Tag Archives: Arsenal

Arsenal need the new Santi Cazorla, not Santi Cazorla

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Fair play to Santi Cazorla.

Back in 2016 he injured his right Achilles tendon during a Champions League fixture against Ludogorets Razgrad, in what became a career threatening injury.

After 8 operations and contracting gangrene which saw the infection “eat” part of the tendon, there were fears Cazorla would be unable to walk again, let alone play football.

He required a skin graft, with the skin sourced from Cazorla’s left forearm where a tattoo of his daughter’s name had featured, as recovery took nearly 2 years.

After 636 days, he finally reappeared on a pitch for a friendly, in the yellow of Villarreal rather than the red of Arsenal.

In 2017, whilst injured, Arsenal had renewed his contract  for a further year in the hope he might play again during the 2017/18 season. He failed to regain fitness and Arsenal made the decision to release him on a free at the end of 2018.

Cazorla returned to former club Villarreal in order to train with them during the rest of the pre-season period and prove his fitness. In August the club which gave him his debut and whom he had been with for 7 season offered him a permanent contract.

In the past two years, Cazorla has regained form and fitness in La Liga and was re-called by the Spanish football team – playing 4 times in 2019.

His fine form has led many Arsenal fan to call for his return at the end of this season, with his Villarreal contract set to expire.

These fans are romanticizing about his return.

The Premier League is a much tougher league, more physical and quicker, than La Liga. Spain has suited Cazorla in the twilight of his career.

A less physical league, where players have more freedom to express themselves without fear from some lump from Burnley or Stoke “letting him know they are there” has allowed Cazorla to flourish.

But he is 35-years-old now, and he does not have the body for Premier League football.

Were Arsenal to sign him, the first game we would play, an opponent would leave one on him to test his body. We would all wince and hope he gets up.

Having spent 2 years out injured, with a fear of not walking again, why would Cazorla himself want to put his body at risk for 1 or 2 more seasons in the Premier League?

The deal would not make sense for Cazorla or Arsenal.

Santi was brilliant for Arsenal. We have sorely missed his technical ability in the middle of the park. Arsenal have not replaced the progressive passing midfielder that both Cazorla and Jack Wilshere were.

Whilst Granit Xhaka is a fine line passer, he is not someone who makes a short, sharp pass in the middle of the park, then run forward for the return pass before passing it on once more.

A midfield with Xhaka and someone like Cazorla in it would give us some robustness, and a good range of passing. Arsenal’s midfield at the moment is very weak.

But we need someone like Cazorla, not Cazorla.

The scouts, the statisticians need to put Cazorla’s attributes and output into a computer and see who comes out. Find a player who can take the ball off the defence and pass it through the midfield, progressing upfield with the ball.

What Jorginhio does for Chelsea or Ilkay Gundogan for Manchester City.

Rodrigo Bentancur would be an ideal signing, but I doubt Juventus would let him go.

Ruben Neves at Wolves or Fabian Ruiz at Napoli are two more realistic options.

Or we come back to Thomas Partey who might not have the passing range of Cazorla, but has the capability to transition the ball through the midfield by driving it forward himself. More a Patrick Vieira type rather than a Cesc Fabregas.

There are plenty of options out there who can solve the problem for Arsenal. We do not need to bring in a short term fix such as Santi Cazorla.

As a club we need to be building for the future. Focusing on players under 25, who can be part of the clubs rebuilding for some time. Who have sell on values so that we can sell and reinvest if required.

What we should not be doing is looking at short term fixes, like David Luiz or Santi Cazorla.

Santi, thanks for the memories at Arsenal, but you should not come back.

Keenos

Potential departure of Arsenal youngster a ‘sign of the times’

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Yesterday David Ornstein broke the news that talented Arsenal teenager Folarin Balogun could be set to leave Arsenal.

Balogun has been thought of as the “next big thing” coming out of the academy, following in the footsteps of Bukayo Saka.

Like Saka, the strikers contract expires in 12 months time and Arsenal must decide whether to cash in now, or use the next 12 months to try and negotiate a new deal with him.

Balogun signed his first professional contract in 2019. Rules at that players under 18 may only sign a contract for 2 years.

This results in clubs agreeing a 2-year deal with youngsters, before negotiating a new deal – usually for 3 years – a year later.

Previously, clubs would not have to worry too much about the player turning down the new deal. An offer in the region of £20,000 a week would be on the table, guaranteeing the player earns £3million even if he did not play a game.

However in recent years there has been an increase of players deciding to turn down the new contract to seek first team football elsewhere.

Jadon Sancho led the way on this new decision making – turning down a deal with Manchester City due to lack of assurances over playing time. He joined Borussia Dortmund and could end up making a big money move back to England this summer.

At the time Manchester City had Jadon Sancho in their youth team, they also had Phil Foden – just 2 months younger than Sancho.

