Mikel Arteta has thanked the club for backing him in the transfer market this summer, after Japan international Takehiro Tomiyasu became the sixth signing of the window on transfer deadline day.
The 22 year old joins Ben White, Nuno Tavares, Aaron Ramsdale, Albert Sambi Lokonga and Martin Odegaard as part of a youthful rebuild which has set the Gunners back close to £150m.
Speaking after a 4-0 behind-closed-doors win over Brentford at London Colney, the manager spoke about the latest signing and how pleased he was to have addressed the issue we have at right back.
“We followed him for a while,” said Arteta.
“We needed a full back who could be very versatile, can play as a centre back, can play in a back three, Tomi has this capacity.
“He is 22 years old but he has some really good experience in Serie A and at international level and with the qualities we are looking for.”
It was certainly a busy period, with incoming and outgoing deals, and the manager continued, “It was a really complicated market. We had a lot of things to do, I think we had 16 or 17 transactions in total, which is a lot.
“The club has made a big effort, we had support from the owners to try to do it and we had to recruit in the terms that we could, and I am very pleased.
“Again, it is 16/17 changes to the squad – it is a lot. You have to blend them all together, some of them haven’t even trained with us yet because they have still to come in the next week or so, as quick as possible.
“We have a good group, they will help them to adapt as quick as possible and get them to work with us and see when we can integrate all together.”
Let’s hope it’s a fresh looking side that can get us off the mark against Norwich next weekend, and take all three points.
Arsenal v Norwich: Judgement Day!!!
Lose and you’re terminated!!!
Da-da-da der-dum!!!
Arteta isn’t getting sacked. He’ll be here all season (and most likely next) unless things go drastically wrong i.e relegation. The club are backing him long term, like Man U have done with Solskjear. As painful as this might sound, the fans need to back the team 100%.
No chance. Norwich beat us and he is out, and I can’t see him as our manager past December.
Absolute bollocks. If we’re lounging about in mid-table at Christmas he’ll be sacked. You don’t spend the best part of 200 million quid to hang around with Burnley and Southampton. European qualification is an absolute minimum.
Even stupid Stan won’t put up with that kind of mediocrity.
What does Stan know about football? Or his son? Some of the US teams that he’s owned have stunk for years.
LA Rams, Denver Nuggets, CO Rapids, and CO Avalanche are all pretty solid competitors in their respective leagues…
Name in the last 15 years how many times those teams won outright what they are playing for it’s worse than mediocrity.
American sports don’t have relegation and that would equal a huge lose in funds. American sports also don’t generally have cup competitions like the CL or Europa league. The continued absence from these competitions is a loss of funds that Stan won’t likely continue to abide with.
Someone tell Josh that the bottom team don’t get first pick in the draft…
Judging by some of their US teams, they would have traded away all the top picks for old veterans anyway.
What they might not know about football, they will certainly know about league tables and their monetary connections and consequences. Top four might not necessarily be top of their wish list, but neither is the bottom half of the table, the relegation places and subsequent loss of revenue.
If Arteta continues to stink the place out like he has been doing, then sooner or later the drains are going to have to come up and be flushed out.
R u serious, do you have some sort of obsession with Arteta to utter such nonsense? Listen no matter what you say Arteta as one foot outside the club, I’m just waiting for both feet to be out, and it’s coming because he’s simply not good enough!
Don’t believe everything you read, the press love a crisis. Results will pick up and Arteta will be fine. Bigger picture still looks good, and I for one am looking forward to seeing our first eleven emerge as it will be very different to what we’ve had to put up with so far.
What planet do you live on? Have you watched any of the games this season or last season? Where have you been? Enough with the excuses. Arteta is not qualified to be our manager….you keep putting your head in the sand.
First XI will be different but where do you expect Arsenal to finish this season?
Really?
And how different is the playing ‘style’ going to be from the last 18 months?
Don’t tell me we’re going to start stroking it around in inch perfect triangles and hitting swift counter attacks, because this season all we’ve had so far is more of the same.
