If I asked you to name two Gunners who are likely to be on the chopping board when the transfer window opens, I am almost certain you would mention Leandro Trossard.
Trossard has had a dreadful league year so far; he simply hasn’t been his usual self.
Since joining Arsenal in the winter of 2023, we’ve looked to him whenever we thought a game was slipping away, as he’d always force game-changing goals to get us over the finish line.
Trossard, the game changer, has been MIA this season. The Belgian international has lost his impact of late. He went from being a goal-scoring contributor to becoming a passenger on this Arsenal team.
In 15 games, he has two goals and one assist. Some have stated that he is struggling because he is not playing in his preferred position (left flank); he has been used as a 10 (or false 9) in recent weeks, but wasn’t he supposed to be versatile? In actual fact, when he first arrived at Arsenal he told us that playing as a Number 10 was his favourite position!
Others have argued he’s nothing more than a supersub, and perhaps he can rediscover his spark in that role. But amidst this, there’s a feeling that if a team comes calling for his services, he better be sold.
After the summer transfer market closed, Saudi Arabian club Al-Ittihad reportedly bid for Trossard, but Arsenal declined. Well, it was recently reported that the Saudi club is willing to give £40 million for the Arsenal forward during the winter transfer window.
Arsenal was said to be preparing for Trossard’s departure, with West Ham’s Mohammed Kudus being considered a replacement. As many anticipated Trossard’s departure and Kudus’ arrival, an intriguing development has emerged.
Trossard’s current contract is set to expire in June 2026, but the Gunners want to extend it. According to Football Insider’s Pete O’Rourke, “talks are ongoing” between the club and the 29-year-old. The ex-Brighton is, as per the journalist, considered a cog in Arteta’s initiative; I don’t know about you, but that baffles me.
Additionally, the O’Rourke report further reveals Arsenal is desperate to avoid losing an attacker while hunting for reinforcements.
Personally, I believe the winter transfer window was an excellent opportunity to sell Trossard; it is unlikely that the Belgian will ever achieve elite form on a consistent basis, especially with another dynamic winger hopefully to join, and Ethan Nwaneri vying for a place in the squad.
Daniel O
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Nah no more scape goat, we should be focusing on collaring the big pretender.
You’re only looking at the recent run of games. He made some important contributions before that, this season. His recent form is poor, but that doesn’t make him a poor player. He’s probably the best finisher at the club tbf – saka is probably the only other who’s reliable in front of goal, and trossard scores a wider variety of goals.
He better regain his form quickly other wise there is no need of extending his contract which will block a possible replacement
Just because he is having a bad period doesn’t mean he is a bad player. He will come good with hard work and practice.
Currently, the whole team is underperforming, so with due respect, your remarks are insensible.
SJ,
You say Trossard will come good with hard work and practice.
I bet there are Arsenal fans thinking the same thing about Jesus, and we’re still waiting.
And while I agree that Trossard’s having a bad spell and that it can happen, the harsh reality is if your at a big club you can’t afford to be performing below the level required for long.
You need to earn a new contract, not be rewarded for failure with a new contract.
But unfortunately, this is what Arsenal seems to have become. They never seem to learn, just look back over the last few seasons to see players on ridiculous contracts, who barely got any game time. (In other words, stealing a living, basically).
You have a fair point. Jesus dropped in quality after his first injury but with strong will and hard work he can still regain his form.
However, Trossard has not gotten any injury so it’s just form. Except he is playing through an injury that the medical team has not found out. Form is temporal, Class is permanent.
I am not happy with his current form but I won’t judge him for it yet. I believe he will come good especially with the reintroduction of Odegaard.
Wishful thinking about Jesus, I think. What evidence is there across the whole of the EPL last season and his appearances so far in this one that suggests he’s anywhere near regaining his earlier form? I really struggle to see any.
Of course, I’m all for giving any player a fair chance to “come good” as you say, but how long is that chance supposed to last? I don’t think Arsenal can afford passengers – particularly expensive ones.
There’s an old saying: “Shape up or ship out”. Perhaps that should be on a sign somewhere at The Emirates?
They should move Jesus, Zinchenko and probably Matinelli on first. They were great and contributed significantly to the rise of Arsenal in the last four years, but I think it’s time to move on from them.
Martinelli is a special talent who is a latest regressing player under Arteta. I am beginning to think our best performing players do so in spite of Arteta not because of him.
HH,
I’m beginning to enjoy some of your comment’s more and more. Especially the one’s on a certain Arteta.
I have to be careful though, as Admin Pat has warned me on my thoughts on the genius that is Arteta.
So, just be careful or you to could become a target. (In case you haven’t picked up on it, I’m saying this with a large dose of sarcasm).
