Category Archives: Arsenal

Busy week of new signings and new contracts for Arsenal

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Bit of fun for me this morning as I try to predict what movements will happen in the transfer market for The Arsenal this week.

My first prediction is that Gabriel Jesus will join from Manchester City.

Now I know this is not exactly a bold prediction – a bit like your Nap of the Day being a 1/10 favourite. The deal is basically done. We all know it. Expect a late Monday or early Tuesday announcement.

The week will then be mainly focused around speculation about Raphinha.

I do not expect a deal for the Brazilian winger to come off this week. Arsenal and Leeds United seem to be someway off valuations. I also expect a deal will only happen once Leeds have already secured his replacement (Cody Gakpo the latest name linked with them).

Expect “in negotiations” and “close to an agreement” to be the buzzwords of the week for this deal.

Whilst there is lots of talk about Raphinha, I expect little if anything to be mentioned about Youri Tielemans.

Speculation surrounding the Belgium moving to Arsenal seems to be getting getting more and more quiet since the arrival of Fabio Vieira. I expect the deal is now colder than a bottle of Madri in the fridge of my garden bar.

We might get some contract news this week.

William Saliba is set to return from his holiday and the online speculation is that he is set to agree a new contract with Arsenal. Could it happen this week? I would say yes.

One man whose contract will not be renewed this week is Bukayo Saka.

My gut feeling is the deal is done. Agreed. Signed. But Arsenal are waiting to announce it in a bit manner. That will not happen until he is back from holiday.

Arsenal will not be worried. There is no rush as it is probably agreed (I think Arteta’s new deal was a big part of his agreement). Just wait for the PR to drop when he is back.

End of the week Matt Turner will be announced.

MLS rules means players can not officially leave until 1st July. It is a bit odd as I thought he had agreed to sign for us in January and was loaned back. Expect him to finally hold the shirt up on Friday.

What else? Probably not much.

We will not see the predicted loan deals yet materilise – clubs will not take a player on loan whilst they are on holiday; Paying wages for a player who will not even be training.

Only other deal to keep an eye on is Lisandro Martinez. I think this could be a deal that rumbles on this summer as Ajax attempt to push his price up.

So should be a busy week. Two incomings and some new contracts/

Have a good one.

Keenos

https://twitter.com/SheWore/status/1540396026003169283

Arsenal ‘playing catch up’ with big spending summer

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Much has been said already of Arsenal’s potential big spending summer. Much of it by the negative nancys.

“We spend £200m we should be targeting the title, not just top 4” is the most commonly used line by those fans who seem to spend more time hating one the club then supporting it.

Whilst spending big this summer should increase expectations, all we are actually doing is playing catch up on those other teams in the top 6.

In the last 24 months we have seen a huge amount of underperforming “stars” depart the club.

The likes of Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, Alex Lacazette, Mesut Ozil, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Sokratis, Shkodran Mustafi and Calum Chambers have all left the club.

Those 7 players cost us close to £250million. With the majority leaving for nothing.

Huge investment last summer and (potential) even bigger investment this is just us making up for our poor (and under) investment previously.

If we spend close to the rumoured £200m, that will be a squad that has cost us £700m – still less then both Manchester City and Chelsea.

We can also expect Manchester United to spend big again this summer, whilst Liverpool’s spending has also not finished.

By the end of the summer we would have spent around the 4th or 5th most in the Premier League on our squad.

Now some will now point out our poor “net spend” but this does not really matter. In fact all it shows is how poor business has hampered us.

We could have further closed that gap on those above us if it weren’t for so many poor sales (created due to the poor buys and huge contracts handed out).

In recent years we have also consistently had the 5th highest wage bill in the Premier League.

Wage bill is the single most important factor when considering where a team finishes.

To put simply, the more a team spends on wages the higher they are likely to finish in the league.

We have dramatically reduced that wage bill in recent years. This has freed up a lot of the funds we are now spending.

The investment we are seeing this summer (and last) is only making up for nearly half a decade of poor investment.

To highlight further, Mikel Arteta has been at the club for just 2.5 years. But how many of his first starting XI were in the final starting XI of last season?

TWO.

Granit Xhaka and Bukayo Saka.

Of the 18 starters and subs, there will likely be just 3 remaining by the end of this summer.

My final thought on this is where Liverpool and Manchester City squads are is where we are aiming to get to.

At that point, we will be spending £100m+ a season on one or two players rather than 5 or 6. Each one improving our starting XI.

Our investment will continue…but we still have a long way to go to catch up!

Keenos

Gabriel Jesus in – who next?

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Morning all.

What is it with Arsenal and Fridays?

Last week it was Fabio Vieira. This week Gabriel Jesus.

It was broken last night by a few journalists that we had reached an agreement with Manchester City for Gabriel Jesus.

The reported fee is £45million, which I think is a good deal for a Premier League ready player who ticks so many boxes of what we need.

We have said on the blog before that Arsenal have a clear plan. And Edu and Mikel Arteta seem to be working really well together right now.

Arteta is letting Edu know what sort of player he needs and the Brazilian is sending his recruitment team out their to find that player.

Gabriel Jesus is an exciting player. One who will bag 20+ Premier League goals next season.

I imagine it will be a bit like the Vieira deal where things now go quiet for a few days.

We have medicals and photos to still do to and then contract is not yet signed. So it’s in the bag but not quite.

Jesus will join Vieira, Marquinhos and Matt Turner at the club as he becomes the 4th new arrival of the summer.

The transfer window has only been open 10 days so maybe now those that moan we are “moving too slowly” will finally disappear.

So what next?

Raphinha is a deal that has been talked about a bit. I am not 100% sure as it is a lot of money.

But like Jesus he ticks the right boxes of what we need.

If we secured him, that will be around £140m spent this summer. I would imagine that would be that until we sell a few.

The Youri Tielemans deal seems to have gone quite. My feeling is it might now be dead.

Vieira joining and Xhaka staying means he is no longer a key signing and if Raphinha is the next main target; it will feel like we have moved the Tielemans money into the pot for the winger.

But who actually knows? Well Edu does. But no one seems to be able to predict his next move right now.

Enjoy your Saturday. Watch some cricket. And relax.

Keenos