Nacho Monreal has revealed that Unai Emery asked him to play in the North London derby before completing his move to Real Sociedad.
Eyebrows were raised when the Gunners allowed the Spain international to leave for the Basque outfit 24 hours before the clash with Sp*rs, especially as he’d appeared in three consecutive games ahead of Sead Kolasinac.
In fairness, if we were Real Sociedad, and on the cusp of sealing a cracking cut-price deal for Monreal, we’d probably not want him taking part in such a high-intensity encounter either.
Monreal also revealed that he had weighed up leaving when Arsene Wenger departed only for Emery to persuade him otherwise.
“In my head for weeks there was already the possibility of coming here, and a few days ago we agreed and here we are,” Monreal told AS [translated by Sport Witness].
“Last year, let’s just say we couldn’t come to an agreement, because it was Emery’s first year. He was blunt from the first moment saying I wasn’t going out.
“And this year the parties have been more open. Emery kept insisting that I go on, even asked me to play the derby against London.”
It’s hoped that new signing Kieran Tierney will take part in his first team training session when the Interlull ends thus mitigating the loss of Monreal.
It’s been a pleasure
I will miss this guy, always up for it.
And I thought it was nacho decision
250k is an absolute joke for a player of his experience, ability and fitness!
Surely you don’t believe that’s the real amount? This has been the worst transfer window for lies, because now most Gooners get their info from a handful of big Arsenal social media accts, and those accts don’t vet their information properly (journos should really call the club and ask them to confirm or deny before republishing info they hear), they just repost whatever they hear for clicks and engagement. And what gets more engagement than info that makes Arsenal look bad? It’s ironic because after turning our backs on tabloids like the Sun and the Daily Mail, the info we’re… Read more »
Thanks for your concern, but the figure is from transfermarkt.com
Yeah, that definitely makes it fact 😉
Amazing isn’t it.
transfermarkt.com is run by Axel Springer, the same German company that runs Bild and bunch of other German tabloids. Their information is sometimes accurate, but they basically rely on tabloid sourcing.
Didn’t mean to attack anyone. I’ve read that Sociedad paid 3m, which makes a bit more sense than 250k. Just saying we don’t yet know for sure
Fair enough. Would be interested to know what your fountain of truth is
don’t you think ‘just saying we don’t know yet for sure’ is different from a claim to access to the fountain of truth.
Its transfermarkt, not transferfakt (yeaaaaaahh)
I think the price doesn’t really matter here, though it’s probably not very much. I think this is Raul doing Montreal, his agent, and Sociedad a favor so that when we want someone down the line, one of those two entities that can help us will be more apt to.
Our most experienced player in the squad and always a leader on the pitch, I think his presence would have improved Sunday’s team. As much as it’s nice we get to give him this sentiment I wish the club was more selfish sometimes
If I were him I’d have played. Would have gotten a testimonial of sorts. Imagine if he’d netted a winner. Nm eh.
Imagine if he’d picked up an injury…
Well thats the difference between greatness and being a coward
No, its the difference between sensible and stupid.
And why didn’t you play and say goodbye Nacho? 🙁
Between this and Emery subbing on Mkhi, could there be a slight disconnect between Emery’s wishes for the squad and those of the executive? I don’t think it’s a big deal at the moment, it’s just interesting.
if so i agree with the executive
These statements by Nacho clearly say to me this is his decision. I don’t think it has anything to do with the execs vs Emery
Thanks for your contributions to the team and the club, Nacho! All the best with your new club in Spain.
You’re quite nice for a twat
I cannot help thinking that there was some unwritten agreement or at least understanding between him and the club that he would be allowed to leave. There is a real parallel with Koscielny–both seriously thought about leaving when Wenger did, both were convinced to stay another year, perhaps on the argument that they were needed for the transition, and (my guess) both were promised they would be allowed to go after that. Perhaps (again, my guess) Koscielny’s refusal to go on tour was a result of his belief that management (or Emery himself) were reneging on that understanding. I am… Read more »
The quite dignity and professionalism that this man has shown from the moment he signed until the day he left is exemplary. He won’t be remembered as one of The Arsenal’s best defenders, or even one of the best left backs. But I hope he is remembered. He got what it meant to play for this club and conducted himself thus. Koscielny could have done a lot worse than follow his example at the end.
Good luck Nacho, you won’t get a statue but you’ll always be a Gooner!
Gooners would kill for a chance to play tottenham
I wonder what message Kola will take from the news that his place in the team was behind that of a player who had, basically, left the club ?
He was behind Monreal in the pecking order against Liverpool, Burnley and Newcastle. Why should the perception switch so suddenly? You always want to play the best team available, particularly in NLD. Kola knows he’s considered backup to Kierney anyway.
It’s sad to see him leave though.
Well I kind of thought that it might be one thing being behind another, more senior, player in the squad, but perhaps something different being behind that player when he had left the building. What’s more, the prospect of you playing is, apparently, so bad that the departing player is being begged to stay for one more game. But hey, apparently that’s not a thing at all, so my bad…
I hope he will get the message that his defending needs to improve.
I guess he wanted to return home. His departure leaves us thin at the back. esp. since he’s done the job in the center as well as out on the left
Thought Kolasinac was very good against Spurts…lest my eyes deceive me,he got down several times delivering dangerous crosses including the one that led to the disallowed goal (fractionally offside unlucky) And defensively he was sound. Neither of the goals were his fault, covered the left side pretty well, maybe could have got back quicker for first goal but Monreal could not catch up with Salah (He isn’t the quickest) So all things considered, we kept the right player. Monreal IMO was good for one more season with us. I think we jumped at the opportunity buy with Tierney ONLY after… Read more »
What does this tell you about Emery’s faith in Kolasinac?
Arsenal FC seems too nice when it comes to transfers and it baffles me. 3mil for Nacho is really sad if you consider we paid 8mil of David Luiz. The list goes on and on Wojech, Ospina, etc. Hmmmm
When you seehow Spurs or for that matter MC scored their goals,you can see the difference.Emery is imitating Wenger by trying to thread the ball through a congested box.So when the ball broke loose,Spurs went on to score. How many times have we seen that?
Wenger out!!
Oh wait!