DEREK
I actually called you out for spouting lies to fit your Anti-Arteta agenda. I have no problem with anyone having a fair opinion based on football reality, but only based on truth. As in “you’ll upset the Arteta loveys, who think that Arsenal have the best squad in the league, bar none.”
But if you want to know the rules for commenting on Just arsenal, there is a link at the bottom of each post linking to the original post. Please read carefully….
Admin Pat,
You talk about truth.
After bad performances, this Manager spouts on about how proud he is of the boys. Even when they’ve performed terrible in the game.
So, don’t talk to me about the truth. As Arteta try’s to pull the wool over the fans eye’s constantly. (I believe the word you would be looking for is Lies).
DEREK, are you telling me that all managers tell the media what he is going to say to his players in the dressing room?
You seriously don’t believe that do you?
He says what he has to say because he is obliged to speak to the media.
You are just calling him a liar because you have very trollish agenda which is looking to be aimed at dividing the fans.
Admin Pat,
I’m not trying to divide anyone, people can make up their own minds I’m sure.
And yes he will say things differently to them in the dressing room, I would hope.
But stop coming out with all this clap-trap, of how proud he is of them after what has clearly been a terrible performance. What’s there to be proud about.
He’s done this on countless occasions. But I’ll give you just one example.
Last season’s away game at Newcastle where we lost to what admittedly was a very dubious decision by the officials.
But going into that game, Newcastle were riddled with injury’s, and this joke of a manager came out after the game and said how proud of the team he was that they competed well.
And remember, this was against an injury ravaged side. And we only had one attempt on goal the whole game by the way, to then have to listen to the drivel that came out of this man’s mouth was hard to take.
So, please don’t accuse me of trolling him, or that I’ve got an agenda against him. Because I haven’t.
As far as I’m concerned when he comes out with these completely false statements after games, he’s just treating the fans like idiots, and is insulting there intelligence.
I may have more respect for him, if he just said it how it really was, instead of his usual trying to defend the indefinable.
Derek
Do you recommend slagging of the team in public? Wouldn’t that go down like a cup of cold sick? Publicly shamed? I’d be worried if he told them how proud of them he was back in the dressing room afterwards
SueP,
I’m not saying that he should publicly slate them.
All I’m saying is that there is no need after what is clearly a pathetic performance, to then hear the manager say how proud of them he was. Proud of what, exactly.
Come on, are you telling me that is acceptable comment’s after such a performance.
It’s such an insult to the fans that have paid there hard earned money and if it’s an away game that’s even worse.
To come out with such comments, Arteta must think that fans are right mugs, and that they will just except it, a real insult to the fans intelligence.
Arteta is not genius at least for now. Out wingers have regressed under him
Derek,
I have been put into moderation twice or thrice for matters unrelated to Arteta.
I have been on this site since Arteta appointment in 2019 and I have seen only two people get banned and they were the biggest pro Arteta you could find on this site.
As a matter of fact one of them was banned three times under three different accounts and usernames.
Though I find Pat is usually soft towards pro Arteta fans (there were times when you could not criticize Arteta without 6 of them ganging up on you until Arteta’s failure to win trophies fed them their humble pies and they toned it down) he is fair in his moderation.
I am in agreement with every name on your reply.
I think some should be added to those:
Vieira
Tomiyasu
Nelson
Marquinhos
should be sent for recycling.
Get me some attackers so we have well defined players.
Arteta should give away Jesus for free like he did to players he did not sign to free up wages.
Jesus wages will get us a very good and useful striker. I still find it hard to believe (as I did the first day he signed for us) that the club agreed to those wages.
And Trossard is still an important player for Arsenal and one of the best transfer business Arsenal did in recent years.
Jesus is on a reported £14m a year so that’s a chunk of change as they say. Even though Jesus may be offered a deal like you mention there’s no guarantee he’ll accept. A club can’t cancel a contract without the player agreeing as well and I
wonder if Jesus would want to lose that kind of money which he’d be unlikely to get elsewhere? Hmmm.
short memories, the super sub last season that got Arsenal loads of points
having a bad patch at the moment contributed to by Odegaard absence
let’s reserve judgement on Trossard and the rest of the team at xmas after a sustained patch of Odegaard back and near full strength availability, and hopefully no more stupid red cards
again ultra short memories regarding red card impact on this season, cost us at least 5 points (2 wins, 1 draw became 2 draws, 1 loss – from the point red card shown)
Trossard a culprit for one of them
5 points makes an absolutely huge impact on the PL table and Arsenal PL title hopes
endless wailing about strikers would not have changed the 3 red cards and consequential dropped points one bit
I agree with you about the stupid red cards and the points dropped as a result.
