I have always said to be a big club you have to think like a big club. So, this week of all weeks, with gooners as worried as they have ever been, the club choose the worse time to confirm that Luiz, Mari and Cedric will all be around next season.
Stan Kroenke may just as well hold up a sign which reads ‘we have zero ambition.’ There’s no way it’s a footballing choice. Are we meant to believe the likes of Arteta and Edu, our ex-players, believe the answer to our defensive issues is extending the stay of one of our worst centre backs? Or is it simply they realise there is no money to spend, and in terms of value you’re not going to do better than buying a defender for 15 million?
In comparison when Pep Guardiola felt his full backs were not good enough, Man City spent over 100 million on two left backs and two right backs. Us, Cedric on a free. That’s the same Cedric who Southampton were baffled that a club our size would want on loan.
The point of a loan is to prove yourself and earn a permanent switch. It’s not his fault he arrived injured and then broke his nose, but how can not playing one single second, earn you a move to the Emirates having not been good enough to be starting at Saint Mary’s?
3 starts (1 of which was to Portsmouth, another 25 mins at Man City) is all Mari had to do to extend his time in North London.
So, with us taking up the option of keeping Mari and Luiz and with the arrival of Saliba I guess we know the rumours of the likes of Upamecano are just that, rumours.
Remember last August, when everyone was including the Saliba fee in our outgoings, didn’t I say it will be counted towards this summer’s budget? I can’t think of what else Luiz could have done to prove he’s past his best. Even in his prime he was famous for his lack of concentration. He has somehow managed in 7 months to concede more red cards and penalties then he did in 6 years at Chelsea. He’s been rewarded for that.
Can you imagine one of the Manchester Clubs, Liverpool or Chelsea being 10th and rewarding 3 of their defenders? It’s decisions like this which show we are not a big club anymore. This is why the fanbase need clarification. Even if it’s bad news, let us know the financial situation. It will stop so many gooners having false hope in the next transfer window and feeling let down yet again. We might even then understand why certain decisions are being made.
If not, we are forced to believe that Arteta as a manager and Edu says they see them as ‘long term important to our technical plan.’
Could that be true?
Dan Smith