Arsenal OUTS 2026: Page 25 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One more in the Tolly

Arsenal OUTS 2026

Burnwinter

daredevil Right, but you're just not factoring in that if Madueke hadn't been signed, Nwaneri could've become twice as good playing half an hour each fortnight over the past season.

daredevil

RowJimmy

Have a feeling Arteta is gone at the end of the season.

Gunner89

MLS, Rice, Merino and Bruno is more than enough compared to the back end of last season when Merino was injured and MLS was not an option yet.

Sicario2

daredevil Arteta will stay another 4/5 years imo. Closest thing we get to a legacy manager in this day and age

RowJimmy

daredevil Have a feeling Arteta is gone at the end of the season.

Why?

Gunner89

daredevil

There's only 2 6's there which is the same problem as last season

Merino is a disaster in midfield - he's too slow and not put one convincing performance there

CPM

Nwaneri wanted to play central and not on the right, no? I remember that being part of his recent contract negotiations. He made his own bed in that regard, he has never looked as good centrally as he did out wide.

RowJimmy

CPM
My recollection is that this represented an agreement between player and manager about his best positiion.

CPM

RowJimmy That may have been the happy face put on at the end of the negotiations, but there's no way Arteta actually thought that IMO. He is looking for major tactical sophistication in that high #8 role, and the wings are a better place for younger players to break in.

daredevil

RowJimmy

Still hasn't signed a new contract and he's achieved the main objective. A CL win would would propel him to statue status. Wouldn't surprise me if he decides to take a break.

Mirth

I suspect he's got one more contract in him.

RowJimmy

CPM
I think Burnsy's comment above is more accurate here:

Burnwinter It always would've been up to Arteta—a good guess is it became the only position in the XI that made any sense to Arteta for Nwaneri. We can almost infer that, because we know it wouldn't have mattered if Nwaneri had wanted midfield and Arteta had been against it.

Dom

Re: Nwaneri, I find it hard to stress about the cutthroat nature of selling youngsters developed by the club. A second important component of a successful academy is to sell - for decent fees - players who are a level or two below what's required for the first and second elevens. Letting them go might be devastating for the player, but some of them man up and forge excellent careers for themselves after leaving, like Iwobi, Bentley, Szczesny, Vela, Martinez and Gnabry.

Over the last three decades we've sold hundreds of academy players and there's just one instance where it was undeniably a poor decision: selling Serge Gnabry. Since Wilshere, I've only seen two graduates who have wowed me when they've stepped into the first XI: Saka and MLS. Within a handful of appearances their rise was meteoric.

Nwaneri has been given chances after his performance against Man City to make a claim for a position but he couldn't. I also think Dowman is not untouchable. If we're still title contenders over the next couple of years, he has to wow the coaching staff, show consistency and improve decision-making. He'll soon be at the age where Saka and MLS became bona fide Arsenal quality.

Claudius

Dom Over the last three decades we've sold hundreds of academy players and there's just one instance where it was undeniably a poor decision: selling Serge Gnabry. Since Wilshere, I've only seen two graduates who have wowed me when they've stepped into the first XI: Saka and MLS. Within a handful of appearances their rise was meteoric.

I was thinking exactly the same thing about Gnabry. The issue is that top football players are rare. We have about 50 u21 and u18 players. But only ₃ total regularly active in first team. We overestimate how big a pipeline the academy is to regular first team. Again, I think we spend too much time thinking about Nwaneri. His comings and goings aren’t going to make or break us

Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert

Dom after his performance against Man City to make a claim for a position but he couldn't.

Which City game? The 5-1 at home?

Dom

Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert

Yes. He was a live wire in his 15 minute cameo. Arteta gave him plenty of minutes after that, including starting half a dozen league games IIRC. Nwaneri just didn't do enough with the opportunities he got.

daredevil

Gunner89

If we will play a double pivot again, Bruno will play one of the roles.

So it’s three from MLS, Rice and Bruno with Merino 4th choice. That leaves Ode and Eze as the 10’s.

If we play with 1 x 6 - then it’s Rice or MLS - with Merino, Bruno, Eze and Ode as the 8’s.

The running of Rice and Zubi happened BEFORE MLS became an option and after Merino was injured.

Qwiss

Claudius reading between the lines on this "balance the books" talk and the Vini rumours it seems the Kroenkes want to stop putting money in and have Arteta working a Wenger like even keel on transfers this summer. However they were willing to break the bank for Vini because they seen the commercial potential and probably felt it would push the clubs status and value.

Also its partly just good old fashioned excuse making after missing out on a number of their preferred targets.

MistaT

Claudius we have a massive squad and a set of challenging sales conditions.

Players on high wages (see Nelson, Vieria, and Jesus), players with unknown value (Nwaneri), a desire not to sell to rivals (heads would roll if MLS was actually sold to United), and players unwilling to move from a winning club in London to foreign destinations (Martinelli).

Those conditions aren't unique to us, but I do think they are magnified right now due to player mix and prestigious conditions.

RowJimmy

MistaT
And those are all problems you'd rather have than not.

Claudius

MistaT these conditions are completely normal, as you mentioned. In another thread I mentioned the following Manchester City injuries: Gvardiol, Kovacic, Grealish, Rodri, Stones, Bobb and others. Manchester City fans have regularly complained about the form and/or wages of various players last year including Grealish, Reijnders, Phillips, Foden and others. All teams have these issues.
I'd rather have problems with Nelson, Vieira, Jesus, Nwaneri etc., knowing that our core team has guys like Rice, Saka, Odegaard, Saliba etc. This is a far cry from the late Wenger/Emery era when the stars were the problems, in guys like Ozil, Luiz, Lacazette, Pepe, Aubameyang etc.
The framing of our challenges often feels like it lacks context/comparables. All problems are big problems when, in relation to what is happening elsewhere, this isn't really the case

Qwiss

Claudius City have been cheating, 116 times or something. Not sure their wage model should followed.

Sicario2

JazzG

Sicario2 Swap deal with Ekitike.....

TambourineMan

Sicario2 swap for Ngumoha.

Meatwad

Sicario2
you can cross liverpool off if this guy is reporting that.

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