Back injury could end Saliba’s season

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Morning all. Although I have also just seen it is the afternoon.

Later than normal blog from me this morning. Sorry about that. Few house chores have gotten in the way.

Had new carpets laid in the office yesterday so this morning has been spent moving the furniture back in, putting the pictures back up on the wall and giving it a good hoover. Also smashed a goat curry in the slow cooker.

West Ham tomorrow, so once again we will know the result of the Manchester City game before we kick off. I can not see them dropping points at home to Leicester City.

Leicester show how quickly things can change for those “also rans” team. It was not too long ago they were Premier League champions, and more recently they won the FA Cup.

About 18 months ago, pundits were saying they now had to be considered a member of the top 6, with many writing Arsenal out of it. They will probably get relegated this season.

In Arsenal news, Eddie Nketiah is back fit, William Saliba is not.

The Saliba back injury is a concern. It feels like every week the update is the same – he is back in light training but not yet fully fit. It feels like one of these injuries that could drag on, and I would not be surprised if he ends up out for the rest of the season.

Anyone who has ever injured their back knows it can be potentially life changing, and many never recover.

Thierry Henry suffered from choronic back injuries throughout his career. He was able to play through them for much of the time but the issues certainly contributed to his drop off in his final season at Barcelona and decision to go play in the MLS at just 32.

Saliba is just 22-years-old, and the concern will be that this back injury could end up plaguing his career. He will always have to be managed carefully, not putting in 100% in training and so on.

So we continue with Rob Holding in defence at West Ham, and I am not worried.

Holding gets a lot of greif from some sections of fans. I have a theory that some non-English based fans attack him as a way of attacking match going fans.

Those that go week in week out love a working class English lad doing well. Someone like Holding is easy to relate too. It is no different to an African fan idolising African players.

But that leads to criticism of “you only rate him because he is English” and also fans dismissing him because he is white, working class. You see the same with Mason Mount at Chelsea – much of the criticism of Mount comes from foreign shores.

And it is beyond race. These same people were always putting down Bukayo Saka, demanding that Nicolas Pepe start ahead of him. They just take an instant dislike to “terrace heroes”. They would probably hate on Rocky, Tony, Wrighty and more.

And there is something special about seeing a boy living out his dream in front of your eyes. Especially if they are a local lad.

Anyway, I digress.

Tomorrow we have to beat West Ham. We have some tricky games coming up away to Manchester City and Newcastle. We can not afford to drop points at the London Olympic stadium.

For once we will have the “no Europe advantage”. Usually it would have been us playing on a Thursday and suffering playing on a Sunday whilst out opponents had a clear week. The Hammers played in Belgium Thursday. It was a tough game for them.

Win the game, get 3 points, then on to the next week.

Have a good rest of the day. Goat curry will be ready for around 6pm. Eating it will be the highlight of my day.

Keenos

Does anyone still not trust the process?

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Two years ago today, Arsenal were not in the top 10. Neither were Newcastle United.

Leicester City were 3rd, West Ham 4th, Everton 8th and Leeds United 9th. All 4 are now fighting relegation.

No one could have predicted that two years after our 8th place finish, we would be battling it out for the title.

Even we we were struggling last season, most sane fans could see that we were making progress, even if we were perhaps not quite getting the results.

We ended up disappointed with 5th last season, but for much of the year we had shown top 4 form. Let down by 4 periods of losing runs and players injured just at the wrong time.

Whilst there was perhaps not enough for us to dream of being title challengers, there was enough for many of us to say that we trust the process.

And 24 months after we were not in the top 10, the loyalty of the majority has been rewarded.

Regardless of whether we win the league or not this season, it should now be clear and obvious to everyone that we are on the right track. That the process is the correct one. And that our strategy is working.

I remember Gary Neville questioning our transfer policy in September 2021.

“I’m not sure what Arsenal’s transfer strategy is. It seems a bit over the place. Maybe there is one, but it’s not clear,” Neville said. “Sometimes you can see a left-field signing and think you can see where it comes from, but there’s quite a few of them at Arsenal.”

Neville could not work out the strategy of signing Martin Odegaard, Aaron Ramsdale, Ben White, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Albert Sambi Lokonga and Nuno Taveras.

At the time, I scoffed at this opinion. It was clear that Arsenal were buying talented players under the age of 25.

And I guess Neville being unable to see the very obvious strategy is why he failed as a manager.

Mikel Arteta has transformed Arsenal during the last few years.

I do not think it can be understood how far we had fallen in those last years of Arsene Wenger. The club was failing, from senior team through to the academy. Leadership battles between Ivan Gazidis, Raul Sanlehi and Sven Mislintat were pulling the club apart post-Wenger.

In came Arteta, and alongside Edu, Per Mertesacker and others, the club was ripped up and started again. Transforming the club from top to bottom in the same way Wenger did in 1996.

The work behind the scenes that we do not see is now being seen on the pitch.

Top of the league, youth team into the FA Youth Cup final, the women’s team being a success again. The culture of the entire club has changed.

But still some moan.

I have seen some say “if Arsenal do not win the league, than Arteta is a failure. He would have failed to win any of the 4 tournaments we entered. He should be sacked”.

What. A. Take.

These same people said, in 2021, “I do not care he won the FA Cup. That means nothing. We should be challenging for the title”. Oh how the tune has changed.

So in 2021, they did not care about the FA Cup. It was all about challenging for the title. We were not challenging so they called for Arteta to be sacked. 2 years on we are challenging, and they are demanding he be sacked because we did not win the FA Cup.

