What a time to be a Gooner; everything seems to be falling into place for the team.
The transfer window has been kind to Mikel Arteta. He has already completed every major deal he needed to. Kai Havertz joined a few weeks ago, Timber was unveiled on Friday, and Declan Rice completed his move on Saturday.
Yet Arteta still has three tasks to complete this summer in order to move Arsenal to the next level. These are:
Make a lot of sales of peripheral squad members who are unlikely to get game time.
Sign a right-winger to deputise for Bukayo Saka so he doesn’t play every single game again for the third year running.
Sign a central midfielder to add more depth of options if Partey exits.
After spending over £200 million on Havertz, Timber, and Rice, it’s time to make some money and then hit the transfer market again. Granit Xhaka has already left for a reported fee of £21.5 million.
Players such as Folarin Balogun, Thomas Partey, Kierney Tierney, and others are expected to follow the Swiss captain out the door. If the plans to sell this star go through, a substantial sum of money can be obtained to assist Arteta in making the final two signings to crown this summer’s business.
Regarding Saka’s deputy, we recently mentioned that Ferran Torres, who has become a peripheral player at Barcelona, is a player Arteta might want. Though the Spaniard may want to stay at Barcelona, the lure of more playing time may persuade him to move to the Emirates.
If Partey leaves the central midfield, Arteta may require a suitable deputy for Declan Rice. It remains to be seen whether Romeo Lavia will still be available when Arsenal restart recruiting after the exits. Liverpool are reportedly very interested in the Southampton prodigy, but if he’s available, Edu should try to sign him. If a deal for Lavia falls through, Celta Vigo’s Gabri Veiga, according to rumours, may be an alternative.
Sam P
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I don’t agree we need a right winger unless we sell Reiss N. Nelson is good enough unless Saka was out for extended period, anyone better than Nelson will not be happy on the bench. Furthermore, Trossard, Jesus, ESR can play there. We need a striker before another winger IMO. Jesus is not a prolific goal scorer, nor is Nketiah, and we don’t know what we have in Balogun without trying him.
Completely agree on the rw issue- arteta just has to play Nelson and/or the others and not keep playing Saka endlessly
Not sure about the striker though – I have a feeling arteta rates balogun and will give him chances when he can. Also don’t believe we necessarily need a more prolific goalscorer as I think we have enough goals in the squad.
Agreed. I would sell NKetiah, keep Balogun – but if he wants to go, then sell a proper ST who can represent a plan B that is not weaker than plan A. Jesus can go to RW too
We should give him a try(Balogun)
Problem is that Nelson is injury prone, and hasn’t exactly done a lot during his Arsenal career so far. ESR very injury prone, and Trossard has barely played on the right for either us or Brighton.
Jesus could play out there, but then you have a huge drop in quality in the striker position if Balogun or Nketiah plays.
The most important task for Arteta in my opinion is to retain the services of Partey and Tierney.Without these two fine players our prospects of winning the EPL will diminish despite the acquisitions of Rice, Timber and Havertz.
Beat me to it Grandad. My thoughts exactly. Not a great window until we know who we have to start the season.
In other words you are simply saying that we have regressed with the signings we made, you mean to tell me that the players signed are worse than the ones who have left that contributed to our top 4
No that’s not what he’s saying, read it again!
Rice and Haverts can’t be better than Partey and Zhaka I stand to be corrected
I looked and partey is still part of our squad, didn’t know he left
I think he meant that if we don’t have quality substitutes we’ll be in the same situation as last year… Partey leaves, Rice (unluckily) is injured…. who would replace?
If partey leaves, which I very much doubt he will then arsenal will get a replacement for him, in fact the squad is set, our signings from now depends on who departs it’s as simple as that
Partley is not on the plane to USA so suggests there is something happening behind the scenes I got strong feeling why but when previously commented on it my post was deleted by adnin so will not repeat it but let’s just say be very surprised if see him in a Arsenal shirt again!
We are done with signings, who we sign next depends on departures, if partey or any other important part of the team leaves then we will get his replacement
I am with you regarding Partey situation;I thing if he not takes a fly to USA in the next week,he is gone.
If we don’t get a prolific Striker we should just forget about winning the epl this coming season!!.
Grandad
On his day and he had a lot of his days last season. TP was great for us. Problem we have is he picks up his fair share of injuries which rules him out of to many games
He also has to much baggage attached to him outside of football
He will be gone for a while in Jan for the Africa nationals Cup
Would love him to be part of this squad but things outside our control might see him have to leave
I agree with you 100%. It boggles the mind to think Arsenal are considering the sale of Partey and Tierney. For me, those sales will be stepping backward, and suggest Arsenal are already conceding the League to Man City.
