Arsenal’s cancel culture

Hey, I just wanted to make the joke ok? But look, today Arsenal canceled Sokratis’ contract, they’ve either canceled or are going to cancel Ozil’s contract, and we still have Mustafi’s contract to cancel. And if the club had any guts they’d cancel Willian’s contract too.*

I also think we need to look at clearing a bunch of guys out.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles is probably at peak value. Dropping him for Soares only hurts his sell-on price. And as we head into the knockout stages of the Europa League Arteta is going to start playing his first team players more often. So, if Soares really is 2nd choice RB (which I find incredible) then we should move AMN on. If I was him, I’d actually put in a transfer request. He was wanted by Wolves this summer and they subsequently bought Semedo and Hoever, so that tells me that the Bird Catcher is at least somewhat rated by clubs.

Arsenal also have 4 guys with contracts expiring in 2022: Lacazette, Nketiah, Chambo, and Elneny. I would probably wait to sell Lacazette until this summer and Elneny seems to be an integral part of the Arsenal MF. But if we are raising funds to buy another MFer then we should sell Elneny. The other two are English (and Homegrown) but again, like Maitland-Niles I wonder if they have reached peak value? At what point do we sell? I’d sell Chambers in a minute: he seems like some type of 5th or 6th choice player on the team, so let him go and get playing time elsewhere. Nketiah does get on the pitch and works his socks off so maybe he could be a summer sale.

Maitland-Niles, Elneny, and Chambers, that’s got to be £30m isn’t it? Surely we can get a progressive number 8 for that price?

Three names are being mentioned for that position right now: Aouar, Buendia, and Michael Olise. Aouar has, I thought, made it clear he doesn’t want to come to Arsenal. And you can’t really blame him. Lyon look like they might be headed into the Champions League, plus he’s settled there, and he has aspirations of playing for Barcelona, Real Madrid, and PSG.

Buendia is the closest fit in terms of midfielder we need but Norwich are on the verge of promotion. Considering how much money they would earn from getting back into the Premier League it would be suicidal to sell him at virtually any price. Just a note about Buendia: he is playing higher up the pitch this season, mostly in the Saka role, but he played deeper in MF last season. I also have reservations about him because whenever I see him play, he’s very slow. The stats look good but again, he’s slow.

Michael Olise is a player you’ve probably never heard of. He’s 19, plays for Reading, plays in the attacking MF role, and while he’s French he was born in England (Hammersmith) and counts as Homegrown because he’s been at Reading’s academy (and first team) since 2016. Rumors are swirling that Arsenal, Spurs, and Liverpool all want him. He’s not really the CM Arsenal need, though. He’d be competing in the 10 with Emile Smith-Rowe. Olise has a shoulder injury which could rule him out for the rest of the season but that shouldn’t stand in the way. His value on Transfermarkt is sub 10m. But at his age, homegrown, with his profile, I’d say 15-20m is the likely price.

All of this points to Arsenal probably not doing any (buying) business in January. We are clearing up salary. We have some assets that we could sell (some of you will want to sell Willock and if we aren’t going to play him, then I think there’s a point there, though ideally we’d play him). And we have five guys on loan, with at least two of them almost certainly never playing for Arsenal again (Torreira and Mavropanos). I think three of them are sellable assets – I know that Guendouzi is beloved by Hertha for example and there is some talk of signing him permanently this summer, so maybe we can move that deal up.

We are in the midst of a – desperately needed – clear out. Arsenal have been atrocious at deals for the last three years and we are paying the price. Some folks have been somewhat concerned by the fact that we are paying these guys off but honestly if it saves us even a dollar of their salary it’s a dollar we wouldn’t have had at the end of the season.

But finding players who can come in to this Arsenal team and get us rocking right away is going to be difficult. Not only are we a club with an owner who won’t put money in but we are bleeding money because we have depended on matchday fans for far too long. So, we need to sell to buy and we need to buy cheap. I can’t see many options but that doesn’t mean our new scouting system and whatnot can’t find them. Finding another Martinelli or promoting another guy from the academy are options that the club should be looking at for sure.

And finally, one note on cancel culture: I’m in favor of canceling everything and starting all over again. Everyone with a clean slate. What you do from that position is how we will judge you.

