If a book were to be written about the 2020/21 season, the first question the author would ask themselves is “where do I start?”.
With Covid19 forcing games to continue behind closed doors, then stadiums reopening and shutting in the blink of an eye. The European Super League and Arsenal finishing the campaign without European football for this first time this millennium. So much happened both on and off the pitch.
Darren addresses every event as it happens on and off the pitch, starting with September and games beginning behind closed doors.
We quickly reach December and the return of the fans and before he has even done his Christmas shopping, games are once again behind closed doors.
The book also introduces the “Rise of the Anti-Fan”.
2020/21 became the season when some football fans took a position to continually criticise the clubs they apparently loved to appear “edgy”, “cool” and mainly in the name of retweets, followers and notoriety.
The type of people who moan the club are not spending any money. Then money when the club spends money. As Darren puts it “Arsenal could win the treble and they would say the side was overrated”.
As the year moves into 2021, with Arsenal in a “relegation battle” (we never were, it was the media hyping a story for clickbait: see Darren’s previous book) Darren sums up the feeling of probably every football fan when he says “I really can’t be bothered”.
Alongside what is happening on the pitch, Darren shares his own experiences of living (and often drinking) his way through various different tiers of lockdown as part of his Corona Diaries. Stories that everyone that lived the experience can recognise.
Lockdown fatigue has set in and Arsenal are doing little to raise an excitement.
Just as we thought things could not get any worse, in April the European Super League reared its ugly head.
Some good came out of the Super League which gave us an excuse to meet old mates in pubs around the ground before the protest.
As the season comes to a close, Darren begins to discuss his hopes for the next season with the return of fans full time and the ending of lockdown.
No matter how poor the previous season was, it is always the hope that gets you, draws you back in just as you thinking it was time to give it all up.
2020/21 was a journey of epic proportions; and there is no better way to experience what happened than through the eyes and pen of Darren Berry’s Over Land and Sea (and Lockdown) Arsenal 20/21 – The Corona Diaries.
To purchase Over Land and Sea (and Lockdown) Arsenal 20/21 – The Corona Diaries, click here.
In the modern era of footballers, he is a bit of a throw back.
A no nonsense defender not concerned with how he looks or chasing fame and celebrity. He turns up, does his job and goes home.
has not been groomed for stardom from a young age. Just a working class normal lad who happens to be good at football.
It is so hard to connect with most footballers these days but Holding was one that was easy to like. If felt like he was me or you. Just better at football.
Holding is an underrated player who was integral to us winning the FA Cup in 2016/17 and 2019/20. I do not think his efforts in both of those victories should be underestimated. He does not have a couple of medals in his cabinet due to being someone who sat on the bench and never contributed. He deserves those medals.
So despite my love in with the balding Holding, I would also not be too upset to see him leave.
For everything to like about Holding, he does not quite have it to be a top 4 footballer. And that is what Arsenal need right now.
His lack of pace sees him getting caught out when going wide to cover Hector Bellerin, and often means Arsenal have to sit deeper than Mikel Arteta perhaps wants to.
Holding is capable of some immense performances, but he is also liable to many lapses of judgement throughout the season.
Playing for a mid-table team, his immense performances will be more important than his lapses of judgement. But if you are chasing Champions League football, you need defenders who make very few mistakes.
Arsenal have spent £50million on Ben White this summer.
White is quicker than Holding, better positionally and a superior passer. Everything that Arteta wants.
There is a reason why White and not Holding went to the Euro’s this summer.
Holding is the level below White. He would play second fiddle to his fellow Englishman.
Holding has a desire to make the England squad for a major international tournament.
In a recent interview he said:
“When the squads were being announced, I had my eye on it. You never know, so I was looking. It didn’t happen for me this time but that’s not going to deter me or make me feel it’s never going to.”
This summers tournament would have been Holding’s best chance of making an England squad.
