Arteta telling Xhaka he needed to adapt to play in the laft 8 role supports Dula’s theory Tbf. Xhaka is also quite an unconventional 8 stylistically so again it’s unlikely that’s what Arteta has in mind for the postion.

Agree that Xhaka has it nailed down for now, but once age and form start to take its toll I wouldn’t be surprised if you see something very different in there stylistically.

basically Arteta’s preference is to have players who are smooth on the ball and are agile. So for the Martinelli role think Sane, Mudryk, and Xhaka role I suspect someone like Max Allister would be more his choice

BBC reporting that Arsenal & Shakhtar are in talks (again? still? in a really big conference room?) over Mudryk.

    RocktheCasbah if we are talking this much it means we're really serious, seems like a Ben White situation where we eventually just pay what we need to.

      I hope so, it'll be gutting if we don't get him now.

      Few reports, including from SportsArena who have been first to report on stuff, saying we’re close to agreeing a deal. Just the structure left to agree.

        I like Malted Milk but not the chocolate covered ones.

        This’ll be wrapped up soon.

        Imagine the insane running power of this attack

        ———————Nketiah
        Mudryk—-ESR———Saka—-Martinelli

          goon

          That has been my impression for a while. Shaktar have been very open to negotiation and haven't expressly dismissed any of our offers out of hand, which tells you as much as they're rejecting what's on the table, we're not far off (probably about how much we pay versus what are performance-based add-ons).

            Don Pacifico he’s in the mad technical attacking option

            ———————-Jesus
            Mudryk—-Odegaard—Vieira—Saka

              sounds like the penultimate round of negos before the final round. fingers crossed

              Felix going to Chelsea also tells you that they have reconciled to this as well.