Qq

*Joke, lol, we will have that albatross around our necks for the entire voyage of this whaling ship.

42 comments

  1. There are so many moving parts, so many loans and so many contracts finishing, that it’s hard to know who’s going to stay and who’s going to leave this summer. I think there might be a few surprises.

    If we assume that none of our loanees are going to be around next season and Dani goes back to RM, that means we need a back-up for Holding and for Tierney (so Chambers and AMN probably stay) and that we are a couple of players light in midfield. But it could go very differently.

  2. I’m all for let ESR grow and get a young competitor to keep both on their toes.

    Unpopular opinion but I’d sell auba, nketiah, willock, chambers or el neny, reluctantly sell AMN (he seems to have hit a ceiling. Looking at xhaka’s revival I still hope for AMN but feel his technical quality and composure is sub par). What’s the deal with Nelson? He looks afraid of making mistakes on the pitch. Needs to relax.

    Checked out olise’s skills on YouTube. Love his body feints. Would love to get such a player. These are the kind of players that unclock low blocks like grealish or eze. Looks silky smooth. Hope we are really in for him.

    I’d sign andy Carroll or giroud. We need a dominant aerial player for set pieces, crosses, hold up play and alternative tactics.

    Left back is a priority too. Miss Nacho Monreal.

    If we are aggressive in outgoings during the summer we can make huge steps towards rebuilding.

      1. He’s commanding aerially but sometimes we dislike players not for their football ability but football history like dislike that I understand but I’m not for it.

  3. Would seem a bit surprising if both AMN and Chambers went, given they can both play in multiple positions and both are British.
    I’d be fine with Nketiah going if we were keeping Balogun, but not sure that’s how it will work.
    And can’t see Laca going this window. He’s playing decently well, and there’s no guarantee we can get a similar replacement. If either he or Auba pick up a significant injury, we’d be very short in experienced forwards.
    We’ll see how things go over the next few weeks. I don’t have much in the way of hope for the top 4, but if we can keep people healthy and playing the way they have, getting back into the Europa spots and challenging for for both FA and Europa seems doable.

  4. For me the January market is the place to find a lesser replacement for a target you had but couldn’t get in the summer, or to put a bandage on the squad when missing key players with long term injuries. I agree that the whole squad needs to be continuously evaluated and proactively adjudicated for value on the pitch to Arsenal or value in the market. But you can’t really accomplish a bunch of high impact moves in January, which is mid-season for most leagues around the world. Quality players rarely, if ever, change clubs in January. Every once in a while you get a Demba Ba but even that was diminishing returns after the first few months. You do the business you absolutely have to (i.e. move on from Mesut Ozil) and stay open to low-risk opportunities (i.e. Omar Rekik). I’m not sure you can do much more than that.

    If we project forward to the summer window, it’s a different matter altogether but a LOT can change in 6 months. I’d wait before declaring my intentions on fringe players with value, such as AMN, Chambers and El-Neny. If people know we’re shopping them, that just diminishes their value. I also think Chambers deserves another look after fighting his way back from injury. He’s been gone so long, it’s easy to forget he’s just entering the prime age for a CB (26), and has had runs of good games for us where he looked like he belonged at this level. He has tough competition with Mari, Holding and Gabriel, but that’s a good thing for the club. Besides that, the CB department will look a lot less cluttered in August with the departures of Mustafi, Sokratis, Luiz, and likely Mavropanos too.

    For me the most pressing need we have right now are backups for Kieran Tierney and for Bernd Leno. Those are the types of purchases the January window is suited for and to me those are moves we can and should try to make. A target man type of striker would be a nice luxury as well.

    1. Agree that we need a LB and keeper and it’s really odd that there’s no smoke around that. It’s January 20th.

      1. Now we are strongly linked to Martin Odegaard.

        We are absolutely after another AM, which is odd when we have so many other positions to fill.

        1. Although it’s a long shot the goal has to be getting back into the CL spots. Adding a quality AM is key to that (and fingers crossed Tierney and Leno don’t get injured). I like this gamble. It’s Wengeresque. ESR has done well but his fitness to date is patchy and the Palace game he got completely nullified. Can’t expect him to shoulder too much burden this season.

