5 players Arsenal need to avoid this summer

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Like many others, I often muse about who I want to see us sign in a transfer window. We all do it. Regardless of whether you are 13, 30 or 65, we all speak about who we want to sign, or discuss players we have been linked with.

Whether those discussions are on Twitter or Facebook, in WhatsApp groups or down the pub after games. I would call you a liar if you said you never discuss potential transfers. It is part of football.

Turning that on its head, very rarely do I see people list players they do not really want. And this is probably because it is easier to mention the 4 or 5 players you want to see us sign and by assumption, every player you do not mention you are non-fussed about.

But just because you do not mention you want to sign a player does not mean you would not want us to sign him (no one was talking about Jurrien Timber last summer, but once the links arose we all got excited).

Ollie Watkins

Only Erling Haaland has scored more than Ollie Watkins in the Premier League this season (at the time of writing). But I do not really want us to sign him.

Watkins showed against Brazil my concerns about him – he is a player that needs space in behind and thrives off through balls and balls over the top.

The reality is, Arsenal play a possession-based game and look to dominate opponents in the final third. That is very different to Aston Villa who tend to sit back and look for quick breaks.

Whilst Watkins is fantastic in a counter-attacking set-up, I do not think he has the link-up play, ability to play with his back to the goal, nor the ability to find space in a crowded box, to be as influential for someone like Arsenal.

Put Gabriel Jesus in the Villa team (with his pace and running off the shoulder), I think he will score as many as Watkins – if he stays fit. But where Jesus is a level above the Englishman is his elusiveness and close control in a crowded box.

If we are looking at a new striker, we need to be focusing on someone who can be a physical presence in the box. Someone who can play with their back to goal whilst also being a threat facing it. Watkins would not improve us.

Viktor Gyokeres

The links to Viktor Gyokeres have intensified in the last few weeks. It feels more like an agent trying to use us to get his clients name in the press to generate interest, rather than the interest actually being from our side.

Saying that, Arsenal will be keeping a close eye on the Swedish striker, as will scouts from every top club in Europe.

Gyokeres has what Watkins does not. He is that mix of a big lad who can hold the ball up, providing a physical presence within the box, whilst still having enough pace to run in behind. But it is the price that is putting me off.

Sporting have made it clear that they will only sell if his release clause is met – reported to be £103m. That is a huge price for a man playing for Coventry City in the Championship 12 months ago.

Gyokeres turns 26 soon and has only had a decent 18 months in the Championship and 1 good season in Portugal under his belt.

I have no issue paying top dollar for top players (as the Declan Rice deal proves). But this would be a huge chunk of our summer spending on someone who would not be guaranteed a start.

I expect us to spend around £160m this summer, depending on sales.

£27m is already committed to David Raya, and another £10-ish million will need to be spent on an Aaron Ramsdale replacement. That will leave us with around £130m left to make additional improvements.

We need a central midfielder and a striker. That is not up for debate. We also potentially need another winger.

Our first option is to buy a truly top striker that will be guaranteed to start ahead of Gabriel Jesus, and then Jesus is the back up striker and the cover to Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka. I do not feel Gyokeres is that man.

The alternative is to buy someone who can compete with Jesus, and potentially grow into a superstar in the future. To further add to the squad, we then go out and buy another winger so that Jesus can continue to be utilised primarily up top.

Whilst Gyokeres could be this “alternative option to Jesus”, his proposed transfer fee would mean we would not have enough in the pot to buy another winger.

I like Gyokeres, but I do not think he is at the level where we should be sacrificing signing other players elsewhere to secure his signature.

Pedro Neto

It is no secret that Mikel Arteta and Edu like Pedro Neto. He has been linked with Arsenal ever since his breakout season with Wolves in 2019/20.

His underlying stats show that he is a player on the cusp of being very special. But the issue is that has been the narrative around him for 4-years. Injury has meant that he has never really kicked on.

Neto is now 24-years-old and is injured once again. Out for the season. He has started just 76 Premier League games since making his debut 5 years ago. And 30 of those starts came in the 2020/21 season.

Over 100 games missed through injury since joining Wolves. My feeling is it will be a bit like Kieran Tierney, who also had his injury issues before joining us. He will bounce around from behind injured to fit, back to being injured again, and eventually we will need to recruit a replacement.

Someone will take the risk on Pedro Neto. And it could end up being a masterstroke (Marc Overmars in 1997?). I am just not sure Arsenal are in the position where they need to be the club taking a risk on someone so injury prone.

Ivan Toney

Ivan Toney is a fantastic player ready for a big move. Do not believe me? Just put a microphone in front of Toney and ask him!

I have never been concerned as to what Toney can bring to the Arsenal team. He reminds me a little of Ian Wright with his background and story of how he has got to the top.

At 28-years-old, he would be the same age as Wrighty when he joined us.

