Khanuppet wrote:What exactly is the Eriksen situation at the end of all this? Is he staying for sure? If he stays will he get playing time over lo celso?
Eriksen staying is good as it fucks them up more in the long run.
Deadline Day thread (Arsenal + Non Arsenal)
Wow. Feeling super sad about Iwobi.
I think it's probably more than just nostalgia for a lot of people (it is for me at least) - we now have limited options on the wings again. Although Pepe is an upgrade, we're going to see a lot more of Mkhi and Auba on the wings again which isn't a particularly appetising thought.
arsedoc md wrote:I thought we were done with this loyalty nonsense. Snap out of it!
Come on man.
That pic should melt every single one of us.
Here is another.
Baby Iwobi was adorable!
It's weird that we brought in a guy who plays on the right while playing Aubameyang on the right in preseason, who was absolutely tearing it up, and now we have no left-sided wide player as we're without both Iwobi and Welbeck.
It makes me think one of these kids is gonna get a lot of playing time, because we surely can't be relying on Mkhi or Ozil to regularly take that spot. If they play wide, it's almost always on the right as well.
Ozil/Mkhi out wide are no good.
Play them centrally or not at all.
Mirth wrote:Baby Iwobi was adorable!
Indeed
Meh. It's a shame it didn't work out but it's great business to get that fee for a player who didn't produce. Hope he does well but his contribution on the pitch will not be missed.
Khanuppet wrote:What exactly is the Eriksen situation at the end of all this? Is he staying for sure? If he stays will he get playing time over lo celso?
Levys bum will be squeaking if he can't sell him in the next 2 weeks, and he refuses to extend his contract. Somehow theyve been squirming out of these situations and conning their players into signing 1 year extensions to protect their value, but it seems like eriksen is aiming for his retirement payday
Oh man... why the heck did we sell Iwobi? Is he going to be another Gnabry for us?
He was a solid player who had area for improvement. Just a few days ago I was thinking that ESR could go to make way for Upa/CB but we sold Iwobi for no reason it seems (other than money of course). It's sad
Would be amazing is Eriksen pulls a Sol at the end of this season.
naz wrote:Oh man... why the heck did we sell Iwobi? Is he going to be another Gnabry for us?
He was a solid player who had area for improvement. Just a few days ago I was thinking that ESR could go to make way for Upa/CB but we sold Iwobi for no reason it seems (other than money of course). It's sad
Everton offered a price too good to turn down for a player who is not crucial to our plans.
naz wrote:Oh man... why the heck did we sell Iwobi? Is he going to be another Gnabry for us?
He was a solid player who had area for improvement. Just a few days ago I was thinking that ESR could go to make way for Upa/CB but we sold Iwobi for no reason it seems (other than money of course). It's sad
big difference in fees received.
We needed to sell given the amounts we were spending and got a good price for a backup player who wasn't good enough. It's telling where he's ended up, as it is with Welbeck.
The thing about Iwobi is that he's an excellent footballer without a clear specialist role developing.
In that sense he was a bit like a less crocked Oxlade-Chamberlain, and so I don't mind seeing him go. He was going to end up a really useful substitute or utility player but not one of the key players in any top Arsenal side. That's transferable value.
I’m cool with it. Need to balance the books and avoid clogging up the squad with players who aren’t ideal
In time we’ll have decluttered nicely when Mustafi, Chambers, Mkhitaryan, Nacho and Ozil are gone
Found it interesting that Spurs had a relatively free run at their targets this summer. Maybe there was just more money than available targets in the market, also helping drive prices up.
Well two of their targets they got the brush off by another club in North London
@lorddulaarsenal wrote:Well two of their targets they got the brush off by another club in North London
In the same manner in which we 'owned' Napoli.
Everton look pretty good:
Pickford
Coleman, Keane, Mina, Digne
Gomes, Gbamin, Sigurdsson
Richarlison, Kean, Iwobi
Subs: Calvert-Lewin, Bernard, Feo...
Hopefully Mustafi and Elneny
Hopefully not Mhki as we need cover.
Rohit wrote:I could easily get behind that grudgingly if we had replaced Iwobi. At the start of the window we needed a quality wide player to supplement our options because Mkhitaryan and Ozil weren't playing like stars nor were they grafters. We have added Pepe for Iwobi, not sure I am on board with that.
The kids aren't ready in my opinion. We needed a player like Iwobi on the bench, not a frustrating has been like Mkhitaryan.
You either sell him for £40m now, has another average season and then potentially his price goes down to £25m. We've lost out too much already on either clinging onto players too long or giving them.
