Morning all.
A great day on here yesterday. The best days are often when Arsenal have hit a bad spot and as far as the league goes, it’s been pretty bad. No, it’s been dire. One point from from four matches is relegation form, the kind of form which would get a club owner twitching. Add into that the abysmal performances away from home and Unai Emery might be holding out his hand in anticipation of his P45 being plonked in it. Our Europa Cup run might be enough to spare him. Of course it will, as will other reasons perhaps.
Arsene Wenger’s reign wasn’t the norm in the game. His tenure went on longer than anyone else, too long. His second ten years ruined his first ten and all he did for Arsenal. He became a banker after the club moved stadium but a banker who made some crazy crazy decisions in his final couple of years. Not on his own I hasten to add. Whether Wenger chose to walk away or was pushed, I don’t know and frankly I don’t care but according to reports, his early departure cost the club somewhere between £8-11 million depending on which report you read.
If the board opted to sack Emery later this month, the club would have to pay him off too. I’m unsure of how these payoffs are calculated but I’d imagine it’s just the amount he would earn if he fulfilled his contract which for the Spaniard is one year. £6 million apparently. Coaching staff too, let’s say £10 million, a conservative amount I reckon.
A replacement needs to be found and this is where the financial figure would no doubt concern the club unless they are thinking about a guy who’s currently unattached to another club and although there are plenty of them out there, not one jumps out as being an obvious choice. Unless Mourinho, Conte or even ‘Arry tickles your fancy. No, if Arsenal are to change manager again, this time they need better, they need right whatever or whoever that might be. It might yet be Emery of course.
So, we can all play fantasy manager, just for a bit of fun. Who would you want Arsenal to employ? How much would it cost the club to a) pay off his current contract and his coaching staff who he’s bound to want to bring with him and b) how much would Arsenal then have to pay him and his staff for presumably, a three year contract?
Add all the costs together and I reckon it’d be anywhere between £35-50 million. Maths was never my strong point though.
Of course, there are Premier League managers doing well right now. Nuno, Howe, Gracia and even Rogers seems to be the right fit for Leicester City so far and they’ve all been discussed here at some stage and the general opinion seems to be that they are getting more from their players than Emery is ours. Their teams are better organised, easier on the eye and certainly better at defending. Yet we’re above all of them in the league and have played far more fixtures than any one of them. That’s irrelevant really though as it’s about what a manager does with the finances he has, who he signs and how he gets the best out of his team. Could one of those four be the answer at Arsenal perhaps?
They’d certainly be a cheaper option but nevertheless, we’d still have to pay out a lot of money to nick them from their current club.
It’s no secret that Arsenal want to employ a Director of Football. Who it might be or whether he actually arrives remains to be seen but if his role will be to sort the squad out, the new signings, the departures etc etc, does it not make sense for Emery to see out his second year whilst this goes on? He gets a chance to coach new, different and the young players for another season which might just put an end to the ‘is he or isn’t he good enough’ question. The club don’t fork out lots of money paying him and his staff off, let alone what they’d need to spend in order to replace him and meanwhile, the board/Raul/DOF can get on with executing their long term plan.
Who knows, it might all work out and Emery stays longer. It might not too, in which case he can walk off into the sunset without an extra penny in his pocket…..
See you in the comments guys…
Morning Rico. Those figures are insignificant when you look at the costly decisions made over Ozil, Sanchez and Ramsey, to name but three.
Good morning Rico, and thanks for another fine post.
It’s too late for a new DoF to be appointed, by the time he/she gets to know the players sufficiently well to decide who goes and who stays, the transfer window will have slammed shut and the new season will be under way.
I’m not going to speculate on who should be our new Head Coach, not manager, because I’m confident Emery will be staying for at least one, possibly even, two more seasons.
Dry here, at the moment, not very warm though.
Morning Adam, or are they more significant because of them? 😜
I still can’t believe how stupid the club have been with those three players..
Morning Cicero, thanks.
I’m sure Unai Emery or Raul can tell him/her about the players who need selling in no uncertain terms.
I too think Emery will be manager next season.
On a side issue, who got the best of the Sanchez deal? We got his wages off the books and Mkhitaryan, United got an expensive flop who they are desperate to unload. Of course, no one can say Mkhitaryan has been an unqualified success, but at least his wages are only half those of Sanchez.
If, as you say Rico, Emery and Raul know enough what need is their for a DoF?
Rico. It perhaps tells us something about either the owner or the power that Wenger wielded within the club.
