Good morning, there’s a lot of talk in the Arsenal velodrome today about transfers but with just three days left before the January transfer window closes, Arsenal look like a club that is going around in circles.
There is a verified Arsenal transfer: Calum Chambers has joined Aston Villa with a very small remuneration to Arsenal. He was on the last 6 months of his contract and was very far down the pecking order, playing just 376 minutes in all competitions this season so, the transfer fee was probably right. He did have an impact, however, coming on in the 2nd half and scoring a goal in the League Cup against Leeds United which started our eventual 2-0 win and sent Arsenal to the semi-finals against Liverpool. He also played 80 minutes in the first leg of that semi-final, helping Arsenal to keep a clean sheet and giving us hope that we could make it past the Scousers. But alas Arsenal clipped their toe on the hurdle thanks to injuries both physical and metaphysical. Anyway, Calum Chambers leaves Arsenal having won an FA Cup and Charity Shield, which is two more trophies than Harry Kane has in his entire career.
Meanwhile, Arsenal highest paid player and once-beloved, ever-smiling, captain has spent the last week lifting weights and eating vegetable-stock poached, unseasoned, chicken breast and steamed broccoli in his golden prison. Back in London after being sent home from AFCON by Gabon for “heart lesions” – which we aren’t sure isn’t just a wonderful metaphor dreamed up by the Gabon team physio – Aubameyang was excluded from Arsenal’s Dubai trip and told to train on his own. His only response was to post on Insta that his heart was healthy.
This siren call seems to have worked to some degree, at least luring a few reporters onto the jagged rocks. Someone is telling highly respected journalists that Barcelona and Juventus are interested in Auba, that his salary is no object, and according to The Ornacle, David Ornstein, neither team is concerned about Aubemeyang’s supposed lack of professionalism “having both conducted background checks”. Let’s hope those background checks included a look into whether Aubameyang recently bought a second alarm clock!
HAHA!
It will be sad to see Auba leave the club, he has brought us many great moments and while his salary is often used as a rod against him it’s not his fault that the club and the current manager sanctioned such a huge deal. It’s also ok for us all to say that “it just didn’t work out” between him and Arteta. Sometimes things don’t work out between mom and dad and it’s actually not your fault, Tim.
Sorry! That was accidentally serious. Anyway, who fucking knows what will happen to Auba.
Arsenal have virtually announced the signing of a backup keeper from the USA USA USA. I don’t mean that they “virtually announced” it, like over Zoom or something. I mean it’s almost a done deal. I should learn some writing. His name is Matt and he plays for the New England Revolution, which is a club named after that time when America voted for a Brexit and then the British were like “no!” And so we said “hey France, can you come help us against the British?” And then we won the war and no no one mentions the French helping us, except that one time where we put Lafayette on a commemorative coin which no one knows about because only a few of us collect old-school NFTs. In other words, he’s a backup keeper – he’s the French to our American revolution, except he’s American and he’s backing up the British. Maybe WWII would have been better here. Sorry, this metaphor has heart lesions.
According to zero reliable sources, Arsenal might trigger the release clause of Isak. He’s a tall guy. They (Real Sociedad) want £75m for him because that’s his release clause. I guess he’s pretty good or not. Based on the opinions I’ve seen on the internet, which I trust completely. I once thought Pepe was really good because his stats that one season were good and look how that worked out!
Also Arsenal wanted this guy Bruno who is actually good but apparently he’s picked – Newcastle – over Arsenal? I think it was probably his agent who picked Newcastle over Arsenal. That’s my guess there. Seriously. Agents often run these kinds of decisions and Newcastle is probably going to pay the agent a lot more than Arsenal will want to.
So Arsenal turned their attention to a guy named Arthur who plays for Juventus and tried to get him on a loan until the end of the season. But Juventus said “no! 18 months loan!” which I hope they said in the Lemongrab voice. The only thing I know about Arthur is that he’s 98% right footed, which I also noticed when I watched one of his compilation videos. When he’s pressured, he literally can only dribble with his right foot and often has to make gigantic right turns to dribble left. It’s funny, like how Derek Zoolander wasn’t an ambi-turner and Hansel could have defeated him by just turning left or whatever. Anyway, Arsenal don’t want him on loan for 18 months and I’m ok with this because I’m not sure I want to watch him sit on the bench, then post videos from the weight room with captions that are all like “my heart is fine guys! (THIS IS MISERABLE PLEASE SOMEONE SAVE ME)”.
