This season it finished 1-1. Last year it was 5-3.
How much you read into pre-season depends what narrative you are looking to spin.
You got those that become over excited. Think the league is won in pre-season. This is often the route Spurs fans take.
Then the other side of the spectrum is those that act like a pre-season defeat is a disaster. They will already be calling for the managers head. Attention seekers on YouTube usually do that.
Most of us are sensible enough to understand that games like yesterday are semi-competitive matches designed to shake off the cobwebs.
This was Nurnberg’s 4th pre-season game of the season. It was our first proper one (the Watford game was basically a training match).
It was certainly a game of two halves.
With a strong XI out in the first half, we looked slick and went into half time 1-0 up.
A host of changes, a sloppy own goal, and Nurnberg’s better fitness due to being ahead in their pre-season resulted in a much more equal second half.
We finished the game with 3 teenage academy graduates on the field.
Reuell Walters the eldest of the 3 at 18. Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly both just 16.
Of those senior players
Of the senior players to come on during the second half, you would be surprised if 4 of them were still at the club next season.
Cedric and Austin Trusty will be almost certainly be out of the door. They could be joined by Kieran Tierney and Folarin Balogun.
Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus, Jorginho and Karl Hein are the only ones that finished them he game that will probably be part of Mikel Arteta’s first team plans next season.
Arsenal were without Matt Turner, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Rob Holding, Mohamed Elneny Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard. Throw in Jurrien Timber and Declan Rice and you will see big changes for the American tour.
The post match analysis on Arsenal player was correct.
2nd half was very disjointed due to the changes, passing not quite sharp enough. And we missed two glorious chances to score.
The players will be on the way back from Germany over the next 24 hours, and will be joined by a few new faces. Then it is off to America.
Over a week has now passed since Arsenal “reached total agreement with West Ham to sign Declan Rice”, and it has still not yet been announced that he has signed.
🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Arsenal have reached total agreement with West Ham to sign Declan Rice. #WHUFC have now accepted #AFC payment structure on record £100m + £5m fee. 24yo England midfielder given permission to do medical & finalise personal terms @TheAthleticFChttps://t.co/WxG2JEaxrt
Yesterday it was leaked that West Ham did not have a clue what was going on. That the medical was completed and contracts agree, but the paperwork was sitting with Arsenal’s lawyers.
It is interesting that after so much noise in the media, once a deal became close silence filled the space.
As we discussed previously, it was important to ignore the noise, or at the least understand where it was coming from.
All the leaks prior to the deal were coming from the West Ham side. And likewise, the story that “the paperwork is with Arsenal’s lawyers” has also come from their side.
There is plenty of speculation as to the reasoning Rice has not yet been announced. Here we will try and unpack those theories
Arsenal playing silly buggers
Play silly buggers in British Englishslang. to fool around and waste time.
During the negotiations, there was plenty of discussion about West Ham trying to manipulate the market in an attempt to up the price.
Stories kept flowing from their side that Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea and Bayern Munich were “on the verge of bidding”. In the end, only City bid, and that was swiftly rejected.
There was also talk that West Ham had increased a previously gentleman’s agreement on the fee following their minor European success.
The story goes Arsenal’s first bid was in and around the original asking price. West Ham then hiked their demands up and tried to embarrass Arsenal by releasing details of their offer, much below their new asking price.
With West Ham in agreement on the fee, and Rice committed to Arsenal, it is highly unlikely that the deal will collapse. Rice can not go back to West Ham and no one else will come in for him. This means the ball is now in Arsenal’s court.
Rumours are we are dragging our feet with the paperwork, knowing all of the above. That this is being done to punish West Ham who are unable to make any incoming transfers themselves until we have made that first payment.
It is a statement: “you played silly buggers during negotiations, we are getting our revenge now”.
Arsenal don’t have the money
A theory from West Ham twitter this time.
They are trying to say Arsenal are broke, can not afford the fee, and the delays are due to us trying to secure funding.
If this is true, and let’s be honest it isn’t, it would show huge incompetence on Arsenal that they have negotiated for both Declan Rice and Jurrien Timber without having the cash.
But we do have the cash.
The club have just received around £100m for season ticket holders. The first instalment of this seasons TV money has been paid. As has this years kit sponsorship,l and manufacturing. July is usually when clubs have the most money in the bank.
The reported upfront payment for Rice is £40m, the Timber deal is around £30m. We could pay that tomorrow if we wanted.
Arsenal media team are incompetent
Not really sure on this one.
Some fans have blamed out media team for the slowness of the deal being announced.
They have pointed to other clubs, such as Liverpool, who this summer have got an announcement video out 24 hours after a “fee was agreed”.
It baffles me that some people think it is our media team that are holding up the deal. They can only release the content they have created once the deal is done.
The media team are at the end of the transfer train. They will be instructed when it is OK to release the video.
It shows the world we live in where everyone is desperate to watch a video on twitter. Bring back the days of Big Sol just rocking up to a press conference with everyone expecting us to announce Richard Wright.
I’d love a return to those days. Transfers being announced by press conference.
Arsenal are trying to save money on wages
Some clubs do leave their transfer dealings to the end of the window so save money on wages.
You buy a player on 31 August rather than 1 July, you can save yourself a million pound in. But Arsenal are (no longer?) one of those clubs.
One of the significant aspects of the Edu / Mikel Arteta era is our ability to get deals done early.
We did it last season with Gabriel Jesus, Fabio Vieira and Matt Turner all signing before 4 July.
Olexsandr Zinchenko was our latest signing of last summers transfer window – signed on 22 July.
Arteta has apparently been very clear on matters. He wants his players in before the season starts so that he gets most of the pre-season with them.
The deal was always going to happen Friday
If you have followed the deal closely, and blocked out the noise, you will realise that an announcement towards the end of the week was always most likely.
