Arsenal has just been linked with a move for Feyenoord’s Orkun Kokcu.
The Turkish youngster has been tracked by Arsenal for a while now and he is just 19 and we covered that speculation in this article here.
Mikel Arteta reportedly thinks highly of him and could make a move for him in the next transfer window.
I have been impressed by the data about Kokcu, but buying youngsters of his calibre just shows that Arsenal is not ready to become a top side in England at the moment.
I expect the rest of this season to be used for experimentation, but the next transfer window should be one that Arsenal shows the world how ready they are to be counted among the big sides in England.
Arsenal cannot risk trusting the likes of Kokcu, Bukayo Saka and Eddie Nketiah. These are talented youngsters, no doubt but experience is more important than talent when you are running a marathon and that is what the Premier League season is.
There will be movement of top players when the season ends and I want Arsenal to start competing with other teams to sign the best players.
Arsenal did spend big on Nicolas Pepe last summer and while that has not worked out it should not mean that they should be hesitant to spend that sort of money again.
The really top clubs identify a weak position and spend significant money to fix it. Liverpool is a classic example with Virgil van Dijk and Allison.
Man City needed full-backs and dropped serious money on two of them. Man Utd needed to shore up their defence and went big on Harry Maguire and on it goes.
The point is that loan players and young hot prospects does not deliver the big silverware. Top expensive talent does.
An article by Jacob B
Pepe is top expensive talent. Well expensive at least. Why is he struggling… 🤔
Arsenal failed the raw players back then i mean 6/7 years ago in a big time miserably we can’t afford making the same mistake again and again
This time the coach is different..
Arsene Wenger was clearly out of his depth when project youth started…
Another problem with the old project youth was that it was based on the potential of injury prone players
Arsenal should target good players that fit our system
Jacob, we do not have the riches of other Clubs such as Man City and their neighbours and we never will have under the current owner.Forget about buying ready made superstars.They are few and far between and their wages are way beyond our Budget.Buying youngsters and developing them is exactly the policy we should adopt and Martnelli is a classic example of the quality which can be unearthed without spending a fortune.If we can find 5/6 more like him we will be well on the road to recovery.
“IF”
It’s very difficult to unearth gems like Marinelli.
I think we got lucky
We haven’t had a great history of unearthing top talent in their teens
Innit this is now the market that we will be obliged to focus on.Wasn’t Fabregas a teenager?
“An army of sheep led by a lion can defeat an army of lions led by a sheep”
MA is skilled
He will get the best out of what he has
COYG
And how is Harry Maguire doing? Spending big money is no guarantee of success whatsoever. Pogba? Gareth Bale? Alex Sanchez? Neymar? Many examples exist. Developing players and making them fit into the coach’s style of playing is a much better and more sustainable approach. Arteta does not need a whole fistful of £50-70m players to build a winning team.
Maguire is doing fine. His pricetag is inflated for being English, not because he’s a world beater. But I see your overall point. Good scouting trumps spending tons of money. Liverpool has shown this multiple times over the years. VVD is really the only player they’ve splurged a crazy amount on, and it’s fair to say that was worth it. Everyone else was calculated buys through intensive scouting and a clear idea.
and Arsenal could have got VVD from Celtic prior to him joining Southampton. Sound scouting and recruitment will hopefully allow Arsenal to find, sign and develop the appropriate players at the right price.
The fact is that there is no single sure way of ensuring success. To be consistently challenging will require significant investment and/or an eye for talent combined with effective development. You also need to be adaptable to a changing environment.
Arsenal, unfortunately were unprepared for the changing landscape brought by the likes of Chelsea and Man CIty. Also, many of the transfer gimmicks that were successful early on were copied by other teams so that it became much more difficult to get good players for relative”peanuts” and then sell them on.
It will be essential for Arsenal to determine realistic goals that all can buy into: ?champions, ?top 4, ?Cup. Then a transfer strategy can be developed to deliver this.