Morning guys.
Bernd Leno – £90,000
David Ospina – £40,000. (2019)
Sokratis – £90,000
Shkodran Mustafi – £90,000. (2021)
Laurent Koscielny – £90,000. (2020)
Calum Chambers – £25,000
Rob Holding – £40,000. (2023)
Konstantinos Mavropanos – £25,000 (2023)
Krystian Bielik – £25,000 (2020)
Sead Kolasinac – £119,500 (2022)
Nacho Monreal – £65,000 (2019)
Héctor Bellerín – £100,000. (2023)
Stephan Lichtsteiner – £90,000. (2019)
Mohamed Elneny – £55,000. (2022)
Aaron Ramsey – £110,000. (2019)
Granit Xhaka – £90,000 (2023)
Lucas Torreira – £75,000. (2023)
Mattéo Guendouzi – £N/K
Mesut Özil – £300,000. (2021)
Alex Iwobi – £30,000. (2020)
Henrikh Mkhitaryan – £120,000. (2021)
PEA – Aubameyang – £180,000. (2021)
Danny Welbeck – £70,000. (2019)
Alexandre Lacazette – £140,000. (2022)
Rumour has it that the club will no longer keep players who allow their contract to run into it’s final two years. As soon as that two year mark gets close it’s going to be ‘sign up or be sold.’ I counted twelve who enter their last two years after this summer. Could all twelve leave/be sold? I’m sure there will be academy players in a similar situation too.
Honestly, there’s not many in that list above who I’d want the club to give a new contract to. I counted nine, ten if pushed. Fill the empty spaces with our ‘younger players’ and a few others from elsewhere who won’t bring with them a stinky or lazy attitude.
Ajax has seventeen under 25 year old in their squad including a number of 19 year olds and a 16 year old. Admittedly they have a number of older players in amongst them too but the average age comes out at around 23 years old.
I’d love to see Arsenal follow suit. Great in theory, a bit tougher in the Premier League perhaps. That’s been my thought process though until now. A strong and experienced core is key to any great side but there’s no written rule stating those kind of players have to be mature in years is there? Look at Xhaka, a good age, bundles of experience both domestically, in Europe and internationally but he’s not the best central midfielder in football in the game. Far from it. He lacks pace, the ability to read a game and quite often he’s unaware of what’s around him. He’s prone to giving the ball away too but he has got a wicked left foot.
The academy is full of midfielders. Willock, Smith Rowe, Bielik, Gilmour and Sheaf. All British, all just waiting for their chance.
Another example is our strike force, another area of the team where experienced 30 goal a season strikers are a must. Or rather that’s what the media would have us believe. You win nothing with kids after all. We have two main strikers with vast amounts of experience between them both in years and success with previous clubs but neither are ripping up the league or Europe are they? My guess is Aubameyang misses twice as many opportunities than he scores and Lacazette, while he works jolly hard for the team, simply doesn’t score enough goals.
The academy players meanwhile have been scoring goals for fun in their respective age group teams. Of course I know there’s no comparison between their league/opposition and the Premier League but football is football and a goal is a goal. They’ve already learned where the nett is, about movement and creating openings for themselves or a team mate and that doesn’t change just because a player moves up a level. The defenders they’re up against will of course be stronger but that’s all part of their learning, taking their game to a higher level. Eddie, Amaechi, John-Jules and Nelson. All can play across a front line.
In central defence we look weak. Sokratis and Holding, then Koscielny who has to be managed because of his injuries and Mustafi. We’ve Chambers out on loan and behind him, more younger players who need to take the next step up. Medley, Ballard, Olowu and Pleguezuelo too. Let’s not forget we have two fullbacks in the making in Osei-Tutu and Bola. Not quite where Bramall is with his progress.
There are plenty of other examples throughout the squad but I’d be here all day if I went through them.
The funny thing is though, the players mentioned, along with the others, aren’t young anymore. Most are 19 years old or over. They’re not all built like twigs who might snap after the first tackle on them, they’re strong or rather they look it.
I’m tired of watching seasoned professional footballers jog around the pitch fo4 ninety five minutes as if they haven’t a care in the world. Fed up with the club pleading poverty when they hand out the multi millions of pounds to blokes who appear to have little interest in actually earning it.
