Striker appears to be the primary target - Victor Osimhen, Ivan Toney, Evan Ferguson - how much will the club spend? Will there be room in the budget for a wide forward like Pedro Neto? Is Arteta willing to part with Eddie Nketiah to fund new signings? Midfield - Elneny, Jorginho and Partey could all be out the door, need to make a big signing or two here. Has Charlie Patino shown enough to earn a reserve role? Defense - With Timber back the depth here looks much better. Room for a developmental project whether that is Reuell Walters promoted to the senior squad or Jorrel Heto from Ajax. Arteta loves to buy defenders. GK - Raya deal will become permanent, will Ramsdale ask to leave?
My thoughts on the roster heading into the summer as of 2/4/24. For each position, I am including the current 1st team depth, loanees who could factor into 24/25 roster and my thoughts.... GK 1st Team - Raya, Rams, Hein On Loan - Okonkwo Thoughts - Raya is gonna be made permanent. Rams is gonna be sold. Will be interesting to see what we decide to do for a #2. Really think both Hein & Okonkwo should be on loan next season but there is a good chance one of them is #3 for us next season. FB 1st Team - OZ, White, Timber, Tomi On Loan - KT, Tavares, BNC Thoughts - White likely remains the RB starter. If Timber comes back strong he is likely the LB starter. Seeing claims that Tomi is set to sign an extension when he returns from the Asian Cup so he will stick around atleast another year and likely provides depth across the entire back line. OZ should be pushed up in the MF to improve CM/AM depth but I would bet money that Arteta leaves him at FB. KT & Nuno will be sold if possible. Decent chance we make a small profit on Nuno but we likely take a bath on KT. BNC likely back on loan. A new Left-footed option, even if just a young backup, would be nice but I would bet we so no additions unless we see another injury. CB 1st Team - Saliba, Gabi, Kiwior On Loan - Thoughts - Saliba & Gabi aren't going anywhere. I'd be surprised if Kiwior was on the roster next season given his lack of PT and the rumors about a move back to Italy already popping back up. We've been linked to Inacio (pure CB) from Sporting and Hato (LB/CB) from Ajax DM 1st Team - Rice, Jorge, Partey, El Neny On Loan - Thoughts - As noted in the OP, there is a high probability that everyone but Rice is gone. We have been linked heavily to Zubimendi but he seems reluctant to leave Sociedad and if he does it is gonna cost of 60m euro. Only other link has been Douglas Luiz from Villa who will cost a min 70-80m and is arguably more of a CM vs DM. We absolutely need a legit options to backup Rice. CM 1st Team - Havertz, ESR On Loan - Patino, Lakonga Thoughts - Havertz is not the guy. Highly doubt he is moved this summer and I'd bet Arteta continues pushing him as a L8. ESR hasn't received enough minutes to fully write him off but he hasn't shown much in that spot just yet. Rice could shift into this spot like he did early in the season but that would require we get a replacement at 6 . I would like to see OZ get a shot here. A solid left-footed FB will be cheaper than a new CM. Patino has had a solid loan. Will be interesting to see if keep him around and give him a legit shot. Lakonga is likely gone. Outside chance we could move ESR but I think Arteta's praise combined with Havertz not showing much yet will lead to him staying atleast another season. AM 1st Team - MO, Vieira On Loan - Thoughts - MO is the starter. No reason for that to change. Vieira has shown flashes but not enough for Mikel to give him any regular minutes. Think it is time to loan him out to either raise his value or see if he can break through with more playing time. If I was making the call, I would have Havertz & OZ backing up MO. W 1st Team - Saka, Martinelli, Trossard, Nelson On Loan - Thoughts - Saka, Martinelli & Trossard is a solid base. Nelson shows flashes but Arteta doesn't trust him enough to get any legit minutes and we need another left-footed winger. Think there is a decent chance Nelson is moved this summer. ST 1st Team - Jesus, Eddie On Loan - Biereth Thoughts - Jesus has been amazing at all the little things but is so inconsistent with his finishing. Eddie shows some quality but he doesn't fit the scheme. Biereth is looking really good on loan but is likely 1-2 yrs away and needs a loan at a higher level of competition. A new ST is arguably our biggest need next season. Hopefully Jesus doesn't get upset with the competition and ask to leave. See him being a valuable in rotation & off the bench at both W & ST. Time for Eddie to move on. Lots of talk about Osimhen but I question whether we would be the right option given his playstyle and cost. Boniface, Zirkzee & Isak look/feel like scheme fits but aren't necessarily guaranteed starters. Mbappe is the unlikely but interesting wildcard. Summary Must haves - ST (good enough to atleast push Jesus) & DM/CM (starting caliber) Possible needs - CB (backup better than Kiwior), DM/CM/FB/W (quality depth) Most logical outs - Rams, Kiwior, KT, Tavares, Partey, Jorge, El Neny, Lokonga, Nelson & Eddie
< Was gonna put this comment in the January transfer thread but the door to that seems to have been slammed just about as fast as the window itself! > With the latest news, albeit sketchy, of Jesus reinjuring his knee, the uncertainty of what kind of knock Saka picked up today, on top of less than lethal performances by Eddie and Kai to name a few... The failure to bring in another goal-scorer, even if only a loanee for the remainder of the season, may come back to haunt us, as we (A) still harbor a small chance of challenging for the title, and (B) want to lock in our UCL qualification as early and as certainly as possible. I just wanna hope that their lack of business in this area is due to a near literal inability to do so, either due to PSR restrictions or lack of inventory. Rather than some kind of complacency, cockiness, or stubbornness... to just go with the squad you got.
