https://theathletic.com/4138180/2023/02/01/moises-caicedo-arsenal-brighton-transfer-pursuit/ Arsenal were informed on Saturday, in no uncertain terms, to back off. They did not heed that advice, so were given the same, unequivocal message again the following day. Brighton shut communication off with everybody from that point. A second bid from Arsenal on Sunday evening — £65million plus £5million in add-ons — was regarded at the Amex as an irrelevance. The Caicedo saga has soured Brighton’s respect for the north London club after the cordial negotiations between them over the sales of White and Trossard, weakening Arsenal’s position in terms of any future interest in more of Brighton’s star players.
TIL that The Athletic hires moody teenagers to write about transfer sagas. I like how the article starts with their cold, data-driven approach to transfer dealings and ends with them whining about having their feelings hurt.
That would be a serious chicken to count before it's hatched. My base assumption is that if Rice is our #1 target, we'll miss out and have to "settle" for a #2 or #3 choice. (which might not be that much of a problem?) My hunch is that the englishman Rice will command a high price that we may just decide to bow out to. Hope I'm wrong.
Ultimately it will depend on which teams will be interested in a player like Rice. Presumably Chelsea isn't going to be interested in him. Neither is City. Maybe United? Liverpool doesn't seem keen on any high cost transfers right now. If we do wind up winning the league, that will also give us a leg up.
Obviously, money talks. But if Rice is serious about wanting to play in the CL, as he's publicly stated, there's a chance neither Liverpool nor Chelski will be able to offer that.
You left out the one club that was in my mind when I wrote that post, one that has recently joined the party and has more than plenty of petro cash to spend.
Chelsea has spent an insane half billion quid in transfers in one season and no media seems to be mentioning this? it has to be a record by miles?
No media? Sky's guy (Kaveh?) was all over this yesterday on their deadline show. And I've heard others on pods as well
The market value on transfermarkt for AC Milan's entire squad is €574m and they are the 11th most valuable club in the world. Chelsea spent more than that in one season.
This is pretty great and summarizes this transfer window nicely. This January transfer window was something else 🤑 pic.twitter.com/nXwWgzxAcJ— B/R Football (@brfootball) February 1, 2023
Spending in 2022-23:Chelsea: $666.7MLa Liga: $608.9MBundesliga: $604.1M🙃 pic.twitter.com/6HNrfpt2QZ— B/R Football (@brfootball) February 1, 2023
After the chaos of the transfer deadline day has finally died down there appears to still be a depth issue in Arsenal’s midfield. They bought Jorginho and sent Lokonga on loan, but didn’t replace Elneny. So they have three 30 year olds to cover two positions for a schedule that beginning with the Brentford game will, with very few exceptions, consist of two games a week for as long as they remain in the Europa League. There are solutions if one or more of the 30 year olds are injured, but none of them are ideal. Arsenal can play with more attacking 8’s. Vieira, Smith-Rowe, and Trossard can likely all play at left 8 and while Arsenal would probably score more goals, it would also likely hurt them defensively. Alternatively, they could move a defender, Zinchenko or Kiwior (he primarily played as a defensive mid two seasons ago) into the defensive midfield position. If neither of these solutions proves satisfactory, Edu and Arteta may have to suit up..
Brighton's feelings are hurt? They can do one. They will apparently pay Caceido around 700k over the life of his contract at around 80 million. I feel bad that their scouting has led to bigger clubs picking off their players, but they are not sweethearts.
We’re just doing what they are doing to Ecuadorean teams, what we’re doing is miles less predatory/unethical. The nerve of a club to claim their fee-fees got hurt by receiving a club-record transfer bid. Absolute pearl clutching by all involved, especially that Naylor guy at the Athletic
I've been assuming for a few weeks now that Zinchenko/White/(Kiwior?) are the plan C for cover at #6, if Partey and Jorginho are unable for some reason, and if Xhaka stays at #8. And personally I'm thinking that moving Zinchenko out of the "unique" LB position he plays may not be a wise move so I'd be looking at one of the other guys. But this is Plan C creative hole-filling that we all hope will not be required, especially Arteta!
I'd agree with this, and also point out that Elneny hasn't been needed at all this season, so having that Plan C as you've laid out is probably fine. Even in the few games Elneny has started, we had other options that we chose not to use. I'm comfortable with the depth for the rest of the season, but I'd like to see it built up for 2023-24.
I was reading up on Kiwior today and he’s more than capable at defensive midfielder apparently https://totalfootballanalysis.com/article/jakub-kiwior-scout-report-tactical-analysis-tactics
Listen: NOBODY is more than capable of playing our version of defensive midfielder against the competition we're playing, unless they've already been doing it at that competitive level for a year+.