Premier League hot-shot “dreams to play for Arsenal one day”

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“That is the dream, to play for Arsenal one day. It’s a long shot”.

That was Ollie Watkins, interviewed in a red carpet back in March 2020 whilst playing Championship football for Brentford.

If it is still a dream of his to pull on the red and white of The Arsenal, then the door is surely open to a move this summer.

But would the in-form Englishman want to go from starting week in, week out for Europe chasing Aston Villa to be second choice at his boyhood club?

Watkins was one of those players who I felt was out of reach for Arsenal in our search for quality cover for Gabriel Jesus.

He falls into the category of player that is too good to sit on someones bench, but probably not good enough to start for a top team.

With 12 goals since football returned aft the World Cup, no player has scored more in the Premier League (at the time of writing – before Manchester City play Leicester). His brace against Newcastle has taken him to 14 league goals for the season, and 39 in 103 Premier League games.

He certainly has the eye for goal, movement and work rate to interest Arsenal. But 3 years after that interview, would he see sitting on our bench as a step back? And would Edu and the team be willing to splash the cash and meet Villa’s valuation for a 2nd choice striker?

Aston Villa spent £33 million on him back in 2020. You would imagine they would be demanding double that for their top striker.

That might come down a bit with Watkins only have 2-years left on his contract. But you would be surprised if Villa would let him go for less than £50million. And that is a huge price-tag for a 2nd choice player.

Watkins form has taken him to the brink of the England squad. The discussion is him or Ivan Toney as Harry Kane’s back-up. His ambition to be part of the 2024 European Championships England squad would probably reduce if he sat on our bench for the year.

When you look across England, Manchester United are crying out for a new striker. The likes of Watkins and Toney will probably be on their target list behind Kane.

Likewise, if Kane leaves Tottenham for Manchester United, Toney and Watkins are the sort of names they would turn to. Chelsea are also crying out for a new striker, although they have Christopher Nkunku coming in.

Watkins and Toney potentially have a choice of going to Manchester United, Tottenham or Chelsea as first choice striker next summer. All 3 of those would pay the huge fee Brentford / Villa will command. That makes it hard for Arsenal to be an attractive proposition, only being able to offer the chance of being second choice.

Attracking someone to cover Jesus will not be an easy task.

This summer we will probably lose Folarin Balogun. The English youngster is one of the hottest young strikers in Europe right now.

Balgoun has the ambitions to play regular first team football, and is an outside bet for Southgate’s Euro 2024 squad. He is certainly up there in the conversation with Toney and Watkins.

As it stands, Balogun is not good enough to play ahead of Jesus, but also too good (and ambitious) to sit on the bench. Watkins, Toney, and others fall into the same category.

Watkins turns 28 towards the end of this year. Would he sacrifice his last chance to go to a international tournament with England, and play regular first team football for the next 3-4 years, to sit on our bench?

Toney and Watkins are inspirations to every footballer currently in those lower leagues. Both men have gone from League Two to Premier League.

The pair have worked hard to progress through the leagues, and that is a reason why I would be surprised if either of them would give up regular first team football to sit on a title challengers bench.

But then in Watkins case the pull of playing for your boyhood club, even if it is not regularly, might be huge.

This summer could be the last chance for Watkins to make the final step. To go from Conference South in 2014 for Weston-Super-Mare to Champions League would be a remarkable story. And a chance to play for Arsenal, in the Champions League, might not be there in 16 months.

Come August 2024, Watkins will be 4 months shy of his 29th Birthday. Arsenal, and other top clubs, will probably see him as being too old to invest in.

If Watkins were to push for Arsenal this summer, I think it is a deal that would get down. The ball is in his courts.

Keenos

It is a disgrace that Arsenal are not playing today

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Morning from sunny Norway!

Arsenal should have been playing Chelsea today in the evening kick off.

My plan was to arrive back in the UK at around 2pm, landing into Heathrow. Get straight on the Piccadilly Line to Holloway Road and be in The George by about 3:30pm. Pint in hand.

Leave my bag behind the bar, head to the game, then return to a few more beers after and pick up my bag. Instead, I am flying back and heading home.

The rumours that the game was being moved due to the Youth Cup Final never made sense.

As we revealed, the rules of the FA Youth Cup were that the game had to be scheduled BEFORE 29 April (today), and not on 29 April.

FA Youth Cup games are traditionally played mid-week, and as it transpired the game against West Ham was announced for Tuesday 25 April.

Preperation for the King’s Coronation also made little sense.

Moving a game closer to the Coronation of King Charles III surely disrupts the preperation more than having the game a week before. Likewise, if football was so disruptive then why are Crystal Palace hosting West Ham, Brentford hosting Nottingham Forset

In the lower leagues, Charlton are at home to Port Vale, Wimbledon against Tranmere, Leyton Orient host Stockport County and Barnet facing Dagenham and Redbridge.

