Tag Archives: Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

Mkhitaryan for Sanchez straight swap a “good deal”?

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But we could have got £60million for him in the summer is a common complaint upon hearing that we are about to swap Alexis Sanchez for Henrikh Mkhitaryan, with no cash exchanging hands.

A lot of people are looking at it as we are then getting no money for Sanchez, and therefore it is a bad deal as we could have got £60m in the summer.

Whilst they are not getting any money for Sanchez, what they are getting is a player that Manchester United were happy spending £37.8m on 18 months ago.

When you consider Alexis Sanchez is available on a free in just 5 months, the fact Arsenal are getting a £40m player in a straight swap is as good as Arsenal getting £40m for him.

But we could have got £60m for him in the summer, you still cry. And you are correct.

But had we sold Sanchez in the summer, we would have had to have bought a replacement. And every club in Europe would have known that:

  1. We had £60m to burn
  2. That we were desperate

All of that £60m, and maybe more, would have been invested in his replacement.

So in reality, Arsenal would not have been getting £60m for Sanchez, but swapping Sanchez for whoever his replacement is.

On deadline day, for example, Arsenal bid £90m for Thomas Lemar.

Would spending £30 and swapping Lemar for Sanchez be a good deal? No.

Another player is Julian Draxler. I imagine had we pushed for him, we would have been able to get him for similar to what we sold Sanchez for. So the £60m we got in for Sanchez would have been given straight to PSG for Draxler.

Julian Draxler is a very good player, but is he worth £60m? Would that price have been inflated due to the Sanchez cash? Possibly.

And then compare to the two players mentioned above to Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Are they actually any better?

Mkhitaryan has had a tough 18 months in England, but he would not be the first free-spirited attacking talent to struggle under Jose Mourinho.

For me, he is on a similar level to Julian Draxler. Actually I would say he is better than Draxler as people still talk about the German as having potential, whilst Mkhitaryan is proven.

Then compare Mkhitaryan to Lemar.

One is a player who has had one good season, and struggled this, the other was quality in Germany over a number of years.

So Lemar would have cost us an additional £30m on top of what we got in for Sanchez, and he is not as good as the player we ended up getting.

Had we sold Alexis Sanchez to Manchester City for £40m and then bought Mkhitaryan from Manchester United for £40m, you would probably all be happy.

Now lets chuck Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang into the mix- a deal for £53m is moving closer.

We could end up with a situation where we get both Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan in, with Sanchez leaving, and a net spend of just £53m.

Let’s go back to the alternative deal in the summer of Lemar in, Sanchez out, and a net spend of £30m.

So for an additional £23m on top of what we were willing to spend in the summer, we are getting a Sanchez replacement and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Is the deal a good deal for Arsenal? Yes.

Ps: in their last season together at Dormund, the pair scored62 goals between them.

Keenos

Arsenal transfer round-up

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Seems to be plenty going on at Arsenal at the moment, so thought I would do a quick round up of what is being reported / rumoured.

Firstly on Alexis Sanchez. Manchester City pulled out for the race for him yesterday. Rumours doing the rounds are that Sanchez priced himself out of a deal – demanding too much in salary, signing on fee and agent fees. Reports from the summer is that a deal to join Bayern Munich fell through for similar reasons.

As Manchester City ended their pursuit, Chelsea were rumoured to be involved. I would say this no more than agents leaking news in an attempt to force Manchester United to complete a move for the Chilean.

It seems a move to Manchester United is close, with the Red Devils happy to pay wages in the region of £350-£400k for the 29 year old, as well as £10m to the agent and a bumper signing on fee for Sanchez. A lot of money for a 29 year old.

The deal is rumoured to be for £25m plus Henrikh Mkhitaryan coming the other way.

Arsenal were close to signing the 29 year old Armenian in 2016, but Manchester United gazumped a deal. People have ask “why would Mkhitaryan turn down Champions League football for Europa League”.

In 2016, Manchester United were in the Europa League, Arsenal were in the Champions League, so there is precedent with Mkhyitaryan. And at the end of the day, playing in the Europa League is a better option than not playing in the Champions League.

