Tag Archives: Arsenal

Arsenal set to raise over £130 million in player sales

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As Arsenal continue to move on the under performing players who’s time at the club has come to an end, the amount bought in through player sales and saved wages could breach the £130,000,000 barrier.

All going well, if Arsenal get the price they seem to be demanding for the players, Arsenal could raise over £100m from the player sales alone.

Arsenal would then save an additional £32m in wages from the outgoing players. To put that into context, it would save the club £621,000 a week.

There have been reports (badly investigated reports) that Arsenal could breach the new Premier League wage increase cap rules this summer if they end up offering Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil the bumper money they demand.

English top flight clubs are allowed to increase their annual wage bills by £7m under the rules, but in the event that the attacking pair finally declare their allegiance to the Arsenal cause, the FA Cup winners would see that wage expenditure double to £15m and be in breach of the Premier League’s short-term cost control guidelines.

Arsenal’s wage bill for the 2016/17 season was reportedly £200.5m. This would mean that Arsenal could spend £207.5m on wages for 2017/18. A surplus of £7m, not taking into account other players who have built in yearly wage rises.

But if Arsenal shift £32m in wages off the books, this leaves the club around £39m in wages to play with. That is a cool £750,000 a week.

If a third of that is given to Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, it will still leave £500,000 a week in the pot for new signings. And that is before any wages is offset by image right deals.

Alexandre Lacazette’s deal is at around £130,000 a week and Sead Kolasinac on £120,000 a week. This still leaves Arsenal £250,000.

For that surplus, Arsenal could easily sign their first choice attacking option (Thomas Lemar) and add depth in the middle of the park and still have some change in the kitty.

Whilst I know the dangers of talking about net spend, the fact that Arsenal could sign Lacazette, Kolasinac and Lemar for a combined total of less than the out going players (all 3 will cost under £100m) ensure that we maintain the model of being a self sufficient football club.

£130m+ for players no longer needed. It is good that we are going to clear the decks, but it also highlights how much wastage we have had in recent years.

Keenos

Why the Wojciech Szczesny love in?

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It is always interesting to see who’s narrative changes to suit the agenda. Often this happens when it surrounds either criticising or praising Arsene Wenger.

You will have some who will change their opinion on everything just to dig the Frenchman out, others who alter their views to go OTT in defence of him.

With Wojciech Szczesny set to join Juventus in a £10m deal, we have seen the changing narrative to suit an agenda rear it’s ugly head again.

It is two and a half years since Szczesny was dropped having made errors leading to both goals in Arsenal’s 2–0 defeat at Southampton. He was later fined £20,000 by the club for smoking in the changing room showers after the match.

I remember at the time, pretty much everyone was in agreement. Szczesny had become a liability and had to be dropped.

For most of the first half the season, many Arsenal fans had taken to social media to point at that Szczesny was a clown. And that Wenger was being his normal loyal, idiotic self, by keeping with him despite a string of high profile errors.

After Southampton, he was dropped to the bench for the rest of the Premier League season, with David Ospina replacing him in goal. It was tough to find a fan who disagreed with the decision. Many said it should have been earlier.

That season, Szczesny played in the FA Cup run. Fans were still being highly critical of Wenger and Szczesny when it was the Poles name who appeared on the team sheet for the 2015 FA Cup Final.

The summer of 2015 saw Petr Cech join Arsenal. Arsenal fans were elated. Finally Wenger had acted. He had realised that the clown Szczesny was never going to be good enough, he had got in a world class keeper from a rival, and all that was left to do was to ship out Szczesny as quickly as possible.

Szczesny joined Italian side Roma on a season long loan. This ended up becoming a 2 year loan.

During the time, he showed exactly what he had shown for Arsenal. Capable of making world class saves, but also capable of silly errors that cost goals, cost games.

In December 2015, he was dropped for Morgan De Sanctis for a league game against Atalanta after again being caught smoking following a 6–1 loss to Barcelona. Déjà vu?

Role forward to today and Arsenal are finally selling a man who has not been part of the first XI (bar cups) at Arsenal for 2 and a half years. And as expected, the narrative has changed.

Rather than people wishing Szczesny well, and being happy that we have got £10m for a player in his last year of the contract, people are moaning.

