Manchester United spend £72million on “clone of former Arsenal player”

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20 years old
Striker
Danish
6′ 3″
9 league goals

Am I describing Manchester United’s new big money money signing? Or Lord Bendtner? The reality is, the above can be used to describe both.

Nicklas Bendtner, at 20-years-old, scored 9 Premier League goals in 31 games. At the same age, Højlund scored 9 goals in 32 games for Atalanta. Bendtner played 1,757 minutes for his 9 goals. Højlund 1,834.

Whilst Man U fans might celebrate the signing, believing him to be a Danish Erling Haaland, Højlund is actually a clone of the former Arsenal player.

In Football Manager terms, Højlund is basically a re-gen of a 2008/09 Bendtner. The fact that both men are also from the same country and are the same build makes the comparison even spookier.

I have long said that those that cry “Arsenal need another striker” are misguided. And the fact Man U have spent so much on the next Nicklas Bendtner proves me right.

Those options that are better than Gabriel Jesus (only really Victor Osimhen) are out of our price range this summer.

The level below Jesus, but above Eddie Nketiah and Flo Balogun (Dušan Vlahović, Ollie Watkins, Tammy Abraham) would probably not move from where they are to sit on our bench. And I would back that if Eddie played for Aston Villa or Roma, he would score just as many as Watkins or Abraham.

Ivan Toney is one that would have been of interest to us. But he is “banned from all footballing activities” and my understanding is this includes a transfer. If we did get him, we would have to wait until his ban is over in January.

Finally you have the likes of Gonçalo Ramos, Elye Wahi, Jonathan David and Højlund.

These are all untested at the top level, all playing in a lesser league or just had 1 season of top football. I question whether they are better options than Nketiah and Balogun.

Balogun, Wahi and David all scored a similar amount of goals last season in the same French league, whilst Ramos scored around the same aat a similar level in Portugal.

Højlund scored 10 goals in all competitions in Italy, Nketiah scored 9.

Finally, for those saying we should sign Aleksandar Mitrović. No. Just no.

I do think Chelsea have got a player in Nicolas Jackson. But having signed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and David Dstro Fofana, it is a case of “third time lucky” for Todd Boehly.

Jackson’s acquisition is certainly not the result of great scouting. It is simply a case of them buying as many talented, young players as possible in the hope that a few of them might turn into stars. Throw 12 eggs at a wall and one will not break…

And even then, I would rather we “give Balogun a go” than recruit Jackson. They are probably similar level. Although I do understand that Balgoun wants to be first choice. He would not want to sit on the bench behind Jesus.

So Man U’s 5-year search for a new striker might now be over.

Since Romelu Lukaku to Inter Milan in the summer of 2019, there have been 9 transfer windows where they could have bought a new striker. They have got through Edinson Cavani, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wout Weghorst in that time. They have now signed the next Nicklas Bendtner.

So apologies if I ignore calls from Arsenal to buy a new striker. Man U (and to a lesser extent Chelsea), have shown over recent years how hard it is to find a good one.

And you can also perhaps understand why Daniel Levy is so keen to keep Harry Kane. He knows there really is no one on the market at Kane’s level. Spurs will probably end up with Mitrović!

Keenos

Pre-season serves up a mixed bag of results and performances

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Morning all!

Day off from the grind for me today. Think I will go visit Mountfitchet Castle.

So pre-season is over(ish) depending on how you rate the Community Shield.

I will always say that competition is just another glorified friendly. Teams will often start with a strong XI but make plenty of subs as the game goes on. No difference to if we were playing Man City in our final friendly before the season starts.

It has been a mixed bag this pre-season for us.

We started off with a 1-1 draw against Nurnberg. We looked very good at times but a sloppy mistake let them equalise.

They were further advanced in their pre-season and susbtitutions interrupted our momentum, as it so often does.

We then faced the MLS All-Stars and won comfortably 5-0.

The result was not a surprise as the gulf between the Premier League and the MLS is huge. Add in that many of the players had not played together before and were being managed by Wayne Rooney. Some excellent goals though.

Up next was the defeat against a very motivated Manchester United team. It felt like Erik Ten Hag told his players to go out and prove a point, and Man U played very aggressively.

They treated it like a proper Premier League game, playing their aggressive, long ball style. We saw it as just a run out to build fitness and work on tactical transitions.

The headline read 2-0 to Man U, but I feel Mikel Arteta would have learned more about our team than Ten Hag did about his.

We put things right in the next game against Barcelona.

We upped our intensity and won 5-3. Ironically Barcelona manager Xavi came out after and said Arsenal treated it too seriously. And this is why you can often ignore pre-season results.

Against Man U, we get criticised for not being sharp enough, not aggressive enough. Then against Barcelona it is that we were too sharp, too aggressive.

The real difference is we were simply ahead of Barca in our preperations.

We were their 1st friendly game of the season, they were out 4th. Perhaps if they don’t want to be overwhelmed, they should plan their pre-season better and not face a top team as their first game?