Backwards and sideways passing, the speed of movement of a constipated hippo, continually giving away possession and lumping in hit and hope crosses to absolutely no one. In other words, LEGOball, in all it’s glory.
No change of personnel has made a difference yet, why should it now……………….?
I don’t think that’s such a bad thing. Half is squad is young and new, he still needs time.
There is nothing about this rebuild that makes sense, we have been here before with Wenger and we are doing it again. We obviously don’t learn, the whole trust the process is all about making money from the fans it has nothing to do with the footballing side of things. Arsenal is the only big club who hasn’t won a major trophy in the last 10 years in the Premiership and yet still has a large global following. Let’s be honest, they spending this amount of money on young players is a safe bet for them on the long term:… Read more »
This is the problem with deluded fans,,, true arsenal fans have been waiting for 17 years,, we’ve waited long enough,, we’ve equaled the longest run without a title,,, times up,, time to start challenging now not in 5 years,,, what we waiting for??? For it to be 30 years like Liverpool??? Ffs
So which magic button do you switch on to make us instant winners of the league? And which money tree? Grow up. The club have chosen a sensible strategy to get back to where we need to be, we haven’t been competitive for years, true Arsenal fans support the team, you are the deluded one. This isn’t FIFA.
Winners of the league? No one is asking for that at the moment. The last time I checked, top four and a return to the Champions’ League seems to be the more realistic target. As for the money tree, we have now parted with the best part of £150 million. No one hates the Kroenkes more than me, but credit where it’s due, they have spent more money than any other Premiership club in this window. If there is any ‘magic button’ to be pressed, it is to change the game plan, the way the team approaches games and how… Read more »
Well said son…
The team’s strategy is also about 50% reliant on the coaching personnel. Can you find me a coach with underlying metrics ranked within the bottom half who has gone on to win a title? If not, the club is certainly not being sensible in that regard. You’re correct, true Arsenal fans support “the team”. Despite this it is fairly common around these parts to see the likes of Leno and Auba being blamed for our poor tactical displays. Where in the social contract does it say we have to support an underperforming manager who consistently throws his players under the… Read more »
Well said. A growing majority of Arsenal fans have had it up to here with false dawns, projects and processes. With Wenger, we had the attacking football, but not the true financial muscle – like that displayed this summer – to make us competitive. I don’t seem to remember Arsene ever being given £150m to spend in one window. Now, ironically it’s role reversal. We now have the financial clout but implement the most boring directionless football it has ever been my misfortune to witness in nigh 50 years of watching The Arsenal. To challenges for the top prizes now,… Read more »
Wenger had loads of money just refused to spend it
And there it is!
The biggest fucking myth of all time!
Do you think the fucking stadium paid for itself?
Do you think the Highbury Apartments all went like hot cakes, despite the Stock Crash of October 2008?
Or do you really think that having signed Overmars, Pires, Henry and Campbell, Wenger suddenly thought to himself, “We’ve moved to the new stadium, fuck it, I’ll deliberately stop spending big and start bringing in dross like Diawara and Silvestre.”
I bet you were one of them screaming for him to be gone. Well done. Look at us now……
Arsenal profits after stadium repayment since the stadium opened in 2006 to 2013 when we started spending again: 2006 £15.9m 2007 £5.6m 2008 £36.7m 2009 £45.5m 2010 £56m 2011 £14.8m 2012 £36.6m 2013 £6.7m Total £217.8m Are you really suggesting that the best Arsenal could do at this time was the likes of Chamakh and Squillacci? No, the reason we didn’t invest to the level we should have were multiple and allowed to happen when converging interests alighted. Wenger’s motivation was his emotional investment in this youth project and almost pathological hatred of Abramovic’s money and what he saw as… Read more »
When Kroenke finally got majority ownership in 2011 we started to spend again. The repeated breaking of our transfer starting with Ozil however was never enough to fill the holes dug the years previous, as we threw away years of hard work to give ourselves a competitive advantage.