Every conversation about Arsenal seems to focus on the fact that we ‘know’ that Kroenke isn’t going to spend big. In a bizarre way, Wenger turned us all into mini accountants it seems. We are always looking for another way to get success, be it filling the team with youth, buying promising Championship players or whatever (all within our meagre men’s of course). I think we have some real duffers in our team and I’d like to see them gone. Emery must be the one who decides who replaces them surely. I just hope he has a clearer idea of his vision of the future, stops his rotating captain nonsense and gets stuck into improving players, something that he hasn’t done up until now.
I’d love us to undergo a revolution in playing staff and tactics with a new, highly motivated manager who can instil an edge in the players but, for now, it looks as though we are settling into a period of being also-rans. I find it very depressing.
Cicero, we don’t another scenario where the manager gets involved in transfer deals. His job is surely to say I don’t want x, y, or z, or in our case most of the alphabet and a list of who or what positions he needs…
Cicero, there was only winner in the Sanchez/Mkhitaryan deal and that’s Sanchez 🙂
Morning all.
On Emery, I’ll always be a believer in contracts and that they should be honoured.
I know most aren’t worth the paper they’re written on but that doesn’t make breaking them right.
I wouldn’t have a clue who I’d choose to replace Emery if he did leave, for whatever reason.
I still think Arteta will make a hell of a manager one day, though.
Adam, similar to my last comment re DoF.
I don’t buy into this Kroenke won’t spend theory. As said before, if he was about making money only then the three deals you mentioned simply wouldn’t have unfolded as they did.I’m sure we could have a better owner, but we could have worse too.
I’m going to see what happens over the next two months and I know I’ve said that many times before but imo, it’s different now.
Edu is the reported ‘chosen one’ as the DOF. I’d take that. A former player who knows what it means to be a Gooner and an invincible, no less. As gloomy as I am , the rage has subsided since the weekend, I cant see the benefit of binning Emery this season. Another season of transition with a new man, would kill us. If the summer really sees the mass change of players we obviously need, I’d give it another season to see what he can really do with a squad with more of his own stamp. But if Mustafi and Miki are still here in August, all bets are off.
Scott, you sound like Wenger 😂
Chrispy, is that 100% re Edu?
That’s similar to me. If we start the season with the likes of Xhaka, Mustafi, Jenks, Elneny etc, Emery will read what he sows. No other top club would have those players anywhere near their first team imo.
Rico, if you mean an honourable man then I’ll take that 🙂
Morning Gooners….
Board/Raul/DoF and their long term plan – is there actually a long term plan?
Are any of these guys any good, because remember how many executives have turned down the chance to join Arsenal in recent years. Why is that?
Why did Emery actually get the job in the first place?
Disregard all the spin and verbal shite that dribbled from the mouth of Gazides.
Why didn’t one of the really top coaches come to Arsenal – was it money or the lack of?
Did Emery get the job because he was the best out of work coach?
Did all those executives turn down Arsenal because their hands were tied?
And by whom?
We’ve just gone through our first transfer window under the sole ownership of a KSE.
Wasn’t it exciting…..
Well I’m expecting more of the same this summer, excuses and procrastinating from Raul, after all isn’t he in the pocket of Enos, he’s got a nice little earner, he got shot of his only competitor in Sven, he isn’t going to rock the boat, he’ll do a few more years then piss of back to Spain.
So don’t think that Arsenal are going to leave us open mouthed by their transfer business over the next few months.
Stan’s baby-is the LA Rams, Josh is an unknown quantity who does what he does because he’s Daddy’s little boy and anyway, he loves the basketball…
We’re basically shafted for the foreseeable future, you’d better get used to it guys…
Morning Rico, good post…
Klopp took Liverpool from 6th to 8th in his first season. Lets give Emery a break.
What did Raul intimate last summer?
No more players running down their contracts, it’ll be sorted when they have two years left on their deals, basically sign a new deal or be sold – if we can…
So what does that mean for the current squad?
Well if what Raul said was verbatim then our ‘Contracts Guy’ –
– the one and only Hussain Fahmy, will be sorting out those deals that expire in 2021 – or he should be…
So whose deal expires in 2021…?
Mustafi,
Sokratis,
Ozil,
Mkhitarayan,
Aubameyang,
Nwakali.
Are we going to sell any of them or just let them run down their deals?
Kev, this is the Arsenal.
Who the hell knows what will happen lol
And my fine fellows – and lady 🙂 – whose deal expires in just over a year – 2020 no less?
Koscielny,
Ospina,
Bielik,
Asano,
Smith Rowe (he needs tying down pronto)…
What a squad we have, virtually no value in it at all…
So hardly no income from sales.
