Summer Transfers 2025 Missed Opportunities and Regrets

[Shaqiri Is Boss]

FFS Havertz out with knee injury for the forseeable

You have a chance to do something hilarious now. £120m+1 for Isak?

[KSE Comedy Club]

Ultimately it comes down to not what players we have, but what coach we have. If Arteta is not good enough to win the league with the squad we currently have, than he’s not good enough to win it even if we add the 1-2 extra players so therefore the issue is moot.

Well yes and no.

The problem is, if we continually remain 1-2 players short, then how can we say it's down to the manager / coach if they never have everything they need?

The other top clubs don't seem to have this problem. When they have an area they need to improve on they usually do or they have a player that can fill in the role and do a good job.
We always seem to be stuck in a situation where we have to make shift a replacement and hope it works.

[KSE Comedy Club]

FFS Havertz out with knee injury for the forseeable

Oh FUCK!!

Nicolas Jackson incoming...................

[Marc Overmars]

FFS Havertz out with knee injury for the forseeable

So it begins.

Gyokeres injury next.

[Marc Overmars]

The fact it’s been reported by The Athletic that we are exploring the market for options now suggests it’s probably very serious for Havertz, “knee issue” possibly means ACL. Horrendous luck.

Might also explain why Trossard was given a pay rise to stick around if he was looking to leave.

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

So Arteta has replaced Berta and is now dealing with transfer business as well as preparing the team for Leeds?

Our lamantable record of player sales is a deep seated and historic problem, that also has its roots in (1) the post Wenger wilderness - and having to play catch up since Arteta joined, and (2) our Club's tendency to pull its punches when it comes to signing the best of the best.

How, exactly, do you think we find sale value in this team? After the manager arrived, we had to get rid of Ozil; Mkhitaryan; Mustaphi; Mavrapanos on frees; followed by Aubamyang and Lacazette the following year; and Pepe the following year. All senior players on big (mostly huge) wages who were busted flushes. The manager's brief was to restore the team to being competetive, and to do so he had to bring in talent to improve the team (and develop academy players) rather than buy with an eye on outgoing transfer value.

In order to persuade our most valuable transfers to join - and others to remain with the project we had to offer big wages - which is one of the reasons why we find players hard to shift.

We can look to the likes of Zinchenko and Jesus as examples of players whose value has plummeted all we like, but at the time they were key components of our resurgence. It is simply not possible to bring in top 'now' talent without the risk that we use up their transfer value in improving results - being left with little value when we need to sell.

In terms of younger players that Arteta has brought through - we did a resonable job with player sales last Summer - Smith Rowe; Nketiah and Ramsdale all went for decent fees.

Yes there are obvious errors under Arteta. Lokonga and Vieira stand out - but this happens with every team.

The corrollary to the debate above re transfer expenditure and squad value is that the manager has had to spend years inproving the quality of his squad. The valuable players we have are needed to play. I fail to see how we are failing to get value out of our surplus to requirement players in a market where there is no demand for them. Maybe Kiwor is the exception but (albeit that circumstances forced his had), its not as though Arteta did not put him in the shop window last season.

We are at a stage in the season where is they do fancy our players other clubs will have waited until they can drive a hard bargain. Should we have ignored our incoming transfer requirements (and lost out on targets) by focussing on outgoings first?

It's easy to be critical of the club for its achilles heel, but why the manager, and where is the value that we are currently failing to realise?

Mate, I mean this in a nice way, but I'm hardly disputing things you say anymore, especially when it comes to anything Arteta related.

Your views on him are pretty much entrenched and I'm turning a new leaf trying to avoid forever arguments that go no where until obviously time proves me right (and a sometimes wrong).

Your views are clear, Arteta has done an outstanding job taking us from relegation fodder (apparently) to the dizzying heights of 2nd place in everything while spending what is appropriate to do so. He might not win anything for us, as you concede, but he has done a great job which few in the world could replicate.

I on the other hand feel he's done nothing but the bare minimum based on the verifiable amounts we've given him and more importantly, like I keep emphasising, the time and trust we've invested. We were never a total basket case, and even if we were, the jobs that managers like AW, Klopp and Alonso had to do to turn around their squads, under far more pressure and with less goodwill, were far more impressive.

This is where I'm entrenched, and even if he won the treble this season it's not going to erase what happened in the past few years where I believed a better manager would have gotten more from an expensively acquired squad "in his image".

Your first line above, where you're trying to isolate the manager from any culpability in our inability to get proper value for players he recruited, after arguing copiously in the last few pages that he's done miracles with recruitment and creating value is why I can't be bothered to keep these debates up with all its inherent futility.....I know you'll say your usual line of "2 things can be true at once" but TBH I really don't care how many things are true, when I only need one thing to be.

