Tag Archives: Football

French star plays himself out of Arsenal move

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Before the game, I did not really get why France were such big favourites. And nor did I understand why their defeat to Spain was such a big shock.

Yesterday’s game was actually an interesting watch.

In the French corner, you have players that are terrific athletes. Runners. Big, strong lads. Facing them was Spain. They sacrifice athleticism for control of the ball, for passing and technique.

The result answered the thoughts that man American’s have shared this summer: If our best athletes trained to be soccer players, we would be unbeatable. But this view always ignored that football is not just about being athletic. It is about having the technique to pass the ball, at the right time, at the right pace, to the exact right spot.

Top footballers are likely top golfers – they have an exact place they are aiming to get the ball too.

Golfers will aim the ball to land in around a meter or two of an area. For footballs it is not just about passing the ball to your teammate, but passing it to the correct foot, or into the correct space for them to run onto without breaking stride. And yesterday was the perfect example as to why being a top footballer is not just about being a top athlete.

Spain played like a team. They controlled the game and won the ball back at ease. France played as individuals, rarely putting together passages of play and looked like they were waiting for Spain to lose the ball rather than trying to win it. Result: Spain win.

One player to really struggle was Bradley Barcola.

Barcola is your typical athletic footballer. He is big, strong and quick. But he is not actually that great with the ball at his feet – crosses often go over the cross bar, shots tamely roll into the keepers gloves, and when in tight spaces with no where to run into, the ball gets stuck under his feet.

If you are now thinking “Barcola reminds me of someone”, you are right. Gabriel Martinelli.

Barcola is basically the French Martinelli. He has the same strengths and weaknesses, and for me is no better. And you can chuck Anthony Gordon and Rafael Leao into the same box.

All these players are the same profile. Fantastic runners, super quick. But rely on having space in behind to run into. Space that you do not get when playing for Arsenal.

Prior to this World Cup, I saw no point in selling Martinelli and signing Barcola. It all felt a little “Emperors new clothes”. This World Cup has reinforced me view.

Barcola would thrive at a mid-table team that plays on the counter attack. The likes of Aston Villa or Newcastle. But playing for a top team he would struggle. And anyone that watches PSG regularly will see that struggle. He only puts in the goals and assists he does in France because Ligue 1 is a hugely inferior team outside the top 1. In Europe, playing against better opposition, his output sinks quicker than West Ham.

If we are looking to replace Martinelli, the player coming in needs to provide the same electric pace and directness, but also have the addition of being composed on the ball and able to beat players in tight places. Beyond the top 2 or 3 left wingers in the world, others just have the same deficinies as Martinelli.

I would be surprised if any Arsenal fan still wants Barcola after this World Cup. And Liverpool are welcome to him.

Keenos

Patience key for The Arsenal

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You can almost set you watch by it.

Every year, on around the 2nd or 3rd of July, fans flock to social media to cry that their club has not signed anyone yet. It honestly mystifies me, especially when many of those have lived through man, many transfer windows, and should know how things work.

I understand fans look at Tottenham with a jealous eye – once Sandro Tonali is confirmed, that will be over £200m spent on new players. But their desperate transfer spending should be expected – they can not afford another season finishing in a relegation battle.

There is a World Cup going on. And that always impacts when you buy players.

Yes, some will move during the World Cup, such as Elliott Anderson. But others will be saying to their agent “I do not want to hear from you. Speak to me after”. And if you are targetting those players, your transfer spending is on hold.

So lets look at Tottenham, whose fans are already claiming yet another transfer window win.

Their two big signings – Tonali and Mateus Fernandes – were not at the World Cup. That makes the deals much easier to do. I also think they have paid a premium for the pair. Met the asking price. Not negoatiated. Again, making them an easier deal to do.

I like both players, but we are in the market for players to act as cover for Martin Zubimendi and Declan Rice. The transfer fees and wages being spoken about are the levels of starters, not squad players.

Then you have Jan Paul van Hecke. A good signing for them. Paying £52m got the deal done quickly. The deal will make it £230m on van Hecke, Fernandes and Tonali. Huge money on players that would not even start for Aston Villa.

