Good luck Granit. I have always admired his attitude. I actually think that this will be the hardest thing to replicate by any replacements.

Hello omoh, we always seem to get those clubs. Maybe our luck has changed or maybe we have a side that can deal with them now. Either would be fine by me.

My worry was in the past we always seemed like we got Man Utd in the league after an arduous away CL match.

Well done to Arteta and Edu in getting Saliba to sign up for four years. I think Arteta has improved his man management since he started. Also recognition of the previous club scouting who identified and the people who had the guts to pay a significant sum for a developing player.

Wish you the best Granit!

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https://www.footballtransfers.com/en/tr ... -steve-kay

This one is still a head scratcher for me. Why doesn't Arteta rate him?
Will he light up the EPL and Arteta eat humble pie?

Yes I think he is an essential elect of our team.

I think the issue is more that they rate him but a move is a more attractive proposition for him. He has 2 players ahead of him and I think the club and its coaches are more invested in Nketiah for some reason.

It seems an easier proposition to sell Balogun than Nketiah. His stock is high right now and they will recoup more money for him.

It’s hard because a ruthless decision is required on Eddie but the club don’t seem ready to make it yet.

For me, Balogun over Nketiah any day.
I guess Arteta's tactics does not need a Balogun type player, more than a Nketiah type.

Today could see us announce Rice and Timber and Saliba’s new deal

Re: Balogun v Nketiah

I think lots of Arsenal fans like Balogun because we think he has a higher ceiling than Nketiah and we feel we’ve seen the limit of Nketiah.

I’ll try to be objective about it and put other arguments over.

Does anyone here rate Lois Openda above Nketiah? He’s a guy who also scored 21 goals in the French league last year like Balogun. And both were outscored by Lacazette.
Balogun also scored a lot of penalties, you still have to score them but they do inflate the stats a bit. He’s also completely untested in the league.

It’s an incredibly difficult decision for Arsenal to make. They made a commitment to Nketiah and Balogun has probably come on more than they imagined he would.

Balogun’s team Reims were a bottom 6 team, the job he did there would be very different to Arsenal. Obviously putting the ball in the net is the main job but a bottom 6 team don’t require one touch sharp link up play in and around the box. Most of his goals were from crosses, penalties or running in behind - he won’t get many running in behind chances for us against deep defences we play most weeks

I am assured from facebook sites that when I wake up tomorrow morning Rice will be confirmed as will Timber.

I'm a huge fan of Nketiah and I think the fans expected way too much when he had to fill in right away after losing Jesus. Considering his age, (lack of) EPL experience and the boots that had to be filled in a highly pressured environment (EPL title), he did marvelously. Things he got wrong in games are things he would normally have had to work on while playing league cup matches, FA cup matches against lower division sides and the odd 10 minutes or so when we are up 3-1 home to Bournemouth in full control of the game.

He has an innate sense of where to be for a pass or a rebound. He's fearless. He appears as if he feels he belongs and has no problem in being relied on for the game winner. He simply lacks experience and his upside is very good. Just like Willock to some extent. Arteta has to figure out if he works in our system and how or if he can't find him a good home elsewhere.

I think if Balogun comes he'll be expected to do more than what he can probably deliver. He looks more than a fine player but if he came where he would be played and how? There are all sorts of good players but they may not be right for your teams system. I think he can fit in, but he would have to be brought back and we see first hand.

Mbappe wants to sign for us

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foo ... 71195.html

It really is silly season now....and Miguel Delaney is a decent journalist.

Arsenal doctor Gary O’Driscoll moving to Manchester United. Expected to remain in current role for transition period before completing switch later this summer.

I guess nobody can be exact about Balogun's value to Arsenal until he plays regularly for the team. Every opinion made is valid.
Case in point, there were doubts about Ramsdale transfer. Teams he was with were usually relegated, etc, etc. And we know how it played out.
My gut feel is we are making a mistake in not giving him a chance at Arsenal.

I don’t think it’s tactics it’s just that the coaches and fans have blinkers on when it comes to Eddie. I think it’s because he came through the academy. He’s provided some great moments but if we decided to sell I think he would only command interest from clubs like Palace and Brentford which is telling.

We will sell balogun, keep Nketiah then realise we need a new striker next summer mark my words

Sounds like arteta has booted Steve round. Wonder if we might see a certain mr cazorla back at Arsenal

Since Arteta took over as Arsenal manager he has spent exactly the same on transfers as every Spurs manager collectively in that same time period. This is before Rice and Timber.

