Summer 24: Page 64 - The Arsenal discussion community: One More in the Tolly

Summer 24

goon

Of course availability changes, surely this is not something you dispute?

Ode, Ozil, Sanchez were all signed at a point when circumstances made it possible. Clubs and players reach a stage when they’re ready to deal.

Wirtz is a great example. Widely expected to leave in the next year or two, but known to be unavailable this year. It’s not that nobody has thought of trying.

QuincyAbeyie

goon the question isn't whether availability is going to change, it's how we know it will be easier to sign players next summer than this summer.

mdgoonah41

OnTheVerge FC

Sicario2 - Tier 1

mdgoonah41

OnePlayerAwayFromWinningTheLeague FC

Romano just tweeted that Eddie has agreed personal terms with Forest. Surely we are going to go in for a striker/winger. I would even take Sterling as a stop gap right now.

DiabyKungFu

Big Willie What would change between this summer and next to get these players?

Musiala would have one year left on his contract next summer if he doesn't extend. Rodrygo might be coming off the bench by the end of this season.

Clrnc

Sicario2 - Tier 1 prefer a young understudy like Adingra or Kubo

USArsenal

I have an honest question.. I have seen this thrown around quite a bit about Nico Williams.. Why are people saying that "we tried, but he decided to stay"? What did we do to 'try' to sign him? I don't mean paper or pundit banter, i mean as a club, did we actually make contact or make any move for him at all?

samthegooner

USArsenal The only thing we know is what "insiders" have said, which was that we were trying to convince him to join us this summer and that the message back was that he was only interested in Barca or staying at Bilbao. Of course, they could be full of it but with how well Arteta and Edu have plugged the leaks from the club, it's all we are going to get.

Sicario2 - Tier 1

QuincyAbeyie

Also we are very attractive as a club this summer. What happens if we don’t win anything again this season - our stock goes down. A star player leaves, stock goes further down, etc

Sometimes you need to strike the iron whilst it’s hot. Everyone thinks we have this ten year window - football can be fleeting.

goon

QuincyAbeyie

Valid point, but I guess it comes down to how appealing the options from this year are.

I’d personally take the gamble on someone young this year, because worst case we could do with the depth.

RocktheCasbah

Sicario2 - Tier 1 who thinks we have a ten year window mate? Even the invincibles didn't have anywhere near that. In fact, never mind the Invincibles, neither did Arsène.

Agree that we need to start putting trophies in the cabinet sooner rather than later, but we don't operate in a vacuum. If Arteta doesn't manage it this season, then what? If you wanted to replace him, who are you getting that guarantees us the trophies we want (not just a League Cup)?

Sicario2 - Tier 1

RocktheCasbah

If Arteta doesn’t win anything this season would you still give him a free pass or would you raise serious questions? I know context is key but I’m looking at this binary. Either your a trophy winning manager or your not (for arguments sake, League cup as credit is immaterial for this discussion).

RocktheCasbah

Sicario2 - Tier 1 what serious questions can you ask of a manager if he gets you to 89 points and, somehow, doesn't win the league? I'm not saying you can't ask questions, by the way, just - realistically - we wouldn't have done a lot wrong to get to that points total.

As Claudius has said, there has been a serious internal improvement at the club and I - I get there's always a tendency to want more - but when I think of the mood of this place when we blew 4th place two seasons ago and finished with 68(?) points... If I'd said to you then that in 2 years, the same manager would get us to 89 points, wouldn't you all have (rightly) thought me mad?

There are questions we can absolutely ask about Arteta - his squad management being one of them, but it can't be as binary as he wins the league this season or he goes mate. Not for me.

Claudius

One thing we don't talk about enough is internal improvements. Despite our two title tilts in the recent seasons, we have had one of the youngest teams, and this includes many of the players in the attacking areas of our field such as Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli, Havertz. Some of these players have shown inconsistencies of youth, but we've also seen great trajecotries. For example, Havertz has the most G+A of any player in 2024. Saka is also on a similar development path to players like Salah before him.
It's reasonable to predict that within this season or the next, one or both of Saka and Havertz could be 20 goal scorers. I am much more excited by this prospect than a lot of the players we talk about needing to bring in.

Sicario2 - Tier 1

Claudius

Ideally this would be great . Not all players will have incremental improvements at the same time though. At the same time certain players will drop off ie Martinelli last season.

We still need X factor player to complete the squad even if Saka/Havertz peak this season.

Sicario2 - Tier 1

RocktheCasbah

It’s not about winning the league or out.

He needs to deliver a trophy this season ie FA cup.

We can’t keep going season after season and normalising not winning anything. If we don’t win anything next year it will 5 years - I don’t care how many points Arteta gets us - that is simply not acceptable for a club as big as us and as much as we have spent. We will be a glorified Spurs which is my biggest fear.

Gunner89

goon

Mahrez got 24 that season

But the main point of that season was that Pep knew they got lucky to win by only a point, didn't want to rely on their current main striker (Jesus) and they upgraded on him to win a treble

Sicario2 - Tier 1

TambourineMan

Hmmmm, I reckon we can do better.

Mirth

Yep this seems plausible.

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