Tag Archives: Alexandre Lacazette

How bad was the transfer window for Arsenal?

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So I decided to let the dust settle for a bit before writing a bit of a summary on the transfer window, in the hope that the anger within subsides and I can perhaps look at it another way. See if there is any silver lining. Try and write it less biased. And it did work a little bit.

2 players signed, 5 senior players sold, 16 players left the club in total. £46.5m spent. At least £63m bought in. A profit of £16.5m.

Pretty ropey figures when you consider we apparently had £100m to spend, and just 2 incoming players to a squad that finished 5th, 18 points behind the leaders. With 5 senior players gone and just two in, the squad is seemingly lighter than last season?

So what actually happened?

Wojciech Szczęsny left for Juventus. He was pretty much surplus to requirements and having spent 2 years on loan to Roma, did not really need replacing. However, I am disappointed we did not also let David Ospina go, and then sign a young goal keeper – such as Jordan Pickford – to compete with Petr Cech this season and replace him next Season. Emiliano Martinez went on loan to Getafe. I doubt it will be a chance to prove himself as Cech’s heir apparent.

Gabriel also went, which will not upset many. Whilst no replacement was signed, his departure has been offset by Calum Chambers returning from his loan deal. Whilst at one point this summer Arsenal were willing to accept bids for him, good performances for England in the U21 Euro’s – as well as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain leaving has given him a lifeline. Hopefully in the Europa League he proves he can build a solid partnership with Rob Holding

Kieran Gibbs went. Good luck to him. He needs to resurrect his career. He is 27 now and needs to have a good few years. He plays week in week out for WBA, he might even make the England squad. He has certainly been upgraded on with Sead Kolašinac coming in on a free transfer. Once he finally starts playing regularly at left back, you will realise the improvement both going forward and in defence on our left hand side.

Out on loan went Lucas Pérez. Some will say he never got his chance, but he was clearly surplus to requirements. Especially as the incoming Alexandre Lacazette for £46.m from Lyon dramatically improves our forward line. Lacazette coming in as number one striker pushed Perez down to 5th choice striker (Lacazette, Giroud, Welbeck, Sanchez), so he was always going to fall out the other end.

The last senior player to leave us was on transfer deadline day as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain joined Liverpool. He was not replaced, but not many were upset to see him go. Ox had always flattered to deceive and the reality is, if we return to 4 at the back, he is 5th choice right back (behind Bellerin, Debuchy, Chambers & Mustafi) and 5th choice winger (Sanchez, Walcott, Welbeck, Iwobi). He only starts if we stick to 3 at the back.

Joel Campbell and Carl Jenkinson also went on loan. They will not be missed, nor will they need to be replaced.

The fact that the players who left have been replaced with better options (bar Oxlade-Chamberlain) is a positive. The starting XI and squad is undoubtedly better than last years with just the 2 signings and returning Chambers.

The problem is we did not improve in areas where players did not leave.

Jack Wilshere, Francis Coquelin and Mohamed Elneny are still with the club. It would have been preferable if one dropped out, and we captured a first choice central midfielder such Jean-Michael Seri, who would have competed with Aaron Ramsey and Granit Xhaka.

Likewise in defence, we could have improved on Koscielny, Mustafi, Holding, Mertesacker and Chambers. Had we got a senior, first choice centre back, one of the lower ones (or even Mustafi) could have been moved one.

And we failed with an extra attacking option. Thomas Lemar or Julian Draxler coming in would have been ideal, which in turn would have perhaps seen Theo Walcott move on.

I think the most disappointing thing of the window was we got some good business done early, but then everything else has fizzled out.

The club have tried to spin it that at least Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil are still here when the reality is that they should be staying and we should have added more to them. Why did it have to be Lemar if Sanchez leaves, why not Lemar with Sanchez and Ozil.

All in all, it is like it is your birthday party. You get some nice presents from your mum and dad, but they never get you the pony.

Keenos
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Arsenal correct to stop pursuit of Monaco star

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£143,000,000 is a lot for any footballer. It is 66% more than the world record transfer fee that Manchester United recently paid for Paul Pogba.

For that price, you would expect Lionel Messi. Perhaps Neymar. At a stretch Gareth Bale or Luis Suarez. It is possibly a bit too much for 32 year old Cristiano Ronaldo.

In summary, for a world record price, you would expect one of the best players in the world. An established global superstar. Someone who will come in and win you the league. Will score near enough a goal a game. Will break all sorts of goal scoring records.

What you would not expect for that price is an 18 year old striker with just 19 starts in the French Ligue 1. But that is what Kylian Mbappe is set to go for.

Now there is no doubting his potential. He is an extremely gifted player with a bright future, if everything works out. But What Real Madrid and others are paying for is not an established star, but for what he might become.

