Don't think we've got a dedicated thread for this yet, but it should be a busy summer when it comes to departures.
That'd be a decent destiny for Eddie and a fairly good return for us, particularly if there is a mini bidding war for his services. He's a solid player who's always demonstrated his awareness and professionalism.
Take 30m over any loan. Yes, he could potentially score 15+ goals and double his value, but could just as easily go the other way.
goon Oh, definitely. We're in need of the funds now, and it'd be disrespecting Eddie to suggest loaning him out at this point. We should only loan players we don't see as likely future starters as a last resort to offload wages.
Given the number of players likely to depart this summer, and especially the number of hale end boys, I suspect we may see some loan with mandatory buy in summer of 25 deals, so that the profit can be spread across two financial periods
30M is an absolute no-brainer.
Smith-Rowe also linked with Fulham. Would be sad to see him go especially over Vieira but if Arteta isn't going to play him then a move is best for all parties.
Nothing worse then selling an academy kid we all had high hopes for. ESR fitness issues have really fucked him over but I think we need to be ruthless and move on. We have issues in the squad we need to address and selling an academy player will give us a lot of leeway in signing new players.
JazzG I suppose it is better than selling him because he has outgrown us and wants to leave, but the fact that it's Fulham looking at him tells you how far his stock has fallen over the last two years.
I feel awful for him, but I've also made my peace with the idea that if he isn't regularly starting games, then there's a good reason for it and being a leading light for a team battling for the top 4 isn't the same as when you're trying for 90 points plus.
I do feel, before anyone says it, I am rationalising to a degree but I think we can all see where this is headed and I can't bring myself to be angry with a manager who has delivered 2 of the 4 highest points tallies in our history.
If Arsenal were to go and get Eberechi Eze from Crystal Palace, I'd probably get over all this very quickly - but that's just a personal want.
Panda Bit of well tempered discussion of Smith Rowe's transfer value from Scott Willis today:
https://www.cannonstats.com/p/what-is-the-market-price-of-emile
I tend to agree with that £15–25m assessment. I feel like we're nailed on to regret letting him leave some weekend after watching the highlights, but he's very regularly injured and also hasn't played.
The valuation could be very different if Smith Rowe had had 10+ promising appearances in 23–24. That's the price we are paying for Arteta's commitment to results. The same will be true for Vieira when he fades out of the squad at this rate.
Burnwinter This season he was injured for 46 days. Missed 10 potential games in that time.
He started 0 games in 2022/2023 and started 3 this year(was MOTM in 2 of them, was in the squad for 31 one of them). 31 out of 38 is not bad, he probably was not 100% for all of them to be fair, but it is not as dramatic as it was before. 25 mil? For a guy that has proven he can score 10+ goals in this league? For 15 we would be better off keeping him.
But he is done here, Arteta prefers Vieira over him, and that says it all, as Vieira is not good enough for this league.(or most top leagues )
HomeSteak His body's barely been tested since the groin op that was supposed to fix everything. He'll be a great gamble for any club, tremendous upside (bare minimum of 100–200%) on a fee of £15–25m if he just stays fit and does what he used to do.
And yet ... I still wouldn't take him over Trossard in next season's squad. So it seems to me we've gotta be realistic and let him go for his own good.
Reckon it's more the case to sell than the case to keep, with ESR ahead of Vieira on the exit list because he's homegrown. Both should be asking for a move or at least a loan.
Burnwinter I think this probably also applies to Eddie. I would love to get 30m for him, but I agree with Arseblog that he's probably in the 15-20m bracket realistically.
If we got 60m for Aaron, Emile and Eddie I think we'd be doing well.
Decent review of squad priorities here:
HomeSteak well not by much...they both played very little this season, but VIeira was injured more, was involved in less match day squads but got more minutes then ESR. But again, very low numbers, Vieira got like 100 minutes more, 560 vs ESR who only got 474.
but when both got fit, Mikel would use ESR more often than Vieira.
ESR became his "we need a goal" option while Vieira was just "we need to give Ode a rest" option, which ESR could fulfill as well. I believe if we were trailing more games ESR would've seen more minutes.
seen this doing the rounds on twitter, but that anelka sum looks wrong. sure it was low 20s for him
either way, a sale from 1999 even being in the top 10 is nasty work