However, I do take issue with your claim: “endless wailing about strikers would not have changed the 3 red cards and consequential dropped points one bit”. The first part is correct but there’s no way anyone could say that having a “proper” No 9 wouldn’t have got the goal/goals that could have saved some of those dropped points at least. Your “anti-striker” bias is showing through to the detriment of your overall argument, I think.
Arsenal1886,
What he did for us last season, is totally irrelevant now. I do believe I’m right in saying that it didn’t lead to any trophy’s did it.
Some one jog my memory.
we are barely 3 months in to this season, which has been mishap ridden, wait until xmas to judge is what I saying, timely too because only then in winter window can Arsenal actually act
“didn’t lead to any trophies” condemns the whole team, so by that rationale Saliba can forget a new contract and good riddance to Real
nonsense
back to Fantasy Football
Arsenal1186,
No Saliba puts in good performances in most games, therefore earning a possible new contract if and when offered.
somehow your icon seems fitting
so does mine
If an Eddie Nketiah and Reiss Nelson got contract extensions so should Trossard
No Dan,
It should be the complete opposite. Otherwise Arsenal run the risk of paying another player an eyewatering contract for being an impact player from the bench.
And then if he starts to produce nothing performance’s from the bench, then Arsenal will have learned nothing from the same situations they found themselves in with Nketiah and Nelson.
When will this club ever learn.
It’s not hard to understand, he is a perfect squad player. Most fans seem to understand that our main problem, and the biggest reason for not yet competing on the highest level, is the lack of squad depth. We need more versatile players good enough to start when required. We must stop running our best and most important players into injuries. Arteta needs a better squad with more players he trust. It’s hard to find players that takes a really good team like Arsenal to the next level, you can’t have world class players on the bench, but they must be good enough to play and also accept the role they fill, just like Trossard.
This is why I can’t stand sensationalism. People just seem to be reactionary. Surface level visionary.
🤦♂️
The fickle fanbase strikes again, a few bad games and its cries of sell him, get him out, same with the manager, certain posters have little respect for what he’s done and doing for Arsenal, but already it’s Arteta out, unbelievable!
There is also a business side that must be considered as well. ESR transfer is a great example. Good player with injury concerns, but the transfer fee was profit and we have to balance the books.
Trossard cost 27 million, and if we again get offered 40-45 million I think we should sell.
That fee could have got us Kudus the first time, now look at his rumored fee.
40 million or so can bring in a good player for rotation, maybe even compete for starts in time. The scouting personnel, if they are worth their weight, can have identified players to come in and contribute.
I think it’s really hard to judge a player over the last couple of games where we have had to shuffle things around so much, must be hard to find any rhythm.
I would like to see a few more games with our normal starting 11 before passing judgments.
With that said, with the amount of money these guys get paid, I do understand the “we should expect more” point of view.
I don’t think the writer understands football. Trossard has had a couple of bad games this sesson and he says he should go. Does he not understand quality. Is the writer so shallow, he is judging him on a couple of dodgy games. Not the bigger picture. And he should ask, Why not only Trossard but a good few of our players have regressed, including Raya, Martinelli, Haverz, Saliba and others not preforming. Should we get rid of them?
I thought that running down contracts was not in the club’s interest
I’m sure Trossard will get over his lapse. I know this is probably daft, but he looks seriously tired (in his face) rather than physically.
Trossard is quite targeted by thé manager Pat, so there could be little contract extension.
Mean few contracts will be extender. Few players in shape. Sorry for my English.
It is quite understandable why Arsenal would want to keep Trossard even if one accepts that his form has not been great recently. Trossard has proven to be decisive in a number of games this year. He has also filled in reasonably well in a number of positions even if one may argue that he has not been consistent
Clearly, it would worthwhile considering if an upgrade could be found but this is by no means guaranteed.
DEREK: valid points you have, but the league is orchestrated to operate on LIES and more deceit. The game against Newcastle was one of the many where players are forced to sit back, avoid injuries and maybe lose by a little margin and move on because the match officials don’t give a maggot if your players are actually being shot on the turf.
When a coach makes comments, stating the truth, people slag him either for talking too much or complaining unnecessarily.
Mourinho once, well, not just once complained about how Chelsea plays games too close to each other while some other clubs also in England, also in European competitions are allowed more time in-between games to allow their players more rest, and unfair advantage. He also made mention of the inconsistencies of added time and its application to suit certain teams . . . clear a truth as it was: they made rubbish of his comments and termed him a trouble maker.
