Player minutes, Kroupi and Monga.

Morning all.

Three Arsenal players have been shortlisted for the PFA Men’s Players Player of the Year award.

• • Rayan Cherki, Man City
  • Bruno Fernandes, Man Utd
  • Erling Haaland, Man City
  • Gabriel Magalhaes, Arsenal
  • David Raya, Arsenal
  • Declan Rice, Arsenal 

Junior Kroupi, a name which has been written in the same sentence as Arsenal of late. He’s 19 years old, French, a forward who plays for Bournemouth. The south coast club value him around the £80 million mark according to reports online. That’s a lot of money for a teenager regardless of how good a season he’s just had on the south coast. That kind of money soon eats into a transfer budget and let’s be honest, for that kind of money Arsenal could sign a player who is ready to walk straight into the left wing position from day one. Maybe he’ll turn out to be that guy but I’m not convinced.

Yesterday the internet was awash with rumours, including from Fabrizio Romano, about Arsenal leading the race to sign Jeremy Monga from Leicester City. He too is a winger but he’s 16 years old, 17 by the time the new season comes around but I’d imagine if he does become an Arsenal player, it’ll be with the academy. Romano also suggests that both Arsenal and Liverpool are keen on signing Bradley Barcola from PSG.

2024/25 season saw the emergence of a 17 year old Ethan Nwaneri, our very own Hale Ender. He played in 37 matches across all competitions and scored 9 goals that season. Then he went off on loan in the summer with Noni Madueke signed as back up to Bukayo Saka. Without sounding harsh, I don’t think he’s the best signing Arsenal has made since Mikel Arteta arrived in 2019 but he’s not the worst either. Personally, I think Nwaneri could have done more for the team this past season than our £50 million man from Chelsea.

I know people will say Nwaneri’s season was pretty poor but he had to deal with a lot in France, starting with the sacking of De Zerbi. His loan went downhill from there. Back at Arsenal, with his teammates and family around him, there’s no reason why the now 19 year old cannot get his career back on track. I know I’ve suggested this before but surely he needs at least another season at Arsenal before a decision is made about his future. Honestly, I hope he stays and fights hard for a place in the first team.

A lot of our players will be involved in the World Cup this summer, some of whom could go far in the competition. France, Spain, Germany and even England are likely to reach the latter stages. The semifinals take place on the 14th July, the final just five days later on the 19th. Just over four weeks later, the new Premier League season kicks off which doesn’t leave a lot of time for players to have a proper rest.

Squad depth is going to be crucial during those first few weeks/months, otherwise come Christmas, those darned annoying injuries will occur again, if not before. Over the Christmas and New Year period, no two match rounds will take place within 60 hours, a commitment made to clubs because of the expanded international calendar.

Gabriel Jesus played the least amount of minutes last season: 988, next is Christian Norgaard: 1040 and then Kai Havertz: 1066. Both Jesus and Havertz were ruled out with injury but I think out of the two, only Havertz would have played a lot more had he been fit. Up the other end of the minutes played table is David Raya, Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi with figures of 4620, 4456 and 4300 respectively.

Ideally, next season the gulf between the numbers will not be as great because it’ll show that injuries haven’t been as bad and Mikel Arteta has rotated more because of it. Must admit, I thought Christian Norgaard would have played more than he did because of the wealth of experience he brought with him but going by what his teammates have said, his impact/input away from the pitch has been immense.

I think we’ll see a lot more of Myles Lewis-Skelly in midfield and probably more of Piero Hincapie and Cristhian Mosquera in central defence. More of Max Dowman too. But there is likely to be departures, some we might not like or even agree with but that’s just too bad really. Same with new signings, we can moan and groan all we like but ultimately, people at the club will do what they think is right.

At least if we don’t agree we’ll have something to moan about all through the season… lol

On that note…