Arsenal 2023/24

If we sell Pepe then I think need another wide player. Not sure if his value to anyone though as he has been our biggest flop in recent times. 

In transfer news, hearing that we’ve chuck a bid on a left back from benfica. I think grimaldo is his name. 

Grimaldo would be a good low cost alternative at LB.

Lucas Paqueta is being linked, 24 y/o Brazilian who can play RM or CAM. 

Think Pepe has to go, too high a wages to be a maverick on the bench.

Agree - if Pepe goes we need a replacement.
If he doesn't I'm ok with it though. We have Jesus who has come in, and bolstering the midfield is more important to me at the moment. 
I don't really get too invested in the debates around wages being too big for bench players. A squad is a squad, the entire wage bill is the relevant factor for me. If someone comes out of the academy playing well and deserves a start, then start them, even if their wages are pittance, for example. 
It's not ideal if a highly paid player can't get in the starting eleven, but it's about the best fit for the team, and I don't consider the purchase price and/or wages as part of that. 

I’m getting worried about the lack of quality in our midfield. I hope we don’t start have to have xhaka in our starting 11 come style season start. 

worried about our midfield? We have plenty of players that can play both wide and central.
Partey, Saka, Odegaard, ESR, Lakonga, Elneny, Xhaka, Viera, Torreira, AMN, Patino
Of the above list your starting central mids will be Odegaard, Partey and Elneny. 
Saka should probably be listed as a forward as he plays the winger role.

Xhaka is definitely a starter for me out of that group. I'd be going with the same three from last season at this point - Partey and Xhaka with Odegaard in front of them. 
But I don't want it to be that clear cut, I want to increase that quality, and the depth. I want someone to compete with Partey and look to replace Xhaka in the lineup.
Vieira looks like a more attacking player, competing for Odegaard's role.
I love Elneny and he's a crucial squad member for us, but I don't see him supplanting Xhaka or Partey. 
Lokonga should improve but I don't think he's ready to start in the biggest games yet. 
Patino is very young, and I don't expect AMN or Torreira to be in our squad come opening day. 
ESR and Saka are forwards for me, I don't see them filling these three roles at all. 
This is ignoring the potential issue we have with Partey. Even if he is innocent and charges get dropped, it will still affect him mentally, and I'm not sure I see him starting on opening day at this point. 

Was only talking about central and defensive midfielders in original post. But the point still stands about quality. We have quantity with AMN, Torreria, Lokonga, Patino, Elneny and Xhaka. But they are not at the level of quality that we need to be one of the top teams of the comp. 

Agreed, we need an upgrade on Xhaka. I do wonder if they will wait until late in the window though as someone like Tielmens should hit the ground running and starting the season with Xhaka, Partey, MØ isn’t the worst. I also think the new format with 2 8’s ahead of Partey gets more out of Xhaka and protects his limitations too.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/world-game/300637036/english-premier-league-player-arrested-on-suspicion-of-rape-not-suspended-by-his-club

still not able to be named, nor is the club being mentioned.

theprof

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/world-game/300637036/english-premier-league-player-arrested-on-suspicion-of-rape-not-suspended-by-his-club

still not able to be named, nor is the club being mentioned.

 Ghanaian media don't seem to be under the same restrictions... 

UberGunner

theprof

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/world-game/300637036/english-premier-league-player-arrested-on-suspicion-of-rape-not-suspended-by-his-club

still not able to be named, nor is the club being mentioned.

 Ghanaian media don't seem to be under the same restrictions... 

or they figure the reach of British rules wont see them?

Ornstein reporting that we are back in for Zinchenko from City.
I like this option, especially if cheaper than Martinez from Ajax.

If he comes in to play LB I'd:

If Tierney is usurped or has more injury problems and Nuno develops on loan I'd be happy to be ruthless with KT and sell him.

Selling KT!?! Madness. But if you think about it, if he continues to struggle with injures then maybe it’s not such a bad idea. 
It also relies on taraves coming good, which is huge gamble. 

kwlap

Selling KT!?! Madness. But if you think about it, if he continues to struggle with injures then maybe it’s not such a bad idea. 
It also relies on taraves coming good, which is huge gamble. 

selling KT would require Tavares or another LB to usurp him which is unlikely unless he continues to have injury issues.

For me it’s availability. We have been too kind in the past carrying guys in the squad who were outrageously good for 15 games a season. If we get another LB and they offer close in quality and better availability then time to sell.

For clarity, I mean sell next season. Gives Tavares another year to get better too, hopefully via a loan.

Partey starts against Everton this morning…. 

Also we/about to make a bid on city’s LB. Zenchinko? Would be good to get him if we can.