No investment from Enos.
No CL money.
Funny enough Scott, I didn’t… 😂
Scott, as long as England beat your lot in the Ashes then I can just about cope… 😄
Morning Kev, thanks. I feel even more depressed about Arsenal now…..l
That’s harsh, Rico hahaha
Kev, how are your lot shaping up?
I’m not sure Scott, isn’t it the World Cup this summer?
Rico, at least we have the youngsters coming through – if Emery gives them a chance…?
Welcome Tj. I think in general, Arsenal fans want him to succeed.
We do Kev, I wonder what will become of Bielik next season. We should get a fee for him if he’s not staying put, Ospina too and Chambers is he’s sold.
A good sort out of the squad might bring in around £50m I reckon. Not brilliant but better than nothing.
Welbeck , Ramsey , Cech ,are already gone and they were taking wages of £ 18,460,000 . So three players on £100,000 a week would provide a winger a midfielder and defender costing wages £2,500,000 .Add the so called £40,000,000 apparently available to the balance and you have an average of £18 million each
Then add the bonus of possibly selling Mhikitarian or Kolasinac then there’s a fee for both and a further wages save :- mhiki £9,360,000 or Kola £5,200,000.
Great playing with other peoples money isn’t it. ?
Calculator needs replacing but the principal stands however she who must be obeyed is calling and i am off.
Regarding other managers, I believe of the final 3 interviewed, Allegri was offered it but demanded a minimum transfer sum and was refused. Arteta accepted the budget but wanted final say on the players so was rejected.
Then Emery was announced.
Make of that what you will.
Arsenal are gonna look a bit dense if Allegri rocks up at Chelsea or Man Utd and does a Guardiola…
A very good Post, Rico, thank you.
That was an interesting discussion as to why there is still no DoF, at Arsena, and if Raul and Unai know their stuff what is the issue.
In all football clubs as in most businesses, titles can often sound the same, but the roles are defined rather differently from one to another.
Most clubs have now come around to having someone representing the ‘footballing’ part of the business at Board level, in effect being the ‘go-between’ the scouts, the coaches, the players, the transfer targets, the transfer budgets and so on.
That frees up the managers, like Unai, to concentrate on player training, tactics and not allow them to get distracted by identifying quality players, or the negotiations to buy them and settling their contracts requirements. In fact the title ‘manager’ has become more often referred to ‘as coaches, as that more aptly describes their key roles.
The problem, as I see it, is that is all fine and dandy, but the roles of key management, such as the Director of Football, are not necessarily publicly defined, and the role of the coach is also somewhat ambivalent, and therefore someone like Unai can get blamed for matters they have nothing to do with (maybe?).
Hobart, I’m not sure I believe Allegri agreed to move if he had funds, same re Arteta as surely any manager would want a say in which players are signed as it’s his job to work with them…
Thanks Ra.
I agree with yo, Rico, there are often rumours in football and most of them are wrong — both about why certain players were not bought, or were not sold — and manager/coach appointments are much the same.
I obviously read the wrong papers, but at the time I understood that Allegri was sought by both Arsenal and Chelsea but wanted to stay where he was — and neither got him.
Patrick Vieira was alleged to have applied for the job, but just got a letter in reply saying ‘no thanks – too inexperienced’ – and he went off to France instead. Similarly, Arteta was reckoned to be a show in, as an ex-Arsenal man he knew the ropes — and late on he was rejected because —– he was too inexperienced.
It goes on and on – and probably is a journalist trying to sell newspapers.
What is definite, is that Arsenal are owned by an absentee investor, who knows sod all about football, or who the guys mentioned above are. Duh. So someone else must have ‘advised’ him who to appoint — and with the new administration brought in at the end of AW’s era — maybe none of them knew enough about the Premier Leaguel and who would make the best fit as manager for Arsenal.
I hope that Emery gets a decent shot at being coach, and he has performed much better than I ever thought he would in his first season. On the other hand, I would like to think that the Director of football assesses his contribution, and ig he fails to make an impression next season that the Board are advised to be ruthless – in the way other clubs react – perform or you are out.
Ra, Josh Kroenke said that the board run the club so the managerial appointment would probably have been made without any input from the Kroenke family. Gazidis appointed Emery didn’t he?
Afternoon everybody.
The following article appeared in the Groaniad this afternoon, I read something similar elsewhere a couple of weeks ago. But the Guardian tends to be a bit more honest than the rest of Canary Wharf! So I’m inclined to think it may have legs……mmm.
