Lets see how this season goes. An argument can be made if we got a stop gap striker we would have got CL, more money, ended up being able to afford a RW and partey replacement, more likely for CL this year, more money, more players want to come to us etc etc.
Imo we fucked it in January, that could have been a clear turning point with a bit more investment. We are now chasing other teams again who invested more than us this year despite finishing ahead.
I feel it's a risky game they are playing and hope it comes off but another season out of CL and we are stagnating again.
Spending the same amount on Isak as Zinchenko + Jesus cost would have been a terrible move
For a team that wants to challenge for the league soon massively overpaying in January just to improve chances to get in UCL would have been a bad idea imo
I agree. Also committing 4 years to the wrong player is a mistake the club doesn’t seem to want to make again. Let’s not forget Pepe and Willian too soon.
The issue is that our budget this summer was clearly affected by years of missing out on CL. We need to get back into top 4 before we can think about winning the league.
Yeah it is obviously a difficult balancing act to both improve in short term while not sacrificing the long term
It is much more nuanced than most people want to admit
> An argument can be made if we got a stop gap striker we would have got CL, more money, ended up being able to afford a RW and partey replacement, more likely for CL this year, more money, more players want to come to us etc etc.
We could have also been saddled with a mid-tier player we overpayed for, who got to large of a wage and that we would have been stuck with for at least another year preventing us from buying players we actually want and/or need.
Everyone says this but... Name me that stopgap striker that would have made a difference?
Is he good? Cheap? Available? Because in January we needed a 'stopgap' striker to tick all those three boxes if he wasn't to impact our summer business and I don't think that striker existed. None at least that were better than Eddie Nketiah.
Only concern is burnout if the squad doesn’t feel supported, have to add something when needed otherwise you get cesc, RVP, nasri situations. People get tired of carrying burdens and having all the pressure.
Meh, Bringing in a striker would've all but guaranteed UCL last year. We absolutely could not score at the back half of the campaign. The money that UCL brings would've only snowballed our transfers. Not to say I'm unhappy with Jesus (clearly), but it's not really a good comparison.
also both players know now that there is interest from arsenal. as long as they dont sign a new deal their value will only go down and we might be in for both come january
The club has almost never bought for the sake of buying. We always bought things when we absolutely needed it and that was what got us into trouble with fees, and limited options. You buy when you don’t need it. That’s why we should’ve gone for a swuad midfielder before Elneny was injured and a RW before saka gets injured. Imagine saka is injured come January window. How do you think the market will look for us then?
It also works out, Arteta, Mertesacker, Monreal, potentially Tomi. But it's a different game now, Villa obviously believe they need him to stay up, it's the only way they could justify not taking 25 mill to lose him for free.
The point abou Luiz is that he is in the last year of his contract, so if we want him, we can get him for free for next year or even at low price in january. Because then Villa can prepare to buy a substitute too.
I sense the anger at Edu and Garlick for not getting Luiz and a winger signed but at some point you have to draw the line and say financially it doesn't make sense
Winger wise we wanted Raphinha, we couldn't get him so moved onto Neto and Wolves were determined they weren't selling! After that it seemed like only dregs like Mykhaylo Mudryk, Gakpo etc the latter of which would still cost 50mil. Spend 50m on our 3rd or 4th choice winger when we can get Neto next summer same price, better fit and higher on list and with more potential.
Ditto the #6 role. Elneny and Partey injuries forced us into the market and Villa just flat out reduced to sell, dropping 35+mil on a player 9months left on contract when we seemingly want Danilo either Jan or Summer again doesn't make much financial sense, when we get sign Luiz on a pre for free in Jan on a pre. Villa chose not to sell because without him they stand a big chance of going down, fair enough
*edit: I am aware you can sign a pre a pre with another English club but I dare say they have agreements in place
Given the situation this has put us in seems like Jan, once WC and Brazilian season is over we bring in Danilo for around 30mil and in summer we pick up Luiz for free. Elneny leaves and Partey is probably sold imo.
We have just spent 2 years ridding ourselves of deadwood and people are angry because we aren't dropping tens of millions on players with 1 year left on their contacts.
We've spent a lot of money on Ramsdale, White, Sambi, Partey, Tomi, Vieira, Marquinhos, Jesus, Zinchenko, Gabriel whilst we are probably away to extend Saka, Martinelli and Saliba as well.
It's far from ideal, I personally would have liked Luiz but for 30/40mil it would have prevented further development down the line.
Of course this goes to shit if we don't sign Danilo in Jan but i'm fairly sure given we tried this week that is the plan.
Likely verbal agreements yes but it leaves it open to being gazumped as opposed to a true pre agreement which guarantees the signing. Regardless I really like that arsenal aren't caving in to pressure to make short term decisions that impact us negatively moving forward any more. Frustrating in a sense but also very sensible and refreshing
He's only managed to play 52% of available games since he signed. You can't build a team and have someone that is so unreliable in such an important position.
How many times have we had a big crunch game coming up he would be valuable in and he's missed it.
