Daily Bits and Bobs

Once there was three, soon there could be none…

Posted on by rico

Morning all.

The boy is back, except he’s a boy no longer. He’s our number 7, one of the most important players at the club. I wall of letters, comments and photos showing him what the real football fans think, was a lovely thing for Arsenal and the fans to do.

Arsenal still have the two Gabriel’s missing, one in action for his country in an Olympic Final, the other in recovery after injury forced him to miss the summer competition. I’d imagine they’ll be a bit of friendly banter between the two should Brazil take home the gold medal on Saturday. Kick off is at 12:30.

Arsenal.com

Do yo think someone should tell him he’s walking the wrong way along the corridor? No wonder Arsenal pass backwards a lot. I jest of course.

I’m still cheesed off with Chelsea for the way they put the boot into some of our players last weekend. There’s just no need for it in the game and certainly not in a friendly. I saw the news about Wesley Fofana after Leicester’s friendly against Villarreal. Stretched off with a now confirmed broken leg rolling an awful scissor style challenge by Nino. These kind of challenges are so unnecessary, play strong and hard yes but everyone knows a scissor tackle can cause serious injury. Fofana had a great season last term and Leicester City are going to miss him.

The James Maddison story won’t go away, I’m surprised Arsenal haven’t walked away by now and looked elsewhere. Either of Martin Odegaard or Houssem Aouar would be cheaper options for Arsenal but it seems the club are keen to include its own players in a deal to keep the financial outlay down. The tabloids report that Aoura’s agents are surprised Arsenal haven’t gone back for their player considering the interest in him last summer. Lyon are reportedly keen to sell Aouar in order to raise funds and the same applies to Real Madrid who along with so many football clubs, need to balance the books.

Arsenal are no different which is probably why the internet has articles which suggest the club have agreed to sell Joe Willock to Newcastle Utd for £25m. That figure is more than Roma offered for Granit Xhaka, more than the club could expect to get for Elneny and probably more than barring a handful, any other club would pay for many Arsenal players. I don’t like the thought of him leaving and I expect many Arsenal fans feel the same but it seems that from once having all three Willock boys at the club, we’re soon to have none.

If selling Joe Willock means Arsenal sign James Maddison, I’d rather the latter stayed in Leicester.

See you in the comments.

 

 

 

 

rico

70 thoughts on “Once there was three, soon there could be none…”

  1. Wavy says:

    Morning Rico good post lots to respond to I’ll stick to one for now.

    Maddison. No question about his ability, he’s a nugget or at least he was. He’s out of favour at L City I believe, so a big money move from him wouldn’t come amiss. I’m not convinced we need him and the expense of his salary etc. I think we have several similarly talented young players coming through. Save the money I suggest and look inwardly to satisfy the need for another number 10.

    Just a comment on Saka’s wall. It’s really gratifying to see such a massive response in favour of his place at the Arsenal and the real fans response to negative, mindless and possibly life destroying comments. He is, from what I’ve seen of him and learned about him, an admirable, level headed and bright young man. He seems very grounded and mature for one so young. Negativity can do untold harm I think young Bakayo is clever enough to ignore the anonymous idiots and move on successfully. He should enjoy his career as should any gifted footballer. Without the interference of the mindless racist morons who have very little understanding of what it means to be a well balanced human being!

    I hope I don’t seem too pompous or even self righteous but, I do believe in the goodness of human beings and everyone’s right to live a happy and fruitful life no matter who they are.

  2. allezkev says:

    Morning Gooners, I don’t think that Arteta would sanction the sale of Willock if he’d been able to sell the likes of Kolasinac, Bellerin, Torrieira or Niles, just as I didn’t think he wanted to sell Emi Martinez a year ago, but selling Martinez allowed us to finance the acquisition of Gabriel because nobody but nobody was in for Leno that I was aware of…

    Arteta is still after 18 months stuck with a lot of players he wasn’t responsible for signing and he can’t shift them just as he could shift Ozil or Mustafi or Sokratis, that’s the price the club is paying for some atrocious judgement in the transfer market by Gazides, Wenger, Raul and probably Edu.

  4. rico says:

    Morning Kev, I can understand where you’re coming from but as was the case with Emi, selling Willock can be avoided by not buying Maddison. Just like play Émile instead of selling him.

    I want Edu and Arteta to succeed but I simply don’t understand their rationale when it comes to who they keep and who they sell.

