Morning all.
Paper Talk up first:
- Arsenal are intending to keep William Saliba at the club next season and are hoping to tie the defender down to a new contract (Daily Mirror).
- Question marks remain over Hector Bellerin’s future at Arsenal after he returned to training with the Premier League club on Thursday. Atletico Madrid and AS Roma are interested in Bellerin, but he would prefer a return to Real Betis after a successful 2021/22 loan spell (Daily Star).
- Gabriel Magalhaes remains a target for Juventus but it remains unlikely that Arsenal will sell the defender this summer (Daily Mirror).
- Arsenal are stepping up their efforts to sign “the next Mesut Ozil” with reports in Turkey claiming they have opened talks with Fenerbahce over a deal for teenage midfielder Arda Guler (Daily Mirror).
Doesn’t above say a lot about what the British Press publish? Mikel Arteta said weeks ago that William Saliba is staying, just as it’s pretty clear that Hector Bellerin is likely to leave. The Gabriel to Juventus rumour has been around since April but, credit to the Mirror, they’ve managed to come up with a new one in Arda Guler. In case you’re interested, he’s a 17 year old left footed midfielder who plays for Fenerbahce. TransferMarket have him valued at £5.5 million. One for Per’s academy perhaps.
Talking of the academy, there are a few headlines floating around on NN which suggest Jack Wilshere might be joining the coaching team. We know there’s a couple of vacancies after both Kevin Betsy, manager of the Under-23s, and Dan Micciche, head coach of the Under-18s, left for Crawley Town a few weeks ago and with the new season not far off, appointments need to be made. I was hoping Freddie might return to manage the under 23’s but maybe that ship has sailed.
One thing with Jack Wilshere, is he loves the club and seldom misses an opportunity to take the mickey out of the noisy neighbours. Just yesterday he was quoted in the newspapers as saying Richarlison wouldn’t get into Arsenal’s first team. Fighting talk Jack! Still, someone has to believe that because after reading around a few Arsenal blog comments section, you’d think Totts had just signed Messi or Ronaldo in their prime.
I find it quite sad, strange too, that Edu is taking a hammering in certain Arsenal quarters, just because Chelsea stepped into the Raphinha deal and Man Utd are trying to sign Martinez. That’s what happens in a transfer window when certain footballers are wanted by multiple clubs. If a player really wants to join Arsenal, he will, regardless of other clubs interest. Chelsea might now find that out if Barca really are hoping to sign Raphinha. Remember when Cesc left? Of course you do and Arsene Wenger was criticised because Barca paid cheaply for him but in hindsight, there was little point in him being offered to other clubs for more money because the only club for him back then was the Barca.
Of course we’d all love to see half a dozen players through the door already but transfer don’t always work that way. Especially when trying to sign high quality players, and isn’t that what most of us want the club to do? Look how long it’s taking for Gabriel Jesus to be signed, sealed and delivered, and that’s a player who reportedly was only ever interested in joining Arsenal. Let’s not forget that like all of us, footballers need a holiday so time and patience is needed I think.
Saying that, I wish Arsenal would hurry up and announce Jesus, then we can get excited about the next player heading to The Emirates. Lol
See you in the comments.
Morning Rico and All
According to reports the other day Jesus will be announced on The 1st of July as it is the start of the new tax season for football clubs,
If Jack is to come back then now is the best time for him as most of the coaching staff at the academy seem to be leaving or have left since Arteta and Edu took over how ever I am not sure Jack has the quality to be a good coach
The famous old adage says you don’t need intelligence to play football, Arsenal message boards prove you don’t need any to be a supporter either.
Juventus after Gabriel. The only problem being they have no money. Some how they conjured up £70m to sign Vlahovic.
Barcelona just sold a proportion of TV rights to a US company for 25 years. They a brassic lint, but still offering £30m for Lewandowski, and in the running for Raphinha. You couldn’t make it up.
Big clubs spending money they don’t have. It just doesn’t add up. Magic money tree time.
That’s the way of the world now Pete and not just football it’s called capitalism and debt management., just ask Rishi .
Gone are the days when you saved up and spent when you could afford to. Now you plead poverty and then soak whichever sucker you can find to fund your lifestyle.
Unfortunately most of football seem to believe that those suckers reside in Highbury house and that includes the media ,fans and agents.
There is no doubt that football finances have altered radically since the covid lockdowns but the Premier League is still rich with it’s tv deals and the Treasure Island tag is still pertinent.
No doubt the wheels are turning in the background and the revolving door will have some coming and others going.
Hi Geoff, I doubt they’re leaving or have left because of Edu and Arteta, they just wanted to go to the next step.
Pete, I wonder where Arsenal’s money comes from too. We’ve lost players at a cost or for free, no CL football for a few years, Covid, no fan income and yet we spent a lot last summer and look as if we might again. FFP? You’re having a laugh football. 😂
From arsenal.com
Guendouzi has joined Marseille, no transfer fee mentioned.
Good points Potter.
@Rico. I presume the funding is from Stan. He will want it back in the future with interest. The Yanks are making a big push for English football. They want to get on the gravy train. I can see a point where the Yanks push for a salary cap like in the NFL to level the playing field.
The way things are going it looks like there will the few teams able to compete with the PL outside Madrid, Barcelona, Juve, PSG and B Munich. Uefa must be very worried.
Pete, I assume the same but I didn’t think owner investment was permitted under the rules of FFP. Perhaps I need to read the rules again. 😂 .
Start as you mean to go on :- Somethings never change at Arsenal .
https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1634135/Arsenal-injury-concerns-Fabio-Vieira-protective-boot-premier-league-news
Xhaka probably tackled him..
Have you seen the Alejandro Grimaldo rumors?
He is a 26y Spanish guy from the La Masia academy with an amazing skill profile.
Grimaldo plays for Benfica, they got him cheap and has only a year left on his contract.
He could cost us the third of – the similarly short – Martinez, and might be a far better player.
He is represented by the same agency as Matt Turner (and Valverde, Laporte, Söyöncü).
I’m not sure this rumor is any more reliable than the Hickey or the Martinez gossip, but albeit low profile, this guy is at least on par with the others.
Quiet day. 😆
New post up.