Edu set to become Arsenal technical director after Copa América
Edu set to become Arsenal technical director after Copa América
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/may/07/edu-arsenal-technical-director-after-brazil-copa-america?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Rico,
Unless that is a cop out.
They have a £1.5bn company/club — but the owner says ‘weren’t me guv’ I had no input.’ if Unai was a disaster.
Yeah right. But I bet if Embers was a success they would take all the credit. 😁
Wavy,
That could well be correct.
Technical Director is different from Director of Football.
The technical director role is generally different to that of a director of football, a position which usually involves overseeing the signing of players. The Tech Director tends to be a role designed to facilitate long-term strategy and continuity, independent of the manager/coaches remit with the team.
Who knows? 😁
Evening Rico and the house.
The u18s are about to kick off in the biggest game of their lives
Its going to be tough game
I don’t think so Ra.
Wavy, thanks for the link. Edu it is then. Lol
Evening Rick, good luck to them.
1-0 after 4mins Saka
1-2
2quick goals we look off the pace.
1-3
H/T 1-3
2 bad mistakes from our Goal keeper
Derby very good and fast.
Have it all to do 2nd half
1-4 ☹️
Final score 5-2
It could have been very different.
4-1 saka makes it 4-2
2mins later John Jules missed a pen and 5mins later hit the crossbar
No 5 came with the last kick of the game
Fee/ sorry for our goal keeper i think he will be very low at the moment
Score that pen and it goes 4-3 and Derby get nervous…
Seems that we missed a lot of chances and the final score line doesn’t tell the whole story.
Still a good season for our youngsters…
2 goalkeeping errors and a defensive howler costs Barca.
It was like watching us ffs lol
I can’t stand Liverpool, but you’ve gotta give them their due…
Let’s see what our bunch of flakes can do in Valencia by comparison?
5-2. Second leg? no?
If we are good, Derby kids will be very good. Why do not start from here?
Kev, as long as Leno/Cech don’t do what the Barca keeper did, we should be ok.
Incredible errors.
Arsenal are planning to undergo a major clear-out this summer as the club look to rein in their crippling wage bill.
With a top-four spot in the Premier League now all but impossible following Sunday’s 1-1 home draw with Brighton, the Gunners know their only route back into the Champions League is by winning the Europa League – with Unai Emery’s side leading Valencia 3-1 going into Thursday night’s semi-final second leg in Spain.
Should they go on and reach the final in Baku they will meet either Chelsea or Eintracht Frankfurt on May 29 and the outcome of that match will be huge in terms of Arsenal’s planning for the 2019-20 season.
Money has become increasingly tight at the Emirates Stadium in recent seasons, with owner Stan Kroenke refusing to put any of his own cash into the club.
The club’s self-sustaining financial model has been based around qualifying for the Champions League each season – but should they fail to qualify this year it would mean three successive campaigns of Europa League football for the Gunners.
It’s estimated that Arsenal’s 2017-18 financial performance saw a £40 million ($52m) drop in revenue from 2016-17 – with £35m ($46m) of that being put down to a lack of Champions League football.
At the same time the wage bill spiralled by nearly 18 per cent, rising from £200m ($262m) to £235m ($308m) – a figure that takes into account the pay-offs for Arsene Wenger and his coaching staff.
This was, however, all covered by player sales, with the club recouping big fees for the likes of Theo Walcott, Olivier Giroud and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
(Charles Watts – Goal.com)
That all meant that despite Arsenal’s drop in revenue, the club made a pre-tax profit of around £70m ($92m), but given the lack of player sales this time round it’s forecast that the Gunners could be heading towards a loss of between £60m-£70m ($79m-$92m).
Arsenal were unable to spend any money in January on transfer fees, with the loan addition of Denis Suarez from Barcelona the only bit of business done in terms of incomings.
There will be cash available this summer, with the new commercial deals with Emirates and Adidas kicking in, but if Arsenal do not qualify for the Champions League then the budget will be set at around £45m ($59m).
That figure can rise, however, through player sales and Goal understands that the club are looking at moving on a significant number of the first-team squad to help boost the budget and trim the wage bill – which is believed to be running at about £220m ($288m) a year.
That will be reduced in the summer with the departures of Aaron Ramsey, who is moving to Juventus, and Petr Cech – who is retiring. And it was announced on Sunday after the Brighton draw that Danny Welbeck would also be leaving when his contract expires at the end of the season.
Removing those three players from the wage bill alone will save more than £1 million ($1.3m) a month, but Arsenal want to reduce costs by far more than that.
