I would but Arteta does not.For a young manager given such a chance he seems very inflexible and seems to require very specific things,he does not seem to like Saliba either who we spent 30m on and won the race to secure,his inferior partner fofana from st etinne has starred for Leicester while we are linked to Kounde from Sevilla.
Smith Rowe for £25m? Are Villa having a laugh?! Wouldn't sell him for anything less than £75m. English, young, awesome.
This is the first time I genuinely feel like a club has put in a bid just to wind the other clubs fans up. Seriously £25m??? When youve just bought Buendia for £10m more than that??? Do Villa even need Smith Rowe????
I really dont understand Arsenal. £40m bid for Ben White?! He's a good player sure. What will happen to William Saliba? Mavroponos had a great Season in Germany as well and it looks like we are going to sell him for less than £10m! We have these young talented CB's wanted by Clubs all over Europe except our own. ****ing ****show! overpaying for players we dont need and selling players on the cheap.
Most of the 'class' players out there who want to move will be tempted by the top four which sadly does not include Arsenal. Also they may have noticed that Arteta is very erratic in his player treatment. He sold a class keeper in Martinez and now a comparatively short time later is looking for a Leno replacement. He also kept playing out of form people such as Aubameyang and Willian who were just 'passengers' in most games they played and really cost us points in the long run. He needs to put a bit more faith in the likes of Martinelli etc. otherwise they will want to move on to a club where they will be more appreciated.
Maybe just maybe this is the season we start with the younger players and players like Martinelli will get a chance.. One thing I have noticed is that our young players are all resigning contracts which proves they support arteta and the process... Tierney signed a new deal I believe I read yesterday that is good sign we are not going to fall into the trap of letting players contacts run out..
Said at the end of last season that I'd like to see the young players given a chance this season. We need to be building this team around the likes of Tierney, Saliba, Smith Rowe, Saka, Martinelli and if we're able to bring in some talent to complement them, all the better. Just let them have this season to build and grow together, without any expectation or the distraction of Europe.
I will say Ben White is going to be a very good signing. He's a very classy defender. In a way he's a replacement for Luiz - Arteta is clearly after a CB wth accurate long range passing ability. I just hope we still have room for Saliba in the squad.
Lets say the current rumours are correct... (updated) Its a decent lineup but - I'm not sure how strong that side would actually be. -------------------------Leno-------------------------- Aarons-------White---------Gabriel------Tierney --------Partey------Lokongia-----Maddison-------- ------Saka------Aubamayeng-------SmithR-------- Abraham, Pepe, Martinelli, Holding, Mari, Neves, Tavarez, Johnstone. Abraham would give us something different I suppose Maddison could be a massive signing but fitting him Saka and ESR into the same side may be tricky.
Goalkeeper is weak and as I've said before massive mistake selling Martinez. Aubameyang is only worth a punt if he decides to put in some effort next season and not resume his role as an expensive passenger, rather have sold him and keep Lacazette. Don't see any point in Abraham, average player who never really established himself at Chelsea and also we have some young guns coming through for that position.
So it appears Roma were lowballing us with Xhaka. Fair enough for rejecting the bid (which was derisory in itself). But why are we offering him a new deal AND a wage increase? This doesn't help us at all. It is a bad move.
It's quite remarkable. He isn't popular with the fans (even before the Palace outburst), he polarises opinion within the fanbase but for some reason, managers love him. He was undroppable under Wenger, Emery and Arteta. Even Mourinho adores him, which is why he was begging Roma to acquire his services. It's strange how diametrically opposed the views are of Xhaka between fans and management.
Seems like we've enquired about Lautaro Martinez and he's interested. I didn't expect Inter to put him up for sale, but they must be in a lot of financial difficulty to be getting rid of their stars. Would be a great signing, but seems like we need to move players on first e.g. Nketiah, Lacazette etc.
