Big bad Berta: Page 2 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One More in the Tolly

Big bad Berta

Qwiss

TambourineMan Chalobah is actually top for back passes that lead to a long ball to left wing, something that will be crucial to how Arteta envisions our play style next season.

TambourineMan

Qwiss Have you seen his opta chart for touches with his left foot between 30 and 45 minutes? Top tier. Would be money well spent.

Sicario2

Coombs

Knew the BBQ boy was stealing a living. How could you possibly sign new players and renew contracts at the same time? Too much work, they said.

Klaus

Coombs What's the story with Edu and the barbecue? 😂 I've noticed that people are going on about it on twitter too.

RocktheCasbah

Coombs Both Edu's playing and administrative career at Arsenal have been wildly overrated in my view.

TambourineMan

3 steps away from an incredible first summer - Saka extension (should happen, less worried about this one), Saliba extension (have this lingering suspicion that'll he'll run his contract down so getting this across the line would be a huge relief) and marquee signing for LW (it's so blatantly obvious that this is where we need to improve and it would be a massive shame if we fail to act on this).

Even Madueke won't dampen the summer if we execute the above.

Coombs

Klaus he and/or his partner posted pics of himself grilling at some point during the height of silly season, prompting a load of puns around "cooking", etc. Very Brazilian, really, and totally meaningless. Eventually, rather than being about how chill he is and how he gets shit done, it became a sort of metaphor for his perceived lack of serious engagement in our [transfer] business.

Gazza M

the online mob is getting a sugar rush from the new signings and feeling the need run edus name through the mud unnecessarily. last summer was a disappointment, but he did plenty of good things as well.

Burnwinter

Gazza M He did, but he very noticeably did those good things in the good times.

He organised to disappear to his next smile, slash and burn posting the moment we asked him to get serious about sales ... not to do the guy dirty as he was useful, but his career approach reminds me of the worst of outsourced corporate leadership.

Qwiss

Gazza M the big thing Edu did was reigning in Arteta early on and stopping more Willians from being signed. The summer he insisted we focus on youth was an important first step in bringing us back to challenging. However I think he'd served his purpose and was never going to get us over the line. The way he allowed us go without a striker for so long was a real black mark against him.

Bertas having a great first summer. However I want to see him repeat it before I get too effusive in my praise for him.

Don Pacifico

Burnwinter massive self-promoter too.

flobaba

What do you mean repeat? spend another 200-250m? With the squad we (will) have we shouldn't need to splurge big for another 3-4 seasons. His only job now is to ensure we keep our best players till 2028/2029 or thereabouts and making sure we bring in adequate replacements for those who choose to leave (selling at premium prices), and perhaps draft some quality players for the youth set up which, if we get trophies shouldn't prove too difficult.

This summer was /is the key summer and as at this moment, he's met expectations. If we can bring in an Eze/XS, he'd have exceeded expectations.

Qwiss

flobaba you need to keep pushing every year. That's what I expect. Everyone though Edu was great when he signed Rice, Raya, Havertz and Timber in one summer, then the next he took the foot off the gas and we went backwards. You have to keep having big summers if you want to stay competitive. Look at Liverpool this summer, after winning the league they've gone and pushed again. If they hadn't I think we'd have easily passed them with our signings, now we've a battle on our hands. A football clubs like a shark you know? It has to constantly move forward or it dies.

flobaba

Qwiss I get what you're saying. But we are in a different place to Liverpool. Their best players are already approaching the end of their careers and they lost a couple (Jota, TAA). They have no choice but to spend. If we manage to win the league this season then we can afford a bit of cruise control (if we retain everyone) just based on the fact that most of our key players still have 4-5years of peak level football in them. But again, I see what you're saying, just don't feel we will have the same need/urgency unless something drastic happens eg Gyokeres flops or Odegaard's form stays in the shitter.

Asterix

I’d quite like Berta to spy on Eintracht Frankfurt and go for whichever young striker they go for.

Qwiss

flobaba there will always be something the squad needs. I think we've done a lot of work to fill the gaps in terms of numbers which was very necessary so maybe we wont need as many signings but I'd still be looking for some big additions. Probably wont sort out the left wing this summer so theres an area straight away. We have to see if Odegaard refinds his form. Surprise injuries can pop up. Eventually some of our big players are going to move so how they are replaced will be a question. Some contracts still need to be sorted, what if they don't sign? And what if we are second again? Or worse. There is always work to do. Its summers like last summer or the Cech summer that really hurt you and put you on the back foot with signings.

Sicario2

Klaus

Was reading about the Saliba and Eze news, and thought about the tweet above. He lives up to his reputation so far doesn't he? There were a lot of tricky contract extensions and transfers to get over the line this summer but it looks like he's coming through on all of them. There's a good chance Berta himself has been our most important acquisition for next season.

awooga83

Klaus I think most of the t young players is not this contract but the next one I think a few like Saka and Saliba who will need to have won things with us over the next few years or will likely be looking to move.

Burnwinter

Klaus He lives up to his reputation so far doesn't he?

He's been the Sun Tzu of transfer work so far. Doesn't go into deals without controlling the terrain, he goes in when there's downward pressure on the selling club's fee and time pressure to reach an agreement.

That said we probably have to credit the prior regime for Zubimendi as we lined him up when we signed Merino.

samthegooner

Klaus Completely agree. I also think it's showing us how much of a rube Edu was/is.

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