If White stays we need to find a young understudy because as it stands each season we have fullback issues. Last year was LB this year RB etc. If White stays, need to find a kid happy to play cups and occasional minutes.
Don't want another mid-20s MF. Give MLS a bigger shot and go grab a u23 to compete and be his MF partner of the future. If no FB leaves, we absolutely need to add a young FB that can play both sides. Too many injuries from White & Cala to stand pat. If White leaves I'd add a quality RB and a young LB that can play on the right if/when needed.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c9v3jx1jmrwo And now Arteta has guided this group to silverware, the focus can shift to the next campaign. Arsenal are keen to recruit a midfielder, left-winger and striker, but we should expect a sharper focus on outgoings after last year's £250m splurge. First I've seen of striker as a higher target than a fullback. This time, Arsenal have already agreed to sell defender Jakub Kiwior to Porto for an initial £14.7m. It is understood Christian Norgaard, who arrived in a deal worth up to £15m, will be allowed to leave, and the club are expected to listen to offers for Ben White, Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus and Fabio Vieira. No surprise, but sounds like Norgaard is leaving. There is a growing sense behind the scenes the club must start planning a squad rebuild given a number of key players are in their late 20s. This summer, they have a keen interest in Leicester teenager Jeremy Monga, and with Dowman, Marli Salmon, Edwin and Holger Quintero and Lewis-Skelly all in their teens, there is hope the rebuild may not prompt a noticeable drop in levels. To what @chjoak just said, need some fresh young legs in the range between the teenagers like MLS and those who are 24-ish like Calafiori/Saka/Hincapie.
Similar article with similar conclusions from gunnerblog and The Athletic (non-paywalled) https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/72...cle_twitter&smid=tw-share-ta?source=twitteruk
ST - Agree we need an understudy. Really curious if we go with an 18-20yo learning from the vets / academy+ type or if we see Kai move on? Unless we are gonna change up our setup, I don't see a reason to add another prime/almost prime ST that is gonna demand a bunch of min when we have VG, Kai & Merino that can all provide depth there. Hate to see Kai go but I see him as more moveable that VG. Moving him on and then bringing in a Kroupi or Kofane or IDK that can push VG and be our ST for the next wave might make the most sense. LW - Hate to see Marti go but it may make the most financial sense to move him now rather than Trossard. In that case, I think we need someone similar to Marti (speed, dribbling, work rate) with a better end product. I'd be open to something different like Rogers but I am iffy about his fit as MF - Like I said before, I don't see the value in another 25-28yo. We have those in spades and adding another will block MLS. Now that MLS has shown he belongs, give him a legit shot next season. Let him play all domestic cups & rotate against weaker teams (EPL & CL). I would still buy someone if it's in the budget but (a) I wouldn't have it as high a priority and (b) I would focus on u23. FB - Think White needs to move on but I would also plan to add a u20 option even if he stays. If you can move him, we need someone that can rotate with Timber without a dropoff.
LWF is a weird one. If you had to sell someone to pay for the replacement then Martinelli makes more sense than Trossard due to resale value, but I wonder if due to age its Trossard who goes. Maybe now he has a title at his age he goes to a different league. Plus Arteta absolutely loves Martinellis pace and defensive work rate, his cup goals are from counters late in games which is a valuable ability to have. And he is still in the sweet spot for the age profile. But if Martinelli goes, Trossard becomes depth for a year or two and I wonder if whoever comes in is actually a LWF equivalent of Saka i.e creative type that can beat their man and score goals as opposed to a Martinelli pace merchant type considering he struggled to beat his man in 1v1s. As for striker I would think its really likely we see Jesus leave because he surely realises he is below Kai and Gyokeres in the pecking order, and he doesn't really get much game time on the wings this year let alone next season. Definitely could see us selling/letting Jesus go (not sure on contract) and go into next season knowing Gyokeres is durable and scores goals, Kai is not durable the last 2 seasons but comes up clutch in big matches, and then bring in an 18-20 year old striker that is a blend of the 2 (think Jesus in his first season for us) and can develop to take over the #1 forward position in 2 or so years.
From what we have seen so far..... no. Send him on loan. Maybe he pans out. Right now I'd bet he is another Eddie at best.
I think that's why we've had reports linking us to both Bergvall and Frodo for the young CM spot. As for FB, I'd go for Joaquin Seys. 20yo FB that is equally adept on both sides and did well when playing in the CL
Part of the answer to this question is whether Timber can also stay healthy. Let's hope that's behind us and Arteta has finally learned the importance of better player rotating. Mosquera and Salmon could both be fill-ins at either RCB or RB - so this as high of a priority as the other positions to upgrade. I'm fine with blowing our budget on a world-class LW and maybe another ST to replace Jesus since Kai can't seem to stay healthy. Other than that, I'm pretty cool with our depth.