If Arsenal do a cash plus player swap for Sanchez, it will be a good deal for the club – taking into account the contract situations of Sanchez and Mesut Ozil.

Mkhitaryan could be joined at Arsenal by former Borussia Dortmund team mate Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The Gabon forward has been heavily linked with Arsenal in the past 48 hours, with some reporting that a deal could be done within the next 48 hours. A transfer fee in the region of £50m is being reported.

If both do join, it is interesting that two players that Sven Mislintat uncovered whilst at Dortmund will become two of the first players (after the Greek lad) he has singled out as quality enough for the new Arsenal.

Going out of the club is Theo Walcott, on his way to Everton. A deal reported to have been agreed for £20m rising to £25m for the Englishman, who has become surplus to requirements this season.

News about Malcom seems to have gone quiet. A deal was reportedly close last season, but with Arsenal now moving in for Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan, that transfer has gone cold.

Swapping Sanchez and Walcott for Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan, with an outlay of just £10m will be good business for Arsenal.

Keenos

Mesut Ozil vs The World

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Further to this mornings article about Mesut Ozil, I thought I would run some figures.

A lot of people moan that Ozil does not do enough, and it got me thinking. In terms of goals and assists, how does Mesut Ozil compare to other Premier League number 10’s. So I did a little comparison with Ozil and players who perform a similar role to him (ie the likes of Eden Hazard and Alexis Sanchez were excluded as they are very different players).

I came up with a list of 9 players, including Ozil, that you would probably see as similar players. I am sure at this point some will criticise me, both for excluding certain players and including certain players. I do not really care. If you want to add any players, do your own research, and add the players stats in the figures.

My 9 Number 10’s are:

Cesc Fabregas
Coutinho
Cristian Erickson
David Silva
Dele Alli
Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Juan Mata
Kevin de Bruyne
Mesut Ozil

I have used Premier League statistics at their current club only.

An argument about Ozil is that he does not score enough. He is 6th on the list, so it is a justifiable argument, but I do not hear people moaning that Cesc, Mkhitaryan or David Silva do not score enough. And he is not too much behind Kevin de Bruyne. Even Cristian Erickson, a player known for being a goal scoring midfielder, scores his goals exactly one game quicker than Ozil.

To put that into perspective, based on their ratios, Erickson would score 8 goals a season (if he played 38 games), whilst Ozil would score 7. Dele Alli’s games to goals is terrific.

Bit of a surprise that Ozil did not top this one, as he is known as an assist king. I was also surprised about how far ahead Kevin de Bruyne is from the rest.

Two of the 3 above Ozil for assists are below him for goals. In fact, bar Henrikh Mkhitaryan, there is a clear correlation on the list, the more goals you score, the less assists you make, and vice versa. Someone like Coutinho scores a lot, but does not provide too much. He always takes the shot. Whilst someone like Fabregas always makes the pass rather than the shot.

It is perhaps therefore import to combine the two. Goals and assists.

Kevin de Bruyne is clearly the most effective Number 10 around at the moment. He scores goals and gets assists. He is an awesome player. He cost £59.7million.

Thinking out loud here, de Bruyne is 25% more effective than Mesut Ozil when it comes to goals and assists, and he cost 25% more. You get for what you pay for I guess.

I was surprised to see the two Tottenham players, Erickson and Alli, 2nd and third on the list. Both players also cost a lot less than every other player on the list. Have to wonder how long they will stay at Spurs for, winning nothing.

4th on the list is Mesut Ozil. He averages a goal or an assist every 2 games.

Ozil is more effective than the likes of David Silva, Cesc Fabregas, Coutinho and Juan Mata. Often labelled as a waste of money, that he has been a £42.5m flop, what about these players?

Barcelona were willing to spend £100m on Coutinho, yet Ozil outperforms him. Where is the criticism for these players?

So before you get on your high horse and moan about what he delivers and his cost, understand that he performs better than a lot of players, who cost a similar amount. Everything is relative.

As a final thought, if I asked you, who would you prefer: Ozil, Cesc, Silva or Coutinho, I bet Ozil would come bottom, yet he out performs all of these. Time for a poll:

Keenos