Tag Archives: Szczesny

Where will Arsenal’s 9 contract rebels end up?

Leave a reply

All the news in recent weeks has been about the future of contract revel Alexis Sanchez’s future at the club.

Whilst Sanchez has taken up all the column inches, Arsenal have another 8 senior players who’s deals are coming to an end in 2018.

Here is my opinion on where they will end up…

Mesut Ozil – The German wants to leave Arsenal. But the problem is that no one wants him.

No club in England fancy him.

A return to Spain is impossible. Real Madrid won’t have him back, Barcelona don’t need him, and he won’t suit Atletico’s style (and they have a transfer ban).

Bayern Munich don’t want him, no other German side can afford him. A move to Turkey will see his wages massively cut. That leaves Italy and France.

He might be waiting to see if PSG will make a move. Then you have the new cash rich AC Milan and Inter Milan.

Likelihood is he will realise he has no other option but to stay at Arsenal. Either sign a new contract, or leave on a free to Fenerbache after the season – with Fenerbache paying him a big lump sum to make up for lower wages.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – In a World Cup year, the Ox has realised that his career has stalled. He has not moved forward since the last World Cup – where he started every game – and he is now in danger of not even making the squad.

The Ox wants more game time, and not at right back. His future rests on Alexis Sanchez’a decision. He sees himself as the perfect replacement for Sanchez behind the striker. If he is guaranteed a chance to fight for that position, he will stay. If he has told “we see your future at right wing back” he will be gone.

Jack Wilshere – Missing pre-season again is a disaster for Arsenal as it means they can not shift the no-longer-youngster on.

With a year left on his deal, so Arsenal offer him a new 4 year contract and risk another Abou Diaby situation? Or do they let his contract run down and lose a player for nothing who cost nothing.

This is a situation that is in Arsenal’s hands.

Wojciech Szczesny – He wants to leave. Arsenal want to sell him. But until a decision is made on the future of Petr Cech, David Ospina and a new 2nd choice keeper, he might be another who ends up staying.

Would be Arsenal’s second choice for a year, before likely joining Juventus on a free transfer to replace Buffon.

Kieran Gibbs – Basically can pick who he wants to join. Offers will come in for him from the likes of Newcastle, Watford, West Ham and more. A simple case of seeing what they offer him, and deciding where he wants to go.

Per Mertesacker & Santi Cazorla – Both just signed new one year extensions. Will probably be their last at the club.

Carl Jenkinson – Like Kieran Gibbs, Arsenal are looking to move him on. But the lack of Premier League interest will be a a worry for him.

He might look to push a loan deal to a Premier League side to prove himself as a Premier League player before leaving on a free next year.

Might end up with a lifeline at Arsenal if Debuchy, Bellerin & Ox leave.

Joel Campbell – “Get out whilst you can Joel”. Arsenal might wish they had of got him out after the last World Cup when they could.

Likely to be sold to a La Liga or Portuguese side, but not for very much.

Keenos

DM’s, keepers and Stan’s ÂŁ3million advice

2 Replies

The DM conundrum

From early on when Arsene Wenger, arrived at Arsenal until 2008 – when we allowed Lassana Diarra and Gilberto to leave and lost Mathieu Flamini to Milan – we consistently had some of the best defensive midfielders in the game. Admittedly Vieira and Petit weren’t necessarily pure defensive midfielders but when both were used in a 4-4-2, one of them usually held if the other was further up the field and as such fulfilled the role effectively. Gilberto, was a pure defensive midfielder and arguably one of the most underrated of the premier league era.

Since we lost Diarra, Gilberto and Flamini (version 1.0 not version 2.0) it has felt very much as though it’s a role that Wenger doesn’t take as seriously as more attacking ones. Our newfound financial might in the transfer market has translated into the signing of some highly sought after talents but for a holding midfielder we have tried to convert a wide midfielder, Arteta, hoping his high technicality will mean fewer turnovers from our own possession but he has ultimately been exposed physically and for pace.

