Is the Chelsea spend a record for any club in a single season? I do wonder how Stan will finance this - i guess we won't see till the next results I presume he will have to create a loan facility of some kind
Fulham have complete the agreement to sign Cédric Soares from Arsenal after verbal deal in place last week, here we go ⚪️⚫️🤝🏻 #DeadlineDayUnderstand Fulham will cover Cédric’s full salary until the end of the season — it’s loan deal. pic.twitter.com/4jZkjJwLQ1— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 31, 2023 Edu is goated
It would mean we actually got a penalty called for us, so I'm all for it. We've had one in the league all season lol
I am being ironic Willian was the worst transfer ever - i truly disliked him as a player and he was hot trash Willy 2.0 is a good buy IMO - apparently 12m is the max fee after addons including if Arsenal win the league
No chance he takes them off Saka, who has been on a tear with them. The Chelsea people I know are not happy he is gone. Last time I heard a fanbase talking in the same manner, it was City people after we got Zinchenko. Because you need a blend of youthful exuberance, players in their mid 20s, and older players to show them the way if you want to win things. We have a young squad, but its not like everyone is 24 and under. You want majority of your team in that 24-27 window, thats the age profile that wins titles on average. Ramsdale/Odegaard are 24, White/Gabriel/Jesus are 25, Zinchenko is 26. So 6 of the typical starting 11 are in that window. In that age bracket they have the right blend of league/international experience and their bodies should be prime for full seasons. Then you have Partey and Xhaka in that 28-32 bracket, where you want their leadership and experience. And we have Martinelli/Saka/Saliba who are 21 and bring energy and pace typically. We have a really good blend in this team. And we have now got a great age profile for our depth.
4th. Southampton, Chelsea, and Brighton are younger overall. I think those numbers change if you weight for minutes played.
Forest seems to have done some interesting business: Jonjo Shelvey, Felipe from AM, Kaylor Navas (I think). Don't know what they did earlier than today.
Danilo from Palmeiras who we were linked with before, another Palmeiras guy on a free (Gustavo Scarpa), and Chris Wood on loan from Newcastle. If they get Navas over the line, that's 27 new first-team signings this season.
it was an interception he tried and he mis-controlled 2-3 times and it went down the wing to an opposing player, its not gonna show up as a misplaced pass stat but a worse player wouldve just punted it out of bounds instead of gifting the whole right side and we just sent on loan for remainder of season, bad sign for him. Because his defensive awareness is non existent, like you said. Theres so many clips of him just gifting acres of space in the middle of the pitch.
More importantly, can I just say: Yoohoo, we signed a CM/DM!! Sure it was a little funky how things worked out, while we had earlier targets “taken away from us“, but credit to Eduteta for having plans B&C and pivoting quickly at short notice. And that applies not just for midfielders but also for forwards. Plus we quietly and secretly landed a young central defender too. Last but not least, the Kroenkes continued to be willing to back the project. So I give our management a B/B+… dependent of course on how these newest signings actually work out for us.
Average age for squad according to transfermarkt is 4th (25.3), behind Soton/Chelsea/BHA. Average age on starting 11 (24.2) is the lowest. But I was talking about the blend of players in age brackets, and how many of them we have in the starting 11. Having Saka and Martinelli as 21 year olds playing so many games brings the average down considerably, as does only having Xhaka (who only turned 30 in September last year) as our oldest player to play majority of the season.
Willian is another contract player liker Theo was. Hits form only when talks are ongoing. It was never going to work out imo. Also he left and our Young Guns got valuable game time. Jorginho is alright. He also isn't a starter unlike Cech, David Luiz and Willian were so I can live with that. He's mature so we are clearly in the market for a longer term CM. I also think it's a decent window. We didn't do nothing like last year which cost us. Edu had back up plans after plan A fails so that's progress.
Nah, you need talent. 21yo Bakayo Saka doesn't need 31yo Cedric to show him the way. I'm not proposing a Logan's Run scenario, I'm talking about which players are bought. Ideally the guy on your roster who is 28 now is someone who was bought 5+ years ago when he was 23 or younger. Every player you buy will (double-checking my math) be one year older the following season. One way to throw off the balance of your squad, to lose those prime age 24-27 core players you rightly say are key to winning titles, is to buy 28 and 31 year olds.
Yes, ahead of schedule. I'm optimistic that with the youth in this squad, Arsenal can be very competitive in the league and Europe for the next 5-7 years. If having a shot at the title is reason to take "risks" as you say, there is a good chance they are in a position to take risks again in Jan 2024 and Jan 2025 and Jan 2026... At some point, those risks will backfire. I'm just saying the club should make smart transfer decisions, don't make dumb ones and justify them as tolerable if they lead to a title.
https://metro.co.uk/2021/11/26/buka...eing-the-biggest-help-in-his-career-15673247/ Young players still need older players to show them the way. On the flip side, why do you think they were so keen to jettison Auba when they saw his shitty attitude would have a bad influence on a young squad?