• The Arsenal

  • Official: Mikel Arteta is the new Arsenal manager.

QuincyAbeyie I didn't say he had to know them personally, but at this level it'd be insane to higher a nobody that doesn't at least have a respectable and admirable track record.

    Clrnc Just get the Begiristain in.

    Whoever is in charge of stationary better order in some brown envelopes.

      What’s so special about Txiki Begiristain?

        Coombs i mean in building those squads. so DoF at one of La Liga's 2 biggest teams, he brought in Alves and Pique. And then built around Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, etc who all came from the academy.

        Arsenal fans constantly complain about Arteta signing defenders. Here is a quick factoid. Pep/Txiki have spent €450m on defenders since joning City. I'll list them for you... Angelino, Danilo, Ake, Mendy, Cancelo, Laporte, Stones, Dias, Porro, Akanji, Walker - in addition to already having guys like Kompany and Otamendi on the books. Maybe Arteta and Txiki ARE a match made in heaven.

            Claudius perfect. We need to build around our academy products as well. He's got vision, clout, connections, respect, and title winning pedigree. What else do you want in a sporting director? Maybe he can help us bribe and blackmail referees, too.

                Coombs all well and good if you suddenly pop out Biscuits, Xavi, Iniesta and the wee man. Other than that, academy yields are generally very low at the top clubs

                    Claudius we already have our versions, just need to build a properly balanced squad around them. More importantly, we need someone who's word matters to people, who's experience and track record demands respect, who can say that he knows what it looks and feels like to get to the top. Someone who can ring up anyone from any club and have their full attention, and who can walk into a negotiation and not get steamrolled like Edu has. We also need another football man in the Executive team. It can't just be lawyers and nepobabies.

                      Claudius Yeah I'm not sure where any of this comes from. I guess I've seen a few comments to the effect that Arteta's had a larger say on targets than Edu has.

                        Claudius I just look at the prices we pay for our players, the result of extension negotiations, and the prices we receive on our outgoings. Coupled with the historical and recent reports of his waning influence within the club, a reasonable conclusion to draw might be that he's not doing anything to blow anyone away. I've been suspicious of his overall ability to move well in the market since Sanllehi days, and it seems Arteta has gotten the better of him on that front over the years. His track record is pretty poor, to be fair. He's charismatic and likeable, but does he actually get what needs doing done?

                        There's a reason that "what do edu do?" was a thing. You say that it's all behind the scenes, but surely the evidence of that would be visible somewhere. You ask what Bergiristain has done, but he's got the proof in his pudding. Edu, not so much. He's good a spending Kroenke's money, I'll give him that.

                            Coombs I am struggling to reconcile any of this with him being offered a promotion to a CeO role of a more complex structure and a 3x pay bump.

                                Claudius some people interview well. Fake it til you make it (or get horrendously found out).

                                On a side-note, easy to forget that Edu was something like 3rd/4th choice for the job here. Wonder if the way the role is structured meant that sporting director has little real influence at the club and that's why we couldn't attract higher profile candidates? Pure speculation on my part of course.