Auba?
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Iām still hoping that we will be able to convince Balogun to resign once one of our main strikers - hopefully Laca - goes this summer. There is no way we can give Balogun assurances of a pathway to the first team with Auba, Laca, and Eddie in the team. But take Laca out of the equation and the picture changes a lot, as we can tell him that Auba will play centrally but also wide, that there will be minutes for both him and Nketiah and that if he outperforms Eddie in practice he can earn more, etc.
I think you will find thatās Henry
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How old is he? I feel like he has been āpromisingā for a while now.
20
I bet he knows a good tune
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Wonder what happens with our youth the next couple of weeks. Seems like a lot of lower clubs are willing to take youth players on loan. Probably a consequence of COVID-19. Worth sending as many players as possible out on loan imo and let them have a proper full season. Re-evaluate next summer.
Keep the ones we know for certain are good enough to start a game if needed.
Eddie and Saka at this point have really integrated as first team players. There are some question marks over Willock, Reiss, Smith-Rowe and possibly Balogun.
We just signed this guy on a free. From the video, he seems to specialize in spin moves and leg breaking tackles. We donāt really have a DM in the U23s so this seems like a nearly costless punt. Probably a nothing player but you never know.
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I read this a bit quick
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Love these moves.
Looks like he has some decent passing to compliment his Frimpongyness. I thought Frimpong would have a better career than Coquelin
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Weāve been aggressive with the youth. Wonder if weāre trying to get advantage of other clubs not being able to hold onto most of their young players due to COVID-19.
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Its a prospect gameā¦ numbers game sometimes as long as you have decent development as well.
These are those kinds of quiet behind the scenes things that we should absolutely be doingā¦ unfortunately, we arenāt in position with our squad to spend a penny on starlets b/c our first team is so tragic, so hopefully we get lucky with one of these guys until our first team is more squared away and we can start to spend on youth project again.
Salaaaaaah
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I think with brexit coming itās smart to stock up on talented youngsters.
Forgot to mention it here.
Charles Watts addressed the Balogun situation in one of his Q&As.
Sounds like itās not a game time issue but a pay issue. Arsenal are offering him a contract that involves a lot of performance based bonuses which him and his agent/agency are not interested in. Apparently, Arsenal arenāt budging on that and thatās why theyāre now open to any potential offers. Brentford are interested.
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Weāre obviously not privy to the terms but some of these agents when it comes to these young players are laughable. Balogun hasnāt even had a break out season yet, we canāt be expected to hand out lucrative wage packages to unknown quantities, even with his youth reputation.
Itās interesting to read about bonuses and performance based contracts though in regards to what we offer our players now. Might be a restructuring thing. Iām sure itās something we have done in the past and fairly common. However, when it comes to youth, it makes sense to offer a low base salary + loads of performance based bonuses on top. If youāre actually as good as your agent is bugging you up to be, then youāll likely smash the performance add one and likely go on to earn a serious contract.
I canāt say Iāve followed Balogunās career much past what Jorge Bird reports; heās a talented CF, great, but how many of those have we had in the last decade and where are they now? I think itās fair of Arsenal to hand out the terms and leave it at that right now.
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