I think it’s hard to see clear cut examples of where anyone could because of the contracts the leaving players were on, their preferences to get full value from their contracts over playing and their poor performance levels at the time.
For me it’s clear cut examples of the catastrophic trading and squad management that the club did in the first decade or so of Kroenkes ownership.
With hindsight the Auba contract extension was a disaster compared with selling him but hard to see that he’d go from playing like one of the best forwards in the prem to being unable to hit a cows arse with a banjo before magically refinding form at Barca.
Maybe we should have got 20 for Laca a year ago but we were short on CF cover.
Pepe is the next big loss coming after that. Another Raul disaster.
Torreira and Shittytaryan turned into horror signings on inflated deals relative to their performances. The latter looked terrible business at the time. Leno won’t make us money as his performances have dropped and his wages too big. Sok was another poor waste. The list seemed endless.
It’s only recently that we’ve started signing younger players who’ve improved that we’ve had some players who at least for now have held or grown value. Martinelli would probably get 50 or more, Gabriel probably 40 or more, Ramsdale probably get at least the money back etc. Against this Lakonga and Tavares looking more questionable though.
Without a bottomless pit of money it shows the importance of well thought out squad management and purchases. It’s fundamental to our return as a top team playing wise when world football is flooded with Oligarchs money.
Hopefully Edu and Arteta are finding their way now but the Summer window is so fundamental especially in the centre forward area but also hopefully a final upgrade on Xhaka.
Who do you think we offloaded that we should’ve got materially more for?
I want to say I think although it’s the best defence we’ve had in a while on paper Arsenal fans overrate they ceiling on the Ramsdale, Tomiyasu, White, Gabriel and Tierney defence.
I think it’s relatively solid, but overall I think it’s a fringe CL / EL rearguard not a potential staunch title contending backline.
I think that’s a fair assessment of the current level, both of KT and the backline overall.
The big questions are how much room for improvement they might have and whether they’ll trend that way. Defenders tend to have later peaks and keepers even more so. You could convince me that KT won’t get better, given how prone he is to injury and the sort of one-tricky-pony nature of his game. But I don’t think any of the other back five have reached some kind of natural ceiling.
That doesn’t mean they’ll automatically improve but few defenders are the finished article at 23/24.
Fully agree with this.
When all of our back 5 was fit I often thought we had one of the best defences in the world.
Probably the last time I actually trusted an Arsenal defence in a long, long time.
The fact that Tierney was considered the weak link in the backline after being considered our best defender in previous seasons says it all.
Hopefully Saliba and whoever we bring in at fullback improve our situation when any of them are missing.
THIS, i think this is why our so called doctor is getting shifted. For far too long we have had key players out. Arteta has seen how injuries should be managed from city how even crocks can be brought back and play for a good amount of games. These stupid asses dont heal up and then get brought back on advisement only to break down again. I have had a strong feeling that our staff for injuries are out of their depth and too ‘oldschool’ and they are messing us up.
I want to vote for him but it wouldn’t be realistic. Arteta won’t let him go easily.
Hopefully Roma make an enticing offfer that we can’t reject and Xhaka forces his way out.
