In the 2022–23 season, Arsenal returned to challenging for the PL title. For 248 days, they were at the top of the league standings but, unfortunately, didn’t manage to win the league due to not being attentive in the season’s final weeks.
The season ended with many Gooners frustrated. However, there was hope that come this summer, Arteta and Edu would do the necessary, to invest in the transfer market to make Arsenal well-equipped to sustain the PL charge next season.
There are many signings Arsenal are tipped to make this summer, and of these signings, Andy Cole has highlighted the most important one that could guarantee Arsenal a shot at the PL title.Cole says if Arsenal manages to sign one of Declan Rice or Moises Caicedo, though he favours a swoop for Caicedo, the swoop will be strong enough to take Arsenal to the next level.
“If Arsenal brought in one of them, then that would definitely improve them enough to challenge next season, “Old Trafford hero Cole told Punters.Pub.
“I’m not sure what the price tag is on both of them. But I think Moises Caicedo is a fantastic player; I really do.
“He bosses games for Brighton, who played some real good stuff this season. If he’s £80m, I’m not quite sure why Declan Rice should be £100m.
“In the end, it comes down to who Mikel Arteta thinks is going to make Arsenal better, whether or not he thinks that they could bring Arsenal closer to winning the Premier League. We’ll have to wait and see.”
There was hopes that Arsenal could sign the two in a double midfield deal. But if they fail to do so, does getting one of them still take Arsenal closer to winning the league?
If you were to choose one of them to join, would you pick Caicedo over Rice?
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I think Caciedo is a better player. He is less versatile in my opinion but a better CDM. I think they are both way over priced but rice could wait until next season. We need a back up or reserve CDM for partey. I think we struggled alot without him at times or when his form dipped.
We have alot of players who can fill that box to box roll which I feel should be ESR as he has played there in the past and is very good attacking as we know. Against teams where we need to be a bit more Conservative like city we play partey and Caciedo. Rice is good but not 100m good especially on the last year of his contract. This is crazy 🤪
Both are overly overpriced, so we should let Arteta decide who suits better in his style of play, Because football team is not formed by collecting best 11 in the market but it most be based on bringing together 11 players who can play the best football.
I preferred Caicedo but multiple news outlets yesterday reported we have now pulled out of the possibility of signing him (and he is Chelsea bound) to concentrate on getting Rice.
Yes. Romano said Arsenal focused on Rice/ Havertz only and Chelsea are the front-runners in Caicedo’s bid war, so it’d be useless to select Caicedo
I also feel Caicedo is a bit overhyped. Bissouma used to enjoy similar spotlight, before languishing at Spurs
Aside from that, there are too many DMs available in the summer, such as Denis Zakaria, Weston McKennie, Romeo Lavia, Marc Roca, Martin Zubimendi and many others
Brighton fan here is peace.
Bissouma went missing in a spurs side that generally underperformed due to years of poor coaching and mismanagement. He had a clear remit at Brighton and excelled at it, as has Cacaido. Arteta has evolved into a top coach and Cacaido would be moving into a team already playing good football and with a clear identity. Therefore, the circumstances for Cacaido vs Bissouma are complete different.
As much as it’ll pain me to see Cacaido go, you’ll get a top, top player. Everyone is talking about him as a CDM but he’s also great at striding out with the ball with athletic runs when the opportunity presents itself and has a good passing range too. He’s only got one of the best engines in the league; comes from growing up playing at ridiculous altitude I guess!
Yeah. I think he’s more suited to be a box-to-box midfielder as Kante did for Chelsea, than playing CDM
I didn’t know Ecuador has some of the highest cities in the world. If that’s the case, we’d better look for more Ecuadorian and Bolivian talents
Gai,
I would take Rice ahead of Canceido though I am a fan of Canceido energetic display. Rice technical abilities is more he is an elite box to box midfielder but more of DM he is like Becca Sageo Bousket in his prime. Epl topsides wouldn’t be going for Rice if he isn’t good. I kind of feel Canceido may not shine in a big team like Bissuoma.
I don’t think Rice plays as good as the prime version of Busquets did in tight spaces, but I believe Rice is better in aerial duels and covers more grounds
Apparently, Pochettino would need Caicedo to play rough and do the dirty work in midfield. I think Arteta also needs Caicedo for that purpose
Gai,
I believe there are other talented players that could do Caceido job if Arteta badly needs one and they will cost less. Arsenal plays like City they will manage we need an elite DM MElneny if fit can be trained to do the “dirty job” for me, signing Rice and Havertz would be ideal and massive for Arsenal.
Someone like sofyan amrabat comes to mind he plays like caicedo and would do well playing alongside rice in the midfield two engine behind odegaard.
So true GAI 😄. This reeks alot like Bissouma. I think sometimes the hype about these players is that they can only perform when there is no pressure.
I think Rice is probably the best defensive midfielder in the world right now and he’s still only 24 and can get even better. In my opinion he is the future Captain of England. We need to go all out to get him.
Why do you think that he’s the best in the world? What has he done? I didn’t follow whu that closely last season, but it seemed like he went missing for a decent chunk of it (along with most of his teammates tbf).
I don’t think he’s as good as rodri, as an easy example – at least I’ve not seen anything to suggest he is. If we could get them (which we can’t now), I’d take either tchouameni or camavinga over rice, and I think Casemiro is a better player, currently. Caicedo might also be better – we’ll find that out next season, I expect.
See this is the thing – rice is good, but this kind of hyperbole (from pundits, mostly) is why whu are asking for so much money.
