Arsenal_AM_Episode_010_How was the summer business

In the absence of anything concrete to discuss I run the rule over the transfer business from last summer.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Good morning. It's Friday. It's the day before match today. So obviously we have Mikel Arteja speaking to the press later on. And we have every eye on the pictures that come out of Arsenal training to see who's there, who's not there. Has somebody got a limp? And you know, if it was transfer season, we'd be tracking flights and everything. We're very, very good at getting into the weeds here at the Arsenal fans. So yeah, it's interesting. So I've been trawling around the place seeing what people are talking about. I've seen a number of people questioning whether the boss will stay on, should stay on, should we not win the league. I think that's a bit harsh, um, but I can understand where people's position is on it. But for me, it's get get get behind the team and stay behind the team at the moment. So yeah, I I think it's all about creating harmony amongst our ranks for the next while because it's not gonna be an easy road, and you know, we need to be there for one another and for our team. I was thinking a little bit about the transfer business that Arsenal did uh over the summer and replacing Edu. And again, I love saying the line, what do Edu do? Well he seemed to get fired, but that's uh that's an Edu problem, not an US problem. But his replacement, Berta, obviously came out of Atletico Madrid, and we've seen a lot more Atletico Madrid style to our play this year. So I think he's obviously somebody who we can say has a an influence with the boss because both seem to favour the attacking style, but we've become less attractive to watch, which is a very Atletico Madrid situation or scenario. So it's just a question that I hadn't seen queried around the place as to what Bartha's influence on the football may or may not have been. And I would definitely love to hear any thoughts or inputs that you may have. So I'm just going to tell you about my handles. If you want to get in touch with the show, you can get me on Instagram at Arsenal underscore AM underscore pod. And you can get me on BSky at Freddylj.bsky.social. So yeah, I definitely would love to hear your thoughts and input on Berta, and maybe we can get into a discussion on that sometime over the next uh next while or though. We'll have games coming up, so we'll have a bit more time to focus on games. In terms of the transfers that came in last year, I think Muscara has done really well. It's actually been a good deputy for at right back, right centre back, and for the money we paid, I think we've we've got a steal. And Capier is obviously a transfer that's going to happen this summer for in around 60 million. I struggle with the valuation. He is obviously an exceptional player, he's done really well for us. Uh spending that sort of money on him, I'm not sure he moves the needle an awful lot, especially if he is back up to Calafury. Um, he can double his back up for Big Gabby. So if you price it at 30 million freeze position, maybe it's a good investment. I still struggle with it a little bit. But from an accounting point of view, we probably need to be aware that that sum of money is already off the budget for the coming summer. With that said, then we had Zupermendi come in. Yes, he's struggled a little bit of late. Again, I think if we've seen the the number of minutes and the intensity of the minutes that he's had to play has definitely had an impact on him in the latter part of the season. But if you ask me up until early March, he was probably up there and challenging for a player of the season. Um I didn't speak about Keppa. I don't think there's a lot to say. He's the number two, he's not got much of a look in. People will obviously point to the cup final and he's got to wear that, but he's a professional, he knows he knows the ins and outs of being the goalkeeper and a backup goalkeeper now. Christian Norgaard is the interesting one, I think. I think the transfer itself has been a failure. And I think uh 13 million or so it's not it's a failure you could wear. You know, we've had many many more expensive failures that have had an impact on us, but I think the failure to give him minutes even to rest Rice or Zuba Mendy for the last 15, 20, 20 minutes of games has been a failure on management, not necessarily a failure on Norgard. I think we look at him, I think he's been an ultimate professional, he's always been there, he's been available, he hasn't said a word, you've not heard a peep to say, he's unhappy, and you know he must be. You know, it was the biggest move is of his career, and chances are he will move on to play during the summer. Again, haven't heard anything in the rumours, but just at a human level, he was he was the Brentford captain, he played all the time. He's played less than 90 minutes of league football for us. You know, it doesn't make sense for him to stay with us, he's obviously not rated by the manager, and you know that's that's fair enough, and I kind of feel sorry for him that it hasn't worked out. As I obviously came in, I think everyone liked the fact that he stuck at the Tottenham every which way possible, um, and he's the hat-trick, the winning goal, the goal against Palace. You know, he's had big impact, and I think we would have liked to have seen more. Yeah, the left wing element probably did cause us some problems. But again, I think that was more of a Arteta management issue. I'm kind of going, I don't like that. But we've had managers like that in the past who've just basically said, Yeah, you're not playing, you're gonna have to work hard, and you'll get back in when you get back in. And I think we saw that with Ezra, and I