Summer thoughts. Time to join the race?
New champions of Europe
PSG have won the Champions League and it didn’t really surprise me. I wrote before our first semifinal leg that they were the most well-rounded side left standing. They can play a possession-based game, keep the ball like it is glued to their boots. They are quite well organized defensively and can sit back and wait for their chance to be lethal on the break with that explosive front three. They also can organize a high pressing to put the opponent under pressure if needed. They have actually combined all three styles over those 180 minutes against us.
The rest of the semifinalists didn’t have all these components:
Barcelona has a very leaky defence.
Inter, slower than a snail's pace in midfield when it comes to pressing.
And Arsenal - despite being the closest, doesn’t have the explosiveness to complement our well-structured team. I still don’t have a decent explanation why we didn’t even try to sign Khvaraktskhelia - he’s explosive and he tracks back for Paris. The only logical one is that there were some pretty hefty hidden fees involved and the club decided to stay away.
Also, Luis Enrique is a brilliant motivator. I would take him into Arsenal without a doubt. I am still impressed how they had us on toast for the first 25 minutes at the Emirates without moving a single Ancelotti eyebrow. Basically, PSG was the better team against every Champions League opponent and we were the closest match. Who knows how history would have turned, if we snagged the Georgian fella just a few months back.
Transfer frenzy
The last two weeks were really crazy in terms of transfer news. I have never seen such a condensed June before. Usually, it's a couple of big names sorted, then the rest drags on. But this year it’s special - not sure if it’s because of the Club World Cup or the general understanding that the Premier League market is going to be fierce.
Man United have already signed Matheus Cunha and (almost) Bryan Mbuemo. As for Mbuemo, I am a bit relieved. I don’t think that spending over 50 million quid on a player that grazes mostly on the right wing,where we have Bukayo Saka, is a rational decision. For such a strong starting player, Nwaneri is the ideal rotation option. He won’t demand too many minutes, he won’t be as frustrated with getting only 10-15 minutes here and there. His salary shouldn’t be very high and he doesn’t require any transfer fee. I can’t imagine many senior players that played the first fiddle in their previous team to be happy competing with Saka. Naturally, in Man United Mbuemo can count on walking straight into the starting eleven.
But Cunha is a bit of a different story. He is a Premier League proven striker, he can pull a goal out of thin air, he can launch a screamer from outside of the box and he’s a versatile player - I can imagine him playing at number 10 role, as well as number 9. I didn’t think he should be our only attacking signing, but when bringing a new striker from Europe that might take the time to adjust, it’s nice to have someone familiar with Premier League pace and opponents.
Man City is also close to signing Rejindeers and Ait Nouri, as well as negotiating with a number of notable players, such as Joan Garcia or Cherki. They move at an incredible pace and are ready to spend large chunks of money again, as if they know no ban is going to come from their Premier League charges. Sadly, it looks like 24/25 should have been our season, because the only real competition for the Premier League was Liverpool.
Liverpool, who despite winning the Premier League, have already signed Frimpong from Bayer and are very close to signing Wirtz. These two would make Slot’s side a real handful next season and that is not something to get excited about. Liverpool has also managed to sell a very decent second goalkeeper Kelleher for 18 million (which is a steal by the way) to Brentford, who, in turn, sold their current goalkeeper Flekken to Bayer for 10.
Arsenal on the back pedal
There are so many pieces of really efficient business going around, while Arsenal camp is disappointingly quiet. Even the “guaranteed” Zubimendi has thrown a massive fishing rod into Xabi Alonso’s garden.
My future? It will be a long summer. I don't know how it will end, If Xabi Alonso calls me to join Real Madrid? I've always said Xabi is my idol, and it was a privilege to have him as my coach at La Real B. If he called me now? I don't want to talk about that hypothesis, I'd rather talk about the present. It would be disrespectful to talk about that while I'm on national team duty.
