Morning all.
If the Emi Buendia deal came down to money then Villa are welcome to him. If the player really wanted a move to Arsenal, he could have said no to the move to Birmingham. Sometimes, things just don’t work out. Assuming Arsenal really were in for the Norwich City player of course, after all, just because it’s written down, it doesn’t mean it’s true.
However, if Arsenal did want Buendia, I’m sure he’s not the only player out there in the big wide world who can play in a similar fashion. Maybe someone as good, or better still, better. Maybe Arsenal are in for Jack Grealish. Nice thought eh.
I’m sure that half the time the media like to add Arsenal’s name to every player who appears to be on the move just so they can spin negativity about how the failed to get their man or as in this case ‘Arsenal outbid by Aston Villa’. It’s tedious and boring really.
What’s more important is who Arsenal do sign and those players need to join Arsenal because it’s Arsenal and not for how big their salary will be. Arsenal need players who want to play football each and every week and are prepared to fight for the right to play. As a club we don’t want or need passengers, Mikel Arteta and Edu have already got rid of a few and we don’t need any more. Nor do we need anymore footballing OAP’s looking for a nice and cosy resting place before they retire.
The whole idea of a transfer window is to improve the first team first and foremost which funny enough means signing players who’re better than we already have or different. For example, I see little point in signing a right back who’s no better than Bellerin or Cedric, or a left back who’s no better than Kolasinac or Cedric. Who Arsenal buy has to be an improvement on who they sell in my opinion otherwise it’s a pointless exercise isn’t it?
Matteo Guendouzi, Lucas Torreira, Sead Kolasinac – on paper, all three return to the club this summer because their contracts dictate it. In a Covid hit transfer window, I reckon Arsenal would be lucky to get £35-40 million for the lot of them but, if selling all three means the club raise enough funds to pay for one top notch player, it’d make sense because three wages would turn into one and we’d have a player who Arteta wants to bring into his footballing system.
Joe Willock, AMN, Reiss Nelson and Eddie Nketiah – two have been on loan, the other two cast into the shadows. I think the likelihood of more than one of them being at the club when the transfer window closes are slim. Maybe all four will be sold in order to raise funds to reinvest. I’ve really no idea but after Willock’s fine loan spell at Newcastle, I’d have thought he’d been afforded at least one more season at Arsenal.
I’d like to see AMN and Nelson stay too but sadly, there’s no room for sentiment in the game. Next season there’ll hopefully be more academy players joining the first team squad, one or two might even be better than those Arteta chooses to sell. Assuming they’ll be given playing time of course.
Anyway, Arsenal may or may not have missed out on Buendia, perhaps Arteta will tell us one day about how he nearly signed him, what’s important for the club if they did, is to move on to plan b, quickly.
Hope all that makes sense, it did in my head….
Good morning Rico.
Grealish? No thanks! He spends too much time sitting on his a**e complaining to the ref.
I would have liked to see Buendia in an Arsenal shirt, but, as I think Kev said, ESR is as good if not better and he’s home-grown.
Morning Cicero, all.
I would have too but I’d rather Bissouma or someone similar. Both preferably 😂
Cicero, I’m with you.
Grealish is a scumbag, who’d be better off representing England at Tokyo in the pool.!
I can not believe people swoon over the guy-he’s everything I detest in the game.
So much talent, and yet all I see is a cheating grub.
Morning all 😉
I think Grealish is a very good footballer. A bit of a diver perhaps but a quality player.
Rico, it’s not often we agree, but this time you are right 🙂
Bissouma, let’s get him.
Morning Rico. Always wise not to let the media’s narrative have any effect on you.
Grealish is a really good player. Things happen for you when he’s on the pitch. We should have bought him after we beat Villa in the FA cup final a few years ago. You could see he was different then.
Morning Adam, agreed on both accounts. I’d love it if Grealish signed for us.. Perhaps we could have negotiated a deal when we sold them Martinez on the cheap.
Grealish is a superb player and that’s why I detest him-he doesn’t need the theatrics to get results.
He has no excuse.
I doubt you watched the England game Scott but he and Saka were kicked for fun. Let’s not lose sight of the fact a few Arsenal players have it in them to go over rather theatrically.
Morning all. Great talking point Rico.
Buendia? I suspect that no interest has been made during this cycle. It’s the media cooking up and recycling an old interest for the sake of a cheap headline. Arsenal were knocked back during the winter t w. Easy enough to rehash an old story, update it and then peddle it as another AFC failure.
Thanks Wavy. Just how I see this story, rehashed from previous links. I still believe that had we been in for him, and he wanted to join Arsenal, he would have.
How much more effective could Grealish be if he didn’t play for fouls? Getting free kicks is all well and good, but many times he could have done better to stay on his feet. Sooner or later refs are going to lose patience with his appealing and start booking him for dissent.
