Tag Archives: She Wore A Yellow Ribbon

Guendouzi OUT, Rabiot, Nkunku + £42m IN

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Matteo Guendouzi has been a fantastic signing.

Signed for just £7million last summer, it is easy to forget that he is just 18-year-old and had just 8 Ligue 1 appearances to his name.

The original plan would probably have been to use him at 6th choice central midfielder, behind Granit Xhaka, Lucas Torreira, Aaron Ramsey, Mo Elneny and Ainsley Maitland-Niles. The World Cup and some injuries saw him got some early game time and he has not looked back.

His form has led to speculation that PSG are considering a bid this summer.

I have spoken before about how Liverpool have been able to build a title winning squad by buying low, selling high and reinvesting that in more players. Over the last 5 seasons, they have bought in over £200m more in player sales than Arsenal. This has enable them to sign Allisson, Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah.

When you compare that to Arsenal who have lost about £200m in player sales over that period due to contracts and underselling players – think Alexis Sanchez, Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere, Danny Welbeck, Wojech Szczesny & Serge Gnabry – it leads us to the situation which we are now in. Liverpool 2nd, Arsenal 5th.

I have blogged previously that Arsenal will need to take a risk. Perhaps sell Lucas Torreira for big money and reinvest that on 3 or 4 players.

£60million for Matteo Guendouzi is huge money for a player with half a good season, and Arsenal should seriously consider it.

PSG have previously had problems filling their “home-grown” quota for the Champions League.

With the mega rich oil-financed club recruiting the worlds best players, this has often been at the detriment over French talent.

This has led to PSG signing the likes of Lassana Diarra, Hatem Ben Arfa, Benjamin Stambouli and Yohan Cabaye in recent years.

Despite France being current World Champions, very few of the national teams top players came from PSG.

With Adrien Rabiot, Christopher Nkunku and Lassana Diarra set to leave them in the summer, they will be left with just 4 senior French players in their squad.

This means they will need to go out to the market and recruit French, which in return will see premium price tags put on French players akin to what happens in England with English players.

Guendouzi would be an ideal signing for PSG.

He is one of the best young midfielders in world football. PSG would be signing him knowing that he has the potential to become a first team regular at the highest level – and not just to make up the numbers like Diarra, Ben Arfa et al.

He would be the perfect replacement for Rabiot.

Not only is Guendouzi French, he is Parisian.

Born in Poissy, an outer suburb of France, Guendouzi joined the PSG academy at the age of 6. He left Paris to join Lorient’s academy in 2014.

PSG fans will be wondering why they let such a talent out of their door at 15-years-old.

With the premium PSG will pay on French players, Guendouzi’s potential, and him being Paris-born. a fee in the region of £60million would not be too far from the truth – remember they spent £144million signing another Paris born teenager – Kylian Mbappe.

So should Arsenal take it? My heart might say no but my head says yes.

Let us paint a kick picture.

Arsenal sell Guendouzi for £60million. We then recruit two of the French central midfielders that PSG are set to lose this summer – Rabiot and Nkunku.

Rabiot is available on a free this summer and is a better player than Guendouzi.

They are very similar in the way they play (and look), but with Rabiot being 4-years Guendouzi’s senior, he is the more polished player. Closer to the finished article.

Guendouzi has the potential to be better than Rabiot, but we would be trading a player with a handful of appearances for someone with well over 200.

In January, Arsenal were also heavily linked with Christopher Nkunku for £18 million.

Were we to secure both Rabiot and Nkunku we would be improving our first XI and signing a talented youngster for the future. We would also be £42million up on the deal.

Sou would making the deal make sense?

https://twitter.com/KeenosAFC/status/1097415283352973314

Keenos

 

Victory Grows Through Harmony – Does everyone need to remember the values of The Arsenal?

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Someone recently said to me “Unai Emery is neglecting the clubs values.” I responded by asking “what are the clubs values.”

I thought it was a simple question, but the response was also predictable; “if you do not know the clubs values then can you really call yourself an Arsenal fan.”

The question was the rephrased as “which Arsenal values do you believe Emery is neglecting” and again the response came back as “as an Arsenal fan you should know,”

This went in circles 5 times until it hit me, the person making the original statement did not have a clue about Arsenal’s values; he just said it is a throwaway statement without knowing how he was going to justify it.

It then got me thinking; what are the clubs values? What are our principles and standard of behaviour?

I imagine the original Tweeter was talking about playing the Arsenal way.

The “Arsenal Way” is an awful statement. Something made up. Just like the “West Ham Way” or the “United Way”. It means nothing.

Some will argue that the Arsenal Way is how we play football. Free flowing, possession based, attacking football. But this is not the Arsenal Way. This is the way we played under Arsene Wenger for about half of his tenure under him.

The double of 1998 was built on defence rather than attack. Under George Graham it was “boring boring Arsenal”. Attacking football certainly is not one of the clubs values.

So I attempted to come up with some club principles, and felt that there was evidence of Arsenal values.

