Summer Transfers 2025 Missed Opportunities and Regrets

Staying on the topic of squads, for the first time in ages we apparently have the most valuable starting 11 in the EPL and we're a close 2nd when it comes to squads.

No pressure Mikel :lol:

https://tmssl.akamaized.net//images/...?lm=1754919059

https://tmssl.akamaized.net//images/...?lm=1754919021

https://www.transfermarkt.com/which-...ew/news/458486

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Originally Posted by 21_GOONER_SALUTE

I think you guys are on to something by pointing how difficult it will be to win the league this year compared to the recent past.

It's been a few years since one could actually say it genuinely looks like 3 or 4 teams could win the league. I mean when I look at our traditional rivals they all look considerably beefed up, except for the Spuds, but I like their coach and we lost to them already so they could still provide some surprises.

What I think is that though this might end up being the most competitive year for the league, it could still work in our favour especially if it means no team is able to go on consistent runs like Citeh need to do win a trophy. Liverpool have proved adept in mini runs and I think we can copy that a bit and beat them to it, especially now that we have a striker to hopefully hasten and shorten our recovery period.

Our team is pretty ok. Mosquera is a gem of a signing and I think our defence is still far above everyone elses. Our midfield is currently average but manageable. Partey will be a big miss with his class but if Zubi and Rice can stay fit and we can add Eze, we should be ok.

As for our attack, it's all about Gyokores and Saka and hoping that both stay fit for most of the campaign. I don't think Odegaard is going to pull trees and I do think we've seen the best of him under this manager, which is another reason we need the option that Eze provides.

As much as I deride Havertz, I think this season will probably be his best for contributions per minute coming on as an impact sub which suits him especially with his new physique. Nwaneri, if used properly, will also be quite important in goal contributions.


In short it's going to be a long and difficult season, and probably the hardest to win since our first attempt when Citeh were at their imperial best. However I think bar brawls suits us more than classic duels, the pressure is less and hopefully the media& refs won't only have us to focus on and sabotage early on as usual.

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Good points all. I would say that we are looking in better shape attacking-wise than we have for a while - mostly because (1) Saka and Havertz will be fitter than they were going into last season, and Madueke is there as cover, and (2) we have an out and out striker. I agree that the obvious point of failure is Odegard - and while we all hope he can get back to his best - particularly with more attacking points to service - the jury is very much still out on this. We have had a decent transfer season, which would turn into a very good one if we can land Eze or Rodrygo (I would favour the former), and it is central/left wing attacking wise where we now look most vulnerable.

Re your earlier post, I think we were right to pivot from Sesko - and for me there was not much in it between him and Gyok, and I think we did a good bit of business for the latter. I'm not going to critcise the club too much for their choice of targets - because as I say we do not have the resources to go toe to toe with Liverpool (excellent player management and sales for the past few years) or Citeh/Chelsea who can effectively 'cheat' the market. This is the reason why I can't help seeing us as also rans.

We have had a great record against the top teams for the past 2 seasons, so I hope this will continue - and I agree with you that more competition at the top could mean that our rivals take more points off each other. If so, I think we have an outside chance.

Re Arteta, I am a bit in 2 minds. I think we all agree that this season is a bit do or die for him. But I also think it's a bit harsh (MO's post) to say that if we fall short it will be down to Arteta. Put another way, I am not at all sure that another manager would do much better with the resources available and given the competition. You might say that many of our problems last season were down to him overplaying his key players or his tendency to try to be safety first. But on the other hand I'm not sure anyone else would have been able to see a decimated team to 2nd and CL semis - with no striker, and coaxing goals out of a pretty workmanlike midfielder. I think that Arteta - as much as we can criticise some of what he does - is an exceptional coach. Our transfer business shows that he recognises how vulnerable we can be to a low block and is trying to address this. Maybe 2 things can be true at the same time - that he gets a lot of his players to overperform, but at the same time has a ceiling. Time will tell.

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Originally Posted by IBK

Good points all. I would say that we are looking in better shape attacking-wise than we have for a while - mostly because (1) Saka and Havertz will be fitter than they were going into last season, and Madueke is there as cover, and (2) we have an out and out striker. I agree that the obvious point of failure is Odegard - and while we all hope he can get back to his best - particularly with more attacking points to service - the jury is very much still out on this. We have had a decent transfer season, which would turn into a very good one if we can land Eze or Rodrygo (I would favour the former), and it is central/left wing attacking wise where we now look most vulnerable.

Re your earlier post, I think we were right to pivot from Sesko - and for me there was not much in it between him and Gyok, and I think we did a good bit of business for the latter. I'm not going to critcise the club too much for their choice of targets - because as I say we do not have the resources to go toe to toe with Liverpool (excellent player management and sales for the past few years) or Citeh/Chelsea who can effectively 'cheat' the market. This is the reason why I can't help seeing us as also rans.

We have had a great record against the top teams for the past 2 seasons, so I hope this will continue - and I agree with you that more competition at the top could mean that our rivals take more points off each other. If so, I think we have an outside chance.

