Summer Transfer Shit and Everything Else

[IBK]

Hi guys - not posted in a while. Been away for a bit. Last posted when AW was manager.
Have to say mainly positive stuff about Arteta but we still seem to far too slow with transfers & gettting rid of the dross. All the recent lot leaving either sold or loaned should have happened ages ago freeing up squad spaces, salaries & maybe to allow another purchase. My main issue is Havertz. Can anyone explain Artetas reasoning on this & what he is trying do. In my opinion, Xhaka has stunk us out for years & another reason to question Arteta but has he managed to replace him with someone even worse. Can ESR not do his role, would Maddison or even Ward Prowse not been a better idea for left mid.

I remember you Mate - welcome back.

I've been thinking about our transfers. I think Edu and Co have been good - and timely with incoming players over the past 2 seasons, and the talent ID has been mostly spot on. Of course there have been some duds but there always are - noone gets it perfect.

Outgoings less so. I think that the main criticism here has been the freezing out of some players (Pepe; Tierney; Torreira; Leno - and before him Martinez spring to mind) that has trashed their sale values. But others (eg Maitland Niles; Aubameyang; Guendouzi) have not shown what it takes to play for the club, and the likes of Lokonga; Marquinos and Tavares have simply not performed well enough for there to be interest in permanent transfers out. I think that there is less cause for criticism with the 2 latter groups.

There are also further mitigating factors. Other than the biggest teams - Europe is broke, and it is simply not possible to demand high transfer fees. In the EPL there has simply been insufficient interest for players such as Tierney whom we value highly. The best example of this is Holding. He was played last season, and is a solid defender (just not in our system) - but what was the club supposed to do when we had to get him off our books but the best offer was so low?

The exception to the rule has been Saudi Arabia. As well as having an embarrassment of riches as regards quality players (they just can't play together) Chelsea clearly have Suadi connections from which they have benefitted. Citeh, Liverpool have had big name players with big reps - exactly the players that Saudi wants. I don't think that Arsenal can be blamed for not having either the players or the connections to make this happen.

Another factor is the evolution of the game. Tierney's strength is something that is clearly not as in demand given the trend to inverted FBs. Holding is a good backs to the wall defender who is being superseded by quick-running ball players.

There is also the legacy to consider. Unlike the likes of Citeh; Liverpool; Chelsea at the top and Brighton lower down, our team was until recently stuffed full of mediocre players, rather than those sought after elsewhere. This was a legacy issue that was always going to take pain to resolve. Our focus has been on improving the squad first and foremost, and then trying to trim the dross. I'm not sure that I would have wanted to delay the former until sales were completed. We now have a squad full of players for whom, IMO there would be high demand, so I think my main criticism would be not making good sales going forwards by selling at the right time, rather than looking too harshly on the past.

Timing is tricky too. People are saying that we should have sold Partey given his now recurring injury record, but I don't recall many Gooners advocating this in the transfer widow. Most thought he was essential as DM cover. By all accounts Big Gaby's agent was agitating for a Saudi move, but IMO it would have been a disaster to sell him. ESR is looking like the exception - and I attribute blame here. I cannot understand why a player who was dynamite 2 seasons ago was not given a chance last season - and if (as appears), he is still being frozen out now we should have sold him. But when? He was injured in the January transfer window, and most were pleased when the club said he was not going to be sold in the Summer.

Havertz...I agree with you thus far, but it is still early days.

[Mac76]

Xhaka has stunk us out for years

I think I joined after you left but I like you already

[Dein-machine]

I think I joined after you left but I like you already

��- are there those on here that rate him then

[Dein-machine]

I remember you Mate - welcome back.

I've been thinking about our transfers. I think Edu and Co have been good - and timely with incoming players over the past 2 seasons, and the talent ID has been mostly spot on. Of course there have been some duds but there always are - noone gets it perfect.

Outgoings less so. I think that the main criticism here has been the freezing out of some players (Pepe; Tierney; Torreira; Leno - and before him Martinez spring to mind) that has trashed their sale values. But others (eg Maitland Niles; Aubameyang; Guendouzi) have not shown what it takes to play for the club, and the likes of Lokonga; Marquinos and Tavares have simply not performed well enough for there to be interest in permanent transfers out. I think that there is less cause for criticism with the 2 latter groups.

There are also further mitigating factors. Other than the biggest teams - Europe is broke, and it is simply not possible to demand high transfer fees. In the EPL there has simply been insufficient interest for players such as Tierney whom we value highly. The best example of this is Holding. He was played last season, and is a solid defender (just not in our system) - but what was the club supposed to do when we had to get him off our books but the best offer was so low?

The exception to the rule has been Saudi Arabia. As well as having an embarrassment of riches as regards quality players (they just can't play together) Chelsea clearly have Suadi connections from which they have benefitted. Citeh, Liverpool have had big name players with big reps - exactly the players that Saudi wants. I don't think that Arsenal can be blamed for not having either the players or the connections to make this happen.