The first is in the club moto Victoria Concordia Crescit. I like many have it tattooed on myself. It stands for “Victory Grows Through Harmony”. The history on this can be found over on The Arsenal History Blog.

Victory growing through harmony. It is fairly self-explanatory. That we succeed in life by working together, working with each other, rather than working against each other.

Before Emery had even over seen a game, he participated in an interview where he highlighted he knows exactlywhat VCC means.

He spoke about how the club, the team, the media and the fans need to work together to get success. That the 4 were legs of a table. That without one leg, you may not succeed.

I imagine he used this analogy during the interview process, and it is a analogy we can all get behind.

The problem is many fans have forgotten about Victoria Concoardia Crescit. They have forgotten that victory grows through harmony.

It started under Arsene Wenger. Fans so willing to crate divisions, labelling themselves and labelling fans who disagree with them. There had never been such a huge division between many fans. We were certainly not working as one to hold up the table.

And that has continued this season.

Fans are constantly arguing with each other. Whether it be over Unai Emery, over Mesut Ozil, or over foreign supporters. It seems some just want to see an argue online all day, creating divisions. Extreme views fuelled by a desire for retweets and followers.

I am not talking about fans disagreeing or having a discussion with differing view points. I am talking about those fans who deliberately go out there and try and be divisive.

Also those fans who are quick to insult someone who has a different view to themselves.

Just because you disagree with me, does not give you a right to label me as a “paedophile” or an “overweight 50-year-old alcoholic wife beater”. Likewise it would not give me the right to say “your view doesn’t count because you are foreign”.

Victory Grows Through Harmony. Fans seems to have forgotten that.

The second club value was something that David Rocastle said.

Fans clearly forget who they are and who the represent.

They forget that on social media, when they have an Arsenal AVI or “Arsenal” in their bio that they are not only representing their views but also The Arsenal.

Recently we have seen a rise in the mainstream media writing “Arsenal fans react” articles. They pick and choose half a dozen extreme tweets in response to something that has happened and use this to create a representation of all Arsenal fans.

We also have the embarrassment of Arsenal Fan TV.

The media and fans of other clubs use them as a stick to beat us all. They act like the characters and actors on the YouTube channel are the voice of the fans. That they represent the fans. They do not.

Look at racist abuse.

When a player is racially abused by someone in the crowd, it is not just that fan who gets hammered, but the entire fan base. We have seen it with Chelsea, whose entire fan base has been labelled “racist” due to the behaviour of a few.

Whilst people will argue that their views represent themselves, and not the club they support, they should remember that when Tweeting or commenting under the guise of being an Arsenal fan, that they are representing the fan base.

Some Arsenal fans, with their abuse of the likes of Alex Iwobi and Ainsley Maitland-Niles have clearly forgotten who they are and what they represent,

“Play for the name on the front of the shirt, and they’ll remember the name on the back.”

Arsenal’s greatest ever player, greatest ever captain, Tony Adams uttered the above words. I feel some of our players have forgotten about that.

In an era of football when players can have a larger following than clubs. When fans support a player instead of a club – and will move their support when the player moves – some players have ended up chasing personal glory rather than team success.

Wenger said in his final year at the club that we will see more and more fans supporting players over clubs. It already happens in American supports, where fans (usually not local) follow Lebron James above the club he plays for.

They supported the Cavs because of him, then moved their support to Miami Heat, now support the Lakers. For them supporting the individual is more important than supporting the team.

Mesut Ozil (24m followers) has a lot of this type of fans. They supported him at Madrid, now support him at Arsenal (14m fans) and will follow him to PSG or China or wherever he plays next.

Ozil is a global superstar. I understand why he attracts many fans like this. But the problem is he, amongst others, tend to end up playing for themselves, playing the PR game for themselves, at the detriment of the club they lay for.

I go back to Emmanuel Frimpong. He became more interested in his social media status than playing for The Arsenal. He was last seen playing for a club in Cyprus.

Players need to remember that if they play for The Arsenal, if they perform for The Arsenal, then fans will remember them.

The likes of Ray Parlour and Dennis Bergkamp and two great examples of this.

Completely different amount of talents, but both are Arsenal legends. Both played for the badge on the front of the shirt, and the name on the back became legendary.

The final value comes from a Denis Bergkamp quote.

“When you start supporting a football club, you don’t support it because of the trophies, or a player, or history, you support it because you found yourself somewhere there; found a place where you belong.”

As a fan you should not be supporting a club for the trophies. Or because they are a “global brand” or due to a single player. You should be supporting them because you have found a place where you belong.

If Arsenal drop down the leagues, end up in the Conference, with XI local boys, no global superstars, you should still support the club.

It is the fans around you watching the game alongside you that makes the club, not the trophies or the players on the pitch.

If you only support the club due to the success, or just to the brand, or due to a player, you will soon disappear if it hits the fan. You are not really a supporter, not really a fan, if the only reason you support The Arsenal due to trophies or a player.