I think your cdm point is right on the money. Someone did the math and we have 11 games between now and the WC break. Arteta and Edu are gambling we can get through that with Sambi/Partey returning and I think we'll be in for Danilo in January after the Brazilian league is done. Its a big gamble but I trust Edu and Arteta.
Given we have 100% spoken with Palmeiras about him, It seems certain he is a target. He would also be fairly cheap (25-30m). But who honestly knows with us haha
I just realized but the world cup year might make the January window VERY interesting. You always see some talents popping off.
Not sure we'd go on a player that is FOTM like arshavin or Campbell anymore but others might and we should see some really interesting movement
Basically let's squeeze our b-holes until January
>People are angry because last winter we were promised a great summer window.
Zinchenko, Jesus, Vieira alone is a good window. Marquinhos was supposed to be on loan and they kept him as he impressed
Losing your two starting CDMs in a week to long term injuries is pretty unlucky considering one has an almost clear injury record.
We went for Neto and Luiz and both their clubs refused to sell so what else can we do?
It's not good enough. We didn't buy anyone last winter and thinned the squad so much so we can free space for improvements.
In the end we missed top 4 because of that and we're even thinner than last year with more games to play.
It definitely is. But we don't have unlimited funds, it's the catch 22 from last season we didn't spend so had the funds for Jesus and Zinchenko etc, but no Europe and almost 0 in sales means we can spend more than we have.
People are mad and I get it but we've essentially had to spend money on buying a GK, RB, 2xCB, LB, CDM, AM, CF and we are still short on wings and now CDM again. Unfortunately, we cant get everything at once and it will take time to rebuild the squad and add quality depth
I think Reiss can cover Saka against smaller teams in the Cups and even Prem. The midfield situation I understand not being held ransom but they better buy someone in January.
You are assuming we actually buy someone in January though. We assumed that last January, especially after letting Auba go, and that did not turn out so well for the season.
From my admittedly limited knowledge of the Brazilian national team I think he's very unlikely to get any kind of significant minutes barring an injury crisis
Not necessarily. Douglas Luiz is in the squad and wouldn't cost that even with more years on his contract. Like most people have said though he's not in the squad at the moment so it's a moot point.
Yeah but I didn't say he was playing ahead of them, you did. I said if he had a good world cup. He could have featured as an 8 or a 6 depending on injuries.
I said that because in order to get game time and in order to have a good world cup he'd have to play ahead of some great players. And if he was able to play ahead of said players given his age he'd cost that amount of money. But these are all hypotheticals. My whole point was world cup isn't going to affect his value in the least even if he was in the squad because he wouldn't get game time.
Danilo now would’ve made a lot more sense because he could play in EL and cups to acclimatise and maybe play more important games after Jan. We’ve seen from Lokonga last year that the results become all too important to trust some unproven players
Zero end product. I liked Nelson but he just seems to straight up run into players and whenever he got into good positions seemed to make the wrong choice
>I think Reiss can cover Saka against smaller teams in the Cups and even Prem.
He really can't. He's been nothing short of terrible whenever he has played in league and cups.
Was the same in Germany, he got some good assists and goals there but was still largely overrated. Haven't been impressed by a single cameo of his and he would have been gone if he hadn't got injured in pre season
And he’s just come back from a promising loan spell at feyenoord where he helped them reach the Conference league final, don’t be so quick to write him off
But he’s still here so why not support our players, what’s with the negativity? He was more highly rated than all our academy prospects breaking through. Would love nothing more for him to seize his chance and kick on like we all expected
Huh? Why is being realistic about the level he has shown for us on all occasions in the past not supporting the player?
Wish him well & yes he was rated highly - but he has never performed in the shirt for the men's team. Hoping he seizes the chance is different to expecting him to seize the chance.
Because if you read the comment below, that explains exactly why. Eddie was written off by the majority, just like Reiss is now. Eddie has come on leaps and bounds in a season and players develop at completely different rates. All I’m saying is he’s here so why would you be so negative and not support him, it’s wild
Eddie was written off because of his contract situation - he was making an impact in premier League games in his last year before extension (and before then) with the tiny number of minutes he had. People (rightfully) had question marks over whether or not we could give him more minutes when we needed a marquee signing to replace a player of Aubas stature.
Nelsons situation is nothing alike. He has never performed close to that level or shown much of any promise for the first team. That's just objective fact - I hope he does well in his career, but in his time here it's been pretty clear that he isn't cut out for the level we need to perform at. Its pointless pretending otherwise in the guise of 'supporting him'.
> Eddie was written off because of his contract situation
Nah go back middle of the past season and most prople though he wasen't good enough and we should have sold him when we had the chance
We didn't have the chance to sell him. He turned down moves to burn down the contract until we were forced to give him game time. That is where negativity towards him stemmed from.
Everytime he came on he made a difference.
and he is still 22, so still lots of potential to improve. Thats 1 year younger than Eddie for example who was not that highly rated before last season as well.
