THINGS ARE LOOKING UP.
How things can change so quickly. Just a week ago I was feeling very low about the state of things and I wrote this …. “Arsenal seem to be in the dungeon. We have lost Cech, Ramsey, Welbeck and Litchsteiner on the free. Ospina has been sold for peanuts. Our captain Koschienly is on strike. Ozil and Emery seem not to know how to meet. Bellerin and Holding won’t be fit to start the season. It’s all over the place that we have a meager £40-45m budget for the window. No whiff of any of the dead woods being sold to raise money to add to the budget. Talk on Kieran Tierney is bogged down by all the haggling over pennies. There are rumours that our nearly done deal for William Saliba is being high jacked by the Tots, even though the nearly done deal would only have been available to us 2020/21 which by the current state of things is eternity away. Iwobi, Guendouzi and Torreira are on extended holiday and unlikely to be there for the start of the season. It’s so desperately gloomy, it can’t just be true”.
Today my mood is all different.
We are on top of the game in the pursuit of Saliba. We have brushed the Tots aside. Edu has done the good job of reminding us of the necessity for both short, medium and long term planning. Saliba, only 18 yrs old and at £27m falls into the medium and long term category. In 3 years time, it’s projected he’d be worth upwards of £60m on the field and in the market. That’s says everything about his budding talent. He is the kind of win-win signing that we have missed this past decade except for maybe Torreira and Guendouzi.
22 yr old Dani Ceballos falls into the short term category with a season’s loan being negotiated. He is Emery’s 1st choice and Emery is not compromising on that. He replaces Ramsey. By the time he would have finished the season for us Willock would have fully arrived.
Celtic are beginning to buckle under the Kieran Tierney pressure. Tierney wants to seize his chance. He wants to play for The Arsenal. Have you ever watched him? He is better than Wan Bissaka who cost United £50m. He is 22 yrs old and ticks the short, medium and long term boxes. Another win-win signing.
Zaha is said to have requested for a transfer. We are watching the whole saga develop. If it fails to materialize in our favour, no problem. Everton Soares is the newest biggest thing from the Samba county. He might even prove a better buy. The 23 yr old wants Edu to guide him into Europe and Edu believes in him. Short, medium, long term and another win-win. We can see a pattern.
There is a new romance between Emery and Ozil. Both said as much. In our preseason match against Fiorentina, our American fans started chanting that they wanted to see Ozil. Emery happily submitted. Our dressing room would feed off that romance.
Ditch all that £40m talk. It’s balderdash. Josh Kroenke said no ceiling was fixed. Emery has promised 3 or 4 signings that each improves the team. Where did that nonsense (£40m) come from?
Look at what our kids are doing in our pre-season matches: Eddy, Willock, Martinelli and co. Torreira, Guendouzi, Iwobi on extended holiday can take their time. What more, Holding is in full training and Bellerin is ahead of schedule. We have so quickly come to terms with the Koscielny’s rumpus that it’s no longer a rumpus. North of 33yrs, £6m for him and I’d only remember the 7 great years he gave us.
As for sales, it would be done. It’s safer to guarantee the purchases first. It’s better to have one or two extra bodies in the squad than one or two less. We have a new management structure and they have an Invincible in their midst. Let’s ride with them. They would get us there. Address .. “The Arsenal”.
The results of pre-season matches don’t say much. But those wins are helping to cheer us up, Colarado Rapids, Bayern Munich, Fiorentina. Sunlight is flooding into our room and that itself is nurture to the team.
The new season is nearly on us. Am glad things are looking up.
By PE.
Bergkampesque 
All of it PE– very good stuff.
Mostly I was buoyed by Emery’s very public pronouncement that signings– and good ones– would materialize in just days (they will take marginally longer– but good on him). In itself, a major change to the way the club has operated. That alone should be cause for optimism.
The Tierney signing is a must. Sooner equals better. Simply getting tired of reading Scottish bloggers thumping their chests at this point.
