Tag Archives: She Wore

The world has a left wing epidemic

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The biggest talking point in the summer was Arsenal’s failure to land a top left winger.

Eventually, we opted to stick with just the one new signing in Christos Tzolis, who would be supported by a combination of Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke.

Now I have always maintained that the left wing is the toughest position in the world to find talent right now. There is simply not an abundance of top draw players out there, which in turn inflates the prices of those that are simply average.

Liverpool broke the bank in the summer to sign Bradley Barcola.

At the time, I labelled him as a French Gabriel Martinelli – someone who has blistering pace, poor one on one from a standing start, and not great end product. He has looked distinctly average for Liverpool this season and has certainly not shown anywhere near enough to justify the huge price tag.

Long term target Vinicius Jr looks a shadow of his former self.

We were willing to brank the bank to sign the Brazilian in the summer, and maybe the sage has taken its toll mentally. Or maybe, at 26, with over 500 senior games under his belt, the spark has gone and the demise is beginning.

One of my favourite things right now is reading the conspiracy theories about Vinicius Jr and about how he is on a yacht somewhere in the Caribbean sea enjoying life and what we see playing week in week out for Real Madrid is a body double.

Then we have Iliman Ndiaye. He was some fans favourite for us to go for – a lower level player who many thought had the game to step up if he joined a top club. A bit like Antoine Semenyo. He is yet to get off the mark for Man City and it is beginning to feel he was overhyped – remember, Ndiaye scored just 6 league goals last season.

Ndiaye’s Man City team mate Jeremy Doku is probably the most overhyped player in world football.

Doku does some brilliant things with the ball at his feet, and is a scorer of great goals. But he will always lack the consistency to ever be considered a top player.

The Belgium left wingers goal against Liverpool was his 1st of the season. That takes his tally to 12 Premier League goals in over 3 seasons. One of the best in the world apparently.

Meanwhile, another fan favourite Rafael Leao ended up in the Turkey retirement home. Get your teeth and hair done whilst earning millions playing football at a lower level. He has yet to score this season.

Anthony Gordon scored his first Champions League goal for Barcelona earlier this week. He celebrated like he had done it all himself, completely ignoring Yamine Lamal’s world class build up play to put it on a plate.

Two goals this season, Gordon is what he is. Hard working, direct, quick. An English Martinelli.

Kenan Yildiz, another long term arsenal target, fractured his metatarsal back in September and will do well to be back before Christmas. Likewise, Junior Kroupi is recovering from an injury picked up in July. Both have required surgery, with the Frenchman potentially back in 4-6 weeks.

Finally, we come onto Luis Diaz and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

Dias is decent, but not really World Class. He is now just getting huge numbers in a very poor league. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, meanwhile, has looked off the pace for PSG.

Ultimate, it feels like Arsenal did well to spend big in a market where talent is thing. Only really Morgan Rodgers has shown any sort of form to have justified us spending big – and he is playing in a much narrower position than we would have played him.

Come January, the calls will come again for us to sign a left winger. Yildiz and Kroupi will come into the equation. Although I see Yildiz as more of a Martin Odegaard replacement.

Kroupi would be a very good option – I think his future would be down the middle, but he has shown he can play as an inside left forward in the Premier League. He could be a sensible recruit for the 2nd half of the season before transitioning next season into a centre forward option (replacing Viktor Gyokeres).

The only other one I would bother keeping an eye on is Desire Doue. I think this kid has it.

At the moment he is playing right wing for PSG with Kvaratskhelia one of the first names on the teamsheet on the left – but his best position is on that left wing.

Maybe a PR campaign, highlighting that he can become a superstar at Arsenal rather than a player playing out of position for PSG could see a summer move. Who knows?

What we do know is the market is still very thin, and, Rogers aside, none of those who moved have exactly shown Arsenal wrong for opting not to sign them

Keenos

Why don’t Man U, Liverpool and Tottenham “just pay the asking price”

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The longest running transfer saga of this summer is Bryan Mbeumo to Manchester United. Why are Man U negotiating? if they wanted him that much they would pay the asking price.

