Category Archives: Arsenal

Is this the worst transfer window ever?

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£125million spent.

A striker that has never scored more than 15 goals in a single season. £60m.

A midfield facing sexual assault charges. £25m.

A 33-year-old that Arsenal rejected for being too old 3 years ago.

A 34-year-old goal keeper who has been second choice at Southampton for the last 5 seasons.

And finally the £40million spent on the centre back they had last year on loan.

If you take the Romero deal aside, the rest is simply horrendous business.

If Arsenal had have signed Richarlison, Bissouma, Perisic and Forster we would be unanimously criticised.

Yet Tottenham are celebrating this window as if it will turn them into title winners.

I have seen them stating that they have the best striker in Europe. The best in Asia. The best in Brazil. The best CB in South America. The goalkeeper of the world champions. The best manager in the world. That no Arsenal player would start for them.

Yet if they were so good why did they only finish 4th? Just two points ahead of an Arsenal team that lost its first 3 games of the season? And trophyless for the 14th season in a row.

That lot really are deluded. Celebrating winning the transfer window when buying a load of duds. They will finish 8th this year.

Moving onto us, there is still plenty of white noise out there regarding transfers. We really need to ignore it.

Just because a reliable journalist has stated we are in talks for a player, does not mean they will join.

There is a huge step from being interested in a player and getting a deal signed.

We pulled out of the Raphinha deal as we were unwilling to meet Leeds United’s ludicrous valuation and it looks like the deal for that Ajax defender is going the same way.

If Chelsea (or Barcelona) want to pay £65m for Raphinha and Manchester United pay £45m for Martinez then let them.

That is £110m for two players who would not be regular starters for us.

If we still have that kind of money left after the Gabriel Jesus and Fabio Vieira signings I would rather get in Aaron Hickey and Youri Tielemans for a reported £60m combined (less than Raphinha on his own) and then invest the additional £50m elsewhere.

A transfer window is like a big jigsaw. It takes a while for all pieces to fit into place.

There is still just under 2 months left of it, so plenty of time for my deals to be made.

Enjoy your Sunday.

Keenos

https://twitter.com/shewore/status/1542927999603019776?s=21&t=NOIvTRa3AHkKlaRFc6YtdQ

Who is the best Brazilian attacker in the Premier League?

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Hope everyone is having a cracking Saturday so far.

So Gabriel Jesus, Richarlison and Raphinha. Three 25-year-old Brazilian attackers all making a big move this summer.

We have secured Jesus, Richarlison looks off to Tottenham and Raphinha is Chelsea bound. Rumoured transfer fees range from £45m – £65m.

So who is getting the better player?

All stats per 90 minutes

Now it is easy to compare Richarlison and Gabriel Jesus as both played a similar role at their respective clubs last year.

Both spent plenty of time playing down the middle but have also performed out wide for club and country.

Raphinha is a little different as he plays exclusively out wide.

All 3 men average the same amount of goals per 90 minutes – Raphinha leads the way in total goals (11) but has played the most minutes (2922) – and over 1000 minutes more than Jesus/

Raphinha’s goal return from out wide is impressive compared to the two others who have played most of the season through the middle.

However once you take penalties out of the equation, Gabriel Jesus becomes the leader.

Excluding penalties, all 3 men scored 7 goals last season – 4 of Raphinha’s 11 goals came from the spot and 3 of Richarlison’s 10.

Taking into account Harry Kane takes penalties for Tottenham, Richarlison’s goal scoring impact at Spurs will not be as great as it was at Everton.

Arsenal are another story however as our three preferred penalty takers – Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alex Lacazette and Nicholas Pepe – have left the club (or are leaving).

Bukayo Saka took up the mantle towards the end of the season but our regular taker spot is certainly up for grabs.

I would be surprised if Jesus becomes our regular taker as he has missed 3 out of 6 penalties taken in the Premier League – but with 8 penalties awarded to us last season in the league there might be an opportunity to further boost that goal tally.

Whilst is is perhaps unfair to throw Raphinha in with Jesus and Richarlison when it comes to scoring goals, we can legitimately compare his other statistics.