It is almost like they change their narrative to fit an agenda.

If we win the league, they will probably say “won 1 trophy out of the last 12. That isn not good enough for Arsenal. We need to hold Arteta to a higher standard”.

The moving goal posts and false high standards must be tiring for them. You wonder what is going on in their real lives, away from social media. Do they hold themselves to this high standards? Do they see themselves as failures if they are not self-made billionaires?

These fellas should probably put the same effort into their own lives as they do slandattacking Arteta daily. That way the might begin climbing the ladder of life. Move out of their bedsits or mum’s houses. And make a success of themselves.

Most probably have a lifetime of failed jobs behind them. Probably ended up as door to door salesmen at 40 years old or something!

Luckily for us, these fans are in the minority. And they seem to keep themselves to their own little wierd eco-chamber of Twitter and YouTube. They are never seen at games.

What is clear to the majority is the progress we have made over the last two-years. And even if we do not win it this year, we will be back next.

UTA

Keenos

Balogun departure “would be a good move for all parties”

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Fair play to Folarin Balogun.

The easy option would have been return to Arsenal and following his form and contract situation (2-years left), agree a new 5-year deal on £100k a week deal.

It would have taken him through to being 27 with £26million in his pocket (although the taxman would take half), regardless of how much he plays.

But after his breakout season with Reims, he has the desire to play regular first team football. And that is something Arsenal can not provide.

Balogun is not getting in the Arsenal team ahead of Gabriel Jesus.

Yes, he has 18 goals this season and is one of the hottest young strikers in Europe. But Jesus is the better – and more suitable – player.

Balogun is an old school centre forward. He does not pop up on the flanks, run the channels or press high. All things Jesus does.

Our forward line is all about fluidity. Jesus goes out wide, Martinelli drops inside. Jesus drops deep, Odegaard becomes a false 9. It makes our attacking shape unpredictable and hard to pick up.

Balogun would stay more centrally, similar to Erling Haaland at Manchester City. And to accomodate that sort of striker you lose some of the all round team threat.

Haaland is a freak with his 45 goals this season (at the last time I counted), so Manchester City do not really suffer. But Balogun is no where near his level.

So that would leave Balogun, at best, as 2nd choice striker next season. It is a position he does not want to play.

Eddie Nketiah has played 990 Premier League minutes this season. He only played that many due to Jesus picking up a knee injury at the World Cup. Had Jesus not been injured, his game time would probably have been below 500 minutes.

Balogun is up to 2298 in France. 990 to 2298 is a huge difference. So you can king of see why Balgoun does not have the desire to return to Arsenal and be second choice.

He knows that he could move to someone like RB Leipzig and be their first choice striker.

Christopher Nkunku is leaving the German outfit for Chelsea in the summer. He is Leipzig’s top scorer with 12 goals this season. Balgoun would be a good option to replace him.

And that move would be very good for Folarin’s career, and international aspirations.

He goes to German, plays week in week out and bangs in the goals, then he will be knocking on that England door. Although with Ivan Toney, Ollie Watkins and Calum Wilson, Gareth Southgate does have some deserving strikers ahead of him.

Give it two-years, smash in 40+ goals in that period and he will be ready for another step up. A top English club will probably come in for him.

That opportunity will not arise at Arsenal. As we have seen above, he would be playing second fiddle behind Jesus. He has the ambition to be more than a 2nd choice striker and knows he needs the move to get it.

And during this blog, we have assumed Balgoun would be 2nd choice at Arsenal. I am not so sure on that.

18 goals in France does look impressive, until you realise that Alexandre Lacazette also has 18. Is the French league that poor that someone like Lacazette – who looked done and dusted in the Premier League – is now vying out for top scorer?

The headline might be “scored more than Messi and Neymar”, but “scored one more than Wissam Ben Yedder” is not quite as impactful.

In January, we added Leandro Trossard to the squad. A player who has the versatility and ability to play across the front 3.

When Nketiah joined Jesus on the injury table, Trossard played through the middle. He showed that his movement was something we missed with no Jesus.

One could make the argument now that if Jesus picked up another injury, then it would be Trossard who comes in for him, not Nketiah.

That gives us Jesus, Trossard and Nketiah as striker options. Maybe throw in Martinelli as well. Balgoun will probably be relying on a couple of injuries to play. At best he would become a super sub – thrown on as a finisher up top as we lump the ball into the box.

Balogun is also not versatile. I think what Edu and his recruitment team will be looking for this summer is a wide right forward, who can then drop inside if needed. Another Trossard player.

This is not me saying Balogun is a poor player. He is clearly an excellent finisher. It is just that he does not quite suit Arsenal, and he has the ambition to not be a bench player.

A move to someone like Leipzig for £40m+ would be a good move for all parties. A bit like Joe Willock joining Newcastle for £25m.

Arsenal would be getting a big chunk of money that they can reinvest (sell Balgoun for £40m, buy a right wing forward for £40m. Squad instantly better).
Leipzig would geting a hot prospect to fill the boots of their top scorer, and someone they will probably be able to make a profit on in 2 years.
Balogun will get the regular first team football that he desires.

I guess the only remaining discussion is whether Arsenal should take a lower transfer fee and have a buy-back option. Would a £30m deal with Arsenal retaining an option to buy back for £50m in 2 years be preferable to getting £40m?

That way, if Balogun explodes, we could buy him back and have a ready-made Jesus replacement (Although Gabriel will still only be 28!).

What do you think?

Keenos