Mikel Arteta says Edu is in charge of executing Arsenal’s plan for the January transfer window while he focuses on his side’s busy Christmas schedule.
Having prioritised the recruitment of Gabriel and Thomas Partey in the summer, the Gunners, who are struggling for goals this season, are widely expected to try and sign an attacking midfielder.
Emi Buendia, Norwich’s 23-year-old Argentine, and Houssem Aouar, the Lyon playmaker, have both been tipped as possible targets although it’s unclear at this point whether circumstances will allow for further additions.
As has been well-documented, Arsenal already have too many non-homegrown players on the books and will need to loan or sell existing stars to make room for new faces.
Asked about his plans to strengthen his squad, Arteta said: “The plan is done; what we want to do in January and what we want to do in the summer.
“Sometimes you can do it, sometimes not. It depends on a lot of factors. Edu is dealing with that at the moment. I am focused with all the games, I don’t have much time to expend energy now on that. It’s clear what we want to do.”
Asked what might happen if the Gunners can’t do what they want, the boss added: “My job is to make the most out of this squad, the players that we have.
“We know what we want to do and we will try to execute it knowing that the actual context, the market and what we have been through makes it difficult.”
Given our current malaise and the financial impact of the pandemic, it’ll be interesting to see if the owners choose to back Arteta. At the tail-end of last season, the Spaniard called on them to roll the dice and he eventually got the financial support he wanted. Persuading them to do the same again could prove more challenging.
How are we going to shift some of these players? Feels like we might have to say goodbye to a few we might not necessarily want to in the short term and just wait for contracts to expire.
I would prefer accepting fire sale prices for those that need to be moved on just to be done and dusted with them. The fear is though that those players are actually deemed to be needed by MA.
And that the ones we want to leave show no interest in going
I wouldnt leave if i play for bahamas fc too.
Gosh, I’d love to play and live in the Bahamas. Far nicer than playing in cold and rainy England.
Yeah, sounds good in theory. But that’s just not how it works.
It’s not that simple sure, but selling them for less means we get their wages off the books and a lower price makes them more appealing in terms of value. No guarantee they’ll sell obviously or that they’ll want to move on.
What fucking idiot would pay any money for Xhaka or Mustafi? Who would even pay their ludicrous salaries?
Either of these players would make any team in the top five European leagues actively worse.
Mustafi is leaving on a free at seasons end. Xhaka was fine in Germany and would do well in Italy I think with a slower paced league.
The issue with Xhaka is the discrepancy between his salary and his contribution.
Sure, he would be less abject in a bottom-feeder Bundesliga/ Serie A/ Ligue 1 team, but those teams would be much better off getting someone of equivalent skill for about 20% of what he earns.
Players like him (without the meltdowns) are a dime a dozen.
I’m pretty sure we’d do it all again, given half a chance.
West Ham.
They will buy anybody.
Hertha Berlin was willing to pay around €30m for Xhaka last January when Arteta deemed him necessary to his plans. I doubt if now they’ll offer even half of that for him.
They’ve turned us from a Champions League team into a Europa cup one
Xhaka, musti, papa, Mari, the tank, nketiah (love him but he is just a poacher), lacazette (imo bolagun and martinelli can take both laca and Eddie’s spot. Would let him play since the aim of this season is not to get relegated).
I’d give ESR, martinelli, bolagun, Nelson, azeez (kid seems like he has something special about him, test him like mctominay and see if he can produce half decent results)
I agree 100%, on that Azeez kid, the 7 minutes I saw of reminded me of Fabregeas at his best. He won’t produce half decent, he is better than Xhaka.
If I was the owner, I would sell Xhaka just to save on the salaries of the next six managers who will come into the club promising fresh starts and somehow come back to the idea of regularly starting a training prop.
We can’t. We tried very hard in the last window but with little success. We know that they are “very average” to put it politely, and on over-inflated wages as well – and so does everyone else which is why we can’t shift them. In most cases, the only option will be to let their contracts wind down as you say.
Persuading any decent players to come to Arsenal right now could prove even more challenging.
