Every time I see a post on social media linking us to a new player, the responses are flooded with “a striker is more urgent”.

When it was confirmed by the club that David Raya was joining, I begun counting how often fans replied “but what about a striker”. I soon stopped. Likewise, the links to Bolonga central defender Riccardo Calafiori has been met with “not another defender, we need focus on a striker”.

The reality is, Edu and Mikel Arteta are in no rush to sign a new striker. And they are completely correct.

Firstly, transfers are not linear. You do not focus on signing one single player.

At any one time, our scouts are watching 100s of players. These then get filtered down to our actual targets and enquiries are made in the background between ourselves and the players intermediaries to establish where they would be an interest from the player.

Once we have established interest from the play, the discussions with the club commence.

At any one time, we are talking to many different intermediaries and clubs to try and do deals. What does not happen is we only talk to one club about one player, and then when that deal is done we move onto the next.

Following this, different deals take different amounts of time.

The deal for David Raya was agreed 12 months ago. It was a move that was always going to be made permanent this summer, so I am not sure why some fans acted confused as to why we have announced his deal before signing a new striker. Raya was always going to be our first major signing of the summer.

And doing a deal for Joshua Kimmich or Calafiori is done before a new striker comes in does not mean we have failed to prioritise a forward. It just means those deals were easier, quicker to do.

You do not artificially delay the signing of a target just to appease fans who demand a striker. This is not a PR game where you sign a striker first to make it appear that you have prioritised the position. You announce your signings as and when they happen.

Last season it was clear that Declan Rice was our number one transfer target, but he ended up being the last player of we signed (permanently). It would have been incompetent to delay the announcement of Kai Havertz or Jurrien Timber – and risk losing out on them – just so that we could announce Rice first.

Just because a new striker has not yet been signed on 8 July, it does not mean that we are not prioritising the position.

There could be many reasons why we have not yet signed a new striker.

The first could be that the transfer window is barely a week old, and we are ensuring we buy the right players regardless of how quickly or slowly the deals are done. We also have the fact that the Euro’s are still on. Very few big deals happen during an international tournament.

It also remains a fact that there are not many top international strikers. This is higlighted by the top scorers at both Euro 2024 and Copa America.

Any forward that comes in must be a better option that Kai Havertz.

Playing as a striker in the 2nd half of the season, Havertz grabbed himself 8 goals and 7 assists in 13 games. Were we being linked with a striker who finished the season like that, and is currently the 3rd top scorer at the Euro’s, we would all be excited.

This is not to say that I do not think we will buy an attacker, but more that he has shown he can be a genuine option up front and therefore signing a similar style striker might no longer be as urgent.

What is more important than simply buying a striker is that we sign the right forward. Whether that is Viktor Gyokeres, Joshua Zirkzee, Lois Openda or some other name. It is important to not go too far down the target last just to simply sign a striker. That is how you end up with a Lucas Perez.

The club also might be looking outside a centre forward.

Attackers come in all shapes and sizes, and I would not be upset if we signed Nico Williams instead of a forward, and then went with Havertz, Gabriel Jesus and Gabi Martinelli as our centre forward options next season. Williams also has the strength, power and technique to play down the middle.

A forward – whether central or wide – is clearly a key target for us this summer. Just because we have mot signed one yet does not mean it is not a priority. It just means we are not in a rush.

Keenos

Bukayo Saka. World Class.https://t.co/Fm5X4KQOMb pic.twitter.com/rtDmth1th4

— Kick Off Merchants (@KOMerchants) July 6, 2024

Hope you are having a brilliant Sunday.

The weather in Essex is extremely changeable right now. Raining one moment, bright sunshine the next. I spent yesterday building my new garden furniture ahead of the England game. It is still unused!

I was delighted that Bukayo Saka scored yesterday and nailed his penalty.

Saka has become a bit of a “hate figure” for opposing fans. They are quick to call him to be dropped, call him overrated and have a go at him.

I am not sure how anyone can hate on him. He plays football in the right way, does not throw himself to the floor or look to injure opponents, and is a bright, humble young man. Saka is not only a credit to Arsenal, but also to England, and a huge credit to his parents.

For me, Saka is England’s best attacker. He is levels above Phil Foden, Jude Bellingham and Cole Palmer, whilst Harry Kane is clearly on the wain.

Foden is brilliant, but he is helped out at Manchester City by being their worst forward. That means he gets less attention and is gifted more space as opposing teams focus on stopping Kevin de Bruyne, Erling Haaland and Bernardo Silva. Saka is often doubled up for at Arsenal and still excels. I am not sure Foden would reach that same level.

Bellingham meanwhile is a superstar in the making, but he has the tendency to drift in and out of games. He still has levels to go up once he becomes more consistent. Being a top midfielder is not just about the goals you score.

As for Palmer, it takes more than a good debut season before you should be called world class. What he did last season Saka has been doing for 3 or 4 seasons. Like Bellingham he needs to show consistency.

For me, Saka’s time as Arsenal and England’s “Star Boy” needs to be over. He is now England’s superstar. We no longer talk about his potential but his actually ability. I would struggle to name more than 1 or 2 right wingers who are better than him.

As I write this blog, it has begun pissing down again. Time to brew a coffee and settle in for the Grand Prix.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

Keenos

Bukayo Saka. World Class.https://t.co/Fm5X4KQOMb pic.twitter.com/rtDmth1th4

— Kick Off Merchants (@KOMerchants) July 6, 2024

Over the years, I could be accused of being obsessed with ages when it comes to footballers

Cesc Fabregas did a job on me and for a long term, I had the opinion that if a teenage footballer was not doing what a 17, 18 or 19-year-old like Cesc had done, then they would not develop into a top player. 