Disagree on this one, no one in Serie A can afford him. I think he's perfectly fine as depth and hopefully he continues to improve. I forget he exists at times. Shaping up to be another lost season for him.
@CarlosKaiser Kiwior looks solid at times and if he stays with us maybe his future is as a left-footed White. My suggestion that he may be gone in the summer comes from Arteta's unwillingness to play him much (under 450min so far this season) and the rumors that he is pushing for an exit over PT. Same potential with ESR, Vieira & Nelson. None of them are complaining (at the moment) but all have fewer min than Kiwior.
Completely valid assessment. I would add that unlike ESR, Vieira & Nelson, Kiwior currently starts for his (Polish) national team, so there's that additional incentive to start for his club.
Kiwior could leave, but he's only been here a year, less than the other 3 players you mentioned. I'd be surprised if he leaves - rumors out of Italy are way less reliable than anywhere else. The rest of the season is big for all 4 of those players and could come down to someone else getting injured and creating the opportunity.
Re GK: Per TransferMarkt both Hein and Okonkwo are out of contract in June. Maybe there is a club option to extend another year, but potentially they both could leave on a free transfers. Re CB: Would Inacio come to Arsenal to sit behind Gabriel. Unless Gabriel is injured he would get about as much time as Kiwior has gotten this season.
My assumption if we were to "upgrade" over Kiwior, we would get someone young that would be capable of contributing now and capable of playing both CB spots so he can rotate with both. If we had a capable #3 that Mikel trusts we should have plenty of minutes to rotate between CL, EPL & domestic cups.
If Arsenal buy a CB to rotate between right and left CB, assuming there are no injuries to Saliba or Gabriel, how many games is he going to get? How often do you think Arteta breaks up what may be the best pair of CBs in the EPL? I don’t see the hypothetical new CB playing every third game. Arteta is not going to limit the Saliba and Gabriel pairing to just two out of every three games. In a 50 game season if this new CB plays every 4th or 5th game that’s less than 1100 minutes. If you believe Kiwior will leave because of limited minutes and you also believe Inacio or a similar player is better than Kiwior, how are they going to react to limited minutes. Will 10 to 12 games keep them happy? Arsenal also have Tomiyasu, who can play anywhere in the defense and per reports is soon to sign a new contract. Does this hypothetical new CB take minutes away from him? The most logical solution is a defender who is young enough to be patient about minutes and flexible enough to play both FB and CB. That points to Hato, who is still relatively cheap when compared to Inacio I like the idea of moving Zinchenko into midfield and Cedric will finally be gone next year, so adding Hato would give Arsenal a defensive core of Hato, Tomiyasu, Timber, Kiwior, White, Saliba, Gabriel and potentially Walters, three left footed players, one two footed player, and four right footed players, all positionally flexible. I don’t think spending £50m on Inacio or similar experienced CB significantly improves this group. I also doubt that Arsenal will be able to spend over £200m again this summer and there are more pressing needs than a new expensive CB, even if they sell Kiwior.
Of the 3, he is the one I'd bring back. Let Elneny walk and offload Partey. 🔴⚪️ The option to extend Jorginho's contract for one more year is still valid and it will be available until the end of the season for Arsenal.Mikel Arteta, really happy with his performances. pic.twitter.com/dVqJ9SsNLR— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) February 7, 2024
I wouldnt have an issue bringing Jorge back. He has his flaws but is a good vet leader, is capable of putting in a really good shift and can fill in at DM or CM. Bring him back allows us a bit more flexibility in the MF signings we make this summer and possibly allows you to only sign 1 DM/CM.
He's been one of our clever buys IMO. Exactly the kind of useful midfielder Wenger always refused to buy
Jorginho is definitely worth keeping as a squad player offers versatility, a potential coach and mentor for young middies
Seeing more links for Kiwior. Spanish media now claiming Sevilla plan to come for him this summer. They're having a rough patch this year but may have a better chance of being to afford his fee if we opt to let him go.
I can't see us letting him go unless those rumors about Hato are true. He's too versatile and thus worth keeping, even assuming a healthy Timber.
Yeah I wouldn’t sell Kiwior unless the fee was large, like £40m, and he was pushing to go. There’s just no incentive for us to do so otherwise.