Very versatile. Played as a right back for Leeds in a bunch of matches because of injuries to others. But my Leeds buddy says he's best in the MF. Still really young. He (my friend) also thinks (acknowledges it's his speculation) that Gray is more likely to stay than say, Summerville, because of his age.
Should have gone for Wharton in January if they liked him then, don't see him moving again this summer. Crystal Palace could be next season's Aston Villa with a full season from Glasner if they were able to hold on to Eze, Olise, Guehi, etc along with Wharton. Too bad they won't. Gray seems like an Arteta guy, positional intelligent like Rice and White at such a young age.
I’m with you on this. And I have a really hard time thinking Eduteta would wanna keep him, given his injury record with us. Regardless of how good he can be when he is actually healthy and match fit.
Ted admits that he’s been wrong before (most notably about Luis Suarez). But he’s been right about Partey.
As a right back, where he spent most of his time this season? Or as a midfielder who can play through the center of the park? I’ve only seen him play once, in the Southampton/Leeds promotion playoff game and he didn’t grab my attention. At present I’m not sure I see the fit. With White, Tomiyasu, and Timber all credible right backs, I think Gray gets lost in the shuffle as a right back. As a defender who can play in the center of the park, Arsenal have lots of those kinds of players too. White played a few games as a defensive mid at Leeds, Zinchenko is a midfielder playing at left back, Kiwior spent an entire season as a midfielder before he was converted to a central defender. Gray would probably have to be one for the future. If Arsenal want a multi-positional player who can fill in a right back and potentially spell Saka at times I think Jeremie Frimpong, who spent the season at wingback and has a very reasonable release clause, would be a better option.
If they sign Gray, I think it means Rice is the starting 6 and they sign a more experienced option at left 8. Gray shares backup 6 duty with Jorginho. Gray plays in cups and lower leverage situations. Jorginho plays in bigger matches, at times alongside Rice. Gray takes over when Jorginho leaves in 2025.
These are the ones for me, theres nothing to suggest he won't ping a calf getting out of the shower and miss another 25 games for us next season. Its funny because someone on reddit suggested that people want Partey gone for non football reasons but hard to judge him on his football when he is injured so often. City and Liverpool have won the league recently because their best players are reliable and available. Partey is reliably unavailable.
who could we have bought as a single pivot that would elevate us like Partey did? we have come 2nd 2 seasons in a row after being shit for a long time and he was a major part in our push last year and was decent when he came back this year he needs to move now but he has not been bad value
not seen much, Wharton is a guy I have seen a bit of and I rate him gray is supossed to be highly regarded though
Le'Equipe is claiming that Arsenal, Milan, Atletico Madrid & PSG have been in contact with Youssouf Fofana's entourage about a possible summer move. Also seeing a claim that Fofana was supposedly our backup plan last summer had we not been able to snag Rice.
Zirkzee info.... supposedly has a 50m euro release clause but his agent (Kia Joorabchian) is looking for 10-15m euro in agent fees. Supposedly Milan, Juventus, ManU & Arsenal are interested but there is some question whether Milan and possibly Juventus can afford (or are otherwise willing to pay) the extra agent fees.
Milan based Italian media is claiming that AC Milan are coming for Kiwior again. They beleive we will sell for 20-22m euro.
Arsenal paid €19.5m, TransferMarkt values him at €30m, I think they should hold out for €30m. If Milan wanted him for a bargain price they should have come for him 18 months ago.
If we go for Hato AND keep OZ, I agree. Right now I am thinking of Hato as a OZ replacement but maybe he is actually a Kiwior replacement.
That fee can't be right - we bought Kiwior for 21M GBP, so at current conversion rates (24.6M Euro), we'd be selling at a loss. You could argue his value may not have improved, but I don't think it diminished as he proved versatility at LB. I get that the Italians always plead poverty when negotiating for players, but that fee isn't reasonable. Edit - so this was already covered above when I was typing.
TransferMarkt lists the fee Arsenal paid as €19.5m. They also listed his market value at the time at €8m and subsequently raised it to €30m, so they think his value has improved significantly during his time at Arsenal. He has been a valuable squad member for Arsenal. When Saliba was injured last season and Holding was straggling to replace him, Kiwior came in for Holding and helped stabilize the defense and this season Kiwior did a credible job at left back in the absence of Tomiyasu and the drop in Zinchenko’s defensive form. He is worth every penny of his €30m TransferMarkt value.
There were 3.5M in add-ons for Kiwior, which I just assumed were triggered and used in my numbers. That likely explains the variances in numbers, along with slight variances in GBP-Euro conversion rates. I'm much more comfortable with 30M GBP (35M Euros) as a sale price, but agree we need to sort out of coverage as Kiwior has been a reliable back-up with minimal drop-off from our starters.
Arsenal is likely much more focused on getting rid of the players that aren't a part of Arteta's vision for next year than worrying about AC Milan's undervalued interest in players that may still figure into Arteta's vision.
🚨 MAJOR BREAKING! Benjamin Šeško has said “YES” to Arsenal! ✅Arsenal are readying a £45m deal for the Slovenian international! 🇸🇮Exclusive by @johncrossmirror. pic.twitter.com/jHZQxWSN1r— Eduardo Hagn (@EduardoHagn) May 30, 2024