By Tony Attwood
Of course you’ll know the major tales of comings and goings, and you’ll know that our transfer budget was supposed to be so small we could hardly afford anyone at all. But strangely that appears to have been an invention by an over eager accountant.
Gabriel Martinelli, Forward
From Ituano for £6m. He’s 18, Brazilian, and can play at number 10 or on the wings. Although on the surface he is a classic “one for the future” he already looks far more than that. And we might perhaps remember Guendouzi who the boss knew from PSG, and who came as an unknown (at least in the UK) from Lorient and turned into a terrific player last season.
Dani Ceballos, Midfield
From Real Madrid on loan. Loans can work out or not, as we have seen, and they are always a gamble. If a loan goes wrong for Arsenal everyone makes a mega fuss and claims Arsenal are the laughing stock of football – or if not Arsenal then certainly the manager. But if a loan goes bad at another club, hardly a word is said.
He’s 22, and played 35 times for Real Madrid in the past two seasons, and has been given Ramsey’s number 8 shirt.
William Saliba, Defender
From Saint-Etienne with a loan back deal.
Paying £27m for a player and then loaning him back for a year sounds unusual and a bit risky – plus rather annoying for all those people who claim that Arsenal need a new defence en masse. But if he has been identified as the player we need, plus there are guarantees in the contract (as there will be) about what happens if he gets injured, then this could be a dream signing.
It may have been set up initially as part of the arrangements concerning Koscielny with one year left on his contract, or the arrangements may have been made because he simply needs more experience, given that he only played 16 times for Saint Etienne last season.
And the arrangements help us see how things work out with the returning players in defence such as Bellerin, Holding, Chambers and Mavrapanos.
Nicolas Pépé
From Lille – a winger
This is the one that will forever be known as the transfer that caused (or should have caused) huge embarrassment to the likes of Arsenal Supporters’ Trust, Arseblog, Black Scarf Movement, The Gooner, Le Grove, Redaction, You are my Arsenal, 7am kick off, and the rest, who together all suggested that Arsenal’s transfer funds were limited to £40m and the club was going down hill.
He’s come in for £72m, joining a forward line that was already the third highest scoring team in the league last season. We were 16 goals behind Liverpool last season, so that ought to be his target.
And those who have left
Danny Welbeck, released. No news where he is going. Does anyone know?
Julio Pleguezuelo– to FC Twente on a free.
Stephan Lichtsteiner – released at the end of his one year contract. No one seems to have signed him so maybe he has retired.
Cohen Bramall – released. He came from non-league football, and although he didn’t make it with Arsenal he has found a new club in Colchester United which must be better than working on an assembly line.
David Ospina – transferred to Napoli for £3.5m.
Jordi Osei-Totu – loaned to Bochum of the German League, where he joins ex Arsenal man Thomas Eisfeld.
Aaron Ramsey – well, you know about him. The contract ended and he left for Juventus on a free – probably when the manager learned he could get Ceballos at least for a year.
Bayli Spencer-Adams – released to Watford on a free.
Daniel Ballard — to Swindon Town on loan.
Vontae Daley-Campbell, sold to Leicester City. He’s 18, and the fee has not been released but is said to be around £12m.
Charlie Gilmour released to Norwich City.
Ben Sheaf loaned to Doncaster Rovers.
Xavier Amaechi, sold to Hamburg.
Krystian Bielik, sold to Derby for £7.5m.
Takuma Asano. He’s been loaned out year after year, but now has finally been sold to Partizan Belgrade for £1m.
If I have missed someone, please do write in although preferably without telling me I am a total idiot for missing whoever it is I have missed.
According to Transfermarkt Vontae Daley-Campbell joined Leicester for free.
He only had a scholarship deal with Arsenal, and either he didn’t have a contract offer (as some claims, but highly unlikely) or refused to sign it, but he was allowed to leave.
The 12M is just a bad joke – however I wish it was true.
CECH
It was sheer madness to sell Krystian Bielik when we are very short of defensive options. Maybe it was a question of Emery simply not liking the guy rather anything else.
Is there a reason that Petr Cech’s retirement isn’t on your list?
Yes, I was only doing players who were continuing as players.
See my earlier reply
Well, I watched Bielik last season, although I admit only once, and he looked like he was too good for the league he was in, but that didn’t suggest he was of outstanding Premier League quality.
Not really a joke, just a mistake. Such things can happen when typing.
OT: Women
Kim Little has signed a new contract.
Regarding the Pepe transfer, arsenal are paying the transfer off in installments over five years.
This means unless the club makes another significant signing or two, it will stay within the £45 million budget.
Which is exactly what the Daily Express said on the day after the directors said the £45m was nonsense – although when all the other papers gave up on that approach, the Express too, also ditched it.
The problem with this tale is that most transfers are accounted for like that, because accounts have to show the value of assets in a realistic way. So to accord with the value of the player, the player’s worth has to be written down in their accounts year by year. Virtually all assets in company accounts are written down in value year by year and normally for clubs the player’s value is written down over the length of time of the contract. So, many of the players on Arsenal’s books are still being amortized in this way, and if we bring in the cost of players bought in the past three to five years we are still way above the £45m. Also you might note that the director who answered the question at the meeting with supporters said “I don’t know where that figures come from,” so to allege that point you are accusing the director of lying – and of course once you are doing that, anything could be true. You can make up anything you like.
So, including:
‘the cost of players bought in the past three to five years we are still way above the £45m.’
For this window I presume.
Possibly, but which players in particular?
That’s very vague.
Why should we ‘bring in the cost of players bought in the past three to five years’?
Regarding trust in directors of football clubs and large companies in general, I admit I am a sceptic.
Alexander henry in your comments you are promoting an approach to accounting which is simply not used by clubs. It is a fanciful matter, which of course you are free to explore, but I don’t see why I should spend my time doing the research for your fantasy.
Leaving the budget & amortisation of assets aside, the squad looks capable of winning any competition.
The only aspect that is not given is the honesty of officials. The Laws of the Game have changed and VAR has been introduced but the human element behind the VAR and on the field belong to the corrupt PGMOL.
The TV manipulation of game kick off times is also uneven. The remuneration of ticket holders, specially junior members should be catered for as many are unable to attend evening kick offs due to school work.
Untold should take up the matter with the club as I cannot see any one else doing so.
Every season ticket holder has a unique lifestyle to manipulate and Arsenal has its financial rewards to cater to. It is the club that needs to address its position so that the fanbase can benefit while making the club successful.
Some of us give up almost everything to make it to the matches whereas some just adjust to get an acceptable level of satisfaction.
Menace,
On your comment on TV companies, the latest change is the away game at Sheff Untied, moved to Monday night at 8pm KO.
So a) any travelling fans will find it very hard to get trains at 10:30 pm, and b) by the time the players get back it will be less than three days to a Europa League game in who knows where.
It’s very clear (and always has been) that the Premier League who will have had to agree to this, care more about the Sky/BT money than the do about the welfare of fans who actually go to games.