🇬🇭 Ghana coach Hughton on Thomas Partey: “I’ve spent a lot over this period of time with Thomas and Arsenal staff”.
“They will treat this injury with caution, and so will the player. This is a big injury for him and the biggest injury that he’s had”. pic.twitter.com/5fMJFst2b9
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 1, 2024
Morning all.
So much for Thomas Partey being on the brink of a return eh? The worst injury he’s had said Chris Hughton but I hope this is just Arsenal protecting their player, a player Mikel Arteta could really do with having available for the entire second half of the season. The next best thing as far as injuries go would be Jurrien Timber making a sudden and successful return. I can dream right?
I’ve suggested this before but why don’t Arsenal recall Kieran Tierney from his loan if they can? Ok, he probably won’t be able to replicate what Zinchenko does when Arsenal attack but forgive for wanting a left back who can defend well first and foremost. Tierney and Martinelli used to work well together so why not get them back together again? I kind of miss Tierney racing up the wing and whipping a cross in for our front men. Oh hang on, we don’t have a proper front man. Maybe Ivan Toney would be a good idea… Signing RVP virtually gave Fergie his last Premier League title, Toney might just be the player to score the goals to help Arteta win his first..
Ok, perhaps I’m getting a bit carried away but Arsenal need goals from somewhere. Right now Bukayo Saka is the clubs highest Premier League scorer with a massive total of six. Eddie Nketiah is just behind him on five. Gabriel Jesus, our number 9, has scored just 3.
Top Premier League scorers:
- Erling Haaland, Manchester City — 14
- Mohamed Salah, Liverpool — 12
- Dominic Solanke, Bournemouth — 12
- Heung-min Son, Tottenham — 12
- Jarrod Bowen, West Ham United — 11
- Hee-chan Hwang, Wolverhampton Wanderers — 10
- Ollie Watkins, Aston Villa — 9
- Alexander Isak, Newcastle United – 8
Can Arsenal sign a striker this month? Probably but whether they do or not is another matter altogether because when one looks at how much money the club has spent since Mikel Arteta arrived, is there more to spend without breaching FFP?
According to reports online, Arsenal has spent in the region of £600-650m on players since December 2019. Player sales during that same period is reported to be around £140m. I think it’s fair to say that when it comes to selling players, Arsenal as a club are not very good but, it’s hardly surprising when the players we do sell have often already been cast aside or not played very often. Look at the players which have gone for cheap or free: Aubameyang, Ozil, Torreira, Guendouzi, Leno, Lacazette, Martinez, Pepe, Holding, Turner, Trusty, Mavropanos – to name a few. In fact the only ‘decent’ deals of late were Xhaka and Willock. I’m not trying to suggest the club should have kept all of them, or others who have been let go, I just believe the club could have handled their exits a lot better than it did.
Anyway, to end with something more positive, Fabrizio Romano has tweeted that Takehiro Tomiyasu is very close to signing a new long term contract. Just a shame he’s soon to head off on international duty for a few weeks. Mo Elneny too but his Arsenal playing days seem numbered…
Catch up in the comments.
Morning Rico and all,
Had to read it twice, the first time I thought it said RIP Fergie, must be time for new glasses.
Goes to show how bad our forwards are, when not one of them appears in the list above as top scores.
Morning Geoff, ha ha.
Morning Rico, the Everton saga has sent shock waves through the Premier League, most clubs operate financially on the edge and now they’re all petrified of tipping over it and getting a points deduction, so now everyone wants players on loan, buy now, pay later. That doesn’t help Arsenal who need to bring in some dough to balance the books but can’t sell anyone. Other clubs want our players but they don’t want to pay for them.
I’m forever seeing this club and that club wanting Elneny or Tomiyasu or Partey or Nelson or Ramsdale or Nketiah or Uncle Tom Cobley, but if we loan anyone we might not be able to replace them so we’re better off just keeping them.
I guess a player exchange is an idea but clubs aren’t going to offer you anyone of quality in exchange, for example there was a rumour that Juventus would offer us Moises Kean in exchange for Charlie Patino?!