It took me years to realise just how special Cesc was, and that there have only been a handful of players doing what he could do as a teenager.

I am also a paid-up member of the “he is too old” club.

This time my view is backed up by plenty of data that for most players, being aged over 28 is the worst time you can buy them.

At 28 years old a player is in their peak. It is at this age that they will likely demand the highest wages in their career. And it is also at this age that clubs will make the biggest loss between what they signed them for and sold them for.

There is also plenty of evidence out there that as a player enters their 30s, they begin to deceive physically and for many that drop can be off a cliff.

You buy a 28-year-old for £50m and give them £250k a week. There is a high chance that they will only maintain their current level for another 2 or 3 years, after which the de elite begins.

That leaves a club with a highly paid player who is no longer performing at the top level. A club’s choices are either to see it out and lose them on a free, or cut their losses and sell for a low fee – and probably have to subsidise his wages as a new buying club won’t want to pay what you are.

Manchester United signing both Robin van Persie and Alexis Sanchez from Arsenal highlights the dangers of signing a player on the wrong side of 28 who is about to drop off that cliff.

The issue with my thinking is it treats every player equally. It assumes that every star only has 2-3 years left at the top when they hit 29, and that is just not true.

Yes, players that start early tend to decline earlier (another thing I believe in his that most players only have 10 years at the top, so a player playing week in week out at 18 will be done at 28, whilst one who doesn’t break through till 32 will keep going into their 30’s), and those that rely on explosive speed decline as quick as their acceleration when they lose it. But not all players are built the same.

The likes of Fernando Torres, Alexis Sanchez and Pierre Emerick Aubameyang were always going to drop off that cliff rapidly when their pace went. As did Michael Owen, Thie Walcott and Thierry Henry. But then someone like Harry Kane and Robert Lewandowski who have never had pace to begin with, so had nothing to lose. 

Then you have players who were known for their pace, but could also use their brain, and as they declined physically they made up for it through technique, vision and knowledge, changing the way they played. Think Dennis Bergkamp, Cristiano Ronaldo, and to some extent Henry.

So far I have only spoken about attacking players, and that is also flaw in my thinking.

Attackers more than any other position rely on their pace. But positions elsewhere do not need someone who is rapid – and that is especially the case in central defence and midfielder.

Most of the best defenders to ever play the game had no pace. They also played at the highest level way into their late 30s. Fabio Canavarro, Tony Adams, Giorgio Cheillini to name 3.

These sort of players kept it simple throughout their career, seeking to win duels through their reading of the game rather than being stronger or quicker.

“Flashier” defenders such as Virgil van Dijk and Laurent Koscielny might look good, but they ret on their pace to make up for the poor reading of the game.

And then we come onto midfielders.

There are different ways of playing defensive midfield. You have the “cover every blade of grass” men, such as N’Golo Kante, the “dominate physically” players such as Thomas Partey, and then the visonaries such as Andrea Pirlo.

The first two types of players rely a lot on physical attributes – either stamina or power. These are attributes, like, pace, that can decline into their later years.

Already with Thomas Partey we are seeing a player that does not dominate physically like he use too. The Ghanian is 31-years-old. Meanwhile N’Golo Kante dropped off a cliff during the 2021/22 season. He no longer looked to be able to cover every blade grass. He was also 31.

But then what about the midfielders who have never relied on their stamina or power? Who have relied on their reading of the game, positioning and technique?

I always found it unfair when fans (of both Chelsea and Arsenal), would criticise Jorginho for “not having the legs”. He never had the legs. And his game was never about him having the legs.

Jorginho’s in-game vision allowed him to be in the right position, at the right time to intercept the ball. He rarely needed to cover ground to get into the right position as he was always there. And then his passing meant he did not need to hold off an opponent. The ball was gone before he was close to being pressed.

The Italian-Brazilian turns 33 in December, and I for one was delighted that he signed a new deal.

But Jorginho is not doing anything players before him have not done. He is not a groundbreaking player who relies on his reading of the game to excel. The likes of Pirlo, Xabi Alonso, Michael Carrick and Luka Modric played at the high level well into their late 90s.

That brings me onto Joshua Kimmich.

It only feels like yesterday that Kimmich was heir apparent to Philipp Lahm as right back come central midfielder.

It was way back in 2015 that Bayern Munich signed a then 20-year-old Kimmich from RB Leipzig, which in turn saw Lahm push into central midfield. The feeling was that Kimmich would follow his German teammate and eventually play as a defensive midfielder.

The transition from right back to defensive midfielder was a gradual one following Lahm’s retirement in 2017. By 2019, Kimmich had established himself the lynchpin of Munich’s midfield.

Kimmich like Lahm, was never one to need to dominate with any particularly physical set of skills. He has fantastic game awareness, defensive positioning and passing range. He is up there as one of the best defensive midfielders in the world, even though he is not in the destructive mould of a Declan Rice or Rodri.

Everything about Kimmich’s game points to a player that will continue operating at a high level for another 5 or 6 years, and with one year on his contract, the stars might be aligning for him to be looking for a new challenge this summer.

Had you asked me if I would want us to be targeting a 29-year-old defensive midfielder this summer, I would previously had questioned the transfer. But Kimmich is an Alonso. He is a Modric. He is a Pirlo. He has the attributes to dictate play in the Premier League for years to come.

On this occasion, I would be more than happy to see Joshua Kimmich join Arsenal. A midfield 3 of Kimmich, Rice and Odegaard provides us with so much balance, so many different threats.

And then backing up Kimmich, we still have that option of Jorginho, and also playing Rice deeper to provide further protection.

Enjoy your Saturday.

Keenos