Morning all.
A number of Arsenal players picked up awards last night with Declan Rice, William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes were named in the PFA team of the year which says a lot about where Arsenal’s strengths were last season.
In the women’s game, Mariona Caldentey, Emily Fox, Kim Little and Alessia Russo were all included in WSL’s team of the year, with Caldentey being voted PFA Women’s Player of the Year for 2024/25.
Injuries blew a hole right through our attacking unit last season with Mikel Merino, Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus all missing large chunks of the season at one stage or another. Take that kind of quality out of any team and I think it would struggle. A central midfielder playing as striker must be tricky enough but when one considers it was Merino’s first season in the Premier League, hats off to him I say because he scored goals for us.
I know we’ve signed Viktor Gyokeres and Noni Madueke but I’d hoped to see the club add a bit more to the attacking side of the squad. I’m sure we all love Leandro Trossard but I really don’t understand why the club has given him a “substantial” pay rise because I think that’s going to make him more difficult to sell when the time comes. Admittedly, I thought that time had come but I guess I was wrong. If Arsenal are in the mood to hand out pay rises, I’d have thought William Saliba and Bukayo Saka would be the players at the front of the queue, especially as their contract situation needs addressing.
Going back to our attacking depth, Mikel Arteta must believe that the addition of Madueke and Gyokeres, as well as fewer injuries (hopefully) will be enough for the ten months ahead.
Just 12 days of this transfer window remains and Arsenal have a number of players to move on.
According to Sky Sports, Porto are in talks with Arsenal to sign Jakub Kiwior on loan with an obligation to buy. More than £23 million is the said to be the deal which includes the loan fee. Sky also report that the club are open to selling Oleksandr Zinchenko, Fabio Vieira and Sambi Lokonga. Fulham are still trying to sort out a deal for Reiss Nelson. Personally, I’d rather we kept Nelson and sold Trossard’s but hey, that’s just my opinion.
Catch up in the comments.
It seems that we overpay to get players but because of the size of the contracts when they come to renewal players look around and say ” well he’s on that so I want similar ” the club then says that if a buyer comes in we will sell but buyers take one look at the salary and say if he comes on that much we will have a problem because everybody else will want it .
It’s a spiral that we have made ourselves and there would appear to be no end to it .
Pay rise brings him in line with his peers and it’s more cost effective than selling and potentially letting him go to a competitor. Good squad player.We need a LW superstar and currently they are 70 plus so to sell him at 20 isn’t going to bridge that gap. Disappointed about Eze but that the price we pay for Ethan.
Bert and Arteta are no fools.
Yes and I don’t get it. Not at 30 years old and still will a contract until 2027. Bonkers imo.
If Arsenal are selling Kiwior, they must get a replacement otherwise the strength of the team’s backline would be much compromised. Calafiori is yet to demonstrate his reliability in terms of his availability
So in an ideal world, I would love to have Kiwior stay at Arsenal
If we need a left wing superstar Osbourne, keeping Trossard makes even less sense to me.
Ditto Ogban, Kiwior leaving seems an odd one, certainly this summer.
Good afternoon Rico and all.
You left Calafiori off your list of regular treatment room residents.
Let’s not forget Mosquera, A right sided defender, either full back or central he can play both. Even so I think it would be unwise to let Kiwior go and certainly not for peanuts.
Afternoon Cicero, I did but only because I was referring to our attack rather than the team as a whole. Otherwise I’d have had to list all of them. 😜
Good afternoon Rico and all
Not good news. I just read that Arsenal forward Kai Havertz set for spell out with another knee injury.
Duration of time on the sidelines is currently unclear
Make of that what you will. Will Arteta buy/loan another cover from the chavs?? Or will Merino be VG14’s cover??
I just hope that with Madueke on the left, Martinelli will cover both left and centre while Merino will cover for the midfield trio.
Can Mosquera play left sided or left back though like Kiwior?
Just had a thought, there’s been no news about Kabia moving on so perhaps he’s about to get an opportunity.
Afternoon Devil, he probably twisted his knee whilst falling over all too often. 😜
Trossard because he covers all forward positions and is available 90% of the games… worth the salary hike.
