Outgoings still the order of the day for Edu and his team

Everyone have a good bank holiday weekend?

I’d imagine it has been a busy one for Arsenal as we still look to resolve a few outgoings.

And with a full set of mid-week games coinciding with the close of the transfer window, you can see why managers & coaches have little to do with transfers these days.

I always laugh when people say “Arteta has spent XXX”. He spends nothing.

Arteta (and Klopp, and Conte, and Guardiola) are part of the decision making process. But they don’t scout players. They don’t negotiate transfer fees. They don’t agree wages.

They might occasionally recommend a player; but the majority of the the the recommendations come from the scouting network who then filter it through the Director of Football. Then it will reach the managers desk where a final decision is made as a recruitment team.

And it is the same for outgoings.

Arteta will inform the team who is no longer part of his plans. It is then up to those above him to negotiate that players exit.

And over the next few days that is what Edu and his team will be doing.

The big movers will be Hector Bellerin and Ainsley Maitland-Niles.

Bellerin is still in a stand off with the club.

He has interest from Spain, but Betis and Barcelona both want him for free.

We have put ourselves in this situation having agreed to mutually terminate others contracts (Ozil, Aubameyang, Mustafi, Sokratis, Mkhitaryan and more).

And I think that is why we are holding firm with Bellerin.

We need to shake off that reputation of letting players go for free or cheap. And Bellerin might be the one whose career we have to stagnate for a year to make a point.

There is also plenty of interest in Maitland-Niles.

Southampton look to be the front runner, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he is snapped up by Leicester City.

They now have the Fofana cash and will be looking at doing a supermarket sweep. Maitland-Niles could find himself a target in that.

In terms of incomings, we still need a winger.

Been a linked with a lad from Ukraine. I have no idea about him. Will maybe write a blog on him tomorrow after watching a couple of YouTube compilations on him. Then I will pretend to be an expert.

Enjoy your Tuesday.

Keenos