Well obviously, because it’s wrong.
Trying to get rid of someone is what we did with Lokonga and Tavares.
Those two players were genuinely surplus and didn’t need to be replaced so they went before even preseason began.
In Nketiah’s case we’re open to let him go for the right price like with a lot of our players.
However, any outgoings at this stage have to be replaced.
Players like Nketiah and Nelson could very well stay with us this upcoming season.
They could, but they wouldn’t be any good for us.
The only benefit they offer is ensuring we don’t finish the last 30 mins of a game with 9 or 10 men.
They’re both so invisible lol.
Nketiah is decent for a 3rd/4th choice striker behind Havertz, Jesus and Trossard. I’d take 20 million quid for him. I’m guessing Marseille isn’t willing to pay up, otherwise I can’t imagine Edu not taking the money.
So according to reports Marseille’s bid was 27m Euros. We want 35m Euros with a sell-on clause. Feels to me like we can get this one done with a slightly higher bid with add-ons.
What you’re doing by asking that question is waiting for me to give a name and then you say “Oh well we couldn’t have possibly done that deal” (i.e.: Raphinha for 15m in the summer he ended up going to Spain) or “You’re an idiot, that player wouldn’t have made a difference” (i.e.: Bobby Decordova-Reid) or “That guy was too expensive AND wouldn’t have made a difference based on what he’s done in the PL.” (i.e.: Diaby)
Or if I say “I don’t know, they would have been forced to do something in the market” you’d say “Ah well, you’re an idiot because if you can’t think of a solution, you can’t criticize.” So it’s a way for you to be a smug dickhead no matter how I answer. And aren’t you a teacher? You know what “opportunity cost” is.
My point has always been that I don’t see the use in keeping guys around who have absolutely no future at the club because it makes it tougher to sell. Buying teams know they have us over a barrel so to speak regardless of my like or dislike for the individual player. The club was at a natural parting of the ways with both players and despite knowing their clear limitations, decided to keep them around at increased salaries. Just because we may end up making a profit from them won’t convince me it was a good idea. It felt like a waste of roster spots.
And if you want to play hypotheticals with transfers, that’s fine. But I would have done the last four or five windows differently in terms of what positions to prioritize. It probably means no Kiwior, no Havertz, no Raya, dumping Partey for whatever KSA could give us, even if those guys have all contributed in ways ranging from important to extremely important. I prefer my teams to get put together front to back and I think at this point it’s clear we’ve been doing it the other way.
I definitely wasn’t going to call you an idiot mate. My point was that the contracts, although large for players who haven’t really shown that they’re 100k a week players were relatively small speculations that don’t really hurt us in terms of what we can do in the market and there’s a good chance we turn a profit on them.
I also think, in Nelson’s care particularly, that the cost of retaining him was weighed against the cost of replacing him and the feasibility of doing so within the restrictions the club was under when you look at what they had to do to get Raya through the door. If the club had let Nelson go last summer I don’t think many eyebrows would have been raised but if they’d been unable to replace him I think that would have changed.
I didn’t see any of Forest’s games against Brighton. Pedro looks talented but I do not know enough about him to be honest.
I don’t think many clubs are going to get the fees they want for players they want to sell.
We’re two week’s away from our first PL game and have we ever known such a quiet transfer window.
Every team is scared of FFP and every team needs to sell first before we buy. To buy a better winger or striker than Nelson and Nketiah we need to sell them at top price to get a better winger of striker, we definitely aren’t going to get both.
And there’s the Ramsdale conundrum, nobody seems to want him and we haven’t even goa replacement for him.
Personally I have a feeling Nelson and Eddie will stay and Ramsdale will go on loan somewhere right at the end of the transfer window to he can play and somehow retain his value before anyone wants to splash out on him.
What when he scored against united then did fuck all the rest of the time?
That period is so overhyped for Eddie, our attack looked so static compared to with Jesus and that’s the problem every time he plays, hence Kai also jumped him in the pecking order.
that’s true actually. But I thought he scored more goals from when Jesus was injured till he got back? 
It’s a shame there’s been zero improvement from him since though.
Also I was low-key hoping he would kick on after the Southampton hattrick last season… but he just decided ‘i’ve done my part now’ and gave up 
He got two in the fa cup against Oxford as well, where he likely would’ve played even if gabby was fit.
In the PL these are his stats for that period til he got injured himself:
He looked sharp as fuck and scored twice in that united game which is why people remember it fondly, but after that he didn’t offer much more than 6/10 performances while those around him looked worse.
Interesting post.
I had a look at transfermarkt and noticed that over a full season Eddie had only 5 goals and 2 assists while playing 1,072 minutes. That gives a ratio of 1 goal/assist per 153 minutes. And if you take away the hattrick and 90 minutes against Sheffield (bottom of the league with a record # of goals conceded) then the contribution is something like 1 g/a per 245 minutes.
Eddie lacks the playmaking ability of Jesus, the killer instinct of Trossard and the physicality and workrate of Havertz. He would be a fine 4th choice but not for 100k per week. It was a mistake to not let him go last year and give those minutes to someone younger. The amount of money and opportunity cost we lose by holding onto this guy far outweighs a couple million that Edu is holding out for.
the Chavs & Citeh enter the chat
what, is this a word in English 
€27m feels like it’s just on the low end of acceptable.
Marseille will move on now so we have to hope another PL team comes in.
We know he’s not CL quality but the majority of Arsenal fans see a decent player there, certainly one who could start for many mid-table PL clubs.
We’re not trying to sell a full blown shitter here - we’re not going to be sitting here laughing at Palace or Brighton spending £30m on Nketiah. We’d be wishing him well and be really keen to see how he performs. That says a lot imo.
Striker options are really sparse across Europe atm. Nketiah won’t be 1st choice for lots of clubs but he should be 2nd or 3rd on a lot of lists, and hopefully we see movement towards the deadline.
Think we’ll squeeze more out of Marseille and the deal gets done in the end.
Yes, this feels like posturing. Marseille clearly want the player and the player wants the move. Would expect the clubs to settle somewhere around 25m pounds with add ons.
I’m surprised that no mid to lower Prem team is biting on Nelson.
Marseille are also a team who’ve been able to low ball us before. They’re probably a little surprised they’re not able to this time.
Just curious about your opinion, what would you consider a good midtable striker?
How many would Eddie need to score for Nottingham Forest for example to justify the price tag of 30m euros/25m pounds? For reference, their best contributor is Taiwo Awoniyi who had 10G+4A last year.
I would say if he starts 30+ league games next season, then 13-15 league goals would be very good output.
Last season only Solanke (19), Mateta (16) and Wood (14) got over 13 goals from the low to mid-table clubs. Nketiah scoring 13 or over is very achievable for him.