Fabrizio Romano reckons fee is done and just down to salary, should be sorted soon.

Hopefully Tielemans up next, and a heck of a fire sale to clear out more of the bloat.

Zinchenko would be a fantastic signing! I've really rated him for City. Would be a very good signing similar to the Jesus one - a top class player, only missing out on starts due to world class competition (cancelo in this case, versus haaland for jesus). I don't think he's far below Cancelo's quality, if at all, just a case of having two very good players in the same position. Perfect type of player for us to snap up. 
I would love having him and Tierney battling for a spot, perhaps send Tavares on loan in that scenario, to another PL club would be nice. Zinchenko would really safeguard us in regards to Tierney's injury troubles.
Nice to see Jesus continuing to impress overnight (although I've not seen a second of it). Partey started which was interesting, I wonder what is happening with all that off-pitch carry-on. 
Saliba with minutes, supposedly played well, and nice words from Arteta after the match. 
Looking promising for the season's start. 

Encouraging quotes from Arteta about standards lifting in training and unity in the camp. If you think about this time last year, if we were lucky we had signed White and Tavares. Tomi, Ramsdale, Odegaard all arrived later in the season.
Thinking through the group we have with new additions of Jesus, Viera, Marquinhos, Turner I'm excited to see how we're looking come Crystal Palace away.

Zinchenko is done. 30mil, 4 year deal. Nice work edu and crew. 

What else is left? Definitely a cm/dm. Maybe another striker with different qualities to the current crop? 

Oh does anyone know what is Bellerin doing? Is he going or staying?

Zinchenko is a good signing given Tierney's issues, and he can also cover midfield too. Still think we need a RB too given Tomiyasu looks similarly to Tierney in his body not being to cope with a full season of PL demands. Assuming Bellerin will be off, we can't afford to be playing Cedric for so many games again. 

kwlap

Zinchenko is done. 30mil, 4 year deal. Nice work edu and crew. 

What else is left? Definitely a cm/dm. Maybe another striker with different qualities to the current crop? 

I would like another left sided attacker to challenge Martinelli. As good as he is, he hasn't reached full potential yet, and I don't see see anyone challenging him for a start at the moment.

Ubergunner! Long time no speak, good to see you still around!
On Martinelli, I thought it was a pretty tight battle for that spot between him and Smith-Rowe? 
Arteta appeared to pick them in a 'horses for courses' way depending on the opposition last season, and both are very good off the bench, so I thought it worked quite well. I was looking forward to seeing them duke it out for that starting spot this season. 
At the moment I see it as an first and second choice forward line that looks like this;
First choice:
                  Jesus
Martinelli-Odegaard-Saka
Second choice:
       Nketiah
ESR-Vieira-Pepe
I thought perhaps a right-sided forward to battle with Saka, and enable the sale of Pepe, might be more likely? 

I am ok with Cedric sticking around as back-up to Tomiyasu, Cedric went really well at the back-end of last season when we had no fit fullbacks. And I'd actually be fine if Bellerin hung about for the same reason, although it's probably a bit much to carry both of them. 
I'd be happy with the squad from here if 1) We spunked big cash on a central midfielder, as seems to be rumoured, and 2) Partey ends up not being a rapist, otherwise we might need two midfielders. 

The club seems happy with Cedric, which makes me sad as I think we should be setting the bar higher. That said, perhaps his obsession with crossing might become useful with Jesus and Nketiah permanently running riot in the box.

CM is the last 'must' upgrade for me for the window. Given the different systems we run having a more dynamic/mobile left 8 than Xhaka is key.

The rest of the moves are dependent on outgoings, planned or forced. If Pepe goes we need a RM battler to compete with Saka - unless that's going to be Nelson. If Partey goes we need to splash the cash big time on replacing him. If Bellerin goes we need to sign a new green eco warrior cum fashionista to maintain diversity of the squad, man I love him.

If Partey does go for possible reasons I wonder if the club have insurance in place to cover the losses? We'd be writing off a huge amount of his transfer fee we couldn't recoup any value on through playing time or sale, and equally would have to spend large to get like for like quality.

New trailer up for the All or Nothing series. Alludes the Auba situation. Looking forward to it even though it will likely be a PR cringe fest. Hopefully it doesn't make us look a laughing stock, and am also interested to find out (though it won't be in this) how Partey's alleged situation fits in with the "non-negotiables" given how Auba was banished.

Yeah lifting the lid on the Auba situation will be interesting to watch, other than that not excited about this at all.

It would feel more exciting if we hadn't collapsed at the end and actually made it to the CL. Sadly, like Titanic, we know how it ends.