Then tomorrow we have Fulham at home to Manchester City.

If the Arsenal game has been moved due to policing issues, then why are all of these games still going ahead?

You then have this rule that has appeared that London’s Metropolitan Police do not want “high risk” games to kick off in London after 4:45pm at weekends.

Earlier this season, around 600 Manchester United tickets were cancelled for their game against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

This was on police advice, with the Met saying the 5:30 p.m. start time heightened the risk rating of the game:

“The agreement in place between the Met and London clubs is that fixtures assessed as high risk should start before 16:45 at weekends to help keep people safe.”

If this is true, why were Sky allowed to pick Arsenal v Chelsea for their 5:30pm TV game at the end of March? Why then did the same get moved to Tuesday, rather than moved back to 3pm – or even 4:45pm? Why was the game not moved to a lunchtime kick off? Or why was it not moved to tomorrow? why did the police change their mind after OK’ing the game? And why did this take them 12 days?

It just shows once again that no one really cares about fans that go to games. Despite all the hyperboil after the European Super League announcement.

The only reason the game was moved to Tuesday rather than back to 3pm was for Sky scheduling. So that they could still show the game. It shows that they value their scheduling over and above match going fans. Gary Neville has been silent on the matter.

If the 4:45pm “rule” is real, then TV companies should know about it. And Sky should not be allowed to host London home games at this time. If they do pick this time and the police demand it is moved, the game should go back to 3pm.

Nothing has changed since the European Super League. The TV companies have shown time and again that they do not care about match going fans. And all they cared about was that they could be on the outside looking in when it came to ESL broadcasting rights.

I am about to jump on the plane. See you tomorrow!

Keenos

This is the start of something special for The Arsenal

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Champions League football secured for the first time in 6 seasons.

On course for 80+ points for just the 6th time in our history.

Likely to score over 80 goals for the first time since 2010.

Already with more wins since 2008, and could end up winning as many games as the invincibles.

First season in 6 where our defeats will be in single figures.

And finished above Spurs for the first time in 6 seasons.

We have made so much progress this season and do not let anyone tell you otherwise.

When we won the FA Cup in Mikel Arteta’s first season, those anti-fans said they wanted to see us in a title race and not winning the greatest domestic trophy in the world.

This season we have been in a title race, and those same fellas complain that we are going to finish the season trophyless.

Those people like to say they have “high standards” but the truth is they do not want Arsenal to win the league. They do not want to see a successful Gunners.

They celebrate when we fail to win, and moan when we are winning. We are not the only club with this weird group of football incels.

As Rodney Marsh said, Manchester City would have beaten any team in the world the way they played on Wednesday.

And it is interesting that we seem to be getting more criticism than City are getting praise. That is because Arsenal failing to win creates more hits, clocks and ad revenue than City winning.

Whether you like how they have built a team, built Manchester, or not, you have to admit they have a superb team.

City will make it 5 league titles in the last 6 seasons. They will get over 90 points for the 4th time during that period.

They have a fella up top that is ripping up the Premier League goal scoring records. At the back they have the choice of four £50m central defenders.

Mid-week they had a £45m CM on the bench, a recent Premier League POTY on the bench, and one of England’s best players on the bench.

Their squad shows exactly what £850m can get you (compared to £470m for us).

Man City’s wage bill is twice ours. So of course they are going to have better players on the pitch and in reserve.

Their strength in depth has meant come the business end of the season their players are still fresh. Their rotations allows them to do that. Likewise as they picked up injuries, they could replace one £50m CB with another.

We had to rely on £2m Rob Holding.

I said Wednesday night, swap Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola over and the result does not change.

Arteta with City wins the league. Guardiola with Arsenal finishes second.

We now need to make sure this season is the start of something and not the peak.

The age of our side, players will naturally improve. But we also need to make moves in the transfer market.

Declan Rice is one of those players who would close squad depth gap between us and City.

His acquisition would add quality to our first team, which in turn would provide a greater strength in depth. Moises Caicedo would do similar.

We also need to bring in a new right sided central defender.

Holding has been a brilliant servant to the club, but now is the time we need to upgrade. Close that quality gap between him and William Saliba.

And then we need reinforcements in attack.

Either an out and out striker which will lead Gabriel Jesus to become a wide attacking option, or a wide right midfielder that will also provide cover for Jesus up top. I really like Ansu Fati.

City will of course strengthen again this summer. I think it will be Jude Bellingham.

My final thoughts is to not let finishing 2nd get you down. We have done exceptional this season. And now we just have to build on it.

Keenos