We were all hoping that Mikel Arteta would be buying a backup right back as an understudy to Takehero Tomiyasu in January, as there was little faith in Arsenal’s only other right back in the squad, Cedric Soares.
Sure enough, on New Year’s Day, we lost Tomiyasu to injury and he has not played in a League game since, and we have now found that he has suffered a new calf injury just the day before the Wolves game on Thursday, so Cedric will continue to keep his spot.
Luckily the Portugese international has played admirably well so far, but it is abundantly clear that we need a new young back up to arrive in the summer, and surely Mikel Arteta must have been highly impressed with the Middlesbrough youngster Djed Spence who was brilliant for his loan club Nottingham Forest when they knocked the Gunners out of the FA cup.
He was so good that Arsenal’s young Brazilian Gabriel Martinelli, when asked about the toughest individual opponent he has faced by The Athletic, replied: “Actually the guy from Nottingham Forest, Djed Spence, who played against me in the FA Cup.”
“He is strong, good on the ball, calm & quick.”
“I was surprised; he is a really good player.”
Obviously though, it wasn’t just Arsenal that were impressed with Spence, especially when he was just as good when Forest knocked out Leicester in the Fourth Round as well, so there could be a queue of clubs lining up to sign him.
I would think Spence would be an excellent addition to Arteta’s youth revolution at Arsenal, so should we go all out to buy him this summer?
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Only if he’s available under fifteen millions, because we need money to buy an experienced CF and I believe we’ve got similar young RBs waiting for their promotions
Djed Spence is not a priority. Arsenal needs at least one quality striker and two quality central and defensive midfielders to replace Lacazette, Xhaha and Elneny. Besides, Arsenal have the likes of Brooke Norton-Cuffy, Ryan Alebiosu and Jodi Osei-Tutu , all of whom are youngsters with great potential that would not cost a pence.
There are experienced midfielders with expiring contracts, but they’ll ask for exorbitant wages and signing fees
GAI, there is no issue with paying appropriate, even if large transfer fees, signing on fees and wages provided the funds are targetted to the required areas and the players give value for money. The problem arises when a player comes on a free, gets the sign on fee and higher wages than a competing player for which a transfer fee is paid and then doesn’t deliver on the field. A few recent players come to mind.
Wayne, agree 100%. Currently promoted Hale End products like Saka and Emile Smith Rowe have stepped up and there is good reason to believe that those you have mentioned and others waiting in the wings will as well. Arsenal must concentrate on positions, where the Club does not have sufficient talent or needs to bring in hard nosed professional experienced players to augment the youth. This is where available transfer funds have to be targetted.
It has been demonstrated over the years in many team sports that players brought through a Club system bring a loyalty and comradeship difficult to emulate by chequebook action alone.
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We have a very good back up in Brooke Norton-Cuffy who is playing so well on loan. Priority should be CF and an upgrade in our CM position.
I would sign a talented and specified striker and a midfielder depending on the formation ARTETA wants to use,then leave Cedric as back and send Norton on loan to a championship club preparing him for 2023/2024 season
Not for the fee that’s rumored. We need 2 strikers and 2 midfielders before we think about any backup players at RB.
Yes. Signing a backup RB is what we need to prioritize.
not if there’s a limited amount of funds and we haven’t addressed our far more pressing needs first…that said, Tomi’s back-to-back injury spells is a bit disconcerting, as he has missed a good chunk of games each of the last 3 years