Morning all.
It remains pretty quiet in terms of Arsenal news, but a transfer story that will have made some people sit up and take notice is interest in Eberchi Eze from Sp*rs. They need someone after Jimmy Darts Lad got an ACL, and with the Crystal Palace man seemingly available this summer you can see how they’d be interested.
He’s obviously been linked with us quite a bit this summer. Primarily though, his name was bandied about more often in the weeks before Ethan Nwaneri’s new contract was agreed – after that not so much. 2+2=?. All the same, he’s a player much coveted by Arsenal fans, myself included by the way, even if I don’t see him as the left-wing option many people crave. He can play there, he has played there, but for the most part I see him as most effective in central areas, and we’re fairly well stocked there at the moment.
I wonder if Eze had been linked with anyone else, a Villa or a Newcastle or some other upper mid-table team, rather than that lower-table rabble, if the reaction would be the same. Everyone likes him, we don’t want to have to write him off as a good player who went to a club we hate. But if there’s nothing ‘concrete’, for want of a better term, when it comes to interest from Arsenal, should he decline a move at 27? I mean, yes, everyone should be advised not to go there for the sake of their careers, but still. Will Arsenal send out a rescue mission for Eze? I’m doubtful, to be honest, but let’s see what happens. A key part of which is us bringing in some revenue for players on the fringes, and on that basis Andrea Berta has yet to prove his bona fides, despite a solid summer of incomings.
As for Palace, what a weird time they’re having. Win the FA Cup, then they forget to check their emails and discover that UEFA’s multi-club rules only apply to them rather than other clubs because the other clubs have complied with some arbitrary blind-trust regulations which don’t alter the fact those clubs have the same owners. Then they win the Community Shield, their star player is being linked with a move away and it might end up being the worst club on earth, and their best defender looks like he’s off to Liverpool.
Meanwhile, they have a really good manager who has done fantastic work, but the only additions to the squad have been a veteran keeper and a journeyman defender who cost £3m. Maybe they’d been waiting on the ruling from CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) this week before opening the chequebook, but Oliver Glasner has been somewhat opaque about his future there because of the current state of the squad. Selling Eze and Marc Guehi would generate some revenue, but their season starts on Saturday and you cannot make the case they’ve prepared well for the opening few games. There’s still time with the window open till September 1st, but there are points to play for now.
A little later on this morning, we’ll drop a free episode of The 30, which is our Premier League review podcast that we do for our Patreon members. Phil Costa and I will look ahead to the new season, discussing the transfer business at other clubs, how we feel they’ve strengthened, who the main rivals are, as well as focusing on some other aspects of the new Premier League campaign.
In prep for that, I had a quick look at what the ‘big clubs’ have spent this summer, and what they’ve brought in from sales. The numbers are pretty interesting (based off the Sky Sports reporting from this article).
Arsenal
Out: £194m
In: £4.3
Net: £189.7
Chelsea
Out: £256m
In: £154m
Net: £102m
Liverpool
Out: £293m
In: £199m
Net: £94m
Man City
Out: £160m
In: £5m
Net: £155m
Man Utd
Out: £214m
In: £0
Net: £214m
Liverpool and Chelsea have spent big but also generated quite a lot of incoming revenue. You might have a question or two about one or two of those deals, and how they might have been facilitated by links with Saudi Arabia, but it gives both of them scope to spend more. City spent a lot in January on top of their summer outlay, but we know they have ways of throwing money around that seem almost unique to them. It’s like they operate in a different financial landscape than others.
Arsenal and United’s outlay is almost completely without anything to offset it. We sold Nuno Tavares to Lazio, but that’s it. Meanwhile, players like Oleksandr Zinchenko, Reiss Nelson, Fabio Vieira, Karl Hein, and Albert Sambi Lokonga are unlikely to even make the squad this weekend – left behind in London as we travel to Old Trafford. To me, it looks very much as if any further arrival before the end of the window is likely dependent on not just bringing in money for the aforementioned players, but making room in a squad which is just too big at this moment in time. Back to Mr Berta on that side of things.
I suspect the last couple of weeks of the window will be pretty hectic in general. There are clubs like Newcastle and Aston Villa who haven’t spent much, but who probably need to. The former have that Alexander Isak situation to deal with which, I sincerely hope, continues to disrupt them and possibly Liverpool, while becoming more and more toxic by the day. But when a few pieces start moving around, the domino effect impacts the market and I think we’ll see quite a lot happening in the final three weeks or so that remain.
Ok, let’s leave it there. The podcast I mentioned will be out mid-morning, have a great Wednesday in the meantime.
