Never expected anything significant from him this season so am not worried. But if he can’t be available for atleast 80% of next season then we probably know he’s not someone we can rely upon.
But for now, he has time on his side.
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Favourite Arsenal player but I’m worried about how much time out he has. Been this way since he was a teenager.
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Agree. Really worry he could be another Jack. So much talent but injuries preventing him from fulfilling all his potential. I hope not though. Really hope he can get fit and stay fit soon.
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Rough. This guy just cannot stay healthy. I think he’s got all the talent necessary but if he’s never available it’s not really helpful.
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He needs to change something
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It is concerning. Hoping he is in the squad for the City game at least.
I feel like we will need 5-7 goals from him between now and the end of the season.
He gives us a different kind of goal threat. He could score the goals that Xhaka has been scoring except he’s obviously a more natural attacker and ball carrier.
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Sadly, I don’t think he will play much of a role for us this month. Realistically, the best case outcome is that he gets healthy, builds up his fitness, and becomes able to start the Europa League matches in March.
He got 15 minutes against Oxford and then regressed. One minute against Spurs, didn’t get off the bench against United, now injured the last two weeks. Once back he’ll be the fifth forward behind Trossard and in a couple weeks the sixth forward behind Jesus, so league minutes will be difficult to come by unless we’re killing somebody 3-0 and Arteta is willing to put him into midfield.
This dude has become a myth
Seemingly doesn’t possess the requisite body to be a regular fixture here
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He’ll be gone in the summer.
Can’t rely on him.
No chance, we’re not that ruthless and I don’t think we should be.
Can’t just keep signing new players with no connection to the club. As much as a lot of them are fodder playing wise at the moment, the likes of Smith Rowe, Elneny, Holding all seemingly are key players in terms of the team atmosphere.
Now at some point they have to be replaced (might be time for Bobby to finally go this summer) but it’s not always just about the guys on the pitch imo.
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Y’all come around soon enough and see that this guy has to go.
Who you wana buy to replace him ?
Has to be HG
Declan Rice can fill the HG spot left by him. ESR doesn’t even have a real position either so we can buy accordingly to suit our system.
That’s assuming rice will come but he can’t fill in the HG spot for both Holding and ESR so we need another.
Plus if Nelson goes make that 3 overall. Saka will fill one I think next year.
Better off upgrading holding and keeping ESR for now I reckon.
Edit - Martinelli might also count next year so that helps.
As fun as it would be to sign Rice, I still just can’t see it happening. Chelsea will undoubtedly get involved. I can see Edu walking away when the price starts to escalate.
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We are in really good shape with homegrown players. Martinelli and Saliba both count.
In the end, its better to think about there being a limit of 17 to the number of non-homegrown players you can on the PL or European roster. We currently only have 14 and that is counting Elneny.
Are we? We included Matt Smith this year and still only had 7 lol
I saw something that Saliba might count but don’t really understand why, the rule is registered for 36 months before being 21 and he’s been out on loan abroad so would’ve thought that counts against him.
We’ll have 6 proper squad players next year if he does count - Ramsdale, White, Saliba, Martinelli, Saka, Nketiah. Then there’s Nelson, ESR and Holding who may all leave. I think we should keep the former 2 as our final 2 HG players and they can be useful third layer backups at this rate. Better to use them in that role than have to use two ‘foreign’ players or leave the squad short.
Agree with the second part tbf and the HG players just mean you leave slots free if you don’t have them but better to maximise the 25 where possible. I’d keep Smith Rowe more for the fact he’s one of our lads but thought the HG angle was the easiest to point at.
I have seen a number of media reports from reliable people saying that both Saliba and Martinelli count.
The number of homegrown players is actually kind of irrelevant. The only thing that really matters is having 17 or fewer non-homegrown players who are above the age limit and we are totally fine on that.
Turner
Gabriel
Tomi
Tierney
Zinchenko
Kiwior
Partey
Jorginho
Xhaka
Odegaard
Vieira
Elneny
Jesus
Trossard
That is only 14. It doesn’t count guys like Pepe, Nuno, and Sambi but I don’t see them having a future back with the club. And this is assuming that Elneny gets extended, which may not happen.
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Well you say that but if we want good depth it’s not at all. The other options are sign u21’s to replace them (may be viable), utilise two of the 17 slots to replace them or don’t replace them at all.
Agree on our position the non-hg front 
For the rule its not that important, its really a rule structured around non-homegrown players, that’s all I’m saying.
We will have plenty of depth. If we sign a CM/DM this summer we’ll have six forwards (Saka, Jesus, Martinelli, Eddie, Trossard, ESR), seven midfielders (Ode, Xhaka, Partey, Jorginho, Vieira, Elneny, new signing), and eight defenders (Saliba, Gabriel, Tomi, White, Zinny, Tierney, Holding, Kiwior), plus three keepers (Ramsdale, Turner, Hein). That is 24 players, only 14 non-home grown, and then some guys like Balogun/Patino/Marquinhos/Nelson if extended could be in the mix too, even before thinking about U21 players like Cozier-Duberry and Nwaneri getting a few minutes here and there.
If we lose ESR from that group we can easily replace him with a non-homegrown player, it wouldn’t hurt us at all. We could lose both ESR and Holding and replace both with non-homegrown players if we wanted.
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