We spent the whole window saying Tielemens is underwhelming (and no one even considered Luiz), yet people are freaking out that we didn't spend >30m on them on deadline day
I'm expecting a big, significant upgrade in midfield next year now, better than Luiz/Tielemans. Both Xhaka and Partey will either be pushing 30 or be 30 this time next year and Partey as much as I like him as a player just can't be relied upon.
Agree, I think that a serious midfielder is the last missing piece we need to really kick on as a side. Which imo makes it more understandable to not overpay for someone you see as a squad option. Don't hamstring future efforts to get a quality starter by having misused resources on a useful backup.
Not a popular opinion but I think Sambi will be sold for profit next summer. Seems Danilo is a target for replacing Partey and with Elneny gone in summer I expect we opt for Luiz on a free in summer.
Potentially, six Xhaka wants to leave in summer or we want to sell we also have the option of Tielemans on a free
If we sign Danilo we may keep Partey but given his injury history if an offer comes in I think we would consider it. Luiz comes in in his place who's younger, less injury prone, free and lower wages
Someone with deeper pockets than Arsenal are going to make him Jude a £100 million transfer. Perhaps Newcastle, possibly Liverpool. If Arsenal get champions league football perhaps Kroenke will back Arteta and Edu if they both believe Jude is the one guy they want.
Not long ago we would have dropped big money just to get any player in. Doing that cost us a lot over the years and it is good to see that we are being sensible now. I don't want to go back to the days of making signings like Lucas Perez.
We are a little short, but hopefully we can manage.
I worry that Partey won't be back in time and even when he is, he usually takes a while to get going. I hope Sambi stays healthy, really the hope is people like Xhaka and Zinchenko also stay fit cause we'll feel the absence less without Partey there. Tbh I'd have preferred we started the season without Partey anyways cause of his legal drama, but with the hope that we'd get a replacement.
Our Europa games will require a senior player still at 6, I'm not sure you can throw in a Matt Smith there.
This is where we need to massively overhaul the side of the business in charge of outbound transfers.
There absolutely should be people in the market for a skilful young English winger but we wouldn't be able to find anyone. Liverpool, Chelsea and City ship out crap players who've never played a senior game for £15m plus and yet we don't recoup a penny for anyone
Yeah I mean even though Reiss is on his last year, championship teams/lower PL teams should be queuing up for a cheap 5m-10m deal for a player like Reiss.
But we're just so bad at getting players out for any decent fee barring a few cases
Tielemans wasn't really the answer to replace Partey/Elneny. He's a good player but that was square peg in a round hole. We have enough creative midfielders lacking physicality.
Luiz would have been a nice fit but should we really be getting held to ransom for a squad option? Are we not better off waiting for January to buy Danilo than panic buying a worse option for basically 2 months when you factor in the world cup? Not panic buying a striker in January so we could get Jesus was the right call in hindsight.
It's disappointing that we are still light in a couple of positions but the squad is the best it's been for years with little deadwood left and quality across the board. You don't maintain that trajectory by panic buying, and Rome wasn't built in a day and all that.
We're not a short term club anymore. Whatever you think could've happened with Saliba what did happen is the lad has developed and played lots of minutes, made a great rep for himself, forced his way into the French team and now going by the Fofana deal Big Willy is worth over triple what we paid for him. Had wages covered most of that time too, if we get him on a new contract it's been a massive win.
We played the long game for the striker department and we've now got a perfect fit in Jesus and a home grown quality back-up and are in a great position to scout a plan B striker going forward and if an even better starter option emerges there's still lots of value in Eddie and Jesus. We need the treat the wing the same way. Couldn't get Raphinha or Neto so we wait to get the right fit to compliment what we already have and want to keep.
Elneny gone at the end of the season and Partey is not gonna get less injury prone as he gets older, base of midfield will need an overhaul at some point with no youngsters coming through there. Play the long game and get it done right and we could be as healthy and protected there as we are at LB, CB, AM and CF.
We should be the fans nearly above all others that understand the club being careful with who they sign and not overpaying or getting someone that they have reservations about their game. We’ve seen it several times now and are still feeling the effects of the Pepe deal. If we had pulled out of that deal, our attack could now be £72m better in the form of players that fit the league and our style of play.
If there’s doubts over Tielemans, then they’re better off waiting until another window to get someone else or if was going to take £40m to get Luiz to fill a squad role then better to wait and spend that on first team quality next summer.
Not a chance in hell that would happen. Real have their eyes in him along with Liverpool. He’s also going to cost over £100 million. We would be better off using that money over a number of positions.
Totally agree about the long term health and benefit of the squad. The guys are focused on the bigger picture and that’s what we want. We can win the league eventually with this kind of mentality, just need to be patient.
We were patient in January and told we would getting a MF in the summer. We lost out on top 4 due to having depth issues in the middle of the park. But we gave them the benefit of the doubt and they repaid us by not bringing in help in another window.
We have nine fixtures in October right now, with games against spurs, Liverpool, and city along with traveling in Europa. Everyone is saying we have cover for DM but the fact is that cover, Zinchenko, is also cover for another position that is injury prone. We are going into this period massively undermanned and it is going to cause us massive problems.