Like Toney, Wright has had to fight his way up through the leagues, and was been no stranger to controversy during his rise. He was a rough diamond and Arsenal were able to harness those god given talents.

If you compare Toney with Watkins, the Brentford striker has a bit more to his game. He has that ability to hold the ball up, play in tighter spots and bring others into play. And then he speaks…

Arteta has got rid of the egos at the club – Mesut Ozil, Peirre Emerick-Aubameyang, Matteo Guendouzi. I am not sure we should be going for someone who comes across so self-centered. Someone who every interview he does talks about moving away. Someone who has taken every opportunity to slag off the club he plays for. The club who stuck with him during the betting controversy.

Toney the player is very good. Toney the man not so.

Anyone from Brazil

Lastly, I do not want to see us taking a punt on anyone from Brazil, unless they are a teenager that we are prepared to develop for a couple of years ala Gabriel Martinelli.

18 months ago, Danilo was the name on everyone’s lips. Many expected him to join Arsenal and become our long term defensive midfielder. Instead in January 2023 he signed for Nottingham Forest.

His performances for Forest since that time have been underwhelming, and he has started just 8 of their last 17 games.

Danilo is not the only reason I would stay away from Brazilian based footballers right now.

Chelsea have looked to exploit the Brazilian market since Todd Boey and Clearlake came in.

Andrey Santos was their first signing. Like Danilo there was a lot of hype around the midfielder. On his second loan deal since joining 18 months ago, he has started just one Ligue 1 game for Strasbourg. That following failing to make a league start for Nottingham Forest when on loan last season.

Next up you have Angelo Gabriel. Another to arrive to Chelsea on loan. He is also not doing very much at Strasbourg. And finally Deivid Washington. He is playing for Chelsea’s youth team.

The 3 Chelsea players are all teenagers, so it is too early to write them off. But it highlights the gap between England and Brazil.

Danilo, Andrey Santos and Angelo Gabriel were all regular starters before moving to England.

My concern is if we were to sign someone like Andre Trindade (23-years-old). We are better off spending more going for a Douglas Luiz or Martin Zubimendi rather than looking for someone a bit cheaper from Brazil.

Endrick aside, their current crop of youngsters feels very underwhelming.

And who do I want? David Raya, Martin Zubimendi, Nico Williams, Benjamin Sesko. That will be £165m well spent.

Keenos

England captaincy reward for Declan Rice improvement since West Ham departure

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Before Declan Rice joined The Arsenal, he was a top, top midfielder.

It is a testament to both Rice and Mikel Arteta that in their short time working together, Rice has quickly progressed and is now a world class performer and captained his country.

Harry Kane will be 33-years-old at the next World Cup.Whilst he has been a settling, non-controversial influence off the pitch, he has never really been a natural leader on it.

With Gareth Southgate likely to step down at the end of the Euro’s, a new manager will want to quickly imprint his own ideas on the squad – and that sort of change will likely see some of the old guard (Jordan Henderson, Harry Maguire, Kyle Walker) cast aside for younger players who will be seen as the future of English football (Kobbie Mainoo, Jared Braithwaite, etc).

A new generation of England players should see a new England captain announced, and that man will likely be Declan Rice.

Whilst not wearing the armband for Arsenal, he is a natural leader. I would not be surprised to see him announced as our vice-captain next season, and he would certainly be in line to inherit the armband if Martin Odegaard departed. For England, that honour could come sooner.

Against Belgium, Southgate named him captain for his 50th cap.

Now yes, Kane was out, vice-captain Jordan Henderson warming the bench and Kyle Walker (who wore the armband against Brazil) in the medical room. Harry Maguire, who Walker gave the armband to, was also on the bench. But Kane aside, none of the other names will be around come the 2026 World Cup.

Becoming England’s captain is the most logical next step for Declan Rice.

Since leaving West Ham, Rice has become the best defensive midfielder in the world. There is no argument. He can do everything that Rodri does, but to a higher level. Throw in his set pieces and growing goal contribution, he is a much bigger threat at both ends of the pitch.

With 6 Premier League goals this season, he is only one away from Rodri’s best career output (7). And the difference between the two is Rodri is, at 28, is at his peak. Meanwhile, we are seeing Rice continuing to improve and adapt his game playing under the first top coach of his career.

Where Rice has taken his game to a new level since leaving West Ham is he no longer sees his job to merely be “stop, block, intercept, clear, reset”.

At Arsenal, the game is not about getting the ball up the pitch and then wait for the next wave of attack. After he has won the ball, he now gets his head up and decides how we will transition the ball from defence to attack, releasing the pressure by starting our attacking plays.

Once Rice has won the ball, he now looks for a forward passing opportunity to a team mate, rather than just smashes the ball clear into the channels for a Michail Antonio or Jarrod Bowen to run on to. Of course, it helps he is playing with better players at The Arsenal, and playing with better players make you a better player.