Never mind about incomings, let’s focus on outgoings to finally help MA lay his own foundations. Top ten to leave ASAP thru end of season:
1. Ozil
2. Mustafi
3. Sokratis
4. Xhaka
5. Guendouzi
6. Torreira
7. Elneny
8. Chambers
9. Luiz
10. Willian
Can’t make a case for keeping any of them, but would add…
11 Kola
12 Ceballos (wouldn’t extend loan)
13 Mavropanos
I would consider Mari, Soares, Nketia, Nelson and even Belerin. And of cause Runarson.
Leaving us with Partey and willock for central midfield in the summer. (Not saying that as a counter argument by the way… just saying…)
I had a dream a few nights ago we didnt sign anyone in the transfer window…very much sure that would not be the case…but Partey for being the class signing he is…shows how bad we are negotiations when we ended up paying the same price which was always the case before. Only if he were here earlier we might have had a better season. Think this window is massive for Edu if we manage to fuck up , I would like to see him being replaced in the month of Feb with an experienced DOF so there is a real… Read more »
On the Partey transfer, we we’re trying to negotiate with Atletico and pay them less but give them time to find a replacement.
They refused so we fucked them with half an hour to go. If you just pay the 45m release clause in July the whole world knows they can take you for a ride. The club has got a lot wrong but paying the release clause with 30 minutes to spend it, isn’t one.
Not really . Any skilled cutthroat mercenary-like hardworking player from Portugal , Brazil, anywhere in the world will relate with Mikels vision.
Thunbs up if you think Arsenal are going to spoil some of your Christmas.
Make no mistake we are in a relegation battle. Forget about looking at how Liverpool, Man U, Man C etc. are doing, our “mini table” consists of Brighton, Fulham, WBA and Sheff U. We need them to lose every game. Burnley won today and are only one point behind us with a game in hand. We are in a freefall and I hope the players and management have the stomach for the fight. At this stage I will take 17th place in May 2021. It’s a sad state of affairs and there is no silver bullet. No one fears us… Read more »
I don’t know how desperate we are. ..but may be we should start preparing ourselves at some point to see Sam Allardyce arrival in our touch line ..chewing his gum and trying to save us from relegation. …brrrrr …such a horrifying thought
Hardly, Sam’s already taken his saviour job for this season. Trouble is, if Sam gets it right, we could be the ones who suffer.
I really don’t feel like we’re in a relegation battle… I think that’s sort of reactionary not looking at the big picture stuff..
You, sir, are deluded. It’s a relegation battle.
Hopefully we don’t get anymore Kia specials
The only special I wish him is a black eye.
A Kia Optima will do just fine.
Perfect for the passengers in our team
It won’t fit all of them
Yeah, but who’s driving it? They may get lost and end up back home.
Try as we might the players we want to get rid of won’t sell so for the sake of at least getting their wages off our books we should just give them away. If we did that with all of our undesirables we’d clear a rough estimate of minimum 500k a week off our wage bill. Axe that OAP Willian at we’ll be close to a million a week.
I know, it’s fanciful but imagine the scenario with all the costly dross gone and 2-3 quality signings on board.
Willian ain’t going anywhere. Why would he.
Yes, Aouar can’t wait to join us with the current form, position and overall situation. Think there are close to 10 clubs which could be better for him, and many of them want him i.e. city, real (especially as they have ageing midfield) so can’t really see him even thinking about joining us.
We might have signed him during the summer and that was our chance. Now that ship has sailed.
At the moment there arr 14 clubs in england alone.
16 by the time the window opens
Jack Wilshire to save our season.
Need to have the horrific screams at the start of the Arsecast Extra automatically play when you click on this article. Just the title gave me goosebumps.
So which Brazilian/Spanish overrated players need to be saved from their clubs? We’ve got Ceballos and Borges, to name a few. Who’s next? Who are Kia Joo clients?
Edu’s son?
Our jan mega transfer of CM : we see edu warming up on the field.
Seems to be doing ok for the youth team?
Luigi Gaspar is already in the academy 🙂
Isco on loan is doing the rounds.
I’ve seen that one and can only make the sound of Sideshow Bob stepping on a rake….
Edu is destroying the cult status he once held here.
Good, I was starting to wonder if we’d sign any more over-30 Kia clients.
