As the world and his wife debated the financial statements, the important events were happening at Underhill with the continuing charge to fitness for Jack Wilshere and Bacary Sagna. Talk in the last week or so has been of the League Cup tie at Reading being their return to first team action, the timing of which is perfect as the international duties wane and the club duties ratchet up. Wilshere provided the delivery for Akpom’s goal – Arsenal’s second – shortly before Bacary Sagna was withdrawn just past the hour.
The return of both players offers competition for places. I know we all expect them to walk back into the first team but this season has made that less certain than might ordinarily expected. For Sagna, it is a real probability but having been light in terms of cover, Carl Jenkinson’s form this season offers reassurance that Sagna’s absence is not the problem it once was. It is also a differing aspect on his thoughts for the future. His next contract is likely to be his last at the top level, as a first choice. The emergence of a future England right back – not that there is much competition – is a genuine pause for thought; does he feel confident in his own abilities to be able to see off the challenge for the next three or four years?
Wilshere will be helped by the rotational injuries suffered by other midfielders. The manager will find it easier to slot him back in with Diaby occupying the position where I think Jack will brought back into the side. It is inconceivable at the moment that he would replace either Arteta or Cazorla; the Spanish pair have forged a tremendous understanding as well as being in outstanding individual form. There will be rotation of course and Wilshere is capable of filling both roles in the side but at the moment, ousting them is a long way off.
An initial assessment of the Under-21s competition is positive, whether this is short-term or a long-term benefit to the game in general remains to be seen. Certainly the increased squad sizes in the modern game seem to preclude any return to spells in ‘The Stiffs‘ with the development aims and age restrictions limiting such opportunities for punishing delinquent players. The demise of the Football Combination was not widely lamented but the absence of competitive football caused problems for the club in that there was no natural progression between youth football and the senior game. Games in domestic cups are few and far between, the lack of volume of these matches was a hinderance.
Should this League become the success many hope, there may be issues ahead for loan deals. After all, that has long been seen as the ‘finishing school’ of a modern player, readying them for action when Arsenal call. Either that or it is the shop window. Both are beneficial to the club and player. Impressing on loan can lead to a permanent deal, the income guaranteeing the future of the Academy whilst notionally freeing the costs from the bottom line, compartmentalising the revenue / cost streams. Self-financing of course, just to fit in with The Arsenal Way.
Which segues into the latest twist in laborious country lane that is Theo Walcott’s contract negotiations. There is an increasing sense that when the Chairman speaks on a subject, the club is tired of being on the back foot in the PR sense. This morning, Team Walcott are the beneficiaries of Whimsy’s wisdom – there’s a newspaper column in there somewhere – with the notion that the deal is not about money being openly questioned,
We have got our general overall wage structure and we are not prepared to break it for anybody. We have made an offer which he didn’t think was acceptable and that is the end of it. We think it is a very reasonable offer.
For the moment his people are still talking to us and we hope it will be resolved. But don’t ask me when, because I haven’t a clue. I hope that he will eventually come round and sign. It will be a pity if he does not, but the whole issue of pay for footballers has got totally out of hand and they don’t get terribly well advised a lot of the time.
Interestingly, the headline writers have laid the blame for these quotes at the door of the manager, rather than attributing them to the source as was clearly the case in the article. The situation is swings and roundabouts; Arsenal are as culpable in negotiations as players and their agents, no-one is blind to that. The club has placed their valuation on Walcott, he disagrees. I think the notion that he wants to break the wage structure is not laughable but in all likelihood an overstatement of the case. The comments though certainly have focussed the issue onto money and whilst I am sure Theo wants to play centrally, a deal would have been struck were this the only stumbling block. As it is, ongoing talks signals that the player is diverting attention away from the real issue.
Personally, I hope Walcott stays. He is a talented player but the whole issue is tiresome, especially draining after recent summer’s. I still maintain that I don’t see him as a central striker, certainly not leading the line. His value as a striker was highlighted at West Ham. Operating from the wider area, he was able to support and assist – as well as score – to great effect, better than he was able to against Chelsea. In placing him centrally, his pace means that play becomes one dimensional, he still strikes me as not having the appreciation of movement in the area that a lead striker must have. That is of course, hard to show when you are playing on the right; a vicious circle is entered into.