He’s English though and plays for his country. He’s another Rooney, Neville, Kane, Vardy etc etc.
Any half decent manager would have curbed his theatrics imo.
Hi Rico and all
I can see Arteta keep Joe Willock but the other 3 players you mentioned Rico I recon we will sell to raise funds.
Hi Geoff. I’m not even sure we’ll keep Willock if a really good offer comes in for him.
Who knows eh..
Saka didn’t take part in training yesterday. Injury or tiredness?
Nketiah has been offered to Bournemouth for around £10 million.
Agreed Rico. Xhaka and Gabriel also go to ground easily, especially when they feel a player behind them. Sometimes they buy the foul and sometimes the ref doesn’t fall for it. It’s an unfortunate aspect of the modern game. Teams like PSG have made it a cornerstone of their tactical setup.
As have a few English clubs Adam. City for one plus they dish out the dirty stuff too.
Odegaard is reported to be earning £85,000 a week at Real. That’s less than many of our current players.
Ceballos and Odegaard are gone and Buendia isn’t coming so there could well be a place for Willock, even if we do get Bissouma who is a different type of player.
Rico, I’ve never defended any player who takes a dive, including one wearing the Arsenal shirt.
Plenty have……..and on here.
I call them out and am happy to.
Ok Scott…
Yes Cicero, it was moi…
With no european fixtures I think that with common sense decision making that Arteta can manage Smith Rowe’s minutes and thus avoiding injuring one of our crown jewels.
Buendia sounded nice, a big signing in this WuFlu climate but I’m strangely not that bothered just as I’m not too bothered about Odegaard and who knows, Real might change tact and accept a more realistic fee for him? If not another year taking a Odegaard on loan makes a lot of sense to me if we can make it happen.
I can’t really focus too much on signings in this climate as we need to slim down the squad dramatically therefore the news of our players being moved on and the negotiations were involved in interests me as I want to see Arsenal become more hard nosed when dealing in sales.
So many countries accept diving as part of the game.
I don’t get it.
It’s cheating, no matter how people try to dress it up.
There you have it, I’ve heard Nketiah to West Ham for £18m, Nketiah to Leeds for £20m, Nketiah to Watford and/or Brighton for £15m and now Bournemouth for £10m, yadda, yadda, yadda. The window doesn’t open until Wednesday and I’m bored with it already.
Kev, We need to reduce our wage bill so I think Odegaard would have to reduce his wage expectations if he did sign for us.
No Rico, it’s not ok, imo.
We shouldn’t ever defend divers because they wear our shirt.
Kev, my local A league have a contract signed by Eddie hahahaha
Love this time of year 🙂
I don’t though Scott and I didn’t want to get into a he said, she said thing with you. It gains nothing and goes nowhere.
RIco, do I have a comment in spam?
No Kev, not unless it pops up in a minute. I’ll keep an eye out.
I get that Cicero, if we shift Willian then that’ll balance the books.
I think the books will balance themselves out as the big earners leave. Luiz, Mustafi salaries are gone. Plus with a clear out of the players who’ve been on loan but not set to stay. They might not be on vast wages but they all add up. If we move Auba and Willian on, Torreira, Guendouzi and Kolasinac too, our wage bill reduction will be huge.
Rúben Neves is linked to Arsenal, he’s the plan b after losing out on Buendia 😜
Ah, the snowflakes on social media are trying to silence me Rico. 😄
Ha ha Kev.
Ok Rico 😉
Kev, Mark Z has your number hahahaha
These are quite funny. Forget what’s at stake though…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iw0AHcSFf_4
Rico I noticed today that apparently Thierry Henry has now want’s us to sign the young guy we mentioned yesterday Albert Lokonga I still think he worth keeping an eye on
Petit wants us sign Zaha Geoff. Lol
I’m going to google Lokonga, Henry is back with the Belgium squad so that’s probably where the story comes from.
That’s true Rico. Bruno Fernandes has turned simulation into an art form. He can butcher an opponent and convince the ref that he’s been fouled.
Agree Adam. Another talented yet devious footballer.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-9653265/Thierry-Henry-attempting-persuade-Arsenal-pursue-Albert-Sambi-Lokonga.html
Jeorge Bird wrote the article for the Mail. Good for him.
Why does the football world in general accept diving as part of the game?
Has it become something that we all hate, but have decided that as the authorities won’t take action to stop it, we might as well just stop worrying about it?
Rico all that video clip needed was a referee to fall over likes the player did when they grab the ref.
The only way they will stamp out diving in the goal square is to (a) pay penalty or (b) if not a penalty issue a yellow card if 50/50 or a red card for straight none contact
The entire footballing authorities have to get on board Geoff if anything is to change. I can’t see that happening for a long time yet. It should though.
Geoff, until FIFA take a hard stance against diving, it’ll continue, imo.
Ban the cheats for 12 months and it’ll stop very quickly.