It’s criminal what happened to the club during those years, but i bet you were one of those cheering it on. Look at us now…….
And yes, I am fully aware that Campbell was procured on a free transfer.
But his salary was (quite rightly) one of the highest in football at the time.
Not sure what time is going to change. He got his preseason everyone was defending him on and didn’t have them prepared for brentford. He’s in over his head, 3 systems in 1st 3 games. What were they working on all summer.
God forbid bad thing!!
I am with you. If the team is close to relegation he might be on a bit of a slippery slope, but if the team is mid table and competitive the Kroenke’s wont give a rats A$S# if the new signings are improving and the performances are improving. Its a long term project, they accept results wont be instant.
That’s what’s worrying- Kroenke is doing the same to Arsenal that Ashley has done to Newcastle. They are one and the same. Mediocrity can be a decent enough business model apparently. And yet we still turn up, pay the highest ticket prices in the league and reward Kroenke’s incompetence/indifference. We’re all being played for fools by this prick.
That’s bollocks, over the last 5 years our net spend is in the top 3 in the league whilst Ashley doesn’t spend a penny and is actively looking to sell
It’s not bollocks. Where do you think the money we’ve spent is coming from? Kroenke’s own pocket?! Uhm, no. Wise up. It’s coming from the good ol Bank of England…debt loaded onto the club and leverage the assets to pay it off. The normal US model of ownership for premier league clubs.
Next you’ll be telling me Willian actually ripped up his contract…lol.
It is bollocks because Ashley is actively trying to sell Newcastle whilst Kroenke has, if we’re to believe the Spotify guy, turned down the chance to double his money!
And there’s nothing “American” about a company taking out a loan to invest in the business. It’s standard practice all around the world
Kroenke runs this football club exactly the same way Ashley runs his and the net result is increasingly similar. Bottom half of the league. And there is everything American about loading football clubs with debt to acquire them, then rip the shit out them for profit. Are you part of the Kroenke PR team that comes on here to defend laurel and hardy?
You talk complete nonsense. It was before Kroenke had any real say in the club that our demise started. It was between 2005 and 2012/13 when the club/Wenger took a gamble with the clubs future, decided not to invest/compete for top quality and banked on a combination of Abramovic getting bored and FFP to come to our rescue, history has told us that was a gamble we lost. The fact that our previous owners had set up an auction between Kroenke and Usmanov also didn’t help our situation, if anything it was them that acted as Ashley is behaving now… Read more »
You cannot blame the owners this time.
We have spent more than anyone else – yet we’re still getting turned over by clubs like Brentford.
That’s on the manager – not the owner.
We even spent $72m on 1 player
Maybe you should pick Burnley or Palace as a fan. Not sure if you were around when we had some pride.
I think both Arteta and Edu should be in the same ship. If performance is not up to mark, both have to take the sack.
He should be, but we both know he won’t be. Besides I expect us to beat Norwich 3 0, then go down 2 1 to Burnley with the sound of the mutual backslapping still ringing in our ears
If I was a bookie, I wouldn’t even give 6/4 on that. I’d shut down the book.
I think its going to take at least three defeats between now and the next interlull for Kroenke to wield the axe.
In the meantime, any points scraped here and there will be lauded by the Excuse Factory like the second coming of The Invincibles.
So glad I shelved my season ticket until next August, when, please God, this fucking farce will be over and we’ll have a new manager.
Happy with the signing. I would always Takehiro over villains anyday.
On paper we do have a good team, time for Arteta to start performing.
You mean takehiro over any willians
Holding out for Takehiro?
I might even Takeziro over Willians
Willian has proven to be a very honest person. It didn’t work for him at Arsenal and unlike Ozil, he accepted to cancel his contract without asking the club to pay him the remainder. He was a great player for Chelsea.
So Willian is flavour of the again month now? Well I guess that’s understandable as we don’t have to worry about him playing for us again. But really man, you’re having a laugh if you don’t think there was a significant payout that happened to Willian and Kia for them to rip up the contract. Of course the club don’t want knowledge of that to become public because the whole transfer was a complete disaster. Professional footballers and their agents aren’t charities.
