Morning all.
Long before the season came to a close, Leicester City, Southampton and Ipswich knew their time in the Premier League was coming to an end. All three clubs were relegated and must now fear their better players will be targeted by other clubs. For the clubs, PSR could be a concern too but I’m just guessing as I’ve no idea what their financial situation is.
Back in May, Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Wolves were linked with Leicester City player Bilal El Khannouss, a Moroccan international who plays in midfield. The fee Leicester City are asking for their player is reported to be €26m (£22.1m) which is pretty much what they paid for him a year ago.
Another Championship player who is attracting interest from Premier League clubs is Hayden Hackney who right now, is representing England at the Under 21’s Euro Championship although he was on the bench for their opening match against the Czech Republic. As was Tom Fellows, another player tipped to make a move to the Premier League. Fellows plays as a forward, attacking midfielder or winger for EFL Championship club West Bromwich Albion.
A winger is a position Arsenal are hopefully looking at this summer because our current options are pretty drab. In fact I’d say the only “proper” winger we have in the first team squad is Gabriel Martinelli and at a push, Gabriel Jesus. No, of course I’m not knocking Bukayo Saka, or any of the others who play out wide but I wouldn’t describe them as wingers.
Another youngster tipped for a good future is Southampton’s young midfielder Tyler Dibling. The 17 year old came through the academy at Southampton before moving to Chelsea in 2022. He didn’t settle in West London and soon after, returned to the south coast club in 2022.
The Championship is rich with talent yet it so often seems that overseas talent is more attractive than Englands homegrown or youngsters already in England albeit in a lower League. I’ve never really understood why.
A good example, or rather a bad one, is Fabio Vieira who Arsenal paid around £30 million for a couple of years ago. Fancy footwork he might have but the physicality of the Premier League proved to be something he struggled with. Now it looks like he’ll be sold for less what Arsenal paid for him yet he’s still just 25 years old.
Mike Biereth, born in London and signed from Fulham, Ayden Heaven, born in Islington, signed from West Ham when he was just 14 years old yet neither are still with the club because I guess they believed their pathway into the first team wasn’t there. Why? Because in Hayden’s case, we had both Jakub Kiwior and latterly, Riccardo Calafiori at the club and in the case of Biereth, Mikel Arteta played any player up front other than the only proper striker we had at the club. (Not counting Eddie Nketiah, or Chido Obi for that matter.)
I’m not silly enough to think that every young player or Championship player is good enough for the Premier League or more importantly, Arsenal, but there has to be a number of players who are. Or young players who are already showing signs of becoming a great player whilst playing the odd game for their current clubs first team.
Mikel Arteta said we as a club need more players but if those aren’t coming from our own academy then surely, it’s worth looking at the Championship this summer. After all, any spare cash after signing the key players needed this summer, will go a lot further, heck, we might even make a profit on them in years to come. You can bet your bottom dollar that clubs will make a profit on a few of the players Arsenal let slip through their fingers.
I’m off to get my tin hat…..
Morning Rico, good post…
Apparently French football is in a mess, no TV deal to speak of and spiralling costs. PSG are the notable exception the rest are in debt, some of them seriously, so with that in mind it seems that Ligue Un is the place to looks for quality bargains or if not bargains realistically priced players. If my memory serves me right Arsenal have been rumoured and linked recently to a couple of Ligue One players?
No need for a crash helmet in my opinion , I tend to agree . When we switched from having people on Hackney marshes and the lower divisions and went to Stat DNA I think we lost the ability to see what was under our noses.
We seem to have a way of picking children for our academy but there also seems to be a gap when it comes to seeing 18,19 and 20 year olds that play non league or lower division .
The two most obvious players to have come through this route are Ian Wright and Jamie Vardy and I am sure that there are many others out there that could make the breakthrough given the chance .
Perhaps there is a case for signing a few and farming them out maybe even to Colorado . I know that given the chance to get a year or so in America when I was playing in county league football or senior amateur , I would have taken it.
Morning Kev, Potter, all.
I think it’s a waste of a great opportunity. Look how many players now in the PL came from Championship clubs..
Bale, VvD, Chamberlain and Walcott too.
PL clubs can be snobs imo.
I’ve lost count of the players we’ve been linked to Kev, most of which are poppycock..
I have lot of sympathy with those on here who advocate for scouts rather than do everything using stats, but I suspect that we already do that anyway, as do Brighton, Brentford and Bournemouth etc and they’re routinely admired for their recruitment.