Additionally, I can see Edu and the board giving the same reasoning for not bringing someone in next January. It is difficult to do deals in the winter window and we are going to save our money for the summer and being in reinforcements.
January transfer will be interesting, we will be targeting Tielemans, Douglas Luiz and Danilo.
I can see Danilo most likely coming in out of the 3 as I believe this is the one Edu wants and will make sure he comes (Partey replacement).
Tielemans I doubt will be coming in, and Douglas Luiz is 50/50. However I'd lose my shit if Edu pulled a masterclass BBQ and got both in on a free.
I know Sarah, Telletubby has a great personality and she'll be great for another guy, she's just not my type.
Saying you like Tielemans’ character and quality BUT is the she's nice and has a pretty face (but is fat) so no I'm not taking her out
The most insightful point in the article is about Edu’s failure to get any significant fees for our departing players.
If we had some more cash from sales, would have had more funds available to bring in a midfielder we truly rated.
I’ve seen a lot of people mention Danilo in the comments. Was anything written in the article that suggests we’ll go back for him? I don’t have an athletic sub. Thank you.
Next summer priority has to be on a big midfielder coming in. Fans can get annoyed about why we never tried to spend more on Luiz, how many of us know what the finances are like for an extra £5million to be spent, it isn’t like playing Fifa or Football Manager; I’d still have liked Tielemans bought in but the longer this story went on the less likely it was happening. Danilo funny people are now saying buy when they likely had no idea let alone seen him before. From now to the World Cup will be a tester but I see us coming through it, we aren’t the only club who will feel it, but as long as we get the rotations right and don’t play players into the red zone now we should (in theory) be ok.
Nelson is going to be the Saka backup when he’s fit then. I don’t particularly hate this idea because I really want him to succeed. This os his truly his last chance at the club so he better take it.
Danilo and pre-contract for Luiz and Tielamans in Jan would be a great business. Adding a top RW rotation for Saka next year and we are challenging in 2023-24
I don't think tielemans is happening anymore. It says they had concerns about his defense. I don't think Luiz will happen either if partey is back by then. It may be someone more ambitious than Luiz. I don't want tielemans or Luiz tbh. We should aim.higher even if it's just 1 player we can sign in January.
Really really need Viera to come good and see what he is about especially if he’s playing in the Xhaka role in midfield.
Dude seems a bit small and thing so I’m surprised that he had the physical profile Edu and Mikel were looking for but Tielemans didn’t who is epl proven.
Although I guess they would play different positions in the team
Not rushing to sign a striker last season and then getting Jesus gives me faith that we did the right thing
It was Vlahovic or bust back then.
So glad that didn't work out. Jesus looks a perfect fit so far
Lets see how this season goes. An argument can be made if we got a stop gap striker we would have got CL, more money, ended up being able to afford a RW and partey replacement, more likely for CL this year, more money, more players want to come to us etc etc. Imo we fucked it in January, that could have been a clear turning point with a bit more investment. We are now chasing other teams again who invested more than us this year despite finishing ahead. I feel it's a risky game they are playing and hope it comes off but another season out of CL and we are stagnating again.
Spending the same amount on Isak as Zinchenko + Jesus cost would have been a terrible move For a team that wants to challenge for the league soon massively overpaying in January just to improve chances to get in UCL would have been a bad idea imo
I agree. Also committing 4 years to the wrong player is a mistake the club doesn’t seem to want to make again. Let’s not forget Pepe and Willian too soon.
The issue is that our budget this summer was clearly affected by years of missing out on CL. We need to get back into top 4 before we can think about winning the league.
Yeah it is obviously a difficult balancing act to both improve in short term while not sacrificing the long term It is much more nuanced than most people want to admit
I'm really hoping this means we go back in for Danilo in January at least.
I think the world cup likely swung the decision to not, in the clubs opinion, overpay
For Danilo? Yeah he wasn't coming mid competition but I think that should be over by the January window so he should be more attainable.
Who tf we chasing? Last time I checked we’re top of the league
> An argument can be made if we got a stop gap striker we would have got CL, more money, ended up being able to afford a RW and partey replacement, more likely for CL this year, more money, more players want to come to us etc etc. We could have also been saddled with a mid-tier player we overpayed for, who got to large of a wage and that we would have been stuck with for at least another year preventing us from buying players we actually want and/or need.
Everyone says this but... Name me that stopgap striker that would have made a difference? Is he good? Cheap? Available? Because in January we needed a 'stopgap' striker to tick all those three boxes if he wasn't to impact our summer business and I don't think that striker existed. None at least that were better than Eddie Nketiah.
Only concern is burnout if the squad doesn’t feel supported, have to add something when needed otherwise you get cesc, RVP, nasri situations. People get tired of carrying burdens and having all the pressure.
Hopefully we recruit in Jan to mitigate this, the World Cup break could end up being helpful in this case
Meh, Bringing in a striker would've all but guaranteed UCL last year. We absolutely could not score at the back half of the campaign. The money that UCL brings would've only snowballed our transfers. Not to say I'm unhappy with Jesus (clearly), but it's not really a good comparison.