Tottenham basically had a free run at all of these players because everyone else had walked away. No one wanted to pay those asking prices. Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool decided there was better value eslewhere.

Tottenham have also completed free deals for 32-year-old Andy Robertson, 37-year-old Martin Dubravka and 29-year-old Marcos Senesi. Easy deals to make when the players are out of contract.

The reality is had Arsenal wanted to sign these players, at the fees and wages they are costing, we would have. But we decided not to.

When you are looking at the market and seeing £116m for Elliott Anderson, £100m for Tonali, £85m for Fernandes, you just have to laugh. And this shows whay Arsenal need to be patient.

I feel this summer, you move early tou over pay. That is what we risk doing with someone like Morgan Rogers.

Rogers is a good player, but a £130m player he is not. Considering Anthony Gordon went for £80m to Barcelona, Arsenal would expect to do a deal for in and around this figure. If we can not, we move on to another winger who represents better value. And Aston Villa are stuck with an unhappy player who has been valued out of a move to a top club.

One of those other midfielders is Christos Tzolis. The Greek winger is not at the World Cup, but the man he is replacing is.

I think Leandro Trossard will depart this summer. He potentially has a bit of a Ray Parlour situation coming up. A costle divorce at 31. Our diminutive winger might see this summer as an opportunity to go to Turkey or Saudi, get himself a huge signing on fee and silly wages, thus funding his divorce.

Tzolis is clearly lined up to replace Trossard, but we are being respectful of our current player and do not want to sign someone until Trossard confirms he wants to leave. And he will not do that until Belgium are out of the World Cup. Once Trossard gives us the nod, Tzolis will come in.

We can expect to get £20m for Trossard, and Tzolis will cost us around £30m. So a £10m net swing on a player with a similar profile and is 7-years younger. It is a good deal and we just need to remain patient whilst the dominos fall.

Like many, I was disapointed about the news of Jeremy Monga last night – Arsenal have walked away from the deal and Man City are swooping in.

Monga is clearly a talent. The reports are we were looking to pay around £6.5m, similar to what a recent tribunal ordered Liverpool to pay for Rio Ngumoha. I would say that is reasonable. But Leicester City demanded a fee north of £10m.

That led Arsenal, looking at the Ngumoha tribunal fee, and agree to “take him on a free and let the courts decide”. The result was the door was left open and City are seemingly swooping in.

Over the years, Man City have spent a lot of money recruiting the best young players from across Europe. But there is a huge swath of “where are they now” blogs with those that they signed and just seemed to disappear into the City Group’s loan system.

Many of them do get their careers back on track – think Morgan Rogers, Jeremie Frimpong, Romeo Lavia, Jadon Sancho and Felix Nmecha. But it is often a rocky path,

City are chucking millions at these young kids and families, setting them up for life. Every year more players seem to move between academies aged 16-18. Getting a £30k a week contract where their existing club only wanted to pay £10k. And then they go back to playing the same PL2 level and struggle to ever break thourhg (Chido Obi Martin anyone?).

We need to stop getting annoyed when youth players leave. Remember, our coachs know more about these kids than anyone and will know their value based on the chances of making it. Likewise, lets stop getting upset when we lose out on a Mongao or Sverre Nypan (what happened to him?).

Ultimately, spending £10m+ on a 16-year-old is a huge investment. And there is more chance he will be playing for a small club like West Ham in 5-years than being a regular at Arsenal.

And by being patient and not overpaying for Monga, we have pivoted to Georgian U21 starlet Andria Bartishvili. At just £4.5m (reportedly),  Bartishvili, like Monga, is a talented young left winger. May we have just turned down the next Jeremy Doku to sign the next Khvicha 20Kvaratskhelia?

Our deals will get done this year. Be patient. Enjoy the World Cup. Go on holiday. Stop living on social media and feeling the need to get upset about everything.

We are Champions.

Keenos

“Reducing minutes” the key for Arsenal’s transfer window

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PSG did not beat us because they had the better players, the better tactics, or were coached better. They beat us because during the course of the season, their key players played less minutes.