  5. rico says:

    Plus, let’s not forget Arteta and Edu awarded Aubameyang his big contract, plus they signed Willian. If they renew Xhaka and Bellerin’s contract too, then it’s bonkers imo.

  6. allezkev says:

    Good comment Wavy, I think that most on here would be on board with your sentiments.

    Well you know my thoughts on the Emi Martinez situation Rico and morning to you, if we’d kept Emi we wouldn’t now be looking for a new goalkeeper, but we also signed Thomas Partey that summer so we needed to balance the books. I guess that Arteta, his goalkeeping coach, the other coaches and the data analysts decided that Leno was the better goalkeeper at the time?

    I also remember how devastated we all were when Leno got injured at Brighton 20 months ago because the guy coming in had almost been sold to Leeds for less than £10m in that January if I recall and none of us thought he was much cop. We all pretty much thought our season was finished without Leno but Martinez played amazingly and now we’re all regretting him leaving, but Leno was pretty good before that Brighton injury and I don’t recall anyone saying we needed a new goalkeeper at the time?

    Looking back and it’s always easy to look back, we should have told Martinez that he finished that season as No.1 and he would start last season as No.1. Leno wouldn’t have been happy but as a manager at a big club you have to deal with it.

    That’s what I wanted the club to do as you know, but finance got in the way it seems. That situation would not have happened at Chelsea or Man City nor probably Man Utd or Liverpool because the owners would have stepped in to provide the finance for further signings without the need to sell.

    So Arteta had a stark choice, he needed to raise some funds to help grease the wheels of the Gabriel and Partey transfers, he had no bids in for Leno or any of our other deadwoods and the only player he could raise funds on was Emi and Emi was also making demands about his place being guaranteed in the team after only about 10 games in the 1st team.

    I don’t blame Arteta because it was a collective failure and we e had to live with it since.

  7. Deeno36 says:

    Willock scored 8 goals in 14 matches last term for Newcastle, so you’d think he would shine at Arsenal with players around him. He scored the same amount as Maddison did in 34 matches, so there is not that much between them. So why sell one for £25M to buy for £70M. We need a striker more, as Lacazette is good but not a 20-30 a season man, Auba is coming to the end of his playing career at 32 and Nketiah is not yet at the level we want, and Balogun has not yet proven his skills for the 1st team. We had the 3rd Best defence last term but our goals were what caused us to fail. I would get Martinez or Abraham in before we agree on Maddison. Even play Willock in the 1st 2 games and see how he goes, if he plays like he did with Newcastle, why spend £70M? I would love Maddison at Arsenal, but do we need him more than a Striker or a RB (depending on if Bellerin goes or not)

  8. allezkev says:

    Rico, again looking back, the contract to Aubameyang hasn’t been the smartest piece of business we’ve done, as it stands today. But a year ago?

    Well PEA had just come off of an amazing run where he’d destroyed Man City and Chelsea in the FACup and was scoring goals for fun. Everyone wanted him to stay at the time (except Cicero) and we were all delighted when he stayed (except Cicero). We had videos asking him to stay with Ian Wright in them, it was like a new signing and we signed Saka onto a new deal, mate we was rocking that summer. A year later and it’s doom and gloom…

    I’m not sure you can hammer the club over Aubameyang not when the fan base made it clear that’s what they wanted and certainly not with our recent history of players running down their contracts like Van Persie, Alexis etc.

  9. allezkev says:

    Willian has been an unmitigated disaster Rico, probably one of the worst signings in the clubs’ entire history given the finance involved.

    His name will be forever used when in the future we see Arsenal making transfers that don’t work, because we will, every team does. But none of us predicted that he could have been so so bad, I certainly didn’t.

    I wasn’t over the moon when we were linked to him but I ‘trusted the process’ and he was within the budget we had. Maybe if KSE had stumped up some more dough we would have signed someone else but they didn’t and we got Willian.

    You kind of look for clues when you sign a player, Chelsea wanted to keep him and offered him a new two year deal, other clubs were in for him, I’m sure that Milan was one so I thought he’s gotta be worth having and thus we went in big and offered him a three year deal.
    Hooray, we got him, we beat Chelsea to him!

    But just as Alexis regretted leaving Arsenal for Man Utd, Willian pretty much immediately regretted leaving Chelsea for Arsenal and played like it.

