Before the summer transfer window opened I wanted to see Arsenal do the following business: at least one forward, a left back, a starting midfielder, and a backup keeper.
We also needed to sort out the situations with Torreira, Runarsson, Mari, Nelson, Maitland-Niles, Bellerin, and the most important of them all William Saliba.
I mean, well, Arsenal don’t NEED to do anything. This isn’t fascist Russia (is it?). But these are the things I wish for Arsenal to do.
And of course I can be wrong. Maybe the positions I’d like to see brought in are all wrong, maybe the business we need to handle going out is wrong. It’s all just idle fan speculation. I don’t matter after all, I’m just another guy on the internet.
The good news is that Arsenal have signed a forward (Gabriel Jesus), a keeper (Matt Turner), and two midfielders (Fabio Vieira and Marquinhos). The other good news is that Arsenal have made these moves early in the transfer window. And then finally, Arsenal have said that William Saliba is part of the plans for this season. It’s not perfect, but this is a great start to the summer.
I’m not going to debate the merits of these signings. I don’t know if Vieira will work out for Arsenal, for example. I don’t know if G.J. will make Arsenal’s attack better. I know that he’s a good player, that he’s got a lot of strengths in terms of attack and defense in the forward positions. And from there it’s really up to Arteta and the team to find a way to turn his work rate into goals.
How will we do that? I’m sure there are already dozens of YouTube videos and podcasts which are speculating on just that. I’ve not watched/listened to/read any of them and probably won’t. I essentially don’t consume Arsenal fan media these days. So, I have no idea what people think Arteta and Arsenal are doing with Jesus. I’m just excited to find out for myself how we will deploy him by actually watching the games as the season unfolds.
I’m also putting aside all of my previous criticisms of Arteta and just letting the club get on with the season. I’m hoping this season will be positive, so I’m going to approach it positively. I’m not even nervous about what our rivals are doing (yet) because the season hasn’t started (yet). And because so many things are still unknown – our transfer business is nowhere near complete, I believe – I don’t even have my expectations set for the season.
All in due time.
So far so good (and exciting) for us.
But I’m still hoping for us to get Xhaka replacement and then to clear the departure lounge with some return on our initial investments.
City have strengthened well, as have Liverpool and, sad to say, the Spuds.
United could still go either way, ditto Chelsea.
What’s for sure is that the competition isn’t getting any easier and it’s going to be really competitive throughout next season.
Tim, I’m enjoying the positivity and sharing in it. In that vein and for multiple reasons I am seriously hoping the 29 year old from Barnet wasn’t one of our two central midfielders.
According to the internet, it’s a new midfield signing for Spurs … look at their previous club and the residence in Barnet makes sense
Fair.
Better to wait to see how the signings work out. I like that business is getting done early.
Murderous competition in forward places. Someone will lose out. Big year, big challenge for Emile.
Still want to see a Xhaka replacement/alternate. Has to be priority #1 now. Would also like to see a young, Adebayor type buy at CF.
I was positive until about 24 hours ago, when some rotten news came out and now everything is rotten. It’s all speculation of course, but in 24 hours we’ve seen nothing to dampen it, and that in itself is damning.
Arsenal better buy a new midfielder.
I feel like your user name is pretty callous. Whether you’re an arsenal fan or not – and I strongly suspect not – joking about this sort of thing is in really poor taste. We can talk about the human aspect of this – a crime has likely been committed – and we can talk about the footballing side (Arsenal need to cope with some bad team news, perhaps). But neither is really a place for humor.
I have no idea what you’re talking about. Tielemans, Milenkovic-Savic, Arthur?
THIS is why your account has been held for moderation, “Jack Action”. You are an asshole of the highest order.
And now, you’re blocked. Have a great life.
That’s Jack Action. He sometimes comes on here as BlackArse. He’s blocked for good now.
Thanks. I think everyone here is probably aware of the issue, and it’s probably human nature to speculate, but not much is served by doing so, and certainly not in an unserious manner.
Ok, I had no clue at all what is being talked about here. Seems like I’m naturally insulated cos I read only about 5 websites.
Wasn’t Jack Action also the guy with the reagan icon as his image?
One of the most detailed climate change denying posts I ever read.
Sorry if I’ve got that wrong.
To TT alas your right (sigh)
It’s taken me up to now to be able to put the disappointing end of last season in the rearview mirror.
We were capable of 3rd and instead slipped to 5th, out of Champions League once again, beaten for 4th place by no less than S&ur$. All due to an inexplicable run of bad games in the last month.
Horrible.
So, I have ZERO expectations. Will Jesus be good for 15-20 goals? Will that even help us?
Will we sign another badly needed forward?
I knownothing anything, expect nothing except, the weird Qatar world cup PL season will have me watching and hoping….as always.
Yeah the Qatar WC in the middle of the season is going to be very weird. It’s almost like the season results will deserve an asterisk.
Beyond that, it has felt pretty positive to me. This is the first time in a long time that they have been so early in the transfer market. Going to be interesting to see how much it results in a problem getting rid of players for decent valuations.