Whilst Arsenal had a real slog of a season in the Premier League, a competition were you simply cannot rest too many players, PSG strolled to the Ligue 1 title whilst being able to rest key players consistently keeping them fresh for the Champions League.

Talisman Khvicha Kvaratskhelia played more than 740 league minutes less than Bukayo Saka, whilst centre back Marquinhos played 1702 and 1566 minutes less than Gabriel and Saliba respectively. That is the equivalent of about 17/18 games less.

Seven of Arsenal’s starting XI in the semi final had played more than 2,000 Premier League- with Declan Rice and David Raya playing in over 3,000. Just 2 of PSG’s semi-final players had clocked up 2,000+ minutes in Ligue 1.

Throughout Mikel Arteta’s managerial career, he has always been able to recognise “what next” when building the team from finishing 8th, through to aiming for top 4, then title challengers, and then winners. He has continued to take Arsenal on a evolutionary journey rectifying any weaknesses from the previous season. And our biggest weakness last season was how many minutes key players had to play in comparison to PSG.

Last summer we did brilliant raising the floor of the squad. The likes of Piero Hincapie, Cristhian Mosquera, Noni Madueke and Eberechi Eze gave Arteta more options. But it was still not enough.

There are still pockets of the squad were players saw a lot of minutes. And crucially the biggest are was in the middle of the park, the engine room.

By the time the final whistle went in Budapest, Rice had clocked up 4,456 minutes for Arsenal, with Martin Zubimendi playing 4,299. Zubimendi was criticised towards the end of the season, which was unfair considering the exhaustion he must have been feeling in his toughest ever season.

Arteta can be criticised for not bringing in Myles Lewis Skelly enough, or playing Premier League stalwart Christian Norgard in a couple of games. But I am reluctant to criticise a man whose team selection lead us to our first league title in 22-years. He basically sacrificed the Champions League to ensure our tired, weary, injured troops dragged us to the league title.

This summers transfer window, I feel, will not be about buying starters. It will be about buying players who can better share the load – especially in those opening months of a season.

The likes of Bruno Guimaraes could come in for Declan Rice with the aim of sharing the 4,456 minutes. His acquisition could see Rice end up playing under 2,500 minutes next season, with Guimaraes playing around 2,000. That is similar minutes to what PSG’s midfielders player.

In defence we are being linked with the equally experience Ezri Konsa. He would be a good option to replace Ben White and has bundles of experience playing both right back and centre back in the Premier League. Konsa would certainly allow Arteta to rest Saliba and Jurrien Timber more.

What Arteta then needs to do is trust Madueke and Eze a bit more, and trust Myles Lewis Skelly more. Their development could easily see them playing 500-1000 more minutes this season, taking the pressure off Saka, Martin Odegaard and Zubimendi.

Another factor is just how many Arsenal players seem to be currently playing with an injury.

We got heavily criticised in the run-in to the title for players pulling out of international duty due to injuries – but it is clear that many players are struggling.

Saka has been managing a long-term achilles injury. Adfter the World Cup he could probably do with going on a beach for 6 weeks. A proper rest before slowly being eased back into The Arsenal team 5 or 6 games into the season.

Rice is also clearly not 100%. Nor is Saliba. Both could do with not playing in the first 6-weeks of the season, giving their bodies time to recover. They could then come back in later in the season, have their game time managed a bit better, and be that bit fresher come May.

It will also be interesting to see if Arteta decides to rest and rotate a bit more in Europe.

In 2024/25 and 2025/26, PSG finished outside the top 8 and thus had to play an additional round. They did “just enough” to finish in the top half of the 9-16 grouping, ensuring they got an easier tie in the Knockout phase play-offs. They faced Monaco and Brest in that round respectively.

Despite playing an additional game, key players had still clocked up less Champions League minutes than Arsenal come the quarter final. Accept a couple of “lesser” results in the aim of keeping players fresher.

It is quite clear that this transfer window needs to be about reducing the minutes for key players, especially in those opening 6-8 weeks of the season.

Arsenal were so close to winning the Champions League last season. For 2026/27 we need to ensure the players that turn up in Madrid are fresher, without sacrificing the league for a push at European glory.

Keenos