Well Kean isn’t what we need up front and he scores less goals than Jesus plus you can bet that Juventus would expect a cash adjudgment as Patino’s value is less than Kean’s.
We got £34 million for Balogun who has played 14 times for Monaco and scored 4 goals . So not exactly prolific.
Well that would be a great deal for Juve because they’d get shot of a striker who doesn’t ‘strike’ plus his massive wages and get a young talent on low wages with big potential. You don’t get any value from the Old Lady of Turin, they’ve been trying to get back at us for making them look dumb over Thierry Henry for years. They thought they’d done it with Aaron Ramsey but it blew up in their cappuccino.
Unless Brentford have a couple of irons in the fire from a striker perspective then they’ll retain Toney, they’re just hovering above the relegation pack and can’t afford to fall any further. Toney might be the hidden piece of the Arsenal jigsaw ( I’m not sure myself) but Brentford need to sell to buy so they aren’t doing anyone any favours.
Morning Kev, the City fiasco too because they’re potentially heading into a financial nightmare.
I forgot Balogun. He’s scored more than Jesus though. 😂
On a serious note, we create chance after chance, possibly more than Monaco do. I know it’s always easy to think someone else could do better than who we have but we simply don’t have a prolific scorer of goals.
What irks me is clubs won’t pay up for our players yet we’re very keen to pay up for players we want. £60m for Havertz who Chelsea wanted to get rid of, £30 million for Raya? It’s ridiculous really.
Yes Rico, Man City cast a long shadow over the whole Premier League project and the Etihad boys aren’t going to go quietly like Everton, it could get real messy and I’m not talking Lionel.
Ha ha Kev but you’re right, they will fight tooth and nail against any punishment they are given if found guilty. Plus, I’m sure I read that Chelsea are being looked at too.
Perhaps Arsenal could agree a loan for Toney before signing him in the summer if it suits both parties.
No wonder Brentford let us have Raya on loan with the obligation to sign him, Brentford then went out and spent £11m on his replacement from Freiburg whilst we have to find £35m next summer and have a disgruntled Ramsdale on the bench.
Who knows what affect they may have had in the dressing room?
Yeah Rico, both Chelsea and City will have some serious lawyers waiting to tear holes in any FFP case against them, this could drag on for ages
Exactly. The Brentford game, when Ramsdale played, it was clear to see a very different rapport between him and the players to what we see with Raya. Arteta has upset the apple cart unnecessarily imo.
It has already Kev, the City hearing is pencilled in for late this year but I bet it gets adjourned.
I think the problem with some of the players we wanted to sell was of course the stupid wages we were paying them, nobody in europe has any money to pay for both a transfer fee and an inflated salary so that’s why we gave them away, don’t worry this is affecting most Premier League clubs now unless you sell to Saudi or to another EPL club
Have we signed anyone yet?
I think so Rico, thanks to his bloody goalkeeping coach, I did hope that Raya would bring a calming effect as Aaron can get a bit fidgety but there doesn’t seem the same rapport between Raya and the defence.
Mind you it wouldn’t be a problem if our forwards rediscovered their shooting boots…
Agree to a degree Kev but let’s face it, Arteta has invariably made it clear that players he wanted moved on, weren’t wanted by him.
The Prosecution have to be 100% sure they have all the evidence Rico and that it’s watertight or else Man City’s lawyers will run rings around them, it’s why it’s taking so long and why Pep hasn’t signed a new contract yet.
No Cicero. 😂
I think it’s Ramsdale who brings calm to the defence Kev. Agree on the GK coach though, the fact he’s Spanish probably helps him. Just get rid of him and take Raya with him imo. If we’re going to sign a keeper better than Ramsdale then fine but don’t replace him with a under tall rabbit in headlights.
It’s odd, but I’ve not read many, if any transfer rumours concerning Arsenal, I reckon we might have to wait awhile although we’ve been linked to a teenage centre back from Ajax who is being bigged up, we might sell Kiwior to pay for him, just a thought?
I know Kev. 😂
City wouldn’t or at least shouldn’t have been charged unless evidence sufficient for a prosecution wasn’t in place but, City will no doubt try and find a new piece of evidence into their defence at a late stage which could lead to an adjournment. It’s common.