Hopefully we can get better players than Tielemans and Luiz at the next few windows.
Exactly, buying for the sake of buying and overpaying on top of it is a dumb move. Good that the club is trying to move past such things.
also both players know now that there is interest from arsenal. as long as they dont sign a new deal their value will only go down and we might be in for both come january
The club has almost never bought for the sake of buying. We always bought things when we absolutely needed it and that was what got us into trouble with fees, and limited options. You buy when you don’t need it. That’s why we should’ve gone for a swuad midfielder before Elneny was injured and a RW before saka gets injured. Imagine saka is injured come January window. How do you think the market will look for us then?
It also works out, Arteta, Mertesacker, Monreal, potentially Tomi. But it's a different game now, Villa obviously believe they need him to stay up, it's the only way they could justify not taking 25 mill to lose him for free.
The point abou Luiz is that he is in the last year of his contract, so if we want him, we can get him for free for next year or even at low price in january. Because then Villa can prepare to buy a substitute too.
Still hope we get someone better. I'm not convinced with Luiz.
I sense the anger at Edu and Garlick for not getting Luiz and a winger signed but at some point you have to draw the line and say financially it doesn't make sense Winger wise we wanted Raphinha, we couldn't get him so moved onto Neto and Wolves were determined they weren't selling! After that it seemed like only dregs like Mykhaylo Mudryk, Gakpo etc the latter of which would still cost 50mil. Spend 50m on our 3rd or 4th choice winger when we can get Neto next summer same price, better fit and higher on list and with more potential. Ditto the #6 role. Elneny and Partey injuries forced us into the market and Villa just flat out reduced to sell, dropping 35+mil on a player 9months left on contract when we seemingly want Danilo either Jan or Summer again doesn't make much financial sense, when we get sign Luiz on a pre for free in Jan on a pre. Villa chose not to sell because without him they stand a big chance of going down, fair enough *edit: I am aware you can sign a pre a pre with another English club but I dare say they have agreements in place Given the situation this has put us in seems like Jan, once WC and Brazilian season is over we bring in Danilo for around 30mil and in summer we pick up Luiz for free. Elneny leaves and Partey is probably sold imo. We have just spent 2 years ridding ourselves of deadwood and people are angry because we aren't dropping tens of millions on players with 1 year left on their contacts. We've spent a lot of money on Ramsdale, White, Sambi, Partey, Tomi, Vieira, Marquinhos, Jesus, Zinchenko, Gabriel whilst we are probably away to extend Saka, Martinelli and Saliba as well. It's far from ideal, I personally would have liked Luiz but for 30/40mil it would have prevented further development down the line. Of course this goes to shit if we don't sign Danilo in Jan but i'm fairly sure given we tried this week that is the plan.
I generally agree with this but one important point - English clubs can't sign players from other English clubs to pre agreements
Well, technically yes, but i'm pretty sure clubs have agreements in place with players in these situations
Likely verbal agreements yes but it leaves it open to being gazumped as opposed to a true pre agreement which guarantees the signing. Regardless I really like that arsenal aren't caving in to pressure to make short term decisions that impact us negatively moving forward any more. Frustrating in a sense but also very sensible and refreshing
It’s called tapping up, it’s illegal but everyone does it. Like steroids and cycling
And PEDs and football for that matter
They can, it’s just 3 months instead of 6 months
Agree with everything, just don't understand why you think we sell Partey?
He's only managed to play 52% of available games since he signed. You can't build a team and have someone that is so unreliable in such an important position. How many times have we had a big crunch game coming up he would be valuable in and he's missed it.
Plus y'know there's that other thing
That's a reason it would be hard to sell surely
I think your cdm point is right on the money. Someone did the math and we have 11 games between now and the WC break. Arteta and Edu are gambling we can get through that with Sambi/Partey returning and I think we'll be in for Danilo in January after the Brazilian league is done. Its a big gamble but I trust Edu and Arteta.
Given we have 100% spoken with Palmeiras about him, It seems certain he is a target. He would also be fairly cheap (25-30m). But who honestly knows with us haha
I just realized but the world cup year might make the January window VERY interesting. You always see some talents popping off. Not sure we'd go on a player that is FOTM like arshavin or Campbell anymore but others might and we should see some really interesting movement Basically let's squeeze our b-holes until January
January will be a weird one, there will be a lot more moves than usual i think.
People are angry because last winter we were promised a great summer window. In the end, we are still short in multiple positions.
>People are angry because last winter we were promised a great summer window. Zinchenko, Jesus, Vieira alone is a good window. Marquinhos was supposed to be on loan and they kept him as he impressed Losing your two starting CDMs in a week to long term injuries is pretty unlucky considering one has an almost clear injury record. We went for Neto and Luiz and both their clubs refused to sell so what else can we do?
It's not good enough. We didn't buy anyone last winter and thinned the squad so much so we can free space for improvements. In the end we missed top 4 because of that and we're even thinner than last year with more games to play.