Just look at what these guys are earning too. It’s a disgrace in my opinion. Arsenal have been handsomely rewarding bad attitudes for far too long. Millions after millions of pounds which in many cases, has been wasted.
Great to see Ajax take a small advantage back to Holland with them. Hopefully they’ll be even better on home soil…
Not bad for such a young squad eh…..
Great article which echoes my sentiments entirely.
Morning Rico and the House..
Brilliant post Rico
I am with you all the way .
C U latter
Morning Rick, thanks.
Welcome grandad and thank you.
My worry is other clubs will come if for our younger players, we sell and they go on to become really good footballers.
Good morning Rico, Ozil, Aubameyang and Sanchez were signings designed to boost the season ticket sales and to satisfy the fans craving for “big names”. Unfortunately, “big name signings” come with big egos and a sense that their mere presence on the pitch contribution enough.
Sanchez,, thankfully, was enticed away by Man. U, and the footballing world knows how that worked out. However we were left with Ozil, and saddled with Mkhitaryan who nobody could honestly say is worth anywhere near the reputed £120,000 a week wage.
And then along came Aubameyang initially quite successful, he scored freely but as you say his conversion rate is abysmal. I would happily see the back of all three.
Arsenal, not just Emery, have to be brave, sell the the under performers, and bring in the youngsters. There may well be a season or two of pain but it may be worth it to end the mediocrity that is slowly suffocating the club.
Morning Rico and all. I agree with the points you made.
The seemingly-irresistible rise and rise of the PL has been good and bad. Good in the sense that it is highly competitive but bad in that it has moved footballers and especially the chosen few, onto an almost showbiz level. This may have confused many young men earning more in a day than a nurse might in a year. Thus we see the never-ending parade of ludicrously coloured Lamborghinis and pseudo off-roaders paraded as nightclubs and endless award ceremonies afford them the opportunity to tease their hair into bizarre shapes and colours while sitting detached atop their heads. They have created a whole new genre for themselves for sure. The sports celebrity. After the ongoing and carefully crafted path of the ghastly Beckham clan they can see a whole new career stretching before them when they finally hang up their boots and write their memoirs that will undoubtedly bitch about this and that and claim that they were under-used, under-estimated and most likely underpaid. Their glistening teeth, bought to a level of transparent whiteness that has never before existed in nature, contrasted against their tattooed bodies will adorn our TV screens as they make a new living as a pundit, trotting out a stream of mundane irrelevancies while wearing unfeasibly tight trousers and tiny jackets. This will give their meagre savings a bit of a boost though so you have to feel for them really. Their sense of entitlement literally knows no bounds.
On a slightly different topic, I loved Ajax last night. They played a brand of high-energy football that threw our turgid and entirely predictable style into less than complementary relief. Spurs ran about a lot but got nowhere which, in the scheme of the Universe, is exactly how it should be.
Morning Cicero, you’re probably right but if so, how shortsighted and foolhardy was that. Fans want hard workers just as much as the flair players. Back in the day we had both in one.
Morning Adam. Absolutely agree re the current superstar footballer. Ronaldo has taken things to a whole new level, yet Messi seems quite different. No other sport is quite like it, not even tennis where the prize money isn’t bad.
Ajax is the one to aspire to, perhaps they always have been despite the few blips they’ve suffered over the years. I hope they can hold onto their rising stars.
Having seen many of our younger players in Europa or domestic cups, surely it’s been enough for Emery to see that a good number of them have the raw talent, some are further in their development than others but with the right guidance, who knows how good they might become.
How Saka hasn’t had more game time I really don’t know. It’s not like we’re inundated with pace and width on the left and Iwobi is hardly ripping things up.
Thanks for this Rico but I wish this information could get to the right source
If the coaches and board can’t see what’s right in front of their noses Philip then lord help the future of our club…
Think you might need to add Cech and Jenkinson to that list too! Conservatively I can see these players leaving this summer…….Cech, Ospina, Mustafi (surely!), Chambers, Bielik, Jenkinson, Lichtsteiner, Elneny, Ramsey, Mikki & Welbeck. Saving of £770k/week or 40m/year and probably £55m in transfer fees. That’s £95m alone…..
