Arteta made it very clear in his post-match interview against Chelsea that his options at the back have been limited since he arrived with Mari being injured, Mustafi being injured, Chambers being injured…
He has also hinted that he will want to strengthen his defensive options (I am only focusing on defenders although we all know that we need to have a proper DM and a better defensive set-up overall) this summer.
So who is likely to stay this summer? Luiz, Mari and Cedric just signed new deals and Saliba is arriving so these players will be with us for sure next year- Tierney is a starter so no doubt about him staying- Chances to see Bellerin leave are also low. Verdict: Bellerin, Cedric, Luiz, Mari, Saliba, Tierney to stay
So who is likely to go out this summer? Mavropanos has been loaned out to Stuttgart already- Sokratis is likely to join Mavropanos there but as a transfer- Question marks around Chambers, Holding, AMN and Kolasinac…- What about Medley?- Arteta seems to like Mustafi so a move seems unlikely esp. since he is injured
Verdict: Mavropanos, Sokratis and Kolasinac to leave for sure and Medley to play in reserve still. Either Chambers or Holding will also leave and there is a question mark about AMN. Chambers’ contract ends in 2022 and Holding’s in 2023 so let us see which one goes.
Based on the above, these are our defenders (before any acquisition) for next year and based on the assumption that Holding will be allowed to leave if we can cash in a good sum since his contract is longer…:
2 RB: Bellerin, Cedric ; CB: Chambers, Mustafi, Luiz, Mari, Sailba; 1 LB: Tierney
Given the above, I am rather certain we will invest in a CB and a LB. If we play with 3 at the back, then I d like us to go for Upamecano, Mukiele, Konate althouth Upamecano just signed a new deal with his current club and if we go with 4 at the back, then we should go for Koulibaly, Ruben Dias, I. Diop, Tarkowsky, Djene, Pau Torres, Diego Carlos or Fofana. As for LB, I think we should have a really good look at Estupinan as we cannot afford Man U bound Chilwell. There are also the Grimaldo, Gaya and Firpo options.
So, possible defensive line-ups
with 3 at the back when all fit:
A team: Bellerin, Mukiele, Luiz, Mari, Tierney
B team: Cedric, Mustafi, Chambers, Saliba, Estupinan
with 4 at the back when all fit:
A team: Bellerin, Dias, Luiz, Tierney
B team: Cedric, Mustafi, Mari, Estupinan
Given that Luiz is with us another season, I d rather play 3 at the back although I like the systems with 4 at the back better but we cannot take a chance with him and Xhaka…
Any thoughts?
PS: Apologies if there is any mistake or issues with the post format, this is my first time posting…
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
So my first attempt at posting. Thanks Peaches for the trust – Hope there are no mistakes.
Chambers……..woooo, completely forgot about him.
Does anyone know when he is expected back?
Am I the only one who thinks we wont do much on the incoming side of things. I hope I’m wrong I just dont see us buying anyone before we offload a bunch of players first.
As someone pointed out yesterday, with so many clubs trying to off load players (Barca have put 20 odd on the market for example) it is going to be harder to sell than some seem to be suggesting and then yes, of course, we will do less business as we will have less to spend.
Willian still confuses me, the closest I can get to it is thinking that the club are so desperate for CL football they are prepared to sign ageing players on long contracts and pay them an awful lot of money in the hope of achieving that short term goal.
Big gamble.
All the blogs are full of long lists of players that the various contributors say the club should get or consider.
On Untold in the last few days, there was an interesting post giving a suggested background to the decimation or even destruction of our scouting network.
The gist, if I get it right, was that scouting is now based almost entirely on statistics and data, so there is little point in sending a scout to go over to have a look when all the necessary stats and data is made available.
Watching games on Sky or seeing little bits on Youtube were never any use in considering whether or not a player is suitable.
There are also, I would have thought, many non-playing aspects of a player that need to be considered, eg, if he comes from a generally warm climate, will he cope with the cold winters?
How does he mix with other players, and does he have a particular dislike for certain nationalities?
Is he married and how will his wife and family fit into London life?
How will his style of play fit into the style that MA is looking for?
What wages is he looking for and what is his medical history?
There will be many others.
It is like the clamour from so many bloggists as to how wonderful Guendouzi is and what a great prospect he is, and yet there are plenty of us who have expressed the exact opposite.
With respect to all of our friends on the blogs who are constantly calling for this or that player to be signed, do they really actually know anything about those players, other than what they may have seen in a couple of games or on Youtube?
Do you not think that you are being somewhat presumptuous in thinking that you could possibly have the slightest idea what MA and the club are looking for to recommend a player you know nothing about to be signed?
I appreciate that if one takes away the speculation and useless tittle-tattle, then there is sometimes precious little to talk about,
Perhaps, blogging like other social media has become an obsession that needs to be fed and patronised
MY apologies to anyone who may be offended by what I say, but really, is there anything that I have said which is not correct?
Hi Jigsol – point taken. If there is any points you would like us to discuss on the blog, please send us posts and we will be more than happy to post them.
Ramsey might be forced out what u guys think about a swap deal
I think this market will be a buyer’s market because many clubs want to offload players
RC
Medley on loan to Gillingham.
RC
ACCEPT:- Luiz, Soares new contracts, shame!
Mavrapanos, Medley on loan, shame!
Bellerin “unlikely to leave” ( but not good enough IMO)
GET RID:- Sokratis, Kolasinac,
KEEP (tentatively) Mustafi- Unless Gabriel acquired.
KEEP DEFINITELY:- Tierney, Saliba, Mari, Holding, Chambers
GET:- Right back.
Interesting I assume Saliba is our no1 CB
Once again I come on to applaud jjgsol.
As to the resumption of transfer speculation, I’m sitting here with my fingers in my ears going ‘lalalalala’ very loudly!
Jigsol
Just harmless speculation to brighten, depending on your opinion, a lockdown in the 90°s in the UK. Could be in Aussie land! Chill!
Hey Jjgsol I agree with the gist of your argument, but pointing the logic out won’t change things.
The transfer window is silly season. I read somewhere that the highest number of hits blogs get are in the transfer windows. The media goes nuts over it too.
Regarding your points.
I am concerned at the sacking of Cagigao. He had a good rep and I agree eyes on experience complements if not always beats stats.
The dismantling of the scouting network seems to suggest a different way of doing things. Problem is it seems to be Raul’s way and when he goes what do we do then? I suspect he’ll be gone in the next season or so. Do we rebuild the scouting network then?
On Guendouzi from watching the lad play I think he is very talented. Potentially a world beater, but his attitude is suspect. Stats don’t give that insight. If Arteta feels the team is better without him so be it.
Go with the flow and enjoy the ride.
@RC78 you’ve got all the transfer options covered!
My favourite is Upamacano. Don’t know anything about him but his name is great.
Like a high class kids building game: Upper Maccano
Excellent work again RC
Oh, I get it at last.
Willian’s preferred position is number 10…….
Ozil goes and Willian moves in, this works when we need a goal and Willock plays there when we need to see a game out.
This being the case then neither Auba and Laca would be affected.
No I don’t get it, is this how it works?
————————Martinez
—————–Mustafi, Luiz, Mari
——Bellerin——-Xhaka———- Tierney
———————-Willian
——-Pepe, Lacazette, Aubamayang
New post 🙂