Things change yet stay the same..
Some Gooners believe that Stan Kroenke, who first joined the board in 2007 and had over 60 percent of shares by 2011, meaning the American has had power over Arsenal for 14 years, is suddenly going to change his successful business model at the age of 77 for the team in his sports portfolio he arguably cares the least about.
Some of my peers convinced themselves that a 300 million war chest existed this summer. Perhaps they want that to be true, or convinced themselves that had to be the reason for zero business being done in January. That was the same month Mikel Arteta was saying we were short in attack and needed help.
While nothing can justify the owners waving the white flag halfway through a season, the Gunners were happy to leak speculation that the club were simply waiting for their long-term target and did not want to sign a player just to fill a gap in the squad temporarily. They have a section of the fan base applauding second place and comparing our youngsters to Yamal, so our ownership knows how to manipulate.
Arsenal’s striker situation: A tale of two targets
Of course, not all rumours are true, but it is widely accepted that since this time last year we have been interested in Benjamin Sesko and Viktor Gyokeres. In a sport where all parties talk off the record, by now we should surely know the asking price for both, whether we agree with that value, and if we plan to match it.
Andrea Berta not starting his new job until March has complicated matters, the Italian needing time to review Edu’s work. Despite Gyokeres being our Director of Football’s first choice, he respects that Sesko has been scouted for a while and is viewed by our manager as having the higher ceiling.
Originally, it was assumed we were negotiating with Sporting Lisbon as a plan B, just in case option A fell through. Yet Gyokeres has now called our bluff by making it clear the Emirates would be his chosen destination. Based on every metric, Arsenal have the money to buy both forwards, but the moment Gyokeres has essentially said ‘come and get me’, Arsenal have decided to freeze their interest.
Miscommunication and indecision haunt Arsenal again
Arsenal want the Swede to find clarification with his employers, with both parties giving contrasting information. The 27-year-old believes he has a verbal agreement that if anyone offered around 60 million he would not be priced out of a move. The Portuguese champion’s vice president has stressed that no such promises have been made and has guaranteed the Primeira Liga top scorer would not be leaving for that fee, believing someone will go as high as the 80 million release clause.
Any of you thinking that Arsenal working with false information sounds familiar would be right. It is 12 years since they were informed by Luis Suarez’s agent that Liverpool were contractually obliged to accept any sum over 40 million. That was never the case.
Most billionaires do not become rich by wasting their cash. No club is going to pay extra if they do not have to, yet you do wonder why we are trying to lowball Frederico Varandas when he has made it abundantly clear what he expects.
Meanwhile, how long do you ask Sesko to wait before he gets offended? Until the 22-year-old has officially signed a contract, anyone can hijack any deal on the table. That has happened before. Gonzalo Higuain once withdrew from moving to North London after initially accepting because our recruitment team took so long haggling over every last pound that he questioned how committed we were to the deal.
Manchester City spent 218 million in January and, since the end of the campaign, 130 million. That is because they have standards they do not tolerate falling below. When they do, Pep Guardiola is asked what he needs to improve things, and it happens.
Arsenal in that time have spent nothing and are still being indecisive in talks that have been ongoing for a year. Was not the whole point of doing zero business in the winter that we did not want to undermine our plans for now? Did we not have deals ready and lined up? Yet here we are in June freezing our interest.
Which one sounds serious about being champions? Which one is ambitious?
Supporters accepted that the first window opened earlier for those involved in the Club World Cup, but now that it is open properly, I am not sure they will tolerate either saga going on much longer.
Let me know what you think of the situation in the comments below.
Dan Smith
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Berta is arrogant and disrespectful to Arteta and the scouts. He wants a player he likes over a player that the coach and scouts have monitored for over a year and have tried to get him since last summer window. Berta is not the coach or manager. His job is to get rid of the deadwood in the team to raise funds to help get the players Arteta wants expedient. So far,he has been a failure in the transfer window. Berta is overrated and his incompetence is glaring. Arsenal is a joke of a club. When the coaches of the top clubs like Liverpool, Manchester city and Chelsea wants a player before you know it , the deal is already done. What a shame on some Arsenal fans for over hyping Berta in their efforts to ditch Arteta. Less we forget from whence we came. First impression are lasting.l am not impressed at all with Berta. What a state of confusion, Arsenal have gotten from bad to worse in the transfer market. Too much dilly dally and penny pinching.
would i be surprised if we end up with rashford and a left back? absolutely not! its the arsenal way 😂 and we make these kinda signings at the end of the window
The Arsenal Way. Love it. You need a system to sustain success, so too failure. Just dont get how some fans keep dreaming _what do you get when u keep doing things the same way?
My grievance is that despite actually going in for Sesko last summer but didn’t get him and we waited for a complete season, we had another full year of sample size to watch him and make a decision on his ability, tactical fit and what price we are willing to pay. It’s more than long enough.
I believe we’re not being told the truth at all in the media because I can’t believe we’re simply trying to play smart on two strikers after waiting for a year with the risk of losing either of them.
But if it’s true, then a big SIGH…
What a pendulum of stories as if we were watching live an epic tennis match between the best ranked players Alcaraz and Sinner moving our heads instinctively from one court to the other. What or who to trust?
Though the fee for Sesko is a lot to say the least, but if that’s who the gaffer prefers then the deal should be done. It’s a release clause anyway, not much you can do to bring it down. Considering sporting CP chiefs are going against the release clause already in agreement just to get way more out of the deal signals just that (shame). It’s a release clause, not much our directors could do about it, you either trigger or just ignore .
Agreed. The club should aim to back the manager, like City does.
This new Sporting boss is stringing us along with demands we can’t justify. Unless he compromises, a deal is a lost cause, even if Gyokeres wants to come and we would take him.
We have the money, choose Gyokeres or Sesko and do the deal.
We have money, we have our targets, get the deal done and move to the next.
Doesn’t seem to be a problem with City, Utd, or Liverpool, only us.
We missed out on Higuian when Wenger heard of Luis Suarez phantom release clause. He tried to pacify fans by buying Ozil when Arsenal had such creative midfielders like Rosicky, Cazorla, Wilshere, Ramsey that could all play the no.10 role, though none was as mercurial as Ozil, though Cazorla and Rosicky come very close