Of that list who do we need to replace?
Cech/Ospina – No.2 GK needed, Emi Martinez playing well at Reading, give him a go and reassess in January 2020 if not up to the level we need
Mustafi/Chambers/Bielik – Bascially we need a CB we all know that. Throw £50m at it and £150k/year wages
Lichsteiner/Jenkinson – AMN has done well but that’s not his future, get in a strong player who can play backup to Bellerin when he’s back and getting up to speed. No need to go too crazy with this one £10m and £50k/year wages
Elneny – Not much of a loss, has hardly played replace with Joe Willock
Ramsey – We need a big player here £60m and £200k/year wages
Mikki/Welbeck – OK so I think next season we should be giving more chances to Saka/Nelson/Smith-Rowe but I think it’s clear we need another player in here. £50m and £150k/year wages should cover that.
Also a Left Back needed – £25m and £90k wages
Transfer Fee Amortisatrion exists (look it up), if we signed the above 5 players on 4 year contracts we’re looking at an outlay of £195m over 4 years so just under £49m for 2019 with £640,000/week in wages/year. So new players costs for summer 2019 should be £82.2m.
That’s a wage budget decrease, a strengthening of the team and £12.8m in the bank without even touching the summer budget.
A very simplified approach I admit but within the realms of possibility. Just need to find a Director of Football who can sort this out for us now!
Rico, as far as the board are concerned their vision of what occurs on the pitch is blurred by the figures on their bank statements.
Love this post. This is the first time commenting but it shows how much I love this post. I feel the main issue is the board cos they aren’t concerned. They just want profit. And it translates down to the players. How many years shall we continue to endure this!?. See Ajax… I dare to say that even the almighty Ozil won’t enter their first eleven…. Cos he’s just too lazy and that’s not their style. Emery has an herculean task and I feel sorry for him. It can not get better until the mgt starts being concerned, noticing that we have Shit players and no style of play…. Asking the right questions and providing the best answers possible. But unfortunately, this is just a post and all these comments will never get to them. They only care blunt profit and share price. Pathetic!!. For me only Leno(cos he’s still new and needs tikes to adapt), holding(cos he easily excellent bfor injury), monreal(he’s old.. Yes, but he fights for the club and we need fighters), Sokratis(jury still out sha), bellerin(cos he’s shown some improvement but needs much more), Torreira(cos he’s a battler and also helps in attack.. He will improve), Lacazette(cos he fights and scores too) should be in the first team….. Ozil, kola, xhaka, mustafi, mikhi, elneny and auba should be sold. Iwobi, guendouzi,and prolly Niles on loan…. Then bring in better players who will play for the club and titles.
Afternoon Gooner’s
Afternoon Rico, a very very good post, well worth a second read.
Dull but warm here at Covent Garden, very touristy…
Morning all.
Project youth-why aren’t we running with it more and more?
Any owner would love to promote from within for obvious reasons, our youth sides are doing bloody well and they at least have some sort of Arsenal DNA in them.
Would the fans accept a few years of mediocrity (said with tongue implanted firmly in cheek), but if the club came out and stated they were going to spend a few season building a squad then I reckon the majority would get behind that!
I know I would and I’m sure plenty here would.
It is rather unbelievable that we are paying that chump Ozil 300 large a week and Miki 120 the most overrated player of all time a glorified Glenn Helder.It is incredible wastage but it is probably gonna be impossible to get rid.
Welcome DC. I didn’t realise those two were missing, both I think are out of contract anyway so will be gone.
Why do we need to replace Ramsey with a £60m player on £200k a week one? We’ve got Smith-Rowe and Willock who could replace him surely? It’s Xhaka who I think needs replacing with a proper guy who’ll look after his defence.
Welcome Arinze. Hard to disagree with your comment although until we see what happens in the summer, I’m sitting on the fence re the management. If the my required clear out which imo is needed, takes place and the club address the squad needs, then we might be looking good.
A big if but for the first time the coach and management will have had an entire season to assess the players..
Cicero, are we 100% sure on that though?
Afternoon Kev, thanks as always..