Meanwhile, Liverpool bid £120m for Aleksander Isak. This was swiftly rejected. Why don’t they go in with a serious offer like £200m and just pay Newcastle’s asking price.

At the same time, they have also had a bid for Hugo Ekitike rejected by Eintracht Frankfurt. Two strikers and twice they failed to pay the asking price. What are they playing at?

Finally, Tottenham triggered Morgan Gibbs-White release clause, but he remains a Nottingham Forest player. What are they playing at over in Middlesex? If they want the player, they should make a serious offer vastly above the minimum release clause. It’s Arsenal’s Luis Suarez £40m+£1 all over again.

Now imagine Arsenal were doing this business. Offers rejected for Mbeumo, Isak and Ekitike. Failing to secure Gibbs-White despite that release clause. We would be getting mercifully mocked by Sky Sports, TalkSport and fans of Man U, Liverpool and Spurs.

In this world, it is only The Arsenal that are not allowed to negotiate. Not allowed to go in at lower than the asking price. Not allowed to try and get a deal that might be beneficial.

So why are others not held to the same standard? Why are they allowed to negotiate like it is normal in football? Is it just that negativity around The Arsenal sells, and that is then the narrative pushed.

If you are a fan of an opposing club and got this far. Please realise this is satirical. Do not jump up and down in our comments about how negotiating is part of football. I get that.

Man U, Liverpool and Tottenham have a right to negotiate. and Forest are in the wrong around Gibbs-White, just like Liverpool were over Suarez.

Arsenal also have a right to negotiate. And we have done very well with it this summer.

Enjoy your Friday.

Keenos

Why are Premier League set to investigate Chido Obi Martin deal?

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Chido Obi-Martin is on the verge of joining Manchester United.

The 16-year-old, who was nowhere near ready for the Arsenal first team opted to take a step down to Manchester United in the quest of fast tracking his journey to first team football, even if it means playing at a lower level.

As we blogged last week, Arsenal are better off without the youngster, whom is clearly being used by his handlers to make a quick buck at the detriment of his career.

The deal is subject to the Premier League 5 step investigation – or five-step review process as it is also known).

This process is nothing unique. It is an investigatory review that every transfer involving an academy player between two Category One academies goes through.

Before any academy player can be registered, the transfer must go through the review, which takes around 25 days to be completed. But what is the five-step review process?

Following Southampton receiving a suspended sentence back in 2022 for contacting academy players without permission, The Athletic outlined what is involved in the process:

Step 1: The new club submits a signed registration form to the Premier League.

Step 2: The Premier League appoints an independent third party (usually a law firm) to conduct “exit interviews” with the player, parents and both clubs. However, further interviews or requests for information are also permitted.

Step 3: The two clubs involved in the agreement, including the player’s parents, are required to sign a declaration that no financial or value-in-kind inducements have been utilised as a part of the move (including contra deals).

Step 4: Through the independent third party, a report is then produced for the Premier League’s board, coming up with a recommendation regarding the club’s application to register the player.

Step 5: The Premier League’s board can either approve or reject the registration application. They also have the autonomy to take disciplinary against the club if they were found to breach their youth development rules.

So what does this all mean?

Well firstly, absolutely nothing if the review finds Manchester United did nothing wrong in their recruitment of Chido Obi Martin.

If it is found that they have breached the rules, the player will still sign for Man U but they could face sanctions.

The Athletic article continues: Everton for example, were handed a two-year academy ban in November 2018 and a fine of ÂŁ500,000 ($608,000) for offering incentives to a player and his family.

In 2017, Manchester City were fined ÂŁ300,000 ($365,000) and also banned from signing academy players for two years after the Premier League found evidence of contact between City staff and family members. Incidentally, in that same month, Liverpool were deemed to have breached similar rules when offering inducements to a Stoke City player and subsequently banned from recruiting in the academy for 12 months. They were also fined ÂŁ100,000 ($122,000).

Keenos