I will watch it because it’s Arsenal. But I am not sure I will like it because it’s Arsenal. 

Man, some pretty cynical takes on here. Cutting short of a wiki leaks expose I don't think you'll ever get the level of 'pure' insight some of you seem to hope for. Reality is we are a corporate machine who have a brand image to protect to ensure we don't fall into disrepute. Based on watching clubs in these series there is normally enough interesting pieces to make it worthwhile, especially when you've watched the season closely. Equally it is a good chance to see more of the individual player personalities, which I'm intrigued by given how much Arteta has focussed on culture.

Going by the Man City and Spurs ones, I assume the series will paint us in a good light, I think the contracts for these things between the club and Amazon ensures that is the case. 
The feeling I got from the spurs one was that spurs had editorial oversight. 
The poch saga was swept under the rug and they were at pains to glorify mourinho, I expect nothing less with our one. 

Some chat about that Zinchenko is going to be used in midfield.
Thoughts? 
I have no idea how good he will be in there, but he was always a midfielder before Pep turned him into a LB apparently. 

He plays in midfield for Ukraine so expect him to cover both. I assume he's being brought in primarily as a left back though given the Martinez links too which is much needed given Tierney's issues. Gives us another option of similar quality.
You can't have your starting CM playing 60% of the season at LB because the starting LB is not durable enough so would hope we are still in for a CM in addition.

yea i just read that too. fairly interesting idea. IF we do see him as a left sided midfielder then maybe we aren't going for Telemeins and that Taraves isn't going on loan?? 
I still think its more of a case that his style of play suits want we want- ie being an invert LB who moves forward and tucks into central positions. Last year we did have lots of lopsided setups with Tierney pushing forward and Tomi staying back to make aback 3. Maybe its an extension of that but rather than having a LB who provides width, we have one who creates an extra man in midfield. nice tactical options to have. 
Overall, i think it is a very good pick up and it was carried out with little fuss. win win. 

Another pre-season win, 3-1 vs Orlando City.
They are mid-season so it's good to get hit-outs against physically fit sides. Haven't seen any highlights or anything to comment on how we went mind you. 
Chelsea next, then back home to play Sevilla, before the season kicks off.
Vieira is injured, and also Smith-Rowe, aside from that fully fit? Very good to have Tierney, Tomiyasu and Partey all fit. We missed them so badly on the run-in last season. 
From Arteta's after-match comments it sounds like Lokonga played in a more attacking role, will be interesting to see how he looked in the highlights. Also sounded like Jesus was incredibly lively again, I'm getting really excited to see him playing for us this season. 

I found a website where you can register an email address for 10 minutes only, so I think I'll do that and get a free Amazon 7 day trial to watch that all or nothing series. I did the Man City and Spurs ones that way but have run out of personal email accounts LOL
I am actually looking forward to it. It'll be blatantly editorialised to be dramatic, but positive, and won't be that representative of reality, but it will most properly excite me as an arsenal fan regardless hahaha

brumbys

Man, some pretty cynical takes on here. Cutting short of a wiki leaks expose I don't think you'll ever get the level of 'pure' insight some of you seem to hope for. Reality is we are a corporate machine who have a brand image to protect to ensure we don't fall into disrepute. Based on watching clubs in these series there is normally enough interesting pieces to make it worthwhile, especially when you've watched the season closely. Equally it is a good chance to see more of the individual player personalities, which I'm intrigued by given how much Arteta has focussed on culture.

It's not really the lack of pure insight it's more that turning the club into a soap doesn't tickle my fancy.

I understand your final point, but given the access we have to both players and the club via different social media platforms now, what more do we need to know about them that we don't already know?

Whole thing seems a bit daft to me but perhaps i'm just showing my age.

paulm

I found a website where you can register an email address for 10 minutes only, so I think I'll do that and get a free Amazon 7 day trial to watch that all or nothing series. I did the Man City and Spurs ones that way but have run out of personal email accounts LOL
I am actually looking forward to it. It'll be blatantly editorialised to be dramatic, but positive, and won't be that representative of reality, but it will most properly excite me as an arsenal fan regardless hahaha

You might need to do that 2 or 3 times as episodes are going to release a week apart (1-3 on 4th August, 4-6 on 11th and 7-8 on 18th), unless you just want to wait until the whole series is out and binge it. 
I've had it for the odd month in the past but never kept it up as found there wasn't enough I was interested in. There's a couple of other series on there I've been wanting to watch though so might just sign up for a month to watch this as well as those - probably won't have the time to watch it all within a 7 day trial.

Cheers for the tip.
Bugger, not sure if I want to wait, but perhaps I will to save the coin.