’til T0morrow.
I saw this on football365, and had to share it
Forward Power
16th August 2012 – Sir Alex Ferguson warns everyone that he has the best group of forwards since his own strike force in 1999.
8th October 2012
Robin van Persie (7) + Wayne Rooney (0) + Javier Hernandez (1) + Danny Welbeck (0) = 8
Lukas Podolski (4) + Gervinho (5) + Theo Walcott (4) + Olivier Giroud (2) = 15
Did anyone see that coming?
Andrew M, AFC, Australia
hehe, he has a point
Oh for a little navel gazing on Theo – and I fear we may suffer more in weeks and months to come
Having seen players come and players go, and by Gawd we have had some great arrivals and ghastly departures, the golden rule, well my golden rule, is that they if they want to play for Arsenal then they are my brother, my flesh, my soul mate, if they do not feck em.
If you don’t want to be here son, if you reckon the grass is greener, then off you go.
I can live with the consequences as I always have, the club will carry on, and you have the right to use the few years that constitute your “career” as you see best
The rest is froth.
I don’t mind the purse strings being loosened, but if we are going to give something to a player then be it a player we absolutely cannot do without. Theo, I implore you to accept the 75-80k on offer, sign a 3 year deal if you wish and show everyone that you are truly great. In 3 years you’ll be 26/27 years old and be approaching your real prime.
There is absolutely no player we cannot do without, never has been , never will be – same goes for managers, coaches, chief executives
They are actors on the stage, they speak their lines and depart
Innit
We’ve had the Oliviers and the Guinesses, the De Niros and the Caines
We have had a few Oliver Reeds in our time
and even a few so wooden that they made Sylvester Stallone look like an actor
But the drama continues
Waz…@ 5:12…I think my brain is taking in what you are commenting on. Is the crux of what you are saying, why not pay them and then collect our money when we sell them on, rather than risk having them leave on a free? My thoughts on this matter are that Arsenal are probably paying their players what the market will bear, notwithstanding teams such as Chelsea and Man Citeh who have both distorted the market at the higher end of player salaries. Undoubtedly, Theo is a very strong asset and is continuing to develop his worth as his skills improve. However, is he worth the sums that his agents are asking? And, what would Theo and his agents say if Arsene commented,”Alright Theo you can play centre forward for the remainder of your career at Arsenal.” Would the money issues then evaporate?
Nicely put, anicoll. Well said.
Miami @ 3:42.
No idea, can only guess. Perhaps Podolski did not get a lot of interest from other “big” clubs because of his relative lack of success at Bayern. No clue why cazorla was not snatched up years ago. I think rumour had it that Madrid wanted him but he was happy at his smaller club and did not want to move. Perhaps he will be the DB10 of this generation and really does value other things ahead of the biggest possible paycheck or may be he finally decided it was time for a move up and we got lucky because of the financial trouble of his old club and no one else thought they needed him this summer. The only other player of similar reputation we have purchased was arshavin and I guess we outbid everyone else in January because of the concern about our CL spot.
You may be right about Theo not being worth more then we are offering. Just my opinion but the increasing rate of players leaving suggests the clubs method of evaluation has not been altered to reflect the improvement in our own financial situation or the changing climate in the upper levels of european football. Dukey made a good analogy in a lot fewer words at 11:46. I realize we can’t pay everyone on our club the way man city does but I suspect we could be more wage competitive at the upper end without risking our long term financial health if we were willing to compromise on how we arrange our wage ladder and were a bit less risk averse.
Bill,
You do recall, as has been mentioned a fair few times, that Malaga did indeed sign Carzola for a reported €21M? Prior to that Real Madbid in 2008 but, shock, horror, for one reason or another the move didn’t work out. The Madrid fans were unconscionable, they expect everey reported signing to be made regardless of the various parties involved in any transfer tussle that involves a few suitcases of cold hard ca$h.
As for Goldi Poldi? I’m guessing that a record of 1 in 2 over one hundred caps for one of the most prestigious teams in football history speaks for itself. A bit like the fifty caps old Per has. : )
< Real Madrid bid in 2008….
