By Sir Hardly Anyone
In the end we bought six out of the 134 players tipped by journalists and bloggers to be joining us, a success rate for the journalists and bloggers of about 4.5%. That was their highest ever success rate in tipping transfers since we started counting – mostly brought about by a) the journos and bloggers finding more players to tip than ever before and b) Arsenal buying an unusually high number of players – six.
Put another way over 95% of the players tipped to be coming to Arsenal actually didn’t arrive. The blame of course will be on Edu for not working hard enough, and not on the journalists and bloggers for being completely without a clue as to who Arsenal were chasing.
The fee yesterday was £17.2m to buy the Takehiro Tomiyasu from Bologna. He can play at right-back or centre-back and could cost a further £2.8m in add-ons. That arrangement is probably because of his past injury record.
That makes three defenders we have signed: Tomiyasu, Ben White and Nuno Tavares. Héctor Bellerín left. The other three incoming were of course, Albert Sambi Lokonga from Anderlecht, Martin Ødegaard from Real Madrid, and Aaron Ramsdale from Sheffield United
Leaving us is Reiss Nelson has moved to Feyenoord on loan with a new contract on offer to keep him at Arsenal. He is but one of 23 players who have gone either permanently or on loan. The other later movers were Willian to Corinthians, Rúnar Alex Rúnarsson to Leuven on loan, and the aforementioned Héctor Bellerín to Real Betis on loan.
Tomi, as our new man was known in Italy, played 60 times for Bolgna from 2019 onward and 23 times for the Japan first team having started out with the under 16 team. His injury record suggests that he is a quick healer which is always helpful but he has had a series of injuries in the last season, the most persistent being a muscular problem. But he made 33 games in league and cup last season.
The biggest problem with him is that from June last year he started playing for the Japan first team, and inevitably has been injured playing for Japan, although he managed to play in the Olympics. Japan came fourth.
We’ll also be learning the names of all sort of improbable international tourneys like the Kirin Challenge Cup, and the Asian Cup and the Copa America – and he was the first teenager to play for Japan since Ryo (remember him?)
Now you may have thought that I slipped Copa America in just to see if you were awake, but no, it is true. Japan played in the last Copa America. These fiendish international events are spreading. We’ll soon have players from Pluto playing in the Planets Cup.
Bologna’s coach Emilio De Leo said of him, “He has the ability to read and manipulate time and space in a modern way,” and the player gained a reputation for professionalism and commitment.
He played 54 games in Japan between 2015 and 2017, 41 games in the Belgian first division for Sint Truiden, and 63 for Bologna in Italy.
Thus our total expenditure was £147.50m in a market in which footballer’s prices went up by around 24% across the board. We’ll do a comparison with other teams and the like, in the coming days but we did in the end spend the most. Our incoming funds were £22m for Joe Willock.
Of the players leaving alongside Joe, 14 went on loan, two went on a free, and six went for an undisclosed fee. Thus making 23 players who have gone either temporarily or permanently. They are
David Luiz, Mark McGuinness, Trae Coyle, Zech Medley, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Daniel Ballard, Ben Sheaf, Daniel Oyegoke, Matt Smith, Mattéo Guendouzi, William Saliba, Nikolaj Möller, Tyreece John-Jules, Harry Clarke, Tolaji Bola, Jordi Osei-Tutu, Joe Willock, Lucas Torreira, Miguel Azeez, Willian, Reiss Nelson, Rúnar Alex Rúnarsson, Héctor Bellerín.
And that was it.
Five clubs made a profit on their transfers this window: Southampton were top making £25m, followed by Brighton, Aston Villa, Norwich and Watford. From this it suggests Norwich in particular are playing their usual game of refusing to buy in order to try and stay up, but are happy to bounce up and down, collecting the solidarity payments each time they return to the Championship as well as the income from a year in the league. Southampton have significant financial problems, and Villa have spent incredibly heavily in the last couple of summers.
We will have more on this anon.
A tad odd since our major issue has been scoring goals.
I can only think That Arteta thinks Auba will get back to his best as well as laca contributing at his best.
I think we have seen a consistent rise in Pepe’s performance, but more goals are essential (5 more).
Our issue is, and has been for a while, even as far back as Wengers later years, getting enough goals from our offensive midfield players.
Without doubt we will need Saka and Smith Rowe Odegaard contributing. They need to be contributing 20 plus between them.
Party needs to find that barn door he’s currently finding so elusive.
Even our centre halves need to contribute more.
The bottom line is, even a firing Auba and Laca cant do it all. If those above don’t come to the party a good defence alone wont be enough.
I see the village idiot Merson has said he could do a better job than Edu.
Any chance he will ever show some respect and say a good word about his former club.
Didn’t Paul Merson show his capabilities as a manager a few years ago and showed himself to be one of those numpties who go into the bottom tiers of football as a manager and get sacked within a season because they cannot win a game?
There might be a name for the genre, there might indeed be a case that every ex-footballer we see, hear, read, as a regular pundit week in, week out, is actually, in reality, on their record, on their results, a failed ex-manager who was once a footballer who then couldn’t hack the job as a manager and became a pundit?
It can indeed be said that if they could hack the job, they would be doing it.
In other words, we have a long list of failures passing judgements on working managers in exchange for money, recognition, status, and a wider audience of people not only taking their comments as gospel, but as plausible gospel,the truth! the nail getting hit on the head! listen everyone!! the audience somehow – nobody can tell you how it gets done! – separating the successful footballer, the pundit once upon a time aged twenty-five, from the sacked manager, the pundit aged thirty-five, as they listen to the pundit in his forties, no failure attached to the pundit. This is the man and he knows how it is done!
Sorry Mick you’re expecting magic!!
Merson, Souness, Keane, Shearer, Neville. What do they all have in common?
All total failures as managers.
Failed managers now punditting (is that a thing?)
Merson (DoF? – would you trust him with that money)
Gary Neville (I watched “Game 50” tonight. He enjoyed Riley’s company. Watch the video closely)
Shearer (The bitter one)
Sam? Can I include him? Never relegated. Wait. That can’t be right.
‘He who can , does . He who cannot teaches ‘.
Or coaches , preaches or writes shitty newspaper articles !
I agree that we ought to come up with a name for those who failed in management , but are now considered experts in their field !
My entry would be , ‘ Sad Sackeds ‘ !
Hello Brickfields, welcome back. Yes, Sad Sacked. Let’s build a list starting with Paul Merson. Others?
Stewart Robson is a really good example for a Sad Sacked pundit.
Failed Southend reserves coach and was instrumental in the demise of Rushden and Diamond.
Thanks , Tony , am always around , but still like to read your articles on my work computer. Find it a bit difficult with my hand phone .
So our list of Sad Sacked Pundits has -[so far]
1. Gary Neville – I’m guessing in Spain they must have a pet name for him !
2. Graeme Sourness – Better left unsaid !His Liverpool appointment coincided with the start of 30 years in the wilderness.
3. Roy Keane – A nasty piece of work .
4. Paul Merson – Apparently his addictions extend to compulsive stupid blurting .
5. Stewart Robson – A serial and bitter Arsenal hater/ baiter .
6. Alan Shearer – A sheet metal worker’s son, who came home and got his hometown club relegated !