Another factor is the evolution of the game. Tierney's strength is something that is clearly not as in demand given the trend to inverted FBs. Holding is a good backs to the wall defender who is being superseded by quick-running ball players.

There is also the legacy to consider. Unlike the likes of Citeh; Liverpool; Chelsea at the top and Brighton lower down, our team was until recently stuffed full of mediocre players, rather than those sought after elsewhere. This was a legacy issue that was always going to take pain to resolve. Our focus has been on improving the squad first and foremost, and then trying to trim the dross. I'm not sure that I would have wanted to delay the former until sales were completed. We now have a squad full of players for whom, IMO there would be high demand, so I think my main criticism would be not making good sales going forwards by selling at the right time, rather than looking too harshly on the past.

Timing is tricky too. People are saying that we should have sold Partey given his now recurring injury record, but I don't recall many Gooners advocating this in the transfer widow. Most thought he was essential as DM cover. By all accounts Big Gaby's agent was agitating for a Saudi move, but IMO it would have been a disaster to sell him. ESR is looking like the exception - and I attribute blame here. I cannot understand why a player who was dynamite 2 seasons ago was not given a chance last season - and if (as appears), he is still being frozen out now we should have sold him. But when? He was injured in the January transfer window, and most were pleased when the club said he was not going to be sold in the Summer.

Havertz...I agree with you thus far, but it is still early days.

Cheers mate - all agreed on what you say but when Arteta was moaning about the squad size - its his squad. Him & Edu have had plenty of time to get rid of the dross. If you take risks on players like Pepe, theres a good chance that they dont have the same success in the Premier league as opposed to Ligue 1. The minute the penny drops that hes not good enough, they have to go even at substantial loss.

[IBK]

Cheers mate - all agreed on what you say but when Arteta was moaning about the squad size - its his squad. Him & Edu have had plenty of time to get rid of the dross. If you take risks on players like Pepe, theres a good chance that they dont have the same success in the Premier league as opposed to Ligue 1. The minute the penny drops that hes not good enough, they have to go even at substantial loss.

I'd agree with that...only observation I'd make is that Pepe wasn't Arteta's signing - and by all accounts was bought by that corrupt bastard Sanllehi despite Emery wanting Zaha (also BTW left Palace on a free).

in fact many EPL clubs have had to accept free transfers and loand for players you would have thought would be worth something.

Arteta and Edu's baby fully now. If we fail to get value for players from now on in it's all on them...

[Mac76]

��- are there those on here that rate him then

There's a bit of amnesia in the fanbase generally, which leads to people too easily fogetting he had five dreadful seasons but remained first on the teamsheet, then finally turned in decent performances for just one season and everyone went overboard (though it's some of the fans at games that were more guilty of that than the people on here)

[Mac76]

I'd agree with that...only observation I'd make is that Pepe wasn't Arteta's signing - and by all accounts was bought by that corrupt bastard Sanllehi despite Emery wanting Zaha (also BTW left Palace on a free).

in fact many EPL clubs have had to accept free transfers and loand for players you would have thought would be worth something.

Arteta and Edu's baby fully now. If we fail to get value for players from now on in it's all on them...

I think Arteta's habit of blatantly freezing out some players has reduced their value in some cases, we could have got a sale for Tierney and some others (not that I think we should have got rid of Tierney) if he hadn't starved them of minutes and then played them out of position when he did put them on the pitch

[HCZ_Reborn]

There's a bit of amnesia in the fanbase generally, which leads to people too easily fogetting he had five dreadful seasons but remained first on the teamsheet, then finally turned in decent performances for just one season and everyone went overboard (though it's some of the fans at games that were more guilty of that than the people on here)

I would probably say that it was more than just one good season, 2020/2021 he was probably our best player (low bar to get over for sure) but I suppose that what helped in the season gone by is that he was no longer required to drop deep, where his indolence, blind passing and total inability/unwillingness to play anything but with his left foot. And his passing range is ok….especially long passing.

But yeah definitely not sad to see him go, I think actually we did well to get the money we did for him and it’s only sullied by the fact that we’ve lumped Havertz in that role when the chance was there to get a really good box to box player.

Xhaka like Zinchenko was the hipsters footballer, a player for smug bearded cockrings the type of person who will give you a half hour lecture on how Tim Burton is actually a genius and most of his films aren’t all the same and tick the box of weird for the sake of weird.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Watched the highlights of Real Sociedad’s game with Granada the other day, mainly out of interest to see how Tierney was getting on (didn’t really make that great an impact, positively or negatively but I say that with the caveat that you can’t always get a good read unless you watch the whole game). But what I did see was a player that I’d like to see us take a look at… Takefusa (Take) Kubo. Player that’s just an utter nuisance like Mitoma but operates on the right hand side.

Not saying we should get him, not on the basis of one game. But definitely worth keeping an eye out for.

https://x.com/punchdrunkafc/status/1...k_DvSqUkaQFrjw


I must be psychic

[Mac76]

https://x.com/punchdrunkafc/status/1...k_DvSqUkaQFrjw


I must be psychic

Or you'd already seen the reports of our interest...