Bring back Hector! He’ll take us to the top! (of the Haircut Championship). All said and done, I’ve always been a fan of Bellerin. A true personality and good egg in the all too sterile world of football
We haven’t really been good at that in a long time and that’s largely because of the wages we’ve been paying. You may have heard me say this a few times but paying guys like Kolasinac a massive wage (I’d say any player, not just him) makes sense only if you never plan on getting rid of the player. I know it supposedly saves money (because if you add the math of transfers plus wages, etc.) but so far, I haven’t seen a single one of those players get a transfer fee and I’ve seen a LOT of teams (not just Arsenal) have to pay them to go away.
I suspect its now clear to many of us that most of what has happened since Edu and Arteta took over was part of a long term plan. They recognized the team they inherited was on a rapidly downward trajectory and they knew it would take several years and a lot of money to rebuild a top 4 team which is why they were patient and did not over react to a couple of 8th place finishes. The first part of almost any rebuild is perhaps the most difficult and divisive because you have to get rid of a formerly top players whose production no longer justified their wages or were later in their career and didn’t project to be useful in 3 years and/or they do not have the proper mentality to be part of a ground up rebuilding project that is going to take several years. The last 2 years has been the actual squad rebuild starting with spending $150M to rebuild the back 5 and this year they may end up spending even more focusing on rebuilding up front.
Sitting here in awe of Bill, who manages to shoehorn the same two arguments into a post, every time, irrespective of the actual discussion. Even Josh’s. But that may be on the rest of us. We probably dont get it, and it bears repeating. And repeating. Ad tedium.
On the next post, Bill, looking forward to your thoughts on the rebuild and why 8 and 8 was actually great.
1Nil, there’s never been a winter world cup, and that has the potential to shake out in all kinds of weird ways. Hector? He doesnt want to be there, but we’re quite right in not just virtually giving him away (as we’ve done with too many players)
Claude
I understand why it was prospectively difficult to see where the whole process was going but now when we look back I think its become much more obvious there was a plan all along and the objective was to rebuild the squad so that it has a chance to compete for the top 4 for several years. Unlike a lot of fans our front office accepted it was going to take time, money and patience. The league is stronger then anytime during the Wenger era and even stronger then when Klopp and Pep came on board and turning around a club in todays PL where the competition has become this strong is not going to be easy and a few mistakes are unavoidable. The 8th places finishes were painful but not surprising. Certainly the expectation that our front office should have been able to rebuild a top 4 squad in 2 or 3 transfer windows was never realistic.
I understand fans want to be positive and wanted to believe we still had a top 4 capable squad when Arteta took over but I think its clear when we look back at what has happened that Edu and Arteta believed the squad they inherited was no longer a top 4 contender and the arrow was pointing down and it was going to take a lot more then a few tweaks to reverse the downward momentum. They were in the dressing room and on the training pitch and studying the game films everyday so I believe they were in a much better position then any of us to make that call.
Anytime you have to blow something up the short term results are inevitably going to suffer. They talked all along about the process and now I think its easier to see what they meant. I don’t believe that we can ever expect to return to times when we were a lock for the top 4 every season because the landscape of the league around us has changed so dramatically. However, I am certainly optimistic about their long term focus and I like what they are trying to do. Its just my opinion but I believe our front office deserves credit for being willing to spend money and accept fan discontent and suffer thru some less then optimal results in order to stay focused on the long term objectives.
R.I.P Santino “Sonny” Corleone/James Caan. I can attest to the fact that he was a footy fan but had no particular love for any European clubs. He was proud of being Ashkenazi Jewish. Really good guy. I still watch the scene where Sonny beats the s$#t out of Connie’s (Talia Shire Cuppola) husband for beating on his sister,
So far Arsenal’s signings have fit into one of two buckets. We are betting on young players whose star is rising, like Fabio and Nketiah, players who don’t raise the ceiling of this team at all but who do represent at worst serviceable alternate options to their more senior running mates, options that were not present during last year’s crucial run-in. These signings also carry the appeal of the future unknown. Either player could make “the leap” and become a star a la Bukayo Saka, a gamble worth taking even if the odds are against that kind of evolution. They will both certainly still improve to some extent.
The second bucket is represented by Gabriel Jesus alone at this point. This is the type of signing that will take Arsenal to “another level” as the manager put it. We know exactly what we are getting with him. This is a player that is the finished article and is a clear improvement on any other options at the club by a long way, a player who has done it and won it under the best manager and best team in the league, a player who, crucially, wants to be here: he’s as close to “can’t miss” as it gets. Tielemans, though much less flashy, is similarly a known quantity who is sure to be an upgrade over current options in the box to box role.
Blissfully absent are the veteran free agent signings, the over or nearly 30 cast offs of more financially endowed clubs, the long shots from small leagues, the destined to be average. The club is putting its money either into players we know are really good or players we can reasonably expect to be really good. That’s how a really good squad is built. Now we just have to figure out how to sell better.
