Are Arsenal Becoming More Ruthless? by AI
“Please keep the values of the club,” that was the departing statement of Arsene Wenger to the club. Since then, Arsenal have frozen out Mesut Ozil, laid off 55 staff members and ended the two decades of service for Jerry Quy as the club’s mascot.
At the same time, Arsenal have integrated Per Mertesacker, Edu and Mikel Arteta back into the management structure of the squad. Unai Emery, Ivan Gazidis and Raul Sanllehi have all left the club. There has been a disruptive global pandemic. Arsenal have slid into mid-table mediocrity. Stan Kroenke has released 45 million pounds for a marquee transfer. These are not normal times. The club has gotten desperate and has had to rethink many of its processes.
The scouting network in Europe has been gutted while that of South America has been largely maintained. Data and video scouting has been adapted going forward. Players like David Luiz and Willian have been signed on the cheap. Ainsley Maitland-Niles was NOT sold to Wolves for chicken change. The management demanded 40 million euros for Bellerin while selling Martinez for half of that.
We are taking the highest quality shots in the league this season and have narrowly lost three of our toughest fixtures. Every other minute, a decision is been taken and some fat is being cut. It is not so clear where all of this is going. But one thing is sure: we are going somewhere and is that place. .. ruthless?
The values that Arsene Wenger has cultivated in the club has become associated in some quarters with failure and underachievment. Modern clubs are not so old-fashioned anymore. It is all business now. Perhaps this is true. Perhaps Arsenal are modernizing like all the big super clubs. Perhaps the values of Highbury are too burdensome, holding us back from glory. The problem with losing those values for short-sighted ruthlessness is that they are difficult to gather again. Hopefully we are doing the right thing.
Agboola Israel