  10. rico says:

    I didn’t want Aubameyang to stay either but in the end I thought the negatives around him going wouldn’t do us much good so my opinion swayed. I wasn’t against Willian but three years? Why? Same re Xhaka, why when he has two years to go on his current contract, give him another four year contract. These are the things are can’t understand.

    Why pay £60-70m for a player who another PL club are happy to sell to us? Doesn’t make sense to me.

  12. allezkev says:

    I’m not sure that Arteta wanted either Xhaka or Bellerin to leave in the first place Rico and I reckon he will be quite happy to see them stay, it means he doesn’t have to replace them.

    As for new contracts, well yeah I’m a bit with you over them as new contracts aren’t going to make them anymore valuable, so protecting their value is a bit of a thin reason because nobody offered much money for them this summer and I doubt that that will change in 12 or 24 months time.

    Maybe as both Xhaka and Bellerin took pay cuts at the beginning of WuFlu the club is deciding its only fair to pay them back with a pay rise and a new contract?

    I think keeping Xhaka is a good move given the financial situation abroad and maybe Bellerin likewise, that’s my view anyway but feel free everyone to shoot me down concerning them over the next few months and years. 😀

  14. Cicero says:

    Maybe, just maybe Arteta and Edu are not responsible for the Willock situation.

    Joe had a very good season on loan at the Magpies, he not only played regularly but started on many occasions. Steve Bruce showed him that he was a valuable part of the set up and has made it abundantly clear that he has a future in the North East.

    With Arsenal continually linked with players, from outside the club who can play in Joe’s position, Maddison, Odegaard, Aouar etc, the lad can have no confidence in getting regular first team football at the Emirates so a move away must look extremely inviting and he may have requested either regular starts or a transfer.

    If that is the case , who can blame him ?

  15. Cicero says:

    Thanks for the acknowledgements Kev, can I also point out that I also questioned the logic behind the Willian signing? 😉

  19. allezkev says:

    Cicero, you are a smarty pants. 😁

    The Willock thing is another dilemma for the club, we could have sold both Maitland Niles and Lacazette last season, as I recall Roma low balled us with a low bid for Laca and Wolves, wasn’t it, bidding £15m for Niles off the back of some good performances for us and an England call up.

    Now those bids look acceptable but at the time they didn’t, well not to me ( carry on loading Rico) so I wonder about Willock and is he as good as he’s going to get because in 40 EPL appearances for us he scored 1 goal…

    You can’t win, keep him and if his form falls off of a cliff the club gets criticised for not selling, sell him and, well, just duck if he bangs in 15 goals!

    Good luck with that decision…

  20. andrewh1313 says:

    Afternoon rico, all. Great article and follow up posts from the very first one. I agree with everything said and have been nodding my head to such well-balanced views. It’s what makes this such a good stand-out forum.

  22. rico says:

    Afternoon Andrew and thank you.

    I think with the differing on views it shows how hard it must be to balance the books and squad players etc etc. But nothing about selling Willock so we can sign Maddison makes any sense to me. If he arrives and scores the winner against Toots in every game, I might have a rethink. 😆

  23. andrewh1313 says:

    I would like Maddison but not at the expense of someone who went out for experience, scored loads of goals that we need, and then to not be given a chance to do the same for us. That would be foolhardy surely. Ok, he might not come off, but the risk is too great.

  26. potter says:

    Just as you think that you have fathomed the plan they do something to prove you wrong . Leaving aside the need for another keeper ,
    Why on earth did we not give Ryan a contract ? he was cheap and an Arsenal supporter to boot , 29 years old and would have jumped at the chance having proved to be more than capable in Leno’s absence . Not that, that means much , just ask Martinez.
    We seemed
    to be going for young players reducing the age and also the wage bill . But then we sign Auba and Willian until they are 35 years old and now Xhaka until well into his 30’s as well and create the need to sell young players that have been reared by the club for another exhorbitant purchase that may or may not be anybetter than the one that we are letting go.
    We all know the names of the ones we would like to see the back of . The list has been well circulated , but how do we purge ourselves without losing a fortune ?
    Quite simply we can’t , but selling our good 21 year olds should not be the way to revitalise our squad . They will be needed if the first option of selling or giving away our older players comes to pass .
    Maitland Niles , Nketiah and of course Willock are all member of an age group just coming to the fore . It’s the same group as Smith -Rowe and Saka . They are all probably a tight knit group .
    Why split it up and bring in a number of players that need learning about ?