We’ve got a first team squad of 31, with Cirjan reportedly promoted, and Balogun likely to be promoted if he renews, which would make it 33. We’re really not in a strong selling position, we have an oversupply of players, and an undersupply of squad places. And to top it off, hardly anyone has any money, so we’re likely stuck with our dross. Dependent on how our next 4 league games go, KSE may be in a situation where the only chance they can’t afford not to take, is to not take any. However if Edu + Arteta were the… Read more »
These two are going to ruin this club.
Ridiculous.
Burnley has crept up to within striking distance of us. Fulham have a chance too should we lose to Chelsea.
Edu and Arteta watching each other’s back, people who were so keen on getting rid of Emery, not happy with Wenger and top 4 now suddenly happy to accept less than mediocrity.
Good luck.
You have it backwards – it’s that we’ve fallen to within striking distance of Burnley and Fulham.
Wenger got 5th and 6th in his last two seasons at the club. Fans could see that happening before it did. Stop with this straw man argument, because it’s not the case. Fans weren’t unhappy because we were “just getting top 4”, they were unhappy because they saw everyone else gaining on (and eventually overtaking) us. The only time fans were truly unhappy with “just top 4” was when we were fucking up chances to do better, like when all the other top teams were in transition and Leicester won the league, or when we lost the league cup final… Read more »
Who’s happy?
Edu have to resign also Arsenal club need to close all doors channel recruit from agent Kia, because none of his business favours Arsenal when you take look at other clubs,
Arsenal never buy players above 30yrs, Edu have to go….
The plan is done?! Hahahaha
A Norwich player?! Hahahaha
Just an attacking midfielder?! Hahahaha
Yep, all of this will keep us up!
Oh man that is some funny shit.
FFS just eat all your egos – all of you and get Ozil back in there until the end of season. He might even play well considering he has to get a new club by summer. We are not fighting for Europe anymore and I don’t want to see us languishing in bottom half. He definitely can’t make the team any worse. People always said he doesn’t defend and Arteta’s tactics fix that. Let’s play him and at least get near the top 6, he can’t be any worse than Willian or Pepe. We can all forget him at the… Read more »
I wonder which is the bigger blow to Arteta’s ego: recalling Ozil or being sacked.
It really is an obvious improvement even if he’s not our saviour. Perhaps someone with a little (a lot) more energy to support attack and defence and partner Partey. I’d like to see AMN in that role. Maybe even recall Torreira as backup to Partey since we don’t have a like for like replacement
It’s nothing to do with ego, and regardless of what Arteta’s said about ‘sporting ability’ and the balance of the squad, Ozil isn’t playing primarily because of his resistance to the pay cut, and the social media controversy. There may well be other factors we aren’t yet aware of, but whatever happened in the first lockdown has ended his Arsenal career. I don’t imagine it’s even in Arteta’s hands, he picked him a lot initially but he can’t come out in a press conference and say ‘the board won’t let me play him’. Also, does he actually want to find… Read more »
It all went pear shaped (more pear shaped?) when MA tried to convince the world that ozil was out for footballing reasons. The players know thats not true.
So, the solution to not saving 10% of £350K is to ensure 100% of £350K is wasted?
Make the most out of this squad
— If the most means gossip and stories, then well done. Else ….
And Adidas adverts….though shall not complaint because they have have been top class.
Can anybody name me one player that ozil is worse? Is he willian, ceballos or xhaka?
One would think Ozil has to be playing Fortnite during training sessions to fall below Arteta’s non-negotiables threshold, given how those three you mentioned pass it. Yet, we have players saying how professional he is.
Tat could be read as “So you can blame Edu, then”. Still, how busy he’ll be could be a matter of some doubt as I’m not sure who’ll want to join us given the state that the club is currently in. For example, once we could offer new recruits regular CL football (and the money that went with it of course), then just the EL. Now, who knows? A run in a domestic cup? Hardly a scenario designed to get players and their agents beating a path to The Emirates’ door. Good luck, Edu.
Buenida is class…reminds me of Santi!
Soooo we finally know what do Edu do! Happy times…
And why I dont have slight conviction that Edu will do a half decent job in January? This job came way too early for him and for Mikel 🙁
I guess anyone is a step up from Raul.
Hmmm. We don’t really know that for sure yet, do we?
