Wildcards

Morning all.

I’m going to try and get through today’s blog without mentioning that Big lad from Sweden who plays in Portugal, and the big lad from Slovenia who currently resides in Leipzig. Unfortunately they are the only two strikers in the world and the only two strikers Arsenal are interested in. Or, are they?

I’ve said this before, but I wonder if it suits the club for those two names to be front and centre while they explore other options. I don’t know who exactly those options might be, but the reality is the striker market is not exactly replete with dozens of players, if we’re talking household names. We’ve heard mention of Ollie Watkins, the interest in Alexander Isak is obviously real but massively complicated, and the name of Eintracht Frankfurt’s French striker Hugo Ekitike has been thrown into the mix but never with much in the way of seriousness.

I realise it’s probably a long shot, but what if the striker we sign is someone we’ve never heard of. Or, to put it better way, a player whose name has not been linked with us at all so far. Those of a certain age might well remember the summer of 2007 when Thierry Henry was sold to Barcelona (for a fee so ridiculously low even at that time it probably warrants a cold case investigation), and then within a week – having been linked with big name players like Samuel Eto’o, Carlos Tevez, Nicolas Anelka, David Trezeguet, Obafemi Martins and even Benny McCarthy – we announced the signing of Eduardo da Silva from Dinamo Zagreb.

Everyone went, ‘Whooooo?!’, as if he was an opposition substitute being announced. He arrived on the back of a season where he scored 34 goals in 32 league games in Croatia, and while you’re trying to fill some big shoes when a legend like Henry leaves, we saw that he was a player more than capable of finding the back of the net. Unfortunately, a horrendous tackle from a big clogging idiot ruined his leg and his career, and we never saw what he was fully capable of. Obviously he was never gonna be another Thierry, but I think he’d have easily been a 20 goal a season striker at a minimum.

I realise that in this day and age, it’s almost impossible to do business without it leaking out somewhere. The way modern media works means just one person has to say one thing to one guy, and it’s all over the Internet. So, the chances of something that out of the blue happening again are basically zero, but in 2007 we were quite happy for the press to focus on other names while we did our work in the background. Different times, different set-up, of course, but still interesting to consider.

If I had to guess, I’d say it’s more likely we go that way for the ‘other’ forward signing we’re reportedly looking to make this summer. The left-winger options are again a bunch of the usual suspects (Williams, Gordon, Gittens, Rodrygo), and they all look difficult, complicated ones to pull off. Especially with Williams who already looks set for Barcelona. Gordon would be very expensive, Gittens has had some issues at Borussia Dortmund, and the Rodrygo situation just sets my spider senses tingling a bit.

I’ve seen some reports about how Real Madrid had set a price (since ‘debunked’ a little by Fabrizio Romano), but I have to say €90m for a player who for me isn’t a massive upgrade on Gabriel Martinelli on the left (if he it’s pretty marginal based on their league goal returns) makes me a bit uneasy. The only way Rodrygo really makes sense for me is if he is viewed by the Mikel Arteta as a player who can start games on the left, which we hear is his preference, but also on the right because we still need that player to provide cover for Bukayo Saka. We saw the consequences of our reliance on Saka last season, and if that’s not a lesson we learn then someone needs a slap, so a big outlay on a player who can play in both wide positions is more understandable.

Nevertheless, €90m + wages + signing on fees, is maybe more than I’d be comfortable with for Rodrygo. I know, it’s not my money, but still. We examine transfers from every angle these days, and while I know some people are very high on the Brazilian, I just don’t see him as the superstar he’s painted as. Maybe though, the bar for this summer is that we need someone better than Raheem Sterling in last season’s squad, and in that case he most definitely fills the criteria. But then so too would many other players around Europe.

I understand when you get to a point in your development, the pool of players who will improve you becomes a lot smaller. But when was the last time we saw Arsenal do something innovative/risky in the transfer market? Maybe the last two you can really point to are William Saliba and Gabriel Martinelli – a combined £32m in the summer of 2019. Both worth way more now, and first team regulars. Do we need to widen our horizons and look to take a risk on a young player who has the potential to grow and develop. It’s not something we do that often. Does Mikel Arteta have some Fabio Vieira related trauma, perhaps? Does Andrea Berta have the knowledge and the chops to look beyond the obvious names and bring something new and different to the table?

Some will argue this is the last summer we need to take risks with. The stakes are too high, the competition is too great, and we have to address key issues in the most sensible way possible. I get that, but doing the obvious thing isn’t always the answer. Personally, I’d love to see Arsenal try to find solutions in ways that aren’t necessarily public right now. It doesn’t mean you’re not serious about what you need to do, but it could demonstrate a depth of recruitment knowledge, and ultimately faith in a manager whose coaching skills are widely lauded. Not yet the finished articles, but gems that require a little polishing. Is that a risk Arteta is willing to take?

I suspect that those big signings will come from that smaller pool, but if there’s room to take a chance with something different/innovative/exciting, I wouldn’t be against it at all. There’s no harm in a transfer not working out really, it’s par for the course at every football club, and probably more harm in never taking a little gamble. I guess we’ll find out in due course.

Right, that’s it. There’s a brand new Arsecast Extra below if you haven’t had a chance to listen yet. Enjoy!

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