We have a player in Flamini, who was on trial at the club for weeks before Wenger, was convinced enough to re-sign him and has looked increasingly flaky and unreliable in the last six months culminating with him being muscled off the ball by Christian Eriksen on Saturday. Now, following a summer in which nearly every fan of the club could agree that we desperately needed a DM, Wenger, is talking about converting Abou Diaby who for all his ability is sadly the most injury prone player in the league as a consequence of the horror tackle he suffered at Sunderland back in 2006. Putting aside tactics and squad imbalances for a second, our first XI is as strong as it’s been arguably since 2006.

The obvious exception however is a holding player to provide presence and stem the flow of goals we ship to counter attacks. Like the ones that saw us obliterated away to the other top sides last season and have so far seen us win only two league games this season. The truth is that top sides fancy themselves to score against us if they really need to and this will continue until we have a defensive midfielder who matches the quality of those around him.

Szczesny

Until quite recently I was under the illusion that 99.9% of Arsenal fans were happy with Szczesny. However in the wake of our draw with Manchester City, two members of SWAYR were quite critical of him, one called for him to be dropped and Ospina to be given a chance.

Central to the criticism was that his distribution can be patchy and as a team that’s particularly susceptible to counter attacks this presents a constant threat. I take that on board and agree his distribution still needs work but I think when compared to every keeper we’ve had since Seaman he’s the best.

He doesn’t get rattled the way Lehman did, he’s safer under high balls than Almunia was and his decision making when coming off his line is a lot better than Fabianski’s. I challenged the two individuals in question to name five better keepers in the world, based on the last season or so. I said Neuer, Courtois and Lloris (bias aside for one minute). They offered Cech and Begovic, the latter I don’t think has been as good in the last year as he was two years ago. As for Cech, I haven’t seen anything of him in the last year to suggest he’s any better than Szczesny.

Football hipsters, feel free to point out the glaring omissions we’ve made with obscure names from less watched leagues than “The Greatest League in the World™”.

Stan’s ATM

Last week eyebrows were raised at the news that one of Stan Kroenke’s companies has been paid three million pounds for services rendered to the club. One of the quotes attributed to our majority shareholder – from a 2011 interview – that has been doing the rounds since, relates to his disbelief that Manchester United fans get upset about money being taken out of their club by the Glazer family.

To this end he cited LA Lakers owner, Jerry Buss, as an American example of an owner who takes money out of his club and a big deal isn’t made of it. One of the things that Stan, failed to point out is that unlike the Premier League the NBA and NFL have a much stronger collectivism, protection of their brand and protection of their clubs. We’ve had a prime example recently when the NBA voted to force LA Clippers owner, Donald Sterling, to sell his club in the wake of a racism scandal.

Can anyone really envisage a situation where the premier league would take such a strong stance? Comparatively football has far looser regulation than American sports, which means that it’s less likely that we’ll ever see situations similar those of Leeds and Portsmouth in any of the major sports in the USA. Hopefully the issue will be addressed properly at the club’s AGM and shareholders won’t just be stonewalled by Silent Stan.

Rory

 

What does new Szczesny deal mean for other Arsenal keepers?

Leave a reply

Recent speculation that Wojech Szczesny had agreed a new contract with Arsenal was finally confirmed at the weekend when the club announced the Polish number 1 had signed a new long term contract.

Whilst it is brilliant news that we have secured the future of one of Europe’s best young goalkeepers – he is still just 23 – it has made me wonder what it means for the rest of the keepers at the club.

With him being still so young himself, the club are unlikely to have given him such lucrative terms (reported 5 years at ÂŁ100k per week) if they do not have faith in him. It means they do not expect any of the other current senior keepers at the club to challenge him for number 1, and they do not expect many of the youth keepers to become anymore then back up.

