Little better but not quite there - 2020 Summer Transfer Thread

We should keep ceballos as well, either extend the loan or buy him

 

A swap deal is something to consider, and it seems easier to pull them off now than it was ten years ago. But the important thing to bear in mind is that the player who comes back has to be someone that we actually want, instead of somebody similarly disgruntled and inconvenient for them. Ie, if we didn't have Douzi available for swap, would be willing to pay money to buy the player if he were available.

I suspect that when push comes to shove we'll be better off with a straight sale.

 

I suspect this is a situation where the Arsenal special "loan with an option to buy" actually works.

 

There's a lot of talent there but seriously, fcukem. If Barca is too broke to pony up cash, take a bunch of their talents out of their fringe or lower league team or La Masia instead.

 

Tbh, I'm not getting the thing about signing a defender, like we're supposedly going to and everybody says we should.

We've got, under contract, Chambers, Holding, Mavropanos, Sokratis, Mustafi, Luiz, Mustafi, Saliba, and Pablo Mari. And all of those were, at one time or another, thought to be our best player or our best prospect at the position. I've got no idea who's supposed to be playing out of this bunch.

We ought to be getting some cash from these players, not spending more at the position. Related to that, we ought to be saving our ammunition to buy midfielders instead.

Torreira probably wants to go back to Italy, where the weather is nicer and the league is less physically demanding. Douzi has a bad attidue. Xhaka has been successfully rehabilitated under Arteta but I still don't like him long term. Probably he'll be a good transition player for the next year or two. Ozil is worse than useless. Ceballos has varied widely from pretty good to barely mediocre. If he wants to be here and lives up to our hopes for him, he's exactly what we need. If Arteta is willing to take a chance on him, so am I. I really like Joe Willock. He's not very good, but even so is just good enough to carry his weight as a squad player. He's also young, and it's guys with his mental profile who tend to get better. Saka's future is very likely to be as an attacking midfielder. We have a need at that position and want to get Martinelli on the field as LW. Still, we haven't seen it yet. AMN has also been rehabilitated by Arteta. But he might be moving to RB, or be a generic utility player. ESR is in the middle of a successful loan at Huddersfield now, and at one point was the hottest prospect in the entire organization. Unfortunately he had medium-sized injury setback between then and now. If he's any good at all, we'll certainly need him next year.

Add all that up, we've got barely enough players for coulda shoulda woulda, and nothing at all for quality locked-on starters. Sell Douzi and Torreira, and buy as much quality as we can afford.

 

Sokratis is almost certainly gone, he wants game time and has said as much. In the current, market Arsenal would be lucky to get £10m for him. I don’t believe Mavropanos Is an answer to the questions posed by Arsenal’s defense, so I expect him to either be loaned again or sold. That leaves 6 center backs, two of whom, Mari and Chambers probably won’t be rehabbed from their injuries until sometime in the middle of next season. In addition, the fan base has been clamoring for Mustafi’s departure for years now, though I wouldn’t be surprised if he does stay. Arteta has had a positive impact on him. Nevertheless, if Mustafi is sold, that would leave Arsenal with just Holding, Luiz, and Saliba available at the start of next season. That is why there is talk of another defender

 

Mustafi and kol have been ok but still error prone at times with passing

I would rather keep kol out the two as he offers more flexibility

 

Yeah I’ve been quite circumspect about him, but he’s done well. He obviously has class, but as you said he needs a lot of work on decision making, for one.

I still harbor real doubts about his athleticism, though. He seems to need to work really hard to move with any quickness; really lacks explosiveness. Lots of players learn to overcome this kind of thing and even become great players, but I’m not sure he’s the style of midfielder who can do that.

But if we can buy him for £25m, I’d do it.

 

Ceballos has shown a lot more intensity and speed with his passing

he doesn’t get caught in possession half as much

this 343 gives so many options goi g forward

 

I think Arteta has done a fantastic bit of work on him.

 

Ceballos should be our first priority buy for the next window. He's an excellent Ramsey replacement (and possible upgrade). Playing without him would reveal a massive hole in the midfield.

 

He’s half the athlete Ramsey is.

 

But he positions himself better and receives the ball better than Ramsey.

 

Highly suspicious of the idea that he positions himself better than Ramsey, and while Ramsey’s touch could be widely varied in quality, at his best he would completely dominate games with how he would receive the ball on the turn.

 

I'd be willing to take 5MM GBP for him if it were on offer, but to the best of my knowledge it hasn't been so far.

The bigger point is that the virus has substantially affected the transfer market in ways that haven't completely shaken out yet. But I suspect it will be detrimental for clubs at Arsenal's level, particularly as it pertains to the valuation of players like Sokratis, Mavropanos, and Mustafi. If we could sell these players for a decent price, I would be much more bullish on buying a defender. So far, I haven't heard anything meaningful in that direction.

 

Ramsey's positioning was a massive problem for most of his time at Arsenal. He spent most of the game in "midfield" when heat maps showed he was the highest player on the pitch. I completely agree with your assessment of Ramsey's consistency. Ceballos seems to be much more consistent since Arteta's arrival.

It's not really a criticism of Ramsey, although I wasn't a huge fan of him. Ceballos is just a good player and we should keep him.

 

Mustafi is our best defender now, ie since the virus restart, except maybe for Tierney if you're counting him as a defender.

 

Maybe, but Ceballos has the skillset we need, he just isn't consistent enough. Ramsey is consistent enough, but his skillset just isn't valuable for us. Tbh, I don't see those two as closely comparable. I see Ceballos more of a successor to Cazorla or Arteta (as a player).

 

Ramsey would be good in a 433 with ceballos and a holder

 

Beşiktas have not extended Elneny's loan or bought him so...i guess he's back in the squad now? Welcome back to our number 4 lol

 

Their playing styles are completely different. Ramsey is an 8/10 who loves making late runs into the box. How many late runs into the box have we seen Ceballos make?Ceballos plays more like Xhaka, sitting back and distributing the ball. Willock Is the current Arsenal player that plays most like Ramsey. Ramsey fit Arsene’s all out attacking style. I don’t know if he would have played Xhaka and Ceballos together. This is not a knock on Ceballos, the last few games he has played very well, it’s just a recognition that different coaches value different strengths in their players.