Anyway, three more days of this and then we can spend the next 6 months worrying about who we are getting in the SUMMER transfer window! And as soon as that shuts, who we are getting in the JANUARY transfer window!
This is all wonderfully melancholic, as the situation calls for, but in all seriousness what do you think is the plan here, I mean we’re starting to look reaaally thin. They wouldn’t be clearing house if they didn’t need the wages, right? right?
Can only hope this is related to deals they are trying to get done now, rather than clearing house to pay off last summer’s spending.
Now rumors that Newcastle want Nketiah. Might be good business, if we actually have a replacement coming.
I sure hope so!
What a fun read 🙂
Always a pleasure!
It just hasn’t happened for the club this window, has it? Mikel is right about one thing… there’s a heck of a lot of traffic in its final days
We are not privy to the intricate details of transfer negotiations, so I will cut them some slack. I dont fault them on ambition. We shot high for Vlahovic. Im fine with that. We should have listened to Doc… “they all go to Juventus”. But better to try and fail. Tell you what though… Fiorentina should be thanking us. They got a high fee out of Juve, and Arsenal’s determined entry into the market made it impossible for them to lowball a smaller club in their league.
We cant go wrong with a 6-month loan for Morata, can we? How do you guys feel about that? He and Dusan are 2 9s, and cant play together. Juve didnt spend a huge fee on Vlahovic to sit him.
On Arthur, they dont get off so easily. Ornstein reports that the board pumped the brakes on the Arthur deal, after EDu and Juve settled on 18 months with 40m Euro option to buy, which would be a bad deal for Arsenal. I hope that someone pointed out to Arteta and Edu that they have a 25m asset out-balling Bruno G in Ligue 1, and we’re about to give him away for beans, and they want to splunk big money on a less effective, older player. Some gooners hate it when you point out waste of resources like this, but this is a plain-as-day example of it. Folks need to chill. Good to see the board being proper stewards of the club’s money.
We should hold our fire till the summer anyway, because we have a very light fixture list. We have games on the 10th and 19th of Feb, and (apart from the postponed NLD game being replayed in that period), that’s it. Very clever to to lighten our load by failing to qualify for Europe, and exiting the FA Cup at the first hurdle 😉
Auba going would be best for all parties. Hey, we might finally get his side of the story, since he’d be free to break his silence. But hey, Im not going to tell a man on 300+K GBP a week to imperil his income. He needs to do what’s best for himself, his family and his career. All round balance may be tricky
Since read on Orny’s Twitter that Juve and Barcelona have expressed an interest in Aubameyang, but in Juve’s case, that depends on what happens to Morata. Swap, chaps? Not sure that Barca has the money to match his wages, though.
I’m really stunned that Barcelona would even remotely be mentioned in the Auba race. From what I understand, in order to sign him, they have to make a 4-1 cut. So, they have to cut like 72m in wages to sign Auba.
The story is bs
How can they want rid of Ousmane Dembele – for free – because his wages are crippling them, and then sign Aubameyang… an older, more expensive player?
Morata is not the answer to our scoring needs. He is skilled, but incredibly soft.
“The story is bs”
Maybe what you mean to say is that Barca are planting a false flag, and I wouldn’t doubt that. Ornstein is one of the best connected football journalist in the world, and he’s almost always right. If past is any guide, he got the info from Arsenal FC. Barca are in economic dire straits, and I cant see how they afford Auba.
I think you’ll find that our options are rather limited at this stage. But as LA says below, they sprang good last minute deals in Partey and Tomi (although, with Partey, we paid way above the odds in wages and transfer fee)
The only way I can see Barca managing to afford Auba is either Dembele and his salary go somewhere, or Auba personally agrees to give up a bunch of salary to get minutes at Barca.
why would vlahovic come to arsenal? would you? with all of the defensive demands arteta’s strategy requires of the center forward? with arsenal not even being in the champions league? with the way arteta appears to treat his superstar players? while we as gooners can only speculate about how arteta is, torreira had first hand knowledge. what do you think torreira told vlahovic about arteta? yeah, calling that was like predicting it’s going to be dark outside tonight.
