Morning all.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Games: 23, Goals: 14, Assists: 1
Alexandre Lacazette. Games: 18, Goals: 5, Assists: 2
Mesut Ozil. Games: 15, Goals: 0, Assists: 1
I can understand why Arsenal fans would question where our goals would come from should Arsenal decide to take the money for Aubameyang but I see it as being an opportunity to walk a different path. To sign a younger, more eager, a different kind of striker. We have Martinelli, Eddie might yet prove to be the fox in the box we’ve lacked for years and there’s Pepe who next season, should find the Premier League suits him just fine. After all, Bobby P needed a season to settle.
As for Lacazette and Ozil, I can’t think of one reason to keep them.
Let’s assume for one minute that this story has legs and logic alone would suggest it’s possible, probable even, it’s imperative Arsenal get as much money as they can for all three. Obvious I know but that hasn’t always been the case.
Ozil, Lacazette, Sokratis, Xhaka and Mustafi. Arsenal fans marmite men. Playing them keeps them in the shop window, a shop window other clubs will be looking through already as they plan for the summer. I’d certainly like to believe Mikel, Edu and Raul are already thinking about the summer and the players they need to bring in because before we know it, this season will be over and the Euros will be upon us. Arsenal need to get in quick before they kick off on 12th June. Leave it late and transfer fees will increase if our targets have a good tournament.
When Raul discussed our transfer dealings a while ago, he said that because of the way the club is run, Arsenal needed to be smarter. Contracts needed to be managed more efficiently and players leaving on a free transfer had to be a thing of the past. Well, that statement could yet come back and bite him on his Arse-nal as we have a number of players who are just a few months away from entering the final year of their contract.
Mustafi, Sokratis, Aubameyang, Luiz and Ozil are in a ‘sign or be sold’ situation. £100m for the lot, maybe a little more? Take it I say although David Luiz might be a player worth keeping because he’s the only one who knows what it feels like to win the league or in Europe. Throw in another £20-30m for Lacazette and suddenly we’re rich. I’m being ironic of course but in the right hands, £130 odd million can go a long way. A figure which of course I’m just guessing at and I could be way off, but let’s not forget that potential Arsenal sales aren’t just restricted to those whose contracts are nearing their final year. Any player could go for the right price although if any ‘big’ club comes sniffing around for Martinelli, I hope the club would hold off for anything other than a world record transfer fee. And no, there’s no irony this time.
Same goes for any other young players we have who other clubs might fancy taking a chance on. Jordan Sancho is valued around the £100 million mark according to media reports which should mean our young English players are worth similar. Not for one minute am I trying to suggest we sell any of them but if the club decide to, do so for the maximum and not on the cheap. Be ruthless.
Returning to the shop window though, in some ways Arsenal are fortunate because there aren’t many I’d imagine who won’t be getting playing time. Not with the Europa League, FA Cup and League fixtures coming in quick succession. Our new additions should be involved after the break, Ceballos too. Kolasinac and Nelson should return which will leave just Tierney and Chambers on the injury list although I read our left back is ahead of schedule in his recovery which is good news.
Arsenal have a busy three months ahead with a lot to play for so having nearly all our players fit is a big plus. Today’s the day they all get together in Dubai I believe with some of them having had down time on the beach until now.
Now the hard work begins again.
Have a great Friday guys, it’s a bit Brrrrr out there. Stay safe on the icy roads.
Hi Rico nice story I agree in selling the players the mentioned but will any one really pay for Ozil unless he takes a huge wage cut. I wonder if Arteta was coach when Sanchez was there would he be a different player considering he loved training and Arteta getting the players fitter how would Sanchez go now in this team
Morning Rico, thanks for the post…
Yeah, it’s going to be a very interesting summer, but I’m not sure that we’ll be moving on as many players or as we’d like to think, or the popular choices for the exit, moving some of them on could prove problematic, because you need to have clubs willing to take them from us and willing to pay their salaries?
Take Mesut Ozil, he’ll be entering the last year of his contract this summer, he’s very settled in England despite that carjacking incident and very well paid, why should he leave?
And who is going to pay us a fee for him and pay his salary or even take him for free and pay his salary?
A Chinese club?
An MLS club?
And what if we give him a free, is he just going to walk away from his Arsenal contract, I think not, his agent would want Arsenal to pay it up or an least a portion of it.
So we could be in a situation of having to pay Ozil several millions just to leave.
In that situation I’d be inclined to keep him and just suck it up for a year. And look at it this way, if he knows he’s staying at Arsenal and there isn’t a new contract on the table we might find we have a highly motivated Mesut on our hands who has one eye on his next pay day and therefore can’t afford to cruise through games…
Morning Geoff, Kev and all.
I thought I was on my own… lol
If the Ozil stories are true, he might be off and I’m sure the lure of Barcelona would be too big for Auba to turn down. But yes, wages could be an issue but where there’s a will, there’s a way surely.
