Are Arsenal about to solve left wing issues?

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Arsenal’s left wing has been a bit of a headache for a few years.

I think we can all agree that whilst Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard are top players, they neither have the quality or consistency to be considered a top, top player. When you compare Bukayo Saka on the right and these on the left, the difference is huge.

In Saka’s worst season (and last season he was poor), he still outperforms both Trossard and Martinelli. To put simply, Saka’s floor is Martinelli and Trossard’s ceiling.

For some years, “a new left winger” has been at the top, or near the top, of Arsenal’s wish list. But the issue has always arisen when the discussion turns to “who?”.

The likes of Rafael Leao, Nico Williams and Rodrygo were on many a fans lips for some time. But neither has really kicked on from being hyped up youngsters and fulfilled their potential. Likewise, I am glad that we did not get tempted to get involved in the Anthony Gordon transfer race. Barcelona can have him for £70million.

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is the best left winger in world football right now. Some fans had it in their head that he was obtainable. Earning in excess of £300k a week, playing for the back-to-back European champions, there is simple no reason why he would leave PSG.

For me there are only two other truly world class left wingers alongside Kvaratskhelia. Vinicius Junior and Raphina. One starts for Real Madrid and the other Barcelona. So that sort of rules them out unless something drastic changes (Vini has a falling out or Barca’s financial crisis deepens).

You then have a big load of players in the grouping behind the “big 2”. Senior professionals like Jeremy Doku and Luis Diaz were never going to be targets, and in reality, alongside the likes of Rodrygo, Leao and Williams, they have shown time and again that they are not players who consistently perform at the highest level.

That leaves you with the “next generation” of left wingers. Yan Diomande, Kenan Yildiz, Bradley Barcola, Mika Godts, Said El Mala and Assane Diao.

Recently, I blogged that Arsenal solve their left wing problem by looking at signing someone who could become a future superstar, and not by trining to recruit someone who is currently a superstar. And it feels like we are going to do just that.

Speculation around Morgan Rogers continues to intensify, and it feels like the club has decided that he will be our solution on the left wing.

Firstly, I do have my reservations around Rogers – it all feels too similar to Eberechi Eze.

Yes, Rogers is Premier League proven. He is aggressive, attacking, happy to shoot from distance and take on his opponent. But, like Eze, his best games come more centrally and he has not yet shown consistency over the course of the season.

Rogers turns 24 in July, which would make him 3 years younger than Eze when we signed him. That would give me hope that he still has room to grow whereas Eze was very much the finished article. Rogers is also harder working than Eze and more tactically aware. I feel he might be able to transition better into an inside winger in comparison to Eze. That is a good sign.

So if Rogers comes in, who goes out?

For me, it has to be Leandro Trossard.

Martinelli and Trossard offer two very different styles of plays – Martinelli is super quick, direct and tends to look to beat his man on the outside and keep chalk on his boots. Trossard, meanwhile, prefers picking up pockets of space inside, joining in build up play and looking to get shots off from distance.

Rogers would be a Trossard replacement, not a Martinelli one. That would basically leave us replacing a 31-year-old with a 24-year-old. I am happy with that.

But what for Martinelli?

I have seen arguments made that we need to replace Trossard and Martinelli. But who do we replace Martinelli with?

The likes of Barcola, Gordon (who is Barca bound) and many others who have the same traits as Martinelli also have the same deficiencies – bundles of pace, struggle against low block, not brilliant output. So why sell Martinelli for someone who is about the same level? It is all emperors new clothes.

Others on my watch list, the likes of Kenan Yildiz and Mika Godts, are all more like Trossard or Rogers style wingers than Martinelli. I think we need to ensure we mimic the “one who has raw pace, one who can offer control” that we currently have. And I believe this is what Mikel Arteta wants as well when you look at how he has built the right hand side – Saka with his control, Noni Madueke with his raw pace and chaos.

If Rogers comes in, it rules out many of those who offer the control but not the pace.