  27. potter says:

    In passing just another reminder , when David Rocastle made his debut our squad had 9 players from our junior ranks then we added Thomas in 1987 and George’s success was built on it.

  28. rico says:

    I’ve been thinking about Willock, AMN, Eddie and Nelson and asked myself if any of those players will help get us back into the top four…

  29. rico says:

    Blimey, Michael Ballack’s 18 year old son has been killed in a quad bike accident. How does a family deal with that. 😢

  30. allezkev says:

    One thing that that four have in common Rico is that they’re all older than Smith Rowe and Saka and they all made their debuts a season or two before ESR and Bakayo and yet none of them have nailed down a permanent place in the squad let alone the team.

  32. potter says:

    This year or eventually ? I think it’s a long term project that keeps getting interrupted in short termism. . Everytime we spend big on what is euphamistically called experience we put the youth back a bit.
    The club either comes clean and says that we are going to use those players and add in the newer ones coming through and frankly reduce peoples expectations or else we cast them aside for a pittance and buy at the top of the market in the hope that it all gels in the short term.

  35. rico says:

    Potter, I think Arteta has pretty much said before than too many players aren’t good enough so I suppose selling certain players was always going to happen. I’d much rather it was Willock and Eddie Arteta believed in but I think I’ve accepted he doesn’t think they are right for Arsenal. Or right for his plans.

    I’m just going to see how the rest of the summer plays out and the season ahead. Moaning just makes me more moanie… lol

  36. potter says:

    I try not to moan but I do try to understand and at the moment I am baffled .
    Villa have now got a pot of gold to spend, not so dark horses for top four this season.
    If City get Kane as well Spurs will be splashing out after they have apportioned some of it to debt.

  37. Hobart says:

    We finished 8th and then lost Luiz, Odegaard, Ceballos and Ryan.

    We’ve managed to replace Luiz and Ceballos; but that’s it.

    We’ve added a back up left back. Which is good business.

    Currently our squad is weaker than last season.

    If some more players don’t arrive soon I will start to worry.

  38. allezkev says:

    With Jack Grealish moving to Eastlands for a tidy £100m and the possibility that Lionel Messi could join him there, I guess that makes them the Man City Globetrotters.

    Roll up roll up roll up to the greatest show in town, marvel at the rotational fouling, the simulation and diving, gasp as the City players work the referee and watch in awe as Guardiola justifies working for a country with questionable human rights, you’ll never believe your eyes.

  39. Bradley says:

    Kane will tip Pep on to 1 billion spent in the 5 years at City and still no champions league trophy.

  40. Devilgunner says:

    Good morning Rico and all

    Have we signed Messi yet?? I wonder which number he will get now seeing that ESR has got the 10.

    I guess if we sign him everyone, including us, will shit in our pants with astonishment.

    the queues for supporters wanting to buy Arsenal shirts with Messi’s name on it will be longer than the covid ones.

    Oh, and we need to beat Tottenham by 4 clear goals to win the damned Mind Series cup. Not impossible . We will win 7-0 with Willian getting all the goals and Leno getting all the assists from long punts upfield as soon as he realizes that he cant pass to his team mates in the box.

    After the game Arteta will put Leno up for sale for having the cheek to disobey his team instructions and not playing from the back.

  41. rico says:

    Potter, I don’t understand either, I really don’t but I suppose the club know what they’re doing, or at least they should. For what it’s worth, I think Villa have pretty much spent the Grealish money already. I think they knew he was going and for what price and made their signings knowing the money was coming.

    Morning Devil, all.

  42. rico says:

    I think the squad is stronger already Hobart. White is going to make a difference to our defence imo, having a good backup to Tierney is a big bonus and Lokonga looks like a proper midfielder who is ready for the challenge ahead.

    Ceballos wont be missed but Odegaard will be imo.

    I still think we’ll sign another midfielder, a goal keeper and possibly a striker.

  44. Devilgunner says:

    He can go for all I care Rico. And I am being honest. Because I know that if he comes he will displace ESR10 and also being 34 years old he will command wages for just a year service. The 2nd/3rd year will be downhill.

    But I have the feeling he will come to us simply to tease Willian that he won the Copa America.

  45. potter says:

    Quote from Purslow , Villa’s chief executive :-
    Most importantly for our supporters tonight, I want you all to be reassured that the board, Dean Smith, Johan Lange (sporting director) and I obviously knew this day might come and we have planned accordingly,” he said. “It was never our intention to replace Jack with one footballer.

