By Sir Hardly Anyone.
“Huge mistake!’, ‘Sack him now’ – Loads of Arsenal fans incensed with Emery decision”
And no, that is not about the idea of signing St Etienne defender William Saliba for €30m and loaning him back for the 2019-20 season.
There’s no clear news on when the money will be paid, nor what will happen if Saliba gets an injury which then means we are landed with a bill for a player who has lost much of his ability.
However the Guardian, which reckons this story is true, has said that the fee doesn’t come out of this year’s budget. So maybe it is out of next year’s in the hope we are then back in the Champions League.
He’s 6 feet 4 inches tall and his playing career looks like this
| Years | Team | Games | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Saint-Étienne II | 3 | 0 |
| 2018– | Saint-Étienne | 16 | 0 |
| National team | |||
| 2017 | France U16 | 7 | 1 |
| 2017–2018 | France U17 | 6 | 2 |
| 2018 | France U18 | 5 | 1 |
| 2018– | France U19 | 3 | 0 |
| 2019– | France U20 | 1 | 0 |
It all seems a huge gamble and very strange, but then increasingly this transfer window is looking very strange.
The “huge mistake” is in not putting Bielik in the first team according to Goonersphere, but then with Bellerin, Monreal, Sokratis, Koscielny, Holding, Mustafi, Maitland-Niles, Chambers, Jenkinson, Mavrapanos and Koscielny all available we have eleven defenders in the first team squad. OK, maybe some supporters don’t like two or three of them, but even so, with 11 such players, we ought to be able to figure out some sort of defensive line up.
The other thing that makes this a bit of a gamble with Saliba, is that assuming that we have left the EU by the time the player arrives next summer, it is not clear he will be allowed in. The current agreement allows employees already in the UK at the time of departure to remain in the UK and work but under this deal Saliba won’t be here. He will be in France when Boris does his “out, deal or no deal” arrangement in October. Given that many “leave” voters, when asked why they voted leave, have said, “To get rid of all the foreigners,” I am not sure a Boris led government is going to allow lots more foreigners in.
And the young lad won’t have played enough French international games by then either, to qualify by that method.
But still I am sure everyone knows what they are doing.
Meanwhile Arsenal Station say that the BBC are tipping Arsenal to sign four more players after this. Except… ooops, the link they give doesn’t give any information about these players, and I’ve had a rummage around the BBC site and I can’t find it. But maybe that is just me not looking properly.
And I start to wonder about this site because they say the BBC have not said who these players are but ” we desperately need a top class central defender to tighten things up at the back next season.”
And what about Holding? Not good enough eh. Ah well, I don’t know who is in that case. But anyway Arsenal Station think we need lots of players like, “Gabriel Martinelli, Saliba, Tierney, a centre-back, central midfielder and a winger”. Presumably all for £40m.
“The squad is crying out for additions in all of those positions so we’ll be in good shape if Emery can secure all his targets ahead of the new season. Here’s hoping for a busy few weeks…” It will be interesting to look back on this one at the end of the window.
Emery please! Shit defenders! I would keep Bellerin and the others? Get rid of them!
No chance for top4
and who the f*ck is Iwobi? Overrated shit players in Arsenal
(fan,)
(Kroenke fun)
Strange window indeed, especially as there are reports Kos is talking to French teams.
We have lost possibly our most effective player for nothing ( I am convinced we would be in the CL had Rambo stayed fit) then there is Danny , Cech, with Holding and Bellerin out for a while. Can’t see any replacements for that lot!
I suspect they have a plan, but fear it might involve losing one of our finest players.
Just hope our transfer team do a little better than they did in Jan
Well if you can’t see any value in Sokratis, Monreal, Koscielny, Maitland Niles or Holding, you can’t. But I am not sure what you are looking at.