Quote Originally Posted by Mac76 View Post
Nelson is talented and home-grown, there's no way a team like Palace or suchlike wouldn't pay at least £25 for him and also pay more than that for Eddie IMO.

On Zin, I'm giving my own opinion so whether or not Arteta would sell him is irrelevant - obvs i would have sold him even before it became clear he's only ever fit for half a season (tbh that's a blessing IMO) but that just takes away any (however debatable) benefit of having him in the squad

Jorg will stay IMO, he brings a lot to the team and has another season at least in him, it would be very difficult to find a repalcemnt with that kind of quality and experience
I hope Jorginho stays. He is an important asset to the team in games where we need control in MF, and is an experienced on pitch 'manager' in a callow team.

Aside from fitness issues, I have been surprised by the antipathy to Zinchenko. IMO he is an important weapon for us when we need to face teams who will not come out and play against us. We could sorely have done with him on Wednesday night, as we struggled badly to break down Porto's organised shape. The thing is that he is not suited to every game - both because of his unavailability and his defensive lapses (albeit that I think the latter have been overblown).

I think what Arteta needs to look at going forwards is using both Jesus and Zin as part time players rather than nailed on starters. This is how Pep used both of them. Arteta's problem has been relying on both as ever presents, but he has had success in adapting to their unavaliablity, and we need to build on this, rather than getting rid. Timber was meant to address the LB position. I am certain that we will sign a number 9 in the Summer - the intention to provide more reliable goal scoring than Jesus, who can then be used to play accross the front 3 when needed.

So neither should be sold if we are going to progress.

If we do bring in a striker, then there's not much point in keeping Eddie. Trossard and Havertz can provide alternative 2/3rd choice options that fit into the team better than Eddie does.

Nelson is a conundrum. He doesn't look up to the level of our team, but he hasn't really been given the opportunity. But if the manager doesn't fancy him, then I agree with you that there will be a market for him (as well as Nketiah).

Of the 3 (includign ESR) I would be inclined to keep Emile rather than the other 2 to deal with the home grown talent issue - as I think at this stage his star has fallen lower that his Hale End counterparts.