I would be happy with Rogers coming in for Trossard to be our first choice winger, and Martinelli being 2nd choice. For a season at least.

Arsenal are also being heavily linked with 16-year-old Jeremy Monga.

Now I have not seen much of him, but despite being the same age as Max Dowman, he has already made 7 appearances in the Premier League and a further 27 in the Championship, 19 of which came off the bench.

I would be a liar if I pretended to have ever seen Monga play. And lets be honest most of the online scouts out there have not seen him live. I have seen a few clips that have circulated online and checked out scouting reports from bloggers that I respect. It all points to someone who is a very exciting 16-year-old and could become a breakout star. But there is a long way to go (as there is with Dowman).

Monga looks big and strong for his age, and combines explosive pace, exceptional dribbling, close control at high speed, and unpredictability. Two-footed, Monga could become that unicorn winger, who offers both the pace on the outside, and technical ability to come inside. But he is a long way from being close to Premier League ready. And this is where Martinelli comes in.

You go into next season with your upgrade on Trossard in Rogers, and Gabriel Martinelli as his compeition. A number of scenarios could happen:

  1. Rogers becomes a superstar. One of the best left wingers in the world. You are then happy Martinelli as his back up and we do nothing, allowing Monga to continue his development and replace Martinelli in 2028.
  2. Rogers struggles to take his game to the next level and Martinelli continues at the same level. You then look into signing a speedster such as Barcola to replace Martinelli, or go in for Kvaratskhelia, who may be wanting a new challenge after 2 and a half years of winning everything for PSG.
  3. Martinelli kicks on again and takes his game to the next level. It then does not matter if Rogers has become a superstar or not. We either have two superstar wingers, or Rogers playing second fiddle to Martinelli.
  4. Jeremy Monga has a sensational loan move (I am sure he will spend 2026/27 on loan to a Championship club or abroad), and he replaces Martinelli (if he has failed to up his game).

Either way, I think it is likely that the club will go into next season with one of Trossard or Martinelli. We will not replace both. That will give someone such as Rogers (or Barcola if he replaces Martinelli) a season to show that they are the man to be Arsenal’s left winger for the next 5-years. And in the meantime we will be quietly developing Monga into a player that could become a generational winger.

This summer is about evolution, not revolution.

Keenos

Five Arsenal summer transfer predictions

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No new midfielder

Two months ago everyone was clambering for a new defensive midfielder.

Martin Zubimendi had gone off the boil and Christian Norgaard was not trusted. With Declan Rice being utilised further forward, it looked highly likely that we might go big for someone like Sandro Tonali.

Firstly, I never really understood the criticism of Zubimendi.

The Spaniard had an excellent two thirds to the season before running out of steam. That should not be a surprise considering he played almost every Premier League minute up to the first 34 games of the season. Considering how much harder, more physically and mentally, the Premier League is than La Liga, it is only natural he ran out of steam.

Next season Zubimendi will not be a Premier League virgin. He would have grown from this season and be ready to return to his high end performances. But we still need an option to rotate in for him.

For whatever reason, Mikel Arteta did not fancy Norgaard, despite his vast Premier League experience. That does leave the door open to us signing someone like Tonali, although I just can not see us spending £80m+ on what is basically going to be a back up player.

Instead of signing someone, I expect Arteta to continue what we saw at the back end of the season – playing Myles Lewis Skelly in midfield.

The young Englishman did not look out of place in his handful of games as our deepest midfielder. He look cool and calm on the ball, broke up play nicely, and is press resistant with his ability to turn on a six-pence.

He has recently spoken about how, since December, he has been training full time as a midfielder. Having not been selected for England for the World Cup, MLS will be able to continue his development over the summer and in friendlies. I fully expect Lewis Skelly to start our first game of the 2026/27 season as our defensive midfielder.

One in, one out on the left

I see a lot of people online making a case for us to sell both Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard, to be replaced by two new left wingers. We will not see this kind of turnover.