It is hyperbolic to categorically state that Rice is the best in world. The fact that he is English means he is almost certainly overpriced. The level of exposure means he is liable to be overrated.
It would be reasonable to consider him as amongst the top 10-20.
However, there is a lot of competition:
Kessie, Kimmich, Casemiro, Guimaraes, Rodri, Partey, Brozovic, Tchaoumeni etc. There are a lot of great players out there.
Simply because a middling club like WH seem to have put a £100m tag on him does not make him the best.
Caicedo all day everyday!!!
COYG
I prefer Caicedo he is versatile and his price is cheaper than Rice.
Rice gets my vote he is currently one of the best midfielders in the world,ticks every box.
Caicedo who apparently was the second dirtiest player in the league last year and the way he injured Martinelli then did a crafty hand shake with a team mate afterwards shows that may well be true is no Declan Rice its a no brainer.
Would be happy with either one but it seems we have decided on Rice. I’m happy we are starting this transfer window early and concentrating on important positions 1st. New dm and havertz to replace a departing xhaka.
Give us some flexibility in midfield. Go 2 DM 1 AM in tight matches or our usual 1 DM 2 CM.
Rice,
has been performing top for more than 5 seasons in the EPL.
Has shown consistency
Home grown,
Loads of experience for a 24 year old
Caicedo,
18 months of good performance, not sure he has enough experience to handle pressure.
Less experience
Apparently both their teams want 100mil
Both, but I fear it will be neither. And if Gunners only get one of them – don’t sell Partey!!!
They go hand in hand both should be signed at all cost, let us judge at a later date who was actually the better signing after facing the music.
Caicedo is Chelsea bound apparently .
Am not sure this one is so straightforward, with financial fairplay any game could play.
I think the fans should be careful what they wish for …. this is how some fans were clamouring for injury prone Madison over Odegard but today he is our player of the year… if Arteta want Rice over Caicedo an ok with it because we fans doesn’t know about the project more than Arteta and Edu
No
I wanted Caicedo. But it seems like that ship has already sailed.
We will see.
Prob won’t get either be outbid by another club as per usual get none of our targets then scramble around to make 2nd/3rd rate signings that will not improve us one bit!
I think this piece is out of date in the light of latest events. It should be pretty obvious to all by now that we are are NOT going to get CAICADO as he is going elsewhere, very probably to Chelsea, but in any case not to us.
So IMO, the headline is already redundant.
I do think it probable but no more than probable, that we will eventually land Rice.
I think the best defense is attack. We should start by getting osimhen in first, if arsenal go for him he be willing to sign up. His height n bullish strength will pin the opponents defense and midfield back playing alongside saka, matinelli n odegaard.
Sell nketiah, balogun and get savic/gundogan along with onana/leiva. Imagine this setup;
Matinelli….osimhen…..Saka
Odegaard
Savic/gundogan…onana/leiva/partey
Zinchenko… Gabriel..saliba..white
Ramsdale
And if Gabriel Jesus is not willing to play second fiddle to osimhen we sell to real madrid and retain balogun.
Sign both of them is better, let xhaka veira, smart Roth move on. I dont want to see conceido at chelsea. We need players don forget we play champion leage. Is better to abandon the signing of any attaker. We have a lot of them
Can anyone explain this? Rice & Caicedo – both looking to go for 100m, but when Arsenal start wobbling, it’s immediately MC & Chelski coming in for them. MC are already under UEFA & PL FFP investigation, while Chelski have until the end of this month to reduce the debt bill. I just don’t see either of these clubs wanting to add an extra 100m plus to their accounts??
Plus there is no more 8yrs to spread the debt over, from this summer transfer window it is maximum of 5yr.
Precisely!!!!!!!!
Rice, Rice Baby.
I think people miss the point of signing Rice and what he brings with him.
He is one of the golden boys of this current England generation and is ear marked as future England captain after Kane retires. With that comes a lot of exposure, appeal and money. So with all the future commercial deals would make his transfer fee a splash in the ocean.
In addition, the appeal of joining a club where you have Rice and Saka would be appealing to any future recruit, so if Arsenal come knocking it would be a difficult not to listen.
Personally I think this is a very clever signing (if it comes off) as it would open up so many avenues for revenue and world wide appeal.
Just think, Gerrard, Lampard, Beckham and Scholes. During their time at Liverfool, Chavs and Manure they were the biggest supported teams in the world. They were the face and representation of the teams in that generation.
$hitty did exactly the same thing by buying a English Poster boy. Grealish is a good player, but is he better than Foden?
Will he win us the EPL and CL next season… no, but the players that may follow him may do.
Lol. I was supposed to say…
I like Rice, he is a very good player and will only get better if health is permitting.
This is a statement of intent signing an I for one would be very happy if we do.
If anyone remembers Bobby Moore? I think Rice is similar. He can be that good. Just does the job required and doesn’t drop big goolies.
Bobby Moore, now that Reggie is a 100% Legend.
I never saw him play live but remember him commentating on Capital Gold with Jonathan Pearce and being in the best football film of all time “V is for Victory.”
Thank feck for YouTube to watch any re runs of that man grace the football pitch. 👍🏻
Never looked anything but composed.
WE NEED BOTH. Come on y’all, say it with me, we need both
We are losing Partey and Xhaka.
We struggled last season when one of these two was out (injured or otherwise)
What happens if/when Rice gets injured?
Will Elneny make us better????
This is the time to buy two or three players who will really make a difference. Rice might, but not on his own.
I think this summer will be our ONLY opportunity to move above the pack.
Please don’t waste it Arsenal