The 12 players who should feature in every Arsenal game next season

 

 

By Jack Bannister

First, why 12?  Because we always bring on one sub, and when I looked I couldn’t choose which midfielder / forward to drop.

But there is a second point: we have most of these players in my list already on the boos.  And that is a benefit because many newly transferred players take a while to settle in, (one might recall Thierry Henry) and so we need a solid base of players into which any newcomers can settle.

Obviously such a concept is beyond the wit of most journalists who only write about buying at high prices and selling cheap (because Arsenal are no good at such things).  And articles of the type that tell us who Arsenal should sell and who they club should keep, can, in my view do a lot of harm.   

But there is another negative side to stories in the media that tell us who is moving where.   For not only does it unsettle players, it also serves to put up the prices of players, and of course, it also destabilises the current squad, while being of absolutely no benefit to the club at all.  The only people whose interests are served are journalists and the managers of other clubs.

Now I know that every year we run a chart of transfer rumours, and it could be argued that this only makes things worse, but I’d say it makes fun of the whole system, and reminds us all that each year a maximum of 3% of those players nominated as coming to Arsenal actually arrive.

And that is because by and large Arsenal has a very good squad.   

Now I know that many will say “not good enough” because coming second three times running isn’t winning anything and that’s all that matters, but I’ll take the current run as enjoyable because it is a lot better than the previous three year run of 7th, 7th, 5th.

But anyway, what I want to do to make my point is this: instead of running a list of players coming and going I want to highlight the players staying.   And yes I know I have included 12 players.  But one of the forwards can be on the bench and then come on and score.  Not least because this past season all three of our forwards got injured.

David Raya: utterly brilliant in goal, 13 clean sheets, the best defence in the entire league, conceding 18% fewer goals than Liverpool, played every game.

Ben White.  We missed him with his injury, but he has fought his way back and seems to be in control of the right side of defence.

William Saliba.   One of the two players those who wish to destabilise Arsenal talked about leaving.  Journalists have in fact created a fantasy world in which Real Madrid can buy any player they want, and they want Saliba so that’s that, but Arteta says he doesn’t want the player to go, and Saliba doesn’t want to go.

Gabriel: Every club needs a goal scoring defender, and Saliba needs a partner he can utterly rely on, and we have both in one man.

Myles Lewis Skelly.  15 starts and 8 games as a sub, I imagine he’ll be there for every single match unless the opposition start targetting him with kicks, and referees simply wave the protests away.  I hope not, but it has been known.

Martin Zubimendi.  Of course we don’t know if he is coming yet, and of course because he has been mentioned we now have headlines like “Arsenal warned signing Zubimendi and Sesko could be bad news for Arteta”   That fortunately is in the Express which means none of the tale will be true.  Apparently Arsenal are paying £51m.  Allegedly.

Declan Rice:   I think we’ve watched Declan Rice rise up two levels already, and the thought of him getting even better as the squad develops further. is extraordinary.   The only question that arises is, is there a limit to his ability?   We haven’t seen one yeet.

Martin Odegaard: Of all the outrageous things I heard and saw at Arsenal last season the complaining about Odegaard was about the worst.   The poor guy was injured for a lot of the campaign but carried on making key passes.  For goodness sake, give the guy a break.

Bykayo Saka: He was out of it at the end of the season, clearly not 100% recovered from the long-term injury.  Hopefully, he is getting a real rest and will be back to his old ways..

Kai Havertz: Arsenal need a goalscorer we are told, but with Martinelli, Saka and Havertz up front in 2023/4 we scored 91 goals.   Put the three back together and keep them fit, and why bother to change such a line up?

Gabriel Martinelli: He did look a bit out of it for some of last season but I think he could come back and totally bemuse defenders down one side, while Saka sneaks in and does the business on the other side.

Leandro Trossard: Now the craziest story I have seen is that Arsenal are selling Trossard in order to fund the purchase of a new centre forward.   But Trossard is a goal scorer – getting double figures in each of the last two seasons – and that of course includes the one just finished where goal scoring was more of a problem.

So there we are.  Don’t sell any of them and if we must buy someone buy Martin Zubimendi.