        2. Odegaard doesn’t want to come to Arsenal. And word is Zidane doesn’t play him because he’s lazy defensively, i.e. like a certain player we just sent off to Turkey. 1+1= not worth the effort on Arsenal’s part. Let him go to Sociedad and play for a mediocre La Liga team.

    2. Do you think Luiz is going? I don’t. I’ll predict it right here – I think he gets extended another year. That said, I do believe he’ll drop to 4th on the depth chart. I think Saliba might be loaned for another year.

  5. Evening,

    Good post, as always I´m inclned to say. Such a relief to see us play good football again. Thank God for Saka and ESR. They´ve sort changed the outlook. We´re running, playing at speed, one touch and winning games.

    I likes Soares vs Newcastle. He looked good and every inch the part. Maybe he is? Maybe we shouldn´t get a creative player and give ESR his window of oppurtunity?

  6. We have to decide who is “squad”, and who is happy to be squad. Not everyone can be LBJ and AD. You need your Jared Dudleys. That tells me that Elneny is staying. Coaches love his unselfishness and lack of ego. He isn’t exactly elite… but as a squad player he is invaluable.

    Sometimes AMN looks a superb footballer. Maybe all that messing around positionally screws with his head in some games. If he can accept a squad role, he’s a solid keep.

    Arsene, for all his faults, was a player’s coach. He’d be more interested in players like Willock and Nelson having a career elsewhere, than in keeping them around for squad roles. Im on board with that. Let them have first team careers at Brighton or wherever, rather than, in their early 20s, remaining on the fringes at Arsenal. Let them go, and promote from within for squad roles. Chambers’ race with us is run.

    Look, I have my issues with Arteta (particularly his man-management), but I defer to the coach on who goes and who stays. He sees them every day in training, and is entitled to get “his” team.

    Good luck, Greek Fred Flintstone. You always played with heart. Good luck, Mesut. When it was on song, it was very sweet music.

    The thing I hate is that these conversations is the tendency of some fans to see the players as commodities. They are employees of AFC, and deserve our thanks. It didn’t work out, it stopped working out, or it’s time for change. Best of luck.

    1. Yay and nay, jay its a job for them and they´re not fans. I get that, fair play to Socrates and all the best.

      Ozil, not so much. He could have been so much more. Yes, 3 Fa cups which he helped us to win is certainly nothing to be scoffed at. But it could have been som much more.

      It think thats what grates me. It could have been so much more. he could have been a legend. The he turned out to be such a cunt. I dont get it, wtf do that!

  7. Why would anyone want to sell our leading goalscorer who is absolutely in form too and loves the club. 😑 I hope we will prolong Laca’s contract in the summer, and I am sure we will.

  8. Yes, Welsh. You and Tim are both right. Ozil could have done more, and ultimately, his Arsenal career is unfulfilled. Fener marketing can dress it up how much they like with homecoming razzmatazz, but make no mistake, this is a big (and somewhat humiliating) climb down for him. One report Ive seen suggests that he’s not even making a third of his Arsenal salary… the rest will come from add-ons and endorsements. Not one major club came in for him, a testiment to how much the willy-waving with Arsenal ultimately destroyed his value. A sad parting, in which both parties are culpable.

    On Auba, I agree… why would we sell one of our rare world-class talents? Man, we freaked out so much over what is likely a temporary loss of form. Auba’s record at AFC is nothing short of astonishing. We cant afford to buy that quality. Arteta dis well to re-sign it.

    The big question is Laca. Is he playing “contract football” or is he going through a real revival? My inclination would be to sell, buy young, and buy a classic 9. But we’re probably talking Pepe money for someone of quality.

    Speaking of Pepe. If you’re a coach and you cant make Pepe work, you should turn in your badge. Pepe has attributes — first touch, a sweet left foot — and he should be persevered with, not least as a value proposition. You don’t simply flush away 40m, which is about what we would recoup if we sold him… make it work. Wastage is what has got the club where it is.