i’d pump the brakes on morata. he’s not tearing up any trees in italy or when he played for spain in the summer. more importantly, when he played for chelsea, he was poor. in fact, both he and gonzalo higuain were brought in at chelsea to replace diego costa. however, despite both being given multiple chances, it was old arsenal boy, olivier giroud who got it done at the business end of the season; both for conte and lampard. in fact, in italy, giroud and morata have the same number of goals but morata is the featured #9 and likely has double the minutes of giroud, who splits time with zlatan. i’d rather take giroud on loan than morata and giroud is like almost 40.
if the arthur story you said is true, oh my word! bring david dein back asap!
lastly, tim is right. barcelona can’t afford aubameyang, even on loan.
Really good point about what Torreira probably told Vlahovic. The cult of Juve is always hard to overcome. And who wants to get beaten up in the PL when they can have more time and space to play in Italy? It’s probably better for all involved. Plus, Serb and our lovable Albanian would not have been a good mix.
Please feel free to add your own sour grapes here.
Vlahovic would also have seen what happened to Lukaku this year as well and possibly said “no thanks!”
Serie A is easier than the PL for a lot of reasons: less physical, referees are different, fewer matches, winter break, less competition. That not only translates to easier time of it but also possibly a longer career (look at the older players still plying their trade in Serie A).
Given all of that AND the legitimate competition for the League and the Champions League under a proven world class coach, there’s really not much choice.
That and more. To someone in the Italian league, the old lady of Turin has more prestige than Arsenal. It’d take something special to prise a young, highly sought after blue chip player away from them.
Guy must be pinching himself. Best day of his life. This is more than about money. From reports, he’d have made more at Arsenal. Good luck to him.
Similarly, there is nothing that PSG can offer Kylian Mbappe to keep him from joining the club of his boyhood dreams, Real Madrid, in the summer. On a free. PSG are going to kick themselves for turning down 9 figures in the summer.
“with arsenal not even being in the champions league?” @ JOSHUAD confirm to me Juventus will play champions league 😏 , Vlahovic got scared as most Arsenal fans claim , what I know he will be in Europa league next season ,the player to me very average hugeprice tag like wat Manchester paid on Sancho& grealish, right now if you take Auba to serie A he will score many goals than Vlahovic for the rem. Of the season, anyways , come to think of it the Federico’s, chiesa the road was heading to the old lady, no disrespect but Vlahovic will turn out to be a flop next season
juventus are still in the champions league; i don’t know what you’re talking about. likewise, it doesn’t matter that you think he’s average; you didn’t have to buy him. the kid is still only 21 years old and is currently the leading scorer in serie a. lastly, i haven’t heard a single arsenal fan declare that he was “scared” to come to england.
I hope they either get loans or stand-pat and give Pepe and Martinelli runs at striker.
Arthur is not athletic enough for the Premier League.
Isak is Pepe-redux. A lanky, very quick player who has had one good season in La Liga. Not worth 75m. Sociedad won’t sell him in January anyway.
I think Wijnaldum and Jovic on 6 month loans would be best. I’d like Kulusevski, I think he has the tools to be converted to a striker, but sounds like he’s going to Spurs.
‘Sorry, this metaphor has heart lesions.’ I am literally crying. Love this post!
I am taking a very Zen approach to this window. If we simply have a small squad and bring in no one, I’ll be disappointed, but with so few fixtures, I think we should be ok. We will be prepped for a summer spending spree.
I was disappointed about Vlahovic, because he really seemed like a great fit, but Doc was right, as Claude says. They all go to Juventus.
All that said, Edu and Arteta have pulled off last minute deals with Partey and Tomi, so I wouldn’t be fully surprised to see something materialize here. How about someone who’s tall in the box so we can just continue to pump in crosses in this newly rediscovered exciting style of football that hearkens back to last November?!!
My fondest wish would be to see Xhaka go and a really good MFer come in at the last minute in this window. That I fully expect to wait till summer, but a man can dream, can’t he?
Thanks for the laughs today, Tim. Sounds like you’re feeling better!
Another great post Tim superb writing and on point as always.
