Arsenal did not “lose the race” to sign Buendia

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Here we go again.

  1. Media link Arsenal to player
  2. Fans either get over excited or slam club for “targeting” player
  3. Player signs for another club
  4. Fans criticise club for “losing the race” to sign said player

If Arsenal wanted to sign Emi Buendia from Norwich City. We would have done.

We have not “lost out to Aston Villa”. We made the decision not to sign him.

Reports of a “bid” in the media last week were well off the mark. This is just speculation made up by the media, or by those on Twitter that crave the attention.

The fact is, no one actually knows who Arsenal have or have not bid for. Transfer business is a closely guarded secret by clubs.

The majority of speculation usually comes from agents. And they basically lie about bids or interest in their client in the hope bids elsewhere materialise.

And this is probably what happened with Buendia.

His people used the name of Arsenal to generate the interest, and by the end of the week a deal had been struck for him to join Aston Villa for a £35million deal.

Now we can debate whether Arsenal should have been in for Buendia.

He is a fantastic talent. A really nice technical player. The sort of player that we need.

But there is also something to say that he has ended up at Aston Villa and not one of the 10 clubs who finished above them.

There is a huge step up from Championship to Premier League. Buendia’s stats from last year in comparison to the season before show that. So you can kind of see why clubs were perhaps sceptical about spending big on him.

Ultimately, we will only really know if Arsenal were right not signing him when we see who we actually sign – and how they perform in comparison.

Say we go and sign Jack Grealish from Aston Villa, or add Houssem Aouar. Both similar players to Buendia but better.

You also have Martin Odergaard who spent the 2nd half of last season on loan

There are reports that Edu and Arteta prefer Odergaard.

“We have a very clear and strong opinion on what we would like to do,” said Arteta when asked about keeping Odegaard.

“He’s not our player. We will have discussions in the next few weeks. And respect first of all because he’s a Real Madrid player, and we will have those communications.

I always advise during the off-season that you are best off ignoring the attention seekers.

The media use transfer speculation to drive traffic to their sites. The same as those blogs who constantly write about transfers (obscuring the players name from the title). It is click bait.

And then following it up with an article that “Arsenal lose race to sign” a player gets them even more hits.

Those saying “Arsenal are a dead a club. Can’t even beat Aston Villa to the signing of a player” really need to take a look at themselves.

Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United, Leicester City, Tottenham, West Ham, Everton and Leeds also have not signed Buendia. Were they all beaten to his signing? Or do they all have targets elsewhere?

Arsenal were not beaten to the signing of Buendia. Arsenal decided not to sign Buendia.

Keenos

Sterling YES, Mahrez NO

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Yesterday, Arsenal were linked with both Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling.

Despite running away with the Premier League, Pep Guardiola apparently wants to refresh his frontline, with his side scoring their least amount of goals in 5 years and 19 league goals less than last season.

Sergio Aguero is already set to leave, with Harry Kane likely to come in to replace him. But it seems Pepe is also looking at who is behind the front man. In recent days Man City have been linked with a huge deal for Jack Grealish.

With Phil Foden and Bernard Silva, it would mean that one of Mahrez or Sterling would likely have to leave to create the squad space for a new attacked.

So for now, the Arsenal links to both can go in the box of “this is just Man City using Arsenal to let the world know that both men are available”. But we should also have a conversation over whether we should sign either player.

Raham Sterling has had a tough season for Manchester City.

It perhaps shows the heights of his previous seasons that 10 goals and 7 assists is considered a failure, with some going as far as claiming he should not be in the England squad for the Euro’s.

When you look at England’s other wide options, only Marcus Rashford (11 goals, 7 assists) had out performed him.

10 league goals would have made Sterling Arsenal’s 2nd top scorer, and 7 assists our most creative player.

It always has to be remembered with Sterling as well that he is not a dead ball taker. So all of his goals and assists come from open play.

Nicholas Pepe (10 goals, 1 assist) and Bukayo Saka (5 goals, 3 assists) are both a country mile behind Sterling.

Although you do then have to throw in the caveat that Arsenal have been awful this season whilst Sterling plays in a much better team.

What is certain is Arsenal need more creativity, extra options out wide.

As it stands, we only have two proper wide men – Saka and Pepe. The rest are round pegs in square holes.