    Speaking of which, the bigger problem for Arteta is Willian. One, he’s plainly lost a step or 3. Two, he’s not that creative.Three, because of 1 and 2, he makes the coach look a knave for deep-sixing his 10, who is miles better (in peak and off-peak years) than the Brazilian. Moreover, we gave a guy on the verge of his 32nd birthday 192,000 GBP a week, for 3 years. That’s 22m. One-sixth of the way through his fat contract, he is flailing. If he doesn’t turn it around, it’s got 2 and a half years to run. Was it worth spending 22m, partly to screw a guy out of 19m?

    What Im saying is maximise your existing value. With Pepe, it’s doable. With Willian, I fear maybe not. An Arteta can go from a 10/8 to a DM (where he started Real Sociedad anyway). How do you adapt the game of the Brazilian and maximise his value over 3 years?

    Im going to give Arteta the benefit of the doubt on Guendouzi. We’re clearly going to turn a signifiant profit on him if we decide to sell. Shame, I like the player, but the coach is better placed to make a call.

  9. I’m all for the clear out, so long it’s backfilled with young (<23) players.

    That said, I think it’s time also to be ruthless with some of the younger players we have.

    I think AMN has some fantastic athleticism that helps with tactics like man-marking Adama Traore out of games, but if someone offers 20-25m because of the home-grown premium, you have to take it.

    I think Nketiah is too lightweight to play striker in the PL. I’d cash in. I don’t think we can keep Balogun though, that ship seems to have sailed.

    Willock seems to be Ramsey-esque in that he needs a system that gives him free license. He might be the back-up to ESR if we have Partey + Unknown Stud MF = Willock allowed to roam behind the striker as a Lampard-lite type of player.

    Reiss-Nelson – will he really climb above Auba, Saka, Martinelli, Pepe and Willian for play on the flanks? I rate his work rate higher than the last two, but if he’s going to wallow 6th in the depth chart, cash in.

    I realize the four players I’ve named are all homegrown and that creates a new problem. I’d keep all four if could sell Soares, Lacazette, Willian and Pepe. But we know that won’t happen.

    What about Ryan Christie from Celtic? If we’re just looking for depth at CAM, he wouldn’t displace ESR necessarily but might provide some hard work with creativity and finishing in that position. 25 years old and +/-$10M… might be an option.

    1. The thing you have to be mindful of is the “home grown” rule. I have no idea where we are on that. It’s not a simple thing to throw out players like AMN and replace them.
      Also bear in mind, the UK has now formally left the EU. That means “free movement of labour” within Europe is a thing of the past. We are now in the area of immigration and work permits etc. I’ve yet to see how footballers are going to be regarded by the Home Office. It might be that Her Majesty’s government simply won’t let you.

  10. The City v Villa game has been outstanding. Relieved in the end, though, that City have put taken points from our direct rival for tenth!

    1. Errr… with Villa’s three games in hand I have a feeling we’ll be looking at their tail lights soon enough. But you probably knew that, Bun.

  11. Great post Tim. You have talked about this many times in the past but its clear that our squad building strategy has been disorganized and frankly shambolic since the mid part of the previous decade and that leave a lot of problems. Clearing out the squad is unfortunately a necessary part of the rebuilding process. Unfortunately sometime short term and long term objectives can be competing goals. Arsene’s view was decidedly short term in the latter years and both Emery was left with an aging squad that was in rapid decline and he and the front office had to rebuild from the ground up but they couldn’t just blow everything up and start because they had to try and stay somewhat competitive. Arteta had a similar problem which is why he bought in someone like Willian who he hoped would be a short term bandage. Hopefully the current front office plus Arteta can hit the reset button and regain the initiative and build a squad that is capable of competing for a top 4 spot within the next couple years.

  12. Its seems like all of the Arteta is back in good graces with most fans at least for now. IMO the “Arteta out” sentiment and the all of the talk that his decisions were the main problem and he was tactically inept was unfair. Any team or manager who loses the production from their best goal scorer is going to struggle and its especially bad for us since we started with a squad that did not score a lot of goals even with an in form Auba. Pep’s teams average over 100 goals for the last couple seasons and this year they have the same tactics and plenty of creativity but this year they lost Aguerro and Jesus has struggled and they are on pace to score 65. Real Madrid was averaging over 100 goals per season during the Ronaldo era but since they sold him they are averaging less then 70 goals per season. IMO it was unrealistic to expect Arteta or any manager to be able to come up with a tactical solution to compensate for the loss of production from the leading scorer especially when that player has been the only legitimate scoring threat and as critical as Auba has been for the last couple of seasons.