Perhaps Edu got an ultimatum from the owners to get rid of Willian? To save his own job, Edu went to Kia, and they came up with this PR bullshit to shift Willian back to Edu’s old club.
Just one look at Willian’s belly, and we can tell that he has no desire to play football at the top level.
So true.
What Willian did was stupid…if you are working in an institution, you are being well paid with little effort and you very well know you are already old enough to retire will you resign or continue taking the paychecks?.
Keep in mind the institution was aware that age might already be telling you before they offered you the job?.
Please Arsenal is a business not a charity. The only relationship we have with the club is it’s history, entertainment and trophies, is 100% a private business right now owned by the Kroenkes.
Let’s not be so emotional about these things.
Fair play to Willian but its not the same situation as Ozil. Neither him nor us will miss each other. The main thing that links the two players is Arteta seemed to think Willian could replace Ozil as attacking midfielder.
Ozil was treated disgracefully by the club and Willian was given a red carpet and put in front of others who were far better. Ozil was one of best footballers I have ever had privilege to watch play live. Willian was not. Don’t make ridiculous comparisons and don’t be so gullible to believe Willian ripped up his contract and walked away from 20 million. It’s all PR to ease negativity toward club. Wise up 🤓
Yep, it will Takehiro to save Arsenal from the mess.
That pun is splendid
Splendid, but already done to death.
I’ve got real Nacho Monreal vibes from Tamiyasu
we should have kept nacho around as a good influence on the younger players if nothing else. he was a very underrated player for us.
And he was still better than the bloke who replaced him
Completely agree about Nacho but I think he was the one called time not us, anyway hope he’s enjoying life back home
We should of kept ramsey nacho and santi to be fair
Bold words, but until I see him kick an orange into a fridge and wink into the camera I’ll reserve judgement thanks.
Introducing 3/4 new starters and 1/2 new important rotation players at a single moment is a lot (and that’s not including Ramsdale who assume won’t be playing much early on). There is very little chance they will all start playing in synch immediately. A loss to Norwich would suck but wouldn’t shock me. Despite this, my guess is that the owners will stick with Arteta this year unless we get several months in and are still in bottom 3. This will make many fans unhappy. I’ll be unhappy w anything short of top 6 (top 4 really) but realistically It… Read more »
Whats with the fractions?
I was trying to save space. I like to keep my posts short.
Good one Tampa. Plus the fractions are in keeping with the article.
Short 1/2 the time
I am sure Arteta will use your excuse for the next defeat.
I like anagrams and I thought it interesting that an anagram for Mikel Arteta is “Emirate Talk.”
Seems appropriate.
Would prefer if his name was Mike Arteation instead… (Emirate Aktion)
Work with me here folks.
All get my coat…
Ratlike Mate is my personal favourite
A teat milker
Brilliant. Milking the teat of AFC until he can drink no more.
I would take Mikel Artesta just to get to ‘Emirates Talk’, a proper tabloid.
Or “Ar, mi testakel” which is what pirates say when they get kicked in the ball (as we know pirates only have one ball because the other is made of wood).
Made me snort weetabix out of my nose.
Well played sir
The usual over the past few years, the leavers always seem to depart on loan, admittedly it mostly gets them off the payroll but no fee rolls in. Chelsea & City have been selling surplus Academy players for a period of years for totals of tens of millions each year. Not many teams want to lay out much to take our excess, does that indicate anything?
Yes, that not getting into a side containing De Bruyne, Grealish and Dias or Kante, Hazard and Azpilicueta will have an inversely opposite effect on a players value when compared to not getting in a team containing Xhaka, Mari and Elneny
Wait, is that why we could not sell Nelson for what Chelsea got for Tammy Abraham? (By the way, this is an example of why “net spend” statistics are often misleading–they don’t reflect the real financial imbalance between clubs. It’s true Chelsea do sometimes offset a particular window’s spending by selling players–but they spent a lot in the past to buy and then keep those players, who were often not even included in the eighteen or who were sent on serial loans.)
