- Arsenal are set to complete the signing of Mikel Merino
- Arsenal transfers – who is coming next and then what?
By Bulldog Drummond
The Guardian tells us “Arsenal and Aston Villa have similar problems to solve, Ilkay Gündogan returns and transfer whirlwind continues.”
That “similar problems” seems a typical raging exaggeration to me, although certainly each club has three injuries, so maybe that is what the mysterious men at the Guardian are talking about.
For Arsenal Kieran Tierney has a thigh injury and Takehiro Tomiyasu has a knee injury and both will be unavailable until the middle of September. Fabio Vieira has a groin or hip or pelvic injury (or maybe all of them) but could be back if needed.
For Aston Villa, Boubacar Kamara and Tyrone Mings are definitively out (both seemingly out until Octrober) while Robin Olsen is currently being assessed.
But there is a difference if we look at the contribution of the injured players last season. Tierney didn’t make one start for Arsenal last season and Tomiyasu made just 16 starts in all competitions. Vieira made three starts.
However Kamara made 29 starts for Villa last season while Mings and Olsen made just nine between them. So there is a difference between the two clubs and that is that Villa have indeed lost one important player (Kamara) who might otherwise expect to start, but Arsenal have not. It’s a detail, but maybe an important one which much of the media doesn’t want to notice.
Arsenal we know have signed David Raya (Brentford), Riccardo Calafiori (Bologna) and it seems Merino seems about to sign Aston Villa however have been buying, buying and buying. Amadou Onana from Everton, Ian Maatsen from Chelsea, Cameron Archer from Sheffield United, Jaden Philogene from Hull City, Samuel Iling-Junior from Juventus, Lewis Dobbin from Everton, Enzo Barrenechea from Juventus and Ross Barkley from Luton. Maybe they just couldn’t make up their minds so bought the lot.
And while it is clear that some people would like Arsenal to buy more players, the fact is that it usually takes a while for new players to settle and learn where their fellow players will be at any moment in the game.
Of course Ason Villa won’t play all their newcomers but probably will use Amadou Onana, Ian Maatsen and Kosta Nedeljkovic. And there are thoughts around Villa Parl that Raheem Sterling could come in.
Arsenal on the other hand look far more settled. Yes there is talk of another player on the near horizon but this is nothing like the wholesale switchover going on at Villa, even if quite a few of them don’t play.
Hilariously the Guardian notes that “Kai Havertz will probably lead the line” – and I would have said that was a definite. He was the top scorer last season with 14 goals in all competitions and five times in 2024 he got a goal and an assist in the same game.
Furthermore in his last 15 games he has got ten goals and seven assists. That is only one short of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil’s best ever levels, and just two behind Cesc Fabregas and Dennis Bergkamp in their best ever runs.
I mean what more do they expect the guy to do?
And to remember that there were people saying that Arteta should be sacked for having wasted the club’s entire transfer budget on a goal scorer who couldn’t score.
Aston Villa are of course talking themselves up as a top four team – as indeed last season they were, although ending up 21 points behind Arsenal, scoring 15 fewer goals and conceding 32 goals more, giving them a goal difference that was 47 worse than Arsenal.
True they have beaten Arsenal 71 times across the years, but then Arsenal have beaten Villa 87 times – there have been 45 draws.
But this is still relatively new territory for them. The last time they won the league was in 1972, which doesn’t sound too bad, except that that win was in the 3rd Division and it was over 50 years ago. They did win Division 2 in 1960, and indeed in 1938 but we have to go back to 1910 when Arsenal were playing in Plumstead to find the last time they won the top division.
But perhaps most worrying for them is that the 61 goals they conceded last season was the second highest since their return to the Premier League and showed them having the seventh worst defence in the league last season. But to be fair, their 20 victories was the highest achieved since their return to the Premier League in 2019.
More anon…..
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I wouldn’t deride Villa’s honours quite so readily if you want to avoid the wrath of their fans Tony.
They actually last won the league in 1981……the year before doing something we still only aspire to………winning the European Cup!!
Ha Ha Ha !! Either terrible research or classic bailing which has hooked me in!! We won the league at Highbury! Didn’t Arsene Wenger organise an open top bus party every time Arsenal ‘won’ 4th!! UTV
No
I was there when Villa “won the league at Highbury”. It was a 2-0 defeat with Stapletom among the scorers.
Liverpool defeated Ipswich at the same time to allow Villa to be champions.
I was there too! You must be as old as me!! So was Pele !! But your memory has gone a bit as we were battling Ipswich for the title not Liverpool. Research obviously not a Gooner strong point!
Enjoy Unai’s celebrations today and if you’re lucky maybe a little dance from Emi!!
Enjoy Hi Ho Aston Villa rather than that embarrassing N London ‘song’!!
Hopefully a flurry of yellow cards too!!
Tom
Actually it seems reading isn’t your strong point as Kant Explain clearly knows it was Ipswich you were ‘battling’ for the title:
“Liverpool defeated Ipswich at the same time to allow Villa to be champions”
You see we all make mistakes, you just look a little stupid when you start mouthing off about other peoples.
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Tom
“Ha Ha Ha !! Either terrible research or classic bailing which has hooked me in!! We won the league at Highbury! Didn’t Arsene Wenger organise an open top bus party every time Arsenal ‘won’ 4th!! UTV”
Ignoring the fact that whilst highlighting what was obviously a genuine error you just make stuff up,I’ll explain to you why Wenger made that famous statement about 4th place being a trophy.
It’s called being a genius and knowing exactly what was needed at that particular time in order to pay for the Emirates stadium.
For your information, despite the odd error, we here at Untold actually do know how to do research.
-The Emirates stadium build commenced February 2004 and was completed in 2006 at cost £390 million
-It restricted Arsenal in the transfer market to such an extent that over the 10 year period 2004 to 2013 our 10 year net outlay on players was actually a small profit. FYI Aston Villas net outlay was in the region of £100 Million (all figures courtesy of transferleague) For all that money Aston Villas average finish was 9th.They won absolutely nothing, not even the much maligned top 4 trophy.
-Arsenal net income from Champions qualification and games played almost identically matched the cost of the stadium. In other words, CL qualification paid for the Emirates stadium. It was absolutely crucial for the future of the club. Even winning the FA cup every year would of eared around a tenth of that. Just to show how that is still the case. A team that qualifies for the CL this season and just gets through the group stage will earn around £30 Million, and that is without TV money. Winning the FA Cup earns £2 Million.
Yes, for a team like Villa that hardly ever wins anything, it is perhaps preferable to win the FA cup rather than qualify for the CL, but for a club like Arsenal, who are the record FA Cup winners, it is not quite the same and CL qualification is and WAS far more important. No, we didn’t have an open top bus, but never the less, we all knew how importent it was.
So tke the piss as much as you want, but it was 10 years of CL qualification under extreme duress with no money and endless ridicule, that in hindsight secured the future of the club, and was the bedrock on which Arteta is now building.