Little better but not quite there - 2020 Summer Transfer Thread

No no no, not schizophrenic at all, there's one common denominator to our transfer decisions nowadays...just Google those player's names and "agent"

 

What other clients does he have?

 

That could be true, though when push comes to shove a lot of AMN's value to Arsenal comes from his versatility, which requires him to be willing to play where he is needed. I don't blame him necessarily if he's not on board for that, but if that is the case, we should consider selling him at time when he has value. Maybe this window, maybe next year.

Also, I don't think the back three thing is long for the future. My guess is that Arteta wants to play 433, but was put in a situation toward the end of the season where 343 was the best available option, given the fact that we had a lot of numbers in defense and fewer in the midfield, and not a whole lot of quality in either.

 

Until the FA Cup, the club was probably operating under a few different options based on whether or not they have money from the Europa League. They still might be looking at different options depending on what Aubameyang does. Do they build around Aubameyang with established 27-31 year olds (Coutinho, Willian, Partey) and push to return to the Champion's League or do they go full rebuild with academy kids and prospects like Joelson?

There is also the possibility that the club sees Joelson as the next Ronaldo and want him regardless. Or all the rumors are BS posturing for Kia to get him a new contract to stay in Lisbon.

 

Arsenal have fired their head of international scouting Francis Cagigao along with many others in the scouting department, among 55 total employees let go across the entire organization. Who needs scouts when you can just ask Joorabchian who to buy?

 

I think this world is more murky than that - it's not like "Ari Gold reps X, Y, and Z". It's more that Kia has these clients, but also has relationships with these other agents and can make deals for those players as well.

 

Does Kia or a Kia owned company own the players listed?

 

Inject this into my face

He looks like a strong player but only 22

we must be offloading a lot

Willian aparently is done and coutinho bro g negotiated

we still need a powerful cm imo

 

To really emphasize this point, Arsenal sacked our chief scout Cagigao (who brought us Fabregas, Bellerin, Monreal, and most recently Martinelli) and most of our scouting network today. Un fcuking believable how inept this management team is

 

Martinelli. We've had some really good hits over the years (and realistically, the best you can expect is a gem every 2-3 years).

Also, this:

At this point if I were a fan of Arsenal, I'd basically write off the next 3-5 years in terms of just getting back into being ~good again (this is also factoring in that United/Chelsea are at least spending truck loads of money on genuine young stars)

— Mohamed (@MoeSquare) August 5, 2020

In five years, this place will be as dead as the Spurs board.

 

I think a lot of the rumors being BS is the most probable, which is why I described the rumors as schizophrenic.

 

That seems to be an independent question to the question of "Should we have a scouting and data analytics department?"

 

Also, FWIW Cagigao pushed back against signing both Mustafi and Perez. So scouting isn't just about identifying players - it's also about not making mistakes.

 

Wasn’t one of the justifications for arguing the players should take a pay cut to protect staff from being laid off?

 

Back to potential signings. I don’t have huge reservations about signing Willian, even given his age. He’s a better player than the late 20s and 30 somethings signed to bolster the defense the last couple of years. He will provide a good example for the young wingers and he’s versatile enough to play as a CAM. But if Arsenal do sign Willian, I think Coutinho becomes redundant. Signing both Willian and Coutinho doubles down on attacking midfielder/forwards, when they have more pressing needs elsewhere.

There is another potential advantage to signing Willian, with three Brazilians, Willian, Luiz, and Martinelli on the team and Edu in management, Arsenal may become a more attractive destination for Gabriel Magalhaes, who will fill one of the pressing needs.

 

Our sustaining model is best compared to a glider. It's not really flying, it's just approaching the ground slowly. Otoh,

So after spending €62m on Sancho, Dembele, Auba, Pulisic and Mkhitaryan, we’ve made roughly €420,000,000 off selling them

€358m profit ✅ pic.twitter.com/x9lSzvaH4v

— kron (@Witselsior) August 3, 2020