Ins/Out - Summer 2022

I know it might seem like that, but in fairness, Arteta has been trying to keep him since the start of last season. We offered him two contract extensions and he rejected them both.

So we didn’t really play him because we thought he was going to move in January or the previous Summer. He then couldn’t agree personal terms with Palace or Monchengladbach (I hate typing that name out), so we had no choice but to keep hold of him.

Lacazette obviously wasn’t doing the business and, frankly, should have been taken out the side earlier. But once Nketiah came in, there was clearly a big difference in what he offered compared to Laca or even Aubameyang before we got rid of him.

I’ve never been Eddie’s biggest fan, but considering we’ve done everything possible to keep hold of him, there must be a lot of belief behind the scenes that he’ll blossom. And Arteta has been singing his praises for a while now. Let’s see if it’s justified.

Personally, I’m yet to be convinced. That said, his goals to minutes ratio is extremely impressive, so let’s see if that can be extrapolated over the course of a season.

 

Its a gamble we will lose; don’t think nketiah will hit the heights we want him to.

I believe his extension was because we have our summer budget already set out and to buy another premier league striker (other than Jesus) would cost at least £20m. So we did this instead of spending on a transfer fee. But I agree - I think £100k a week on nketiah is nonsensical.

 

Na - Arteta seems to rate him. Don't forget he was getting games ahead of Aubameyang and Lacazette.
I think he could be a decent backup for us. Who knows though, He's still young enough to develop into a quality player.

 

Interesting. The race for Raphina hotting up.

 

I think Raphinha is a quality player, but for some reason I just dont believe we are that hard in for him.

I just feel this is agent talk to get Barca to cough up for him faster.

Either that or we do get him, and we have one major outgoing transfer later this summer.

 

It seems as if Barcelona don't have the funds to facilitate this transfer. Unless they sell Frenkie de Jong to Man Utd. If that sale goes ahead soon, then I think Barcelona will come back in for Raphinha. If not though, then we have a chance if we act quickly.

Like you say though, it does depend on how desperate we want him and I'm not sure where he ranks on the priority list.

 

Fabio Vieira signing is official. Welcome to Arsenal

 

If our bid for Raphinha is ‘well short’ of Leeds’ valuation, I can’t help but feel like this is posturing on our part.

We know he’s in high demand, we know we’ve been interested in him since March and we have to act quickly before Leeds sell to someone who puts in a serious bid. So why put in an offer that is well below his valuation?

 

Again, I just cant help but feel he is a smokescreen for another player.

Apparently Leeds want £60m for him, which I think is too much; Im also not thrilled about Chelsea being his preferred choice ahead of us. He also doesnt fit with the type of player we want - that "want to play for Arsenal".

Looks like we are actually bidding though - so watch this space I guess.

 

Barring any last minute hick-ups, this should be over the line soon (I would hope).

 

Honestly £65m for Raphina is a lot. He's a good player don't get me wrong - but he's not exactly going to score a **** ton of goals from the Wings. When we bought Pepe for 70m he had just scored 24 goals from the RW so the price tag made sense.

How much would Gnabry cost 45-50?

 

I also worry that Raphina seems to be quite a petulant player, is he going to cause issues in the dressing room or on the field.

 

I think £65m is too much for him as well, but ultimately, he's Leeds' best player, has two years left on his contract and is in red hot demand. Leeds are entitled to ask for that type of fee.

I'd prefer to steer away from him if Leeds are asking for silly money, but I still maintain a lot of this is posturing, unless we get rid of Pepe soon (which doesn't seem likely, as he's not been concretely linked away).

 

Looks like we are have bid for Lisandro Martinez (Ajax) as well.

Despite what some fans are saying - he's clearly being brought in for LB. (He can play CB as well but at 5'8 -I think that's unlikely in the EPL)

Makes sense though Tierney has only played 50% or our EPL games since he arrived. He actually only played 62% of League games while at Celtic as well.
His injury problems are a real shame though. If he doesn't get the games we won't develope into the TOP quality player he could be.

Honestly though Martinez may be better than Tierney, he's aggressive (nicknamed the Butcher) and has a crazy range of passing.

 

Looks like this one’s a go-er.

IF we can get Lisandro, Tielemans & Raphinha (very unlikely we get all of them IMO but you never know), then that’s an excellent window.

Should that happen, all the pressure will be on Mikel to deliver at that point.

 

Seems as if we are going to ramp up talks for Raphinha. Starting to think we really want him. Will be interesting to see if we can get this over the line.

 

Also reports claiming Ajax have accepted a £35+5m deal for Lisandro Martinez.

I would imagine he will mainly play as a LB for us - Unless Arteta see's him as a DM. That's a lot of money for a backup to Tierney - I wonder if the Scots injuries are a big reason for this.

I was thinking actually - next Season you are allowed 5 subs in a game and It looks like Arteta is consideringt that with signings like Viera and Martinez

 

from an outsider POV your squad already looks unbalanced with too many attacking midfielders compared to CM yet adding Viera and Raphina just adds to the skewed numbers .
Also a reputed £60m for a backup to Saka seems expensive unless you are moving Saka to LF to let Raphina have the RF slot .

 

You're not the only person to have these concerns tbh.

My personal view is, considering how many competitions we're competing in and the fact that the 5 subs rule will be introduced, rotation and keeping our squad fresh will be critical, especially with the World Cup being mid-season. We suffered badly from having a short squad last season and in the end, it was one of the factors that led to us blowing our place in the CL.

I think Arteta wants two key players challenging for each position.

So in the forward line:

CF: Jesus, Nketiah
LW/LF: Martinelli, ESR
RW/RF: Saka, Raphinha

But the good thing about these players is that they don't necessarily have 'fixed' positions i.e. they can interchange and play with more fluidity + freedom. Even Martinelli, who I've put on the left, can also play through the middle as a CF.

With Saka, he got burned out in the final third of the season and he needed a break, but we couldn't give it to him because we didn't have the options/quality required.

Assuming we do sign Raphinha, Arteta will have to try and figure out how he's going to use them or whether he'll even use both of them at the same time.

It may mean certain players get less minutes, but I'd prefer to have problems like this than suffering from a tiny squad.

 

but unless i'm missing something your CM is only Xhaka Partey with Lokongo and Elneny as cover which looks pretty weak to me .