Summa 26 TW: Page 110 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One more in the Tolly

Summa 26 TW

Kel Varnsen

What we need depends on the health of our players. Will White, Saka and Ødegaard be back to their old self? If so, we need maybe just 1-2 players.

Qwiss

Tam yeah was thinking that myself too. The only problem is we'd still be a bit short at LB as White and Mosquera wouldn't be options at LCB the way Arteta plays. You'd need a Tomiyasu type that can play RB and LB.

Tam tbh with the price to bring players in at the moment I'm starting to think unless we get big offers holding onto him and some others like Martinelli would be the smart move for now.

lorddulaarsenal

I’d keep Martinelli. Need a pacey outlet. We need to be able to hurt teams in different ways. Just worry with the amount of injuries and need for cover we have that if we see too much change in the attack or elsewhere we’ll have too much work to do to integrate players

Priority for me as of now

1) cover for Saliba and Rice
2) quality addition to the midfield to raise our level
3) magician for the left side of the attack

Qwiss

lorddulaarsenal I also think we need Martinelli. If we sell him this summer our options going into the season on the wings will be Madueke, Tzolis, Dowman and maybe a new signing. That's not enough to defend out title.

samthegooner

We have more than enough talent in the squad to at least hang around in the first part of the season if we have to endure a few months without Saka and Saliba. I don't think Rice's timeline will be as long but if he needs the time, we should give it to him. I'm not saying we will be in first but I think we can remain in touching distance of the leaders even without our big guns, provided we move smartly in the market this summer.

Assuming that Saliba and Saka will be out for a significant portion of the remainder of 2026 (lets say they come back around December), I think its imperative that we address the following (agreeing with lorddulaarsenal for the most part here):

Cover for Rice
Everyone knows my pick here - Bruno Guimaraes. While he can't replace Rice's big space coverage, a combination of him and Zubi would be a very nice double pivot that will give us a stable platform for buildup and breaking up play. Him next to Rice will take us to another level and allow us to compete for the UCL title. Really hope we get this done.
Cover for Saliba
Diomande would be my choice here. Still relatively young, great on the ball and a physical presence in the backline. He's not Saliba but he's a bit of a step up from Mosquera right now and at least would be great competition with Mosquera so that we can always start the form player. Konsa's been suggested but hard to imagine us going in for both Rogers and him. I would also be interested in seeing if we can pry Acheampong from Chelsea. I think he'd add more risk as a Saliba replacement in the short term but between Mosquera, him and White, we should be able to at least survive and then we have a great prospect at RB and RCB in the fold.
Magician LW
This is the spot where I am struggling to find the best fit. I'm not convinced that Rogers has the pace and technical ability to be a dynamic LW in non-transition game states. His ball striking and shooting from distance are definitely translatable skills that could help us against pesky low blocks but I worry about him influencing games consistently. Barcola gives me even more doubts as I am not sure he's a much better player than Martinelli. He shows glimpses of game breaking pace but then never completes the action and ends up in the same spots that Martinelli does - helpless on the end line. I'm not even completely convinced that someone like Vini Jr. would transform us here - we really needed to go for Kvara when he was available but now I think we might just be better off waiting for another window and keeping Martinelli.
Trossard replacement
It looks like this will be Tzolis and I'm a fan of his skillset. Younger than Trossard with similar two-footed ball striking and a little more physicality and pace. It will likely take him some time to get adjusted to the league but he should be an effective super sub with some goals in him and provide good rotation with Martinelli/Eze. On that note, I'd look to play Eze more on the LW this year.
Maverick Attacker
This would be to replace Jesus. Needs to have great ball striking, associative play, work rate and versatility in positioning. My number one pick would be Kroupi but it doesn't look like he's available. Alvarez would be a great addition here but I would want to be sure that he's not going to be just eyeballing Barca every window. I think Rogers actually fits better here than at LW and would be more of a fan of him as a 10/second striker where he can take more advantage of his strength down the middle and ball striking.