The links to Bergvall, Froholdt, M. Fernandes, Anderson, Bouaddi (older link), etc.... 100% make a ridiculous amount of sense. Of those I think Anderson & Fernandes are the best fit for both now and the future. I'd personally also consider Alex Scott, Camavinga, Hugo Larsson and maybe a couple others. For FB, Seys would 100% be on my list. Natural LB but plays both sides quite well. For other 2 sided guys I would also look at Fresneda, Martim Fernandes & Neco Williams. Neco is older than the ideal profile but he is EPL proven, HG and plays both sides equally. He also consistently puts up strong WhoScored ratings. If you are looking specifically for a White replacement, I would look hard at Kayode and then Williams (above), Fresneda (above) or maybe Wesley from Roma.
This should help Arsenal set to break Premier League record with up to £770m revenue Club should surpass previous record of Man City’s £715million in 2023-24 and could put them third in list of world’s richest clubsMore from @martynziegler ⬇️https://t.co/eKxy1Q37Ew— Times Sport (@TimesSport) May 20, 2026
Seeing a little buzz/smoke/shady rumors this morning that we are "offering" a Marti + cash package to Atleti for Alvarez. Hate to see Marti go but the potential of a Alvarez - VG - Saka forward line is huge. Would still need a young LW this summer or next but that would definitely be an upgrade to our LW.
They have to add a hungry veteran midfielder to the mix, someone who hasn't won yet but will add that hunger. Because the complacency bug is a real thing. This fanbase already has no real standards so you have to infuse that into the team. Respectfully. IMO this team has to be built/retooled to win as much as we can win in the next five years while the entire squad is in their relative playing prime. We also have to bring in players who can challenge/supplant the starters to create a competitive winning dynamic. This is now A WINNING TEAM. That is the standard, not competing. WINNING. So don't get complacent, giving mothafunkers lifetime deasl. Light the fire. We need a back to back, another Champions League. This is the time. City in transition, LFC in transition. United in the council estate flats, Chelsea is a clownshow. Now is our time. No complacency, no narratives, doing too many content platform creation tings. Win more, become a juggernaut. It starts with winning that final. Then as that guy on the blue side of Manchester said when its time to win WE GET BIG. its been 22 yrs, everyone in there should make sure that NEVER happens on their watch. /end rant
This is a great comment. I don't know what a midfielder in particular does for us, but the point about winning is exactly right imo. I was never one to think that the 2nd place finishes in the past three years was cause to start over again. Clearly whatever mistakes there were, and definitely there were some, they represented progress for the club. Now, not so much. 2nd place for next season is a step backward. Not just in a literal sense, but also in that our back seven-ish is pretty much bulletproof and we have a whole offseason as the most desireable club in the world for a quality footballer to make a name for himself. We should be able to create a more consistent goal threat than we have so far this season, and if we do, that should be enough So for me, that means _every_ attacking/creative role in the team is up for grabs. Yes, that includes Saka, or Odegaard or Havertz too for that matter. We may not buy the most expensive toy in the store but we should be looking for the one that works the best. For me, the model to emulate is the transfer of Sadio Mane from Southampton to Liverpool.
Agreed! We've built a team that, with some additions, should be able to dominate for the next few years, at least.
This team still has a lot of issues, guys. I'm all for planning for the future and getting young players, but I also want to fix the issues within the current team. Gambling on a lot of younger players who may pan out or may not seems like the wrong move to me. We should be able to get most of our targets, so I'm hoping we can consolidate our place as the top team next year because, right now after the Christmas window, City has a deeper squad than us, and with a new manager, they're going to spend.
Our backline is pretty good. If we sell white we need a rb. Hincapie can cover lcb and lb midfield needs a change, I like the idea of selling norgaard and bringing in a young talent. We are linked with that Scandinavian cm at Porto and some kid in Eastern Europe. Hopefully the next modric I think we are set here other than a potential creative cm but odegaard has been looking like that again I can see nwaneri going, but we have a decent amount of cover on the right with madueke and dowman I can see us selling martinelli and keeping leandro for his goals from the bench. This is the position that needs the most investment. Barcola/krav or diomande I assume unless Alvarez comes as a lw? striker is solid if Kai stays. Surely gyokores won’t leave after 1 season? I do like kroupe, can he play off the left? so many options with so much money from our league win and cl push it’s just gonna take some small tweaks and 1 superstar
Yep, thats why I said a midfielder, because Norgaard should be gone, Merino coming off injury. We got Zubimendi, Rice, Odegaard, MLS, add another experienced guy who can take minutes.
We got Norgaard going out. Bring in a guy to compete in there because we play a lot of games. We should bring in someone who is quality enough to rotate with Rice/Zubimendi/MLS/Odegaard a spiced up Norgaard replacement because injuries will happen