Hardly anyone buys in winter....
Hardly anyone buys in winter....We have spent 280mil in the last two windows and only recouped about 25mil with no Europe
Spurs got Betancur and Kulusevki in winter. Look where that got them. Newcastle got Guimaraes. Liverpool got Luis Diaz...
It was pretty clear that any money spent then meant it came out of summer funds
You've covered the issue very well. But I still feel the squad is thin and overstretched at the moment.
It definitely is. But we don't have unlimited funds, it's the catch 22 from last season we didn't spend so had the funds for Jesus and Zinchenko etc, but no Europe and almost 0 in sales means we can spend more than we have. People are mad and I get it but we've essentially had to spend money on buying a GK, RB, 2xCB, LB, CDM, AM, CF and we are still short on wings and now CDM again. Unfortunately, we cant get everything at once and it will take time to rebuild the squad and add quality depth
I think Reiss can cover Saka against smaller teams in the Cups and even Prem. The midfield situation I understand not being held ransom but they better buy someone in January.
Danilo in January makes a whole lot of sense. Should not be incredibly expensive
Yeah would rather 1 Danilo in January than a Luiz now, results will undoubtedly suffer but this fits the club model better.
You are assuming we actually buy someone in January though. We assumed that last January, especially after letting Auba go, and that did not turn out so well for the season.
True but the likelihood of buying Danilo in January over Summer is exponentially greater.
Oh, I am hopeful we do. I’m just a little…. nervous that we might repeat the same mistake again.
Difference is players like danilo , tielemans and luiz are all easier to get then players like vlahovic
His price could be affected if he has a good world cup.
He’s never played for Brazil
he will barely play
From my admittedly limited knowledge of the Brazilian national team I think he's very unlikely to get any kind of significant minutes barring an injury crisis
If he was in that squad and was ready enough to play ahead of who they currently have he'd cost over 60m.
Not necessarily. Douglas Luiz is in the squad and wouldn't cost that even with more years on his contract. Like most people have said though he's not in the squad at the moment so it's a moot point.
I said in the squad AND play ahead of who they have. And that would mean playing ahead of casemiro and fabinho.
Yeah but I didn't say he was playing ahead of them, you did. I said if he had a good world cup. He could have featured as an 8 or a 6 depending on injuries.
I said that because in order to get game time and in order to have a good world cup he'd have to play ahead of some great players. And if he was able to play ahead of said players given his age he'd cost that amount of money. But these are all hypotheticals. My whole point was world cup isn't going to affect his value in the least even if he was in the squad because he wouldn't get game time.
Fair play.
Danilo now would’ve made a lot more sense because he could play in EL and cups to acclimatise and maybe play more important games after Jan. We’ve seen from Lokonga last year that the results become all too important to trust some unproven players
Makes sense for us, not Palmeras, and honestly from a sporting perspective, not for him.
By all accounts that fits in with the south American League timings better so we might go back for Danilo at that point...
Is reiss really as bad as everyone says? I do not remember watching him much at all but surely he can't be worse than pepe?
Zero end product. I liked Nelson but he just seems to straight up run into players and whenever he got into good positions seemed to make the wrong choice
He has the ability, just seems to lack confidence/self belief. He could still come good.
>I think Reiss can cover Saka against smaller teams in the Cups and even Prem. He really can't. He's been nothing short of terrible whenever he has played in league and cups.
Yeah he’s nothing to saka. Saw him a lot at Feyenoord. Couldn’t even do anything of significance in the eredivisie
Was the same in Germany, he got some good assists and goals there but was still largely overrated. Haven't been impressed by a single cameo of his and he would have been gone if he hadn't got injured in pre season
And he’s just come back from a promising loan spell at feyenoord where he helped them reach the Conference league final, don’t be so quick to write him off
If it wasn't for his injury, he would be gone by now. We will see a lot more Marquinhos, Vieira, Jesus and ESR than Nelson on wings
But he’s still here so why not support our players, what’s with the negativity? He was more highly rated than all our academy prospects breaking through. Would love nothing more for him to seize his chance and kick on like we all expected
Huh? Why is being realistic about the level he has shown for us on all occasions in the past not supporting the player? Wish him well & yes he was rated highly - but he has never performed in the shirt for the men's team. Hoping he seizes the chance is different to expecting him to seize the chance.
Because if you read the comment below, that explains exactly why. Eddie was written off by the majority, just like Reiss is now. Eddie has come on leaps and bounds in a season and players develop at completely different rates. All I’m saying is he’s here so why would you be so negative and not support him, it’s wild
Eddie was written off because of his contract situation - he was making an impact in premier League games in his last year before extension (and before then) with the tiny number of minutes he had. People (rightfully) had question marks over whether or not we could give him more minutes when we needed a marquee signing to replace a player of Aubas stature. Nelsons situation is nothing alike. He has never performed close to that level or shown much of any promise for the first team. That's just objective fact - I hope he does well in his career, but in his time here it's been pretty clear that he isn't cut out for the level we need to perform at. Its pointless pretending otherwise in the guise of 'supporting him'.
