Have to hand it to Unai Emery really as he’s telling us in no uncertain terms that he agrees with us. Mustafi and Elneny aren’t right for Arsenal Football Club and he wants them gone. Sharpish too as they’re not going to be selected to play much this season, if at all. He’s also sending a message to other European clubs, telling them to come and get them if they want them.
We have some players and they know their situation. For example, Elneny and Mustafi, they know their situation in the squad. I want the players to be happy here. I want the players to be protagonists here, and last year, for example, with Mustafi and Mo, when they didn’t play, they weren’t happy. I spoke with them a lot of times last year in this position and I think it is positive for them to leave and to sign for another team where they can be protagonists, they can be happy and can continue their careers as players.
They are very big players but here for one circumstance or another circumstance they are going to have less chances to show their capacity or to be happy with us taking minutes of playing matches. They know the situation, I am wishing the best for them and I think now the best for them is to be protagonists in another team, to sign and to get another challenge for them and continue with another team.But with [a lot of] respect, they are training with us but they know their situation and I am wishing only the best for them. – Sky Sports.
In other words, pack your bags and get the hell out of the club! Subtle as a brick Unai and I like it. He’s said all the right things about both players, he’s complimented them, made them out to be ‘big players’ who simply don’t fit into his game plan. After all, there’s little point in saying they’re rubbish, even if he thinks that because that’s not going to help the club move them on. I’d imagine we’ll have to take a financial hit on Mustafi as it’s highly unlikely we’ll recoup the £35m we paid for him but Elneny, I think we’ll get even.
Out of the two, I think Elneny will find it easier to find another club. He’s Mr steady Eddie, no frills but not many mistakes in his game. Before Arsene Wenger and his coaches got their hands on him, he was a tidy midfielder who looked to play forwards, unlike of late when a safe ball seemed to be the only pass on his mind. I’ve always liked Elneny and should he find another club, I wish him only good things. As for Mustafi, well I guess the kindest thing to say is that’s its become easy to see why he’s an ex German international defender. His confidence looks shot to pieces as the amount of errors in his game have increased during his time at Arsenal.
To this day I still can’t understand why Arsene Wenger stood by Mustafi, yet sold Gabriel. Neither Mustafi or Gabriel were/are world class central defenders, far from it, yet it was the latter who had more to his game, more to his personality too. Still, at least now it looks like the German will leave.
I still have a feeling Mkhitaryan might go too or Ozil even. Unai Emery didn’t name either but there was something about the way he said ‘for example’ led me to believe he was referring to more than just Mustafi and Elneny. None of them are the future of our club and as we’ve so many options coming through the Academy, surely it’s better that they are the ones who play in the domestic cups. Let them have a chance on the big stage, to put their names into the mind of the head coach. Freddie Ljungberg will already know who’s who of course and if he knows, so will Emery.
Anyway, this in my opinion is just another positive move coming out of the club. It’s moving on, moving forward and the hangers on are no longer welcome at Arsenal. The message is clear, work hard, play well and earn the money their paid whilst wearing the clubs colours because if they don’t, they’re out…
See you in the comments…
Morning All
Morning Rico, that picture of Mustafi really says it all, a player who when under severe pressure would just slide in, jump in, shove, hold or pull somebody and give away a free kick in a dangerous place or a penalty or just check out mentally, he simply cannot deal with the intensity of the EPL and when I think that Wenger actually had a choice between him and Van Dyke it makes me wanna pull my hair out.
Off to read your post…
Nice post and good morning Rico and all. I don’t think Mustafi is quite as bad as most others reckon.
Almost, but not quite. Especially at right back.
Good post Rico, yeah from what I’ve heard Elneny is a really nice guy and is well liked at the club, but he simply isn’t the kind of midfielder Emery wants going forward, Ozil is even yesterday’s man when you look at how our midfield performs, there’s nobody like him at any of the other top six clubs, he’s a relic of the old No.10, top teams can not afford to carry players like him anymore, he’s perfect for the MLS…
Morning Kev, Adam. I was on the verge of giving up for the day. Lol
Thanks re the post.
Not as good as when he’s sub though 😆
Right back is a less dangerous position that’s for sure..
It’s always sad when people are told that they are not good enough and in the case of the four players under discussion they are all internationals. They came to the club with the best of intentions although admittedly in a couple of cases the club were screwed to the wall by their agents., they came to play and try to win things.
Of the four I have sympathy for two of them , Elneny has done nothing wrong in public , he may have moaned at Emery but if he did he kept it from the papers , he is what he he is , a competant safety first midfielder that could be likened to Denilson , good passing stats but hardly setting the world alight.
Mustafi the bane of everybodies life , severly criticised but has never hidden , his limitations have been cruelly exposed and his self esteem and confidence is shot . Emery is right both he and Elneny will be better off going elsewhere getting their minds right and playing out their time in a less demanding league.
The other two however are a different kettle of fish.
Ozil’s agent says that he wants to stay and on his wages who can blame him , he won’t get that deal anywhere else and if we do want to shift him it will cost us plenty.
Mhikitaian’s agent is that nice man Raiola , he will squeeze every last penny he can from wherever he can get it.
Losing those two could esily get them off the wage bill but cost whatever we have in reserve for the next transfer window.
The first two I wish them well , the second two I wish them gone , in Mhikitarian’s case I wish that we had screwed United totally for Sanchez and left him at old Trashford.