Sancho moved to Germany for 1st team football, Foden remained in England,

Since making the move to Dortmund, Sancho has played 5,440 minutes in the Bundesliga, earning himself 11 England caps.

Foden, meanwhile, has played just 834 minutes of Premier League football; averaging just 26 minutes a game.

Over the last couple of years, there has been an increase in youngsters deciding to move for first team football rather than become a millionaire and not playing.

A lot of these players have taken their talents abroad, with young English players out in Germany, Portugal, Spain, Italy and France.

This would have been unthinkable in the 20 years.

Very few English players used to go abroad to play football.

The big money available in the Premier League meant that is was financially better for them to remain in England, sign that 3-year deal at 18, become a millionaire and then slowly drop through the leagues.

The recent crop of youngsters seem to be hungrier than previous generations.

They seem to realise that playing time is most important; and that whilst they might take a financial hit in their teens, they could become even richer if they fulfil their potential.

Sancho is now reportedly on £190k a week, whilst Foden earns £20k a week at Manchester City.

Leave for first team football, prove yourself, and an even bigger pay day will come.

Manchester United’ Angel Gomes announced yesterday that he was leaving Manchester United on a free transfer.

Gomes joined Man U at 6 years old, making his debut in 2017 and winning the Jimmy Murphy Player of the Year, the youngest player ever to receive the award.

The 19-year-old became the youngest player to represent Manchester United since Duncan Edwards in 1953, as well as the first player born in the 2000s to appear in the Premier League.

Despite being rated so highly, the youngster has yet to start in the Premier League – playing just46 minutes across 5 substitute appearances in 3 seasons.

The easy option for Gomes would have been to remain at Manchester United – sign a new deal and spend a few years on loan and then end up at a Championship club with a few million in his pocket.

Instead he has turned down a deal and is now moving on a free transfer.

Manchester United decided not to sell Gomes last summer, instead keeping the player in the hope he would sign a new deal.

Whilst they lost out on a transfer fee in 2019, they will still receive compensation for Gomes despite his contract having expired.

Arsenal are in a similar situation now with Balogun – and it is a repeat with what happened with Xavier Amaechi.

In 2019, with a year left on his contract, reports came out of Arsenal that Amaechi was not prepared to sign a new deal due to lack of first team opportunities.

A mixture of injuries and the progression of Saka, 8 months his junior, led to Amaechi falling to play a game for Arsenal.

Having turned down a contract, Arsenal sold him for to Hamburger SV for £2.25million.

So what do Arsenal do with Balogun?

Do they move him on for a fee now, and turn their focus on developing the next one in Tyreece John-Jules? Or do they try to keep hold of him on for the year in the hope he changes his mind and signs a new deal?

A few years back, Chelsea received £3million from Liverpool in compensation for Dominic Solanke. Balogun’s compensation will be similar.

So the club either sells him not, earning around £3million with the potentially of adding some sell-on fees, or loses on a free in 12 months time earning around £3million in compensation.

Fans should have no issue with young players like Gomes, Sancho or Balogun leaving a club for first team football.

At top clubs like Man U, Man City and Arsenal, there is a huge gulf between talented youth team player and first team regular. Many a player has signed that 3-year deal at 18 and gone on to make no appearances before leaving at 21 to a lower league team.

The club and the fans should not get in the way of a young player moving elsewhere to play first team football.

In Balogun’s case, he is behind Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette, Eddie Nketiah and Gabriel Martinelli. First team football will be extremely limited.

Where the club and fans can be angered is if he goes on to join Liverpool or Manchester City (as rumoured); or Chelsea (who Angel Gomes has been heavily linked with).

Gomes and Balogun will be in an identical situation at those clubs as they would be at Arsenal. Playing U23 football, odd game in the League Cup. They might, however, double their money.

Balogun moving to Liverpool would not be a football decision. He has less chance of playing for them than Arsenal. It would be a financial decision and one he would probably regret.

He might win a “fake” medal – ie where gets a medal despite having not contributed anything (think Rhian Brewster or Phil Foden). But players who celebrate that sort of medal do not have the mentality you would want at the club. They are clearly not hungry. Celebrating like they have made it despite not playing.

For Balogun, Arsenal would have been selling him the future.

A year on loan, before coming back to fight with  Nketiah and Martinelli for a place in the squad. Especially with Aubameyang and Lacazette’s contract situations.

The club do not want to lose him, but they also should not stand in his way of playing regular football elsewhere.

Teenagers turning down contracts for first team football elsewhere will become a more regular occurrence. It is a sign of the times.