There are a lot of obstacles from being a talented youngster to becoming a global superstar.

When you look at the winners of the Golden Ball since its inception in 2003, how many of the players have kicked on to become a truly global superstar.

Now I am not talking about just become a very good player, I am talking about becoming one of the best in the world. The level where you are being considered for the Ballon d’Or. That they are considered in not just the top 2 players in their position, but they are considered as one of the best players in the world, regardless of their position.

Of the 14 players to have won the Golden Ball, only really Lionel Messi has gone on to become a legend of the game. Sergio Aguero is borderline. I probably would consider him one of the greatest strikers of the last 8 years- although injury has probably held him back from reaching the top bracket.

Injury, one of the many things that can stop a player going from being a top youngster to a global superstar. What ha soften set the likes of Messi and Ronaldo apart is their fitness record. Over the last 10 years, Messi has averaged 50 games a season for the last 10 years. Ronaldo has averaged 50 games a year since he joined Manchester United, way back in 2003.

Since joining Manchester City, Sergio Aguero has averaged 40 games a season, and that is what has held him back.

The likes of Wayne Rooney & Cesc Fabregas have had glorious careers. But you feel they peaked in their early 20s and never really kicked on to be amongst the best global players of their generation.

Rafael van der Vaart ended up with a bit of a journeyman career.

Anderson, Alexandre Pato and Mario Balotelli all highlight that being a top youngster does not always guarantee being a top senior pro. All have had big money transfer. They are aged between 26 and 29 and should in the peak of their careers.

Anderson (29) is currently at Brazilian side Coritiba, on loan from Internacional. Mario Balotelli (26) is playing for Nice in France. And Alexandre Pato (27), plays for Tianjin Quanjian in China.

Isco is a slow burner. He took a bit of a wrong move joining Real Madrid, where he struggled to break through, but he is now flourishing. But I doubt if he will ever reach the level that Cesc Fabregas was at his best, let alone the level of a Xavi or Iniesta, and certainly not reach the heights of a Zinedine Zidane.

The likes of Mario Götze and Raheem Sterling have certainly not lived up to their big billing as a teenager. Gotze dumped by Bayern Munich after a big money transfer, Sterling just not pushed on since joining Manchester City. Renato Sanches and Anthony Martial are both in danger of following the same route.

Then you have Paul Pogba. A bit of an enigma. The current holder of the world record transfer fee. At times he is unplayable. A mix of strength and technique. But he has yet to do what Yaya Toure did. And is not yet fit to clean Patrick Vieira’s boots. For him to justify his transfer fee, he has to surpass these two players achievements.

So the road to stardom is not guaranteed for Kylian Mbappe. At £144m, Real Madrid, Man City, or whoever buys him, will be paying for what he might become. They are spending the big money on the basis that they hope he is a 50-goal a season man by the time he is 21. The heir apparent to Cristiano Ronaldo’s throne.

But he is not yet Cristiano Ronaldo. He scored just 15 league goals last season. He still has a long way to go. He is not the even the best striker in Ligue 1 – last season he finished behind Edison Cavani, Alexandre Lacazette, Radamel Falcao and Swansea flop Bafétimbi Gomis in the top scorer charts.

Mbappe was level with previous top youngster Balotelli, Newcastle flop Florian Thauvin and Ivan Santini, whoever that is.

Would you be happy spending £144m on Balotelli, Thauvin or Santini? The answer would be no. You would be disappointed if your side spent anymore than £20m on those players.

You would not consider paying above £60m for Cavani. Arsenal signed the superior Lacazette for around £45m. And how much would you be willing to splash out on previous Premier League flops Falcao and Gomis?

So Real Madrid (or whoever go’s for Mbappe) is certainly not paying the £144m Mbappe as the player he is now, but as the player that Mbappe could become. And as we have established, there is no guarantee of a top youth player becoming a top player.

For someone like Arsenal, not signing Mbappe is the right move.

If he becomes a £144m player, then fair enough. We will all moan about how we could have signed him in 2016 for £265k – although I do not know why this criticism is always labelled at Arsenal, every club could have got him for this amount in 2016. Mbappe decided to stay. Arsenal did not miss out.

But if (for example) he stays at Monaco for a year, and he fails to score 30 league goals, would he still be worth £144m? Or would that price start to dwindle a bit to represent his true value rather than his potential?

And if he joins Real Madrid (or Manchester City, or whoever) for £144m, and flops, he will be available in a couple of years for half the price, or more. If he does not score that 50 goals a season, does not break into that top bracket, he will still be a top player, but his value would then represent what he is actually worth, not what he might be worth.

To finish, a story of a young lad from Chester. The year was 1997. He was just about to have his breakthrough season. He was just 17.

