Category Archives: Arsenal

Arsenal set for £100m net spend

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Back in May, the question got asked in the WhatsApp group: How much do you think Arsenal will spend this summer?

I answered in my normal annoying not answering the question way: It all depends on sales.

That was followed up with my normal, boring, over the top explanation:

I expect us to spend £100m off the bat. That could rise to £150 or £200m depending on sales.

Balogun, Xhaka, Tierney, Pepe, Mari, Trusty, Lokonga, Tavares, they could all raise us in excess of £100m. Throw in Emile Smith Rowe as well.

As it turned out, I am proven to be correct. This is not unusual.

We came out the traps fast and by July had spent £196.3m on Declan Rice, Jurrien Timber and Kai Havertz. We then added David Raya on loan that will cost us £3m. £199.3m on incomings. Let’s round it up to £200m.

Pablo Mari was already on a promise to Monza, whilst Xhaka’s move to Leverkusen went through as we closed in on Rice. Then it was American pair Auston Trusty and Matt Turner.

£42.4m in sales at the beginning of the season. I get it was clear we needed to make some more, but I was not worried.

As we went into the bank holiday weekend, the deals of Kieran Tierney (loan) and Folarin Balogun progressed. Both deemed surplus to requirements by Mikel Arteta.

Then yesterday, it was announced that Nuno Tavares was set to join Nottinghasm Forest on loan. A fee of around £2m with an option to buy of £12m.

Those 3 transfers added around a further £40m to the sales pot (Balogun fee, Tierney and Tavares loan fees).

Over £80m raised in sales before deadline day. You deduct that from the £200m we spent and you are not far from the original £100m I mentioned earlier in the blog – £117m is the approximate calculation.

With transfer deadline day looming, we can expect further exits (and not further signings), that will bring that figure much closer to the £100m I predicted.

Albert Sambi Lokonga, Rob Holding and Cedric Soares are all available for sale, if someone wants to come in for them.

If they depart on permanent deals over the next day or so, then I would expect us to dip under £100m net spend for the summer. And even if they leave on loan, the fees paid for them will get us closer to the figure.

One player that I have not mentioned yet is Nicolas Pepe.

With everything going on in Saudi, I expected him to be a transfer target for them. Maybe early in the window he turned down their advances, preferring to continue to prove re-invent himself in a relevant league.

The Saudi transfer window does not close until 20 September, so there is still time for him to make a move to the Middle East.

Overall, a good window for us. All entirely predictable. And also a sample of what to expect in the future.

We no longer need the huge squad overhaul of previous years. We have a bright, young squad. The next few years will see us mimic Manchester City’s transfer policy of 2-3 big money signings a season.

Enjoy deadline day. Do not expect any incomings. Tomorrow will be about moving on those 3 or 4 players that will not feature in the first team squad this season.

Keenos

Book Review – Revolution: The Rise of Arteta’s Arsenal

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Revolution: The Rise of Arteta’s Arsenal is the story of how Mikel Arteta turned Arsenal back into the most innovative, exciting and feared teams in the Premier League.

Having cut his teeth as an assistant to Pep Guardiola, Arteta returned to Arsenal in the winter of 2019.

Through Covid, fan revolt, player bust-ups, dissapointments and an FA Cup win, Arteta’s single-mindedness revolutionised Arsenal, turning them from a dying former great club into title challengers once more.

This book, by renowned journalist Charles Watts, explores the workings of Arteta’s philosophy and how he transformed both on and off the pitch.

With chapters on his tactical innovations, in-game strategies, transfer insight and, of course, an account of the 2022/23 season, Revolution is the story the extraordinary process and the first draft of Arsenal’s new history.

Tomorrow there is an event at the Tolly where Charles Watts will be hosting a Q&A from 7pm onwards. He will be joined by James McNicolas (Gunnerblog) and Sam Dean from the Telegraph.

The Stoke Newington book shop will be at the event selling copies of the book. Alternatively, the book can be ordered here.

She Wore

The changing narrative of Odegaard, Havertz, Vieira and Smith Rowe

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Martin Odegaard – 24

Do not want him. Was poor on loan, much better options out there.

Work Hard FC. Odegaard is not creative, does not score goals. He just runs a lot. We should be going for Emiliano Buendia or James Maddison.

And the same people criticising the signing of Odegaard are now criticising…

Kai Havertz – 24

Did not rate him at Chelsea, did not want us to sign him. 0 goals and 0 assists in his first 3 games. Not good enough. Waste of £65m.