DiabyKungFu

Qwiss That's not enough to defend out title.

If Saliba, Saka and Rice are out for a long time then this is just a silly way to think. This would be a rebuilding season in that case.

Relatedly, if the injury news is bad then I'm much less interested in Bruno G.

DiabyKungFu

The whole idea of us being a title contender is premised on the idea of having guys like Saliba, Saka and Rice. If we don't have Saliba, Saka and Rice then we're not title contenders. If we're not title contenders then we're rebuilding (at least temporarily). You can't just go out and buy another Saliba, Saka and Rice in the transfer market otherwise other teams would have "Saliba, Saka and Rice"s too.

MistaT

DiabyKungFu I get your point about title aspirations being jeopardized any time three of your best players are out.

This season may however be more of an exception as our competition has challenges of similar degrees.

Man City is turning over their squad and working in a new coach.

Liverpool is losing Salah, has an aging and unconvincing backline, and who there best players are (and what their role is) isn’t clear.

Chelsea/United don’t concern me, plenty of issues there as well.

With just one signing made is this not a squad that should keep us in title hunt until Saka/Rice return?

Eze - Gyokeres - Martinelli
Ode - Zubi - Bruno
Cala - Gabriel - Mosquera - Timber
Rays

daredevil

lorddulaarsenal

I'm not ready to see us bargain hunting CBs after all the creme we have signed back there in recent years.

Meatwad

QuincyAbeyie
you ask that like our black players don't have any agency. if saliba, saka and company don't want him as a teammate he won't be signed. i'd wish them all the worse if they allowed it to happen though.

Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert

HomeSteak also looks to be quite high-touch and wants to get on the ball in all phases of play. I like that.

Burnwinter

Tam Might be a better option to keep Ben White as an alternative to Mosquera, bring in another right back, and move White on next year.

I agree with this but just as much because I think we will struggle to shift White anywhere he'd be ready to go before he's gotten fit and played any competitive football. Which might never happen.

Qwiss TBH players like him should be avoided at all costs.

Even if they're saintly physical conditioning freaks like Jorginho these oldies tend to be break even signings, and that's best case not Stones's case.

Qwiss

MistaT and even that doesn't have Havertz, Hincapie, MLS, etc in it. We'll see how Tzolis gets on. Throw in a Rogers/Barcola and that looks stronger again. I also don't believe Arteta can go a summer without signing a versatile defender.

samthegooner

I like that we are making plans this summer independent of Dowman's development but I also think that there is a real chance he has a breakout this season where he's taking more of the minutes that Madueke got last year. He's going to have a great opportunity to stake his claim this pre-season since Saka will certainly be out for the entirety of it and Madueke will likely miss a chunk due to the long WC run. If he continues to develop at the pace he has, I will not be surprised at all if the headlines in a month are about how impactful he can be this season.

MistaT

samthegooner -- I originally had Dowman at RWF, but he didn't feel right for the sake of a title affirming squad. But yeah, i'm expecting him to get some solid minutes next year.

Qwiss

samthegooner I agree. Said as much last season. I think we'll probably sell Madueke next summer.

lorddulaarsenal that's a lot of money for those 3. Especially as we've already spent £70ish million on Hincapie and Tzolis.

Cannon nope, don't rate him. Was he any better for Wolves than Norgaard was for Brentford?

lorddulaarsenal

Still strong rumours around Bruno and Rogers.

Also a lot of noise about us wanting Alvarez.

Not sure all three will happen unless we see a big departure

Cannon

Anyone else thinks we should hijack Joao Gomes to Aston Vila? For 35 million he would not be a bad backup..

Cannon

Qwiss Frankly i have barely watched him but i remember him being linked to us few seasons ago. In my mind no way Arteta wins anything the coming season without utilizing the squad more effectively. In that sense i can see a place for a player like Joao Gomes.

Gazza M

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