Tag Archives: She Wore

Arsenal can only sign ONE more foreign player

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In June I analysed the state of the Arsenal squad.

The theory behind it was to evaluate what exactly Arsenal currently has in the squad, in terms of players that must be registered with the Premier League (Players born on or after 1 January 1998 do not need to be register) and of those registered players, who is home grown (HG) and non-home grown (NHG).

At the time of previous blog, Arsenal had 22 players over the age of 21, 15 of whom had to be registered. This left Arsenal with 3 senior spots, 2 of which could be filled by a NHG player if desired.

Since that blog, Arsenal have signed Dani Ceballos, Gabriel Martinelli and William Saliba, with Nicolas Pepe on the cusp of joining (at the time of writing). David Ospina has been sold.

This leaves Arsenal’s squad looking at follows:

The signings of Dani Ceballos and Nicolas Pepe, with David Ospina leaving puts Arsenal in a position where they can sign 2 more senior players – enough room for a central defender and left back.

This leaves Arsenal with just 1 space for a non home grown player.

Scottish players are considered NHG under Premier League rules. This means that were Arsenal to sign Kieran Tierney at left back, they would have reached the maximum amount of NHG players.

Things can change quickly in football, however.

Laurent Koscielny is likely to return to France, with Edu having recently met with his counterpart at Rennes.

If a new central defender joins, it will most likely mean the end for Shkodran Mustafi. Either Saed Kolasinac or Nacho Monreal will surely make way for Tierney.

Losing Koscielny, Mustafi and a left back will free up 3 more NHG places, taking us down to just 14 – and 21 registered players in total.

That would leave us the places to add someone like Samuel Umtiti or Daniele Rugani – both of whom we have been linked with. It would also give us a bit of breathing room if we wanted to make a late bid for another central midfielder like Sami Khedira.

With the likes of Mohammed Elneny and Henrikh Mkhitaryan set to be on the fringes of the squad, Arsenal could free up further space if needed.

We are closing in on the maximum registered squad number (25) and maximum amount of non home grown players (17), but there is nothing to worry about. Yet.

Keenos

Nicolas Pepe signing shows that playing for The Arsenal is a bigger draw than playing in the Champions League

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“Arsenal will struggle to sign anyone with no Champions League football” fans of Tottenham have cried over the last year.

The signing of Nicolas Pepe shows what I have known all along, players do not care about the Champions League.

Players want to win trophies, they want to earn a lot of money, and they want to play for the best teams, those teams they supported growing up.

So playing for Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich or Juventus delivers all 4. Trophies, money and playing for a top team.

Whilst Man City, Chelsea and PSG have offered the trophies and the money.

Prior to last season the likes of Liverpool could offer the historic club and the money. As can AC Milan and Inter Milan.

In recent years, Manchester United and The Arsenal have bought big despite not being in the Champions League.

They were able to offer the money, at times the trophies, and their biggest draw was they are both amongst the biggest names in world football.

The likes of Nicolas Pepe would have grown up supporting Arsenal, with their numerous French African stars.

Raul Sanllehi recently said “when Arsenal knock on a player’s door, it’s a different knock than other clubs” .

And Sanllehi is absolutely spot on.

Regardless of 3 finishes outside the top 4 in the last 3 years, The Arsenal have still been able to compete and sign some fantastic players.

Nicolas Pepe
William Saliba
Dani Ceballas
Bernd Leno
Sokratis
Matteo Guendouzi
Stephan Lichtsteiner
Lucas Torreira
Saed Kolasinac
Alexandre Lacazette
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Henrikh Mkhitaryan

The fact is that as long as The Arsenal can compete financially, pay the salaries, we are still a bigger draw than someone like Tottenham who can offer the Champions League but not the salaries, success or playing for top club.

A lot of the players mentioned above have also joined from sides in the Champions League from Europe, highlighting just how big a draw it is to play for The Arsenal over the likes of Borussia Dortmund, Lille and Lyon.

It is not just The Arsenal that has this kind of pulling power.

Manchester United were able to sign the likes of Paul Pogba, despite no Champions League football. Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and AC Milan could compete for any player in the world no matter if they finished 1st or 8th.

Money is king.

Champions League football generates a lot of wealth for clubs, allowing them to spend a lot more on wages. But the top clubs already have that money so do not require Champions League football to pay the top wages.

Regardless of what competition The Arsenal play in, they will always be a bigger draw for players than the likes of Tottenham.

Saliba and Ceballas picked Arsenal over Spurs, and they could only dream of signing a player like Nicolas Pepe.

Playing for The Arsenal is bigger than playing in the Champions League

Keenos

Why haven’t Arsenal signed a senior centre back?

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“We need defenders” is the reply by many to posts about Nicolas Pepe.

Some Arsenal fans are confused as to why we are spending big on one of the most exciting attacking players in Europe whilst neglecting a creaking defence which still contains Shkodran Mustafi. The answer is simple.

Arsenal need to sell before they can buy.

We do not need to sell because we need the money; we need to sell because we have too many defenders.

Sokratis
Shkodran Mustafi
Rob Holding
Laurent Koscielny
Calum Chambers
Kostadinos Mavropanos

As it stands, we have 6 central defenders in our senior squad.

Now you can moan about the quality of those, and any moaning would be justified, but the problem Arsenal face is were we to buy a new face without selling, it would leave us with 7 centre backs. Last season we had 5.

In a balanced squad, you do not need 7 central defenders. Five is probably the maximum.

Last season we went into the season with 5 centre backs: Sokratis, Mustafi, Holding, Koscielny & Mavropanos. Chambers spent the season on loan at Fulham.

Mavropanos played just 4 games all season, despite Holding & Koscielny both having long absences and Arsenal going to 3 at the back at times. Holding started just 9 Premier League games.

We clearly do not need 7 centre backs.

So Arsenal need to sell before they can buy, which is easier said than done.

Before pre-season started, Arsenal would have been looking to move on Chambers and Mustafi – the pair would have commanded over £40million between them.

This would have left Arsenal with 4 centre backs – Sokratis (who would start), Holding (who is injured), Koscielny (who is a faded force) and Mavropanos (unproven), leaving us plenty of space for a 5th choice to partner Sokratis.

Fast forward a year, Koscielny leaves and William Slaiba comes in to replace him.

And then Koscielny decided he no longer wanted to play for Arsenal, leaving the best laid plans in ruins.

With Koscielny likely to leave, it means Arsenal have to keep hold of either Chambers or Mustafi. The clubs preference is likely Chambers as he is:

  1. Home grown
  2. Younger
  3. More versatile

The problem is no bids have come in for Mustafi, and this is what is causing the club staff a head ache.

If Arsenal could get rid of Mustafi, they could then go ahead and sign a new central defender. That would then allow us to give Koscielny his wish – a return to France.

As it stands, Mustafi is going nowhere, which will leave Arsenal having to sell Chambers or, worst case scenario, keep both and lose Koscielny

Keenos