I can not believe that some Arsenal fans are still obsessed by Emiliano Martinez.

I have never known an Arsenal player to have played so little, but has so many fan boys.

Arsenal on seemingly on the verge of signing Aaron Ramsdale from Sheffield United for £24million.

This has led loads of idiots to say “only Arsenal could sell one of the best keepers in the league for £14million to sign a bloke that got relegated for £30million”.

Let’s Ignore the way they are undervaluing the Martinez deal and over valuing the Ramsdale one for a second…

Are these people deluded? Let us remind ourselves of the Martinez situation:

• Martinez had been at Arsenal for 10 years
• In that time he had 6 loan deals
• He had played 15 Premier League games in 10 years for Arsenal
• He was 2^nd choice to Bernd Leno
• Leno had 300 top flight games to his name
• Martinez had 1 year left on his contract and refused to sign a new one unless he was guaranteed first team football
• Arsenal can not guarantee anyone first team football
• So he left

Martinez turns 29-years-old in a few months. We sold him a few days shy of his 28^th birthday.

So we got £18million for a 28-year-old goal keeper who had just a handful of appearances to his name and was demanding first team football. So in demand was he that he joined Aston Villa who finished the season 17^th.

Arsenal did not want to let Martinez go. We offered him a new deal.

Instead of stay and fight for his place at a top club, Martinez decided to leave and join a club who would be battling towards the bottom of the table.

Part of me thinks “fair play he wanted to play first team football”. The other part of me thinks “he found his level with Aston Villa”.

The reason his fee was low was due to having a year left on his contract and there being no one other than Aston Villa interested in him.

One year on and I do not exactly see many teams knocking down Villa’s door to sign Martinez. He has found his level. A lower to mid-table Premier League team.

So on to Ramsdale…

Ramsdale’s situation is very different to Martinez.

He has just turned 23-years-old; so we can still talk about the potential he has as a keeper (in comparison to Martinez who was 28 when we sold him).

Despite his age, he already has 2 top flight seasons under his belt – with 75 Premier League games for Bournemouth and Sheffield United.

That is more than 20 Premier League games than Martinez who is 6 years his senior!

So whilst Arsenal sold a keeper who was at his peak, unlikely to improve, they would be signing a young keeper who will only get better.

Ramsdale also has 3 years left on his contract – so like with Ben White his club can afford to keep hold of him if their terms are not met.

Arsenal did not have this option with Martinez. The choices were:

• Sell to Villa for £18million
• Keep and lose for free in 12 months

We can debate whether a deal up towards £24million is too much for Ramsdale – it probably is about right.

But ultimately Edu and his team know the accounts, the maths.

If they think signing Ramsdale for £30million does not impact our financial ability to sign players elsewhere, then it really does not matter.

Ramsdale is a good keeper and in a years time could be ready to step up to be 1^st choice.

Our Arsenal blue lightning collection

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— Kick Off Merchants (@KOMerchants) August 10, 2021

My feeling is no matter what transfer business Arsenal did this summer, the same fans will moan.

Being an “Anti-Fan” and always taking a position against what you club is doing has become something people have used to gain followers and clout on Twitter.

These fans do not actually have their own opinion. They just disagree with everything.

Ramsdale joins Arsenal, I will be backing him from the terraces. Meanwhile the moaners and complainers are probably filming themselves watching the game alone on a dodgy stream.

Selling a 28 year old goalkeeper with 15 Premier League appearances for £18million and replacing him with a 23 year old goalkeeper with 75 Premier League appearances for £24million is great business

Have a good afternoon.

Keenos

Over the years I have written blogs on the status (not state) of our squad.

Basically answering the questions of how many non-home grown players we have, how many home grown, how many U21.

It is usually a good exercise to see exactly why Arsenal need to sell before buying, and to see what status of player we can sign.

As always, the rules.

People often make the mistake of thinking you need a minimum of 8 home grown players in the squad. You do not. There is no minimum.

The rule revolve around the maximum of non-home grown players. You can have no more than 17.

For all intents and purposes, a side could register just 17 players for a season. All non-home grown. And not register a single home grown player.

You also have U21 players. They do not need to be registered in the main squad list.

For this season a you are U21 if you are born before 1^st January 2000.