It’s also easier for those clubs to take a punt as they can pick up players cheaper and they’re not being constantly being judged by online shock-posters looking for clicks, Football 365 and FourFourTwo, check out their headlines, their Arsenal narrative is consistently negative.
I wouldn’t be surprised to be told that every Premier League club already knows who’s around in the lower leagues and who shows promise, that would extend to Championship clubs and others across Europe. The fact that Vardy stands out among current players is that it’s so rare for a non-league player to progress through to the very top.
Arsenal are, according to rumours, tracking a Blackburn youngster, have a young Scottish lad joining us this summer ( he choose Arsenal over Rangers apparently) and we already have a young Irish lad we signed a year ago and have been linked with another. The problem we have is that Chelsea in particular, Man City, Man United to a lesser degree and Liverpool throw copious amounts of dough at youngsters and we don’t, we pay well but we don’t pay Chelsea-stupid figures, so we miss out.
You only have to see the outrageously inflated sums paid out for teenagers from South America to see where this is going…
Khayon Edwards is being linked to a couple of lower ranked Portuguese clubs, now how did they know about him? Scouts and Stats I’d imagine, I hope he goes there and is successful, better playing football in an Iberian climate than going to a League One or Two club.
England is actually quite the place to scout youngsters, we’re one of the most productive in Europe, which is quite a sea change, and our youngsters are quite prized.
Stuart Pearce at Wealstone , Vinny Jones at Bedmond , Mikail Antonio at Tooting , Troy Deeney at Halesowen.
Although I didn’t play against them individually I played against three of the clubs . We had two players better than me that could have made it but for various reasons didn’t , we were only a small local club , there must be hundreds out there but I am not sure that we look at ready mades when they reach those ages.
Good morning (just) all..
Maybe having a non- English manger and coaching staff means they are blind to talent in the lower English leagues. Just saying.
Maybe the players you played with didn’t want it enough, Pearce and Jones were from another era and the other two came up through the divisions, now name me a non-league player who was scouted directly by a Premier League club?
Morning Rico and all.
It sounds to me that our whole academy from the people in charge down to our recruiters need to be looked at, or replaced, after all iF we buy or look at young players around 17 – 18 years old from other clubs then our younger players may see it a slap in face and feel we don’t rate them and want out.
Perhaps the ideal transfer process is a mix of scouting and data. Also, the physicality of the league they are playing in as well as the level of football in that league. It’s easy to look at a player in Spain for example who does well against the lower league placed clubs but how he fairs against the likes of Barca and the Madrid teams is what matters more.
Afternoon Geoff.
Talking transfers, have we signed anyone? Lol
11:21 Kev, it’s all very well signing younger players but they need to be used, otherwise what’s the point? Thats why we lost Chido, Hayden and Biereth…
Personally I beleive there are several advantage of looking for English born players.
1 they have the support of family and friend close by
2 their partners have there family and friends close that can help to take the pressure off the player
3 they understand the culture and what is required by both the club and it’s fans
4 they are used to the cold and wet conditions in England
yes there are plenty of players that can adjust, but I am guessing there are plenty of players and their partners that get home sick.
Maybe we should look at have more training camps for young kids from country area’s that may get overlooked a chance to show what they can do, so we can then keep an eye on them for the future
Geoff England is a small country stuffed with cities all of which have at least one league football club, many have multiple clubs, As of the 2025–26 season, there are seventeen teams playing in professional leagues in London: seven play in the Premier League. There really aren’t any “country areas”, perhaps Cornwall would qualify as it has a population of just 604,275 against London that has a population of 9,840,740. I doubt that there are many talented kids who slip, unnoticed, through the net.
They’re all surfing in Cornwall 😜
Pearce and Jones were from another era
So was I
Cicero, sometimes I feel major club forget to look under the feet and are too set in there ways.
Just wondering in Australia all our major sporting codes always look at private grammer / university for for new players way before they consider looking at anyone who attending a public school of a local sporting club, is it the same in England,
Good question Geoff and I honestly don’t know the answer.
What we call a public school is an independent fee charging establishment which is not part of the state education system. They are elite schools such as Eton, Harrow and Winchester more likely to turn out a future prime minister than a good midfielder.
The state schools are so badly funded that they can no longer afford to provide the sports facilities for their pupils necessary to develop into professional sportsmen and women.
Still that’s getting into the realms of politics, not a subject for a for discussion on a football website. 😉
Morning Geoff, Cicero, all.
This transfer window for Arsenal is like our football. 😜
‘mornng Rico.
I see that Juventus have expressed an interest Gyokeres but haven’t yet submitted a bid. They also want to sign Grealish but his £300,000 per week wages are too rich for their blood. No such could they afford to pay Gyokeres?
