It’s a little funny and yet sad at the same time that we keep making these dream wishlist signings in Tierney, Partey and whoever is yet to come but Arteta has turned it into nothing but a nightmare.
I wouldn’t trust Arteta or Edu with a fucking dime. The one transfer we should make is an actual DoF.
But seriously. Arteta should get absolutely zero money for centerbacks. We have too many alreayd under contract.
I’m not really enthusiastic about signing a guy like Jordan who is (again) the wrong age profile just like Partey and comes from a team of shithousery specialists in Sevilla. It all feels very uninspired. If we’re signing anyone from Sevilla it should be Jules Kounde but that would go against my “no more money for CBs” rule in the paragraph above.
Why is he the wrong age profile? I find it sensational that a 26 going on 27 year old is considered the wrong age profile now. That’s a ready made player with bundles of experience and about 5-7 years (roughly) of football left in his legs at the absolute highest level. Maybe even more.
I don’t want us to be run like a business, I want us to be run like a football club
I still like Brandt as a cheaper alternative to other AM’s. Good age and versatile. Technically secure. Would give us more funds for RB and another position if we wish
Precisely. I don’t want to sign a player because he might have a resale value I want us to sign a player because he can help move the club forward and provide us with an injection of quality and hopefully someone we can rely on for at least 4-5 years.
I think a lot of this age thing is FM related on recouping money. Although worthy of consideration not always a necessity especially for a team development. Sometimes the here and now are more important.
Think also it’s a bit cultural on where you live. American sports are run on a different system and promotes youth integration more than here and is run a more level field overall.
My gripe is that a readymade player is going to be really expensive and apparently we have no money right now because we made some really bad decisions in the market over the last five years.
I’m nor advocating for strict age limits, that’s too dogmatic. I just wouldn’t get excited about spending €50m on a guy who hasn’t scored much this season. We need more goals from midfield. Maybe his dropoff in scoring is because of Sevilla, I’m not sure. We’re also not one signing away from winning the league. Not even close.
I do think that as transfers become so expensive that some moves have to work. For example, Thomas Partey was so expensive he has to work by either turning in amazing performances or being surprisingly sold on at about the same price. It’s not all on the player, the club has to build around a readymade player like that. It’s one of the reasons I’m done with Arteta. You don’t re-sign Aubameyang and then tinker with the formation. You build around him.
Also, I’ve seen rumors that he’d be available for as “little” as €25m. If you sign him and Ødegaard while moving out Xhaka and Elneny, that’s the kind of roster magic we should be hoping for.
It is, a lot of it is based around ‘resale value’. Which is all fine but a strange priority. No one really sells their best players if they really don’t have too.
It’s not that strange if you’re a club like Arsenal that’s publicly stated they’re going to be self sufficient.
Obviously now that FFP is dead as a doornail we don’t have to be self sufficient. If the owner wanted to go HAM and plow €200m into the team this summer that would be awesome. Nobody would care about resale value. But I’m afraid we’re just not living in that timeline.
I believe in the concept of “strategic” signings ie smart signing that take advantage of the market where’s there’s plenty of positive upside in comparison to the cost.
It’s not something we’ve done very well post wenger.