Trying to guess who’ll still be an Arsenal player by the time the next transfer window shuts is not an easy task.
While it has been confirmed that David Luiz is heading for the exit and Bernd Leno has played down rumours he’s keen to follow suit, there remain question marks over the future of the majority of players.
In Tuesday’s press conference, Mikel Arteta tied himself in knots admitting he’s expecting a busy summer while also claiming all players under contract would be staying at the club. It seems he’s not too keen on giving anything away either.
Granit Xhaka and Martin Odegaard are the latest to field questions about what happens next.
For his part, the Swiss, named as one of a cartel of senior players thought to be keeping an eye out for new opportunities, maintains he’s happy where he is.
“There are always rumours at the end of the season, that’s for sure,” he told German site RP Online.
“But I still have a two-year contract in London and I am very happy with my family here.
“First of all, I’m looking at a successful Euro 2020 with the national team.”
While Martin Odegaard has also appeared happy in London since joining on loan from Real Madrid, it sounds like his owners want him back at the Bernabeu.
He’s not had much of a look-in under Zinedine Zidane so the 22-year-old is keen to learn more about how the La Liga giants actually want to use him.
“I am happy here at Arsenal, we will see after the season what will happen,” Odegaard told Sky Germany.
“I’m owned by Real Madrid, so we have to speak to them. It’s important to understand what they want.”
Elsewhere, Dinos Mavropanos says he’s found a nice Greek restaurant in Stuttgart but he’s not sure if that’s enough reason to stay at the Mercedes Benz Arena and Cedric is blocking a move abroad because he’s already paid the deposit on a six-month ballroom dancing course in Hendon. “I won’t be quick-stepping my way from the Emirates anytime soon,” said the Portuguese.
Keep them both I say, so long as Odegaard is cheap to retain.
Would it beyond the realms of possibility for Odegaard to sign for another season? We got two years out of Ceballos and Madrid have an ageing but not yet over the hill midfield. That would be great and mean we could concentrate on other positions.
That would certainly help us but reports suggest RM want him back as he’s one of the younger players that they want to build their “new”team around. With the manager very likely to leave soon any barrier on that front to Odegaard’s return will also be removed. Overall, I think it’s unlikely he’ll extend his stay with us – but you never know.
With all the respect in the world for Martin, I’m not sure he’s ready to be a regular for RM. He’s been amazing in a few games for us but is yet to find that consistency.
I would be worried it might effect his development if he was pushed too quickly into a transitional side with super high expectations.
It feels to me like we got fuck all out of Ceballos
It’s a funny thing recency bias because I went back to look at the Partey stats that Scott put together in October of last year. https://arseblog.news/2020/10/thomas-partey-by-the-numbers/ If you look at the comments, they are basically all saying what an incredible player Ceballos is and how we wish we could sign him permanently. It’s easy to forget that only 9 months ago we were over the moon to have Dani with us. He was instrumental in our FA Cup victory and looked for all the world like having a really transformative season this year. So to answer your statement, we’ve actually… Read more »
I disagree, I mainly see negative comments about Ceballos on Arseblog, and I’ve certainly never said anything positive about him. Average player who will do well at a team toward the bottom of La Liga.
You disagree with the fact that someone wrote “What a player Ceballos is” and it got 162 likes and one dislike.
Fair enough.
I’m not sure you actually understand what recency bias is but way to go trying to play the amateur psychology guy. Ceballos was rubbish for the most part of his first loan with us until he came good at the end, hence the second loan. He started of reasonably well this season but has been terrible for the most part in 2021. Now you could say I am displaying both recency and primacy biases (and you’d be wrong) or you could just acknowledge that overall he hasn’t really been a worthwhile investment. Doubly so when you consider we could have… Read more »
The bench was a warmer, happier place with his inclusion though
It just feels too short term to go for another loan. Maybe, I dunno. I’d love him to stay, but I think he’s not going to leave from anything less than like 40M quid, probably more. Loaning him still just shows a bit of a lack of long term direction that we need. While Buendia won’t come cheap either, maybe 30-40M, he’s exactly the type we need (AM, Wing, CM) and at least that way we’d have a focus on where we are going forward. ESR is obviously a talent, but we cannot rely just on him and Odegaard showed… Read more »
Yep, I totally get what you’re saying. For me, £40m is just too much to spend on a position that we already sort of have nailed on. Unless ESR takes a serious turn for the worse, I think we can all agree he’s as good an option if not better than Odegaard at present. I say we either promote Azeez (is he an ACM or a CM?), use Willock or bring in a random £6m Brazilian 18 year old as backup for ESR. Sooner or later we have to let the Hale End lads take charge of this sinking ship.… Read more »
My argument is we need more than ESR in that role, unless you want to give Saka another notch in his utility belt (I’m sure he could nail it, but as RW/LW and back LB and RB he’s probably got his hands full). But as I said, we need more technical creativity in general. Willian was meant to be that and failed. Odegaard is on loan. Behind ESR we have nothing and without another option we have no ability to play two technical attackers, and we need that to get the most out of Auba as he has basically zero… Read more »
I hear you brother and you make a good point. It probably is worth remembering that our squad can be considerably smaller this coming year so we don’t need to panic too much about all the players leaving who weren’t even a part of this seasons squad. I’m also not convinced that our style of football needs what you consider to be “technical creativity”. This, to me, sounds like an Ozil sort of player. ESR and Saka create things because they spin their man and run forwards. Tierney creates things because he beats his man and crosses effectively. You don’t… Read more »
Buendia is the best of both worlds. He’s incredibly “robust” as you put it. His workrate is elite, and he is brilliant in a high press, he can pick “that” pass and he can score – something we completely lack. He wouldn’t push ESR out of the team and I tend to agree with Arteta Tierney functions best alongside a less direct option as it gives him space to exploit. Martinelli and Tienrney kinda occupy similar space and do similar things, which is why Arteta doesn’t like playing them together and I understand that. Let’s assume we signed Buendia, Aarons,… Read more »
Ooops. I forgot Pepe…obviously competing with Saka, ESR, Balogun, Martinelli on the wings.
