It was not long ago that Mikel Arteta made it clear that he was looking to have a much bigger squad next season, especially if we have to cope with European games as well as our domestic schedule. In fact by my reckoning Arsenal will need to have six or seven players coming in.
But now Edu has thrown a very big spanner in the works, as he has been speaking to ESPN about our upcoming transfer windoow, and according to him we cannot expect the same amount of players coming in to be anywhere near as high as last summer.
“Our budget for last summer, we had to use it to rebalance the squad,” he said. “There was no point in signing just one or two, the squad was not ready for just one or two players. We had to rebalance.
“Maybe this season we can go to one or two players. Today, we have a much more balanced squad.
“Our planning has already been done. It has already reached the owners. Now, we’re taking things step by step. We’re focused on how we will finish the season, but we’ve put in the planning and I’m very excited.”
I am afraid I am finding this very hard to believe. It looks like we are going to be in the Champions League Qualifying rounds next season, or at least the Europa league, so there is no way we could compete with such a wafer thin squad.
We have seen what happens when we only have a few injuries, can you imagine how much worse it will be when we are playing two games a week?
I demand a recount!
WATCH Mikel Arteta on Granit Xhaka, a phenomenal game, and Tottenham…
Are we recalling our loaned players, if we are not then we definitely need more than one two players
Arteta and Edu will first need to look at the Keepers. Ramsdale is quite clearly No.1 whilst our current No.2 Leno appears to be on his way as we have signed Turner. Our current No.3 and 4 (Okonkwo and Hein) will surely need regular game time? Which means one of Runarrsson, Hillson or Smith should be kept for 1 season as our no.3 keeper. No need to spend anymore money.
Defence we currently have 5 players worthy of being first choice Tomiyasu who can play right back and centre back, White and Saliba who can do the same, Gabriel who can play left centre back and Tierney who can play left centre back and left back. In an ideal world that would suffice but as we know injuries and playing in 4 competitions that will not be enough. So we look at the rest Cedric, Maitland-Niles, Bellerin, Clarke, Swanson, Holding, Ballard, Mavropanos, Trusty, Mari, Ogunbo, Tavares, Lopez. I would say amongst those 12 we have enough back up, may be keep 5 of them? unless of course we sell too many or loan them out. Personally I would choose 5 of those 12 and loan or sell the rest, again to spend money where it is really necessary.
Midfield. It looks very much like Partey, Xhaka and Odegaard are currently our favoured 3. Then we have Sambi, Elneny, Azeez, Eddine and Patino. IMO ESR is more of a forward. Again it depends on do we need to improve on that? My opinion is Elneny will leave, giving us an opportunity to add 1 more. I expect Guendozi and Torreira to complete their moves.
Attack. The 3 favourites are Saka, ESR and Martinelli. Lacazette and Nketiah look set to leave whilst the jury is out on Pepe, Nelson and Balogun. With Hutchinson, Flores and Biereth not far off. Obviously a top class centre forward is required to replace Lacazette, if Pepe goes may be another winger.
In short for me 2 major players (starters) are required, whilst a top class winger to replace Pepe may be required?
Bring in Saliba and Guendousi? I can’t see Arteta doing that! We definitely need 5 or 6 top quality purchases if we achieve European football.Edu is either on cloud nine or is hoping to catch opposing clubs on the hop 🤔
Guendouzi has been sold to Marseille!
5 or 6 every window….
seems like no players will be staying for more than 3 seasons with the club…
Maybe Edu said that to make our young talents willing to extend their contracts as soon as possible, especially the bright ones like Saka, Nketiah, Edwards and Akinola
Look I am pretty certain, that the majority of our loan players will be sold if not already. IMO guendozi, Torreira, Mavropanos, Mari, Bellerin will join their loan clubs. Lacazette, Elneny and Nketiah will move on, whilst it appears that Leno has already been replaced, Saliba, Balogun, Nelson and Maitland-Niles may return to the squad. I can now not see Xhaka leaving, after what he said. I think Tavares and Sambi may be sent out on loan, as well as Okonkwo and Hein, meaning Runarrson might become our 3rd choice keeper for one season until his contract finishes.
I don’t think saliba would return
We’d likely get a CL or an EL ticket, so we’d need a big squad. Bellerin might return because he’s a homegrown and Mari may come back too because Magalhaes needs a competitor for the left CB position
Tavares would likely stay unless Joel Lopez gets promoted and Lokonga would likely stick around if Elneny leaves
He is just trying not to spill anything out,i can sense that in his words.
