He would be a solid young option as well. Not quite as developed as the others but he would be HG if purchased this summer.
Odegaard not in the squad today, might have to lump him in with White on the injury concerns. And more so than White, I think the injuries have really had a negative affect on his form.
If converted to midfield, I view MLS more as an 8 than a 6. His through balls around the top of the box are an outstanding feature of his play. So I think it much more likely that if we add a midfielder it’s a young 6 that can eventually replace Norgaard. Based on their usage each of these players is more 8 than 6, which potentially creates problems for Nwaneri and Myles.
Arteta seems to love having a veteran experienced 6 who he never actually wants on the pitch. El-Neny, Jorginho and now Norgaard. I'm curious how Norgaard feels, he played over 2800 min last season for Brentford and has about 50 min in the league including the bit he played today. Will he want out to play more? Whether he stays or goes could impact the profile of who they bring in, if anyone.
If Norgaard wins medals, he will probably feel the move was worth it. His contract expires at the end of next season, so he probably plays out his contract and then moves on. If I were making the transfer decisions this summer I’d buy a promising young #6 (Bouaddi?) loan him back to his team and then bring him into the Arsenal team for the 27/28 season.
Addendum to previous post: If you exclude Nwaneri, the average age of Arsenals midfielders will be almost 29 at the beginning of next season. Norgaard will be 32, Merino 30, Eze 28, and Rice, Odegaard, and Zubimendi 27. This is the oldest unit among the field players. Arsenal are going to need to make plans now to bring in some younger midfielders.
Young 6 who’s good at ball progression and is also a large human? He seems to check Arteta’s boxes, and will start entering his prime when the others are aging out.
Rodrygo tore his ACL, if anyone still had him on their radar as a summer signing. He only has 1 league goals this season, 3 in all comps, so you probably did not.
The worst possible time for him to do so, I actually think pre-ACL he would have done very well for us on the LWF. But for the amount RM would have asked for there are better alternatives.
Apparently he had a partial tear in 2023 and played through it. I wonder if he would have passed a medical.
This is a good video, but especially the part talking about Anderson's creativity starting at 7:30 where they throw out a KdB comp. Considering how much Rice, Zubimendi and Merino increased their scoring output after joining Arsenal, how about dropping 9 figures on Anderson and playing him in front of Rice and Zubimendi? He would be fantastic leading the press. And it would prevent him from going to Pool/City/United.
I could see us grabbing a starting quality MF to help take the load off Rice & Zubi but I have a really hard time seeing us spend over $60-70m to get that player. That said, Anderson & Wharton would be really interesting HG options. While I think there is no way in hell that we could afford it, if the sketchy "MO moving on" rumors were true and we sold Norgaard, snagging Anderson AND Wharton would give us a phenomenal MF rotation..... DM - Zubi, Wharton, Rice LCM - Rice, Merino, Anderson RCM - Eze, Anderson, Nwaneri Really nice mix of capable youth and experience
While I think we likely need a MF this summer, it's starting to look like we may badly need both a LB & RB given our inability to keep White & Cala healthy.
Mildly worried that he isn't quite ready to contribute as much as Wharton but he is taller, has a frame that should fill out well and is quicker than Wharton. I would 100% take the risk on him at 50-60m rather than Wharton at 100m.
I really hope they don't go for Tonali. He isn't homegrown, doesn't fix the age profile of the midfield, and would be banned forever if he's caught gambling again. But mostly it is the opportunity cost, there are so many better options: Anderson, Wharton, Bouaddi, Baleba and probably others I'm not thinking about. Get Michael Kayode so Arteta finally has someone who can take long throws
Telegraph pushing a Livramento to Arsenal rumor/claim from a Newcastle rep. The claim suggests.... 1. We are interested (would make sense given White's inability to stay healthy) 2. Liv has 2 yrs left on his deal and has shown no interest in signing an extension 3. Liv has the same agent as Arteta
Add to above..... I know of Livramento but never really paid a ton of attention to him. Just realized (while digging) that he has missed 90+ games in the last 4 seasons. I would 100% pass on that one.