With 30 Premier League appearances to his name in 2020/21, 28 starts, he will unlikely never play more football for Arsenal than he did last season.
Playing second fiddle to White will see his game time dramatically reduced and almost guarantee he does not make England’s next World Cup squad.
He would have seen the likes of Conor Coady, White and Tyrone Mings make Gareth Southgate’s squad despite playing for lesser clubs.
Holding will know his best chance of going to Qatar would be to move away from Arsenal and play every league game for the next 18 months .
At 25-years-old, a move away for Arsenal is the only way he will get week in, week out football.
The move would also suit Arsenal.
We currently have too many players; and whilst we have got rid of David Luiz, Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis from last season, we still have one too many defenders.
With no European football, we do not need to carry 5 centre backs and 3 right backs. One must go.
The options to leave would be either Cedric Soares, Calum Chambers or Holding.
If Cedric leaves, Chambers then becomes 2nd choice right back to Hector Bellerin (or his replacement). If Holding leaves, Chambers becomes 4th choice centre back as cover for Ben White. If it is Chambers who goes, Cedric and Holding maintain their positions.
But you can only sell players if there is a buyer.
There will not be too many clubs in for Cedric – who turns 30 at the end of this month. So that gives you a choice between keeping Chambers or Holding.
Taking into account everything that has been said so far, Chambers might be the better option as understudy for White.
Chambers is closer in style of football to White.
He is a good passer of the ball and quicker than Holding.
That means if White is injured, Chambers would probably be the better man to bring in. Playing Chambers would mean we would not have to change our defensive tactics. We would not need the team to drop 10 yards deeper to cover Holding’s lack of pace.
Chambers is a more like for like replacement for White than Holding is.
He is also more versatile – capable of covering right back in an emergency and he could also play a role as 5th choice central midfielder.
When it comes to reducing our centre backs, we also have to look forward 12 months to when William Saliba returns.
If Saliba has a good season in France and continues to develop his game, he will be back in the Arsenal squad next season.
That will leave Arsenal with 6 centre backs once more.
It makes a lot of sense for Arsenal to shed one centre back this summer and then another next – especially as we do not have European football.
Next summer we sell which of Holding or Chambers is still at the club; or Saliba depending on the development of latter.
So if we get an offer for Holding (or Chambers) in the region of £20million this summer, we would be crazy to turn it down as their value will only likely diminish next summer with a year less playing.
The two obvious clubs that could target Holding are Newcastle and Leicester City.
Both sides play with deep defences so Holding would suit their style of play.
Leicester will be in the market for a new centre back following Wesley Fofana’s sickening pre-season injury.
Holding would be an easy deal for them to get done – and Arsenal could potentially use him as part of a deal for James Maddison.
Newcastle are the ones he has been most heavily linked with overnight.
It is actually funny looking at Newcastle Twitter who are slating the deal. Holding would become their best centre back.
Many are saying “if he is not good enough for Arsenal he is not good enough for Newcastle”. This the same fan base who are celebrating signing Joe Willock like it is Lionel Messi.
It is perhaps a level of delusion that Newcastle fans have always had.
They finished 12th last season. And 13th the two previous seasons. They are a relegation battling side, not a European chasing.
We have also seen it with Aston Villa. Them thinking that they are “on par” with Arsenal. Ignoring that our 8th place finish is seen as a failure for us. It would be a huge success for them.
A mid-table side – the likes of Crystal Palace, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Leeds United – is exactly the level Holding should be playing at.
Teams like Newcastle should be targeting top sides fringe players.
Not being at the level Arsenal require moving forward does not mean he is not the level that would improve Newcastle.
Like Willock, I would wish Holding all the luck if he moves on.
Rob Holding leaving will be good for the player who has England ambitions, good for Arsenal who would add £20million or so into the coffers and good for whoever he joins who would be getting a solid Premier League centre back. A good deal for all parties.
“But he can play deeper than 10” is an argument I have seen some people use.