I think he wanted to give the media a thing or two to talk about buh definitely there will add ons.
If Arsenal try to embark upon next season with only a couple of additions then this will undoubtedly be a recipe for disaster.
Its likely that Torreira,Guendouzi,Bellerin,Mari,Mavrapanos,Neketiah,Lacazette ,Leno and Elneny will be leaving.Other squad members might also depart for pastures new in search of first team football.
At the very least Arsenal require an additional full-back; two central midfielders and two central strikers.Its by no means certain that Saliba will come back due to his previous treatment by Arteta…Hopefully he will and I personally would like to see Arsenal switch to a back three which I believe would better suit those players Arteta would have available next season… and give Arsenal a stronger defensive base with Partey or a suitable new squad member sitting in front of them.
\|without two strikers and two midfielders and the return of William Saliba we will not make the jump to Liverpool/Man City levels. Sadly Lacazette and Nketiah are not good enough. A top team, such as Liverpool have numerous midfielders. If we don’t make the jump upwards in the summer we will not challenge at the top.
Sean
Sorry but we are light years away from putting pressure on city or pool for the no.1 spot
On one offs we can give most teams a run for there money on the day but 38 games is beyond us right now.
You read my replies. I am a believer. I said from the off top 4 this season but we still need another 2 season and a lot of patience to even be considered a challenger
We Need to mature as a team
When we lost to pool at the Emirates this year
I looked at pools team and thought this team are men
Looked at our team and thought they still boys. They just knew how to win.
Well our boys will mature in to men
But we need to keep the core together and sprinkle a few more and wait
They will be up there
Onwards and upwards
Maybe he means 2 ‘big’ names? So long a few quality youth come as well, sounds like a plan
Edu is a big joke.Arsenal must get rid of him now. Very incompetent with poor negotiations skills. If he had done his job in the last three transfer windows, Arsenal would have the funds needed to strengthen the team now. He has allowed so many players to leave for free, despite having opportunities to sell them for something (even it was lower than their current transfer market value). This job requirements are way beyond Edu’s capacity. Arsenal cannot depend solely on the Kroenke family to fund all transfers. Edu must sell players like Torriera, Mari, Maitland-Niles, Runarsson, Bellerin, Leno, Mavropanos, Guendouzi, Cedric and Holding now to raise some of the funds needed to strengthen the team. Arsenal surely needs more than two signings to be competitive.
Don’t trust Edu. He probably give out our players free so he can take bribes.
He negotiate high prices for our players when he wants to buy and sells very low or free
Any executive with tight relations with Raul Sanhelli and Kia Joorabchan can’t be trusted
He only excels in recruiting Brazilian who often don’t come good.
Gabriel the CB leak goals now, very erratic. Martinelli runs and runs with no end product.
Think about Luiz and Willian. Only Brazilian expertise
I read his interview in different outlets,what Edu exactly said was”MA/Arsenal will have 1 or 2 main signings (as in marquee signings) and not 1 or 2 in total.
don’t think Edu meant there won’t be more than two signings, but in this window the focus will be to bring in one or two bigger signings compared to the last window where there was a focus on youth. These two main signings have already been planned and approved by the owners,” the journalist explained.
We’re going to focus on signing one or two players,” he said. “After last summer’s revolution, we need the next step. We’ve (got) our strategy ready.” Joao Castelo-Branco, who interviewed Edu, later cleared up some confusion surrounding the quotes.
Apparently Edu and Arteta are determind to break the bank to get long term targets.
Lucas Fabianski, Paolo Mari, Carl Jenkinson, Denilson, Saed Kolasinac Marouane Fellaini Jack Wilsher Aaron Ramsey Gareth Bale Marco Reus Karim Benzema Julian Draxler and Ryo Miyaichi
Building a golden age home Fairfan
Well if Nketiah and Lacazette both go- that’s two strikers needed for starters. My dream picks would be Nunez and Toney. That’s a real upgrade I think.
Elneny will go too so we need a new DM- maybe Douglas Luiz from Villa as there’s strong links there- someone with those traits anyhow.
Then with Europe next season- and Partey having injury woes-we will also need another CM- Neves/Tielemans would be great I guess. Perhaps Lokonga could even get some loan time.