  13. i believe that soares had a fantastic game against newcastle. his crosses were incredibly accurate. i’m thinking niles as second-choice left back until we can upgrade. i certainly wouldn’t recommend handing in a transfer request; no reason to incite fans who support him.

    selling lacazette is nuts! why would you sell a center forward in his prime? how much would it be to upgrade to lacazette? smith rowe just went on tv and said that the biggest on-field influence to his game is lacazette. why disrupt that chemistry? selling laca this summer seems an awful idea.

    selling elneny would be nuts too. sure, you could get a better player but it would cost a ton. he’s popular in the dressing room and a consummate pro, content being a role player. elneny is good enough to start for half the teams in the premier league; leicester city want him. why would you sell that depth? now, if he wanted to leave, that’s different. but if a player goes down to injury or needs a break, it’s tough to find depth with elneny’s quality. to sell him would be like the invincibles selling edu in january of the unbeaten season.

    i’d love to get calum chambers a loan for the rest of the season; perhaps back to fulham. selling him right now would be a bad idea. like holding, he was playing really well right before the acl. he needs time…and minutes. to revisit that in the summer seems the best idea.

    i’m ready to move balogun ahead of nketiah. simply put, he’s a proper center forward who i think has got more upside. however, arteta has a love affair with eddie. i think the only way arsenal keep balogun is to sell eddie. west ham asked about nketiah. if it were up to me, eddie would already be gone. we’ll see.

    1. Lacazette: he’s going to be 30 before the end of the season and he’s got one year left on his deal. Your choices are to sell a 30 year old who was never very mobile, let him go on a free or give him a 3 year deal. I understand that he’s having a good streak in this season but he’s not a real hold up CF, he’s not a number 10, he’s not pacy, he doesn’t move well, and he doesn’t win a lot of headers. A good team moves him on and buys a younger model.

      Elneny is third backup or fourth depending. You can get Elneny’s all over the place for less than 10m and hopefully get one that can defend. The hyperbole of comparing him to Edu is pretty funny though.

      Arteta spoke about Nketiah today, no chance he’s getting sold and Balogun isn’t getting in front of him either. Simply put, Arteta likes Nketiah’s work rate. I do find it fascinating that so many people think Balogun is going to be so amazing. A lot of folks much watch the academy.

      1. i responded to claude about lacazette further down the thread.

        as for elneny, he’s without doubt, the first back up midfielder for arsenal. second, he’s okay with being a backup. third, you may be able to buy someone his level for £10 million but why when you spend that when you already have elneny who won’t cost you anything? i’m not saying don’t recruit above elneny but a significant upgrade would cost much more than £10 million.

        i know arteta has a love affair with nketiah. i don’t know why. work rate is cute but it doesn’t create chances, quality does. eddie didn’t even have enough quality for a team in the championship. arsenal should have sold him to west ham and promoted balogun; a younger player with a higher ceiling…and a lacazette prodigy.

        1. Arsenal, a mid-table club, play better when Lacazette is in the team. Yep, just about good enough to be a mid-table club. Apparently we have all forgotten just how lost he looks at times (Crystal Palace???) and how extremely limited his play is. But none of what you argue adresses my points: he’s going to be 30 soon, he will have no sell value after this summer, clubs want him, he’s on the downward slope of his career, we need to take the sell money and invest it in younger players.

          And one thing this club needs more than anything right now is a number 8 who can get the ball forward. Maybe that’s Ceballos?

          You really think we can’t upgrade on Elneny for 10m? I do. Do we have to be smart? Sure, but there are players out there and other clubs find them.

          Your arguments seem to be all over the map: we can’t upgrade Elneny, we can’t upgrade Lacazette, we need to sign Odegaard to upgrade ESR, and so on. I feel like you’re not being consistent because your whole thing right now is just being oppositional to my point of view. I hope that’s not the case.

  14. Talking of partners for Partey. Think instead of the Brighton player, Prefer Anguissa of Fulham. Though more a CM, played DM for Villarreal last season.

    First time comment but long time reader. This blog & (sadly now) @aclfarsenal are my 2 best arsenal blogs. (Read quite a few).