Arteta has been robbed massively, over and over again, he has made some comments . . . I think he has received some warning for talking too much. His players get sent off for seemingly nothing, opposition players don’t get booked for what would have been a red were it his player; how opposition players are allowed both to carry and kick the ball away while his players can’t; how an Arsenal attack is extinguished by the referees whistle on the slightest hint of foul, but opposition attacks is usually allowed to continue for VAR check . . . Clear penalties warranting reds have been dismissed, dives have been awarded, terrible tackles have been ignored and a lot more against Arteta.
It is hard for criminals to admit their wrong – they hide it. You find out – they deny it… deny it until maybe they no longer can like in the case of pgmol. They have denied and denied until they themselves knew it was too much, apologized to Arteta; his request was simple: GIVE ME BACK MY STOLEN POINTS. That request, we know, is rubbish in the ear of the robbers. They did that, not once, everytime deliberate to fit an agenda.
So, DEREK, when you make reference to the game lost by Arsenal to an injury ravaged side with the referee clearly playing for Newcastle, and you blame Arteta for defending his players under such circumstances . . . I doubt you don’t love to see Arsenal fall.
Calling Arteta a liar because he gave his opinion on a game and you disagree with it is a disgraceful attempt to call into question the manager’s integrity.
Some of the comments made in the direction of Arteta are despicable and really should not be excused.
David,
What are you talking about, I’m not calling Arteta’s integrity into question at all.
You say he was just giving his opinion, well I’m sorry but if you as an honest fan have just watched your team produce an absolutely dismal display, and then the manager come’s out and says how proud of the team he was, proud of what exactly.
And it’s not the first time that he’s come out and said that after well below par performances.
I’ll say it again, proud of what?
I don’t say throw the team under the bus, far from it. But come on, to say such things is an insult to the fans intelligence, and he’s basically treating the fans like mugs.
I’d have more respect for him, if he came out after a game with more honesty.
Because to say some of the things he say’s, is and yes I’m going to say it, (Lies).
I really don’t know how fans who spend there hard earned money to both travel to a game, and buy a ticket, can tell me that having watched a terrible performance are okay with Arteta’s comments.
PROUD OF WHAT EXACTLY.🤦♂️
DEREK, how many times are you going to call Arteta a liar, and how many more times are you going to harangue fellow Arsenal fans that dare to disagree with you?
you better read those guidelines again.
You are seriously beginning to annoy me with your repeat antagonistic posts.
TALK ABOUT FOOTBALL, not your anti-Arteta agenda!
Admin Pat,
I called Arteta a liar in response to one of my posts being answered.
And stop with all this haranguing Arsenal fans rubbish.
I haven’t got a problem with them disagreeing with me, and they don’t seem to have a problem with me.
And if they do, they soon let me know, which is not a problem at all. Were all grown ups here after all.
The only person who seems to have a problem with me is you.
I suggest you shutup as I do have a problem with anyone who comes on here to start arguments. This site is for calm, adult conversation about football and Arsenal in particular, I’m not sure you are calm or even adult actually.
So I suggest you STOP annoying me, so don’t respond yet again.
And talk about football instead of just insulting our manager in every post.
Thrill,
You really disappoint me.
Another Arsenal fan who refuses to see the weaknesses of this manager.
And is another of the conspiracy theorists.
You just can’t make this stuff up, you really can’t.
DEREK
So youre “disappointed” that someone disagrees with you?
Grow up or bugger off.
I’m not going to keep repeating myself for long I warn you
DEREK:
I agree with you: Arteta should stop telling lies.
In a game the match officials, media crew, VAR, blatantly robs you of points ( that can’t be reclaimed, no matter what ). You see an organized effort by the powers that be to see a team fail.
A coach, under such circumstances, says he is proud of his boys.
You have a problem with that?
Arteta should stop telling lies and just say it as it is during the press conferences:
ARTETA: ” the referee was a criminal who stole points from us. Those calls were deliberate to make sure my players got injured if they came out to play. The VAR operators were co-conspirators. The linesman on the eastside neither raised a flag against the opponent nor did he wave when my players were being kicked right in front of him. The opponent stopped play three times and never got booked . . . The FA is a criminal body.”
I’m sure when Arteta tells you such truth, on a live broadcast as coach, then you would be happy and “undisappointed”.
You just won’t admit you have a horrible match officiating pattern
I hope you saw the Nottingham Forest vs Newcastle United game and how pathetic the referee was, right? Assuming that was against Arsenal and Arteta said he is “proud of his players” . . . He would have been called a liar for saying he is proud of his players going down to a defeat they were never meant to face – whereas those defrauding the masses of competitive fairness in sports are given pet names.
One may put it down to ” mere inconsistencies ” when sides are taken, in most cases, with the thieves.
Your disappointment statement is well understood as I share it with Arteta. I’m glad I disappoint you.
👍
Thrill,
More conspiracy nonsense.