Aman said:
“We like TW14 but we can learn to loathe him in no time at all.”
I had to laugh.
Walcott is at times infuriating, inconsistent and lazy. He will never make the bona fide central striker he wants to be. As a winger, his crosses are usually without measure and without real thought as to who will be the likely receiver.
And then, after all that, every now and again…….we see the sublime delivery of a goal like that against West Ham. And we wonder if the criticism is all wrong and we have a Henry No.2 on our hands.
I think the jury may still out on this one.
Finsbury.
If the world had a “do over” button, I suspect both Germans would have drawn a lot more interest, especially Podolski. An incredible talent like cazorla staying at Malaga and not joining a “big ” club in his early 20′s is an anomaly. . However it happened, I am very happy we were able to get all 3
Er, i think you must mean Villareal Bill? The move from Villa to Malaga surely counts as a big money move? Or is 21M small change these days?
< Villarreal!
Nicky, I have never seen the Walcott you are talking about play.
Don’t you love it when your team follows you to work? E-mail excerpts
SPANISH CLIENT: I hope you have a very good weekend and soccer watching!
…
BOSS: I am just back from a part of the country (the Missouri River Valley) where soccer is viewed with only slightly less suspicion than Islam, so I am unable to confirm any viewings.
ME: I watched enough football for both [BOSS] and myself this weekend– including my favored Arsenal and the Clasico. Now for business…
…
CLIENT: I also have watched lots of football over the weekend and I am still exhausted (nerves breaking) after watching the Clasico. What about Cazorla? isn’t he a great footballer?
ME: Santi is indeed a gem! Christmas came early for the Arsenal fans.
CLIENT: Santi is a real already polished gem which we knew from longt time ago. Enjoy him!
Finsbury:
Good point, I did not realize the move from Villareal to Malaga was that expensive. May be I don’t know enough about Spanish football but despite spending that much on one player, I have never thought of Malaga as a “big” club. Most players with Santi’s talent end up at one Europes traditional powerhouse teams in their early 20′s. No? Lucky for us it didn’t work that way.
Credit to the boss for getting both Cazorla and Podolski. Fantastic bit of work this summer. Says a lot for doing business as early as possible and not waiting until the end of the window.
David Villa nor David Silva played at a “big” club in their early twenties.
-
I’m hoping for an easier draw then Malaga in the next round of the CL.
The player that has impressed me more than any other is OG, for the simple fact that he plays hard and has still contributed a good bit while lacking confidence (4 great assists and 2 well taken goals). If he can contribute so much while at this point, can you imagine him full of confidence?!
Yep, he is going to be a killer. As Duke says, “he has it”
omit “while”
Finsbury:
True.
Paul N,
With respect Walcott regularly plays as I describe.
Tell me where I am wrong.
“As a winger, his crosses are usually without measure and without real thought as to who will be the likely receiver”, thought Vidic as he raised his arm into the air.
Bill, On reflection it’s fair to say that Valencia are a big team, they had a squad that nearly became legends not so long ago, won the league under Benitez. But they are crippled by debt now, I think. Clubs go under, their players become available & Arsenal occasionally beat the oilers to the pump.
Finsbury:
I guess don’t really think that much about La Liga, but you are right Valencia had an amazing group of talented attacking players at one time. You would think with all the money they made from selling those players that they would be in better financial condition.
Its fun to beat the oilers to the pump.
Nicky, you would think that Walcott was a head less Chicken apart from one or two matches per year.
Bill @ 8:57pm
Quite right.
If you wait until the very end of the transfer window, there’s only players like Arteta left.
last ……
Maybe not
Pffft not even close Arse or Brain.
Nor you, Irish.
Nor you good sir
Hurry YW
lol
Ah, ha!
@Paul N,
You miss my point. I was trying to emphasise the fickleness of so many Arsenal supporters when a poor performance brings cries of “Get rid”. Then a wonderful goal or two, they vote him POTM.
Relax Goonerkam, it’s the international break.
http://www.aclfarsenal.co.uk/?p=9684