For Newcastle, his fantastic performances came playing in behind a striker. For Arsenal, when he has played deeper, his passing has been exposed.
Willock could become a good box to box midfielder. He certainly has the energy to get around the field. But his passing is his poorest aspect of his game.
You can not play central midfield if you can not pass.
Willock’s strength is finding space in the box and scoring goals.
We have already established that he already has Smith Rowe and potentially Maddison (or another 10) ahead of him as an attacking midfielder. He also has numbers ahead of him deeper.
Split our 4 central midfielders up into 2 groups – the ones that sit and the ones that press.
In the press group it is Thomas Partey and Albert Sambi Lokonga. Granit Xhaka and Mohamed Elneny are the sitters.
Partey is clearly ahead of Willock and Lokonga has shown enough in pre-season for me to say he is also the better player. So Willock would be “3rd choice” for that position.
As a sitting midfield; Willock has never played this position.
Yes, you could argue that “Willock is a better footballer than Elneny” but this is irrelevant as Elneny is a better sitting midfielder than Willock.
So at best, Willock would be 3rd choice at 10, 3rd choice at “8”. You could argue that he would be good to keep him around covering both positions. But I would rather have the £25million
£25million is too low. It should have been £40million
I do wonder sometimes if people understand how the transfer market works.
A player is only “worth” how much a team (or teams) offer for him.
If Willock at £25million was too low, where were all the clubs competing for his signature?
Literally no other club than Newcastle was in for him.
Had Everton, Leicester City or West Ham wanted him, it could have created a bidding war which would have pushed his price up.
But there was no bidding war. No multiple clubs after him. It was just Newcastle.
So this left Arsenal to negotiate a price that suited Arsenal, whilst Newcastle were negotiating a price that suited them. I the end £25million wad considered a fair price.
Had Arsenal demanded £40million, the deal would have collapsed. Newcastle would not have paid that.
Likewise, if Newcastle refused to pay any more than £15million, Arsenal would have walked away from the deal.
With no other suitors, Arsenal had a choice:
Take the £25million or pull the plug on the deal like they did with Xhaka to Roma.
What would happen if we kept him?
So lets say we pulled the plug on the deal. What would have happened?
We would have had a player who was 3rd choice and hardly playing – he started just 2 Premier League games for Arsenal when he was higher up the pecking order.
His contract expires in 2023; so if we kept him we would have had kept him it would be a new 5 year contract.
In 2 years time when he has had a couple more loan deals and barely played a game, the same people moaning that £25million is too low would be moaning that we were stupid turning down the offer and giving him a new contract..
Where were the other clubs
When selling a player, I always think about where he ends up.
There is a reason why Willock has ended up at Newcastle and was not being targeted by Leicester City, West Ham, Everton, Leeds or Aston Villa.
He is mid-lower table level; not Arsenal level.
And the future?
Well with £25million in our pocket and a squad place freed up Arsenal can get back to recruiting.
Lets lay out a mythical situation.
Leicester City want £60million for Maddison.
Arsenal have just raised £25million selling Willock.
In negotiations, we offer Ainsley Maitland-Niles as part of the deal – Maitland Niles nearly joined Leicester in January for £20million.
If both clubs honour that valuation, than it is realistic Arsenal could agree a deal with Leicester that is £40million + Maitland Niles.
£25milion of that £40million is covered by the sale of Willock.
So we would see a net swing of £15million expenditure to bring in James Maddison with two academy products who were surplus to requirement also making way.
Summary
In summary, Arsenal have got £25million for a 22-year-old midfielder who was not good enough for us. With just one club in the running for him we have maximised the transfer fee.
If we can now do similar with other academy products (Eddie Nketiah, Reiss Nelson), then the rebuild can continue.
I would suggest there are some fans who will moan about everything that the club do.
They have moaned we are selling Willock. They would moan had we kept him and offered him a new deal. They think it is cool to be an “anti-fan”.