One or both are responsible for willian and Luiz. Both are unforgivable. I have no confidence that trying to buy our way out of this mess can work
Not sure who was responsible for those particular “A-List” signings. However, there were press reports that Edu and MA didn’t agree about one recent signing at least, that of Partey. MA wanted Aouar, but was overruled. Who knows, but if true it’s not a good sign. As to dosh, I doubt that we’ve the money to buy our way out of this mess. The owner apparently loaned the club the funds to buy Partey as the coffers were empty. We certainly won’t have filled them since the last window closed so will he do that again? In any case, who’d… Read more »
I don’t understand why the club would have prioritised Partey over Aouar, we’d shaped up considerably at the back but were obviously lacking creativity. Partey is absolute class and I’m so pleased we have him, but it would have been more fun to have been a bit more loose, installed a playmaker, and won some scrappy games 4-3. If you can’t score any then it only takes conceding one to lose! Why David Luiz isn’t ever considered for the DM role is so strange, he has heaps of experience there, his passing from deep is incredible and if he had… Read more »
I’m a bit concerned that Aouar might be another Pepe should we land him. Talented player but with a lot of adaption to do to become effective in the PL. Lacks physicality. And very expensive – we could fix 2 positions with that £60m if we had decision makers who could distinguish a Kante from a Xhaka. Buendia would be far more sensible IMO. He’s already shown he can create a lot in a struggling PL team Luiz is practically immobile these days. You can’t play him anywhere but the middle of a back 3. Least of all in midfield… Read more »
Headline should read – Edu is in daily contact with Super Agent
I have a hope. When that waste of space WILL I Am Not went away to salt bae last month and wasn’t dropped or hauled over the coals it was bcos he actually went to discuss signing for a club in the middle East. Would explain his lack of effort. Maybe he doesn’t want to get injured? I pray I’m right but if I’m not and even though I’m wrong 98% of the time the 2% I am right , I am right 100%. See MA for explanation lol)
We need to shift about 10 players out the door and trim the squad to lessen factions developing.
Then we need to go shopping in France for players, where the TV deal collapsed and there will be bargains.
I’ve accepted we won’t pay Ozil off as we save a few grand every game he doesn’t play, but I hope to god that they started looking for a club for Sokratis the second the last window shut. Nelson needs to go on loan. I think he probably regrets not going sooner, but I like his determination to stay & fight for a place even though it hasn’t really worked out. If this was any other club I’d loan out Mustafi for what’s left of his contract to free up squad places – even if we have to bear the… Read more »
the heading of this post wouldn’t fill you with much confidence would it?
This shameful club deserves everhthing coming its way.. hypocrites deserve to get somethered.. we used to class now were probably.lower than chelsea in terms of ethics.. i have no pity even though i die for Arsenal
oh dear! not sure if lego hair passing the buck but both Arteta and Edu need to go!
why are they getting a free pass compared to Emery?
I wish arsenal would sign isco to save it’s millions
Hello – the blame game has started….
“Edu is dealing with transfers” is the highly acclaimed new horror film for winter 2020/21! Starring a semi-starstudded cast from yesteryear on unbelievable salaries! Directed by Kia Joorabchian, creator of “A nightmare on Willian street 3(-year contract)”
Ya know, watching all of Arsenal’s games, I’m convinced they would improve immediately if Arteta sat down and relaxed, having told his players: “You are good. Go out and play your game.” At the moment, everyone, from Arteta on down, as simply afraid of losing. He needs to take the pressure off. And, play the young players.
If they’re not gonna sack him back him.
Get him a creative midfielder for gods sake.
Soumare please to play along side partey (if he stays fit). Young, strong, quick technical (rough around the edges but is yet to peak). And at a relatively good price. Just do it. At the very least(if those 2 are playing in tandem) we have a string dynamic pairing in the center of the park. We need that for the big games, which for me are maybe 2 or 3 teams in the europa league. At this point I’d take 17th and a europa league win and feel extremely relieved. At least wed maintain some kind of sense of being… Read more »
The only thing i am 100% sure is the Kronke’s are just rubbish…nothing suggests that they understand football nor they are going to learn any time soon.
The sooner they sale club the better
But Macey cannot be worse than this guy! Why did we buy a goalkeeper that cannot hold the ball, very short and yet we have goalkeepers in the academy that I believe cannot be worse!!!
This is shocking