Rice does not just look to make a simple pass, however, when trying to launch an attack. He is also Patrick Vieira-esque in the way he can drive forward with the ball at his feet.

When Rice gets going, he is nearly impossible to stop. Like with Vieira and Yaya Toure, he is a mountain of a man who is nearly impossible to fairly dispossess, and has enough pace that when he brushes off an opponent, he can run clear.

I have lost count how often he has broken through the lines this season, running with the ball from the mid-way of our own half deep into the opponents. This not only releases the pressure but also creates attacking opportunities.

And again, this is what sets him apart from Rodri who is much more of a static midfielder.

What is impressive about Rice is that Yaya and Vieira needed someone in behind them (Fernandinho, Petit/Gilberto) who did the bulk of the defensive work. Rice gets through the defensive work of Gilberto and the transitional play of Vieira. He really is two players in one.

When we signed Rice for £105million, West Ham fans flooded social media with their delight that they had secured such a big fee. Claims that we had overpaid for him, that West Ham had turned us over.

“Not worth more than £80m” some of their big Twitter accounts claimed. “He held us back, we will rebuild better” was also another comment I saw a lot.

West Ham without Declan Rice are now back to crying about David Moyes. Arsenal with Declan Rice are top of the table. What is Rice’s value now? £150m? £200m? Who knows. He is going nowhere.

UTA

Keenos

No more distractions, time to focus on The Arsenal

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That is the distractions out the way. Now to focus on the Arsenal.

We have 12 games left this season. Maybe 15. We are the in-form team in Europe. Players are returning to injury. We just need to keep focusing on ourselves and see where we end up.

Yes, we have some fixture congestion. But you can not be in the fight for multiple trophies at the business end of the season without it. If you do not want fixture congestion, then you are better off supporting someone like Spurs who are never in the race for trophies.

I will be delighted if we end up playing all 15 potential games we have left this season. That will mean we have got to the Champions League final at Wembley.

Teams these days have big squads, with 20 international players. It is down to the manager how he rests and rotates to keep players fresh.

Liverpool also potentially have 15 games left, and we are at the stage of the Europa League that Klopp will begin to take it more seriously – it is the only trophy Klopp has not won with Liverpool and he would not want his final season to end with just a League Cup.

Manchester City potentially have 17 games still play, with them still in the FA Cup. So fixture congestion really is not an excuse for any team (although I imagine Klopp will use it as an excuse).

Up first is Manchester City. Probably the hardest fixture to have after the international break. The positive from our point of view is that all of our players got through international duty without injury, even Declan Rice who played 180 minutes (was this Southgate’s revenge for Saka pulling out / Ben White situation?).

Meanwhile, they saw Kyle Walker limp off against Brazil and John Stones pull up injured in the opening minutes of Belgium. It is unclear the status of both but their worst case scenarios is their season could be over.

Walker went off with a hamstring injury. If it is just a twinge, it could be a couple of days (although if his muscles are on the brink, it is only a matter until his hamstring goes properly). If he has pulled it, that is 6-8 weeks out. Season pretty much over.

The way John Stones knee collapsed could mean it is a serious injury. The worst are always those that happen when an opponent is nowhere near. I would not be surprised if is a ligament injury and his season is over. It should not harm City as they have about a dozen centre backs that they paid £50m+ for…

I have enjoyed the conspiracy theories that both players hobbled off within 10 minutes as some sort of ploy to get out of international duty. Like England do not have their own physios and doctors who would have been able to assess straight away if they were “faking”.

Back to Arsenal. Arteta has had around a dozen or so senior players to work with this last week (they did get a few days off based on Ben White playing Uno on the beach!).

Of the 11 who have been away, 10 were in teams who played yesterday so today. With most of those playing at home, they probably got a flight back to England straight after their games and will report to training this morning following the same rehabilitation schedule as a Tuesday night Champions League game.

It will be massages, stretches and analysis work ahead of Man City today, so nothing to strenuous. And then Arteta will have 3 full days of proper training to prepare ahead of Sunday.

Of those 10 who were still on international duty yesterday, 7 started for their countries, and 3 did not play any minutes. That takes us to 19 players who either stayed at home during the international break or have not played this week.

As above, international duty will not be an excuse for whatever happens Sunday. Just 6 of Arteta’s first team were in action yesterday so everyone should be well rested!

Sunday is huge. It reminds me of Liverpool last season.

I said in 2022/23 that I will not start to believe that we could win the title unless we win at Anfield. We drew 2-2 and then fell away. It is the same this season.

It is so tight at the top. 90 points is what is needed to win it. That means 8 wins and a draw from the last 10 games.

With trips to Manchester United and Tottenham, and home games against Chelsea and Aston Villa still to come, we do not want to drop points too early in this run in. Beat Man City and I will start to believe we can do it. Lose and I fear we might fall away and finish 3rd.

Back the boys!

Keenos