All the big Arsenal gossip today is that the coming week will see the arrival of Willian from Chelsea, and the extension of our captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s contract.
Both of them will be a big boost to Arsenal fans, but according to European football expert Gab Marcotti, speaking on an ESPN Podcast, Willian’s arrival must mean that either Aubameyang or Lacazette are likely to be sold.
“I don’t understand the logic here,” Marcotti said. “You’re in this situation, you’ve asked players to take a pay cut and everything…
“Willian ended the season very well but the fact of the matter is Willian, Aubameyang, Lacazette – Auba 31, Lacazette will turn 30 soon, you’re going to have to renew him or sell him as well.
“And you’ve got kids, you’ve got Saka, Martinelli, Nketiah. You’re rebuilding, I don’t see the logic adding all these veterans.
“It’s almost like they’ve learned nothing from the [Mesut] Ozil and [Henrikh] Mkhitaryan situation.
“I wonder if Willian’s signing foreshadows either Aubameyang or Lacazette leaving.”
Mikel Arteta seems confident that he can persuade Aubameyang to stay, although nothing is guaranteed until the Gabon hitman signs on the dotted line, but I have a feeling that Lacazette is the man most likely to leave. He has been mostly a peripheral player this season and Eddie Nketiah seems to have become the most likely striker for Arteta lately.
But do you think Lacazette leaving would give Aubameyang the chance to play as our number 9, being fed by Willian from the wing?
Can Willian play as a striker?
Precisely, Willian isnt a striker and his incoming has nothing to do with Lacca.
So the guy is a football expert he is?😂but he cannot see the reasoning of adding experienced players to play alongside the Saka,Martinelli… Auba and William are proven winners and still performing at a very high level,someone needs to tell him that the game has evolved!fitness,diet,science…have made it possible for professionals to have longer careers,the days of players retiring at 30 years old are long gone bar injuries of course and both players have very good records when it comes to injuries, then financially it makes sense to give Auba a new improved contracts, doesn’t this expert realise how difficult and expensive it is to find a striker who’s going to score you at least 20 goals per season,ready to go and William is a free agent,expert my a**e!
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Siamson most of this so called experts are hypocrites,just ignore them.
Having paid 72m for Pepe is he likely to be left out to accommodate Willian .I can fully appreciate why Marcotti is surprised that we are apparently signing yet another right winger when we already have a number of good options for that position, namely Nelson, Martinelli, Saka who was played there recently, and AMN .Willian is a player I have always admired but at 32 his best years are behind him and when we are desperately looking for quality at DM and CB, it does not make sense to commit 100k per week for a right winger.In the context of the 55 members of staff paid off,how much is Joorabchian being paid by Arsenal to conclude this deal?Two million perhaps.
Again grandad William had his best goal return in a chelsea this season so no his best days arent “behind him” and he can play the attacking midfield role too which I imagine we will do depending on formations for certain opponents. Why dont people trust Arteta knows what he is doing!?
Than you!,😀👍
I really think sometimes as a club, we have to make some difficult decision for the benefits of the club and selling Lacazette to me is the best. Lacazette will still fetch us 40 to 50million easily, we can invest that money in other areas. We have martinelli who can play that position, we can promote Balogun to the first team,we have Nketiah, Liverpool did it with coutinho, toth did it with Bale and modric and I really don’t think we will miss Lacazette that much.
Spot on. Lacazette for Partey would be really nice. He won’t be missed.
I won’t be surprised if I see Lacazette sold by this greedy board.
That would be a bad move as competition for places improves players.
S.J selling Lacazette might end up being the best decision the board will make this season, If we can get around 45million for him, then I think we should sell him, it’s not like he’s a goalscorer, we can easily replace him from within with either Balogun or Martinelli, people keep saying we should act like a big club, taking some very difficult decision is part of acting like a big club. Even real Madrid sold Ronaldo and they still won the league, so it depends on how smart the club works in the transfer market, if selling Lacazette will bring in someone like Partey or a solid cb, then I will gladly let him leave.
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personally i would sell Laca, very inconsistent throughout his time with us and this would allow us to play Auba up top where he should be playing.
I don’t think he would fetch 50m tho, maybe 35-40m.
So assuming we have signed Willian and we do make the Partey signing and keep Cebellos, the line up would probably look like this next season
Willian – Auba – Pepe
Xaka – Partey – Cebellos
KT – Luiz – Saliba – HB
Martinez / Leno
Willian can also play no10 role which could then free up the LW position for Saka and Marinelli would be Auba’s replacement if he was ever injured or rotated due to cups etc
Also lets not forget Mari who will probably play at CB when he’s fit in place of either Luiz or more likely Saliba while he adjusts to the league etc.
with this we have a balanced first team squad, loads of pace all around the team which opens up for a few different styles we could adopt, free flowing possession football, high press or counter or a mix of all 3.
In would love e us to keep Lacazette. He gets defenders busy. Always harassing them and stays in the box. Aubameyang benefits from Lacazette play. We should loan Nketiah to a premier league club. We have Europa league next season. We need 3 strikers. Lacazette, Martinelli and Aubameyang
I’ve always felt that Lacazette will end up at Atletico Madrid – and if it’s as part of the transfer for Partey, then that seems to make sense.
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Laca can go, think Auba, Gabby, & Eddie can play there, LW can be Gabby,Willian,Pepe,Saka & Auba then RW the same as LW minus Auba, then I think we will loan out Nelson,he needs more games to improve, he’s had a poor season but is a good player, even Sancho said Nelson was a better player than him when Nelson went to Hoffenheim & he did well initially, so he can come good just needs another loan
Are we really saying that we should sell Lacazette in order to accommodate Willian? I don’t think that most of you are real Arsenal fans
the club has NO MONEY
we have the best striker in the league playing on the wing.
We need bankable assets so we can strengthen other areas.
Don’t get me wrong i like Laca i do and his return of 48 goals, 25 assists in 127 games isnt bad.
His hold up play is pretty decent and he runs alot which helps our pressing game.
But we need better players in other areas so we can try get back to the level we should be which is top 4 UCL place and then challenging for the league.
Unfortunately we can’t do that with NO MONEY.
you need to look at the bigger picture, right now its not about who we have playing for us and who we want to stay or want to go.
The club needs to do a balancing act in terms of outlay on wages, transfer fees and quality on the pitch where all the magic happens, so sending Mikhi back to Roma for his last season and bringing in Willian, will back us 80k per week and have a better player.
I get you don’t like Willian but can you not see why he is being signed?
VAL, I CAN SEE WHY, BUT AT HIS AGE STILL NOT CONVINCED IT IS WISE. A CLOSE CALL THOUGH AND FAR BETTER THAN LAZY, MORE OR LESS USELESS MKHI!
I’d prefer seeing William play as a No 10. He makes good run and he adds the kind of urgency that Sanchez took with him.
I am with Ad PAT in that I too expect Laca to leave this summer. It now seems Auba will stay and as money is tight and we have Nketiah and Martinelli will be fit eventually, it seems probable that Laca will leave and that is probably wise. His figures overall have not been as expected since he signed, for a big money signing.
Well said Val.
This isn’t a question of LACA’s worth
to AFC but whether not the team
can genuinely improve if the
Frenchmen is moved on this
summer?
If Arsenal are able to swap him
for Partey or use his sale to
sign both Gabriel and Ibrahimi
Diallo wouldnt most Gunners
worldwide see that as a smart
piece of business?