But then it’s all about money. Facing Arsenal, Real Madrid, AC Milan and Tottenham makes them more cash than facing Nurnberg, MLS All-Stars, Real Madrid and then Arsenal.

Pre-season was rounded off with the game against Monaco.

For the first 30, we sat back and invited pressure. We did not look up for it. Then for the next 30 we dominated. The last half hour was a write off due to the amount of substitutions.

We won the Emirates Cup on penalties. Interesting fact: Spurs have never won the semi Emirates Cup…

Arsenal shin pads

A few injury concerns have come out of pre-season.

Gabriel Jesus is out for 2-3 weeks at least. Hopefully that is all it is. He misses Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace and Fulham. We should win those without him.

Any longer than 2-3 weeks and we might have to look into going into the market for a new striker. But the headache is still there about who we could get?

Every name mentioned to me is either too expensive, or not really much better than Eddie or Flo.

Declan Rice is also a minor injury concern. He has twice suffered a “tight calf”.

This would indicate that his conditioning is probably not where it should be. Playing a static role for West Ham is not the same as the intensity Arteta wants from Arsenal players.

His fitness will need to be bought up to the appropriate level slowly to avoid suffering a more significant injury.

Pre-season saw certainly Arsenal-incels decide to pick on Kai Havertz and Declan Rice.

They scream “spend money” and moan that Kroenke does not financially support the team. Then we buy to top, top class players for big money and they complain “we have been turned over”.

We should not concern ourselves with how much a player costs. The only thing his price impacts is whether it then restricts us signing someone else.

Say we had have signed Rice for £65m (which is what I have seen some Arsenal “fans” say is all we should have offered), what striker are we really getting for £40m?

And then West Ham we’re never going to accept £65m so we’d have to move onto other targets.

Moises Caicedo is clearly going for more than that, so you would probably end up with someone like Romeo Lavia. And Rice would go to City for £95m.

These same fans would then moan that we had missed out on another top signing due to being cheap and not paying the asking price.

They moan if we spend £100m on a player, and then they moan if we don’t spend £100m on the exact same player…

Anyway, I’m nice and chilled in my garden having a cup of coffee. Sun is out. Finally.

A couple more days then we are off to Wembley!

Keenos

Veteran free transfer the alternative to David Raya for Arsenal

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Most of this week we have been discussing David Raya and a potential £40million move for the Spanish keeper.

Throughout, I have struggled to see how we can accomodate both Raya and Aaron Ramsdale. I am of the belief that they are of a similar level. I also do not agree with the concept of “two top keepers job sharing. One in the leage, the other in the cups”. I think it spells a recipe for disaster.

The issue is, if Matt Turner leaves Arsenal, we will need to sign someone to replace him.

Runar Alex Runarsson is not even Championsip level, whilst both Karl Hein and Arthur Okonkwo are too raw to be 2nd choice. So what other options are there?

This blog started with me trying to find 5 names that could be 2nd choice to Ramsdale. In the end there was only one candidate I felt I could put forward. Keylor Navas

My first thought when I read the Turner news was “why would he go to Forest to be second choice behind Navas”. I had not realised that the Costa Rican had only signed a 6 month deal back in January.

When looking for a second choice keeper, you either need to go for a young up-and-commer who is on the verge of stepping up to 1st choice, or an experienced old timer who is happy to sit on the bench for the last year or two of his career.

With Ramsdale being just 25-years-old, it is unlikely there will be too many young keepers that would be able to take his glvoes in the coming year or two. As they improve, so will Ramsdale (hopefully). That leaves us at the other end of the market.

Navas is now 36-years-old, but he showed for Forest that he still has those cat-like reflexes that saw him play for Real Madrid and PSG during his career. He was one of their best players as Forest survived in the Premier League.

Any cover for Ramsdale needs to replicate what Aaron can do on the ball. We can not afford to change our style of playe just because a goalkeeper is injured. Navas is very good on the ball.

He always seems to know when he can play it short, and when he should just get rid. Navaz is also not one to take risks or try and overdo it with the ball at his feet.

Whilst 36 might seem old, plenty of goalkeepers have gone well beyond this into their career. You would expect Arsenal could get at least 2 good eyars out of him. And those 2-years could be essential for the development for Hein.

The big worry will be Saudi Arabia, and to a lesser extent the MLS.

You can certainly see the Saudi’s offering him huge money for a couple of years with them. Having an ex-Madrid and PSG keeper playing week in week out would be seen as a coup.

Meanwhile the MLS would be like taking one step back home – Costa Rica is less than a 3 hour flight from Miami for example.

With the next World Cup 3-years away, and in America, you can certainly see Navas thinking that a few years in the MLS will be the best chance for him to play in a (nearly) home World Cup.

We obviously will not compete with Saudi Arabia over wages, whilst the MLS could be a more attractive option.

If not Navas, and not Raya, I am not sure who else is out there…

Keenos