With Sociedad delaying the transfer until the end of June for "accounting reasons”, it suddenly stops looking like a “done deal”. Zubimendi’s career, his quotes and his behavior last summer when he rejected Liverpool (what Sociedad player would do that?) hint at one most probable explanation - he likes it in Spain and he doesn’t want to leave. And if he could find a decent offer within the country, he would happily stay. So the real question is: will Florentino Perez sanction his transfer in June? I guess the chances are high, if he can find good suitors for his current midfielders. And I can imagine Man United splashing a few bulky cash bags (more than for Zubimendi) for the likes of Camavinga or Tchouameni.
Even if Sociedad has given all the promises about Zubimendi's transfer, I can easily see them pivoting from their original decision. This is an impulsive business and such things happen all the time. How many talents have Wenger “almost signed”, before they were stolen by our competitors?
I am not even sure that the club has a good plan if the Partey extension falls out and Zubimendi will be on his way to Bernabeu. We have literally heard no other names associated with Arsenal midfield. In case we don’t find anyone great, my solution would be to try and play Myles there (at least rotating with someone more experienced). And even he's been chatting to Real and hasn't signed a new Arsenal contract yet. Crazy times we live in!
The other big piece of transfer gossip is the long awaited Arsenal striker. The needle hasn’t really moved from “one of the Sesko/Gyokeres” debate. @gunnerblog shared that the view in the club is that Sesko will become one of the best strikers in the world, probably in 2-3 years. And that’s why the club is internally inclined to sign him. I understand this rationale, however, we've gone down that road too often. Sesko will be the best striker in 2-3 years. Joan Garcia will be one of the best keepers in the world in 2-3 years, so let’s spend 30 million on him, even though we have an established number one in David Raya. Calafiori will be one of the hottest defenders in 2-3 years, so let’s sign him, even though his position was not the most problematic one last summer.
The problem with these “2-3 years” is that long-term planning in football is often not playing out. There are so many factors involved. So many surprising events could happen in those 2-3 years. Who would predict the rise of Myles Lewis-Skelly that will reduce Calafiori’s time on the pitch? Who can predict how many weeks will Calafiori spend on the injury table and not really have the consistency to become the best-in-class? Who can predict the confidence losses that some players (like Odegaard) experience and never realise their massive potential?
We need to mix the “future prospects” with “now players” every summer. Two years ago we bought Rice and Havertz for “now”. Last year we bought Calafiori for the future and Merino for depth, but no one to make the squad stronger “now” and that cost us badly in the season. Cunha is a “now” player, Rodrygo is a “now” player, while Sesko and Nico Williams are the future prospects. We desperately need to find a good working mix this summer.
One of the other players that could be really useful to Arsenal is Liam Delap. Getting the Premier League adjusted striker for 30 million to provide attacking depth for our squad is just a steal. At the same time, I can understand why he’s choosing Chelsea. He believes he can send Jackson on the bench, and not without a reason. I still think Jackson wouldn’t be easy to displace, given his relentless running and chaos he brings in with him But if Delap can show consistent finishing, he has all chances to be a starting striker..
And just like that, most Premier League attackers that showed any kind of proficiency in front of goal are already on the way to a richer club. Only lonely Ollie Watkins sits near his bedroom window in the rain and waits for a touchy text from Arteta.
Questionable second kit
The leaked pictures of Arsenal's second kit disappointed me to be honest. I feel that all the deep thinking went into first and the details of second one were not really a priority. This kit resembles something between Inter and Manchester United from the first glance and I am not really a fan of that.
There are two versions of top stripes that go around the web (red ones and white ones) and I really hope it is the latter, because the strong mix of black and red is a trademark of one of our well-known competitors.
The third kit, on the other hand, looks very stylish. And brings back those exciting attacking Arsenal vibes. I can easily imagine how we pick up where we left off 18 years ago in that dramatic quarterfinal against Liverpool.
I guess we are just bound to have one disappointing kit from Adidas every season. In the last two seasons it was the third kit that was really bland. Both those kits didn’t really have any identity in them, they weren’t the one you can remember for years after. And this is not only me, it was confirmed by our disappointing results in it.
Let’s hope next season our third one will be an opponent killer!
If you enjoyed the post, please like or let me know your feedback in the comments. I will be posting thoughts about the overall season over the next few weeks.