Arsenal set to announce more incomings this week

7 Replies

Last Sunday I was sat in the garden having come back from a cheeky trip to Paris and I wrote how it would be a big week for The Arsenal.

My prediction was that we would see two, maybe three new signings. Within an hour of that blog going live, the deal for Martin Zubimendi was confirmed.

That deal was followed later in the week with confirmation that Christian Norgaard was an Arsenal player. An extremely cheap deal for a Premier League captain.

As the week continued, talk of Viktor Goryekes and Noni Madueke intensified. Both deals fuelling hatred for different reasons amongst the incel faction of Arsenal‘s fans.

It has to be remembered that damage to the murals in the tunnel was committed by one sad, lonely individual. It is not behaviour representative of Arsenal fans.

Likewise, the disgraceful abuse of Madueke was only by a handful of so called fans.

This is why I get annoyed when the likes of Rio Ferdinand two footed themselves into a debate and make it appear that those handful of individuals representative the club and use it to point score.

Meanwhile, he continues to remain silent throughout the abuse given to Alejandro Garnacho and Harry Maguire. He seems to turn a blind eye to abuse when it is towards a certain kind of player. What is his agenda?

It is ironic that the man who continually cheated on his dying wife continually talks about respect. Luckily his contact with TNT was not renewed and hopefully we don’t have to listen to his sub-par punditry again. He adds nothing to a conversation.

Personally, I would rather these pundits call out the likes of TalkSport, AFTV, Paddy Power et al whose modus operandi is to stir up hatred and anger in fans and rage bait them into generating advertising revenue.

These companies have a reach of millions, continually wind up fans and then sit back and watch the revenue come in.

This week for Arsenal you would expect an early announcement for Madueke. If you were not supporting his transfer, support the player when he is in an Arsenal shirt. If you refuse to support the player, then you do not have the right to call yourself an Arsenal supporter.

The Viktor Groyekes deal will monitor on with Sporting’s loudmouth President continually making public statements. Meanwhile we are acting classy and trying to agree the deal behind closed doors. My bet is it happens towards the end of this week.

The 3rd deal that could be completed before we hole on a plan to Asia is Cristhian Mosquera.

Everything has gone quiet around Mosquera, and my feeling is we put his transfer on the back burner for a bit whilst we completed other deals.

At £15-20m, Mosquera is a bit of a luxury when we do have Ben White and Jurrien Timber who can slot into that right handed centre back slot. Norgaard has also played there and we also have Jakub Kiwior and Ricardo Califiroi as defensive options.

My bet is we have held off spending the money whilst we got closer to completing deals for Madueke and Gyorekes. That £15m-£20m might have been needed elsewhere in the short term.

With Madueke done and Gyorekes nearing conclusion, we now know we have the spare money for Mosquera. A deal done for him would indicate that Gyorekes is in the bag.

After this week, I would expect things to go a little quiet.

Eberechi Eze and Rodrygo are still on the radar, but we would likely need to see some exits first – Reiss Nelson, Fabio Vieira, Albert Sambi Lokonga and Olexsandr Zinchenko first up.

Then I would expect it to be “one in, out” with Trossard departing for Eze and then Martinelli for Rodrygo. If either incoming deal does not happen, then Martinelli and / or Trossard will not depart.

So 3 deals this week hopefully. Then off to Asia with further deals to be completed closer to the start of the season.

Enjoy your sunshine Sunday. Remove hatred from your heart. life is too short.

Keenos

Hatred filled Arsenal fans do not represent the club

12 Replies

From moaning about our lack of business to moaning about the business we have done.

In the last few days, we have seen online abuse sent to Noni Madueke, a petition started against his signing and the tunnel murals graffitied over.

Sadly we have become the most laughed at fanbase in England. And one of the most dispised.

Entitled fans who think finishing 2nd is a sackable offence. Who want to get rid of the man who has raised their expectation level for not reaching the high standards they do not even set themselves in life.

Social media has a lot to answer for. And ultimately I blame AFTV.

Their rage baiting content of the late 2010s has spawned a generation of entitled online incell fans that believe rage, anger, and hate are the go to emotions.

I am just glad that the majority of these fans do not go to games. Either due to living hundreds or thousands of miles away or because daddy will no longer pay for their ticket.

The atmosphere at the Emirates is very different to the one that is seen online. But sadly it is the online presence that opposing fans and the media see as the representative voice.

If you post to divide, post to create rage, post to transfer the negativity in your own life into others, then you ain’t Arsenal.

Victoria Concordia Crescit
Remember who you are and what you represent
Do you like Arsenal, or just Arsenal with trophies?

Keenos

Who were the alternatives to Noni Madueke for Arsenal

Leave a reply

Throughout the debate around Noni Madueke, I have continually made two points:

  1. Since breaking through to the first team, we have never had adequate cover for Bukayo Saka
  2. If not Noni Madueke, then who?

Cover for Saka

For years we have been complaining that Saka has been overplayed and we need to recruit cover. Now that we are targeting someone to be his back-up, fans are complaining.

Since Saka usurped Nicolas Pepe as our first choice right winger in 2020/21, The Ivorian was the only player who you could consider as decent cover on the right wing. And he only lasted one year as Saka’s back up.

