Category Archives: Arsenal

And on the 4th day of the transfer window Edu gave to me, a Brazilian born in 2003

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It was just 24 hours ago that we were advising people to calm down and not worry. That the transfer window was merely 3 days old so you were stressing over nothing that we had not signed anyone yet.

Barely 6 hours after that blog went live, Arsenal had made the first signing of the summer – Marquinhos.

Now the naysayers will be spinning the narrative that “a 19-year old prospect is not a real signing”. Well you were not saying that yesterday when you were talking about Liverpool having made a signing already – the only man they have signed is also a 19-year-old in Fábio Carvalho.

Marcus Vinicius Oliveira Alencar – to quote his full name for the first and only time – joins from Brazilian outfit Sao Paolo; whom he played 41 times for last season.

I would be lying if I said I had ever heard of him prior to us being linked – or even seen him play. I am sure there will be some social media experts that will claim to have been following him since he was 11 playing on the beach though.

He does come with a fairly high reputation. Do not be put off by the price tag.

Arsenal got him at a cut price due to an issue with his contract.

In 2019, at 16, he signed a 5 year deal with Sao Paolo. However FIFA rules dictate that uU18 players can only sign a 3 year deal. This meant that his contract basically expired.

Arsenal have done a deal reportedly worth €3.5 million as Edu hopes to build a long turn relationship with the Brazilian club.

Where does Marquinhos fit in at Arsenal? I really do not know.

Look back to the signing of Gabriel Martinelli.

Martinelli was signed as an 18-year-old and expected to play for our PL2 side. His performances in pre-season saw him quickly elevated to the first team squad – and then he got his opportunities in the League Cup and Europa League and never looked back.

No one would have expected Martinelli to score 10 goals in 26 games in his first season. But he is now a solid member of our senior squad. And still just 20.

I expect there to be a similar plan with Marquinhos.

He will not be expected to make an immediate first team impact. Instead he will be with the first team in pre-season and then it will be “see where he goes”.

He could be the next Maritnelli. He could be the next Wellington Silva.

Either way, his signing will stop people saying “we have not signed anyone yet”. They will probably just find something else to moan about though.

Talking about something else to moan about, Emile Smith Rowe played for England last night in the U21s. What is the point?

Smith Rowe turns 22 in a month and already has 3 senior caps. He should not be taking the step down to youth football.

If Gareth Southgate decided not to pick him for the senior squad for the pointless Nations League games, he should have been given the summer off.

U21 football should all be about developing players, and I am not really sure how playing it benefits Smith Rowe.

Last season he played nearly 2,500 senior minutes for Arsenal. He should have been on the beach resting. Not still playing football in the middle of June.

At least that “campaign” is now over and he can now get 4 weeks rest ahead of returning to pre-season training in the middle of July (first pre-season friendly for Arsenal is 8th July).

Likewise tonight is the last “Nations League” game of the season.

We have seen teams begin to put out massively changed XIs for Nations League fixtures which highlights the shine has already rubbed off the competition. It is now being treated as post-season friendlies.

Good idea, but time to cancel it.

Hopefully Bukayo Saka gets through unscathed and will be able to get in some much needed rest.

Have a good Tuesday.

Keenos

Calm down dear, is has only been 3 days

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Over the weekend the moaning begun.

“Why have we not signed anyone yet?”
“Slow out of the box again”
“Our rivals are already improving”

My advice is calm yourselves down. And if you are obsessing about transfers a couple of days into the transfer window, you will only end up ruining your summer.

Me? I spent the weekend sitting in my garden, watching cricket, drinking cider and going a strange shade of pink.

But really guys. Relax a little. There is a big wide world out their beyond transfers. You will only damage your own mental health if you decided to spend your weekend crying on social media instead of enjoying the sunshine.

The season has just finished. Most players are away on international duty. And it was the weekend!

The only deals announced so far are those that were easy to make – where minimum release clauses were activated prior to the window opening, loans turning permanent or free transfers getting announced.

