Tag Archives: sports

Arsenal youth keeper actually 20 years old (and not the reported 15)

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Morning! We are 8 days into our 19-day break from football. Times like this does make me wonder what those who do not like our great game do with their time? Life is so boring without it.

Due to the lack of senior football, Arsenal.com are using the time to highlight the academy and women teams, so there is a real lack of real Arsenal news floating about.

As expected, the game against Aston Villa has been moved to Sunday afternoon.

Hats off to all those who had worked out that this game would be moved, and as a result the Munich away leg would have to take place on the Wednesday. These guys got some great deals on flights by booking for a Wednesday game before UEFA had officially announced it. I am still not too upset about £230 flying via Frankfurt. Although it does bite that return flights direct to Munich are just £61 the next week!

I was surprised to read yesterday how few players we had on international duty – just 12:

Aaron Ramsdale
Bukayo Saka
David Raya
Declan Rice
Jakub Kiwior
Jorginho
Kai Havertz
Karl Hein
Leandro Trossard
Martin Odegaard
Oleksandr Zinchenko
William Saliba

Just 7 of the 12 are first team regulars following Gabriel Magalhaes withdrawal. That means the likes of Ben White, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Cedric Soares, Gabriel, Thomas Partey, Emile Smith Rowe, Fabio Vieira, Mohamed Elneny, Reiss Nelson, Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah are still at London Colney. Gabriel Martinelli and Jurrien Timber also remain at home whilst they return from injury.

To have 11 senior players training in the middle of the March international break must be a positive for Mikel Arteta and Arsenal. By the time we add in a few of the U21s, the boss will be able to run fairly normal training sessions.

One of those who has joined the senior team for training is goalkeeper Ovie Ejeheri.

I am not sure where the story has come from, but it has been reported that Ejeheri is only 15, which is clearly not true.

It shows how many Twitter accounts just copy and paste news without checking for themselves first. A quick Google of his name brings up his Arsenal.com profile which Ejeheri was born in 2003. In April he turns 21!

The Greenwich born keeper spent the first half of last season on-loan at National League South side Chelmsford City, keeping 12 clean sheets in 25 games. For the second half of the season he joined Finnish club SJK, with Ejeheri keeping nine clean sheets in 14 Veikkausliiga games.

Arsenal have quite a few young goalkeepers on the books right now including:

Karl Hein – Current 3rd choice, 21 years old
James Hilson – Current 4th choice, 1st choice U21, 23 years old
Ovie Ejeheri – 2nd choice U21, 20 years old
Arthur Okonkwo – Performing well on loan to Wrexham, 22 years old
Hubert Graczyk – Polish youth international on loan at Slough Town, 21 years old
Noah Cooper – Frist choice U18, 18 years old
Alexei Rojas – Essex born Columbian, signed from Chelsea, 18 years old
Brian Okonkwo – Arthur’s younger brother, recently joined Cheshunt on loan, 18 years old

With Aaron Ramsdale set to leave in the summer, it will be interesting if Arteta believes that Karl Hein is ready to step up as 2nd choice, and if so who from Hilson, Ejehri and Okonkwo will become 3rd choice.

My first thought is that we will probably sign an experienced number 2 to cover David Raya, with Hein remaining as number 3 for a couple more seasons.

James Hilson will probably be moved on, with Ejeheri stepping up to be 1st choice U21 keeper, backed up by Graczyk.

Okonwko (Arthur), will probably be sold on. His performances for Wrexham will probably see him fetch a fee in the region of £5m from a Championship side.

Cooper, Rojas and Okonkwo (Brian), will still all be eligiblefor the U18s next season. One will probably leave on loan to a National League side. We have history of sending the best U18 keeper out on loan so that they can gain some senior experience, so expect Noah Cooper to join someone like St Alban’s City.

It still baffles me why many are saying Ejeheri is 15. Is it a joke (and is then actually tinged with racism that footballers with African heritage look older than they are?), or is it just people not doing their own research?

Enjoy your Wednesday.

Keenos

Bayern Munich, Ben White, North London Forever and more

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Bayern Munich

Hello my old friend, we meet again.

It was always going to happen wasn’t it? In yesterday’s blog, Bayern Munich were my 2nd least favourite potential opponent. Only Manchester City below them. So we go and get Munich, and then if we beat them it is Manchester City.

Even though they were my least attracted trip abroad, the flights and hotels are already booked.

As always, airline prices jumped straight after the draw, and we are paying £230 return via Brussels. Go the week later and you can get return flights direct to Munich for just £61…

It is probably the worst Munich team in decades, but they are still a danger.

10 points behind Bayer Leverkusen, it is unlikely that they will win the Bundesliga. I would not be surprised if they rest players in the league and go all out for the Champions League.

Ben White

Two bits of Benjamin White news in the last few days.

The first was his new contract. Well deserved. The second was the news that he was making himself unavailable for England selection.

On the contract, the way White continually rises to the challenge shows what sort of player he is.

Signed a central defender, he was shifted across to right back to cover the injured Takehiro Tomiyasu. He never complained and just got his head down and did what Mikel Arteta demanded of him. When the Tomi returned, the Japenese right back did not walk straight back into the first team.

Then this summer we signed Jurrien Timber. White has since taken his game to another level which shows he is the sort of player that is not scared of competition.

White is one of the leaders of the team and, unlike Tomiyasu, his fitness can be relied upon – incredibly he has never missed a game through injury for The Arsenal.

And all this brings into light the issues with England.

Arteta and his coaches will be much more demanding of White than Southgate and his goons. If White has risen to the challenge of Arteta, and our manager backs him, then you have to ask what actually happened on that England camp.

I also find the criticism of White to be a little odd.