Personally, I think we can all become better fans, more respectful fans, and as a result a more successful club, if we remember the 4 values of the club:

Victoria Concordia Crescit

Remember who you are and what you represent

Play for the badge on the front, and they will remember the name of the back

Do not support your club due to trophies or players, but because you have found a place to belong

Have a nice Sunday

Keenos

Arsenal to target Chelsea youngster

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I was trying to write a blog on what central defender Arsenal should target in the summer.

Kalidou Koulibaly has been many peoples long term favourite to join the club. He is also a favourite of fans of Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United. He will not join Arsenal.

Reality is he is coming up to 27-years-old and is at his peak – both in ability terms and financially.

In December, Napoli confirmed that they had rejected  a £95million bid from Manchester United for the defender. It should be noted that their owner Aurelio De Laurentiis is a film producer and has a reputation for fabricating stories.

Arsenal would be silly to spend the bulk of their transfer fund on a single central defender – no matter how good he is. This summer we need to sign a defender, a left back, a central midfielder and at least one attacking players – winger / forward. If we go all in on Koulibaly we will not have much left.

What we need to do is focus on signing the next Koulibaly.

This means going for someone a little less established. A bit more of a risk. A younger player. Think a 22-year-old Koulibaly when he joined Napoli; or a Virgil van Dijk-type signing when he joined Southampton for £13million.

What we will not be doing is buying the established Koulibaly or van Dijk.

So I set myself a task of looking for central defenders who were aged under 25-years-old. Players who are not fully establish as world beaters, but could certainly become one.

First on the list was AC Milan’s Alessio Romagnoli.

The Italian central defender is everything an Italian central defender should be. Just 24-years-old and already captain of AC Milan, he is the future of the Italian defence. However this would also mean that Juventus would also see him as their future. It is surely only a matter of time until they make their move to replace the ageing Andrea Barzagli (37) and Giorgio Chiellini (34).

Romagnoli will be top of their list. And like with Bayern Munich in Germany, Italian’s just do not turn down Juventus.

Like Romagnoli, José Giménez at Atletico Madrid is a fabulous player but also already too well establish. His team mate Lucas Hernandez is more likely and apparently wants out at Madrid’s second club.

I would be worried about whether Hernandez is physical enough for the Premier League. He reminds me of Calum Chambers. Not quite bit enough to play in the middle, not quite athletic enough to play at left back.

The next two fairly obvious names to look at were Matthijs de Ligt and Dayot Upamecano.

Both are clearly the two best teenage centre backs on the planet at the moment. And that is the problem.

They are superstars in waiting, which means they come with a press tag to represent their potential. De Ligt has already been linked with Barcelona, and Upamecano linked with Bayern Munich. There would be a lot of competition for the pair which would probably end up pricing Arsenal out. Upamecano perhaps the more realistic.

What would perhaps be a more realistic deal would be targeting Upamecano’s team mate at RB Leipzeg – Ibrahima Konaté.

A year younger than his fellow Frenchman, Konate is less polished and less experienced but his price tag would be more reasonable. Would he be ready to start week in week out however?

I then came across who I think would be the ideal candidate. Chelsea’s Andreas Christensen.

Arsenal were interested a then-15-year-old Christensen way back in 2012. He chose Chelsea.

He made his debut at 18-years-old before joining the mass ranks of Chelsea loanees for the 2015/16 season.

Unlike the other 30-odd players out on loan, Christensen quickly established himself as a regular at Borussia Mönchengladbach in the Bundesliga.

Playing 31 league games in his first season, he won Mönchengladbach’s Player of the Year. Chelsea decided not to break the two-year loan deal and left him in Germany for a second season, where he impressed again.

He returned at 21-years-old with over 80 first team games in Germany under his belt. He looked ready for the Premier League.

2017/18 was a fruitful first season for Christensen with Chelsea.

He signed a new four-and-half-year deal with Chelsea running until 2022, after establishing himself in the first team and was named Chelsea’s Young Player of the Year.

Christensen made 40 appearances for the Blues in 2017/18 before a back injury ruled him out of the FA Cup Final.

This season Christensen has made just 2 starts in the Premier League for Chelsea – with Maurizio Sarri preferring Antonio Rüdiger and David Luiz; both of whom have played 25 out of the 26 league games so far.

The Danish international has seemingly fallen out with the Chelsea manager, including an incident now known as pee-gate.

If Sarri remains at Chelsea next year, he is unlikely to stay. And even if the Italian manager leaves, Christensen might feel it is time to seek first team football elsewhere.

Arsenal would be signing a 23-year-old central defender with 3 full seasons of top flight football under his belt in both Germany and – perhaps more crucially – in England.

He is Premier League proven and was once labelled by Antonio Conte as the present and future of Chelsea:

“This player is a player for the present for Chelsea, and for Chelsea’s future for 10 or 12 years. He can also become the captain of this team in the future.”

With both Chelsea likely to want him out, and the player himself wanting to leave, he could be available for less than £35million, which would easily fit into Arsenal’s budget.

He would be able to stay in London and would walk straight into Arsenal’s first XI alongside Sokratis.

I am going to stick my flag to wall. Put a name out there. Andreas Christensen is the central defender I want Arsenal to sign this summer.

Keenos