Reiss Nelson has never really progressed, and more recently Raheem Sterling was a flop

2024/25
Bukayo Saka – 2619 total minutes
Ethan Nwaneri – 1378
Raheem Sterling – 1143

2023/24
Bukayo Saka – 3865
Reiss Nelson – 641

2022/23
Bukayo Saka – 3744
Reiss Nelson – 590
Marquinhos – 2019

2021/22
Bukayo Saka – 3359
Nicolas Pepe – 951
Reiss Nelson – 19

2020/21
Bukayo Saka – 3606
Nicolas Pepe – 2930
Reiss Nelson – 450

2019/20
Nicolas Pepe – 2720
Bukayo Saka – 2704
Reiss Nelson – 1043

I get the theory around Ethan Nwaneri, but I do not believe Mikel Arteta sees the youngster as “Saka cover”. Next season I would expect Nwaneri to move inside to cover Martin Odegaard. And being first choice cover for two positions is not only a big ask for the 18-year-old but could also be detrimental for his future.

Better to learn now how to play a single position at senior level, and develop into a world class performer inside, rather than having to split his time between two positions and end up no fulfilling his potential in either.

We should all be in agreement that we need to recruit a new right winger – although I do also get the argument that if we sign Rodrygo and Eze, then a mixture of then plus Gabriel Martinelli and Nwaneri is more than adequate cover. But that is only if Martinelli stays.

Right wing options

So if we are saying no to Madueke, what are our options?

To anslyse this, I have taken the top 50 right wingers by market value from Transfermarkt.

1-10

We need to be realistic in our pursuit.

Almost all of the top 10 would not come to Arsenal to be cover. The only one that might have done would have been Bryan Mbeumo.

Two years ago I called for us to target the then 23-year-old Frenchman as Saka’s cover. However, a deal would unlikely happen now as he looks to be off to Manchester United to be a regular starter. You could probably cross him off the list.

It is interesting to note that Saka and Nwaneri are two of the top 10 most valuable. And Rodrygo is also on the list.

11-20

There are plenty of players here that would be interested in joining us. But would we be interested in them?

Christian Pulisic would have the same criticism as Madueke (ex-Chelsea), and I am not sure he is the type of winger we should be targeting. Likewise, Arda Guler always looks more suited to a central role, where we expect Nwaneri to play.

Maghnes Akliouche is a new name to me. The Algerian scored 5 goals and made 10 assists in Ligue 1 for Monaco last season. As a bit of an unknown, he would be a risk and it would be a big ask to step up to performing in the Premier League. Madueke gets the nod as he is Premier League proven.

Then you have Mohammed Kudus. The Ghanian looks off to Spurs and I would be concerned about the attitude problems he has shown at West Ham this season.

Amad Diallo had a breakout season for Manchester United last season, but is probably not the standard we need – highlighted by the fact that they are recruiting new wingers rather than giving him a chance.

And finally we have former wonderkid Karim Adeyemi. The German has never really progressed from being a highly rated youngster.

21-25

That leaves us with 21-25.

I have left Anthony Elanga on the list as he would have been an option before his move to Newcastle.

Elanga is interesting as I think he is the same level and very similar profile to Madueke. Would there have been as much criticism of the club if they spent £55m on Elanga against £40-50m on Madueke? I believe the only issue people we have with Madueke is he played for Chelsea..

As for the rest on this list, Mason Greenwood is a no for obvious reasons. As is Brennan Johnson (for different obvious reasons).

Jarrod Bowen is another I have had written down as possible cover for Saka, but he is so settled in West Ham’s first team these days that I do not think he would want to become a squad player.

25-50

Lets be honest, is there anyone on this list that would jump out as a better option than Madueke?

Cases could be made for some of them. But likewise a case could be made that Madueke is better than all of them.

Making the money work

I think one important factor in the Madueke deal is his salary – an offer reported to be in and around £75k a week on the table.

This would mean that, if we paid the full £50m, Madueke would cost us around £70m over 5-years. There are not many on this list who are his level or higher, and would cost that or less.

And this is where the Martinelli option falls down.

Martinelli is on £180k a week. that is a huge sum to be 4th choice winger (if we complete Rodrygo and Eze).

Over 5-years will cost us about £45m in salary. And on top of that, we could get in the region of £70m for him.

So selling Martinelli would generate us £70m+ and save us £45. A total of £115m. And replacing him with Madueke would equate to a net saving of £45m. This is a huge saving to make on a 4th choice winger.

Some might see this as “Arsenal being cheap again”, but when Arsenal are looking to spend £340m+ this summer, we need to make savings somewhere.

Now of course, I have factored in us signing Rodrygo and Eze. If one of these deals does not happen, Martinelli stays and would be our 3rd choice winger. But this does not change the equation that Madueke would still be needed as our 4th choice.

I do not see many better options on the table than Madueke.

Many of those who are better would come with a much higher price tag and salary, which would impact our ability to strengthen elsewhere. Those with a market value less than him would be a huge risk as the majority are not exactly performing to a high standard in lesser leagues.

So the question then is – if not Madueke, who should we recruit as back up to Saka?

Keenos