Maybe that is why he was going to ground easily during his appearance against United. His knee kept giving way. If you go back to how long he has been with us Havertz is not someone who has the reputation of going down easily. So him going falling might have something to do with the knee rather than the other way round.
Havertz being out is probably the reason why Trossard is staying . We could not afford to lose another forward so close to the end of the window .
David Ornstein reckons we’re in the market for cover for Havertz now.
Wishful thinking imo Devil, he was looking for a decision.
Trossard, why?
Havertz injured…..
See the connection. 😉
A cheeky bid for Ollie Watkins perhaps?
yes maybe that is why the sudden turnaround Kev. And this means that Havertz’ injury is not a light one. That means full recovery will take till Nov/Dec at least. Otherwise Trossard would have been sold.
Or a big bid for Isak Kev. 😜
Bad luck for Havertz and for Arsenal,it hasn’t been confirmed how long he’s out for and we can only hope for the best,we’ve seen this too many times though.
I like Trossard,the new contract should have been extended surely ?
Just seen that Newcastle have bid for Wissa,perhaps we should gazump them.
I would prefer Eze though.
It would be funny if we gazzumped (spelling) Newcastle in their chase for Yoane Wissa.
Great minds Limey, I hadn’t seen your comment. Just saw they have upped their bid for Wissa.
20 goals for Brentford last season…
Raheem Sterling is available. 😉
Don’t laugh, I saw his name linked with us yesterday….
Rico at 3:22. I would rather take a shot that Chris Wood for 10m. I have rated him since he was playing in the Championship.
Obi, didn’t see that suggestion coming. Lol
Arsenal make move for Eberechi Eze and the player wants the move.
Tottenham lined up deal with Crystal Palace today & player but after Havertz injury Arsenal have made their move.
[@DavidOrnstein]
Following talks tonight, Arsenal are convinced that Eberechi Eze prefers to join them over Tottenham.
£60m package offered to Palace with easier add-ons and faster payment terms to try beat Spurs.
Negotiations underway.
[Fabrizio Romano]
Wow, that is a turnaround, unless the Havertz injury has just hurried things along.
Rico, the fact that suddenly Arsenal changed stance over Trossard’s contract means that HAvertz injury is not a small one. It means he will be out till Nov/Dec at the minimum.
If Arsenal manage to do this transfer in just a couple of days what does that tell you over the other transfers in which we seemed to drag our feet all the time??
It just shows that whenever we want we can do things fast.
Devil, it looks that way re Trossard but who knows for sure. The Eze rumours having been swirling for weeks and Ornstein suggested that our interest in him has never gone away. Neither are strikers though and neither are likely to get 10/15 goals.
Crystal Palace accept tonight £60m package from Arsenal for Eberechi Eze, agreement club to club done.
Arsenal finalising contract terms with Eze with player keen on joining #AFC project.
[Fabrizio Romano]
Hey Rico, I reckon that Chris Woods will get you 10/15 for less. Lol.
Many fans want Eze, as long as Spuds don’t get him. I don’t think it is based on football reasons.
He’d be good on set-pieces Obi. Lol
I’m scratching my head over Eze…
https://x.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1956628338283368562
Rico at 9:32, me too. Unless Arteta will play 3 at the back and play Odegaard at 8 and Eze at 10. One of them will have to be a bench player or there has to be a rotation system. .
Good morning everyone
Obi, I think that eventually there will be games where Arteta will play three at the back regardless of whether Eze comes or not. The 3-4-2-1 is quite difficult to play against and when defending you defend properly while when attacking it opens up to become a 3-2-1-4 but it doesnt leave us exposed like last game when we played 4-3-3 and Calafiori went galivanting adventureously up all day long.
I think that Arteta now has a team which he can rotate at will without a drop in performance. Its in his hands now
Eze hmm. Sounds like a panic buy brought on by the injury to Havertz. Perhaps we should make an offer to Jaime Vardy in case Viktor G has a breakdown
Eze seems to have got more Gooners excited than all the other business we’ve done, feels a little like the buzz around signing Sol Campbell, I guess it’s getting one over that mob in Middlesex
Jamie O’Hara is dropping F bombs on TalkSport, always good to see him suffering.