That's right, the ink is barely dry on the January transfer window, Graham Potter and Steve Cooper are still trying to learn the names of all their new signings, and yet it's time to look ahead to how Arsenal will strengthen in the summer to compete in the Champions League...and defend their Premier League title? Midfield will likely be on the menu: Jorginho is 31, Granit Xhaka is 30 and Thomas Partey turns 30 in June. Edu already appears to have several targets marinating before they go on the grille. Is Declan Rice still the number one target? Have bridges been burned with Brighton over Moises Caicedo? Will Martin Zubimendi be prepared to leave Basque country? Dare we dream of Jude Bellingham? Or will a new target emerge? Who isn't getting an invite to Edu's house? Certain loanees look like locks to leave, others could stick around and go on loan again. How much cash will Edu be able to bring in from those sales? Is it time for Rob Holding to go? Is Kieran Tierney happy playing backup to Zinchenko or will he look for a chance to leave? Finally, Martinelli gets to fill his plate first as a reward for signing a new contract. Is Saka or Saliba next? There are rumors that, despite his season ending injury, Arteta wants to do right by Mo Elneny and activate his option year for 23-24.
I’d pass on Rice if that’s just me .. as regards Zubimendi he had a stinker the other night but that’s only one game I suppose
My general $0.02 on Feb 3rd... Summary Need - DM & CM Possible - LB, RB, W GK - Don't see any reason to make any major changes right now. Personally, I would be inclined to loan both Hein & Okonkwo and sign a HG FA vet to be an emergency GK. LB - Could see KT leaving looking for regular playing time. Honestly he no longer fits what Arteta needs/wants in a FB so he will at best be a defensive sub if he stays. Assuming he goes, we likely need a replacement. Kiwior could be a defensive option but we likely atleast need a "cup LB" so Kiwior can spell Gabi at LCB in cups. RB - Could stand pat but given our interest in Fresneda this window, I think we may look at a young RB in the summer. CB - Think there is a decent chance that Holding is sold (playing time) and White starts splitting time between CB & RB. DM - Partey & Jorginho are good options but both will be 30+ to start next season. Assuming Partey's legal stuff is behind him, I could see us selling Jorginho to an Italian club and snagging a young option to push (and eventually replace) Partey. I know many are iffy on Rice, but purely looking at the stats, I think there is a good chance that he could be the guy to push Partey out of the regular lineup at some point next season. CM - We don't really have a backup for Xhaka at the moment. Vieira plays there occasionally but I think he is too slight. Can potentially work his way into that role if he would bulk up a bit and work on his defensive positioning. Think the better internal solution for next season is ESR. He would need to work on his defensive positioning as well but I think he could be closer than Vieira to contributing at this spot. However, due to ESR's health concerns, I think we add some CM competition in the summer. Bellingham would be amazing but I think he will be outside our price range. My guess is that we bring in a younger high potential option that won't expect to be an immediate starter. AM - MO & Vieira are good. ESR can fill in a bit when needed. Not sure Vieira has a long term future at Arsenal but I think he sticks around atleast 1 more season. MO stays as long as he wants to. W - Think we have a strong base but may need to think about a left-footed option if Marquinhos looks like he needs another loan. Need to decide what to do with Nelson. Do we move him, loan him or let him get enough min to prove himself? ST - Likely set. The interesting decision will come with how we decide to deal with Jesus, Eddie & Balogun. Does Balogun get an EPL loan? Is one of Eddie/Balogun sold? Current Loanees Sell - Runarsson, Cedric, Nuno, Mari, AMN, Pepe Okonkwo - Would loan again. Think he is close to being able to replace Turner as the #2 Trusty - I'd loan him to a team in a top 5 league and hope he shows well enough to sell him summer 2024 Sambi - Could see a couple outcomes depending on the results of his CP loan. I doubt the loan goes well enough in such a short window to justify keeping him to compete Xhaka or cashing out this summer. My bet is we loan him for a full season next year and then either rejoin the team or sell in summer 2024. Marquinhos - I'm guessing he gets a full season loan next season. Based on the results of his current loan, I'm thinking Championship, Portugal, Spain or France.
If Bellingham signs with RM then we should try and get Camavinga. Caicedo and Fresneda in and KT and some fringe sold.
The one that got away Mykhailo Mudryk - 3/10 against Fulham Looked bright from the first whistle with his electric pace off the ball striking fear into the Fulham defence. But in reality, Mudryk was never really in the game at all as he struggled to get a touch or manage a successful take-on and was subbed at half-time with no apparent sign of an injury.
The dummy Edu needs to look elsewhere for a midfielder. He would probably screw up the Rice deal even if we were the only team in for him, let alone with competition from Chelsea and United. Can already see it - spend 6 weeks negotiating without West Ham budging, and then someone else comes in and gets the deal done in a day. Find someone whose club's valuation lines up with our valuation.
To be fair though .. Look at the fabulous squad you have !! Hardly any poor purchases at all … every one has worked out real good
He also hasn't played a match since Nov.23. Their league was on winter break since then. Sadly I don't think you can write this guy off. He was our #1 target after all, and lately we seem to have pretty good judgment in our targets. (he says hopefully, regarding the second-choice targets we were forced to transact)
That’s fair .. For what it’s worth I still think Mudryk is gonna be a marvellous player .. but it may take a few months for everyone to gel together.
I’m already enough of a miserable Cnut so with him, the kids will be asking to divorce from me as a parent
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/64527198 Declan Rice fee would 'blow British record out of water' if he leaves West Ham, says David Moyes You think the dummy is up to the challenge of fending off 2 richer clubs on a player that is going to cost 100m+? There is nothing wrong with realizing that a player is too expensive and moving on. Unfortunately for us, the guy handling our transfers tends to be the last person on earth to get that, and we will pivot far too late, and be left with no good options. If you are not prepared to spend over 100m on Rice, don't even make him a target. Pick targets you can actually sign.
Rice wants to leave, and Moyes may very well be out of a job by this summer. He’s full of shit. Also, do you even care about the actual football matches?
You think West Ham aren't going to demand a ridiculous fee just because Moyes isn't there? Or that Rice hasn't wanted to leave before? Almost every big team in Europe is going to be in the market for a midfielder, and there aren't going to be enough top class midfielders to go around, so West Ham won't have a problem getting their price. Bellingham will probably sell for 120m, and Rice is the next best home grown midfielder on the market. I would be totally fine with the club deciding Rice is not worth 100m, and not wanting to do that deal. I'd just like them to come to that conclusion some time early in the summer window, and not after Zubimendi, and Caicedo and the other decent alternatives are sold.