Evaluation of Arsenal’s Transfers – Mari, Cedric and Saliba by ArsenalAfroArmy
Mari (LCB)
25 yo, 6’4” Left footed
Much needed mettle to our soft left. I applaud the recruitment team for this, as only until recently I realised the hole we have there. Capable of deputising for Luiz if necessary and adds much needed experience to the young left as well. He is slow though, pulling down the average speed of our defensive unit. Before joining, his last injury was back in 2017 yet it did not take him long to see our doctors which is a concern. £5M loan plus £9M purchase for a total of £14M. An empty hole we just filled at that price, good business, hopefully he stays fit.
Cedric (RB)
27,5’8” Right footed
Slower and older than our current options but what he does bring is balance to our top-heavy right. His performance so far seems solid, nothing to really shout about yet. I’ve seen gifs of his free kicks so that’s something to look forward to. 5M for the loan, join on a free, nothing exciting.
Saliba (RCB)
18yo, 6’4” Right-footed
One of 2 giants recently added. Reports commonly point to his pure physical attributes, both pacey and strong. We went to great lengths including a loan back and a relatively large sum for a young CB. Pre-Arteta arrival, but a welcome addition to our defensive unit that have been screaming for an RCB capable of shouldering the defensively weak right. Others currently vying for the spot are Mustafi, Sokratis and Holding. Someone is getting sold, Sokratis>Holding>Mustafi in terms of likelihood. £27M plus the loan back for a potential long term solution looks good, assuming he doesn’t get infected by the injury plague common amongst our defence. Also nice hair.
Thanks for reading!
ArsenalAfroArmy
I would not mind the arrival of another left footed defender and a left footed midfielder though..
Gabriel Magalhaes is left footed 😉
👍 And tall.
And Lille are having trouble with FFP so his arrival looks more and more likely ,but it begs the question why we signed Mari ,seems we will be stacked with CBs unlesss we offload a few .
Dan, exactly; transfers out to provide squad places and generate transfer funds are essential. However, Mari may prove to be one for the future, once he returns from injury.
And Brazilian and I see the potential in his hair.
Mountains in our defence let’s see teams get pass this unit
Pablo Mari will be 27 on the 31st of this month so one for the future might have to hurry up!.
We all know MA wants to have a balanced team / squad so having 2 LCB in the squad will add that
Saliba is huge!!!!! He is one I’m really excited about! Was a clip of Arteta coaching him in the left cb position..
And yes, AAA, nice hair 😉
Am i dey only one excited about saliba and mari pairing
Yes 🤣
saliba luiz mari
Mari
First name on the arsenal team defender sheet for me. Comfortable with the ball, is tall, can tackle and above all can PASS the damn ball forward. Something which only Luiz can do but at a very slow pace.
However Luiz being his only viable partner, both tend to be left-sided center-backs which will result in right side of defence being light.
Soares
The best option of the three. The perfect right back for me. Better than Bellerin by a country-mile in everything; passing, defending, crossing.
Saliba
You’ll hear it only from me. Am least enthusiastic about this one, regardless of what fans expect from this guy.
He’s not that great at defending or advancing the ball forward. Time will tell if am right or wrong.
Well, I hope you’re wrong. The fact is though, he is very young and we need a solution that works straight away. Will have to wait and see who comes and goes. When the season starts we will know more but I am putting faith in MA to find decent back line once and for all. Same goes for the midfield too!
Get magalhaes in and start playing 2 at the back in home games with him, Saliba, Tierney and unfortuently Bellerin as a back 4. Bring in Partley to add steel to the midfield, get Ceballos on another loan. Get one of Grealish, Coutinho or Aourer to complete the midfield, funded by selling AMN, Torriera and Guendouzi. Willian coming in allows us to sell Lacazette to further fund the team and we can move Abameyang central. If we get the players mentioned the defence will improve ten fold as magalhaes and Partley will add pace and power which we are lacking and the addition of a creative cm and willian will allow us to dominate the ball as we also lack creative techniqually going forward.
Liam, Arsenal need a DM, such as Marc Roca from relegated Espanyol, to allow a Ceballos or Coutinho to play further forward and cover for Partey when he moves up field.
Arsenal have not had a physical 6′ DM, since Gilberto Silva departed and the team has been consistently been overrun in midfield, putting more pressure on the defense as a result.
Hang on you want to play another dm next to Partey? A midfield 3 of Partey Ceballos Coutinho for the easier games then drop Coutinho for Xhaka in the tricker games. Furthermore you could even drop one of the front 3 for Coutinho and pack out the middle of the park and keep hold of the ball.
Liam, Thomas Partey is not a DM but a box to box midfielder in the Viera mold. Marc Roca would be the DM in the mold of Gilberto Silva. Xhaka is not a DM for “trickier games”.
I agree on the hole left by Gilberto Silva never really filled. At some point there was a shift towards more smaller trickier midfield and We somehow forgot about it. A particular Alex song and Francis coquelin shown a bit of light but one decided to sit on a Barca bench for a season and the other was not consistent enough.
👍
Alex song would have been an Arsenal great…with the way he was been hailed by the world at that time,and eventually wanted to spend money like the bigger earners made him loss is carrier to almost nothing at the moment… still love him though very good player indeed..
Dear Army commander from Africa or whatever your PROPER NAME IS. You have written about three new recruits, two of whom have scarcely ever played in our colours yet and one who has never played a single minute in our colours. And yet, in your wisdom you have judged them! Would it not be wise to at least WAIT to see how they do when they have had a chance to either prove their worth or not!
Also Saliba was signed in 2019.
Judging any of them now is a little on the silly side imo