When it comes to assists, Raphinha comes out surprisingly poorly with just 3 assists last season.

Considering he was Leeds United’s corner taker last season, this is very poor – although you also have to take into account Leeds were the lowest goal scorers of themselves, Everton and Manchester City. Man City scored over twice as many goals.

What is becoming clear is that in Gabriel Jesus, Arsenal are getting a striker that scores and creates, and one that is clearly superior to Richarlison in both departments.

As we go further down the statistics, Jesus is also the best passer of the 3 – attempting the most per 90 minutes.

Richarlison comes off fairly poor in this area with just 18 passes a game.

That might suit Tottenham who tend to play long ball football, but Arsenal need a striker that can drop into the 10 and get involved in the build up.

Jesus is also clear when it comes to pass completion.

Arsenal’s new striker has an 84.84% pass accuracy. Both Richarlison and Raphinha are below 70%. Not a single outfield player for Arsenal had a pass accuracy below 70% last season.

Raphinha and Richarlison are well known for their take-ons (a posh word for dribbling). But Jesus leads this category as well.

He completes the most per game, and also has the highest take-on success.

So Jesus is the best goal scorer, most creative, best passer and best dribbler. He is also the cheapest option.

Now there is another Brazilian attacker in the Premier League who is a little bit younger than his compatriots – Gabriel Martinelli.

If we remove Jesus from the comparison matrix and add Martinelli, how do things look?

Richarlison, Raphinha and Martinelli are all equal when it comes to non-penalty goals – the younger man slightly behind when it comes to all goals.

Martinelli leads the way it comes to assists per 90, pass accuracy, take-ons completed and take-on success.

It makes you wonder why we were bidding for Raphinha when Martinelli is ahead of him on every important matrix of a wide forward.

So when it comes to Brazilian attackers in the Premier League, we have signed the best of the best. And we also have the second best.

Marching on with Edu’s Army.

Keenos

Raphinha has not “rejected Arsenal”

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In the next few days we will see headlines such as “Raphinha has rejected Arsenal for Chelsea” and other variations.

It will be spread on Twitter by Chelsea (and oddly Tottenham) fans in an attempt to show that the Brazilian picked them over us. And that he has snubbed us.

This is not the truth.

Raphinha has not rejected Arsenal. We just did not have a bid accepted by Leeds United.

It is clear to any outside observer that Raphinha wanted a move to Barcelona. Reports emerged earlier this year that Deco – his agent – had already agreed personal terms with his former club.

The problem was Barcelona never agreed terms with Leeds United – unable to pay the £65million the Yorkshire side were demanding.

That opened the door to Arsenal who began negotiations with Leeds United and Raphinha’s representatives.

With the Barcelona deal seemingly dead, it is clear and obvious that Raphinha was interested in joining Mikel Arteta and Edu’s Portuguese/Brazilian revolution.

But like with Barcelona, Arsenal would not match the £65million Leeds wanted.

At no point did Raphinha reject either Arsenal or Barcelona. It was Leeds that rejected both.

And then we have Chelsea who swept in and offered the asking price (reportedly) and look set to complete the deal.

If that Chelsea deal goes through, it will not be Raphinha choosing Chelsea ahead of Barcelona or Arsenal. It will actually be the opposite.

The argument could easily be made that it was Arsenal and Barcelona who rejected Raphinha – they decided he was not worth the £65million Leeds wanted so turned down the deal.

Throughout, Raphinha has not turned down or rejected anyone. Just ignore the noise.

In other news, I see Tottenham fans celebrating that they have “the best striker in Brazil, best striker in Asian, best striker in Europe”. They also talk about Antonio Conte being “the best manager in the world.

I wonder what their excuse will be when they fail to win a trophy for the 15th season in a row.

Pre-season has started and it feels a bit “Rentord Rejects” at London Colney.

The majority of those pictured so far are those that went out on loan last season or got very little game time. Hopefully some of them will be shifted soon.

Enjoy your Friday.

Keenos