Re Arteta, I am a bit in 2 minds. I think we all agree that this season is a bit do or die for him. But I also think it's a bit harsh (MO's post) to say that if we fall short it will be down to Arteta. Put another way, I am not at all sure that another manager would do much better with the resources available and given the competition. You might say that many of our problems last season were down to him overplaying his key players or his tendency to try to be safety first. But on the other hand I'm not sure anyone else would have been able to see a decimated team to 2nd and CL semis - with no striker, and coaxing goals out of a pretty workmanlike midfielder. I think that Arteta - as much as we can criticise some of what he does - is an exceptional coach. Our transfer business shows that he recognises how vulnerable we can be to a low block and is trying to address this. Maybe 2 things can be true at the same time - that he gets a lot of his players to overperform, but at the same time has a ceiling. Time will tell.

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Good post and really not much I can disagree with except that I feel MO is fully justified in suggesting that if we fail this season it will largely be due to Arteta's limitations which we've all become familiar with these 5 or so years.

You also seemed to suggest that I don't agree with the club going for Sesko over Gyokores due to my recent posts. Actually I fully agree with choosing Gyokores this season over Sesko as all though I have said over and over again that I believe Sesko is the greater talent with the higher ceiling, there was no way after the heartbreaking failures of the past few years that we even have the luxury of entertaining another project (which is what Sesko represents) when the finished article was staring us right in the face.

So I 100% agree with the pivot, though the manner in which it was done, with us creating tales about Sesko and an impossible deal, is a bit of poor form from us if you ask me.

What I did say though was we should have seriously pushed for Sesko a year ago when a striker was needed which was to buttress the point KSE made about going for players when you need them and not always waiting till you are in a comfortable/perfect position to do so.

Anyway, I'm just glad the team is more balanced than it has been for a while and if we can head into this season with Eze being a new addition and Trossard staying, I'd be pretty glad to back us as favourites.

Ornstein has said that Eze became less of a priority for us after Nwaneri committed. Also said that neither Arsenal or Spurs as it stands are prepared to pay what Palace want which is around 68m.

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Originally Posted by Marc Overmars

I’m not sure I buy how thin our squad is made out to be. Injuries decimated the squad last season to the point where even the back up options were crocked.

I know injuries can happen but you can’t stockpile players for a rainy day either. Well you can if you’re Chelsea but that’s not how we’ve ever operated. Could we do with more? Sure but getting top players to sign on the basis of being rotation options is not easy either.

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We had a 23 man squad registered for last season - that's already 2 players short of a 25 man squad.
Injuries is a separate issue, even if all the players stayed fit, we were still 2 players short.

Fact is they clearly wanted to address the LW position this summer, which is why we kept hearing about Rodrygo and then Lookman, etc.

So we are still at least one player short to fill that role - which could be Eze

Quote:

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Originally Posted by IBK

Good points all. I would say that we are looking in better shape attacking-wise than we have for a while - mostly because (1) Saka and Havertz will be fitter than they were going into last season, and Madueke is there as cover, and (2) we have an out and out striker. I agree that the obvious point of failure is Odegard - and while we all hope he can get back to his best - particularly with more attacking points to service - the jury is very much still out on this. We have had a decent transfer season, which would turn into a very good one if we can land Eze or Rodrygo (I would favour the former), and it is central/left wing attacking wise where we now look most vulnerable.

Re your earlier post, I think we were right to pivot from Sesko - and for me there was not much in it between him and Gyok, and I think we did a good bit of business for the latter. I'm not going to critcise the club too much for their choice of targets - because as I say we do not have the resources to go toe to toe with Liverpool (excellent player management and sales for the past few years) or Citeh/Chelsea who can effectively 'cheat' the market. This is the reason why I can't help seeing us as also rans.

We have had a great record against the top teams for the past 2 seasons, so I hope this will continue - and I agree with you that more competition at the top could mean that our rivals take more points off each other. If so, I think we have an outside chance.

Re Arteta, I am a bit in 2 minds. I think we all agree that this season is a bit do or die for him. But I also think it's a bit harsh (MO's post) to say that if we fall short it will be down to Arteta. Put another way, I am not at all sure that another manager would do much better with the resources available and given the competition. You might say that many of our problems last season were down to him overplaying his key players or his tendency to try to be safety first. But on the other hand I'm not sure anyone else would have been able to see a decimated team to 2nd and CL semis - with no striker, and coaxing goals out of a pretty workmanlike midfielder. I think that Arteta - as much as we can criticise some of what he does - is an exceptional coach. Our transfer business shows that he recognises how vulnerable we can be to a low block and is trying to address this. Maybe 2 things can be true at the same time - that he gets a lot of his players to overperform, but at the same time has a ceiling. Time will tell.

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Arteta has spent close to a billion pounds since he joined - mainly all his choice of players.
Please tell me you are not suggesting that another manager couldn't do better with that money or that the 'resources available' have been small?