Arteta has gotten a lot of criticism since he took over mostly regarding his on pitch management and his player management both of which I think are overblown. Not many people have been as critical of our management of the transfer windows and player acquisition which I believe is the place where the club and the manager really deserve some criticism. I have been saying for 2 years now that we need more goal scoring firepower. Everyone has been telling me I don’t understand football but our 3 starting forwards (Saka, Laca, Martinelli) are on pace to score 23.5 goals in 38 games and our top 6 forwards Saka, Laca, Martinelli, Auba, Nketiah, Pepe) are on pace to score only 30 goals in 38 league games. It seems unlikely to me the current group of forwards can score enough and we can’t realistically expect to be a top 4 club and compete with other CL clubs when we are so incredibly short of firepower. I think the $150M we spent last summer has improved the squad but my biggest criticism of Arteta and Edu is the fact that they have been in charge for about 4 transfer windows and not bought a single player who could be categorized as a goal scorer. I realize that goal scorers are always the highest priced and most sought after players but they have to find some way to buy a couple of players who can score some goals.
Here’s the freebie from Orny and The Athletic about the manoeuvring around Aubameyang.
Looks like Juve want a front 3 of Auba, Vlahovic and Dybala… if Morata goes. Morata and Vlahovic are too similar. Auba gives them another skillset. If he has his money covered, Turin would be a great football move for him. Besides, it’s just down the road from the Lamborghini and Ferrari factories 🙂
https://theathletic.com/news/barcelona-and-juventus-make-offers-to-sign-arsenals-aubameyang-on-loan/MtBS4XOFklBz/
Claude
If Auba is truly in demand why can’t we get them to bid against each other. Even he could start somehow start scoring a lot of goals again this year its seems clear that a 32 year old player is not going to be part of our medium or long term future. If there was no demand for him and the only option was a loan then I could see it but if there really are clubs anxious to take him then why in the world would we loan him instead of selling outright.
I wouldn’t go as far as saying he’s in demand. What Ornstein reported is that Juve and Barca registered interest in him. The only thing we can accurately say there is that, through Ornstein, we’re hearing of two teams that have reported an interest in signing him. That’s some way off getting to particulars and details like loan or sell, the bid competition that you suggest (or salary matching) and there isn’t a lot of time left. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s still an Arsenal player on Tuesday.
p.s. a player with young children — I think Auba and his wife have 3 — thinks long and hard about moving countries mid-season. I don’t know if they’re school age, but that would be a complicating factor. Especially in a time of Covid. One of the reason that Wenger sanctioned a move for Giroud to Chelsea in January was that west London was the least disruptive option for his kids’ education. Sometimes fans think that players are commodities to be traded. They’re not. They’re folks with families, homes to sell etc etc. “Cut the deadwood”. “Clear out the garbage”. It’s not like that.
I remember you tell me here sometime round Christmas, Bill, that you recently moved to Colorado from somewhere in the SW USA (forgive me… I cant remember whether it was Texas, NM or Arizona).
From what I can recall, it took some organising and doing. You also had your four-legged family (including the girl in your avatar) to move.
I dont think that Auba has horses. The ones he likes are the prancing horse, and lots of petrol horsepower; but nonetheless he’ll find it difficult to effect a mid-season move across countries. Oh I forgot to mention…. his household includes his mother. The more I think about it, the less I think that he’s leaving Arsenal this window. I could be wrong, though. We’ll see.
Don’t be disappointed folks if there isn’t a deal for a top class striker this TW. It’s really about maximising the current roster.
Laca and Nketiah playing for their futures? Laca’s a known quantity and doesn’t need to impress any one. Eddie likely won’t get game time. Both are going to have one eye on their next contract.
Auba and Pepe. Auba has to be looking to leave within the next 72 hours. A player of his calibre doesn’t deserve to be training alone. Pepe has pretty much been a bench warmer this season and I don’t foresee that changing.
Which leaves the youngsters carrying the hopes of the club. That’s a huge, arguably unfair, burden.
Is there another PL club that has most of it’s goal scorers either ostracised or heading for the exit?
Deserve ain’t got nothing to do with it. He shook the tree, non negotiables, the boat, lego hair, weird pout, politics, cardiac lesions (I asked my GP about this and he was totally perplexed), management speak, tierney cross the ball and etc.
