Nope. We spent almost 70m euro. In the same window we could have gotten..... Joao Pedro (64m) - Being used as a CF but operates better as a AM/SS. Didn't make sense in our 4-3-3 setup but makes more sense in our 4-2-3-1. Franco Mastantuono (45m) - He's young and supposedly being pushed out of Real for poor play but he was played on the W when he is a natural AM on a team stacked with AMs. Mateus Fernandes (44m) - Made more sense with our 4-3-3. Rayan Cherki (36.5m) - We would probably be talking about him replacing MO. All younger & cheaper. Arguably all better options, though I could see the argument against Pedro (tweener) or Franco (youth).
Same here. Volume player who's a below average passer and dribbler and isn't good in the air? Doesn't make sense to sign him as a winger or a midfielder, and if we're trying to sign him as a striker, we already have three in Gyokeres, Havertz, and Jesus.
Seeing reports the last 2 days that we are in talks with 18yo spuds CB Elijah Upson. He is son of former Arsenal (mostly youth) CB Matthew Upson. He would be signed as a FA.
I didn't like the Eze deal at the time, but he helped us win a title. That said, we were buying Eze for depth and he filled that need. Rogers looks like a first XI signing, but I'm not sure he improves the first XI.
I'm seeing a ton of "Arsenal are talking to Barcola" claims this morning. Hoping Rogers is the distraction that gets us a better deal on Barcola or a strong surprise LW.
It's a fair question.Overall, I'd say yes because he won 2-3 games for us alone. To be fair to him, he won us 2-3 games last year.
Eze was first XI at the end of the season when healthy. He was def signed as a first teamer. As saying Eze wasn’t worth it is a wild take. It paid off. Not saying analytics are wrong, but Rogers physical profile is something those numbers fail to measure. Arsenal don’t have players like that. I really want Arsenalnto get in on Marco Palestra as a player with Timber. He is a right sided Caliafiori.
Eze is no way a bust by any means BUT I expected more production from him. I was hoping and praying Gyokeres would prove naysayers wrong. He gave more ammo to them than otherwise. Was he a complete bust? No. His numbers were decent but to me, its what people go to when the optics weren't convincing. I felt very badly for him. To be fair, I don't think we initially played to his strengths. If I had to guess, Berta convinced Arteta to get him over Sesko. Arteta had a definite strategy for buying Sesko but didn't for Gyokeres if I had to guess. But he's our guy and I suspect he'll have a much better second season. And if I had to guess I suspect he'd link very well with Rogers. Rogers' deep runs into the heart of the opposition will pull Gyokeres markers off him and give him more space in the channels to operate. We saw a glimpse of such kind of situations when MLS would half turn and make driving runs deep and cause panic a couple times. This is all speculation of course.
That Eze won two or three games “alone” is conjecture, without him Arsenal are’t playing with 10 men, maybe the player that plays those games instead of him steps up. The fact is that 5 of Eze’s 7 premier league goals and 10 goals in all competitions were in the two games against spurs. That makes him a legend in Arsenal lore, but it doesn’t mean he was value for the money or that he is a guaranteed starter. By way of comparison, many expect Martinelli to be sold this summer but he provided 17 goal contributions in all competitions to Eze’s 13.
Yeah I agree, we need more unicorns, rather than more role players. I also think we need to find a role for Dowman to get minutes through the season. I think part of the our struggles is we don't have players who changed the game we play off the bench other than maybe Martinelli with his pace. Ita also why I disagreed with loaning Ethan last season he played rw so much differently than Noni that just the one change could completely change or attacking orientation.
I agree, unfortunately Ethan is getting crowded out. Buying Eze last season and the potential purchase of Rogers, who is most effective as a CAM, call into question Ethan’s Arsenal future. I think the best we as fans can hope for is that he is loaned out to someone who will play him this season, rather than selling him for the profit.
Apart from Tottenham, £60m for 2 goals and 2 assists in the Premier League and 1 goal and 1 assist in the Champions League?
He was instrumental in beating Tottenham twice (outscoring Tottenham alone in both games). He scored the only goal against Crystal Palace. That's 9 points. We won by seven points. Do the math, man. He hasn't been great, but he earned his keep.
This is all speculation, the flow of the games would change with someone else in his place. But without his contribution the first spurs game ends 1-1 two points dropped, the Palace game ends 0-0, two points dropped, and the second spurs game ends 2-1, no points dropped. Again speculation, If Eze isn’t available for those games either because we didn’t sign him or because he was injured, maybe Ethan doesn’t go out on loan in the second half of the season and we end up playing him in those games. The season before he had 9 goals in all competitions and 4 in the premier league, it’s possible he kicks in with a couple of goals in those games. Or maybe Merino, we all know he’s capable of goals and assists.
Newcastle which was crucial in retrospect And he was a really good end of the season before he got injured.