This new squad – (Rice, Timber and Havertz included) will struggle to make top four without a strong, clinical striker. I hate being the skunk at the party. Just trying to be real.
We are looking to bring in a striker. It depends on outgoings.🤞
If Torres is peripheral for Barcelona why would he want to come here and be Saka’s deputy? Same situation at a different club.
Yes, I’d question the motivation of most players who’d be happy to come to be someone else’s backup. Unless they’re young and still need to build their name, or getting older and just want to contribute to a title push, I’d expect any signing to believe they have a chance to earn a spot in the starting lineup soon after signing.
It’s hard to imagine any dedicated rw joining to compete directly with saka – it wouldn’t be a fair competition due to his status at the club. Any player needs a pathway to the first team – of course they can’t all make it, but the pathway needs to be there for motivation, otherwise it’s a dead end job.
So Trossard, ESR, Nelson and Jesus can’t cover for Saka? Can even add Havertz and Martinelli to that list if moving players around. I find that very hard to believe that we need cover for Saka.
For midfield we have Rice, Partey, Havertz, ESR, Zinchenko, Azeez and Nwaneri. Not even mentioning Lokonga here
Not sure how any logical argument can be made for being short on these positions.
2 priorities is selling players and signing striker.
Why do we need a striker?
Because that’s my opinion….a dominant striker would’ve won us some of the games we drew last season. We scored a lot last season butcrelying on wings and midfielders for a lot of goals is a risky strategy.
Do you know that having a goal scoring team on it’s own is a strength, more sustainable than relying on one player, if Jesus was scoring all the goals alone l what do you think will happen to the team in the 3 month he was out, and for your info, Liverpool won everything with famino it’s about the team and how the manager wants to play, this halaand obsession is becoming to sound like broken record
You make stories up in your head you know that? You take 1 little bit of info then create a whole story up 🤦♂️
Where on earth did I say the rest of the team would magically stop scoring goals?? Having a dominant or good striker is about adding goals, not replacing them. Are you really saying we would do worse if we could add another 5-15 goals in a season? Bizarre!
Making stories up?
Please check Manchester city that for eg, the players that score many goals before halaand came they had their goals cut because they needed to play to halaand strength, do you think halaand can give you what Jesus gives you or vice visa they are both good players that have their strengths.. It is good to have a different profile of striker but I don’t see that as a priority we get a goal poacher who is only interested in putting the ball in the net then other players goal contribution will reduce Marti, and xaka scored many goals because Jesus can interchange position and they can occupy spaces he leaves, it’s about the team, how the manager wants to play and creating a balance in the team. I am not Against signing a cf, but since you are so obsessed about goals scored by a cf, I want you to tell me a cf that is within our reach we can sign that have a better goal contribution than Jesus, I want to hear the name please
A striker would have won us the 3 games we drew last season or you mean a defender because those 3 games we scored 7GOALS,
Are you an Arsenal fan? Or else I won’t be asking such question.
If we sign a top striker I believe that will be the missing piece. Even Pep realized he needed one to go the next level. We need a striker who can score that important goal, a goal which is not a third of fourth in a thrashing, but a goal which is needed to secure three points, breaking the deadlock or getting us back into the game when we are behind. For all the reasons I love about Jesus, I don’t think he is that player. For that reason we need a striker.
You mean a player that can score an important goal like nelson did against bournmouth?
Add Jorginho to that list!
My opinion is that we need a top striker now more than before, jesus is not giving us the goal enough
Please give me stat about Jesus goal contributions and a similar stat about the striker you want us to sign
We need striker yes, but where and which one do you think is better than what we have? We underrating Balogu and send him on loan to league 1 and he perform wonder, of all the striker we have which one score goals like him? To me let give the guy chance for half season if the performance is below standard then by January we can sell him.
Not with Partey leaving it isn’t.
We definitely need to keep partey an we also need an out an out striker..Jesus is a great forward but what happens if he gets injured again wheres the cover trossard ???we can’t keep relying on saka an martinelli either
That’s true
Regardless of Partey’s future, there’s still a missing piece in the midfield, which is the number 8 role…
If Arsenal can fix that position with a world class player, then the window is complete.
A move for Musiala 🤔
Maybe outrageous but not impossible…
Rowe or Vierra as a makeweight who knows…
Or Pedro Goncalves of Sporting Lisbon.
Then we stick to our striker options Jesus and Balogun as we focus on that position next window if need be…
A deputy for Saka is not necessary personally as we have Trossard and Nelson as backup wingers, Havertz can also play there.