At 18 he had the world at his feet. He had scored 23 goals in 44 games in the 1997/98 season for his boyhood club. That summer he was to score a wonder goal for his country at the World Cup. He exploded into the world’s conscience.

What followed were 4 injury hit seasons, when only once did he play over 30 league games. He never once scored over 20 league goals, and by 24 his hamstrings were shot. His fitness did not stop him getting a big money move at 24 to Real Madrid. He lasted a single season before being sold to Newcastle. A talented player, but he could not get fit.

He ended up finishing his career at Stoke City.

At 18 he was expected to become a world great. Break every record going. Lead Liverpool to multiple titles. It is ironic that his only league title came at bitter rivals Manchester United as a bit part player. And whilst he won the Ballon d’Or in 2001 at just 21, you feel his career never reached the heights expected as a 18 year old.

Michael Owen could have been one of the greatest of all time. But he never lived to his potential.

At £144m, I would expect to be getting the real deal. Not some youngster with potential. Arsenal are best off missing out.

Keenos

Will Alexandre Lacazette break The Curse of The Arsenal Number 9

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Alexandre Lacazette will take The Arsenal number 9 shirt. Will he be the man to finally break the curse?

1996/97

Paul Merson

In Arsene Wenger’s first season at the club, Paul Merson played 40 games in all competitions. At the end of the season, Merson was sold to Middlesbrough for £5 million.

There are no reports of a falling out between him and the club, the move was purely money orientated. The club had offered the midfielder a new 2 year deal, but he had rejected it with Middlesbrough offering to double his money (this was the days before tapping up was so newsworthy). Merson was happy to go from the 3rd placed team in the Premier League to a First Division club.

Merson, who had a history of drink, drugs, gambling and Baccarat squeeze online tips, clearly needed the money, so left for the North-West. Arsene Wenger’s 1st Number 9 lasted 1 season.

1997/98 – 1998/99

Nicolas Anelka

And so the curse begins properly. Whilst with Paul Merson, there were financial reasons for him to leave after just one season, the saga that surrounded Nicolas Anelka’s time at the club may well be what put the curse on the Number 9 shirt.

Signed as a 17 year old from PSG for just £500,000, Anelka became a key player in Arsenal’s double winning season of 1997/98 – scoring the second goal in the FA Cup Final against Newcastle.

Pace, power, and ice cool infront of goal, he dislodged Ian Wright from the side and showed the kind of ability that had people wondering just how long Wrighty’s goal scoring record would last.

17 league goals in 1998/99 saw Anelka be named PFA Young Player of the Year. And that’s where it all begun to unravel.

Anelka started to make noises about being unhappy in England, that press intrusion had resulted in unhappiness. The press nicknamed him ‘Le Sulk’. It all seemed like an engineered move, led by his brothers, to get Anelka a big money move. It was clear that same people in the Anelka camp saw the 20 year old as a cash cow.

After just two full seasons at Arsenal, he packed his bags for Real Madrid, where he lasted for 1 year before rejoining PSG. Moves to Liverpool, Manchester City, Fenerbache, Bolton, Chelsea, Shanghai Shenhua, Juventus, WBA and Mumbai City followed.

Anelka and his advisor’s pocketed million’s in signing on fees as a result of moving him on every few years, but Anelka never really became the legend which his talent deserved.

1999/2000

Davor Suker

Signed as part of the Anelka to Real Madrid deal. Lasted a year, missed a penalty in the UEFA Cup final. Joined West Ham.

2000/01 – 2002/03

Francis Jeffers

The young Englishman joined Arsenal with a reputation of being the next big thing, having made his debut for Everton at just 16 and scoring 20 goals in 60 games.

He joined Arsenal for £8million at just 20 years old. However a string of injuries and poor form meant he never became the ‘fox in the box’ he was expected to.

He ended up being loaned back to Everton, before joining Charlton. His career then took him to Blackburn Rovers, Sheffield Wednesday, Newcastle United Jets (Australia), Motherwell, Floriana (Malta) and Accrington Stanley.

He ended up scoring just 40 league goals, 18 of which were netted before he joined Arsenal.

2003/04 – 2005/06

Jose Antonio Reyes

Joined in January 2004 for £10.5m (rising to £17m), big things were expected of the talented Spaniard who had made his debut for Sevilla at just 16.

His Arsenal career got off to a rocky start, scoring an own goal in just his second game. But it was a two goal performance which knocked Chelsea out of the FA Cup which will forever live in the memory of Arsenal fans.

For the remainder of the unbeaten season, he showed glimpses of his natural ability. Arsenal fans were excited.

2004 started brilliantly. Hat tricks in friendlies, a virtuoso performance in the Community Shield against Manchester United, where at one point he seemed to dribble past their entire team and 6 goals in his first 6 games. However, things started to go downhill when Arsenal’s 49 game unbeaten run was ended by Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Reyes was continually singled out for rough treatment, with the Neville brothers taking it in turns to bring him down. At one point he nut megged Gary Neville on the half way line, and was immediately hacked down. No yellow card was given.

