Clrnc I don't see why not. Doesn't it depend on the loan? Being loaned out is not an insult for a young, developing player - it's what they are usually demanding so they can advance their careers. The whole "stay and fight for my place" mentality seems a bit misguided, unless you're 24/25 or you've got some serious indication from the coach that there is a vulnerability in the squad you could exploit.

    Claudius You can only sell Tierney if the price is right too and if you have a number of replacements you feel can do a better job. The thing about Tierney is that he's still very good, he's just not Zinchenko. Who is though? Its a big ask to find a player who can do what he does.

      I don't think it's that he's not Zinchenko, I think it's more a stylistic issue. Tierney is great as a more conventional full back that the large majority of teams still play, but he's not amazing at the inverted role.

      I know there's a school of thought that says it's good to have alternative styles, but I've never bought into that personally. It's far more beneficial to be able to play the same way even when 3 or 4 players leave the line-up.

      It's one of those where you might as well cash in because it doesn't suit anyone to persist.

      Who can play the Zinchenko style though. Who else can be the left back who also sort of players as a number 10.

      Like I say if we sell Tierney for a good price and reinvest in someone more suited to the role then thats fine. I just hope we don't move a good player and replace him with someone who isn't up to it. We've already signed Nuno Tavares, thats not a mistake we can make again at left back.

        You'd probably have to sign a hard working attacking midfielder and convert him like what was done with Zinchenko already.

        That said, I was thinking the other day that prime Monreal would do very well in the role if he were around now.

        • Daz replied to this.

          If you got him young you could definitely have coached him to do it alright. He was tactically astute on the ball and had a great technical level like Zinky.

          Pepe LeFrits Actually Saka could probably play that role quite well, though of course we wouldn't want to move him there

            23 days later

            Definitely- cash in before his value drops. He’s not suited to how we play. Good player and character but ultimately the squad has out grown him

            What kind of money should we expect for Tierney?

            If it is Newcastle, anything from £40mil and up.

            To be honest, £45mil plus incentives.

            Good test for Edu this one, conditions are there to make a tidy sum. Anything over £30m would be a decent enough deal imo.

            What did we buy him for? Some of the price was probably tax for expected improvement that hasn't really happened, so the only reason to get more for him than what we paid is the inflation in the market, really.

            £25m we bought him for. He's now Premier League proven and in his prime and a very good defender and not bad going forward. £40million is fair for improving a rival.

            I'd rather we kept him and played him.

            Definitely think £30m would be mildly disappointing a fee if we sold him. Sure, we overpaid when we bought him but why shouldn't we make Newcastle do the same? He's shown he's a top LB in the PL and even if he no longer fits our style it doesn't diminish how good a player he is.

            lorddulaarsenal I'd rotate him with Zinchenko. There's plenty of games to go around.

            I don't think we could ask for 2 better LBs albeit with different playstyles but I would hope we could turn that into a positive.

            Maybe I'm just soft like Wenger and not ruthless enough 😆. I would be sad to see him go. He has been 1 of our better players throughout his time here.

              If its Newcastle, we have to at least get 30-35m for him.

              We also have to factor in that Zinchenko is very injury prone so will need to replace Tierney with an adequate player who can step in when needed. So we definitely should not be selling on the cheap.

              In the current market it should be around 45m. Bearing in mind they bought Botman for 40m, Gordon for 45m, Willock for 25m, Wood for 25m etc.

                Aside from Wood most of those fees are not too bad for the players they were signing actually, especially Bruno G. They were also all starters at their clubs who didn't want to get rid.

                The guy he can't get ahead of cost us £30m despite being a serial winner so if Edu gets anywhere near £40m I'd be very impressed. By our current standards we're probably looking at 15m though...

                We are absolute mugs if we sell Tierney at a loss. One of the best LBs out there. Just because he doesn't fit our style now doesnt mean he isnt good

                I don't get why it's always the LB that has to play the inverted role, why not ask Ben White to do it and then have Tierney playing more as a CB when we are on the ball? Saka is more adept at playing out wide with little support from the full backs compared to Trossard/Martinelli.

                Also, surely it's better to have players in the squad who can give you something different especially when plan A isn't working? There have certainly been instances when I felt the inverted LB thing wasn't working and our whole left side was dead and thought we should have used Tierney as an overlapping full back to at least help us generate chances from that side. This could have created more space for Saka on the other end.

                  Qwiss I think someone like Martinez can play that role, too bad we didn't get him. He's a CB with playmaking skills, superb defender and he's played in midfield before.

                    Tactics

                    Because Basic Ben White (much like Tierney) doesn't have the technical ability, short passing or dribbling of Zinchenko.

                    You can't just say hey flobaba go and play like Maradona.

                    Also Tierney lacks the composure required to play center back. He panics when isolated or put under pressure and is more of a boot it into touch type. Martinez is a great shout though. Lockdown defender, smart, and very good on the ball. Real shame he chose to go to Man U. But we can clearly see the sort of player we desire/need for the fullback role.

                      Tactics
                      Tierney isn’t a good enough footballer for our system. That’s the basic issue. He has a lot of gaps in his play. He plays like an old school winger. We need someone with midfield skills in the position. It’s a bad fit, and we need to let him go. The same way we let everyone else go.

                        19 days later

                        So what happens to Pepe this summer? How much do you recon we’ll fetch?

                          lorddulaarsenal bag of chips. I don’t think he even has the halo of the rest of the team. Unlike Tavares, Balogun and others who are young and from the outside look like they would be reincorporated. Pepe just looks like bust. So nobody will pay.

                          I think the way we have to look at summer business is the total bill. Some guys will fetch a lot. Others not so much. What matters is selling the right players and raising a lot

                            I actually forgot Pepe was still our player. I'm assuming his loan has been a bit of a flop too?

                              Daz 17 games in the league, 6 goals and 1 assist. I know he scored a couple from the penalty spot, and to be fair to him he was injured for a few weeks. Played 2-3 games as CF as well. No idea what they think about him.

                                Regardless of what people thought of his time here, quite insane how many bangers he scored in the time he played. Best finisher at the club?

                                (to Pepe haters, this isn't an attempt to start a discussion about his general play and how it doesn't fit our playing style)

                                He was insanely good in Ligue 1, we destroyed the poor chap.

                                Out of all of Arteta's cuts Pépé's treatment always seemed a bit arbitrary. I'd love a real explanation but it's probably just "slow to receive instruction and same position as Saka", or something vague ...

                                  Everything I saw of Pepe demonstrated he had some real talent, just wasn't in the right setup to shine and has subsequently lost his confidence. Don't think anyone's to blame really other than maybe Sanellhi.

                                  Burnwinter its weird because it definitely looked like he was working hard to try and get it. I guess he just didn't fit for some reason. Think he might have been in the Laca/Auba clique too which can't have helped. Would have been a nice option if it could have worked though, 20 minutes at the end of games to rest Saka would be welcome.