Whilst we've not had too many massive injuries in midfield or attack, defence appears to be getting decimated. Look at these absentees ahead of the Monaco match: Tomiyasu out. White out. Gabriel out. Calafiori out. Timber out. Zinchenko out. That's 6 defenders missing from the first-team squad. Unbelievable.
Rice, Calafiori and Zinchenko expected to be back for the Palace game. Tomiyasu still out and no closer to a return. If he's expected to be out for a while longer, I would prefer to keep Kieran Tierney rather than get rid in January. I know we're not extending his deal and it will expire in Summer, however, we may as well keep him until then if we're still in the dark about Tomi's absence. And realistically, how much would we get for KT in Jan? Like £5m max? I hope we keep him as cover.
Just seen the images of Saka limping off on crutches after the game. This is really worrying news considering the schedule we've got coming up. But this is the price we pay for not properly strengthening that right hand side. We've bought Sterling in (who is also now injured and Arteta has no clue when he'll be back) and never used him, and have used Saka like a bar of soap. If he's out for a medium-to-long term, then we can't say this hasn't been coming. Today was Saka's 250th appearance for Arsenal. That's a ridiculous amount of games to have played already at the age of 23. If he's out for more than 2 weeks, we need to bring in another forward in January. We absolutely have to.
Arteta confirmed that Saka is going to be out for weeks, implying he wouldn't be back until end of January/start of February. This is a monumental blow. What doesn't help is that Sterling is out for weeks too with a knee injury.... Surely, we dip into the market, even if it's for a short-term loan? We are ridiculously light on the flanks now.
Correction - he could be out for even longer. He's apparently out for - a minimum of - 8 weeks. And Sterling's injury absence length needs to be assessed. We seriously need an extra player in the forward line in January. It would be utterly insane to not get someone in. Trossard and Jesus aren't exactly known for being averse to injuries themselves...and if either one of them is injured, then we have a serious crisis on our hands.
Yeah - have they actually said the injury is a hamstring? looked that way.. which is alot better than a knee injury on the whole.
Yeah defo hamstring and probably a tear. It's one that we'll have to be sure not to rush him back from, but yes it does at least not have any mechanical long term problems that knee injuries can incur
Yes, Mikel confirmed he's torn his hamstring. I'm presuming it's a grade 2 because he said 'it could have been much worse', which indicates it's not a grade 3 injury. For me, we needed an additional forward even before Saka had got injured. But now? We definitely need one. What we do this January will determine whether KSE are serious about wanting to win honours or whether they're happy to be a 'stable' top-4 side again + Arteta.
Well, we may get ripped off, but that's the price we'll have to pay for not doing what we should have in the Summer. It would be absolutely ridiculous to not bring someone in when it's clear we need another body in attack. Everyone is 'available' if the price is right. Also, what's the point of having a scouting department and people like Richard Garlick if they can't identify and bring talent for us to get?
Over simplistic that Availability isn’t just a case of throw as much money so they can’t refuse. The club has a budget and needs to identify players who are available and willing to come. You can’t just lob £100m on a panic buy who then becomes a bench warmer when Saka is fit
In some cases, yes it is. But that's not even what I'm saying. There is a lot of talent out there that we can try to get. Some of whom have release clauses, so there wouldn't even need to go through negotiation processes with clubs if we did that. And no-one said anything about spending £100m on a player nor should it be a panic buy. We've known for ages that we needed another forward that can play across the frontline or alternate with Saka. You've seen what's happened now that we've rinsed Saka like a bar of soap and this wouldn't have been the case if we'd signed a forward like we were meant to. So this isn't a 'panic buy', this is something that should have been sorted ages ago.
It should have been sorted. But trying to sort it in Jan means it could become a panic buy I just don't want to see us lobbing stupid money after a player, just because we didn't get somebody in the summer. I'm all for getting the right player in though. Who do you have in mind ? especially those with a release clause ?
I've had this injury when I tore my MCL. (doing Judo) Hamstring took about a month. So I would reckon about 6 weeks to get back match fit.
So, for me, there are some options we will need to consider in the Summer and some we can consider now. The ones for the Summer: Kvaratskhelia (Napoli), Barcola (PSG), Isak (Newcastle), Raphinha (Barcelona), Sesko (Leipzig) or Musiala (Bayern - long shot, but still possible given his contract situation). The ones for January: Semenyo (Bournemouth), Mbuemo (Brentford), Cunha (Wolves), Kudus (West Ham), Dibling (Southampton), Olmo (Barcelona) or possibly Gyokeres (Sporting). Kudus and Gyokeres both have release clauses. Granted, both of those release clauses are between £80m-£85m, but that seems to be the going rate for players of this ilk and demand these days. Mbuemo has one and a half years left on his current deal and is reportedly not interested in signing an extension with Brentford, so I think there's a possible deal to be done here. Likewise, Tyler Dibling, who is a huge talent and is refusing to sign a new contract at Southampton. He's very young, but he's got the profile that we're looking for from a winger/wide midfielder. Dani Olmo could be a good market opportunity as Barcelona may not be allowed to register him as part of their squad in 2025, so we could exploit that situation. Cunha is a player I've liked for a while and he may be tricky to prize away from Wolves in January but I reckon they'd consider a bid upwards of £50m. Baring in mind, this is all from the top of my head. There could be more who I'm not considering or who could be a hidden gem, but that's what we have the scouting department for. If there is someone else they have in mind who could raise the level of our squad, I'd be open to other names also.
I think Cunha would be a great addition to our squad, prizing him away from Wolves in Jan would be a task though. And I'd love for us to go for Isak in the summer. He'd cost us £100m+ but I think he's the perfect profile for Arsenal
There's two ways of thinking about this from a transfer position. 1. We keep Jesus and Havertz as false 9's and rely on a good goal return from the wide forwards. So we would need to sign another wide player that actually can challenge Saka/ Martinelli and is capable of getting a good (15+) goal return. This option only makes sense if we bring someone who's actually going to raise the bar. Someone like Sane, Raphinha, Kvaratskhelia, . 2. Or we sign another CF/false 9. You could go out and get a legit number 9 like Gyokeres/ Vlahovic or stick to the system and sign player like Sesko/Isak who can play the hybrid false 9 role. Isak is interesting as he can play WF and CF.