Mind you Cana must have had some input with the signing of Ramsdale and a lot of people were unhappy with that deal at the time Rico.
Anyway, let’s all laugh at Wayne Rooney 😄
I read that Kiwior isn’t for sale, nor Eddie. However, I’m sure a half decent offer would change Arsenal’s mind. Especially if we’re to sign a striker. As for the left back, just get Tierney back. #brokenrecord… lol
Wasn’t Ramsdale pre Cana Kev? I’m probably wrong. 😂
Rico, the City case is make of break, lose that and the gloves are off, it’ll be like the Wild West and Stan will be the first to leave town… 😉
I’ve checked and I am wrong.
However, good news is that Cana’s contract expires in June this year..
I can’t wait Kev. Not for Stan to go but for City to be found guilty 😀
We could save money by sending Raya back, unless we can get 30 mill for Ramsdale if Arteta really wants to keep Raya. then sell Elneny and possible loan ESR out for 12 Months to save a bit more money and hopefully then ESR can get some game time then sell Eddie and keep Patino if he is any good.
We need to be playing ESR imo Geoff. Odegaard can’t play in every game, nor can Havertz.
Cana joined 24/12/2019
Rico, you’re not wrong, just mistaken. 😉
Goalkeeper David Raya has joined Arsenal on a season-long loan, with an option for the Gunners to make the transfer permanent.
Before departing, Raya signed a new two-year contract with Brentford, with a club option for an additional 12 months.
“I’m sure the first question that all Brentford fans will ask is why this transfer has been structured as an initial loan with Arsenal having the option to make it permanent in the future,” said Brentford director of football Phil Giles.
“The answer to that is simply that it enables this deal to be done more rapidly between both clubs, with all parties wanting to make this a permanent transfer as soon as practically possible, whenever that might be.
“David’s contract extension is a fall-back position in the event that the transfer is not made permanent. I’m not expecting to see David back at Brentford, although if ever that happened then of course the opportunity to work with such a high-class goalkeeper for up to two more years would in many ways be an unexpected bonus for us.
I can cope with wrong Kev. Lol
Rico, I don’t think we can afford to let anyone leave unless they pay a fee and a biggish fee, you know, realistic.
There’s a lot of interest in Kiwior but they only want him on loan, the Italians have tightened right up they are tighter than the Turkish clubs and we all know that they don’t spend any lira either, you know Elneny. 😴
It’s official, Tomiyasu called up by Japan for the Asian Cup….fit or not. 😕
That’s interesting Rico, I thought the Raya deal was a loan with an obligation, not a loan with an option?
Agree Kev, we can’t sell right now but we could certainly buy and sell. If that makes sense. We could do with Luton staying in the PL if they really want Sambi.
We don’t have a reliable left back, no money to buy one, so why not promote Elian Quesada-Thorn?
A lot of people did Kev re Raya, bar me of course 🤣 but I’m sure as heck glad there’s no obligation to buy him.
You mean promote a youth player Cicero? Are you sure? 😂
Or Lino Sousa? These youngsters have to be blooded sooner or later, why not now?
Sousa is another option, hasn’t he been training with the first team at times?
They’re not kids Rico, both nineteen.
I was more referring to Arteta and his seemingly reluctance to promote youth Cicero..
Rooney sacked…
Ah! Irony Rico, I geddit. ….😉
That’s a nice little earner for Rooney, he’s on a three-year contract. £££££
I thought you’d missed it Cicero.. lol
Could Arsenal have striker call answered?
South American football expert Tim Vickery:
“One I’m being told Arsenal are looking at is Santos striker Marcos Leonardo. He had a very good Under-20 World Cup a few months back.
“Santos have just been relegated. What’s interesting about him is that they’d have been relegated much sooner had it not been for his goals.
“He’s been scoring goals in a losing cause. He is another one who is very raw and he is a penalty-area operator. Not a target-man operator but a bit like Romario. He’s very good in restricted space and doesn’t offer you a great deal outside the penalty area.
“His link-up play still leaves a lot to be desired, but it could be interesting for Arsenal because his skill set could fit in with the other forwards they have.
