Tag Archives: She Wore

Is Leon Bailey Arsenal’s “Big Opportunity”?

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Back in February, I singled out Leon Bailey as a player Arsenal should target this summer.

The 20-year-old Jamaican speedster was number one on my list when I discussed in May about what potential wingers Arsenal should target.

Bailey joined Bayer Leverkusen for €20 million in the January of 2017 from Genk in Belgium. A slow first 6 months to his career as he settled into playing at a higher level, the season just gone was a real break through one for him.

He has been in sparkling form for the majority of the Bundesliga season and has scored some spectacular goals to help Leverkusen to fourth place and Champions League contention.

12 goals in 34 games in all competitions, he averaged a goal or assist every 148 minutes in the Bundesliga.

If you created a criteria for what Arsenal need to sign, Bailey would tick every box.

Young, quick, comfortable on the wing but has the technique to play inside. He is certainly one of the best young talents in European football right now.

Out in Singapore, Unai Emery reinforced his comments that Arsenal will still be in the market if a “big opportunity” comes up by saying;

I am very happy with how the club is working and we are working every day on how we can improve. I am with the players and those who have arrived this week, I am very happy with and I said at the last press conference that if there is an opportunity to try to sign one player, then we are looking.

Leon Bailey would be that big opportunity.

The only concern could come down to cost.

Whilst Arsenal still have plenty of money to spend – our incoming transfers have increased our yearly costs by about £30million, the club could get blown out of the water by Chelsea.

Both Eden Hazard and Willian are looking for a way out of Chelsea. One is likely to leave, if not both.

Barcelona have already bid £65m for Willian, and it would not be a surprise to see Hazard go to Real Madrid for £100m+. That will be a big chunk of change burning a whole in their pocket.

A deal for Bailey in the region of £40-£50m, Arsenal would be in the game.

A 5 year contract and wages of around £6m a year would increase club costs by £16m, still within our budget. But if Chelsea decide he is the man to replace Hazard, we could be talking about an £80m transfer fee.

Arsenal might decide that is a little too pricey for a player who has had just 18 months in the Bundesliga.

We could decide to move on Alex Iwobi, Danny Welbeck and Lucas Perez to raise additional funds for Bailey. With Perez having spent last year on loan, it would pretty much be two out, one in.

Arsenal could use their German influence to try and encourage Bailey to make it clear to Leverkusen that he wants to join the North London side.

A meeting with Sven Mislintat, a phone call from former Leverkusen goal keeper Bernd Leno, a signed picture of Mesut Ozil.

If Arsenal did sign him up,

Keenos

JW Diaries: Day 1 in Singapore

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Having touched down in Singapore after a 14 hour flight at 7am, today as ever here, the first thing you notice is the heat; It is extremely hot and sticky!

A quick cab ride to our hotel ends in disappointment that we can’t check in until midday; meaning that no shower and wearing the same cloths for a few more hours.

This gave me the opportunity to go to the stadium and pick up our sets of pre-ordered match tickets.

After checking in, showering and a hours sleep, it’s a drink in the hotel bar and at £13 a pint there was just the one!

The Arsenal hotel was only a 5 minute walk away, with the team out at their training camp, we had a chat with some friends working for the club.

Camped outside the hotel there was around 30 locals waiting for the team to return hoping to get photos and autographs, all have been successful!

I was hoping to have a few words with our CEO Ivan Gazidis especially with the speculation coming out from the UK with a possible move to Milan, he was out watching the training; a better opportunity awaits tomorrow.

The story about Gazidis joining AC Milan as their CEO is simply not news out here in Singapore. Likewise yesterdays news about Alisher Usmanov exploring the sale of his 30.04% Arsenal stake.

Whilst in the team hotel, we ordered another beer; Two bottles of the familiar locally brewed ‘Tiger Beer’ came to a staggering £21 – ouch!

In the evening, we ventured to the Bar used by the Singapore Supporters Club, Five Square, probably the biggest bar I’ve ever seen outside of the UK! Again drinks were unsurprisingly expensive, on top of the menu price you have to pay 7% tax and 10% service charge even when you don’t use the waitresses!

Back in bed by 1am; tomorrow brings another trip to the team hotel for a ‘Fan Party’ and hopefully some news direct from our CEO!

JW

Who would buy Arsenal?

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This mornings big Arsenal news is a scoop from the Financial times the Alisher Usmanov is exploring the sale of his 30% Arsenal stake.

I imagine part of that exploration is inserting a story within the Financial Times to attempt to drum up some interest. A free advert. As I believe the story was planted by his side, I think we can say for certain that he is looking to sell.

But who would actually buy his 30.04% share holding in the club?

Usmanov owns 18,690 shares. The most recent shares have sold northwards of £30,000.

If we take into account that such a volume of shares hitting the market in one time will likely go for a reduced cost (and the fact my OCD makes me like round numbers), Usmanov’s share holding is worth in the region of £500,000,000.

That is a huge chunk of change that someone is going to have to find to buy him out.

And who would actually be interested in doing so? Usmanov’s shares get you zero influence.

As it stands, majority shareholder Stan Kroenke has no interest in buying any more shares. Where he to get Usmanov’s, he could then force through the purchase of any remaining shares and make the company private. But would he really be interested in spending another £500,000,000 on shares to gain full ownership of a club that he already has full operational ownership?

I can not see Kroenke forking out another £500,000,000.

Nigerian businessman Aliko Dangote has a long term interest in owning shares. He is reportedly worth $12.2 billion, but would what spending £500,000,000 on Arsenal shares get him?

He would unlikely get a seat on the board, and therefore would have no influence on the club. Another billionaire buying out Usmanov would simply be a vanity project. To say that they are Arsenal’s second biggest share holder.

They might see it as a foot in the door. To ensure that if Kroenke ever does sell, they are potentially first in line. But this would rely on Kroenke selling. A £500,000,000 investment to be first in line to something that probably will not happen in the near future? It is not worth the investment.

A financial institution might be interested in the share holding purely on an investment basis. But is Arsenal already overpriced at £30,000 a share?

it was only in 2017 that Arsenal shares smashed through the £20,000 barrier for the first time.

A year on, we are looking at shares being worth 50%, even though financials and outlook are no better.

The reason for this is a bit like the rise in Bitcoin.

Arsenal shares are so limited, and so few come on the market, that a seller can nearly name their price.

A football club is not like a normal company. Many of the recent buyers are not purchasing to make a profit, they are purchasing to say they own a share in Arsenal. If prices were still at £20,000, I would certainly be interested in purchasing one.

To a middle-aged trader, a lawyer, even a retiree in London, £30,000 is not much to part with to own a single share in the club, it is a vanity purchase.

Arsenal pays no dividend. It would not make sense for a financial institution to spend £500,000,000 on shares that they would almost have to sell off individually over a few years to see a profit on.

Not too many people in the world have £500,000,000 cash sitting waiting to be invested in something that will get them no influence and very little return.

Will anyone actually want to buy Alisher Usmanov’s shares?

Keenos