  15. anybody for pepé at cam? i think he could do it and it would be good for his development. i don’t care for his work rate but his brilliance could collapse a defense.

    i have a saying i use with the players i coach: “no one cares how talented you are if you’re f*cking stupid!” my take, pepé is not a very good footballer. he’s extremely talented but not very tactically sound. if arteta could improve him tactically, he could be world class…but he has to want to be a great tactician. this is tough when you’re dealing with a player who’s gotten to where he is based strictly on his talent. can you convince him to change? does arteta have that pedigree?

    1. Regarding turning Pepe into a CAM , yes there is an oft repeated story of how Arteta turned Sterling so many notches above. The only story of Arteta ever improving a player. But seeing how Arteta been muddling almost everyone at Arsenal, which one can perceive once or whenever due to pressure of results the “ handbrake is off “, the players been outstanding. So maybe that the Sterling story was to sell Arteta to a Club taking him on. Or else such coaching talent would have been replicated at least once.
      Guess that leaves Pepe as he is.

    2. More importantly, does Pepe want to change and does he have it in him to accept his limitations and work on improving those. Classic example is Bentner and how Wenger tried his best to improve him. In the end, he failed. Szcz is another example where Wenger gave up on him despite knowing his talent.

      Sometimes, coaches can only do so much. A player has to be willing to improve as well. I don’t know how much effort Arteta has already made with Pepe. But when I look at Saka and how he took on whatever challenge Arteta gave him in multiple positions (and without a word of grumbling) it tells me that Arteta will give a player a chance if he sees effort being put in. Look at Saka’s level now. It didn’t just happen by itself. He could easily be slacking off but doesn’t. Managers love this kind of attitude. Rest of the wannabes need to buck up. And I think by putting foot down on Ozil, coach and management have laid the marker that no matter how big you are, if you don’t think about the team and work hard for the team, you are gone. Pepe is pretty much experiencing similar freeze. He needs to put in extra effort or warm the bench behind Saka. I am actually glad that Arteta is not letting Pepe’s price tag influence his selection.

      1. Much of the credit for Saka’s development rests with Unai Emery, not Mikel. Arteta got an Arsenal first team player. Not the finished product, mind you… a first team player. Ozil and Pepe are being treated very differently. One was totaled, and one was dropped from the first XI. Night and day. And Im afraid you simply don’t know enough to so confidently state the reason for Mesut’s deep-sixing. That extreme treatment is extremely rare, if you think about it. And if you are right about not working hard for the team (an assertion contradicted by Mertesacker), we should boot the dismal Willian out of all competition, right?

        To Josh and Tim… Im selling Lacazette. Tim’s description of his game and attributes is spot on. We didn’t buy him to impersonate a classic 9… we bought him to score goals, a sort of rich man’s Theo Walcott. On both (his holdup play and his goalscoring), we can do better. Laca, in telling everyone he wants Ozil’s vacated 10 shirt, reminded us what he was at Lyon… a mobile striker who fed off a CF. A poacher. Taking nothing away from Laca on Smith Rowe. I’ve given them both props for having a superb understanding on the pitch. He wasn’t a 10 either, mind you/

        Im keeping Elneny for squad duty, though.

        1. you’re selling lacazette? okay then, tell me; how much do you think arsenal can get for a 30-year old lacazette with only one year remaining on his contract? with less than a year on his contract, no one is going to pay for him, dude. as arsenal boss, i’d offer him a two year deal. if he doesn’t take it, i’d allow him to walk on a free after one more season…at 31 years old…like diego costa. yeah, he’ll take the two year deal or he’ll be at crystal palace.

          i don’t care about the supposed attributes of his game. pepe had all the perfect attributes that tim wanted in a striker…but how has that worked out? silly thing is we had this same discussion when lacazette was signed. i suggested that he should play as a second striker behind giroud, not replace giroud. you and so many other talked about how he would be an upgrade to giroud’s “attributes”. remember giroud’s attributes in baku? how about in russia?

          bottom line is this: arsenal play better when lacazette plays center forward, full stop. like giroud, he has the experience, guile, tactical acumen, and intelligence to facilitate an attack. eddie doesn’t have that, neither does he have these favorable “attributes”. arsenal began the season with laca at center forward, winning games. then arteta got cute, playing nketiah, auba, etc. and arsenal began losing. arteta reinserts lacazette at center forward and they start winning again. coincidence? nope.

