I like Brennan Johnson.
Can play left, right on centre, he has blistering pace but also the calmness to do the right thing in the final third.
He was certainly on my list as a winger / striker option. I am sure he would have been on Mikel Arteta and Edu’s as well.
But not for £47million.
Everytime I saw someone say “we need another striker or winger” over the summer, I asked “who?”. They often said the same two names: Victor Osimhen and Ivan Toney.
They ignored the fact that Toney was banned until January following his betting scandal. He was also banned from all football activites until mid-September. This would have included transferring to a new club.
As for Osimhen, there is no doubt he is a talent.
Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham were all chasing a striker this summer. Osimhen has remained at Napoli.
You have to imagine that all 3 clubs (and more!) enquired about him. The fact he has not moved either means that the asking price was ludicrous, or he is happy at Napoli. They have just won Serie A remember!
Another man on my list was Barcelona’s Ansu Fati. He has ended up on loan at Brighton.
Without an option to buy, it will be interesting to watch him this season.
If he acclimatises to the Premier League and begins to fulfil the raw talent he showed prior to his injury, you can certainly see all the top clubs fighting for his signature next summer.
Jeremy Doku also fits in that same mould of exciting young player who can play across the front 3. He cost Manchester City £55m.
PSG spent £80m on some fella called Randal Kolo Muani. I literally have no idea who he is. Meanwhile, Aston Villa spent £55m on Moussa Diaby, whilst Chelsea spent £45m on Cole Palmer.
What we are starting to see is a trend.
Johnson, Doku, Diaby, Palmer. All would have fitted the Arteta mould, but all cost £45m or more. I do not think that is the sort of money that would have been sensible in investing on someone to be back up to Saka and Gabriel Jesus.
You then have the likes of Lois Openda, Nicholas Jackson and Bradley Barcola. All only really have one-year of top flight football in a top European league under their belt. All cost in excess of £30m, and I am not sure any are a drastic improvement on Eddie Nketiah.
In the last two windows, Newcastle United have spent over £80m on Anthony Gordon and Harvey Barnes. I am not sure either are top quality.
What this all highlights is that there is not many top end forwards on the market right now. And as a result, young players with barely a year experience under their belt are going for top dollar.
The fee of Kai Havertz has been questioned by some. But for £65m, Arsenal are getting a proven Premier League performer with over 300 appearances under his belt for club and country.
Others have spent not much less on forwards who are a lot rawer, a lot less proven.
Would I take Ivan toney in January for £45m? Yes. Would I have taken Brennan Johnson, Jeremy Doku or Cole Palmer for a similar fee this summer? No.
Signing a further forward was clearly not a priority for Edu and the team this summer. A Xhaka upgrade, a creative midfielder and another defensive reinforcement were more essential, and we secured all 3 of them.
Next summer I expect us to move for another forward, but I am not sure who that will be right now. I imagine Edu and his scouting team will be scouring the globe looking for someone unexpected. A bit like Jurrien Timber.
No one was talking about Timber to Arsenal 6 months ago. I think we can all agree he was an excellent acquisition.
I think our forward signing next summer will be in that vein. It will be someone who we are not even talking about right now.
My final thought is take a look through the list of forwards who moved this summer. Look at the fees they went for. And then ask yourself who you would have liked to have seen us sign.
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 
Just look at our forward options and compare them to those sold this summer. Most peoples first choice line up would be Saka Jesus Martinelli, the back up includes Havertz (who i think will end up being Saka’s deputy) Nketiah Trossard and Nelson. I believe that Smith Rowe will eventually find himself a home in a #8 role, allowing Ruce to be a #6. Next season we will see the explosion of Nwaneri, Skelly will also surely step up and their could also be room for one Charlie Patino, once Elneny and Jorginho move on.
Next season i see our team possibly looking like this with 2 players for each position.
Ramsdale/Raya
White/Walters
Saliba/Tomiyasu
Gabriel/Kiwior
Zinchenko/Timber
Rice/Skelly
SmithRowe/Patino
Odegaard/Vieira
Saka/Havertz
Jesus/Nketiah
Martinelli/Trossard
Also Hein, Sousa, Nwaneri, Nelson
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Your reasons are right anyway but I thank God you did not go for any not that is the best but because you are a bias coach and sentimental you have selection problem and you are always blind in you selection I mean you Arteta because if can be honest Nicolas Pepe is better than Karl Harvarz but you keep defending him the is exactly what you did on William till you see he is not at the level he was at Chelsea even as that you refuse to feature Pepe and you people are calling him flop and I did not believe even now he has gone because you can’t call a person you are not featuring a flop so buying players are good but do you know how to rotate them or will you still over used a particular set of your choice every one know that Emily Smith Rowe is a fine player even he have out scored many of your present regulars but since he came back from injury how many times have you given him minutes to build his confident again tomorrow you will labeled flop don’t forget that featuring players is a part of gamble now you are sticking on Harvers because you are the one that bought him please learn you are not yet a big coach but you are not yet forget about that they are giving you applouds but you are Mr know all I bet you if you go to a smaller club you will not be called a good coach again
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Mr. Ukazu, just a suggestion. You may want to use some punctuation to clarify and separate your many and varied thoughts. This would make your diatribe a lot easier to read and understand for the casual reader. Not a criticism, merely a suggestion to help you improve your arguments.
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I am pretty sure arsenal want Ferguson of Brighton. Given he may become prolific, age and english. would cost north of 100m. If Nketiah can show his worth continually, i think we have a swap plus cash on hand for next summer
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Irish 😉
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The point surely is what a player is worth will change depending on the needs of the club. Johnson is simply worth more to Postecoglu than Arteta. He fits perfectly into the Australian’s style of football.
As far as Ferguson goes I’m sure most of the clubs in the premier league would like him. But Brighton sell players when they want to sell them so I doubt that’s going to happen any time soon and when it does it will be a very big fee.
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Personally I would have liked us to sign Balogun. I really think he will turn into this generation’s ‘one that got away’ …
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He might do. But he did not want to stay and earn his place in the team. We don’t need players with his attitude
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We can take the best player and play but he might not suit the system. He might be glorified in personal stats and achievements but should not be at the expense of his teammates. Football had evolved. It got faster and more intense. Team chemistry tends to produce better result than a few mavericks in an average squad. That’s why we are so lucky to have both Saka and Martinelli just for £6m. They attack and defend for the team, indiscriminately. Perhaps the best duo of wingers in the world. And both are just 22 years old.
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