Daniel Sturridge.
Is it cope to hope he can be a good midfield solution for us this season and finally break into first team being a great player?
Definitely not this season. He might play some games but heās not going to be integral IMO.
Can only see him starting in the League Cup really. So if we make a deep run he will get appearances. Other than that canāt see him having a lot of minutes. Maybe some late subs to see out a game.
League cameos, League Cup (likely), FA Cup (unlikely), UCL if weāre already qualified to next stageā¦
Then next year, can hopefully be his breakthrough.
But if thereās nobody else to fill the gaps when our players inevitably get injured, then Iām happy for him to be a stand-in.
Iād like MLS and Nwaneri to be the extra cover. They both seem pretty versatile. They can get a few minutes here and there and be more involved with the first team.
They can then properly step in next summer.
One of those two is getting sold in the long run imo.
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canāt see MLS making it here in the first team so far. Still too early to tell ofc.
Nwaneri seems to be the best young prospect weāve had since Saka; think weāre gonna try our best to hold onto him for many years to come if his development continues at the pace it has been,
Kid is 17. A little early to say whether he makes it or not.
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Maybe not as a regular starter given our ambitions but a utility guy who can cover a couple roles in the midfield and LB seems pretty useful if he can grow into that. Like an AMN that has the brain and touch for Arteta ball.
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he is (still) 17, and last season people were condemning Arteta for not giving him play time.
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If he is good enough no need to worry about age. If we take this stance with young talent we would never have seen Cesc.
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But your best talent should at least be given a window of opportunity. The current trio of Nelson, Smith Rowe and Nketiah are all around 23/24 before being shipped on - thatās half a dozen years time for the likes of EN and MLS. Just because a kid made it into the 1st team at the age of 16, 23 years ago, that doesnāt mean time has to expire on this new crop before theyāre old enough to buy a beer.
The risk is that a precocious talent like Nwaneri doesnāt wait for his opportunity.
Heās a highly hyped youth prospect and I assume he has a scumbag agent. They want to get paid and they want minutes NOW.
If we take it slow with him there is every chance that a rival throws the bag at him as well as promises of first team action.
Itās a very difficult balancing act to develop top talents at the right pace and keep them happy.
Unless youāre a Saka level talent who is a first teamer from the age of 18, you have to wait. Agents hate waiting for their payday and it very usually results in players fucking off and their careers stuttering.
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if he/his agent opts for money over development and/or loyalty to the club, so be it.
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The clubās in a good place where players and agents donāt get to dictate things. Thereās been an entire culture shift at Arsenal. Players will think twice about causing a fuss about game time or transferring out. If big Gabby can get benched for (alleged) insubordination then any non-starter can get benched and loaned out to any scrub team in Serie A or Ligue 1.
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The kid is good, no doubt; but lack of size and experience.
I think he can be a factor for us this year. He wonāt start important games but it seems to me like Arteta is giving him every chance to beat out Vieira as Odegaardās #1 backup (although Havertz could also be in the mix) and so far he has hardly put a foot wrong.
If weāre chasing a match I can also see him coming in at left 8. Having two creators in the two 8 positions is clearly an option we want to have available, Vieira has just never really justified that setup with his play. Nwaneri just looks different level to him already at 17. He has a really good understanding already with the other attacking players, especially Odegaard. We created our two most dangerous situations in the first half against United when him and Odegaard overloaded the same side and played quick little combinations, first the give-and-go that Nwaneri played to Odegaard and which ended with a good chance that was offside and then the goal, which came from Nwaneri, Odegaard, Zinchenko, and Trossard playing a rondo on the wing until Nwaneri could wriggle free for the cross. That kind of overload of quick technical players all in the same space, with several forwards still in the box as finishers, is a nice card to play that we didnāt really have last year.
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