Transfermarket rate Zinchenko at €20m (or £17m in proper money) so if anyone wants to sign him I reckon that’s a fair price to ask?
Wages is another matter, if they don’t want to match his salary then jog on. Personally I’m comfortable with Zinny staying at Arsenal for a couple more years, especially as we only have 18 players in our squad (excluding MLS and Ethan).
If Nichols can stay fit then he’s likely to be increasingly involved. I think but for injuries, and he had a lot last season (growing pains?) then we probably would have seen more of him in 24/25.
Every club wants Gyokeres or Sesko Cicero. 😜
We’ll be going into next season with Tomiyasu and Jesus still in rehab so that’ll be 16 over 21 players available and that’s assuming that Saliba and Gabriel have fully recovered and Partey stays.
That’s the thing Kev, we need numbers and quality. Zinchenko has a role to play if he stays, just not at left back.
Certainly can’t see the club making the signings we’d need if we start selling players, especially with Jesus and Tomi out for the foreseeable
Morning Rico, but nobody wants to pay €100m for them
Oops, you’ve just written the same before me.. lol
Morning Kev, understandable really. But, if that’s who Arsenal want, they need to pay it.
Goodness knows why but I just have this feeling we are going to sign neither, and Issac is who we will get.
This is the kind of deal we should be completing imo.
Brighton have confirmed the signing of Diego Coppola from Hellas Verona for £9m.
The 21-year-old centre-back – who is currently representing Italy at the U21 Euros – has signed a five-year deal.
Seagulls boss Fabian Hurzeler said, “Diego is an exciting addition for the club.
“Although he is still young, he is tall, strong and mobile and he will give us a real physical presence.
“He has made impressive progress in Serie A and deserved his call-up to the Italian national team. We look forward to helping him develop even more.”
Kepa represents really good business I think, I mean we sold a really good goalkeeper to Fulham for £5m.
Zubimendi is looking a sharp piece of business the longer this window goes.
Arteta can rescue a players’ fading career through his coaching so picking up good players going through dips in their careers makes sound financial sense – like Laporte?
No probs Rico, I still think that Ollie Watkins would be a smart piece of business and Villa need to sell, we just have to convince them to ask a sensible fee…
I think so too re Kepa, sensible. I also think he’s going to shake Raya up a bit..
Agree re Watkins too, I’d be happy to see him at Arsenal although not for a hideous fee. We did Villa a favour, £20 m for Martinez was a steal. Hopefully they’d be sensible with Watkins if we want him.
Ollie Watkins will turn 30 in December. No resale value, an injury risk and no doubt expectant of a considerable wage. He will want at least a five year contract.
No thanks!
Poor Ollie. 😝
Yeah, sorry Ollie
Being an Arsenal fan, he’s likely to give a bit more for the cause.
According to TransferMarket, he only missed three games through injury last season.
I hope we stay away from Watkins, his best day have well past him, as Grealish I read some wear that Man c may be willing to pay some of his fees just to move him on.
If we don’t start signing players soon, I feel we will mist out on the ones we want / need
A few gossip headlines suggesting Partey is off to Galatasaray.
Harry Kane is in his 30’s and Bayern seem quite calm about that…
Lewandowski is in his mid-30’s and Barcelona are holding onto him.
Watkins alongside a Sesko or Gyokeres style player would not be a bad move but to rely on him to get the goals that make the needed difference on his own would not be the answer in my opinion . He is a good player but not really prolific and at 5 foot 10 ” doesn’t add to our aerial threat.
However if we can get him and ship out Jesus I would not complain providing that we do buy the alternative striker that we have needed for so long.
That’s what we’re saying, Watkins plus one rather than just Watkins.
Fabrizio Romano –
“EXCLUSIVE: Serie A side Parma have decided to appoint Carlos Cuesta as new manager!
Talks at final stages with Arsenal to get green light and appoint 29 year old Spanish manager who’s now leaving Assistant Head Coach role at Arsenal.
Record appointment for Serie A”
☹️
An opening for Jack Wilshire perhaps?
Wilshere , Cazorla , Bergkamp , all have been mentioned in dispatches.
AUGUST
Sun 17 Manchester United (A)
Sat 23 Leeds United (H)
Sat 30 Liverpool (A)
SEPTEMBER
Sat 13 Nottingham Forest (H)
Sat 20 Manchester City (H)
Sat 27 Newcastle United (A)
Get through that opening unscathed and it’s up for grabs.
Morning Potter, Cicero.
New post up.
My money is on Santi….