The DMs are coming! by Konstantin Mitov
Well my friends, the latest victory of our turnaround comes as we’ve FINALLY signed a real defensive midfielder. Such a figure has been absent since the days of Gilberto Silva. And let’s jump straight onto a quote from his interview.
Because ‘garra charrua’ means that we give all we have inside. We give all we have to our football, our jersey and our country. We do our best because every time we enter the pitch we represent our family and friends, the most important people for us.
Welcome to Arsenal 2018 where hard work and giving everything sits on top. The guy had a good world cup, especially considering the fact he hadn’t played much international football before. His main purpose will be to protect the defence. Something we didn’t have in the likes of Denilson or Song, but we had in Coquelin, just not up to the standard required.
We’ve also added Matteo Guendouzi. A very highly rated young French DM, and my god, do you see the amount of talent coming back from France? They cruised it through the final of the world cup and they’re still to play at their very best. Signing the next generation reminds me of the days we snapped up Anelka and Henry. I am perhaps getting a bit carried away, but the new Arsenal is so nice, I can’t get enough of it right now!
That makes it FIVE players already and yes you aren’t dreaming. It all has happened before mid-July! We didn’t have a lot of players at the world cup either, so most of our squad will be ready for the start of the season! In contrast Spurs and City dominate the world cup and we should be taking advantage of this.
Remember how many slow starts we’ve had in recent times? At Arsenal people for a very long time have ignored the little details that paint the big pictures. For example we’ve just signed Chris Morgan, who will be joining our medical staff from Crystal Palace where he spent the last 2 years, having been at Liverpool for 11 before that.
We were broken everywhere, not just the players on the pitch, but the board, the backroom staff, the manager, the coaches and so on. Now we’re sweeping clean – left, right and center – and it’s extremely important we gel those people together as quickly as possible.
We now have a very big squad. What will we do with the likes of Joel Campbell, Jenkinson, Lucas Perez, Holding, Emi Martinez and Takuma Asano? I know they have different stories, but I suspect at least half of them will be loaned out at least. We’re moving on Ospina and luckily we cleared out Wilshere.
And speaking of Jack, Wenger didn’t miss an opportunity to embarrass himself again by comparing a player who’s main superpower was being injured to one of the greatest players of all time in Messi. Not that the results Arsene put Arsenal through weren’t a joke enough.
Anyway, things are all very good while everybody is all smiles after a nice summer break, but the season starts against Man City and if we’re to cut the gap this season, Emery will need to know his best squad or at least have a decent idea about it or we might turn out as another Liverpool (from a few seasons ago). Signing a lot of players and then wondering how to ship them out when it doesn’t work.
I am positive this will not be the case here. A large number of people who have worked at some of Europe’s best teams are working on our project now. We don’t sign players from Southampton and West Brom, with all my respect. We’ve mixed youth and experience we’re very focused on work. Something we didn’t do for the large part of the last 10 years.
We’re building Dortmund 2.0 with a touch of Barcelona. I’d like us to replicate the model of Juventus, a team who won endless Serie A titles in a row and got to two champions league finals in a row, without breaking the bank, but by being smart and taking players like Pogba, Tevez, Vidal, Khedira and so on who seemed unneeded in their previous teams and built a solid working machine. And when the opportunity struck, they went and bought Cristiano Ronaldo.
Arguably the best player right now and despite his age of 33, getting him is an unbelievable achievement. Just the number of shirts he will sell and the amount of people who will follow Juventus due to his signature is ridiculous. We’re at least five-years behind their project, despite being richer and taxing a lot more for tickets with a stadium that has a mere 20 thousand more seats!
We have to start rebuilding somewhere though. Now attention shifts to the work of the backroom staff. I think the board and Ivan G have done a sublime job so far, let’s hope Emery and the boys continue this trend!
Konstantin