Lukasz Fabianski is likely to leave Arsenal at the end of the season. His contract is due expire and, with him being 29 by the time the season is out, he has a decision to make. Either sign a new contract at Arsenal and remain as a number 2 for the rest of his career, ensuring he never plays for Poland again, or leave now, resurrect his career elsewhere, and challenge Szczesny for the number 1 jersey for his country. At 29 he will still have a lot to give. He will probably make the decision to leave Arsenal.

The signing of Emiliano Viviano was always an odd one. A decent goal keeper. A journeyman Italian, he began forcing his way into reckoning for next years World Cup after a string of magnificent performances for Fiorentina last year. Despite Arsenal paying a loan fee for him, he has since been relegated to Arsenal number 3, with Fabianski taking his place between the sticks for the League Cup. One can only think he was signed due to concerns over Fabianski’s injury record and, that with Vito Mannone leaving, Arsenal could not risk having a rookie on the bench. I would be very surprised if we make the loan deal permanent.

It is the future of the rookie goal keepers that interests me the most. Arsenal recently signed 18 year old Matt Macey from Bristol Rovers. His career has not even started yet, but at just 5 years Szczesny’s junior, he is already too old to be considered our next number 1. As he enters the years where it is important he players, Szczesny will be at his peak. And unless he is very, very special, you might as well write off his Arsenal career before it has even started. At best, the 6’6” keeper, who has already been playing under 21 football, will be a number 2 at the club.

Picture: @KieranCPhotoAFC

Picture: @KieranCPhotoAFC

The signing of Matt Macey was already a strange one. With Arsenal already having Damian Martinez (21),  Deyan Illiev (18), Josh Vickers (17) and Ryan Huddart (16) in the ranks,  it is clear there is competition aplenty in the youth teams.

Time is probably running out for Damian Martinez. If Arsenal had faith in him, it is unlikely that they would have got Viviano in on loan. He was on the verge of being promoted to the 1st team during pre-season, but a decision to get in Viviano seems to spell the end of his Arsenal career. He failed to impress last season when in goal against Reading in the League Cup, he is now on loan at Sheffield Wednesday, where he has yet to play.

Deyan Illiev is next in line in terms of age. Signing late in the summer of 2012, the Macedonian played in a couple of the ‘Asenal XI’ pre season friendlies. Looking poor under the high ball, it seems he has already fallen behind Matt Macey in the pecking order of young keepers.

Josh Vickers was the man last season, playing more than any other keeper in our academy. He has since been loaned out to Canvey Island until the end of the season. It is unlikely that the club would let go a 17 year old goal keeper go out on loan if they had faith he would make it. Its more likely he will remain at Canvey Island on a permanent deal, with the younger Ryan Huddart overtaking him.

Ryan Huddart is the youngest of Arsenal 5 young goal keepers. Signed from Charlton in 2012 at 15 after a brilliant performance against Arsenal, he could be the one to push Szczesny in the future. Again, it confuses matters with the signing of Matt Macey. Why sign an 18 year old who effectively ‘kills’ the career of the 16 year old? Huddart certainly has a bit more time on his hand, and could well be breaking through ready to compete for the first team just as Szczesny reaches 30.

What is unclear is who will be Arsenal number 2 next season. With Fabianski out the door, will Arsenal stick with Viviano and make his deal permanent? Or will the seek a senior goal keeper elsewhere, who will know his job and future career will be Szczesny’s number 2? The only one in the current set up who might have taken the step up is Martinez, but he has fallen out of favour.

Out of the group, the 2 to get excited about are Macey and Huddart. They may well have a future at the club as Szczesny’s number 2.

The future will be reminiscent to when David Seaman was at the club, with youth goal keepers being trained to be his number 2, rather than having the ability to be 1st choice. Huddart and Macey attempting to break through could be similar to that of Stuart Taylor and Graham Stack attempting to become 1st choice in the early 00s.

It is unclear what Arsenal are currently doing with their young keepers. They seem to be simply buying anyone who has a decent game throughout youth levels. With Szczesny’s new long term contract, what is clear is that no one in the current Arsenal set up is likely to become Arsenal number 1 over the coming years.

Keenos