Do Arsenal risk squad disharmony with 8 potential “new signings”

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“8 new signings” would be crazy turnover for a single summer. Nearly 1 third of the squad. But having been sensible in January, this is the situation Arsenal could be in this summer.

If all goes well, Arsenal could add Gabriel, Thomas Partey, Dani Ceballos & Amadou Diawara to the confirmed summer signings of Willian, Pablo Mari and Cedric Soares.

Add in William Saliba and that will be 7 new signings this summer, and an 8th player signed last season but was left parked at his old club for a season.

Usually this amount of turnover would take 6 months for players to settle and gel. But Arsenal’s forward planning means it is a doable transfer window.

Cedric Soares

Joining in January on loan, Arsenal quickly snapped Portuguese right back on a free transfer once his contract at Southampton had expired.

He has already been at the club for nearly 7 months, training with team mates. With 5 appearances in the bag for Arsenal and 120 Premier League appearances under his belt for Southampton, he will not take any settling down what so ever.

Pablo Mari

Like Cedric Soares, Pablo Mari joined Arsenal on loan in January before a deal was completed in June.

Due to injury, he has played just 3 games for Arsenal in the 7 months he has been at the club.

But that 7 months takes out the usual half year a player takes to settle.

When he returns to full training, he will not require any integrating into the squad.

Willian

339 games for Chelsea, 234 in the Premier League. The only thing Willian will need is how much further London Colney is round the M25 from Cobham. About 45 miles.

He might not have played for Arsenal previously, but there will not be too many players who have played more Premier League games than him next season.

Dani Ceballos

Hopefully we get a deal over the line for Dani Ceballos – whether it is a permanent deal or another loan deal.

Having now played 36 games for Arsenal, the axis of Ceballos and Granit Xhaka was a key reason Arsenal won the FA Cup.

He might be a “new signing” this summer, but he will not be a new face at the training ground.

William Saliba

Opposite to Dani Ceballos is William Saliba.

He signed permanently last summer, but then spent the season on loan at St Etienne

Saliba will take some time to settle, which is why it is important that club kept David Luiz.

Gabriel

Not yet done but Arsenal are hopefully of getting the deal over the line.

Gabriel will be in the same boat as William Saliba. A new face in the training ground.

David Luiz will be key helping Gabriel and Saliba settle.

Thomas Partey

Atletico Madrid midfielder would be a big coup for Arsenal. He will be another new face.

Amadou Diaware

Likewise Diawara will be a new face.

So Arsenal could make 7 new signings this summer, with William Saliba being an 8th new player. Yet of the 8, only 5 would have not yet played for Arsenal and be a new face in the training ground, and of those 5, 4 come with no Premier League experience.

I would usually worry about so many new signings. But with half of them now being new faces, Arsenal would have improved the squad without too much disruption.

We just then need to lose half dozen players (Sokratis, Rob Holding, Ainsley Maitland Niles, Matteo Guendouzi, Lucas Torerria, Alex Lacazette) to make space for them.

Onwards and upwards.

Keenos

Boring Boring Arsenal!

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Morning all.

I write this blog at 14:54 on Monday. Just had a huge hail storm and I have spent the last 2 hours sweeping puddles of water off my new patio.

In the world of Arsenal, it feels like we are all sitting and waiting for something to happen. Waiting and sitting for something to happen. It is fairly boring.

Whether that is Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s contract, the signing of Gabriel from Lille or Thomas Partey from Atletico Madrid.

It is odd. The media are not even linking us with too many players at the moment. Which would indicate:

  • Deals are pretty much done
  • We are not actually after anyone
  • Journalists sources at the club have been made redundant

I know little about Gabriel, and I would find it odd for us to sign a 3rd central defender in a single summer (Pablo Mari and William Saliba are basically new signings). But the deal does have some logic behind it, and would also highlight why Mikel Arteta was so desperate for David Luiz to sign a new deal.

Luiz spent 2 years in France for PSG and is, of course, Brazilian. He has shown during the “drink break” that he is leader. He would make an ideal father figure for both Gabriel and Saliba, helping the pair settle into England.

But signing Gabriel would leave us with 8 central defenders (Luiz, Mari, Gabriel, Saliba, Shkodran Mustafi, Sokratis, Rob Holding & Calum Chambers). No team needs 8 centre backs.

In 12 months time, Luiz, Sokratis and Mustafi’s contract all expires. It might be a case of Gabriel coming available a year early then we really needed him. But rather than miss out on him we have decided to move.

It will then quicken up the urgency of getting rid of some central defenders.

I do not think there is much mileage in Luiz to Rennes. It would not make sense if he is going to be the role model for Saliba and Gabriel.

Likewise Pablo Mari is going no where.

So next season we will have Luiz, Saliba, Gabriel and Mari as our 4 “senior” central defenders. That only leaves space for one more.

Mustafi and Chambers are out until Christmas. So maybe we just need to ignore they are Arsenal players for now.

In Mustafi’s case, it will then mean we keep rehabilitate him, and then he leaves once his contract has expired in 12 months.

Maybe we might do a similar deal to how we signed Cedric Soares? That he goes on loan in January getting him off our wage bill, with a contract already in place for him at that club.

As for Chambers, the decision will be made next summer whether we keep or sell.

That still leaves Sokratis and Holding. We will be desperate to sell either.

Holding could end up at someone like Brighton, to replace Lewis Dunk if he joins Chelsea. Alternatively he might have to take a drop down and replace Nathan Ake at Bournemouth.

As for Sokratis, Arsenal might have to accept a nominal fee just to get his wages out of the club. It might even be a case of Arsenal accepting no fee.

That would leave Arsenal with Luiz, Saliba, Mari and Gabriel, with Mustafi and Chambers returning from injury.

12 months down the line, it is likely only Saliba, Mari and Gabriel would still be at the club – with an outside chance that we might keep Chambers as a home grown, 4th choice option. The 5th centre back position would then be taken by either Kostadinos Mavropanos or Zech Medley, who are both on loan, or Dan Ballard.

As for Partey, Ceballos and Aubameyang, it could end up a busy week for The Arsenal.

Keenos

Vinai to leave football operations to the experts

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It was disappointing to see the announcement of Vinai Venkatesham being promoted to the most senior Arsenal employee he met with some casual racism.

What was equally as disappointing was that much of the abuse came from South Asian Arsenal “fans”.

Vinai is one of the few people from with a BAME background in a high profile Premier League job, and yet instead of him being celebrated, people racially abuse him.

He is in his role because of his ability, not because of his ethnicity. It is a role he deserves and highlights once more that Arsenal are a diverse club.

The racism is not needed. It is never needed.

The interview with Vinai was an interesting one.

In it he describes Mike Arteta and Edu as the “two experts” and “they have a very, very clear plan about how they want to rebalance our squad in the short term, in the medium term and in the long term.”

He also mentions Per Mertesacker overseeing the academy.

It is clear that Vinai understands his own expertise and is not going to pretend to be something he is not. He will not interfere in the footballing side of Arsenal – he will leave that to the experts.

The other interesting aspect is the age of all.

Vinai is just 39 (which is surprising!), Edu 42, Arteta 38 and Per 35.

We have a young, hunger, energetic management team looking to move the side forward.

Finally, it is that time of year when people diatribe fake opening day fixture lists. And it the media are reporting on these “leaks”.

Incredible really that media outlets should be fact checking stories before writing them.

It is no surprise those papers and radio stations reporting the news. It just shows that they are more interested in reporting news that gets hits, not news that is true.

Keenos