And lets break down the transfer business of our rivals right now:

Manchester City*
Earling Haaland – Minimum release clause activated

Liverpool
Fábio Carvalho – Free transfer

Chelsea
No business done

Tottenham
Fraser Forster – Free transfer
Ivan Perisic – Free transfer

Manchester United
No business done

*Julián Álvarez was signed in January and loaned back to River Plate

Of the 10 transfers made so far by Premier League clubs, 4 are free transfers, 3 are loans turned permanent and 1 was a minimum release clause activated.

That leaves just 3 transfers that required negotiations with a selling club – Brenden Aaronson to Leeds and Diego Carlos to Villa.

So lets stop pretending that other clubs were doing lots of business whilst we stood still.

Had we signed Ivan Perisic and Fraser Forster on free transfers we would be up in arms over why Edu was signing ageing reserve players on big money. Not celebrating that we got business done early.

The only real stand-out transfer so far is that of Earling Haaland – but that has been in the pipeline since Earling was swimming around in Alfie’s ball sack.

“Oh but Liverpool are about to sign Darwin Nunez, Tottenham Richarlison and Manchester United Frankie de Jong”.

Yes, they might be close to signing them, but they have not yet. At the moment it is just media reports.

It is no different to the press saying we are close to signing Gabriel Jesus, Youri Tielemans, Serge Gnabry, Aaron Hickey, Yves Bissouma, Gianluca Scamacca, Raphinha and Marquinhos.

Why do we not dismiss other sides transfer speculation like we do our own? They will all be linked with ~100 players this summer like us. They will not sign them all.

If any of these deals do happen, it will probably be after the international friendlies are over. It is at this point clubs can do the medicals, complete the paperwork, apply for visa’s and secure their signatures.

Arsenal showed a clinicalness in the transfer market last summer – Aaron Ramsdale, Ben White, Martin Odergaard and Takehiro Tomiyasu were our 4 main targets and we secured all 4. We then added some talented youngsters.

I fully expect similar this summer.

3 or 4 senior pro’s who can come in and improve our first team from Day One (probably Jesus, one of Bissouma / Tielemans and a winger – Gnabry / Raphinha / Sterling) and then a couple of players for squad depth (Hickey, Matt Turner).

I will not worry until what we perceive as our main targets sign for someone else (if Jesus joins Chelsea for example).

I also will not worry if Liverpool sign Nunez for €100m after 1 good season (Calvert-Lewin, Isak) or Tottenham £50m+ on Richarlison.

I certainly will not worry that after just 3 days of the transfer window being open that we have not signed anyone.

We will do our own business, in our own time. And get it right.

In summary, go and enjoy the sunshine. Have a break for football. Drink a few beers. watch some cricket. And the transfer business will happen.

Up The Arsenal.

Keenos

Why are Arsenal fans worried about having squad depth?

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Morning and happy Sunday.

I am writing this today from my garden. The sun is out, the birds are singing and I have fences to paint. Let’s get the blog out the way before the chores! And then settle down to watch the cricket.

The latest name to be linked with a move to Arsenal is Raphinha.

Over the summer, we will be linked with around 100 players, so I usually do not get too invested when names pop up. You will only be frustrated when we don’t sign 96 of them.

Raphinha is a top, top player and has the technical ability and work rate to fit in with what Mikel Arteta is doing.

Some have expressed their concern over “what about Saka”. Arsenal seem to be the only team in the world that are not allowed competition for places.

Let’s remember Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City success is built on rotation, which enables him to keep his side fresh.

The majority of Pep’s forward line play around 1900-2300 Premier League minutes in a season. Last season Saka played just shy of 3000.

It is the same at centre back.

People are worried about we can accommodate Gabriel, White and Saliba instead of celebrating the squad depth we now have there.

My only slight concern about the Raphinha links is if we do sign someone for £50m+ to ply on the right, it will create a nagging feeling that Saka is off.

But I can ignore that feeling.

Raphinha, Jesus, Tielemans. These are players that will improve us from day one. That will not need bedding it.

The England friendly last night was wank.

I have expressed my feelings on the Nations League before. It is just a complete and utter waste of time.

Players could have been on the beach 3 weeks ago. Instead they are still training. Still playing. And for what? The international version of the Audi Cup?

Anyway, it’s nearly 9 and these fences won’t punt themselves.

Have a good Sunday. Remember the sun cream.

Keenos