I disagree, it proves that net spend is highly accurate and that operating at the top end of the market pays for itself. Being a discerning buyer is how the rich get richer.
“I believe he’s a player that can really make a difference for us,” Arteta said. “We have been monitoring him for the past few months, we had a clear intention to strengthen in the attacking midfielder and the winger positions. He is a player that gives us a lot of versatility, he can play in three or four different positions.“ Arteta after Willian signing.
I know one position that I have seen a lot of – Standing still
Indeed. Both on the pitch and next to his buddy in Dubai during lockdown. The cunt.
We should not have offered such an exorbitant three year contract to an aging player. Length of the contract aside, the signing made lot of sense at the point. The guy had experience, versatility and credentials. Unfortunately the Willian who turned up at Emirates was probably an imposter. There is probably a case that Arteta could have managed the situation a bit better. Rather than persisting with him in starting 11 until something would click, maybe Arteta should have benched him earlier. That would have prevented fans from getting on his back and making any kind of return impossible. Overall… Read more »
Fair point. I always liked the Chelsea Willian. But the fact that Chelsea wouldn’t give him the contract he wanted should have been a fucking massive red flag for our recruiters.
IF we’re moving to a 3 at the back full time, Tomiyasu looks a good signing. He’s happy in a 3, White likes a 3 and they should make a decent trio with Gabriel. We had our best results in the last 18 months using a 3, I honestly don’t know why Arteta is so adverse to it. I still don’t rate Tomiyasu as a RB though, so unless he’s convinced Maitland Niles to play RWB this looks like a mistake.
I think the team would be happier with a 11 than a 10 in the last league game.
you got this one wrong. we were in relegation form with the 343 formation. The upturn in form last season was after we switched to a 433 with smith rowe in the hole.
I don’t know if you guys subscribe to Latte Firm on YouTube, they had a bloke on who runs a podcast on Serie A (Nimo someone) who had some very interesting explanations about Tomiyasu as a player and consequently his likely role in the team – that he’s more comfortable as a centre-back than as a right-back. I actually disagreed with the guy’s suggestion that Tomiyasu was bought to play on the right side of a 3, but a couple of guys in the comments pointed out that we generally play as a 3-2-5 when attacking, and a 4-4-2 when… Read more »
3-4-3 definitely suits our defenders (and Saliba), but it doesn’t suit Odegaard so why didn’t we buy a Jorginho type midfielder instead??
Making it up as he goes along…..
3-4-3? You seem to have sent off Xhaka permanently.
What happened UG? During pre-season your opinion on Mikel was more positive. Never did I think Arteta would lose your confidence.
As a once labelled “Arteta-hater”😉, I said to you I didn’t think he was the right manager to take us forward but even I wasn’t expecting things to get this bad. Hopefully, the club board will put some of us out of our misery soon and bring an end to this circus show.
So they followed him for a while but they took all summer to sign him? I don’t see why they didn’t go and get him before the season started so he had time to have a preseason with the team. Sounds to me like a classic Arsenal panic buy, whether it turns out to be a good one or not we’ll have to wait and see.
it’s probably because he’s talking rubbish lol
Maybe because we had too many right backs?
Arteta Report Card Youth Strategy in Transfer Window — ✔️ Signings Made in Transfer Window — ✔️ Re-Resigning Xhaka to new deal — ❌ Saliba — ❌ Guendouzi — ❌ AMN — ❌ Passing on Aouar — ✔️ Passing on Bissouma — ❌ Development Progress of U-23 Stars — ❌ Fighting Spirit on the Pitch — ❌ Tactical Clarity on the Pitch — ❌ Willian Tearing Up His Contract — ✔️ FA Cup win — ✔️ Europa Semifinal Exit — ❌ Premier League Results — ❌ Fans’ Belief in Long Term Strategy — ❓ Suppose all that really matters are… Read more »
“Followed him for a while.” Signs him on final day possible. Makes sense.