If partey stays, rice is ideal for the 8 role. If partey leaves, I’d rather we bought a new DM to replace him and still play rice at 8. My understanding of rice’s playing style is that it’s not unlike Kante – he can play the holding midfield role, but it doesn’t get the most out of him, and I think Partey’s close control is far superior – that aspect to TP’s game was so crucial last season (our defenders could smash passes to him but he’d always find a way to progress the play), and I think we’d see a real drop off if we tried to get rice to play the same way.
We need a different forward, strangely one like Balogun, who is fast and direct, not tippy-tappy around the penalty area.
We will play teams in the EPL who will try to manhandle us
We need someone who can play WITH Rice in midfield to counter these teams.
I would keep Balogun and sell Eddie!
Then I would spend the money we get from the sales to go for Caicedo (or at a pinch go for Lavia)!
Why should Arsenal fans want Partey sold? still beats my imagination
They have a new shiny toy. To me getting Rice is nice. But if we lose Partey then we haven’t improved. Atleast not for the coming season.
Am in agreement with the writer except in two vital areas, but am cognizant of the fact all may not be practical to achieve in phase 4.
1) The writer may have overlooked the striker position( an out and out #9)
2) Arsenal need to resolve and come to a settled left back, am still a nervous wreck with the Ukrainian.
3) Yes another powerful midfielder is needed whether Partey stays or goes, speaking of which , unconfirmed reports states Partey has agreed a pisspot load of money with the Saudis.
We all knows if Edu gets anything near £40 million they will sell.
4) We need to slash the bloated squad and by extension reduce the wage bill.
Why haven’t we offered Pepe and Eleney to the Saudis, the fact that game time will be tight on the two?
To be sincere,if Arsenal cash out Thomas party,
We’re finished top 4 is out of our hand 👌,Arteta please we need party in our squad next season.
I don’t know why pple keeping saying partey should leave. Unless we are getting a Rodri then it’s stupid. Because we spent 200m already doesn’t mean we can shop for anyone. We need stability as much as we need a bigger squad. Rice can’t do what partey is doing. Don’t get ahead of yourselves fellas. WE STILL NEED PARTEY!
I don’t want Partey to be sold but should considered if it is for anything over £40m & he can then be replaced. We are looking a good destination for players and our style is what alot of players now adays look for also when signing for a new club.
Camavinga is a name that popped up and Madrid have a fantasy midfield already & maybe is an opportunity there for a loan with obligation to buy or just go all out for the kid. He’s French so no mid season trips to AFCON.
If we have something like that lined uo then brilliant to add to;
Xhaka – £21.4m ✔️
Pepe – £20m
Lokonga – £20m
Holding – £10m
Partey – £35m
Taveres – £25m
Rice – £100m (Over24mnths)
Timber – £35m
Havertz – £60m
Rice deal is over 24 months so basically £25m out each of the next 4 windows budget so not alot spent in one go. Paid £95m (plus add ons down the line) for the other 2 players.
We still have room to get another body or 2 in after we shift a few more players out the door. Above was roughly £125m+ in Sales with that amount spent already roughly.
We’re not done this window just yet but are in a fantastic position now to move at esse and no panic buys as I am sure we have targets already selected to go for when time is right.
All about budgeting and spreading the costs especially for the Rice deal
What is up with Marquinhos, seems like we have forgotten about the man ?
Why do we need a RW? Isn’t that what Reiss is there for
I just think Saka,, backup is compulsary Pepe can make that happen
All we need is to sell likes of pepe, lokonga, taveres, Soares, enelny n keep party n Tierney or else we r toaste
We should sell the fringe players n buy a better Stricker incase Balogun leaves
I can’t remember many games we didn’t score. In fact reverse is the case we shipped in many goals when the strikers have scored
We need to seriously consider selling Soares, Lokonga, Tavares, Pepe and maybe Vieira too.
We must keep both Tierney & Partey for effective rotation of squad, giving them both enough games.
Marquinhos , Nketia & Nelson should be also given more games in other Competitions and a few EPL games.
If we have recovered enough from potential sales of players, the most Ideal Wing Back Up for both Saka & Martinelli should be Joao Cancelo … If Pep releases him to Arsenal!
I think we’ve done all of our shopping for this window. Maybe some other players will come in the January sales, but spending £200 mil seems quite enough for now. Looking at the squad as it stands it seems to me that we have adequate backups all around, especially so with the versatility of some players, and a first eleven that picks itself really.
I’m satisfied☺️.
We could use a striker (or keep Balogun) and a RW
Keep
Partey
Balogun