What will happen is either Martinelli will leave to be replaced by another speedster, such as Bradley Barcola, or Trossard will depart to be replaced with a left winger comfortable coming into those more central pockets.

My feeling right now is Martinelli stays for at least one more season, and we saw Trossard exit – the Belgium also has a potentially expensive divorce coming up so moving to Saudi for big bucks may suit him.

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is top of many Arsenal fans lists as the man they want to see us sign this season, but I just can not see it happen. Why would he leave somewhere that he has only been for 18-months, is paid nearly £400k a week, and has guaranteed trophies?

The more realistic target is Morgan Rodgers who has been excellent for Aston Villa in the last 18-months.

He has the tight control, one on one skills and ability to come in off that left wing with excellent long shooting. Rodgers is also a creator as well as a goal scorer. £80m might feel expensive, but he is still only 23-years-old so I feel it would be a worthwhile acquisition.

That would give us Rodgers and Martinelli on the left. A nice little duo.

I also expect us to sign Jeremy Monga from Leicester City. Still only 16, he looks an absolute beast of a winger already and combines amazingly quick feet with decision making that is far beyond his young age. Get him in and in 2-years we will probably look to cash in on Martinelli and have Monga pushing Rodgers for a starting spot.

Havertz to make way?

Arsenal are being heavily linked with Julian Alverez. There is also plenty of talk about Junior Kroupi. The issue is we already have 3 strikers.

I think we all agree that Gabriel Jesus is off this summer, but for me that does not free up a slot for a new signing – we still have Viktor Gyokeres and Kai Havertz, and we simply do not need a 3rd options:

Gyokeres – 3,427 total minutes
Jesus – 988
Havertz – 976

With us playing one up top, there would not be enough minutes to go around to accommodate Gyokeres, Havertz and one more. And I also do not really see Havertz as a deeper option anymore now that we Eberechi Eze to provide cover and competition for Martin Odegaard.

Add in that Havertz is one of our highest paid players, it would make little sense to have him as 3rd choice striker, 3rd choice number 10, whilst also paying a Julian Alvarez a huge salary.

The only way either Alvarez or Kroupi comes in is if Havertz leaves. And I would not put it against the German departing.

We know Arteta values availability, and Havertz bumped from injury to injury last season. With over 450 games for club and country at just 26, the body is clearly now straining to keep up with the physicality of Premier League football.

Recent links to Real Madrid have surfaced and this is a transfer that really could happen. And with a book value of just £26m, Arsenal would not need to price him out of a move to make a profit. I think anything in the region of £40 may see him go/ And that then opens the door to Kroupi or Alvarez. And my favoured option would be the Bournemouth striker.

Arsenal will learn from Liverpool

After winning the league in 2024/25, Liverpool spent £420million – around £175m more than Arsenal and £140m more than the 2nd highest spending team (Chelsea). They went big huge on the likes of Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz, both of whom were big money flops.

£120m was spent on Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez, Giorgi Mamardashvili and Giovanni Leoni. They played a combined 4,169 Premier League minutes, with Kerkez playing over half of that. To bring that into comparison, Zubimendi played 3,002 PL minutes on his own.

Hugo Etikite is their only new signing that you could consider a success, and he has only scored 3 Premier League goals since Christmas and is now out until 2027.

When you are champions, you make tweaks, not wholesale changes.

The option to buy Piero Hincapie will become permanent, and we will add the left winger and right back (to replace Ben White). Other than that, I do not see too many big transfer unless we see Kai Havertz leave. If the German stays, we will still expect to see over £150m spent on Hincapie, a left winger and right back. Maybe even close to £200m. And the lower volume of players coming in will ensure we hit the ground running again and do not need to tweak a winning formula to shoehorn in a big load of new signings.

And the rest?

I think we all know that Gabriel Jesus, Ben White, Fabio Vieira and Reiss Nelson will depart this summer. They will join Jakub Kiwior and Reiss Nelson, whose loan deals have already been made permeant.