As it stands (I am writing this on Tuesday morning), our squad looks like this:

The break down is as follows:

• Non-home grown – 16 players
• Home grown – 8 players
• U21 – 6 players

So to put simply, Arsenal have one space left in the squad of 25 that had to be registered with the Premier League. That space can be filled with anyone – home grown or non-home grown.

Some people are concerned that selling Joe Willock, Ainsley Maitland Niles, Eddie Nketiah, Rob Holding and Reiss Nelson would vastly reduce our home grown contingent.

Yes, it would do that but it really is not that important.

Over the 3 categories Arsenal currently have 30 players. With no European football we have less games. We really do not need that many players.

All 5 of those players could be sold and not replaced and Arsenal would still have 2 players for each position.

The only issue selling all 5 would mean is we would still onely have 1 non-home grown player spot. So if we sold them and wanted to add another couple of players, one would have to be home grown and the other either home grown or non-home grown.

As our main targets seem to be James Maddison and Aaron Ramsdale, this does not seem to be a huge issue.

Edu and his team will also be looking to move on a few more non-home grown players.

The likes of Runar Alex Runarsson, Saed Koalsinac, Lucas Torreira and Willian will all surely be sold or loaned out before the end of the summer.

Getting rid of these 4 would give Arsenal a lot of flexibility as to what they can bring in.

Looking towards the future, everyone on the U21 list br Nuno Taveras will become “home grown” over the next 2 seasons so we also do not have much to worry about there.

So as it stands, Arsenal are in a tough position on squad size rather than the make up of the squad. We can only add one senior player to it without selling or loaning.

Selling players is key prior to further investment.

Keenos

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Bar runners, phone covers, beach towels, car sun shades, cushions, mugs, flip flops, dog collars and coasters from just £4#Arsenal #AFC #ArsenalFChttps://t.co/j9tDa2Vqyo pic.twitter.com/Ayn1F0BwCz

— Kick Off Merchants (@KOMerchants) August 10, 2021

If a book were to be written about the 2020/21 season, the first question the author would ask themselves is “where do I start?”.

With Covid19 forcing games to continue behind closed doors, then stadiums reopening and shutting in the blink of an eye. The European Super League and Arsenal finishing the campaign without European football for this first time this millennium. So much happened both on and off the pitch.

Rather than a post-season review, Darren Berry’s Over Land and Sea (and Lockdown) Arsenal 20/21 – The Corona Diaries is a diary of the season. Documenting what happened, as it happened.

In a follow up to his popular Clickbait: Life as a Modern Football Fan, Darren’s diary of the 2020/21 season takes us a journey in a manner unique to himself.

Darren addresses every event as it happens on and off the pitch, starting with September and games beginning behind closed doors.

We quickly reach December and the return of the fans and before he has even done his Christmas shopping, games are once again behind closed doors.

The book also introduces the “Rise of the Anti-Fan”.

2020/21 became the season when some football fans took a position to continually criticise the clubs they apparently loved to appear “edgy”, “cool” and mainly in the name of retweets, followers and notoriety.

The type of people who moan the club are not spending any money. Then money when the club spends money. As Darren puts it “Arsenal could win the treble and they would say the side was overrated”.

As the year moves into 2021, with Arsenal in a “relegation battle” (we never were, it was the media hyping a story for clickbait: see Darren’s previous book) Darren sums up the feeling of probably every football fan when he says “I really can’t be bothered”.

Alongside what is happening on the pitch, Darren shares his own experiences of living (and often drinking) his way through various different tiers of lockdown as part of his Corona Diaries. Stories that everyone that lived the experience can recognise.

Lockdown fatigue has set in and Arsenal are doing little to raise an excitement.

Just as we thought things could not get any worse, in April the European Super League reared its ugly head.

Some good came out of the Super League which gave us an excuse to meet old mates in pubs around the ground before the protest.

As the season comes to a close, Darren begins to discuss his hopes for the next season with the return of fans full time and the ending of lockdown.

No matter how poor the previous season was, it is always the hope that gets you, draws you back in just as you thinking it was time to give it all up.

2020/21 was a journey of epic proportions; and there is no better way to experience what happened than through the eyes and pen of Darren Berry’s Over Land and Sea (and Lockdown) Arsenal 20/21 – The Corona Diaries.

To purchase Over Land and Sea (and Lockdown) Arsenal 20/21 – The Corona Diaries, click here.

Keenos