        2. could you upgrade on lacazette? absolutely! with that, i challenge you to give me half a dozen names that would be clear center forward upgrades to lacazette that are willing to come to arsenal and cost less than £50 million.

          1. bottom line is this: arsenal play better when lacazette plays center forward, full stop.

            Yes, that is true. But that’s like saying that Claude is the best dancer in his family. Im not that good, but it may well be true if the others are worse 🙂

            It’s past time that we upgraded on Laca. He hasn’t ever hit the heights that we envisaged. I don’t know enough about what the market holds, but how many of us heard of Aouar a year ago? And why £50 million? Strikers don’t come cheap. Figure seems a bit arbitrary.

          2. i just wanted to show that top center forwards aren’t a dime a dozen. 50 million is a little less than what lacazette cost and gives you a lot of wiggle room to find an adequate upgrade. you can go lower if you’d like…i just prefer you not go higher.

      2. that was my point in the second to last sentence in my post: can he be convinced to change?

    3. Pepe can never play at CAM. I’ve not seen him play with his back to defender, receive the ball, turn and lift his head up to pick out a pass. He’s a runner – run at defenders with the ball or run into space behind defenders, but while he has the dribbling chops to win 1v1 battles with defenders and wriggle around them with some flair, his head is down the whole time he’s doing it. CAM is 90% about playing with vision. Plus he’s soooo one-footed.

      I think Pepe would have been a useful 25-30m purchase of a skillful player with speed that could provide quality depth at RW. But as a 72m stud that should be an offensive powerhouse for that price, he’s a flop. If we can recoup 40-45m, we should sell asap.

      1. i agree with you 100%. i was just desperately searching for a legitimate justification for arsenal paying all that money for him.

  16. So question – is our best team finally Arteta’s 4-2-3-1?

    Leno
    Tierney/Gabriel/Holding/Bellerin
    Xhaka/Partey
    Auba/ESR/Saka
    Laca

    In which case the back-ups are;

    Runnarson
    AMN/Mari/Luiz/Soares
    Ceballos/Elneny
    Martinelli/Willock/Pepe-Willian-Reiss Nelson
    Nketiah

    That back up roster is a disaster. We need;

    A proper back-up goalkeeper
    A real LB to push Tierney
    A real RB to push Bellerin
    Replacements for Ceballos and Elneny
    Sell off two of the three back-up right wings, and
    Find two strikers because both Laca and Nketiah aren’t good enough to lead the line long-term.

    Add to that the club should think about moving Xhaka along because he can’t match Partey’s dynamism in midfield.

    There is so much work to do.

  17. With Pepe, although the player hasn’t proved himself, he still managed 17 goal involvements (8G, 9A) last season, his first; and 8 so far this season.

    That’s not nothing, folks. It’s not great, but it is something. There’s stuff there for the coaching staff to build on.

    Lacazette by contrast had fewer goal involvements last season (16 total); and two more (10) this season, playing far more minutes.

    We ding the Kroenkes for not putting enough money into transfers; and yet we want them to write off 30m on Pepe.

    Pepe is not yet at the point where he can de declared a failure and sold. And he is 25. Plus, money doesn’t grow on trees, not even for the 0.1%. Selling Pepe on the evidence of 1.5 seasons, his age, and what he shown us, makes no financial or footballing sense.

    My issue with Pepe isn’t that we bought him… it’s that we probably overpaid by 20m at least. It is what it is. The toothpaste is out of the tube. We need to be sensible about this. In a goal-shy squad, you have a player capable of giving you 20 GIs a season. Get him right, coaches.

    1. Don’t really understand the Pepe hate. He didn’t choose his transfer fee and at some point you have to evaluate a player for how they play.

      Claude is right wasn’t he second behind auba last season in goal contributions yet he never seemed to get a good run of games. Then this season he has barely gotten any starts. I think we also need to consider the massive left side bias our team has had over the last year.

      I just think he could use a little slack especially as Willian has been dog, Laca isn’t the best and Saka’s is great on the right but also is at his best on the left.

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