I want a manager who can win the league and play entertaining football while doing so, while also ensuring our academy products get the best opportunities they deserve. Arteta hasn't succeeded in any of the 3 aspects IMO, and you going on about how Herculean the brief was doesn't change the fact that it's a doable job, what he signed up for, and more importantly, has been achieved by several managers all over the world in the past with less drama.

[KSE Comedy Club]

The fact it’s been reported by The Athletic that we are exploring the market for options now suggests it’s probably very serious for Havertz, “knee issue” possibly means ACL. Horrendous luck.

Might also explain why Trossard was given a pay rise to stick around if he was looking to leave.

Is Sterling still available for a loan deal........

True re: Trossard. They knew Havertz was going to be out so they dropped the Trossard news first thinking it would soften the blow.

Worryingly it also means they had no intention of signing anyone else and now this will force there hand. Same old Arsenal.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Well yes and no.

The problem is, if we continually remain 1-2 players short, then how can we say it's down to the manager / coach if they never have everything they need?

The other top clubs don't seem to have this problem. When they have an area they need to improve on they usually do or they have a player that can fill in the role and do a good job.
We always seem to be stuck in a situation where we have to make shift a replacement and hope it works.

Except they do. Liverpool look massively vulnerable at the back and that’s not going to be fixed by signing Guehi alone

The only side for me that has a perfectly balanced squad is City.

As I say if there were these one or two players out there that I’d say would unquestionably improve what we’ve already got I might agree but I don’t think there necessarily is.

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

The fact it’s been reported by The Athletic that we are exploring the market for options now suggests it’s probably very serious for Havertz, “knee issue” possibly means ACL. Horrendous luck.

Might also explain why Trossard was given a pay rise to stick around if he was looking to leave.

I initially wanted us to recruit 2 strikers this window and sell Havertz, but that was when quality like Ekitike and Sesko were available.

I think we'll be ok, as Goku has a pretty impressive injury record (another huge plus for the signing) and we have Merino if needed. I also liked that young kid we had pre-season and probably he'll get an opportunity.

If any more money is made available for this transfer window, IMO the priority still has to be getting someone else to take the load off our misfiring captain....spending money on anything else is a waste IMO.

BTW, I wonder who tackled him, I hope it's not Gabby again

[IBK]

Mate, I mean this in a nice way, but I'm hardly disputing things you say anymore, especially when it comes to anything Arteta related.

Your views on him are pretty much entrenched and I'm turning a new leaf trying to avoid forever arguments that go no where until obviously time proves me right (and a sometimes wrong).

Your views are clear, Arteta has done an outstanding job taking us from relegation fodder (apparently) to the dizzying heights of 2nd place in everything while spending what is appropriate to do so. He might not win anything for us, as you concede, but he has done a great job which few in the world could replicate.

I on the other hand feel he's done nothing but the bare minimum based on the verifiable amounts we've given him and more importantly, like I keep emphasising, the time and trust we've invested. We were never a total basket case, and even if we were, the jobs that managers like AW, Klopp and Alonso had to do to turn around their squads, under far more pressure and with less goodwill, were far more impressive.

This is where I'm entrenched, and even if he won the treble this season it's not going to erase what happened in the past few years where I believed a better manager would have gotten more from an expensively acquired squad "in his image".

Your first line above, where you're trying to isolate the manager from any culpability in our inability to get proper value for players he recruited, after arguing copiously in the last few pages that he's done miracles with recruitment and creating value is why I can't be bothered to keep these debates up with all its inherent futility.....I know you'll say your usual line of "2 things can be true at once" but TBH I really don't care how many things are true, when I only need one thing to be.

I want a manager who can win the league and play entertaining football while doing so, while also ensuring our academy products get the best opportunities they deserve. Arteta hasn't succeeded in any of the 3 aspects IMO, and you going on about how Herculean the brief was doesn't change the fact that it's a doable job, what he signed up for, and more importantly, has been achieved by several managers all over the world in the past with less drama.

You make good points on here generally, but your overstatements let you down this time. I have not made a number of the assertions that you attribute to me, and I don't regard Arteta as either outstanding or a miracle worker, or without fault. I have said repeatedly that I have significan't misgivings about whether he can take us further forward. But I do not like absolutes, because I have learnt that nothing in the world is black and white, and the intention of my posts has been to argue against those (not necessarily you) who are not willing to see the other side of the Arteta argument.

We essentially want the same thing - like most Gooners - so your right best to leave it there.