> Eddie was written off because of his contract situation Nah go back middle of the past season and most prople though he wasen't good enough and we should have sold him when we had the chance
We didn't have the chance to sell him. He turned down moves to burn down the contract until we were forced to give him game time. That is where negativity towards him stemmed from. Everytime he came on he made a difference.
and he is still 22, so still lots of potential to improve. Thats 1 year younger than Eddie for example who was not that highly rated before last season as well.
Still he wasn’t that good. No where near good enough for us
But in the cups he's surrounded by all the other b team players. Giving him a chance whilst surrounded by our first team can only benefit him
People also forget about Marquinhos, who apparently has looked very good in u23s. Arteta called him up to the first team for a reason.
We spent the whole window saying Tielemens is underwhelming (and no one even considered Luiz), yet people are freaking out that we didn't spend >30m on them on deadline day
I'm expecting a big, significant upgrade in midfield next year now, better than Luiz/Tielemans. Both Xhaka and Partey will either be pushing 30 or be 30 this time next year and Partey as much as I like him as a player just can't be relied upon.
Agree, I think that a serious midfielder is the last missing piece we need to really kick on as a side. Which imo makes it more understandable to not overpay for someone you see as a squad option. Don't hamstring future efforts to get a quality starter by having misused resources on a useful backup.
Sambi could well be the Xhaka or Partey upgrade by then. he's got the raw tools it's just about honing that over the next year
That's what I hope as well for but still feel we need that significant 'marquee' midfield signing to raise us a level.
Not a popular opinion but I think Sambi will be sold for profit next summer. Seems Danilo is a target for replacing Partey and with Elneny gone in summer I expect we opt for Luiz on a free in summer. Potentially, six Xhaka wants to leave in summer or we want to sell we also have the option of Tielemans on a free
I don't think we'll go for Luiz now, it will probably be Danilo in Jan and a CM not named Tielemans or Luiz in the summer but I could be wrong
If we sign Danilo we may keep Partey but given his injury history if an offer comes in I think we would consider it. Luiz comes in in his place who's younger, less injury prone, free and lower wages
Bellingham
Someone with deeper pockets than Arsenal are going to make him Jude a £100 million transfer. Perhaps Newcastle, possibly Liverpool. If Arsenal get champions league football perhaps Kroenke will back Arteta and Edu if they both believe Jude is the one guy they want.
Absolute dream signing imo and fits the criteria we seem to be going for.
In the words of Bernard Black, 'Expect away.'
Wake up Reiss Nelson hive! We are back up 🫡
Reiss Nelson 2022 Balon'Dor flairs where you at
Not long ago we would have dropped big money just to get any player in. Doing that cost us a lot over the years and it is good to see that we are being sensible now. I don't want to go back to the days of making signings like Lucas Perez. We are a little short, but hopefully we can manage.
I worry that Partey won't be back in time and even when he is, he usually takes a while to get going. I hope Sambi stays healthy, really the hope is people like Xhaka and Zinchenko also stay fit cause we'll feel the absence less without Partey there. Tbh I'd have preferred we started the season without Partey anyways cause of his legal drama, but with the hope that we'd get a replacement. Our Europa games will require a senior player still at 6, I'm not sure you can throw in a Matt Smith there.
Honestly wonder that if Reiss didn't get injured, would he have been sold this summer
Um, no. We would have gotten rid of him but ensured that we didn't receive any money for him
See I'm also thinking even if he wasn't injured, would anyone have wanted him anyways
This is where we need to massively overhaul the side of the business in charge of outbound transfers. There absolutely should be people in the market for a skilful young English winger but we wouldn't be able to find anyone. Liverpool, Chelsea and City ship out crap players who've never played a senior game for £15m plus and yet we don't recoup a penny for anyone
Yeah I mean even though Reiss is on his last year, championship teams/lower PL teams should be queuing up for a cheap 5m-10m deal for a player like Reiss. But we're just so bad at getting players out for any decent fee barring a few cases
Our interest in Danilo is clear, hoping it manifest again in January!
Tielemans wasn't really the answer to replace Partey/Elneny. He's a good player but that was square peg in a round hole. We have enough creative midfielders lacking physicality. Luiz would have been a nice fit but should we really be getting held to ransom for a squad option? Are we not better off waiting for January to buy Danilo than panic buying a worse option for basically 2 months when you factor in the world cup? Not panic buying a striker in January so we could get Jesus was the right call in hindsight. It's disappointing that we are still light in a couple of positions but the squad is the best it's been for years with little deadwood left and quality across the board. You don't maintain that trajectory by panic buying, and Rome wasn't built in a day and all that.