think maybe that was to a little bit of our own detriment. That we could have seen things play out a bit differently, but again, maybe there's underlying issues that we are not aware of. On the right wing, Nadi Madaweke. I again I think where he came from causes us issues because again, we don't like that club. But I liked his attitude where he came in, he wanted to go train straight away, he he got involved, he's very frustrating. Um, you know, running the ball out of play, just kind of elements where you think a guy of that value should be delivering more in product and less less mercurial moments that drive us mad. You know, he's he's not Saka, he's never going to be Saka, and I think that's an unfair bar for the guy to hit, but I think a lot of people know when picking a team or picking a substitute, is Max Dowman a real threat to his place? And maybe if we had Ethan Winiery back, would he be a threat to that place? And if both of those players are a threat to that place, where's Madoueke's place in the squad? Again, not putting the guy down, he can do some brilliant stuff, but I do wonder does he need to redefine himself knowing that he's putting himself through through the ringer at the moment to play through pain and with knocks and things like that. So probably food food for thought as to where that position evolves to next year, and I would it'll be interesting to see how we start fitting players in or who leaves and how that plays out. But again, we've seen the boss be ruthless, so anybody could go, and I don't think he'd necessarily bat an eyelid, you know, over the course of his time. We've seen Obama Yang, Ramsdale, Emma Smithrow all leave the club and not necessarily get the send off or the moments that perhaps they would have felt they deserved or we felt they deserved. Now, up front, Victor Yakaras. I think it was not the signing Arteta wanted, but with everything else we wanted to do, you know, doing an ESA, doing a Madoueke, he was in the price range for what we wanted to do. We needed a striker and I don't think he's fit. I think you know, you can pick the stats that say he's done really well in terms of putting his you know the shots on target to goals ratio is really, really good. The but an awful lot of the other elements around that aren't there, and you often see with strikers the second season being far more difficult because people know how to play them. More often than not, a lot of the players seem to know how to play Yakers already. So with that, is that another change that we need to make in the summer? Perhaps. Um if he started as our number two behind the fit has has half it. Would I mind probably not, and probably probably have a more favor favorable view of him if that was the the use case. But it hasn't been, and we can see when he martinelli and Matavike are our front three, it does not function in any way, shape, or form. So we have a further evolution to go there. Yeah, we we cried out for the striker, we got the striker, we wanted it to work. And I think we're all slightly underwhelmed. So could I see him moving on in the summer? Yes, I could, and I'm hoping he goes as a championship winner, and I think he will view that as success as success, and we'll view that as a success, because really we won't care, but you know, we we do definitely need a striker that fits the mold a bit more. We also need a left wing that functions as well. Um now could a striker help our left wing to function better? Absolutely. When Gabriel Jesus came in, he and Martinelli struck up a great relationship. Martinelli was really good, but obviously without Gabriel Jesus he hasn't functioned as well, and with other players he hasn't connected in that. So either we need to turn back time and make Gabriel Jesus a a better option, but I suspect Gabriel Jesus will be leaving in the summer, probably for no transfer fee, but it gets big wages off the books. So maybe there's a striker that comes in to elevate our left wing just by dint of being more of what Gabriel Jesus can be, which was a guy who can hold up the ball tricky, flicky, and allows and opens up players like Martinelli. Trossard, I think, again has gone off a cliff in the last since Christmas, really, along with the rest of the squad. Um and I think if if he is to move on, it's likely to be this year. Again, I d I don't think anyone can argue with his value since his transfer from Brighton. I think he's been really, really good and probably unlucky not to win a tight title. We any other time we probably would have won at least one, basically, because uh some of the club wouldn't have had 115 charges to help them uh you know steal a march on the league. So that has been my thinking today in relation to the players who came in, in relation to the director of football who brought them in, and I just wonder is that going to have an influence on our summer business again? Is Berta going to have an influence and bring in players who are maybe a bit more athletical Madrid and less Real Madrid? Uh we wait to see. I think there's been few enough rumors of any substance. The only rumour of substance, well, it's not even a substance, but the rumour that cop AI was Gretzka coming in from Bayern Munich. I think that on the right wages would be an interesting change in the dynamic of midfield for what it could offer in terms of winning experience and mentality. You know, coming coming from a big club like that, it's definitely going to offer us something that maybe we don't have in a bundles in our midfield. So again, as long as he's not 200 grand a week, I could see it, but again, you you don't want to get a a big player on aging legs who's just gonna sit there and not deliver for years two and three of a of a contract. With that, I will say we'll talk tomorrow and have a good one.