A couple of other bits that were making rounds this morning:
Ismael Bennacer’s sell-on fee might bring Arsenal between £4-£5M. (More of this please Raul!)
Another Guendouzi-like signing sounds imminent. Bilel Hassaini is 18 years old and has been with the AS Nancy academy, until letting his contract expire opening up a potential move. Down to Pool, PSG and Arsenal according to the sources reporting– and the youngster seemingly would prefer our club.
Wasn’t necessarily ‘down’ about the club a couple weeks back. Doesn’t take much to jump-start my optimism. This condensed period of activity (signing news and preseason play) is enough to get the red&white juices flowing.
jw1
(And here you thought I was going make it through an entire upbeat post– without mentioning Musloppy. 😉 Cheers!)
Cheers PE for a positive take on recent developments (or anticipated outcomes). I like it that we are winning those friendlies and that the youngsters are getting time and able to get their name on the scoresheet. Those games without pressure are of course ideal for the youngsters but what we really need to know is whether they can do it with it really matters. It is unlikely that they will shine then as much as is so often the case.
It is good to hear that we are looking at players to strengthen the squad but it is getting late don’t you think?!
I am looking forward the seeing the boys play again though and I hope that you are right that Ozil and Emery have realised they need each other and will be working together from now on. CoyGs.
This is no strange, one of the traits that came with Emery is addressing our weaknesses even though not adequately. Expect more of the same in this window and ones to come. Looking at our target s we’re doing just that, I really look forward to the kids coming up getting they chances.
Good thing you didn’t publish your original thoughts then, PE 😜. It sure is looking up in Arsenaldom, for all the reasons you stated and even more. I never bought that restricted budget story, being a recurring theme during the latter years of Arsene Wenger and was something he pushed back on, just leaving room for further speculation as he rode the “spend some cash” wave, one transfer window after another.
I like the names being associated with us but one cannot take all the rumours seriously; for instance the one about Mois Kean of Juventus or that about Dani Alves. Those ain’t happening (even though I kind of like Alves, a winner and all). I’m also starting to get irritated with Celtic’s tactics in the potential sale of Tierney; the antics and headlines from their fans, pundits and reporters are starting to be downright insulting as it portrays us as penny pinchers (we can be that sometimes, I know) trying to pay below value for “their big star”. They need to be told he’s not a proven player yet and the Scottish league won’t always produce the next VDV!
I would prefer any of Ryan Fraser, Nicholas Pepe and Everton over Zaha, frankly. He is a fan, but he is wasteful and loses the ball too often, showboating, and does nothing but throw up his arms at the referee instead of chasing back the ball; we already have Ozil for that, thank you very much. Pepe is an explosive player and if he is acquired by any of the top 6 teams in the EPL, he will be a good purchase for many seasons to come, in my view.
Lastly, it’s going to be hard, but I wish the fans can step down the Mustafi-hate while he is turning out for us. The man can’t put up a tweet or instagram story without some trolls hurling abuse at him. He was booed at some stage in a pre-season friendly (vs Colorado), for Pete’s sake. That was awful and can affect the mentality of any one. It’s a surprise for me that he’s chosen to stay instead of taking a walk; it cannot be for just the money. He must like it at the club and the country. Let’s encourage him as we should the rest of the team and see if we don’t surprise a few.
Eris …. am backing you all the way on Mustafi. We don’t even understand that we a depreciating his value in the market. That is hurting ourselves. I prefer him to Jenkinson any day. Yes, he cost us a lot more money but that is gone. The management is always trying to dress up players so they can up their value in the market. But us fans are not giving them any such chance. The way Musti celebrates his goals for us shows how much he cares. Am not saying he should not be sold. If not for anything else, for this barrage from fans he should now go. But it’s silly the way we depreciate our assets and after complain that we don’t know how to sell.
GoonerEris, great comment and part of it inspired the next post..
New Post New Post! 🙂