If anyone thinks playing Sterling on the left would not automatically improve us, they need to give their head a wobble.

Sterling left, Saka or Pepe right. Instant improvement.

Whilst Stelring’s form has dipped, it might be a case of he just needs a new challenge.

You feel with his character, he is at his best when he feels he has something to prove. That then gives his game a little more spike. More agression.

Being “dumped” by Manchester City could re-motivate him. And at 26-years-old he has plenty of years left in the tank.

If Sterling is on the market, Arsenal should make him their primary target.

It perharps show how big perception is in football that whilst Sterling has been criticised, Riyad Mahrez has been labelled as one of Manchester City’s best players this season. This despite him getting less league goals and assists than the Englishman.

I have seen some go as far as comparing Mahrez to Neymar this season. This is surely just an attention seeking exercise, hoping to wind up the Neymar fanboys; rather than a real opinion?

Mahrez is a quality player and was close to joining Arsenal in 2016 from Leicester City.

Leicester blocked the deal and two seasons later he joined Manchester City.

Mahrez has never really been a regular starter for Man City – this seasons 23 league starts the most in his career for them.

Despite his obvious qualities, Arsenal should not pursue Mahrez.

On the right hand side, we already have Pepe and Saka as “inverted” options.

Whilst Mahrez is the level above the pair, he is also 4 years older than Pepe and 11 years older than Saka.

Taking into account Arsenal’s financial restraints this summer, it would not make sense to sign Mahrez for big money when the right hand side is covered.

I am sure if Pepe was playing in the Manchester City side, his statistics would be not too dissimilar to Mahrez; whilst Saka is clearly a star for the present and will only get better.

Mahrez also turns 31 in January, so we would be signing him knowing we might only get another 2 or 3 good seasons out of him. and any future transfer fee would be miniscule.

Instead of signing Mahrez, lets continue with Pepe and Saka.

One finished the season in great form, the other is only going to get better.

So in summary, it is an easy equation.

If it is a choice between sterling and Mahrez, the Englishman is streets ahead.

Sterling has outperformed Mahrez during their time together for City, is 4 years younger and solves our left hand side attacking issue.

Having Sterling, Pepe and Saka gives us more options than Mahrez, Pepe and Saka.

I am sure many will disagree. Enjoy your Bank Holiday weekend. Put the phones down. Go outside. Get some sunshine.

Keenos

Do not believe the table

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So there is a league table going around of “results without VAR”.

Some Arsenal fans have got angry about it as “Arsenal would be 4th without VAR”. But you should all ignore the table. It is pointless.

VAR was created to get “more decisions right”, so the most basic argument is that the “results without VAR” is also what the table would look like “if referee errors were not over turned”.

It is also not clear on what constituents a VAR decision.

For example take offside.

Linesmen are now encouraged to keep their flag down.

Say a goal is scored and the lino has kept the flag down, it goes to VAR who disallow it, that league table when they add that to the “goal chalked off by VAR” column.

Yet without VAR, the linesman probably would have raised his flag.

So VAR has not changed the decision, just changed the way the decision has been made.

And let’s say a player was a meter offside and scores. VAR then rules it out. Surely it is better to get the right decision right regardless of how they come to it?

Then we have the Harry Kane incident last weekend.

The goal was not “given by VAR” but was given by the referee. VAR then asked the referee to have a look at it.

So where does that fit in on the table? Without VAR, the goal stands. With VAR, the goal still stood.

That David Luiz decision against Wolves was a similar situation – it was not a decision made by VAR but a decision made by the referee.

Without VAR, Spurs still score that goal and Luiz is still sent off.

And a football match is 90 minutes. How much did the VAR decision impact the game?

Arsenal v Leicester earlier in the season. Arsenal score a goal through Lacazette (I think?), disallowed by VAR for offside. If memory serves me correct, it was the 4th minute.

So how does this become interpreted on the table?

Do Arsenal get “given” the 3 points as it was 0-0 at the time? Is it 1 point each as the late Leicester goal would have been the equaliser? With 86-ish minutes to play, we can not say that that VAR decision is why Arsenal lost rather than won.

VAR has its issues. But a “league table without VAR decisions” is even more flawed than VAR itself.

Ignore it. Do not allow yourself to get wound up by it. Move on.

Keenos