Calm down dear, is has only been 3 days

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Over the weekend the moaning begun.

“Why have we not signed anyone yet?”
“Slow out of the box again”
“Our rivals are already improving”

My advice is calm yourselves down. And if you are obsessing about transfers a couple of days into the transfer window, you will only end up ruining your summer.

Me? I spent the weekend sitting in my garden, watching cricket, drinking cider and going a strange shade of pink.

But really guys. Relax a little. There is a big wide world out their beyond transfers. You will only damage your own mental health if you decided to spend your weekend crying on social media instead of enjoying the sunshine.

The season has just finished. Most players are away on international duty. And it was the weekend!

The only deals announced so far are those that were easy to make – where minimum release clauses were activated prior to the window opening, loans turning permanent or free transfers getting announced.

And lets break down the transfer business of our rivals right now:

Manchester City*
Earling Haaland – Minimum release clause activated

Liverpool
Fábio Carvalho – Free transfer

Chelsea
No business done

Tottenham
Fraser Forster – Free transfer
Ivan Perisic – Free transfer

Manchester United
No business done

*Julián Álvarez was signed in January and loaned back to River Plate

Of the 10 transfers made so far by Premier League clubs, 4 are free transfers, 3 are loans turned permanent and 1 was a minimum release clause activated.

That leaves just 3 transfers that required negotiations with a selling club – Brenden Aaronson to Leeds and Diego Carlos to Villa.

So lets stop pretending that other clubs were doing lots of business whilst we stood still.

Had we signed Ivan Perisic and Fraser Forster on free transfers we would be up in arms over why Edu was signing ageing reserve players on big money. Not celebrating that we got business done early.

The only real stand-out transfer so far is that of Earling Haaland – but that has been in the pipeline since Earling was swimming around in Alfie’s ball sack.

“Oh but Liverpool are about to sign Darwin Nunez, Tottenham Richarlison and Manchester United Frankie de Jong”.

Yes, they might be close to signing them, but they have not yet. At the moment it is just media reports.

It is no different to the press saying we are close to signing Gabriel Jesus, Youri Tielemans, Serge Gnabry, Aaron Hickey, Yves Bissouma, Gianluca Scamacca, Raphinha and Marquinhos.

Why do we not dismiss other sides transfer speculation like we do our own? They will all be linked with ~100 players this summer like us. They will not sign them all.

If any of these deals do happen, it will probably be after the international friendlies are over. It is at this point clubs can do the medicals, complete the paperwork, apply for visa’s and secure their signatures.

Arsenal showed a clinicalness in the transfer market last summer – Aaron Ramsdale, Ben White, Martin Odergaard and Takehiro Tomiyasu were our 4 main targets and we secured all 4. We then added some talented youngsters.

I fully expect similar this summer.

3 or 4 senior pro’s who can come in and improve our first team from Day One (probably Jesus, one of Bissouma / Tielemans and a winger – Gnabry / Raphinha / Sterling) and then a couple of players for squad depth (Hickey, Matt Turner).

I will not worry until what we perceive as our main targets sign for someone else (if Jesus joins Chelsea for example).

I also will not worry if Liverpool sign Nunez for €100m after 1 good season (Calvert-Lewin, Isak) or Tottenham £50m+ on Richarlison.

I certainly will not worry that after just 3 days of the transfer window being open that we have not signed anyone.

We will do our own business, in our own time. And get it right.

In summary, go and enjoy the sunshine. Have a break for football. Drink a few beers. watch some cricket. And the transfer business will happen.

Up The Arsenal.

Keenos

Why are Arsenal fans worried about having squad depth?

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Morning and happy Sunday.

I am writing this today from my garden. The sun is out, the birds are singing and I have fences to paint. Let’s get the blog out the way before the chores! And then settle down to watch the cricket.

The latest name to be linked with a move to Arsenal is Raphinha.

