If Jorginho and Partey both leave, and Zubimendi reportedly still favouring a move to Arsenal, would be interesting to see if we look to recruit another CM on top of this. There's a few big prospects I wouldn't mind us going for. Ayyoub Bouaddi is a huge talent, as is Javi Guerra, so would be very happy with both of these options.
I would like Jobe Bellingham if I'm being honest. Only 19 can play box to box or as a 10. Zubimendi or Agoume for DM - my worry with Zubimendi is that he's a little lightweight. Technically brilliant though. Odegaard, Nwaneri & Havertz covering the No.10/RCM position. Rice, Merino and Bellingham LCM. Zubimendi, Rice and Merino can all play as a 6. Probably need to consider when we sign a striker Havertz and Merino will get more games in midfield.
Jobe isn’t ready to start for a top 4 club. He has all the ability and potential but he’s not there, yet. He’d be better suited to joining a mid-table team for a season or two before stepping up, again. Gyokeres would be a big upgrade on the forwards you have now. His record in domestic and European competitions is outstanding. He’d also suit your style of play, so should be a good fit.
Nah, he's been brilliant this season. Losing both him and Jorginho in the same window wouldn't be good. We can still evolve the midfield without losing Partey. Our squad is pretty thin, and with Jorghino and Zinchenko (I know technically he's a defender) moving on we need the numbers and we need the experience too. I think we can add Zumbemendi and one other to the MF this window and still keep Partey I also think we need to move Jesus on. He's a wonderful player, but his fitness is completely shot. So potentially we move on Jorghino, Zinchencko, Jesus, Sterling, Tierney, and possibly Tomiyasu And bring in a Striker, Zubemendi, maybe one other MF player (although Merino is likely to get more games in MF) and probably another left sided defender too
Just don't see much value in keeping him at the club. If he's asking for more than £200k a week (which he reportedly is), I don't see how we can agree to that given his age and his overall inconsistency with staying fit. The optics of this aren't good either due to the off the pitch reasons and allegations still hanging over his head. The reaction to it online certainly hasn't been good. I was thinking we add Zubimendi + one more, whilst also having MLS as the option there too as I think he'd add a lot of value in midfield. Calafiori is still a question mark due to his fitness issues, so I am actually questioning whether we would sign another left-back, but that also depends on whether Zinchenko goes - and I'm not 100% convinced he will. Players like Jesus and Tomiyasu are going to be extremely hard to sell because they're both injured, on big money and aren't back until the end of the year. I just don't see how we can get rid of them before their contracts expire. Jesus especially is on massive wages. As it stands, the only players I am certain we get rid of from the entire squad are Tierney, Jorginho, Nuno Tavares, Nelson and Lokonga. Question marks remain over Zinchenko, Trossard, Fabio Vieira, Karl Hein and Marquinhos (as his loan at a Brazilian club is until December 2025).
The value of keeping him is that he's currently the keystone of our defensive midfield. I don't really care much for what's said online about him. It's just noise. It's what he does on the pitch that counts.
Let's put the allegations to one side for a moment. Partey is asking for an improved deal on an existing £200k p/w contract. He turns 32 in June. Is it worth giving him more than that for the next 2 years? It isn't worth it for me. This is the only season he's had where he's been available for (as it stands) the whole season. 1 season out of 5. That doesn't justify a wage hike and improved contract terms. If he's insisting on better wages, we need to put our foot down and say no. It would be a mistake if we do this and I don't think we should.
To be fair - Our midfield and defence is EASILY strong enough to win the league and top there with the best in Europe. There aren't many DM's we can buy right now that actually improve us. Partey is one of the best out there right now. Zubimendi technical improvement yes.. But physically he's a downgrade. Personally I would offload Jorginho get in a young talent like Wharton or Agoume and offer Partey an extension 1-2 years.
It's the right move for me. He's top quality and he's been the keystone in our midfield this season. Linking defensive play with the attacking midfield, and finding passes that keep us moving forward. He does it all with ease and simplicity and very rarely do you see him lose the ball. Yes it might be expensive to keep him, but it doesn't look like that's going to be at the expense of not bringing any more midfield players in, as Zubemendi looks like he's coming too. Having him and Partey in there is going to strengthen our midfield considerably and allow Rice to do what he does best which is a box to box player We've said for years that we need a squad that has equally as good players coming into the team as the first XI. And for me it makes no sense to allow a top quality player like Partey to leave on a free when he's in some of the best form of his career.
We don't need the physicality in there so much now that we've got Rice as our box to box monster. When Xhaka was that #8 we needed physicality because he was slow and not good at getting back. Jorginho does much better in the #6 now just because he's got Rice next to him instead of Xhaka... and Jorginho is the weakest, slowest player I've almost ever seen. The most important thing, in most games, for our #6 is the ability to be the one that is press-resistant and takes the ball from the centre backs, teams up with the inverted full-back and plays splitting passes through to Rice, Odegaard or the two wingers. Zubimendi would be awesome at that.
Let's see what the new terms of his contract are that Arsenal have proposed, but if hypothetically we're going to give him £250k a week, I think that's not a wise allocation of resources. I'd prefer if we could keep Jorginho for a rolling one-year contract, rather than sign Partey up for two additional years. But looks like Jorginho is set to leave us as things stand. Zubimendi is not the only midfielder we need to bring in, we need at least one more midfield player coming in also. And whilst I agree we do need a squad that's equally as good as the players in the XI (or as close to it as possible), I don't believe Partey's done enough over the last 5 years to justify a contract extension with a wage hike. From a footballing perspective, if we are really that desperate to keep him, then if he could accept a 1 year deal with the option of a further year, I'd be more amenable to that. Anything more isn't a smart thing to do in my opinion. We need to look at the bigger picture here.
Apparently the thigh surgery he had in mid 2023 has cleared up a lot of the niggling injuries that plagued him. So we might just be seeing the best of Partey now and over the next couple of years. For me, whilst I'd rather we didn't pay him more, I want him in our team as he's proved his value in there. Even if you could buy another Thomas Partey, you're looking at £80m + £250k wages, so for me it makes sense to keep a player with such quality and experience. It might be that he accepts a 1+1 year deal. I think it's the right move