Suddenly I see people, who were highly critical of him in 2015, labeling him as the best keeper in Europe.

Good enough to replace Buffon, not good enough for the buffoon Wenger

Well let’s get a few things straight:

  1. Buffon will be the Juventus number one next season. Szczesny will be number 2. He might replace Buffon when he retires, he might not
  2. Szczesny had 1 year on his contract, and wanted to join Juventus as number 2, rather than be Arsenal number 2
  3. He is certainly not the best keeper in Europe. He would still not even be one of the top 5 keepers in the Premier League

Interestingly, a lot of people claiming that he is the best in Europe are doing it without having seen him play for Roma. They are basing it on statistics. These are the same people that would laugh at you if you ever said Giroud is one of the best strikers in Europe based on statistics supplied by the same company.

You can not judge a player on statistics they will say. Despite them doing that when it comes to Szczesny.

To reiterate, Szczesny is still a great shot stopper. But still has a tendency to lose concentration. Will still drop crosses. Still can not kick. And will still make errors that lead to goals.

Maybe Szczesny is suffering from the Michael Carrick affect. The less he plays, the less people see him play, the better he gets. Forgetting the reasons why he doesn’t play, or was sold.

It is like when Chris and Olivia on Love Island went on a break. They lasted barely 24 hours before they were all over each other again. Being apart, even just for the day, had made them lust for each other even more. They forgot why they had split up to begin with, and got back together. But then when they were together again, the old faults reared their head, reminding them both why they were incompatible.

Olivia and Chris got back together, and within 48 hours, were at each others throats again. The same will be with Szczesny. Fans have forgotten why he was discarded in the first place. Had he returned we would all have been giddy with excitement again. Until he makes that first error. And all the old, bad, memories flood back.

I have found it interesting following social media today. In summary it has been:

2015: Wenger picks Szczesny “What are you doing picking that clown”
2017: Wenger sells Szczesny “What are you doing selling the best GK in Europe”

Are you a fan who changes the narrative to suit an agenda? If you are, I probably do not care for your opinion. As it is not balanced.

Keenos

Arsenal set to SELL 4 this week

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Arsene Wenger is doing the proverbial “get HR to sack an employee you don’t like whilst you are on holiday” as Arsenal are set to say goodbye to 4 players this week whilst the majority of the squad and management of the club are sunning themselves in China.

Wojciech Szczesny is set to finally complete his move to Juventus for £10m.

A lot of people recently have been defending the Big Pole and saying Arsenal should not sell him. They have also questioned how low his transfer fee is. Unfortunately, you can not force a player to stay if he does not want too.

Szczesny’s contract runs out in a year, after which he could leave on a free. No matter how often fans stick on Twitter or Facebook that Ospina is leaving and Cech getting old, we should keep Szczesny who can replace Cech, you can not do much when the player himself wants to leave.

This is also why the fee is so low. Juventus want him, he wants Juventus. With a year left on his contract, Arsenal did not have much power when it came to negotiations. Of course, some will say that he should never have been allowed to go down to his last year, but this is a man who has spent the last 2 seasons on loan. A new contract would not have been considered by either party.

Could Arsenal have sold him 2 years ago? Perhaps. But only loan deals came in for him at the time. Same as last year. And I guess the thinking was that there is still a chance after his loan deal that he might end up staying. He did not, and we are selling him to Juventus.

£10m is not that much in the current climate when Jordan Pickford is going for £30m.

Arsenal need to move on to get stronger, and unfortunately Szczesny is part of the Wilshere / Walcott group of players that were perhaps never quite good enough. Never had the right mental attributes to become truly world class.

I am disappointed in this one as having watched England at the recent U21 tournament, Chambers showed his quality. But then it has to be remembered that this is at a youth level.

The problem for Arsenal is that they have two very good, young centre backs in Chambers and Rob Holding. Both need development, and both need game time to develop. As Manchester United showed when they were trying to develop both Chris Smalling and Phil Jones, this is not easy. And looking at both Jones and Smalling’s career, you have to wonder if they both hindered each others development.

You can often only give game time to one youngster, especially at centre back, so one had to go.