But worth reminding any Spurs friends you have when they throw out how much Arteta has spent.....and look at the difference in quality of the squads!

I agree that I'd like to see Balogun given a chance, but realistically when do we see him being given a chance apart from if someone gets injured? Every point matters if we want to win the title, so is Arteta going to throw Balogun in to start a prem game ahead of Jesus? I think as fans it is easy to say give the kid a chance but as a manager you live and die by every result.

I think I could see a situation where Balogun is sold and next summer we're moving on Nketiah and signing a new striker to compete with jesus

Saliba new contract officially announced by Arsenal, he'll wear the number 2 next year

Arsenal Premier League

Win percentage
With Saliba 78%
Without Saliba 46%

Goals conceded per game
With Saliba 0.9
Without Saliba 1.6

Shots conceded per game
With Saliba 8.3
Without Saliba 10.7

One of Eddie or Balogum should be loaned to a premier league side.

This makes sense but Balogun has refused to go on loan and is saying play me or sell me. We won’t loan Nketiah and I doubt he would agree to it.

It basically requires us to behave ruthlessly a bit like chelsea and boot the guy we think isn’t the better player or prospect

I agree. If Eddie is prepared to play second fiddle, I guess he is the one to keep. We have other attackers who can play in the middle, most obvioiusly Trossard and Martinelli. The latter especially. great on the break and at drifting across the front line when we are trying to break teams down.

And if my memory is functioning, he got injured in a poxy Europa cup tie against moderate opposition, which we should have put to bed in the first leg, but turned into a proverbial 15 rounder which we managed to lose.

It really hurts to think about what could have been!

Season ticket holders fyi I’ve noticed ticket exchange is now active on my account

Has anyone’s digital pass updated to show the first fixture yet though ? Mine hasn’t

Thats a pretty solid summary of what occured.

I have a feeling he’d be an option in a back 3 rather than a central pairing. Or Arteta will use him as an RB/LB in midfield.

I share your opinion

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Happy to hear he's excited. I am very excited. I think he and Kai will make a huge difference in the attack.

The entire midfield will be far more capable of scoring without losing its ability to defend base on last season.

This is precisely why I think selling Partey is a stupid idea

https://www.caughtoffside.com/2023/07/0 ... er-united/

Britain is *%^@** as long as these arseholes are running it

https://news.sky.com/story/boris-johnso ... r-12916924

I share the opinion that everyone has said here that Balogun probably has the higher ceiling. I think that would be most fans position and I wouldn’t be surprised if the club think that too.

But they’re invested in Jesus being the starting striker, there isn’t a place up for grabs with significant minutes really.

We will sell balogun, keep Nketiah then realise we need a new striker next summer mark my words

I can absolutely see that happening, but I’m not sure Balogun is making much else an option, and fair enough from his point of view. Arsenal is an amazing club if you can get the minutes you want, but like KT it must be so difficult if you’re effectively frozen out.

Eddie will probably get 6/7 games worth of minutes over the season. Balogun wanting to leave makes sense. Going to Chelsea however is not exactly guaranteed minutes, but they might be the only buyers.

If we hope to compete in 4 competitions any back up striker will get plenty of minutes and I kind of think that’s the issue.

I think Ray makes a point here, you need firepower and goal scorers off the bench we just don’t have that and next season we will be reliant on our wide players and Ødegaard again to bring the goal threat.

https://metro.co.uk/2023/07/05/arsenal- ... -19070505/

Yeah I probably should have said 6/7 games Worth of minutes guaranteed. But that’s all it is. I can see someone who wants to play as much as possibly at this point in their careers backing themselves and going somewhere else to make that 30+ games worth of minutes guaranteed.

Are goals that big problem for us? Our 88 in league last season was a massive improvement on the season before (61). Looking back over the last decade of The Premiership our total of 88 has only been bettered by City (six times) and Liverpool twice. Getting to City's pretty regular 90+ level is a leap but not impossible.

Just saw something interesting on twatter

Elliot Richardson suggesting he has a hunch Arsenal and city are going to do a player swap this summer.

Then leads to a load of speculation what players would be involved with the common suggestion being for some reason we would swap KT for Laporte.

Other potential suggestions would be cancelo for them and balogun and partey for us.

I’m not sure why we would want Laporte at all to be honest and cancelo would make sense