Keenos

 

Match Report: Sheffield United 1 – 2 Arsenal

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Sheffield United (0) 1 Arsenal (1) 2
FA Cup Sixth Round
Bramall Lane, Highfield, Sheffield S2 4SU
Sunday. 28th June 2020. Kick-off time: 1.00pm

(4-2-3-1) Emiliano Martínez; David Luiz, Shkodran Mustafi, Kieran Tierney, Ainsley Maitland-Niles; Joe Willock, Granit Xhaka; Sead Kolašinac, Nicolas Pépé, Alexandre Lacazette; Bukayo Saka.
Substitutes: Hector Bellerin, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Dani Ceballos, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Rob Holding, Reiss Nelson, Eddie Nketiah, Matt Macey, Matt Smith.
Scorers: Nicolas Pépé (24 mins), Dani Ceballos (90+1 mins)
Arsenal Possession Percentage: 59%
Referee: Paul Tierney
Attendance: A maximum of 300 attendees due to UK government coronavirus restructions

And so, the day of our last throw of the dice for silverware in this most troubled of football seasons has now arrived. Much depends, of course, not only on the team selection, but of the attitude of our chaps today, so let’s hope that they throw caution to the wind, and go for it; after all, the FA Cup is our only chance of glory now, so we need a confident, emphatic win in South Yorkshire this Sunday lunchtime, nothing else will do.

A brisk and competitive start for both clubs showed the seriousness and intent for victory here today. Our defenders were put under pressue early on; indeed, after just eight minutes, the home side put a shot across our bows when the first goal of the match was chalked off for an offside call, which became a real wake up call for us. Ainsley Maitland-Niles had a young cool head on his shoulders when he came back to win the ball under pressure and distribute it accordingly to the midfielders; although it was a difficult period of the match, we managed to keep our shape and push the ball between ourselves extremely well indeed. Funnily enough, Sheffield United attempted to replicate our movements when they, too, started to distribute the ball closely in midfield, but thankfully, it was nothing to concern our players, as we were able to halt all attempts to advance towards our goal. After twenty-two minutes, Alexandre Lacazette was fouled just inside the Sheffield United penalty area, and after the usual VAR hand-wringing back in Stockley Park, Nicolas Pépé made no mistake from the penalty spot to put us into the lead, a minute or so before the usual mid-half drinks break. On the half-hour mark, Nicolas Pépé almost got a second goal for himself, when a superb shot was acrobatically saved by Blades goalie Dean Henderson. With a goal under our belts, we started to show our confidence, and dominate the match in various areas of the pitch, much to the growing frustration of the home side. An unfortunate collision between Joe Willock and Oli McBurnie meant that both sets of medical teams were called on to check the players (who went off the field to recover) before continuing the match. Kieran Tierney was desperately unlucky not to score our second when a clever shot just went over the bar, and minutes later, Nicolas Pépé again narrowly missed the target when a low ball from Kieran Tierney deceived the Sheffield defenders with a clever move from the left hand side of the pitch. During the seven minutes injury time period for the Joe Willock/Oli McBurnie collision from earlier, Arsenal were by far the better side of the two, putting together some interesting moves, but sadly unable to gain further advantage before the break.

We started the second half lively enough, but it was the home side that came close to scoring when an Oli McBurnie header was easily plucked out the air by Emiliano Martínez. The much maligned David Luiz went off with an injury after fifty-three minutes, to be replaced by Rob Holding, who speedily got into position, shoring up the defence perfectly. For the next few minutes, the home side started to take the match to us, with a couple of close chances and another disallowed goal which was cancelled for offside. We looked at all at sea at the back, and the home side were looking at their options to break through and score. Lively up yourselves Arsenal! Dani Ceballos and Eddie Nketiah replaced Alexandre Lacazette and Joe Willock after sixty-six minutes (just before the drinks break) in order to seal up this cup-tie, and almost immediately one could feel thet positive change in the team; indeed a snap 25-yard effort from Granit Xhaka gave everyone confidence with sixteen minutes left of the game, in which he was unlucky not to score. With the match settling down, we started to take our eyes off the ball, and sure enough David McGoldrick equalised for the Blades with just two minutes left on the clock. Despite pressure from the home side, just a minute or so later, Dani Ceballos picked the ball up in the opposing penalty area, moved forward quickly and coolly slotted the ball home past an outstretched Dean Henderson to restore the lead to Arsenal in injury time Unbelievable drama!

Well, well, well. Who would have thought it possible? After our results recently, we get to Wembley for our thirtieth FA Cup semi-final. Who knows where this journey may now end? It wasn’t great, it wasn’t pretty football at times, but hey, we got through; let’s not think about it too much at the moment, just be thankful that the result went our way at the end. Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as this season is going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners.

Our next match: Norwich City at Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU on Wednesday, 1st July at 6.00pm (Premier League). Victoria Concordia Crescit.

Steve

Too Dearly Loved To Be Forgotten: Arsenal v Racing Club de Paris 1930-1962 by Steve Ingless (Rangemore Publications, ISBN 978-1-5272-0135-4) is now available on Amazon.