Also, he is the reason we had no striker - Auba left, what, 3 years ago? that's down to his and Edu's transfer strategy.

Come on now, there are no excuses left for Arteta.
This is it for him.
Win or bust.

It is on him completely this season if he can't win something.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Marc Overmars

Ornstein has said that Eze became less of a priority for us after Nwaneri committed. Also said that neither Arsenal or Spurs as it stands are prepared to pay what Palace want which is around 68m.

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Thought that might be the case re: Nwaneri.

So Arteta is going to try and rely on in-experince again to get us over the line.
As I said before, just when it seems like we are going to do enough to be successful, we put the brakes on and say 'actually this should be enough'


Sigh.

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Originally Posted by KSE Comedy Club

Arteta has spent close to a billion pounds since he joined - mainly all his choice of players.
Please tell me you are not suggesting that another manager couldn't do better with that money or that the 'resources available' have been small?

Also, he is the reason we had no striker - Auba left, what, 3 years ago? that's down to his and Edu's transfer strategy.

Come on now, there are no excuses left for Arteta.
This is it for him.
Win or bust.

It is on him completely this season if he can't win something.

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...and the club's net spend over Arteta's time has has been 3rd highest in the league. Further, we have had to vastly improve our squad with the team lying in 10th place when the manager joined. And it costs more to fix something that is broken than it does to maintain something that's already at the level.


I'm not trying to be an Arteta apologist, but if you are going to use transfer spend as a marker, he has out-performed this by finishing 2nd for the past few years, and from a far worse starting position than our competitors.


It's impossible to say whether someone else would have done better as our manager, but it's also unfair to dismiss Arteta's achievements and measure him against an imponderable.


I agree with you that this season is effectively make or break, but I don't like black and white analysis. And I don't agree that it's on him completely if we don't win anything. We are not in a vaccuum, and we are up against well established competitors who have also gone all out in this Summer's tranfer period. Putting failure to win a major trophy as wholly down to Arteta is facile given this reality.


If we don't achieve our aims, then yes - it's probably time to try something different. But it's too easy to regard success as a given - if a manager is of the required standard. It's far from this, and there are a multitude of factors, including luck, that are in play here.

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Originally Posted by 21_GOONER_SALUTE

Good post and really not much I can disagree with except that I feel MO is fully justified in suggesting that if we fail this season it will largely be due to Arteta's limitations which we've all become familiar with these 5 or so years.

You also seemed to suggest that I don't agree with the club going for Sesko over Gyokores due to my recent posts. Actually I fully agree with choosing Gyokores this season over Sesko as all though I have said over and over again that I believe Sesko is the greater talent with the higher ceiling, there was no way after the heartbreaking failures of the past few years that we even have the luxury of entertaining another project (which is what Sesko represents) when the finished article was staring us right in the face.

So I 100% agree with the pivot, though the manner in which it was done, with us creating tales about Sesko and an impossible deal, is a bit of poor form from us if you ask me.

What I did say though was we should have seriously pushed for Sesko a year ago when a striker was needed which was to buttress the point KSE made about going for players when you need them and not always waiting till you are in a comfortable/perfect position to do so.

Anyway, I'm just glad the team is more balanced than it has been for a while and if we can head into this season with Eze being a new addition and Trossard staying, I'd be pretty glad to back us as favourites.

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As I say above, while we can all point to Arteta's failues as a coach if we fall short again, I don't think that this will necessarily be the whole story. Player for player the likes of Citeh and Liverpool match and quite possibly exceed our level, so you can't ignore the competition.

As for Sesko - he simply didn't want to leave Leipzig, so I'm not sure what we could have done to alter this. I take your point re the choice of Gyok - but I was more responding to the idea that this season we have failed to get players that we need now...

I am in full agreement with the idea that in hindsight we f*cked up by not getting a striker last Summer, but wasn't 2023/4 a record breaking season for us in terms of goals scored, our second highest ever points total (by 1 point), and fewest goals conceded in the league? I feel strongly that last season was our opportunity to win the league and we screwed it up by taking risks that backfired. But this conclusion relies far more on hindsight than obvious issues ignored prior to the season starting.

I’m prepared to take the slings and arrows for this but does Liverpool really exceed our level. Presumably Salah won’t be at the same level as he was last season (fuck our luck if he is), Jota tragically is no longer with us, they’ve sold one of their best players last season in Diaz and although I think Wirtz is a top player it’s not really strengthening in a position that needed strengthening (Hungarian copy and paste had an excellent season last season I must admit).

They are very vulnerable at the back, and I still don’t think Slot is the same level of coach that Klopp is

If we get bested by City I’d be more inclined to say it’s out of our hands, but still City were out of the running as soon as Rodri was injured….we didn’t capitalise on that opportunity so I’m not exactly going to be sympathetic

Unlike 21_Gooner_Salute I’m not he has to win the league or gtfo. But he has to win one of the two major prizes, he’s had enough time to get things right and I don’t think he deserves any more leeway