One of the loudest critics has been Stan Collymore. The woman-beater pitches himself as a mental health advocate, yet has spent the last 48 hours piling on Ben White for his decision.

The other biggest critics are Liverpool fans. You know them fellas that spout “Scouse not English”. You would think they would back as player deciding not to play for England. But instead the accuse him of letting their country down. It just shows they are a fanbase with zero morals. But that is nothing new.

At the end of the day, it is Ben White’s career. If he decides that he does not want to play for England than that is his choice.

North London Forever

Love this from Gabriel Jesus…

Fixture congestion

I saw an article yesterday about how “European football has thrown Arsenal’s fixtures into chaos”.

The article began by mentioning that the Aston Villa game would now be moved from Saturday to Sunday due to them now playing in Europe on Thursday. This game always had an * against it for this reason, so it is not like this is something the club knew nothing about.

It is the norm for teams playing on Thursday to have their games moved to the Sunday. A real non-story.

But the article continued pointing out that we have to re-arrange the Chelsea game, and potentially the Wolves game, and how this will create end of season conjestion.

Liverpool and Manchester City are both in the exact same position in terms of potentially re-arranging league games due to the FA Cup. And in-fact they will have more congestion than us if they remain in the completion. Likewise Liverpool will have every Saturday game after their Europa League matches moved to Sunday. Yet it is only Arsenal who get the negative press over fixture chaos and congestion.

It just shows again that Arsenal are the most newsworthy club in the world, whilst no one really cares about Liverpool on Manchester City….

Enjoy your Saturday.

Keenos

Raya proving Arteta right in battle for Arsenal number 1

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The recruitment of David Raya by Arsenal has been one of the most talked about transfers in decades.

Popular Aaron Ramsdale was cast aside in mid-August as Raya joined from Brentford on-loan. The result was a never ending stream of criticism from journalists, pundits and many Arsenal fans.

6 months on and Raya now looks very settled in an Arsenal jersey, and any negative comments surrounding why we signed him should be gone – although every now and again a lazy pundit likes to mention him again.

We conceded a shocker of a goal against Liverpool and this lead to those lazy pundits to repeat their misguided rhetoric.

Karen Carney, one of a new breed of pundits who are just not fit for purpose, said “the goalkeeper needs to communicate better, he can see it all, he’s under no pressure, and that’s where we question is he the right goalkeeper because he doesn’t have that commanding presence.”

Firstly, the goal was clearly not his fault.

William Saliba failed to take control of the situation and expected his keeper to come out for the ball. In leaving it for Raya, the Frenchman did not work hard enough to keep Luis Diaz behind him. The result was the calamity of an own goal for Gabriel.

I have watched the goal numerous times and fail to see how any blame goes on Raya. As a central defender, you should always be thinking “if in doubt, kick it out”.

It is clear that Raya did not call for the ball – you can see in his body language and way he did not fly out for the ball. It was Saliba’s decision that it would be “keepers” rather than Raya’s. A defender should not be making that decision for the keeper.

One thing that has impressed me with Raya is his command of the area.

When we signed him, I spoke to a Brentford fan and he informed me that Raya’s aerial prowess was one of his best attributes. He would come out in a crowded box and catch the ball under extreme pressure. Handling in the air was exceptional.

Early in his career, Raya had a couple of bloopers (Chelsea) where he was arguably in the wrong position for a cross. At the time I questioned whether this was his issue, or an issue with coaching. Since that day he has looked imperious in the air.

Only 3 players have caught the ball from more crosses this season than Raya. In comparison, he has punched the ball clea just 4 times (16th in the Premier League). So I am not really sure what Carney is going on about when she says Raya does not have a “commanding presence.”

A lot of the love for Ramsdale was over his character. He is a decent keeper who is good enough for a top 6 team. Raya has that little bit extra that could lead him to being a title winning keeper.

Take the quick throw outs as an example.

Over the years we have seen Ederson and Alisson turn defence into attack with their quick and accurate distribution (whether by feet or throwing). It is a great asset to have for a keeper in a top team as you can launch an attack with opponents having players up the field and before defenders have got back into their low block.

Raya was involved in a lot of goals for Brentford with his distribution, and I am sure this is one reason we signed him.

Having settled in the team, we are now seeing the impact of Raya. Everytime he gets the ball Gabriel Martinelli is sprinting into that space left by a full back. We have already scored once this season and against Liverpool we were unlucky not to score another.

What is interesting when watching Raya is he does not just pump it forward every time. He looks for that quick throw out and if it is not on he is happy taking a few steps back. For me this is the difference between him and Ramsdale.

Ramsdale was neither accurate enough in his distribution, or calm enough to realise the opportunity had gone. He would often just launch the ball forward, needlessly losing us possesion.

As Raya has settled, his distribution is much improved.

It was always going to take a while for him to get used to passing out to Gabriel, William Saliba, Declan Rice, etc. Understanding where they would be positioned and how they wanted the ball delivered makes all the difference when trying to draw the opponent out close to our goal ahead of launching an attack to get throug the press.

When he first joined, Raya was having to get his head up and look where he was playign the ball. This would lose vital split-seconds. Now he is playing those passes on instinct, knowing his teammate will arrive into the space he is passing into.

For me it is now a no-brainer. Raya is available for £27million in the summer and it is a move we have to make. Meanwhile, we should be looking to cash in on Ramsdale for £40million or more. Nottingham Forest, Brentford, Brighton and Newcastle look the likely destinations.

A £13million (or more) difference between the two fees will add extra to our transfer kitty this summer. Although that would likely be eaten up as we buy a new number two (someone who is happy to sit on the bench and whose dad won’t go on every podcast going).

Have a good Thursdsay.

Keenos