Over the summer, we will be linked with around 100 players, so I usually do not get too invested when names pop up. You will only be frustrated when we don’t sign 96 of them.

Raphinha is a top, top player and has the technical ability and work rate to fit in with what Mikel Arteta is doing.

Some have expressed their concern over “what about Saka”. Arsenal seem to be the only team in the world that are not allowed competition for places.

Let’s remember Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City success is built on rotation, which enables him to keep his side fresh.

The majority of Pep’s forward line play around 1900-2300 Premier League minutes in a season. Last season Saka played just shy of 3000.

It is the same at centre back.

People are worried about we can accommodate Gabriel, White and Saliba instead of celebrating the squad depth we now have there.

My only slight concern about the Raphinha links is if we do sign someone for £50m+ to ply on the right, it will create a nagging feeling that Saka is off.

But I can ignore that feeling.

Raphinha, Jesus, Tielemans. These are players that will improve us from day one. That will not need bedding it.

The England friendly last night was wank.

I have expressed my feelings on the Nations League before. It is just a complete and utter waste of time.

Players could have been on the beach 3 weeks ago. Instead they are still training. Still playing. And for what? The international version of the Audi Cup?

Anyway, it’s nearly 9 and these fences won’t punt themselves.

Have a good Sunday. Remember the sun cream.

Keenos

Southgate should send Saka to the beach

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Bukayo Saka’s work load over the last 12 months has been huge

Even without Arsenal being in Europe (and getting knocked out early of the FA Cup), he has played over 4,000 minutes for club and country.

With Covid19 extending the 2019/20 season, a condensed 2020/21 season and England going all the way to the Euro’s final, it has been a non-stop 2-years for the youngster.

In the last 10 games of the season for Arsenal, he went off the boil completely. He looked exhausted and was not playing to the high standard he has set himself.

And Saka is not the only one.

England’s to limp performances in the post-season glorified friendlies are due to fatigue.

Many of those involved, like Saka, have played non-stop football over the last two years.

The Premier League is the fastest, toughest league in the world. There are no “weekends off”.

38 tough games, 2 cups, European football and international duty. No other league across Europe has this work load. So it is no surprise that Premier League – and English players in particular- are looking well off the pace.

You have to wonder why these games are being played. And why Gareth Southgate has made the decision to add to his players work load with a winter World Cup.

Surely it would have made more sense for him to give his big players the summer off. An extra 3 weeks rest.

That would be to the benefit of the national side come November when players head of to Qatar for the Sportswashing World Cup.

Instead, Southgate is flogging the same old players – from Saka to Sterling, Kane and more. What can Southgate really learn about these guys?

He will only be moaning in November when players join up with the national team and are already shattered.

And the concern with Saka is that at 20-years-old, he is being overplayed.

He played too much for Arsenal last season as Mikel Arteta lost faith in Nicolas Pepe and kept faith with his strongest XI as we chased Champions League football.

Arteta and Edu will look to rectify that this summer by buying some cover and competition for Saka, reducing his work load.

But Southgate also needs to take responsibility. There is no reason for him to be playing this summer.

We have seen with other young break through players – Michael Owen, Fernando Torres, Theo Walcott, Wayne Rooney – that over plying them at a young age ended then being on the decline in their mid-late 20s rather than at their peak.

Look at Manchester United with Marcus Rashford.

At just 24 he has already played 350 games for club and country. Is it any surprise he has completely gone off the boil? Lost his sharpness?

If the average Premier League player usually ends up with around 5-600 senior appearances by the time they retire, he is potentially 2/3’s of his way through his career at just 24. And it shows.

Saka has played 100 games for club and country over the last 2 years. That is too much for a young man whose body is still growing.

Arsenal should do more to protect him. To rest and rotate him.

But he should also be on the beach right now. Watching Love Island. Drinking a virgin daiquiri. Not plying glorified friendlies.

Over playing Saka will rob him of a full career, rob Arsenal, and rob England.

Keenos