Bertrand signing makes sense
According to DailyMail, Arsenal have stepped up the pursuit of Southampton left-back Ryan Bertrand.
The 31-year-old’s current deal at St. Mary comes to an end this summer and Arsenal have now positioned themselves as the frontrunners for his signature.
The rumours of Bertrand’s signing have clearly not gone right with some section of Arsenal fans. While some say, “we are not a retirement home,” others said, “Arsenal are just a lazy club in terms of recruitment.”
These statements seem short-sighted, especially in the current world we are living in. Arsenal are one of the worst hit clubs in England due to the pandemic.
The Gunners have been left counting the cost, with the club’s latest accounts showing a £47.8 million loss. The London club said that was due to “the consequent lockdown and suspension of the 2019/20 football season.”
Regardless of the loses, reports emerged that the owners will back Arteta this summer and are willing to do something “exceptional.” But it is never clever to splash the cash.
Louis Van Gaal’s Manchester United (he was sacked within two years). More recently 2018/19’s Fulham and 2019/20’s Aston Villa are prime examples for it. Both the teams comfortably spent more than 100 million. While the former got relegated, the latter survived the drop on the very last day.
Thus, Arsenal should be clever in the market.
And what is better than signing a player in Ryan Bertrand who is homegrown, experienced and available for free.
According to reports, Arsenal are keen to offload the likes of Ainsley Maitland Niles, Reiss Nelson and Eddie Nketiah. If the trio do end up departing, the Red and White will be three short of the homegrown slots.
In the Premier League, the lower bar of HG players have been set at eight. Thus, adding a back-up left-back who fills it, is completely rational.
Moving on with his experience, the Englishman has made 258 appearances in the Premier League for Chelsea, Norwich City and Aston Villa.
He has also played for other English clubs such as Bournemouth, Reading and Nottingham Forest. This is a player, who has been a nomad in England.
He has ‘seen it all and done it.’ The left-back has even made 19 appearances for England.
In other words, Arsenal would have a hard time (or even impossible) in recruiting a player available on a free with such vast experience.
Those funds, which would have been spent on acquiring a player, who would have only played second-fiddle to Tierney, might not have been the best solution.
Thus, signing Bertrand and using the money to bolster other areas of the pitch makes total sense.
Why another aging player? With all the aging players we are still struggling to offload? No thanks!
We need young, fit and competitive to KT.
Sorry not for me. He’ll turn out to be another older player with a big salary who’ll under-perform. Arsenal don’t learn from their mistakes.
He’s 32 in August! But short contract, 1-2 years and please not silly salary and he could do a job as a stand in. Surely there is someone who can step up within the club though?
Bola and Lopez are next in line at the youth level but Bola couldn’t get into a League 1 Rochdale squad and Lopez had a very mixed season for the U23s this season. He needs a loan as he is not far enough into his development.
I’d say this transfer makes sense as long as his wages are £80k or less. Homegrown, prem experience and too old to block Tierney’s development.
I suspect Bertrand will go to Leicester where he will be guaranteed to be first choice left back.They have never replaced Chillwell , and although young Thomas looks promising, he is not yet the finished article.
Free Agent = High Wages
No thanks
A lot of media and pundits also applauded the signing of Willian and look how that one went.
We simply should not invest in players over 30. Let alone for more than a 1-year contract.
Whilst Tierney is injury prone and we need a solid back up, I assume Soares is that player ( and Saka too).
The top up a players pension who in all likely will not get a look in ( and stall a younger players development) would not be in the clubs interest
Another mediocre freebie. ‘How to tie yourself in knots’, by Arsenal FC. They never learn do they? The OLD boys network….literally. Totally ambitionless setup, wasting big wages for free leftovers.
At 32 in August, even as a short term fix- and given Tierneys injury record, which means Bertrand would likely deputise a great deal – this would not be a sensible move at all but a false “economy”.
After all, Willian at 31 also did not ARRIVE as a bad player but then came the appalling revelation that he was here just for the cash.
No more ageing, greedy Willians is the sensible thing, as it seems almost all Gooners agree. NOT YASH THOUGH! I do not envisage it happening anyway!