So I’m a bit sceptical about these reports from a ‘source’ – as that usually means the bloke in the mail room or the security guard.
I’d keep Luiz for sure, I thought he was terrible before Arteta took over, but now he’s playing more like the international footballer he is, I also think that he’s a good influence in the dressing room, I’d also keep Sokratis – depending on what happens with Mustafi?
If Mustafi leaves I’d keep Sokratis, if Mustafi stays and that is possible, then we could sell Papa if we can find a buyer?
Also we don’t know what we have with Mari, we don’t know what Arteta thinks about Holding and we don’t know what Arteta thinks of Chambers? It’s up for grabs…
Arteta will have his own thoughts on our squad and they may not correspond with the popular view because our thoughts on many players have been shaped by the Emery period when everyone was a mess.
Sorting out Lacazette and Aubameyang is going to be the priority this summer and that’ll revolve around who stays, who goes, will they both leave, will they both stay, can we get enough value for them if they leave, if we can’t will we then be forced to keep them and can we bring in the required quality if we do let them go?
Martinelli is good enough, Nketiah is good but is he good enough, will Pepe start to deliver on a regular basis, can John Jules develop enough to push his way into contention next season?
All this and more in the next episode.
Hi Rico, do those stories emanate from Ozil’s agent, you know with an eye on his next move, trying to generate some interest via the media?
The balance of power is gradually shifting away from Mesut, Arsenal can keep him for another year and any tasty little transfers he has planned may have to be forgotten about for 12 more months and he can’t sulk or those deals will just disappear!
Aubameyang is the one that worries me because any thoughts of getting our money back for him is imo pie in the sky.
Weren’t Barcelona talking in terms of taking him on loan in January?
That’s why I’d try to keep him, we can’t replace his goals easily or cheaply and if he left for say £30m, what good would that be?
Afternoon Rico/All
I agree with your list of players to move on, I fear we will be stuck with Ozil though, even if we did find a club willing to pay his wages, if he doesn’t want to move, he doesn’t have to. All the power is with him. It all comes back to that crazy contract, and there are still Oziloligists out there who say it’s good value.
Interesting times for Arsenal.
Hahaha Limey, as much as I still see reason to play Ozil, that deal was never good value.
Crazy money!!!
Morning all.
Funny enough Scott, the way I see it he’s here until 2021 like it or not, Arteta is the best man to get the best out of him. So we may as well hope for the best.
Probably right, Limey.
Hopefully, he can make a difference at times.
Shame we can’t just buy his contract out Kev. The players mindset is often brought up on here, well all the time blokes like him are around, no wonder we don’t know how to win..
Hi Limey. I’m not convinced we’re stuck with Ozil. If Kev is right about agent driven stories re a move, he must want to leave. The greedy devil should just take a pay cut and leave
Auba leaving wouldn’t bother me. I wonder how many of those chances he missed Martinelli might have taken.
I’m not fussed who leaves really as who comes in is more important to me.
As said the other day, Auba clearly isn’t overly committed to the club otherwise he’d have signed his offer by now. It’s another Ramsey situation all over again imo
G’day all,
Yep sell Aubameyang and Lacazette in the Summer.
I don’t think we could give Ozil away, not on his wages. If we bought out his contract at the end of this season it would cost in the region of £18.2 million and he would leave for nothing.
Keeping him for the rest of his contract will cost the same and he will still leave for nowt. But we might get a few goals and assists from him.
For what it’s worth in my opinion we should buy him out this summer and move on a from a very bad deal and some criminally bad contract management.
If Ozil stats for the second half of the season are the same as the first, expect no goals and one assist…
I’d rather see Willock or Ceballos get game time. Both have more energy in them than Ozil.
I’m by no means suggesting that Ozil gets to play that often Rico, Ceballos and Willock are more than worth a place. I w ouldn’t mind seeing Ozil start a few games and get hooked at half-time, or earlier, the humiliation might serve to liven him up a bit.
Hi all, thanks Rico. The end of the season is still quite a long way away. I’m interested to see what Arteta can do with some of these players. Some have improved a lot already,eg Xhaka.
With a bit of coaching , luck and good second half of the season, we could raise the value of some of the squad.
How’s that for positivity!!
Morning all.
Rico, if our strikers were doing their job, I’d say Ozil’s stats would look much better,
Though 🙂
A couple of Aubameyang’s stats, from the Premiership website. Shooting accuracy 45%. Big chances missed 37. Food for thought?
Sleep on it. Good night all.😴
Cicero, that pretty much sums up why we’ve only won 7 games,
Imo, but to be fair, it’s not just him.
Very, very few goals are coming from other player as well.
Sorry, 6 games…
If Ozil was doing more Scott, our strikers might score more. Chicken v egg really.
But it’s not just the strikers, where are the goals from midfield? Defenders too from set pieces? Freddie, Bobby, Tomas, Vieira, Cesc, Nasri, Hleb etc etc, all used to chip in but these days, very little comes from other players.
New post up now