“There will be competition for him from others. Benfica are getting very interested as well.”
Elneny ‘on verge of Arsenal departure’
Mohamed Elneny is on the verge of leaving Arsenal amid growing transfer interest, according to the Daily Mail.
The Egypt international is the subject of offers from Turkish sides Trabzonspor and Besiktas as the Gunners consider offers for fringe players.
The 31-year-old midfielder has made one appearance in the Premier League for the Gunners this season, as he continues to be overlooked by Mikel Arteta.
Since joining the club from Swiss side FC Basel in 2015, Elneny has made 159 appearances, scoring six goals.
Latest from Arteta:-
Zinchenko out with a calf injury and Ben White needs a rest.
Off to the Sheringham panto with the young grandson shortly. Oh yes I am! 🤣
Have fun with Buttons then . Our local one has been abandoned due to the excess water . They were going to do Ali baba but the leader of the Broads Authority refused the part of Kasim the greedy robber..
Zinchenko out with a calf injury and Ben White needs a rest.
Back 4 will be interesting against Livarpool , No Tomi either.
Looks like Arsenal will have little choice to dip into the transfer market even if for loans.
Marcos Leonardo: Agent confirms ‘time has come’ for Arsenal-linked striker’s transfer
Brazilian striker, 20, now ready to move after coming close to summer exit
Marc Mayo
European clubs are settle to battle over Santos hotshot Marcos Leonardo when the January transfer window opens.
Arsenal and Manchester United have been linked with the 20-year-old striker in recent months but sturdy competition comes in the form of Newcastle and Roma.
Leonardo has hit 17 goals for Santos during the 2023 campaign for the Brazilian club, which sold teenage forwards Angelo Gabriel and Deivid Washington to Chelsea during the summer.
There were also offers for Leonardo to move on but he stayed put in Sao Paulo – and is now primed to move on.
The player’s agent, Rafaela Pimenta, is quoted in Italian media as saying: “Already in the previous transfer market he had the possibility of being sold, but Santos’ sporting situation was very particular.
“He agreed to stay because he wanted to help out until the end of the championship. He didn’t want to leave because it wasn’t the right thing to do.
“But the time has come to move. He wants to have a European experience and his time will come this winter.”
Arsenal have been linked with a move into the transfer market for a new striker amid Gabriel Jesus’ recent injury issues, however they appear to be prioritising signing a midfielder.
(From July, Evening Standard)
Cedric Soares to make a heroic return vs Liverpool….
Rico, do you reckon that PSG might just loan us Mbappe?
Kev, 1.19pm. 😂
Omg, I forgot him. It’s going to happen isn’t it…
Err, Mbappe, no Kev. 😜
Just back from a thoroughly enjoyable panto. Driving conditions horrendous, heavy rain, strong winds and several trees down. Happy to be home and snug by the fire.
Cicero, it’s rotten weather out there, still, it’s meant to calm down overnight.
Trees down ? did you go Gresham route or Roughton . I may have to go to Sheringham in the morning .If I go via North Walsham it will take me to Roughton so i may have to take the coast road through Cromer.
Thanks Potter.
Potter, Go right and left in Roughton and you’ll get through okay. But there are road works with traffic lights outside Felbrigg Hall.
The Ivan Toney signing looks dead in the water. Brentford want £100 million for him and Arsenal would be at risk of breaching profit and sustainability rules if the coughed up that much. Neither could we take him on loan as Premiership rules do not allow clubs to ignore than one loanee from any one club.
Hard luck on Brentford as they are in talks to sign Toney’s replacement a twenty-one year old striker for £26 million from Real Betis.
Not sure where the “ignore” came from, it should read “take more”.
Morning all.
Perhaps we should be looking at the player Brentford are looking at. lol
Good morning Rico.
His name is Assane Diao has played for Spain at u18, u 19 and u21. I should have said earlier that he is 18 not 21.
Buy him and he can go on the list of all the young starlets we have that never see the light of day. They get on the bench sometimes but rarely get their 10 minutes because we never get 3 goals up to give them the chance.
Morning Cicero, Potter.
New post is up now. You’ll find it spooky potter lol