Goal understands that Stephan Lichtsteiner will leave, with the club having decided not to take up the option in his contract which would have seen the defender stay for another season.
(Charles Watts)
Buyers are also looking to be found for Carl Jenkinson and Mohamed Elneny – while offers are being encouraged for Shkodran Mustafi and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, with the latter on around £180,000 a week.
Mesut Ozil is the highest earner at the club on £350,000 and Arsenal are keen to move him on, but are aware how difficult that will be given his desire to stay in London and the lack of interest in the German from elsewhere.
Decisions also need to be made on Calum Chambers and Emiliano Martinez, who have been out on loan this season and are due to return in the summer.
The planned cull is designed to ease the pressure on the wage bill but also to bolster the budget for up to five new additions, with the club looking to inject some youth into what is viewed as an ageing and unbalanced squad.
Brazilian teenager Gabriel Martinelli will arrive, with a £6m ($8m) deal already agreed with Ituna, and Emery is also keen to bring in a replacement for Ramsey, as well as a left-back and a winger.
Arsenal have been keen on Lille attacker Nicolas Pepe for some time and talks with the Ligue 1 club stretch back for more than a year, although the 23-year-old’s impressive form this season may have put him out of the Gunners’ price range.
A centre-back could also arrive, but much will depend on whether Arsenal can find a buyer for Mustafi, who is about to enter the final two years of his contract.
Arsenal have agreed a deal for Edu to return to the club as technical director, Goal understands.
After failing to land primary target Monchi in March, the Gunners turned their attentions to their former midfielder – who made 127 appearances for the club between 2001 and 2005.
And talks with the 40-year-old, who is currently general co-ordinator for the Brazil national side, have proved successful – with Edu having agreed to return to north London following the completion of this summer’s Copa America.
Reports in Brazil state that the national team have now started the process of finding a replacement.
Edu first arrived at Arsenal in 2001 and spent four successful seasons at the club, winning two league titles and three FA Cups.
He left for Valencia in 2005 but struggled with injuries throughout his time in Spain. A stint back in Brazil with Corinthians followed before he retired in 2010.
The Brazilian was appointed Corinthians’ director of football in March 2011 and assisted Iran coach Carlos Queiroz during the 2014 World Cup before taking up his role with the Brazilian national team in 2016.
As general co-ordinator Edu looks after the national teams, overseeing all age groups and is considered a key ally of head coach Tite and someone who has input in squad selection.
He has been on Arsenal’s radar for some time, even before they moved for Monchi, with the north London club first having made an enquiry to talk with their former player in January.
At the time, however, Edu opted to stay in his role with the national team – but his stance has now changed following further discussions with head of football Raul Sanllehi.
Once in place, Edu will work alongside Sanllehi overseeing all technical aspects of the club, from player recruitment and contract renewals to coaching practises and the academy.
Goal understands it is, however, looking increasingly likely that Francis Cagigao will receive a permanent promotion to the position of head of recruitment.
Cagigao, currently head of international recruitment, has been doing the role on a temporary basis following the departure of Sven Mislintat in February – who left after being overlooked for the technical director role.
The 49-year-old is highly respected within the club having served as a youth player during the 1980s before returning as a scout more than a decade ago and working closely with Arsene Wenger.
Cagigao has been playing a key role in Arsenal’s transfer plans for the summer, leading the deal which will see teenage Brazilian forward Gabriel Martinelli arrive for £6m from Ituna.
He will continue to work with Sanllehi and chief negotiator Huss Fahmy on the club’s summer business before Edu’s expected arrival in July.
Arsenal refused to comment on Edu’s return to north London when contacted by Goal.
(Charles Watts)
https://thesefootballtimes.co/2019/04/23/the-truth-behind-which-team-has-the-premier-leagues-most-successful-academy/
So many players leaving that will lower our wage bill, but how do we replace them?
I don’t get it.
What high profile players do we have who’ll attract a big fee?
Oh that’s right, the guy we let go for nothing lol
Who else?
Auba, Laca, that’s about it, really, but then they’d cost a bomb to replace so back to square one.
Liverpool are in their current position because they bought Suarez and Coutinho relatively cheaply and sold them for massive money, bringing in huge profits but more importantly, they reinvested that cash to strengthen where they were weak.
What do we do?
Buy high, see values drop, have them on high wages so nobody wants them anyway, but luckily we have a treasure chest called our youth system that will produce funds when we sell the kids.
We are now Southampton 🙂
Am I being a little harsh there??
I member am I being harsh on Soton lol
New post up now