    “Our strategy was to analyse and break down Jack’s key attributes – his creativity, his assists, his goals – and to find these qualities and others in three forward players.

    “In signing Emiliano Buendia, Leon Bailey and Danny Ings, we believe we have achieved this key objective.

    Maybe your right , Just Tom Daley to get and the jig saw is complete.

  48. Devilgunner says:

    I would still want that Potter. An unhappy bench would be ideal for any coach. It would create competition and the team would improve. I would really love that at AFC. And the coach can rotate at will without the balance and output of the team falling a notch or two.

  49. potter says:

    Depends on how they are managed and what their expectations are . As we have seen at Arsenal if players that consider themselves first pick are suddenly second or third , their displeasure can start to rumble through the squad.

  50. Devilgunner says:

    That is one of the reasons why I want Willock to stay Potter. Because he can rotate with or play with ESR. Both are from the academy. If Arsenal are to get Maddison for 60M I am not confident that he will accept being rotated with ESR. He will be first choice. Sambi is another for example. He is not bought to be totally first choice but he will play, rest and rotate. If we got Locatelli (who I love seeing play very much) he would not have accepted to be rotated and dropped to the bench.

  51. Devilgunner says:

    We have lost much less with Lacazette as a CF from the beginning than with Auba as a CF. As a coach I would tell Auba….sorry but he plays. We have won 66% of points available when Laca plays. If Auba is not happy he has a choice….get his head down and work harder or else fuck off.

    I am in the process of winning matches not handing out match starts to someone who is not delivering.

  52. potter says:

    Watkins , Trezeguet , Luiz and McGinn all regular starters last season with Buendia , Ings and Bailey coming in , someone ot two is not going to be happy.

  53. Devilgunner says:

    Breaking news. Arsenal and Messi have reached an agreement.

    They have agreed it will never happen 😜😜🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

  55. Devilgunner says:

    You need to go out more Rico. Stay out longer. Go to a disco, supermarket, Hyde Park, maybe even a trip to Belfair woods. It will make you happier plus we might sign more footballers

    Willock is going to Newcastle according to some reports. He is travelling up there atm.

  56. rico says:

    If Arsenal are desperate to sign Maddison, I wonder if they’ll offer Holding as part of the deal? Leicester might bite having lost Fofana for a few months..

  57. Devilgunner says:

    But according to other reports Willock was present for a photo shoot and the report was false.

    So believe whichever report you feel is more realistic

  58. Devilgunner says:

    Can we offer them WILLIAN, Aubameyang and Bellerin? Plus money if course. And give them Kolasinac as freebie

  60. Rick says:

    Evening Rico and the House
    The U23 team for tonights game
    Ejeheri
    Swanson
    Ogungbo
    Kiork
    Retik
    Patino
    Hutchinson
    Azeez
    Oyedeyi
    Cottrell
    Taylor Hart

  64. Rick says:

    Finished 4-0 and should have been 6 or 7
    Cottrell Kirk Patino and NortonCuffy loked good the rest found
    it hard going.
    Rico I said this before and I will say it again.
    Azeez is not ready for the first team and I think he has a lot to
    improve on
    But saying this the wood are a good team and at least 5 of
    our starting side were playing for the first time this season

  66. allezkev says:

    Didn’t Borehamwood beat the Chelsea U23’s the game before, 5-0 I think and Chelsea usually have stronger U23 teams than Arsenal, so it probably points to the strength of Borehamwood more than any perceived weakness of Arsenal.

    Was Betsy in charge btw?

  67. Potter says:

    If they beat Chelsea by 5 and us by 4 and we are considering using some of the under 23 players is there a case for poaching one or two

  69. potter says:

    As spotted by @Ahmed91Gooner and uploaded to Twitter, the Brazilian posted an image on Instagram of him on holiday in Spain.

    And it’s safe to say that judging by some of the responses, fans aren’t too pleased with the former midfielder taking a trip during what is an important remaining few weeks of the transfer window.

    However, it should be noted that this isn’t the first time in recent weeks where Edu has taken a short break.
    In fact, just last month he was reunited with Arsenal’s former Head of Football Raul Sanllehi in Monaco.
    Interestingly, a few days later Arsenal announced the signing of Lokonga from Anderlecht and finally reached an agreement with Brighton for White.

    Perhaps this is an indication that the Gunners’ fourth signing of the summer is very close.

    This is from News Now so could be a load of old cobblers.

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