A loan deal would have perhaps been preferable for Arsenal again, but this would possibly not have been the ideal deal for Calum Chambers.

Chambers does have an outside shot at making the plane for England in Russia 2018, but he will only get that shot if he plays week in week out in the Premier League. He will get that chance at someone like Crystal Palace. And playing underneath a ball playing centre back like Frank de Boer will be good for his career.

If you look at the situation coldly, Chambers is currently Arsenal’s 8th choice centre back, with Laurent Koscielny, Shkodran Mustafi, Per Mertesacker, Gabriel, Rob Holding, Nacho Monreal and new boy Sead Kolasinac ahead of him.

Before you point out that Monreal and Kolasinac are left backs. You are correct, but at 3 at the back, one will play on the left side of the back 3. And if that one is injured, the other will drop inside to replace them. The left footed-ness gives the defence essential balance.

An argument could be made against keeping Per Mertesacker and Gabriel ahead of Calum Chambers.

Mertesacker has a year left at Arsenal before moving into a coaching role. He was immense in the Cup Final, and his experience and leadership will be important. He will be a big part of Rob Holding’s development, and likely to play alongside him in the Europa League.

Personally I would have preferred to keep Chambers over Gabriel. But if one payer is knocking on your door asking to leave, and you have clubs interested in him, and the other player is content to stay as a squad player, and there is zero interest, it leaves you with little option.

I do worry about cover at right back. Chambers would have been Hector Bellerin’s cover in this position, and with him going, and 2 more right backs potentially set to leave, it results in Arsenal just having the Spanish as a natural right back.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain can play at right wing back, if we go for a back 3, and Mustafi has played right back for Germany, so there is cover. I imagine Ainsley Naitland-Miles or Reiss Nelson will be given the chance in the Europa League and League Cup.

My only hope is that with Chambers, we have a buy back clause, as within 3 seasons, Mertesacker will be gone, and Koscielny on his last legs. If he does develop and fulfil his potential, a Calum chambers in 3 years time could be the ideal signing for Arsenal.

When we signed Chambers, he was a huge investment, a surprise. At least we are getting our money back and more.

Arsenal also look set to finally get Mathieu Debuchy off the wage bill. The Frenchman’s Arsenal career never really took off, for a multitude of reasons. He has had a lot of bad luck in his Arsenal career.

A lot of fans will label Debuchy’s 3 year career at Arsenal as a flop, after just 13 league games in 3 years. But this is a man who arrived as France’s first choice right back, had some horrendous injuries, and ended up giving way for Hector Bellerin. He was just unlucky in his situation.

At 31, a return to French football with Nice on a free transfer is good for all parties, as Arsenal slash £70,000 off their wage bill.

The last player set to say his goodbyes this week is Kieran Gibbs.

It is incredible to think that Gibbs made his Arsenal debut 10 years ago, yet some still talk about him having potential. He is 28 in September and his career has ground to a halt in recent years.

The talent with Gibbs has always been there, the fitness not so much. And that is what has let him down over the years.

Recent years, he has fallen behind Nacho Monreal in the pecking order. The signing of Sead Kolasinac – the who made the Bundesiliga team of the year last year – was the final nail in the coffin for Gibbs.

There seem to be plenty of suitors for the Englishman, and he will have his choice of whoever meets the £10m asking price.

Alongside the likes of Walcott, Szczesny & Wilshere, he is another one who has underachieved. Your mind go’s back 4 years to that picture of young, English players signing a new contract, and have to wonder what happened.

We might all have our opinion on why the careers of Szczesny, Chambers, Gibbs and Debuchy, and whether they should have been kept or sold earlier.

I look at it with an open mind. We are set to raise £40m and save £215,000 a week in wages by selling our 3rd choice keeper, 8th choice centre back, 3rd choice left back, and our 4th choice right back. As long as we spend what we bring in, that is a good deal.

By the time we sell on Carl Jenkinson, Jack Wilshere, Lucas Perez and Joel Campbell, that will be nearly £25,000,000 wiped off our wage bill in 8 players that started a combined total of 12 league games last year.

Hopefully the club is clearing out the surplus players and will redistribute the saved wages to those that deserve it (Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil) as well as get in a few more senior players.

Keenos