Over30FC is dead, thankfully. Most of us complained about that for years. Same with the bosman signings. I haven’t seen a single one of those work out for any team and I’d be happy to never see us sign another.
As for selling, the problem – again something I have been saying for a while – is wages. Wages are great for attracting players but terrible for selling. In Italy there is just one club who pay wages like Arsenal, in Spain there are three and none of them want our rejects, in Germany there’s just Bayern. None of these clubs are going to take Pepe even on a free for 180k a week. There’s a reason why top six clubs are all selling to each other: they are the only ones who can afford the wages.
When it comes to wages, I always wonder as to why the wages have to be matched or higher – the upwards only pressure can’t be sustainable in the long term, no matter how much money is sloshing around in the PL etc.
Surely if a player (hypothetically Pepe above) is desperate to leave / desperate for playing time they would be willing to take a reduction in wages in order to facilitate a move – as opposed to just sitting on the bench and getting paid and seeing out their contract?
Correct in my eyes. But there are exceptions. Lukaku accepted lower wages, for instance.. But he wants to prove a point, he has ambitions, he wants to be recognized. A player like Pepe might lack that ambition and is still in awe of the money he receives. Fair to say that the lower salary of Lukaku in Milan is higher than the inflated Arsenal salary of Pepe.
These guys have a very limited number of years to make money. And then the rest of their lives to have to live on it, and with higher expectations of living standard than most of us.
Pepe hypothetically leaves for another club on a lower wage. It doesn’t work out there. What’s he going to do? Leave for another club on a yet lower wage?
Alternatively he sits tight and earns to the end of his contract with Arsenal. And then as a free agent can negotiate a signing on bonus and/or a better salary at the next club than he would have done through a transfer.
Any agent with their clients best interests at heart is telling him to sit tight and shut up.
I mean, we are talking millions of dollars here. For example, Pepe is on 8m a year right now. Let’s say he went back to Lille, he would have to take about 4m per year salary cut just to match their highest earner.
Exactly the point Tim. We’re not talking.a 10% or 20% cut here – which might be annoying but is likely ultimately palatable and worth it in order to play. We’re talking a vast gulf between what we’re paying and what he’d get elsewhere outside of the European Super League clubs. We’re also talking clubs which are unlikely to ever win a trophy – and even at Arsenal there are FA Cups, potential for Europa League cups etc
Plus the not so small issue of image rights and sponsorships. People often just look at salary but some of these players earn millions in sponsorship deals and if they move to a smaller team in a smaller market, they earn less on their sponsorships.
Drinkwater has just left Chelsea. Joined in 2017 on a 5 year deal. Made 23 appearances and at age 32 it’s very unlikely he has a career left in top flight football.
There are loads of examples where you can’t help but think players are too comfortable sitting on their contracts.
MattB
Players know their years as high wage earning athletes in any professional sport are very short. Very few will ever be able to come close to matching their earning potential after they retire. I think long term goal especially for a lot of players later in their careers is to make sure they make as much as possible while they can to help take care of their families after they retire. I can understand why most players like Drinkwater would be unwilling to give up a guaranteed high wage for the hope of going to another club at a significantly lower wage and revitalizing their careers when it might mean they have a couple million less in their bank accounts when they do have to retire.
gabriel jesus scores 22 seconds after debuting for arsenal in preseason!!! more of that, please.
thank you, jesus.
…and elneny from 30 yards out!
jesus saves arsenal again!
I think this Jesus guy might be quite useful…
Watched the game. To the extent that one can draw definitive conclusions, some thoughts…
Jesus will unhinge teams with his movement. Popped up left, right, centre. Poacher and provider. Neat pass from Eddie for his first… hopefully they’ll forge a good understanding. Good find from his fellow Gabriel on the left for his third. GJ looks as if he’ll enjoy more structural freedom at Arsenal.
Turner not ideally placed on his positioning for both their first half goals. English football could be a steep learning curve. Early, though. And in mitigation, second goal well taken.
Elneny. More during the season, please. Need more goals from midfield, and more shooting from outside the box.
Looks like we’ll be playing last season’s high line, which makes us vulnerable to quick counters.
Love the look of the kid Oulad M’Hand.
Cedric is still on holiday
Marquinhos, like Pepe is a very left footed player deployed on the right. Looks a mite over-dependent on his dominant peg.
But to repeat… early to draw definitive conclusions.
**his second
I disagree that we need more shooting from distance. We were 2nd in shots out the box and 5th in average shot distance.
Someone correct me if I am wrong but I thought Gervinho scored almost immediately in his first preseason match with Arsenal and he scored twice that day which was very close to matching his production in the entire PL season. That does not mean Jesus will have the same struggles as Gervinho but its been my experience that in most professional sports you can’t draw many meaningful conclusions from watching the preseason. One major exception is someone coming back from a long term injury and you can make some judgements about the state of their recovery.
Oh my god, dude. You’re already capping on Jesus? And if that’s not your intent, could you put just a little more thought into your posts? Like if you just want to say “we shouldn’t read much into preseason” then just say that. Comparing Gervinho to Jesus to make that point is incredibly harsh and way off base.