I'd to like to see some of his minutes given to some youngsters, see if they can make the step up. Players like Reiss Nelson & maybe even Saka. We have options on the wings anyway in Ozil. Mkhi and can play Auba there sometimes as well.
Ultimately it boils down to how much you rate the kid. I thought there was another level in him so didn't worry about a drop in value. Either ways, gone now, hope he can build on his experience here and have a top career.
Two positives from the Iwobi sale
1) we have 40m pounds - more than what I would’ve expected from selling Iwobi right now. If you had said sell Iwobi, I would have been nervous to do it, because I would have feared that the market would undervalue his potential. The price received is good relative to where he is on his development path.
2) competitiveness - it should create a sense of urgency in the squad. That there is a bar our starters need to reach as we aim to compete with Liverpool and City. This creates space for fresh blood to grow into the space. Guys like Nelson and Martinelli will not grow without minutes. This gives them minutes but also lets them know that there is countdown timer.
Claudius wrote:2) competitiveness - it should create a sense of urgency in the squad. That there is a bar our starters need to reach as we aim to compete with Liverpool and City.
Except there isn't. The guys starting his place will be worse than Iwobi.
Yep, weird point to make. We had one able left winger last season, and now we've sold him, and not even for a particularly good fee judging by the £28 million plus some addons that BBC reported yesterday. Big clubs don't behave that way.
We could push another season of Iwobi or clear the way for Nelson. Iwobi will likely be a sub, not a starter, so why not give those minutes to Nelson and accelerate his development. With our starting front 3 and the experienced AMs, we have enough of a safety net for him to develop properly.
Our experienced AMs are woeful.
I don't think the fanbase is ready to bear with the development pains that come along with blooding talent in the first team. Iwobi himself had come a long way and yet there is very little patience for a promising player that turned 23 this May. He in my opinion was our best option of the left side, our best option off the bench when the game is stretched. He was 22 for the whole of last season.
Everyone has watched enough Premier League football to understand how much of a step up it is. We will know soon.
We spent a ton of games blooding Iwobi and just as he reached a stage in his development where could possibly break through, we sold him. We will begin the entire process again with Nelson who is a good 150+ games away from becoming a credible option. We will realise just how shit our squad has become, when the games come thick and fast and we have no players to rotate our first XI with.
We only have two strikers in the entire squad and they will both start. We have no wide options to rotate Pepe with, except Mkhitaryan who is certifiably shit and Nelson who is more raw than a can of tuna fish.
If Emery plans to throw the cups, then fair enough. It could work. But if we're starting Aubameyang in a EL game with Mkhi and Ozil behind him. We're going to run out hitman into the ground and for no good reason.
on mustafi
“But it’s one decision taken with the player, with the club, with the team. At the moment he [Mustafi] is here and really if we need, he plays with us. I have confidence he will do well.”
lol
Ooh, so we really are trying to ship him out. It's not just talk. Great to see Emery making it clear to him that he's well down the pecking order.
I've not been the biggest Iwobi fan but I agree that selling him and hoping either one of the kids (Nelson) or one of the vets (Ozil/Mkhi) steps up is a pretty big risk, especially when none are specialist left wingers. I said in another thread that I thought signing Pepe for the right wing would allow Iwobi to focus more on what he is good at too. Hopefully the risk pays off.
Brutal from Emery:
Daz wrote:I've not been the biggest Iwobi fan but I agree that selling him and hoping either one of the kids (Nelson) or one of the vets (Ozil/Mkhi) steps up is a pretty big risk, especially when none are specialist left wingers. I said in another thread that I thought signing Pepe for the right wing would allow Iwobi to focus more on what he is good at too. Hopefully the risk pays off.
The way I look at it is were talking about a sub/rotation spot. Worst case scenario if the kids struggle we can still revisit the market in Jan and get a specialist, which
Iwobi wasn't.
I know the domestic window has 'closed', but was just reading an article that indicates that free agents can still be signed. This may be another reason as to why we were prepared to sell Iwobi and why we are still likely to look to sell Elneny and Mustafi, so as to make room in the squad for some free agents on short term deals as cover - RB, LW & CF/ST?
goon wrote:Brutal from Emery:
I like Emery's approach to the transfer window. We got ruthless savages running the show now, no more of the sentimental friendly environment bullshit.
Jed wrote:goon wrote:Brutal from Emery:
I like Emery's approach to the transfer window. We got ruthless savages running the show now, no more of the sentimental friendly environment bullshit.
Was reading something that made the same point = no more mollycoddling and no more passengers on or off the pitch.
Just as importantly this also now applies to staff as well, and none more so than Emery this season as he can have no excuses regarding the options he now has.