Dg, in the real world they’d both be sacked for under performing…
Scott, I think it was a Potter who suggested that had we not gone as far in Europa and still being able to secure top four, more youth would have possibly been given more game time.
Rico, I mean for next season.
Let’s go hard for the Europa League title and play our best 11, but after that…..
Let’s offload a few of these high earning relative failures, cut our losses and give the kids a red hot go.
It seems a very special group and it’d be shame to see them drift off without getting their chance.
Next season for sure Scott and that might be the way the club are going too. Just why I’m opting to stay positive about Emery for the time being. He was stuck between the devil and deep blue sea really with the squad he inherited.
Although I would have expected him to have improved our defending, or at least have them looking like they’re more organised bar the costly individual errors.
Rico, agree totally.
Let’s hope he gets a defensive coach in the summer who sorts things out.
Great post.Truly shocking figures, especially Mustafi.
I fear what others have said will come true,and we will be stuck with Mustafi, Xhaka and others.
Also it’s all very well saying players will be sold,if they refuse to sign a new contract.All the power is with the player(& agent)If they don’t agree to be sold,it’s not happening.
Best the club can do is not give crazy contracts in the first place !
I’m in favour of Project Youth Mk2, but I worry about our fans.
It’s all well and good saying what a great idea it is going with our young players but a few bad results and the shit will hit the fan – or fans…
We tried Project Youth with the Cesc generation and it was a failure tbh.
Wenger has no choice at the time but we stagnated.
We have now tried the policy of signing big reputation players on big wages and it’s had some success, 3 FACups but in the end it didn’t satisfy our desire to challenge for the league.
We’ve not tried recruiting players from inside the UK, England currently has a rich vein of talent, then there’s lower profile players in the Championship who may not have the sexy names but might be just what we need?
Are there any potentially top players in the lower half of the Prem, even among those clubs that are being relegated? We can’t afford to be snobs, we aren’t good enough…
So players like Mee and Tarkowski at Burnley, Dunk at Brighton, Fraser at Bournemouth, the right back at Ipswich, Konsa at Brentford, I’m sure that there’s many more and they’ll give you a lot more than Denis Suarez.
I just hope that with two Spaniards in Charge that we don’t end up signing a load of second tier rejects from La Liga…
Hiya Kev,
Was that crop of youngsters anywhere near as promising as this current lot though?
I agree fans are the issue but if the club are open and honest-something they’re hardly renowned for-then it has a chance, I reckon.
Scott, as you’ll recall, they were all signed from abroad when they were 16 or so, on big wages, hardly any Brits came through during that period.
You know, the likes of Djourou, Cesc, Denilson, Senderos, Clichy, Vela, Bendtner, Flamini, Walcott, Gibbs, etc…
There’s a lot more but I can’t thinm of them.
Our present crop of youngsters Scott, as Rick will tell you, have the potential to be as impressive as those that won the Double in 1971, the Brady bunch and latterly the Adams/Rocastle graduates.
Under Wenger it dried up, not blaming him, coincidence maybe, who knows. Arsene did try with Pennant, Ryan Smith, Ryan Garry and a few others but only Wilshere really reached the level he wanted.
This crop has massive potential, but realising that potential is the trick.
We have a great group at U16 but that group is years away from fruition, we need players able to compete now!
A lot of Arsenal fans rate Mavropanos, as do I, but most say that he needs to go on loan for a year?!!!
So if he needs a loan, where does that leave all our other youngsters, they surely can’t be ready for the 1st team in that case…?
Personally I’d keep Mavropanos at the club and play him in all the domestic cup games and use him off of the bench in the EPL as often as possible.
We have to be so very careful about loaning out our young players, I just don’t trust other clubs to look after them…
I think what I said was that we’re we not challenging for fourth place they may have got more time.
However we are at a stage where two things need to happen obviously there are squad enhancements needed but also Emery needs to create a system that gets the best out of them . He may have to compromise and change to suit the players he has because I can’t see him getting too many new ones .
Super duper post Superico.
I got an idea……………………lets change leagues with Ajax, then we can play the young ones, play it out Sir Cliff…………………The young ones……………………….