And 6 months ago the same people criticising…

Fabio Vieira – 23

Too lightweight. Overpaid for a poor player. Edu talent ID? You’re having a laugh.

And after a good cameo performance, they are demanding he starts ahead of Kai Havertz. But there first choice for that position is still…

Emile Smith Rowe – 23

Brilliant player. Deserves a chance to start. Arteta not rating him is a disgrace

The way some fans talk about Havertz, Vieira and Smith Rowe is a perfect example of them changing the narrative to suit their agenda.

We still have some fans who are “anti-Arteta” rather than “pro-Arsenal”. Any player Arteta rates, they do not. Any player Arteta does not rate, they hype up.

It happened with Nicolas Pepe and Bukayo Saka. These fans were calling for Pepe to start ahead of Saka for some time. And if Pepe was starting ahead of Saka, they would have changed the narrative and been calling for the then-teenage winger to start.

What I find interesting about the Havertz slander is how those fans that dismiss him then hype up Smith Rowe.

They act like Havertz is the finished article, whilst Smith Rowe is a bright young talent who will continue to grow. Yet there is less than a year between them.

I have always had my concerns over Smith Rowe.

He is clearly very talented, but the injury issues that he had as a teenager have just not gone away.

Of the 4 mentioned above, Smith Rowe is quite clearly the worst of the lot. Signing Havertz ahead of him is how you improve your team, and your squad.

Buying better than what you have is how you keep moving forward. Havertz is clearly a better player than Smith Rowe.

I think Emile is one of those players who is also older than people think. He is already 23 and should be further along in his career than he is. It is coming up to 5-years since he made his debut.

Considering his place in the squad os probably as 5th choice “8” (Odegaard, Havertz, Rice, Vieira ahead of him) and 4th choice winger (Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Leandro Trossard), I have always felt that if a big enough bid comes in for him, he will depart.

Getting an offer above £40m for a player that is clearly on the fringes of the squad would be good business.

Smith Rowe has had one decent season at Arsenal. Last season he did not start a single Premier League game, and he has less than 50 Premier League starts to his name. And that is not because he has not been given a chance, it is because he is always injured.

When you consider Havertz has played over 300 games for club and country, you begin to get an idea of how far ahead Kai is of the Englishman.

Fabio Vieira is also an interesting one.

He has gone up in many fans estimations off the 30 minute cameo against Fulham.

Vieira was fantastic in that 30 minutes. He is a player who has a wand of a left foot, but did struggle last year.

Whilst many fans were writing him off last season, I saw a player who just needed to get to terms with the physicality of the Premier League. And that if he did acclimatise he would star. But I will not go OTT over his Fulham perfrmance.

Some fans seem to be hyping Vieira up having criticised him for 12 months. My feeling is this is not because they rate him, but because of their dislike of Havertz – and Arteta.

How else can they explain why over the summer, he was on many fans “sell” list, and now they are calling him to start?

We have a lot of fans like this, who just want to criticise. And they will change their support of a player depending on if they are rated by the manager.

Personally, I think Havertz is a fantastic player. A level above Vieira and Smith Rowe. He is still a young man and is learning a new role in a new system at a new club under a new manager.

You do not play over 300 games at 24, capped 37 times by your country, being a bad player.

Vieira will also grow this season.

Primeira Liga to Premier League was always going tobe a huge step up for someone who was clearly a bit physically challenged. But he has incredible technique.

Smith Rowe, meanwhile, could be finding his time at Arsenal is coming to an end.

There are fitter, better players in his position, who are around the same age. Odegaard, Havertz, Rice, Vieira and Smith Rowe are all 23/24.

Phil Foden is also an interesting. He is also 23, just a year younger than Havertz.

It is interesting about how people still bash on about Foden’s “potential” but never talk about the potential Havertz has. The room he still has to grow. I think Foden also falls into the Smith Rowe box that people do not seem to realise how “old” he is.

I also think people forget how “young” Havertz is.

Build your view of a player based on their performances on the field, not based on yourn opinion on the manager, or because you prefer another player.

In 12 months time, the fans booing Havertz on social media will probably move on to someone else. And if Smith Rowe it still at the club, they will probably be calling him “deadwood” and questioning why the club did not sell him this summer.

These fans have been proven wrong about Odegaard, Vieira will prove them wrong this season, and Havertz will also prove them wrong. Yet they still value their opinion above a world class managers!

Always changing their narrative to suit their agenda…

Keenos