I’m not on Facebook and probably won’t ever go on it Scott precisely because of people like Mark Z and Jack Dorsey and all the other tax evaders, but what goes around Scott, what goes around…
Ruben Neves, nah, not for me…
Scott, the football world seems to accept all in wrestling at every corner or free kick into the box so simulation is pretty tame by comparison.
It’s funny how the shirt pulling in the box was clamped down on one particular tournament (I think) and a large number of penalties were awarded. Rightly so I hasten to add but after much debate, with a lot of criticism, very few refs take notice of all the shirt pulling these days. Let alone the wrestling which goes on.
Good afternoon Rico and all
A good point in the post Rico…..We had the Missed AW 11. Are we beginning a missed 11 of Arteta??? that would be hilarious.
I dont think buendia is a missed opportunity. There are other players who can do a similar or better job.
Ruben Neves instead of Xhaka?? Matheus Pereira instead of Buendia?? That is a Portuguezer and a Brazilian. How much would they cost?? Pereira will not uproot trees…as WBA have gone down and that will have an effect. But Wolves stayed up so Neves will cost a tidy sum.
Is he better than Xhaka and Elneny??
I liked Pereira when we played against WBA. He is quick….both in feet and in thought. something we lack. And whatever pundits say….Arsenal are an upgrade on Wolves. so for him it will be a step up.
Arsenal next season will be a lot different than this season and a lot lot better
Afternoon Devil, thanks. I don’t think we’re beginning to see a missed out list from Arteta. I’d imagine he, Edu and co will keep transfer stuff close to their chest. The Wenger statements about players he nearly signed were embarrassing imo.
They can keep Zaha
Kev. That and the extraordinary levels of short pulling that goes on throughout each and every game of course.
R. Neves was interesting.
Just like Vitinha
Just like Phil Foden.
I haven’t figured it out yet, if the full-backs are to leave (?) otherwise it will be one of our priorities. Under normal conditions it is not easy to find better than Bellerin and Cedirc. two national team players from their respective countries and two of the countries that have won the most in Europe (and the world) at all levels in recent years.
Jm, I don’t think any of us know who’s staying or going.
Hasn’t it just Adam, apart from at Arsenal though where the slightest of touches often favour the opponent.
The penalty box wrestling has become farcical Rico. Liverpool and Man Utd are class leaders in that one with Maguire being a notable exponent of the black art.
The subtle push, the back making, the off the ball block and the Rudiger assault on De Bruyne all let go by the man in black or yellow. However 3 twists with roll over travelling at speed gets attention every time. Hence the ability of United to get more penalties in a month than most get in a season.
Imagine if Arsenal players did the same Potter, or other clubs who don’t seem to have the ref in their pocket.
Exactly Adam, shirt pulling is routinely ignored by the officials and VAR but I guess it all adds to the games’ charm, or something like that, I blame Antifa myself.
I’ve been watching the England game, thinking they were in white. 😂
I reckon Grealish has been reading here today, he delivered in a timely fashion that’s for sure. Lol
Makes sense to me too Hobart. Overpaying for players can come back to bite. Look at some of the signings Arsenal have previously overpaid to get.
It’s tragic really, England have probably their most talented generation of footballers since the Mexico World Cup in 1970 but we don’t have a manager or coaching staff to match the playing staff and I fear a wasted generation…
Watching England is hard work.
It’s a bit like watching Arsenal…
I’d guess we were in for Buendia but wouldn’t go above our valuation.
Makes sense to me.
I agree Rico. We should stick to our valuation.
But there are instances were if we paid a bit above we would have got Ronaldo and Drogba for example.
I love it when Arsenal stick to their guns….but not at all costs
Trouble is Devil, where do you draw the line?
I still maintain that if Buendia really want to join Arsenal, he could have. Perhaps playing alongside his international team mate swung it for him.
Mavropanos has played full game as Greece beat Norway 2-1
Morning all.
Yes, officials should be enforcing the rules on either side of the equation-players with and without the ball should be playing within the rules or be penalised.
It isn’t rocket science.
On transfers, I think we should set a limit, and not cross over it but also we should be realistic and not expect every player just wants to join us because of past deeds.
Okay today’s game was a friendly, nothing about the result mattered. We won the game courtesy of a very dodgy penalty award. I would be ashamed if England won a competitive game in that fashion.
One of the ITV commentators went as far as questioning wether or not the penalty would have survived a VAR review. I didn’t bother to stay tuned for the post match analysis but I suspect the the penalty “win” by Grealish was glossed over.
Morning Gooners, it’s a fabulous sunny day out (who needs the Iberian peninsula) just perfect for sitting in a cycle lane/LTN artificially created traffic jam in London, deep joy.
Morning Kev, all.
Sounds fab Kev, not… lol
New post up now
https://highbury-house.com/2021/06/07/pre-season-and-wholl-miss-out/