There were a few windows available for the club to announce the deal.
The first was between the end of the internationals and Declan Rice going on holiday, but the deal was nowhere near complete by then.
The second window was always between Rice returning from holiday and Arsenal going away to Germany. Arsenal probably would have liked Rice (and Timber) to be out in Germany with the rest of the lads.
Rice only undertook the first part of his medical last Friday. It was completed Sunday or Monday (depending on who you believe). At that point, it was wheels up and the squad was in Germany.
As soon as the plane left, it should have been obvious to all that a deal would not be confirmed until the squad returns. That is Friday.
The 3rd window was between the German boot camp and the players going off to America. End of this week / early next.
On Monday, our view that Rice would not sign until the squad are back from Germany was also shared by a few on the West Ham side. The reliable ExWHUEmployee stated that Rice is “expected to sign those forms on Friday”.
Rice is not “still on holiday” in Portugal.
Arsenal’s international players have already returned to training. As has West Ham’s.
Due to not yet being an Arsenal player, and no longer welcome at West Ham, he has begun us first week of pre-season in the Algarve.
Rice has posted pictures of himself training alongside Portugal stars Raphael Leao, Bruno Fernandes and Joao Cancelo. I would not be surprised if there is an Arsenal coach out there, putting Rice through his paces.
Just like I suspect there is another Arsenal coach out in Holland working with Timber.
This would indicate that the plan was always to complete the Rice deal at the end of this week, once the squad are back from Germany.
And the fact that we have also not yet announced Timber indicates that he is in the same position.
Final thoughts
There really is nothing to worry about.
All signs point to this Friday. That is from those who know there stuff on both the Arsenal side and West Ham. Nothing has changed from Monday when Rice’s medical was completed.
Like before, ignore those on Twitter who make a lot of noise to just try and gain followers. Those weird accounts who just post every 5 minutes quoting sources no matter how invalid they are.
Arsenal can afford Rice, they are not playing silly buggers, it was always happening this Friday.
Expect Rice to be on a plane back to England today, and he will be joined by the rest of the Arsenal squad at London Colney tomorrow after the Nuremberg game.
Then it will be announced.
Ps: I have a feeling we might see Timber announced today at half time during the Nuremberg match.
A few days ago we spoke about the issues we face in losing potential targets if Thomas Partey does not leave swiftly.
The fear for the club will be those earmarked, such as Romeo Lavia, might agree deals with our rivals before we are in a position to secure their signature.
So if our primary options are gone, what would our options be?
Move down the list
The question for the recruitment team is just how far down the Partey replacement list are they willing to go.
Do they splash out on someone who might be 7th or 8th on our target list? Or do they keep the powder dry?
If you go too far down the list, you end up with buying a player for buying sake. You end up with someone like Lucas Perez.
You spend £20-30m on someone no one really wants, not Edu, not Mikel Arteta, and as a result they do not see any game time. Their signing then restricts you signing a preferable target in 12-months time and you are stuck with them.
The result is endless loan deals and ending up selling them for a huge loss after a couple of seasons.
Thomas Partey stays
If there is not an obvious Partey replacement still on the market, than we must block the Ghanaian from leaving.
When fit, Partey is one of the best defensive midfielders in the world. The issue is he can only perform at that high level for around 30 games a season.
Declan Rice will be Arteta’s first choice 6. His signing will allow Partey’s game time to be managed, playing in those bigger games where we want to go more defensive.
You can almost foresee a situation where Partey plays in the majoirty of our away games, whilst Havertz plays at home.
I certainly would not be upset to see Partey stay for one more year.
But then what if the offer from Saudi Arabia is north of £40m? A huge sum for a 30-year-old who can only play in half the available games a season. Arsenal would be silly to turn that down (and the chance to get Partey’s £200k a week salary off the wage bill).
It sort of makes little sense that one of our best played players would be a squad player next time, only expected to start 20-30 of the 60 games we will play.
And if we do not cash in this summer, we risk there not being a bid next.
It would cost Arsenal over £60m to keep Partey for 2-years (£40m in lost transfer fee, £20m+ in wages) and then let him go for a free.
That £60m would cover signing a replacement for £40m, and paying them £100k a year over 4 years. So if an offer comes in, we probably should take it.
The loan market
If we get to a stage where an offer for Partey is too good to turn down, but it is too late to sign a decent replacement, we may be best off looking towards the loan market.
Would Real Madrid be open to loaning out Aurelien Tchouameni if they deem him surplus for requirements over the next 12 months?
Tchouameni joined Madrid last summer for €80million on a 6 year deal.
His amortised fee costs Madrid around £12m a year. Could a deal for Tchouameni be done for around that price?
Madrid get his portion of transfer fee paid for the period, and salary. Arsenal get a very good player for a year but do not have to commit any longer. It could be an option.
And are there other options like Tchouameni that Arsenal could bring in on loan?
Of course, you also risk signing a Denis Suarez or Arthur Melo. Spending a hunk of change on someone who is either not good enough or not fit enough.
Sell Partey, sign no-one
The final option is we sign no-one.
If Partey departs, that leaves us with Rice, Jorginho and Mohamed Elneny as our 3 defensive midfield options. It would be a risk, but could we get away with it?
Once Partey departs, we might be best off keeping our powder dry if none of our top options are available.
Rice can certainly play the 6 role for 50+ games a season. And then if we want to go more defensive, Jorginho then replaces Havertz.
Elneny then provides a 3rd choice back-up in an emergancy.
Not ideal, but this option would stop us wasting money on someone we do not want.
It is not an easy puzzle to solve for Edu and the team.
Ideally, Partey’s future will be resolved sooner rather than later and we can move onto signing his replacemnt before they are snapped up elsewhere.
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 