Darren Bent has criticised Arsenal for prioritising the signing of James Maddison this summer, insisting that we have weaker areas of the team that need looking at.
The Gunners have moved to sign back-up left back Nuno Tavares, England international Ben White and the young Albert Sambi Lokonga already this summer, while an attacking midfielder appears high on our wishlist at present also.
Recent reports seem to claim that we have made a bid to sign Maddison, who Leicester are believed to rate as worth a whopping £70 Million, which will no doubt leave a hefty hole in our summer budget, and Bent insists that the money could probably be better spent in other areas of the team.
“[Maddison] is a fantastic player. I’d love to see him in an Arsenal shirt, but I believe there’s other positions that are probably more important than maybe getting that playmaker,” Bent told TalkSPORT.
“We’ve just seen [Emile] Smith Rowe, who was brilliant last season, signing a new contract.
“We’ve still got [Bukayo] Saka there too.
“Of course you want good players in, and Madison is a very good player, but maybe another central midfielder?
“Maybe a right-back? A right-back would be important.”
I’m not sure a right-back is our priority at present, especially with the impressive form that Calum Chambers has shown in the role since his return from injury, while there are reports that Cedric Soares has also been impressing the manager in pre-season, but I certainly wouldn’t begrudge our side from bringing in another top central midfielder, or even a top goalkeeper to rival or displace Leno.
Should the number 10 role be the priority looking at our current squad?
Patrick
Sky just reported
BREAKING NEWS
Arsenal remain very interested in doing a deal for Leicester City attacking midfielder James Maddison.
In yellow writing ✍️ 😂
This followed
Sky Sports News has been told Maddison would be “open to the idea” of moving to the Emirates Stadium.
A potential deal would be difficult as Leicester’s valuation is thought to be in the region of £70m.
Arsenal have been exploring how a deal could be structured. Cash-plus-players would rely on Leicester accepting the players on offer.
A straight cash deal is not easy – but not impossible. Arsenal are likely to have raise funds from sales.
Maddison’s contract still has three years to run and Leicester are under no pressure to sell. Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers says the club “don’t have to sell” and “don’t need to sell”.
Bent will you please keep your nose out, if we want to prioritise signing James Maddison then we will try and land him, he is easily the the best player for this club.
If Maddison is open to a move to Arsenal then he might try doing a Harry Kane. Spice things up a bit
To me sue that shows a complete lack of class when players do that ,we have had it done over the years to us and it always spoils a footballers reputation .
Sure does!
100% agree on that, Dan kit!
Absolutely nothing wrong to do a “Sol Campbell”, as the player has fulfilled his obligations with the current employer and must look forward to the future.
But, to disrespect the current employer for personal greed/ambition is un-classy. No guarantee that the player wouldn’t do the same to the next employer.
His argument is that he believes there was a gentleman’s agreement with Levy that he would be allowed to leave this year.
Gentlemen’s agreement or not ,he’s now burnt his bridges at the spuds .
The problem with the Kanes transfer is that he’s 28 and in his prime and levy who we all know is a great business man will want top dollar but he’s not worth 150 mill to any team ,no resale value and could flunk at a new team .
The days of real and Barca spending money on already made players are over so I see no way that he willl leave this transfer window ,hence him now being stuck in No mans land with the spuds supporters .
Rightly put, Dan kit.
If the gentleman’s agreement must be fulfilled, Kane must have shown up at the office of Levy on the day he was supposed to be reporting back for duty. Going AWOL is not a gentlemanly thing to do, not just in football, but life in general.
What about he had to self isolate on his return from holiday?
Darrent Bent is feeble minded when it comes to footballing and coaching of a team for him to have said, prioritising creative midfielder (in James Madison) is not Paramount.
Now there’s a thing, the words “Talksport” and “Arsenal Slammed” in one sentence !
Mind you, we do ask for it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Gave up listening ages ago.
Wind up merchants.
Parry the other morning on TV slamming caravan drivers, as he gets stuck behind them in his “70 grand Jag'”.
You must have done AJ. Parry is long gone
Prioritizing Maddison is never bad 4 Arsenal at this time going 4ward. What do pundits really want 4rm us? If we never went 4 a world class player, they will say we are buying cheap articles. Now that we are buying one, some still complain. Arsenal need Maddison more than Maddison need Arsenal. Go get that guy!!!
I have to agree with him concerning our need for a proper RB it would improve us so much imagine a KT type of player as RB.
in all honesty here, CC is extremely underrated
He’s by far our best RB imo
he lacks top spd but he is still pretty quick and adding White to teh back line also compensates for CC’s speed.
He is good in the air
he can defend
he’s good on the ball
he can pass
handle being under pressure
good final ball, not quite KT but close imo
Versatile
there are plenty of other things i can list, so IMO we dont really need a RB unless he is a top drawer player, which we cant afford anyway
Maddison , like he said himself is more an ”8” than a 10 so he would be brought in to play with ESR and not be direct replacement / competition for him.
If we can get Maddison, i would 100% be over joyed, young , proven EPL player and English
All very good points I agree if we are to buy a RB he has to be a top one and much better than what we have otherwise there is no point especially if the money is tight.
Everybody seems to know what Arsenal Football Club needs. Let the guys do things the way they deem fit, judge them when they are done. Too many cook spoil the brot.
The whole Maddison gig is quite an intriguing proposition, albeit I very much doubt anything will happen unless there’s a player swap component to the deal…of course, my only concerns involve his surprisingly underpublicized “off field” predilections, albeit probably something that would naturally wane with age, and his more recent injury woes, after all we are Arsenal and such issues can never be taken lightly…personally, I think he needs to move on from LC, as his body language and the manager’s tactical selections, once he returned from injury, seemed to suggest
as for Bent’s commentary regarding what we should prioritize, I can see what he might be thinking, especially if he believes that our tactics will remain the same as last year, which I can only hope won’t be the case, as he might think that if we brought Maddison onboard MA would likely shoehorn ESR out side again…on the other hand, if this purchase would allow MA to forgo the negative tactics and find a way to play both Maddison and ESR in more centrally located positions, this should be considered our highest priority, as we do have a few manageable pieces from a RB perspective
shocking that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. and he’ll be the first to criticize when we go another season not creating many chances.
I am totally in agreement here, currently Arsenal priorities does make sense. Ben might became a great signing but the defence was our best departmental last season and probably the best of the last 3 to 4 seasons. The front was poor last season but the middle was the poorest of all and probably had a hand in the performance of the frontline. So for me the money first needed to be spending in that defensive middle field department. We need more quality, especially speed that will give more protection to the defence and fast service for the front. Chamber, Bellerin and Cedric all look like back options at RB. We only have 1 quality GK and also with shortcomings. I think the facts are very clear in this case. I think Maddison will be a good sinning, but for 60-70 mil, I would rather add this to the 50 mil for Ben and go for the best option Jack Grealish an than later on look at other department. Keeping Matteo would also have help in the middle.
Please Inform Edu and Arteta I have a bridge in NY for sale!!!! It is currently called “The Brooklyn Bridge”
However, If they want, I will call it the Maddison Bridge, or the Odegaard Bridge, or perhaps the Ramsdale Bridge, or even the Johnstone Bridge.
But it seems it will never be called the Bissouma Bridge, or the Martinez Bridge or the Locatelli Bridge!!!
@Admin Pat
“What about he had to self isolate on his return from holiday?”
If that is the case, the club would have already released that as an official statement.