Please dont tempt fate HHers by gloating over Spuds last night, lets wait for the 2nd leg as they are capable of turning it around and we would lok silly………everything crossed !
Got a wrist injury, so no execising since Saturday and hopefully will start again tomorrow so some easy gardening today. I have a cheap nursery near me …….two Weigela`s, one silver Buddliea and one Hypericum Hidcote for the grand total of 12 squid !………lubbly jubbly ! hahaha
Didn`t Dick( or Raul) extend Elneny`s contract ?……………………needs sacking if he did (and that`s not down to Wenger hahaha )
A massive difference between Wenger’s project youth and now if the club go down a similar route is that today’s youth are mainly British/English. What they might not have in talent, they’ll have in passion and pride which I don’t always think comes from an overseas player.
I’ll get my tin hat…. lol
That’s what I said Potter. Lol
Thanks Lc and yes they did, same with Xhaka and rightly so. No pay rise though I think which means that all they did was ensure we get a fee when they go. That’s how it should be done imo.
Kev, agree re the loans. Not many have returned in better shape than they left..
Makes sense that way Rico.
Iker Casillas has suffered a heart attack. That’s a bit of a shocker…
🙁
Ramsey won’t play another game for us apparently. That’s him gone then..
He’ll still collect £880,000 in wages between now and his final departure, plus ant agreed bonuses. Rico.
Rightly so though Cicero. Can’t stop paying him just because he’s injured. I bet you’ll miss him next season… 😜
When Ozil played together with Sanchez he created a high number of chances for him, many of which resulted in goals, Ozil held the record for assists. Others also benefitted, Giroud and even Ramsey. With that partnership broken, by Sanchez’s departure, nobody else could read Ozil’s intentions certainly not Aubameyang.
A good many of those assists came from the left, now we have a mix-and-match combination of Monreal, Kolascinac and Iwobi attempting to provide the ammunition and it’s just not working.
Is that Ozil’s fault, Aubameyang’s or is it down to the coach?
Like the proverbial hole in the head Rico. 😉
We miss Alexis imo.
😂
Stats don’t lie and the fact is our win percentage is much, much better when Ramsey started this season yet some are happy he’s leaving?
I don’t get it at all.
2 or is it 3 winning FA cup final goals?
A broken leg wearing the shirt.
Came back and became a fantastic player for us.
Gave 100% EVERY time he hit the field.
Is that really what people want to see walking out the door because for some reason he rubs them the wrong way?
Damn I don’t get it but each to their own.
Its 2 Cup winners.
Nearly 2am so forgive that 🙂
He’s going, going, almost gone, you’ll just have to get over it Scott. 😉
It’s funny really, or maybe not but Kroenke gets accused of being purely about making money yet surely if that was the case, he’d have intervened with the contract saga of Ozil, Ramsey and Alexis? £100m lost on a transfer fee for them both.
Doesn’t add up imo…
Cicero,
I’ll get over it but I can’t see why we’d want players leaving who clearly make us better.
The club marches on.
Rico, isn’t it about the saved wages with Ramsey?
That’s the common theory but if not, then Emery wanted him out and if that’s the case then Emery hasn’t got a clue because he has no replacement, nor the money to buy one.
On Alexis, nobody denies his talent, but he clearly became a poison in the squad and there is no way we could keep him because he wanted out and carried himself in a way where everyone knew it.
That’s the difference between he and Ramsey.
One acted like a 3 year old and the other played some of his very best football after it was clear the club were letting him go.
One, nobody will remember 5 years down the track…..well, other than Utd’s accountant 🙂 🙂
Anyway, sleep beckons.
Later guys.
Rico. Kroenke would have been wise to intervene for those amounts. I wonder if Raul is making those decisions now. Ramsey was a judgement call which, in retrospect, could look wrong to many people now.
I don’t know Scott, there could be other factors too. We are all just guessing the full reason for for him going.
Adam, he would which kind of proves the money theory is rather flawed. Re Ramsey, it only looks bad because he’s going through a bit of a good patch but that’s not always been the case imo.
I agree Rico. Certainly a new plan should be in place now that reality has begun to sink in.
I think it is Adam, one thing we do know is that we won’t lose players for free anymore.