Claude
We moved from Texas to Colorado and we have 4 horses. You’re certainly correct about the logistical difficulties. Finding a place to board 4 horses was a mess. We were used to having the horses go to the pasture during the day and come back to their individual stalls at night and the only place available to board them here in Colorado has shed for some shelter but 14 horses share the space and there are no individual stalls. Seeing the horses outside in sub zero temps has been really hard for my wife and I, but their bodies are built for cold and most horses in Colorado live outside all year. I am sure it bothers us a lot more then it bothers them.
Your point about moving mid season with young kids is certainly spot on. We often forget about that side of the equation when we talk about players moving. I raised 3 kids and I know how important it is to think about them. I don’t blame Auba at all if he fired a double barrel middle finger salute to Arsenal and prioritized his family and took his $300,000+/week wages and trained by himself at least until the summer transfer window. I suspect a lot of us would do the same thing.
I hear what youre saying, Bill. But that doesnt help his football, his football readiness or his future value. He’s got 2, 3 years max of future earnings in his profession. Six months of inactivity — even highly paid inactivity — is a waste of time that he doesnt have. Finalising a move to a new club in the next few days isn’t easy but it’s best for him and best for us. I wish him luck. We have no idea when that started and how far down the road it is, so hopefully is is closer than we think to happening.
p.s. glad that the horses are adapting.
Matt
You may be right about not finding a top class striker this TW but the problem is there is doesn’t seem like a lot of room for growth at least in the short term from the current roster
Auba was not scoring and the team was struggling earlier this season when he was dropped out the starting line up. His production has been dropping for 1 1/2 seasons so his lack of goals is clearly more then just short run of bad form and expecting him to regain golden boot form is unrealistic.
Pepe had that short run during the last 3 games of last season where he scored 5 goals but he started the season as first choice but did nothing before he lost his regular spot. The larger sample of his production in 2 1/2 seasons has been completely underwhelming.
Nketiah has always been underwhelming and I don’t believe there is much more we can get out of him
Laca has never been a big scorer in 4 1/2 seasons for Arsenal and he is currently on pace to score 5.4 goals in 38 games this season.
Saka and Martinelli are good players but so far neither has been a big time scorer. Saka has 12 total goals in 90 PL appearances and Martinelli has 9 goals in 42 appearances. As you point out its just not fair or realistic to expect players like them and ESR to carry most of the scoring burden.
The manager can’t kick the ball into the goal himself and there is not much he can do if he does not have a critical mass of goal scorers in his squad. Arsene tried his best to develop his own goal scorers but the vast majority of the goals during the Wenger era came from players we brought in thru the transfer market. I know its not easy but I think at some point we will need to buy a couple goal scorers like Alexis Sanchez and Auba from a few years ago if we really hope to get back to being a top 4 team that can compete against other CL level teams.
Bill,
We’ve both said many times that our lack of goal scoring threat will define the season. It’s improved in recent months but I’d argue mainly against weaker opposition.
I’m not a fan of the January TW. Other than Auba name a player this last decade that joined in January and altered the fortunes of the team.
I think Arteta has been clever by setting an expectation publicly that there will be quality additions. If they don’t materialise it’s his get out of jail card if results fall away.
The real issues are why aren’t we getting the most out of our forwards? Is the answer they’re all rubbish and need replacing? Or is it that the manager doesn’t play a style of football that doesn’t get more than 60 goals a season? I guess we’ll find out next season with new personnel.
Claude..
Fair point about Auba and needing to stay active if he wants another big contract from a major European club. We will see what happens. I wish him luck also but I suspect his days as a highly productive striker in a major European team are over. He has another 1 1/2 years of big wages from Arsenal and then if history is any guide he will find someone who will pay him if he wants to continue to play after that. Mesut Ozil got another contract in Turkey and Thierry Henry and Wayne Rooney went to MLS.
Correct me if I am wrong but all of the critical players on the invincibles other then Ashley Cole came from the transfer market. Arsene’s best post invincible team was 07/08 and all of the regular players other then Flamini and Clichy came thru transfers. Adebyor, Rosicky Hleb RVP, Eduardo scored most of the goals in 07/08 and all of them were acquired thru the transfer market. In the next decade the critical players like Sanchez, Ozil, Cazorla, Giroud Kos, Mert Arteta Sagan and none of them was home grown. I don’t think Arsene developed a single player from the academy who scored more then 10 goals in a season or created more then 10 assists in a season. If ESR scores 10 more goals it will be the first academy player to score 10 in a season in this century. Based on our history it seems very reasonable to believe that its unlikely we can build a top 4 team in which a majority of the goals come from homegrown or youth players we develop into scorers. I believe we are going to need to buy a couple of scorers if we hope for the club to rebuild a top 4 contending team.