His struggles continued after the Manchester United match, with reports of him being homesick (rumours were he could barely read and write in Spanish, and could not speak a word of English). There was also the reported ‘bullying’ of Robert Pires and Thierry Henry, the race row started by Luis Aragones and a prank by a Spanish radio show where Reyes admitted he would welcome a move back to Spain and that there were “bad people” at Arsenal.

Reyes eventually left in a loan swap to Madrid for Julio Baptista (who took his number 9), but his career never really his the heights of 2004. He won his last Spain cap at 23.

2006/07

Julio Baptista

A long term Arsenal target, Julio Baptista chose Real Madrid over Arsenal in 2005. However, after just a single season, he was swapped for Jose Reyes for a year long loan.

Despite scoring 4 goals against Liverpool in the League Cup and a further 2 against Tottenham in the same competition, he only managed 3 in 24 in the league. He looked overweight, slow, and had poor technique. He certainly was not the player that scored 47 goals in 79 games for Sevilla. The loan deal was never made permanent.

2007/08 – 2009/10

Eduardo

So far the Curse of the Number 9 had claimed a few victims for reasons from greed, to homesick, to simply flopping. but the curse decided to do its worse to Eduardo Alves da Silva. It tried to rob him of his career through injury.

Everything was looking bright for Eduardo in the Arsenal Number 9 shirt. Joining in 2007 for £7.5m, his career started slowly with Wenger preferring a strike force of Robin van Persie and Emmanuel Adebayor. A string of League Cup performances, and an injury to van Persie saw Eduardo gain a place in The Arsenal first team over the festive period.

He scored his first 2 Premier League goals on 29th December, and then opened the scoring on New Years Day after just 72 seconds. Throughout January he was on fire, showing an ability as a creator as well as a goal scorer. Had Arsenal finally replaced Thierry Henry?

He sent Arsenal to the top of the league with a sublime effort against Manchester City.

And then the curse kicked in.

In a game against Birmingham on 23rd February 2008, he was a victim of a despicable foul by Martin Taylor. It left Eduardo on the floor, with a broken leg and an open dislocation of his ankle. It left Eduardo’s career in tatters and destroyed Arsenal’s title chances.

He returned to the side nearly a year to the day of the injury, and, despite doing enough to earn a new contract, looked a shadow of the player. His sharpness had gone. In 2010, Arsenal accepted a bid from Shakhtar Donetsk and he left.

The Curse of the Number 9 had taken Eduardo’s Arsenal career from him.

2010/11

VACANT

2011/12

Park Chu-Young

One of the oddest transfers of recent memory. Park Chu-Young was halfway through a 2 day medical with Lille when, overnight, he disappeared from his hotel room, and ended up in London.

Despite rumours of having to return to South Korea for National Service, Arsenal signed the Monaco forward.

Three seasons at Arsenal saw him play 1 league game – an 8 minute substitute appearance against Manchester United. This led to people wondering whether he had only been signed to sell shirts?

This was certainly one of the oddest transfers in Arsenal history.

2012/13 – 2014/15

Lukas Podolski

The mercurial striker joined Arsenal in 2012 following the relegation of his boyhood club Koln. Great things were expected of the man who, whilst At Arsenal, became the youngest European to reach 100 caps. But it never quite clicked for him.

A fans favourite due to his social media presence, he had a hammer of a left foot, scoring 31 goals in 81 appearances for Arsenal.

Despite averaging a goal every 145 minutes, he was never able to break into the Arsenal 1st 11 for an extended run (after his 1st season). Was it the player? Was it the manager? Or was it the Curse of the Number 9?

2015/16

VACANT

2016/17

Lucas Perez

A big money deadline day signing in 2016, Lucas Perez never really get a fair crack of the whip at Arsenal. Sometimes transfers do not work out, for whatever reason, and this was one of those cases.

Signed after Danny Welbeck was ruled out until Christmas, Perez found himself in the unfortunate position of being behind Alexis Sanchez in the pecking order.

When he joined the club, Sanchez was a winger, Welbeck was injured, and Giroud struggling after European Championships. Shortly after he joined, Wenger tried Sanchez up top, and it worked, with Alexis Sanchez scoring 30 goals.

Perez could also cover wide right, but again found his place taken by another man in sparkling form – Theo Walcott; who went on to score 19 goals himself.

Perez found his chances few and fair between, and in his defence, he did take them. But when Welbeck and Giroud returned, he soon found himself 4th choice striker and his Arsenal journey was over within 12 months

 

It will not take much for Alexandre Lacazette to be our best Number 9 in 20 years

Keenos