Then better cover at both full backs- Tavares could be loaned out and Cedric should move on- maybe Mitchell from Palace and someone Coufal (West Ham) level as backp to Tomiyasu
Saliba back in competing with Gabriel and White at CB, and Holding relegated to fourth choice
Then that would look pretty good- for having covered the essential issues; I’d still be worried about the impact of an injury to Odegaard so might need cover there at some point/long term- plus perhaps it’s time Pepe moved on and someone else was brought in to fill that space
I wouldnt look too much into it. Fact is that our squad now is 20 man strong. Likes of Elneny, Laca, Nketiah becoming free agents. I can see maybe Elneny staying.
That would leave us with 18 players and we must assume someone will be sold as well! Leno definitely, Xhaka and Pepe possibly..
And we got Saliba and Turner coming back.
So everyone and their accountant can see we will not be signing 1-2 players as we need minimum of 5.
2 forwards, 2 midfielders, 1 fullback, MINIMUM.
i didnt read it that way tbh
I read it like
We are ( currently ) working on 1 – 2 signings
not that we are only making 1-2 signings
ALot depends on what happens in 5 games time but atleast it sounds like the club are being more proactive and trying to get ahead early.
Things can be taken out of context and MA said just last week he wants 6 new players in the summer.
But overall, 6 players is about right imo, we will need 2 strikers.
We need another CM/DM for more competition.
I’m not sure we need a new RB this summer in all honestly, Cedric has done very well deputising for Tomi and is a different type of full back, so they can compliment the team in each’s way.
Leno will be off and we have a new GK coming in already, aswel and a new CB + Saliba
so i think our back line and keeper situation is sorted for next season.
TP has issues with injuries so we need a player to cover for him, I would like Bissouma as i feel they are similar, TP is a little more progressive in his play but Yves can evolve that side of his game.
Teilimanns or Luiz, i would go for the Leicester man myself to come in for and to compete with Xhaka.
If the Jesus rumours are true, great. Like i said in the article about that rumour, i think he is a little under appreciated at City, he is a major upgrade on Lacazette imo, he is selfless in his running and presses extremely well for a striker.
SO that leaves a back up / competition Striker
So the 2 USAMT guys
Bissouma
Tielimanns
Jesus
next striker? = 6
lets see what the summer brings
Panic not you ‘lot’.
Whether he said it exactly that way or he’s misquoted, we will bring in more than 2 players.
Ffs i switch to chelsea only to see a pen
YESSS
Ever since we lost those 3 games in a row, I dont think it matters what Chelsea does. We are so far behind them I dont think theres any chance to catch them.
Am not sure about the context in which Edu mentions only two players will be coming in.
Maybe he meant only two marquee signings, our squad is already dangerously thin, the coming season we are likely to be playing more games and with the new rule changes of up to five substitute, just goes to shows something off
This is Edu being modest and not let the cat out of the bag… Especially if we make the champions league at the end of the season, we are so signing 3 – 4 top class players to need up what we have on ground now.
it always amazes me how so many see a quote and take it literally. They have no thought whatsoever for the tactics behind the many public statements that are made by all sorts of people connected in various way with top clubs. The level of sheer unthinking naivety truly depressingly esp as some like me does not suffer uinthinking and naive fools gladly.
All my adult life I HAVE MADE IT POLICY TO CONSIDER ALL PUBLIC QUOTES AND THINK, THINK,AM THINK YET AGAIN WHETHER WHAT IS SAID ADDS UP!
IF IT DOES NOT, THEN I AUTOMATICALLY DISREGARD IT. I use my brain!
Thank you, lot of childish thinking here. Very emotional. Some want to be signing 6 players every season. This is not PS , it’s real club. And it requires management. Millions of dollars and contracts involved. So I laugh when I hear people talking about in and outs without thinking. So Edu will come out on TV and give out all he’s planned for the season? If he does that, it’s then I will say he’s not qualified to manage Arsenal.
It will all depend on the budget they get. So for now, one or two would be realistic. All depends on how much we will spend on our priorities. The striker position already seems like it will take a lot of that budget. I don’t see us spending more than the £150m we spent last season. If we can get some free players maybe just maybe.
It’s not totally impossible that Arsenal recruit only 1 or 2 players, it depends on how many current players contracts are extended.
When you see the performances Elneny put in against Chelsea and ManU, is it really a necessity to sign a new defensive midfielder?
In central midfield we have Partey, Xhaka, Elneny and Sambi + perhaps Patino. Looks good to me.