Cesc
Ramsey
arsenal’s 3 most expensive players are all goal scorers and were also transfers brought in during the past 5 years. after spending so much on them, it’s imperative that the club get the right guys in.
I agree with everything here.
Good business by Pool again. Mane and Firmino replacements in Jota and Diaz. And without breaking the bank.
My take on this clear out, is this.
IF (that’s a big “IF”), the club or Edu or Arteta had come out at the beginning of this window and said, something to the effect of…
“We’re gonna have a mahoosive Gunners fire sale in this window, where other clubs can buy, beg, steal or borrow all but our very best players, or those on very BIG wages, then we can give it large in the summer and get the 3 or 4 BIG signings to complete our squad”…
Then I think most supporters (though not he AFTV types), would accept that and deal with completing this season with a mix of “Whatever’s left and kids from the Academy”.
Even the new goalie isn’t actually coming till summer ..
OR
Then again, it could just be Stan saying “I want my money back”.
Who knows.
can’t believe the club are in dubai but auba was left behind. that’s disgraceful! even wilshere is involved but not your primary superstar? nuts!
btw, anyone notice that wilshere had the number 12 on his training kit? only players get numbers and, until now, he’s had jw on his kit. now, he’s rocking giroud’s old number. maybe it’s nothing. we’ll see.
Cesc and Ramsey were both purchased from other teams and went straight into the first team.
Josh.
Laca Auba and Pepe were all purchased in the last 5 years and they are the clubs most expensive transfers in its history. Goal scorers are almost always going to be the teams most expensive transfers because there are so few really good ones and everyone wants them and trying to develop your own from youth players has been so difficult and unsuccessful. We got it right with Auba but I think he is clearly past his prime. Laca has been ok but has never come close to replicating his goal scoring numbers during his time in France and we needed more from him. Pepe has been a huge disappointment. We have spent enough money but I think the biggest reason we have fallen out of the top 4 is we have misfired on so many players starting in the latter part of the Wenger era. I believe you are correct that its imperative to get the right guys in. I think the key factor in determining our level of success over the next few years will be whether or not Edu and Arteta can reverse the trend and bring the right players
The stated goal when Arsene disbanded the invincibles and started into the post 2005 era (project youth for lack of a better term) was to significantly decrease our dependence on high dollar transfers and develop our own superstars from youth players mostly from the academy but also from players we purchased at a young age and developed. Cesc came from Barcelona before the start of “project youth” and our record for developing star players from either the academy or players purchased as youth players since 2005 has been very poor. Ramsey had one superstar season in 13/14 and but never really came close to replicating that level of performance or production. There have been hundreds of players coming thru the academy and many of them very heavily hyped and highly rated and dozens and dozens of very highly rated players like Ox, Walcott Ramsey etc etc who were purchased at a young age but other then 1 season from Ramsey I don’t think a single one developed into a true difference making star player. You build top 4 teams around your star players such as Sanchez/Ozil/Cazorla or Henry/Vierra/Campbell/Pires or Cesc and we have had to buy those star players. This is not a knock on Arsene or Arsenal because we have seen the same thing world wide. How many of the worlds big teams in the last 15 years have been successful building their teams around home grown talent. There may be an occasional exception but I would argue the answer is its rare at best. Its a very hard thing to do successfully.
The point of all of this is developing players like Saka, Martinelli, ESR, Odegaard or Ox, Iwobe, Walcott, Ramsey, Bendtner, Diaby Denison, Wilshere, Song, Clichy, Afobe, Aneke Akpom etc etc etc etc into stars players from the ground up who can score the goals or create the assists we need and building a team around them is not impossible but its clearly a very very low percentage strategy. Arsene tried harder then any manager in world for a lot of years and was not able to do it. Based on all of this its my belief over the long term our success will depend on how well our clubs management is able to identify and acquire some star players like Sanchez, Cazorla and Auba and build the team around them