Category Archives: Arsenal

The 5 Arsenal players Newcastle will look to target in January

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Newcastle have hit the lottery.

The takeover by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) sees them have the richest owners in world football.

They also sit 19th in the league table. 3 points from the opening 7 games. Without a win.

Relegation would be a disastrous start to the “new era” in the North-East so Janaury will see them spend big.

But taking into account their current league position and draw for players, signings will be short term options. Probably those whose contracts are expiring at other clubs – or have fallen out of favour at bigger clubs.

They will look to bring these players in quickly in the hope they can push them up the table.

It wil lbe a couple of seasons until they can make those big name signings. So for now they wil lbe focusing on the Craig Bellamy’s, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Wayne Bridge’s and Tal Ben Haim’s of the world.

Those were the names that were amongst the first signings for Manchester City when they came udner state ownership.

Newcastle have already been linked with a host of new players – and clubs will be looking to cash in on those whose contracts are expiring in the summer.

Arsenal could be one of those clubs that takes advantage with a whole host of players up for grabs.

Alexandre Lacazette

Newcastle only really have one established Premeir League proven striker in Calum Wilson. The striker has been sidelined since late August with a thigh injury.

Another forward will be top of the list of Newcastle and Lacazette would be the best fit.

Lacazette is Premier League proven and would make an instant impact upfront. with his contract expiring in the summer and currently seeing very little game time at Arsenal, a move will be easy to make.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles

Last summer Newcastle bought Maitland-Niles good pal Joe Willock.

Maitland-Niles has been on the cusp of leaving the club numberous times over the last 3 windows. Each time Arsenal have blocked the move at the last minute.

but he is still struggling for game time at Arsenal.

The club will be wary about Granit Xhaka’s injury and Thomas Partey’s African adventure. But with such little game time Maitland-niles will be pushing for a move.

Maitland-Niles and Lacazette return, Saka rests - Arsenal predicted team vs Sheffield United - football.london

Rob Holding

Newcastle’s number one defensive choice seems to be James Tarkowski of Burnley. But if a deal for him can not be pushed through Rob Holding may well be the back up option,

Holding nearly joined Newcastle on loan a year or so ago.

He is Premier League proven and not currently getting much game time at Arsenal following the purchase of Ben White.

With William Saliba performing well in France, the expectation is that he will return and provide first choice cover to both White and Gabriel. That will push Holding further down the pecking order.

Calum Chambers

See above but change the Rob Holding to Calum Chambers.

Eddie Nketiah

If Newcastle decide against going for the “ready and able” alexandre Lacazette they might chose to go with a younger man who could provide cover and competition for Wilson; before signing a star name striker in the summer.

Nketiah has clearly outgrown youth team football but with two top strikers ahead of him at Arsenal is getting very ltitle game time.

A move to Newcastle would see him being first reserve to Wilson. The pair would probably have enough fire power to keep Newcastle up without the need to bring in a senior striker who could quickly become surplus to requirements.

Let us know who you think Newcastle will sign in the comments…

Keenos

Newcastle, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Guendouzi and more…

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Good morning.

I have takne the international break as a chance to give myself a break from writing. Bar the blog about whether fans should care about where their owners money comes from, there just has not been much to write about.

On that blog. It seems people were split 50/50.

Some people agreed with me that we should care about where money comes from. Others said it does not really matter as long as we are successful – and we do not care who the shareholders of Starbucks, Disney, etc are.

I am still in the camp of we should care. I do not want “dirty money” built on asset stripping a nation or slavery.

I am not sure how fans of Newcastle or Man City can talk about “Black Lives Matter”, applaud players taking the knee or have a say on slavery whilst celebrating their owners.

It seems they are happy to turn a blind eye to the behaviour of the owners of their clubs when they are spending billions to try and win them a trophy.

Likewise, I am not sure how they can stand there and be “Against modern football” when state owned clubs is very much part of modern football.

Newcastle fans would have complained bitterly for years about how Mn City owners made the league unfair. And now they celebrate being in the same situation.

Moving on, last night saw some ugly scenes at Wembley.

It is time UEFA / FIFA enforced proper sanctions against these nations where racism is part of their society.

A few imbeciles on Twitter were saying “England fans are no different”.