Hard to disagree there Potter, especially with Mustafi and other defenders who have arrived at the club with a good reputation. Ever since Wenger went away from having a strong, tall and physical presence in midfield, our defence has been, and still is a problem. The defence/defenders are the easy targets because when it goes wrong, we often concede a goal.
But a stronger midfield, with players who can read a game as Gilberto could, much pressure would be relieved from them. In turn, less mistakes in defence, and less chance of confidence being knocked out of the players.
Excellent post, Rico.
It is interesting – to me at least – that whereas AW simply never breathed a word on his travails with players, all strictly dealt with in secrecy, our man Embers is much more open, and clearly designed to keep the fans, who are restless about the lack of departures, in the loop and making it clear these players are not staying because he wants them to, but because no one else wants them either.
What if Mustafi and Elneny stay?
Seems a rather awkward situation to leave both the players and himself in, imo:
Morning all.
Thanks RA, I prefer the openness myself because at least we know the club are being proactive. And didn’t most of us ask for the club to tell us more?
I don’t think so Scott, certainly not Emery. Many other managers tell the media who they are prepared to let go.
True, Rico, but I don’t agree with it.
But weren’t you one of many of us who wanted the club to be more open and tell the fans their plans?
Rico,
Yes, I’ve asked for open and honest Info but not throwing players under the bus.
Two totally different things.
If we are stuck with them and at some point are forced to play them, what then?
How can we expect them to perform to their best?
In my opinion, it’s a move with no upside at all.
Why worry about something which hasn’t happened though Scott. Imo, Emery has other options he’ll use before those two..
Are we not stll governed by squad numbers made up from English home grown plus others . It might well be that there is no room in the squad for them and that they will be kicking their heels until at least January.
If we aren’t worried about looking froward, we’d have a squad of 11 🙂
I just don’t agree with this, that’s all.
I hope we sell them as that’s the best thing for both parties.
Maybe Smith and Archer could take on the other 20 players and win lol
Bloody hell-is the pitch that bad, or just poor batting?
Good point Potter, not that I have a scooby about that ruling.
67??
Scary thing is you guys could roll us cheaply and win the match quite easily.
That’s how much confidence I have in our betting line up lol
. The Premier League proposed a maximum of 17 non-“homegrown” players in each club squad, and the squad size is a maximum of 25. This means that in a full squad of 25 players, there must be at least eight homegrown players.
Macey , Holding , Chambers , Smith – Rowe , Matland – Niles , Willock , Nelson makes 7 so either Mavropolous or Bellerin came to us early enough to be counted or we have to lose a non English player to bring another one in . Or perhaps Tierney counts as U.K . Who knows ??????
We would not have lost an ‘English’ player Potter, if anything it would be a ‘Home Grown’ player.
[In fairness, I think you should read my last sentence below first] 😛
I understand what you are saying, of course, but to my recollection, the way it works is that the squad size is fixed and limited to 25 players, of whom a minimum of at least 8 are ‘home grown’ which means the maximum number of non-Home Grown players is 17.
We could, of course, have 25 Home Grown players (if players of the right quality were available) and zero non-Home Grown players at all. But we could never have more than 17 non-Home Grown players, whatever the circumstances.
In addition, we could have as many players under the age of 21 that we want (provided we could get them) in addition to the 25 in the squad, whether they would eventually qualify as Home Grown or not.
And we have many of them loitering around the team nowadays.
Whether a player is deemed to be under 21 (and therefore eligible, or not) is governed by rules as to date of birth and whether he turned 21 during the season, or not.
If I was you I would not read this — I was just curious about the Missing Player — it sounded like a murder mystery novel. 🤪
Opinions. After this public information, they are unable to be in Arsenal. We get 25 players, in theory, according to the site. I would be happier without Ozil and one of the two. Or another one.
It’s enough to put you off of your sardines on toast…
Afternoon Rico and the House.
Last few days I have had some spare time and have been
catching up on the excellent posts and comments that you
and Kev have made. Little bit frustrated that at the time I was
not online to post my thoughts.
Let me try to clear up the squad size as I think it stands at the moment,
for both the p/l and Europa.
Both of them restrict the no of foreign players to 17(max) and the
no of Home Grown to 8(Min)
If we have more then 8 home grown players we have to reduce the no
of foreign players. But if we only have 6 Home grown we cannot increase
the no of F/P and have to reduce the squad size
There is no max no of Home grown players we could have 10 but the no of F/P
would be reduced to 15.
As I see the size of our squad is as follows,
P/L 17 Foreign and 6 home produced.
The H/P are Martinez, Macey,Bellerin, Holding, Chambers and Niles.
The under 21 players who are not included in the squad are
Guendouze, Willock, Nelson and Smith Rowe.
Martinelli is included in the academy but can play in P/L if required.
Now The Europe league
Under their rules to qualify as a under 21 player that player must have played
for a unbroken period of 2 years on the day he is registered in the Europer sqaud
Under this rule Guendouze and Martinalli must take the place of full (foreign)player to play in the Europa for this coming season.
This means we have 19 foreign players for Europa and no scope to bring new players in Jan.
Goodbye Mustafi Elneny and it should have been Mavropanis
Got to have a sit down
Hope you all understand
Afternoon Rick. Clear as mud… 😂
Thanks re the previous posts. Mavropanos was off I read, until he suffered injury.
This cricket is rather enjoyable 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
Morning all.
No Smith and we are still dominating.
Shame the West Indian lad can’t open the batting as well as the bowling.
Can we swap him for Warner?
Change the rules even further to only require 3 weeks residency lol
I’ve a feeling he’s going to be around for a long time for you guys.
New post up now.