lacazette made almost that much, Sancho makes 350k (!), Rashford 200k, Vlahovic (€)250k, Gnabry (€)154k, etc.
Rico, when you (Freddie) get promoted to first team manager – and fail – you don’t go back to U23 coaching… Especially when you are a club legend.
Rico, yes I’m pretty sure that Ryan Garry is working in the England set up, didn’t he leave last summer when Betsy came in? I’m not too bothered about Betsy leaving tbh because now we’ll see if he’s the genius coach he was made out to be.
By coincidence Steve Bould will be working in Belgium next season in their 2nd division it’ll be interesting to compare their relative successes…
Ljungberg’s I’ll fated stint as temporary Arsenal Coach was never going to succeed was it, I mean he didn’t even have a coaching staff and didn’t he need Mertesaker giving him a hand?
The shame is we lost a really talented youth coach when he left the club, he had a major hand in developing so many of the youngsters we enjoy now.
As far as I know Ljungberg isn’t currently working in football so he’s available I guess, although he does a fair amount of TV and media work and maybe that makes for a less stressful life…
It’s interesting Peter isn’t it because all of those guys you named, that are on massive wages, are players who you could reasonably ask the question and that is have they been value for money for their clubs, it’s a moot point isn’t it?
Take our very own Thomas Partey for example, who currently has two more years on his massive contract, now if he were to have two more injury ravaged seasons for us or even just the forthcoming season do you think that Arsenal would extend his deal and maybe give him a pay rise and his agent some commission?
Or would we sell him in a years time or possible even let him run down his contract and let him leave for nothing in two years?
And would either of those scenarios see Thomas Partey viewed as a successful signing?
Thomas Partey btw has just converted to Islam, apparently his new name is Yakubu, I guess that’s Thomas Yakubu.
But will it prevent him from getting injured during the season?
I read awhile ago that Ljungberg left Arsenal as he wanted to replace Emery as The new senior coach was not happy that Arteta got the job ahead of him, and that he also had a bit of a falling out with Mertesaker and Arteta about the way the academy was being run.
Pbarany, I don’t think was promoted to first team manger, he stepped in after Emery was sacked. Nothing came out of the club, or from Freddie to suggest he was the long term solution. How on earth, in the few weeks he had, was he expected to change things around?
True re Betsy Kev. I think the best way to become a good manager is to learn at sensible level rather than jump in at the deep end as the expectation is too great. Imo, there are things Mikel does which he might not have had he managed before but when the only environment he has experienced is one with masses of money and a glut of top players, being at a club which has vastly lower budget must be very different.
Partey has been a very average signing imo. Great when he’s at the top of his game but when he’s not, he’s worse than most. I’m not sure anyone expected him to struggle in the PL, I know I didn’t. The club can’t let him him run down his contract surely.
Good morning Rico.
I too am disappointed with Partey, perhaps he was derailed by the opening three games of last season which were by any standards pretty chaotic. I think the pace and competitiveness of the Premiership came as a total surprise to him and he did improve a bit as the season wore on, but not nearly enough to justify the wage he was offered or the extortionate transfer fee. Unless he shows a considerable improvement in the coming season Arteta/Edu need to move him on next January.
Morning Cicero. I don’t think injuries have helped Partey, nor playing whilst injured but yep, he’s certainly not been the player he was at Atletico.
New post up now