I see Ozil has again come out and said he wants to stay at Arsenal. Can’t think why.. lol
Could it be the money Rico. Surely not! 😎
You are as cynical as me Adam. 😜
Thank you Rico. 🤗
😂 Adam.
It seems fairly clear, at least to me, that the new regime were appalled by the size of the wages agreed for Ozil and Sanchez. When Ramsey made his demands they decided that acceding to those demands would open the flood gates and lead to a series of demands by other squad members. They made an offer which Ramsey would not sign, no doubt expecting to see a better offer. The regime withdrew the offer and left him to run down his contract and go.
A reasonable stance for the club to take in the interests of financial prudence? The club can’t afford to pay inflated wages and stay within the model of living within it’s means.
I think Ozil earns more than any City player, as do a few of the others..
We all do feel let down by our big earning prima donnas Rico, but we must make haste slowly. Are we patient enough to try the Ajax model? Like Monaco, most of those ajax boys will be gone by the next transfer window. If we are not too anxious about top four or the title, we can experiment.
Rambo is a legend imo………………………………and I know this will not go down well with most, but I`d rather ten outfield players like him than ten like Mustafi !…………………………….
As long as the fans are told Daniel, I’m sure we’d all be patient..
Who wouldn’t Lc. Mustafi is hardly the best example if you’re trying to praise Ramsey. Lol
I’m with you LC.
Stupid decision.
Not good enough for us, but good enough for Juve at twice the price makes us look very silly.
One will be winning the League next season, playing CL football and competing.
One won’t.
Shame, because the lad wanted to stay.
Anyway, we move on to another excitement packed season ahead filled with hope 🙂
In all fairness, Emery has this summer to produce some transfers and should be given that chance to prove what type of player he can entice.
rico 8.12, play nicely, the fact that Ramsey is more likely to pop up on a milk carton these days than some where useful for us on a pitch anymore doesn’t make him any less than a legend in an Arsenal shirt lol.
Shame it wasn`t Ajax winning the 1st leg 3-0…………..but Barca winning the battle of the teeth is still nice.
Haven’t seen a damn thing from Scouser mates on social media this morning.
Funny that 🙂
2 winning FA cup goals-must have popped up somewhere of value bahahahahaha
How do you know he wanted to stay though Scott? If he really did, he’d have signed his contract when it was on offer last summer or before when Arsene Wenger was still at the club.
I feel privileged to have seen Lionel Messi score his 600th goal for Barcelona. Fantastic! What a player!
My thoughts exactly Rico.
We’ve heard it before Cicero, players say they want to stay but very few put club before money. Good luck to him though, he’s not doing anything particularly different to those who have left for free before. All chased the money…
Nice result against the Dippers. Not looking like an all England Final now… lol
Hi Micko, where have you been hiding?
You’ve lost me on that one. Blonde moment… lol
U19 Europe Final: chelsea 1 Porto 3
Rico, I listen to the rumours and form an opinion just like you and everyone else.
How do you know he didn’t want to stay?
Almost everything we comment here is an opinion.
Scott, actions speak louder than words. If he wanted to stay, he had the opportunity long ago. Still, it’s history now but thankfully, it seems situations like his won’t arise anymore.
rico, sold the house and moved into a lovely little cottage this week, taken on the arctic explorer look at the same time but it was well worth it, things couldn’t have worked out better.
Sounds perfect Micko..
Hopefully the club don’t ever let players (agents) dictate terms again.
The club must be bigger then the player.
Isn’t that just what they’ve done with Ramsey? This new two year approach, If true, makes total sense to me…
Morning Scott, all.
Morning Rico and all.
What a free kick that was last night by Messi. It’s got to be right up there. And what a miss by Dembele which would have made it 4-0!
So Micko has gone native then. 😀
Morning Adam. Messi is on a different footballing planet…
Seems so the Micko, guess we won’t see him for a while.. 😜
So VDV really looked after Messi last night , stand by for the media to re-run the story of 2005 as they whip Anfield into a pre match frenzy . Personally I won’t be happy until thw whole thing is done and dusted with a Barcelona – Ajax final .
VVD :- dyslexia rools k.o.
Barca v Ajax for me too. Would be a great final…
New post up now