I’m sold! Let’s do it!
Haha, that last para. Classic Blogs. On a related note, how has Dinos gotten along at Stuttgart? Followers of the Bundesliga: has he done well?
Yes, actually. He had a cracking season with Stuttgart. They absolutely want to keep him on. He developed his passing and he’s really mobile and strong now. He surprised me a lot this season and has really positive press in Germany. Just not sure how we can get him back into contention of the Arsenal team. It would probably require Holding, Chambers or Saliba being moved. Chambers is probably needed due to his quality at RB and versatility to play CB, Holding had a really strong season and deserves his chance again this year, and we’d be crazy not to… Read more »
At the very least, Dino’s market value should have gone up as a result of his loan.
Thanks! It looks like Dinos could be a real asset from what you say. It would suck to see him go.
Arteta is looking forward to relaxing over the summer and also saying how busy it will be. I hope there is a plan in place…
Thats not his fault. Hes just following government guidelines. Go out dont go out.
Lack of Perspective has a great perspective 🙂
I think he deserves a holiday like anyone else, but it won’t be all summer long so I think we can all be assured that there will still be plenty of time for it to be “busy” as well. In any case, Edu and others will, presumably, not be taking their holidays at the same time.
As to a plan, I imagine that one has been drawn up as everyone involved realises (or should do by now) that what happens over this summer could very well be crucial for the club – and for them.
RM are going to be asking for silly money for Martin, and apart from that second half performance against West Ham he’s not set the world alight. We could probably get someone decent cheaper to compete with ESR
Might be worth revisiting Auour. We wanted to sign him last year & he’s had a pretty poor season which should mean the price has dropped signficantly. Still talent there.
Thank you AA for treating these vague comments with the banter they deserve.
2 years left Granit? Prob time we cashed in then.
Absolutely. Xhaka is solid, but he’s nothing more and still better suited to slower European leagues. We’ve gone backwards with him running our midfield since his arrival, that’s not all his fault, but he’s absolutely played a role. With 2 years left we either sign him up to another long-term deal and crazy big wages and we know what we have. A solid 6-7/10 guy that will occassionally headbutt someone. Or we sell him while he has value and upgrade – which is so clearly needed. Even if he stays we probably need to sign a CM anyway and you’d… Read more »
I was really disappointed when during the first season of Unay Emery I heard him saying we can only hope to bring in a player on loan. We got Dennis Suarez and we all know how it all went. 5th in the League and no UEFA league cup. The management could not back him up.
We needed a quality midfielder then and we need one no. Though he’s been the best loanee
a repeat of Odegard will be a waste of time and resources.
*now
Least real could do is give us Odegaard for another season after two seasons of Cabellos
Bit off topic here,lads, but I hope you’ll forgive me… Last night I found the documentary about Arsenal’s crazy ’89 season, and it struck me as being incredibly relevant to where Arsenal are today. George Graham’s attitude and tactics as a man manager certainly wouldn’t be accepted in this day and age, and one thing that struck me was Tony Adams speaking about his role as captain, and it set me wondering as to whether we have a weak link in the squad right there. Thoughts,anyone? But a blinder of a docu – couldn’t get to sleep after seeing it-… Read more »
We should definitely try to sign Odegaard, but no buy back clauses, sell on clauses, or loans If someone will give us £20-£25mill for Xhaka, I’d be inclined to accept, and move on He’s been better this season, but I certainly wouldn’t say no to Bissouma, and I quite like the look of Berge Our midfield has been flat and once paced for a long time, you probably couldn’t assemble a less dynamic and more one paced collection of midfielders than Xhaka, Ceballos, Guendouzi, Torreira Elneny is ok as fourth choice, but we can do better The PL is all… Read more »