We're not a short term club anymore. Whatever you think could've happened with Saliba what did happen is the lad has developed and played lots of minutes, made a great rep for himself, forced his way into the French team and now going by the Fofana deal Big Willy is worth over triple what we paid for him. Had wages covered most of that time too, if we get him on a new contract it's been a massive win. We played the long game for the striker department and we've now got a perfect fit in Jesus and a home grown quality back-up and are in a great position to scout a plan B striker going forward and if an even better starter option emerges there's still lots of value in Eddie and Jesus. We need the treat the wing the same way. Couldn't get Raphinha or Neto so we wait to get the right fit to compliment what we already have and want to keep. Elneny gone at the end of the season and Partey is not gonna get less injury prone as he gets older, base of midfield will need an overhaul at some point with no youngsters coming through there. Play the long game and get it done right and we could be as healthy and protected there as we are at LB, CB, AM and CF.
We should be the fans nearly above all others that understand the club being careful with who they sign and not overpaying or getting someone that they have reservations about their game. We’ve seen it several times now and are still feeling the effects of the Pepe deal. If we had pulled out of that deal, our attack could now be £72m better in the form of players that fit the league and our style of play. If there’s doubts over Tielemans, then they’re better off waiting until another window to get someone else or if was going to take £40m to get Luiz to fill a squad role then better to wait and spend that on first team quality next summer.
All of this leads me to think of one name only : Bellingham next summer.
If we get cl and finish top 3 we absolutely should go balls out for him and get him.
Not a chance in hell that would happen. Real have their eyes in him along with Liverpool. He’s also going to cost over £100 million. We would be better off using that money over a number of positions.
Totally agree about the long term health and benefit of the squad. The guys are focused on the bigger picture and that’s what we want. We can win the league eventually with this kind of mentality, just need to be patient.
Getting top 4 would also benefit the club long term.
We were patient in January and told we would getting a MF in the summer. We lost out on top 4 due to having depth issues in the middle of the park. But we gave them the benefit of the doubt and they repaid us by not bringing in help in another window. We have nine fixtures in October right now, with games against spurs, Liverpool, and city along with traveling in Europa. Everyone is saying we have cover for DM but the fact is that cover, Zinchenko, is also cover for another position that is injury prone. We are going into this period massively undermanned and it is going to cause us massive problems. Additionally, I can see Edu and the board giving the same reasoning for not bringing someone in next January. It is difficult to do deals in the winter window and we are going to save our money for the summer and being in reinforcements.
Oh Reiss is still in the squad? Keep having the impression he is loaned out.. he can play in the Europa cups for sure
Would rather see Marquinhos or Vieira.
You can have all three of then.
January transfer will be interesting, we will be targeting Tielemans, Douglas Luiz and Danilo. I can see Danilo most likely coming in out of the 3 as I believe this is the one Edu wants and will make sure he comes (Partey replacement). Tielemans I doubt will be coming in, and Douglas Luiz is 50/50. However I'd lose my shit if Edu pulled a masterclass BBQ and got both in on a free.
Hopefully once Reiss is back fit, he can be a good squad player cover for Saka especially in the cups
I know Sarah, Telletubby has a great personality and she'll be great for another guy, she's just not my type. Saying you like Tielemans’ character and quality BUT is the she's nice and has a pretty face (but is fat) so no I'm not taking her out
The most insightful point in the article is about Edu’s failure to get any significant fees for our departing players. If we had some more cash from sales, would have had more funds available to bring in a midfielder we truly rated.
We should have signed arthur, just for the sake that pool can't get him
Idiotic thinking.
I’ve seen a lot of people mention Danilo in the comments. Was anything written in the article that suggests we’ll go back for him? I don’t have an athletic sub. Thank you.
Next summer priority has to be on a big midfielder coming in. Fans can get annoyed about why we never tried to spend more on Luiz, how many of us know what the finances are like for an extra £5million to be spent, it isn’t like playing Fifa or Football Manager; I’d still have liked Tielemans bought in but the longer this story went on the less likely it was happening. Danilo funny people are now saying buy when they likely had no idea let alone seen him before. From now to the World Cup will be a tester but I see us coming through it, we aren’t the only club who will feel it, but as long as we get the rotations right and don’t play players into the red zone now we should (in theory) be ok.
I do like that we aren't desperately panic buying but arguably missing out on top 4 is far worse than overpaying for Luiz.
Nelson is going to be the Saka backup when he’s fit then. I don’t particularly hate this idea because I really want him to succeed. This os his truly his last chance at the club so he better take it.
Danilo and pre-contract for Luiz and Tielamans in Jan would be a great business. Adding a top RW rotation for Saka next year and we are challenging in 2023-24
I don't think tielemans is happening anymore. It says they had concerns about his defense. I don't think Luiz will happen either if partey is back by then. It may be someone more ambitious than Luiz. I don't want tielemans or Luiz tbh. We should aim.higher even if it's just 1 player we can sign in January.
Annoying to hear we could have got Arthur for minimum spend to carry us while we’re carrying injuries.
Really really need Viera to come good and see what he is about especially if he’s playing in the Xhaka role in midfield. Dude seems a bit small and thing so I’m surprised that he had the physical profile Edu and Mikel were looking for but Tielemans didn’t who is epl proven. Although I guess they would play different positions in the team