Ethan Nwaneri is an interesting one. I still struggle to see how he gets game time ahead of Bukayo Saka and Noni Madueke (on the left wing) and Odegaard and Eze inside of them. Throw in Max Dowman and I think we might see the Englishman depart to somewhere like Dortmund if an offer north of £40m comes in (with a buy back clause and sell on clause potentially lowering that price).

Kepa will not be going. What keeper is better than him who would be happy being 2nd choice? Other than that, I do not think we should expect too much speculation about anyone else and we can bask in our success this summer.

Now the only question is whether it will be one or two trophies…

Keenos

Arsenal champion parade “a sensible, safe route”

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First they moaned about the badge changing, and the cannon facing a different way.

Then they moaned about moving from Highbury to the Emirates.

Since then they have moaned about shirt designs (despite also boasting they have not bought a shirt since the 90s), they moaned about the Kroenke’s, then Arsene Wenger, then back to the Kroenke’s and then onto Arteta. Throughout they moaned about a lack of success.

And now we have won the league, they have move on to moaning about the parade.

Is there anything these people will not moan about? A bunch of sad fucks who are reflecting their own failures in life onto Arsenal, trying to spread negativity in the hope joyous fans around them become as bitter, negative and depressed as them.

They are the type of people that probably also blame the Government, migrants, the Tories, etc for their own life decisions and the fact that they still live in a council house because they chose to be a glorified cab driver or spend money poorly.

Firstly they were moaning about the parade being the day after the Champions League final. When exactly did they want it to happen?

You can not shut down huge swathes of Islington on a work day, especially considering the likes of the Holloway Road (also known as the A1), is one  London is a vital, high-volume artery connecting central London to the M25 amid the North Circ. It is one of the most congested roads in the UK.

Add in parades on working days are never fun for anyone, and would exclude more fans than having it on the Sunday!

Factor in that players join up with their World Cup squads on either Monday or Tuesday next week, and there are major events at Wembley the weekend after which require policing, the Old Bill nor Islington Council would never authorise a parade beyond Sunday. It is not the clubs fault.

And then we have the route.

Like clockwork, the usual demographic of fans are now moaning about the route – a 9km circle of the ground, sticking mainly to the bigger roads of Holloway Road, Seven Sisters road, Blackstock Road and Upper Street. It is a sensible route to follow considering up to 1 million fans are predicted to turn up.


Trying to design a parade route for 1m people is not easy. And it is laughable seeing people criticise the route when they can not even organise their own lives efficiently.

Whilst much of the unhappiness is that the players will not stop at either Islington Town Hall or the ground to life the trophy, it is a sensible decision for all involved.

What happened last Tuesday spooked the authorities massively. Over 100k turned up to the Emirates Stadium for a party. It was fantastic. But the club, police and Council were not prepared. And we saw on Sunday how different the congregation was managed.

Islington Council and the police would have had the final say on the route and the celebrations, not the club. The parade would have been presented to the Council’s Safety Advisory Group (SAG). This a forum for event organizers to discuss safety planning with local authorities and emergency services. It aims to ensure public safety, offering advice to organizers who retain legal responsibility. An event can not go ahead. A major event can not go ahead without sign off from the SAG.

At the end of the day, the safety of fans is the most important factor. We saw at Liverpool’s parade last year how dangerous things can get. A much longer route than normal, alongside the lack of a focus point, reduces the risk of overcrowding and will ensure there is more space for everyone that goes.

Remember, many of those on the route will be with young children. This is an experience they may never forget. The safety of attendees must be above someone being upset because the route has changed from the last parade and it will no longer go under their balcony.

The route is basically a pub crawl around the Emirates. It passes almost every major drinking establishment that fans frequent. And that means plenty of toilets, places to grab a drink, and to grab some shade.

I hope everyone that attends the parade on Sunday has a brilliant, and safe, time. Myself, I will not be attending as I will still be in Budapest.

The parade is a sensible, safe route. Even if the moaners disagree. And if you do not like the route, stay at home or in the pub.

UTA

Keenos