The one I’m 100% convinced is next on Arteta’s chopping board is Pepe. Arsenal will do everything possible to get rid of him in the summer when he still have 2 year contract. He will need replacement.
The défense is fine if Saliba’s contract can be extended.
I’d love to see Nketiah’s contract extended too, he may be the poacher we’ve been looking for. He’s young, has plenty of energy and he’s hungry for goals. Actually it looks like he’s obsessed with goals which is a good sign for a striker. Arteta likes him and I hope he will manage to convince him to stay.
The Jesus rumour is an exciting one. Only One year left on his contract and Arteta knows him from the City days. Jesus can play any attacking position, he’d fit in very well within the squad I reckon.
Therefore as a summary:
Extend Saliba, Nketiah and Elneny.
Sign Jesus and an attracting midfielder like Asensio.
Of course if we could upgrade on Cedric and Elneny that would be even better but I don’t think it’s vital to be honest.
For an attacking midfielder, I suggest Christopher Nkunku of RB Leipzig. Very , very sharp with ball at his feet.
Agreed Nkunku would be great. There will be a few clubs after him in the summer I suppose.
Please buy James Ward Prowse. He alone can carry Soton out of relegation zone and also freekick specialist. Arsenal doesnt have freekick specialist ATM. So many freekick we wasted because we got no specialist in that department. Please. I hope Artera and Edu reconsider my opinion.
I think if Elneny continues with his stepping up in performance up to season’s end for Arsenal. As us have seen him stepped up to help Arsenal win their last 2 matches. I think despite his social media pro-Palestine comment that looked anti-Israeli in nature. Arsenal might give him a contract extension to remain at the club if he wants to.
Despite that I am not the Arsenal hierarchy bosses who make the decisions. But I say Rob Holding goes no where next summer but remains at the club. And so too is Cedric Soares who is currently having a good season’s campaign for Arsenal since he came-in to deputize for Tomiyasu.
If Arteta the Gunners gaffer and the on-loan Arsenal centreback Williams Saliba iron out their differences to reach amicable settlement. Arteta could keep him in his squad for next season’s campaign. And also I see him getting his contract extended next summer if Arteta keeps him to replace the out of favour Mari.
Despite the reported Nkethia stubbornness to not extend his staying at Arsenal beyond this season, i think Arteta and Edu should compel him to sign the dotted line compulsorily to stay-on at Arsenal.
If this current Arsenal squad wins the top4 place finish this season. It means the squad is strong. But a marquee striker signing by Arsenal in the summer to replace the should be departing Lacazette is most desirable. And a marquee midfielder signing too by Arsenal in the summer is also a necessity signing that I think Arsenal should do in view of Thomas Partey prone to picking up long term injury sideline.
Useless pundits speculating as usual in order to make a living. There will be a lot of competition for a limited pool of available talent. Newcastle, Manure and the Spuds will be out there splashing the cash as well. And let’s not forget it’s a World Cup year which will inflate transfer fees. I’d settle for quality rather than quantity this time around, with a striker, midfielder and top line full back as priorities. Again we have to trust those two to make the right calls. At least please steer away from Juventus and Real Madrid rejects.
I think Edu is misquoted and misinterpreted. I have a feeling we will have atleast 3-4 quality signings:
1/2 strikers depending on Nketiah’s contract extension. Personally I would like to see Nketiah to stay.
1/2 CM/DM: depending on Elneney contract extension, personally I would like Elneny to extend his contract with us, a great player in big matches. But since TP is injury prone we will need atleast one CM/DM.
A back up to Tierney at LB: Since Tavares is error prone and unreliable he will be most likely sent on loan to gain more experience and we must go in for a new back up to Tierney.
A winger if Pepe leaves.
So thats the conclusion and a lot will depend on if we make it to the CL as it will totally change the picture once we make it to the CL in terms of the quality of incoming signings and the budget of the Club.
I sort of agree with you about midfield, personally I would have kept Torreira and Guendozi as the perfect challengers to Partey and Xhaka. However seeing as that is not happening I would keep Elneny and buy one other. Sambi I would try to loan out to a team coming up or another that can give him regular football. Then let Azeez and Patino stay at least until January.
Similarly, I think Tavares (who next season takes up one of the 17 non-homegrown places) needs a similar loan or may be reinvention in a different position he is certainly not ready to stand in for Tierney. We either sign an experienced back up or we try Lopez and Ogunbo.
We do need more right backs or centre backs.