Well, having travelled abroad with both England and Arsenal I can tell you we are very different.

Yes there might the odd idiot. And they usually get the comeuppance. but for countries like Hungary, it is not one idiot. It is the majority.

Those people trying to compare Hungary fans racist, violent abuse to a couple of hundred fans breaking into Wembley for the Euros final need to give their head a wobble. They are not comparable.

Only other thing that has happened in the last 5 days is Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s agent linking his client to Arsenal.

As predicted, Ox’s move to Liverpool has been a flop – despite media and Liverpool fans originally trying to state otherwise.

He is no different to when he was at Arsenal – has one good game followed by 5 bad games and is then injured for half a dozen games.

Taking into account the age and profile of players we have signed over the summer, a move for Oxlade-Chamberlain would make zero sense.

Finally Matteo Guendouzi won the Nations league over the weekend.

The usual suspects came out of the woodwork pointing out that Guendouzi now has more itnernational trophioes than Mikel Arteta had spanish caps.

For me, Guendouzi winning the trophy is irrelevant.

The Nations League is a glorified international friendly tournament, and Guendouzi is still uncapped by France.

Him celebrating his “success” is like a fella celebrating his wife giving birth knowing it is not his child.

As I have previously stated on this blog. I would rather celebrate thosre players still at the club – such as Albert Sambi Lokonga – rather than obsesse over “achievements” of players not at the club.

Have a good Wednesday

Keenos

Should football fans care where their owners money comes from?

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Yesterday the takeover of Newcastle United finally went through.

Following a court case, a Saudi Arabian-backed consortium bought the club for £350m from Mike Ashley.

The Newcastle fans celebrated like they had one the lottery.

Part of the celebrations was due to the departure of Mike Ashley – an owner they have hated from almost the day he took over.

The other part of the celebrations is that they see the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) takeover as a a quick route to winning the league.

Their fans have seen Chelsea, Manchester City and PSG bank rolled to success. And the wealth of the PIF blows all of their owners oit of the water.

They think being owned by PIF will see billions spent on new players and the side bankrolled to their first league title since 1927.

But at what cost would this success be bankrolled to and should fans care?

Amnesty International have urged the Premier League to review their decision and take into account the horrendous human rights issues in Saudi Arabia. They state:

“As with Formula One, elite boxing, golf or tennis, an association with top-tier football is a very attractive means of rebranding a country or person with a tarnished reputation. The Premier League needs to better understand the dynamic of sportswashing and tighten its ownership rules.”

We have mentioned sportswashing numerous times in this blog.

From day one when Roman Abramovich took over Chelsea I questioned whether someone who built his wealth in questionable circumstances should be applauded.

When Alisher Uzmanov looked to take over Arsenal, I took the stand that I did not want his kind involved in Arsenal.

I would rather win nothing than be bankrolled to success by someone with Usmanov’s questionable history.

At Manchester City, the ‘Manchester thanks you Sheikh Mansour’ banner has always left a sour taste in my mouth.

Sheikh Mansour is a member of the royal family of Abu Dhabi and deputy Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates.

The 2021 Human Rights Watch reportfor the UAE makes grim reading.

Manchester City fans turn a blind eye to what is happening in the UAE. The lack of democracy, modern slavery. These things seem to not matter when you are winning trophies.

And the same is seemingly happening at Newcastle.

Their fans seem to not care about the human rights abuses that occur on a daily basis. They just want to be bankrolled to success.

How many of their fans joined a BLM March over the last 2 years. Have pointed out corruption in the Conservative party. Have spoken up against racism and inequality in the UK.

How many of their fans have tweeted that slave owners statues in the UK should be taken down – meanwhile they celebrate slave owners buying their club.

PIF probably will bankroll Newcastle to their first trophy since 1969. It will be written as another glorious story of a sleeping giant returning to its glory days. A bit like Manchester City.

Personally, I would rather win nothing than be owned by a state with a horrendous human rights record that is basically using my club to wash over that record.

I would rather win nothing than be owned by a former KGB agent that earned his billions during the break up of the Soviet Union.

Hopefully I am not alone in this. I have my morals and they will not change regardless of my football clubs success.

But many people do not seem to care who owns their club as long as they are being bankrolled to success.

So I ask the question; should football fans care where the money comes from?

Keenos