Partey is their holding midfielder, Rice has been deployed as an 8 when everyone is fit.
Martín Zubimendi | Having medical at Arsenal (51m fee) | Romano: here we go
- Thread starter MyOnlySolskjaer
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Nik (@Rood), Jamie (@Vault Dweller) and Ed (@That'sHernandez) give their end of season awards out! They celebrate the best players, goals and moments of the season (there were some, honestly) and also give out awards for the worst and most disappointing players/moments of the season.
They then discuss all the latest transfer rumours and get into the potential ins and outs this summer at Old Trafford.
Great they spent money on such a shit player in a stacked position.
Zubamendi doesn't look like a good partry replacement but I may be wrong. He looks pretty lightweight and was bullied at times vs us.
They have said our budget is dependent on if we are in CL or not, so we just have to wait and see. We will know a week on Wednesday.
Yeah, I think Gyokeres is probably high on their list as I see Isak as unsellable (i.e. north of 100m+ to even get Newcastle to the table). Gotcha both on the Merino bit - I've actually forgotten about him leaving for Arsenal as well. Probably more so because they've used him as a CF as much as they have a midfielder
Will be interesting to see how/where Havertz is used if they do sign a starting CF. Expensive for a squad option.
When I say Pool fans, you don't count Robin- you and your rational and reasonable thoughts!
But on a serious note, agreed. Unless you entertained selling one of your midfielders, I don't see that an urgent need for you as its a lot of money for someone in a position you have a preferred/starting 3.
When are you and the missus coming back down to CT? Need to play some more footy together before my knees/achilles end me permanently!
He probably does improve them but they still need someone to stick it in the net.
Would see this more as their Jorginho replacement who gives them a flexible and more balanced midfield that is capable of rotation and different approaches to problems. I don't necessarily believe they just throw away Partey now, as he can be used sparingly or even next to Zubimendi with Rice going forward a bit to be a CM loitering in AM positions.
Of course, you also have Zubimendi next to Rice, with Rice than expected to operate as an actual all-action #8 (no excuses).
All depends on how Zubimendi settles and how much he needs his hand held in the deeper central midfield, but if he is competent in that aspect, they finally get a proper ball progressor from deep midfield which means they can hit the wings swiftly and early within a touch or two, instead of having to take all those steps with ball carriage because of the inability to consistently hit targets 40+ metres away.
Not sure on Zubimendi, but the logic behind acquiring makes a lot of sense to me.
Of course, you also have Zubimendi next to Rice, with Rice than expected to operate as an actual all-action #8 (no excuses).
All depends on how Zubimendi settles and how much he needs his hand held in the deeper central midfield, but if he is competent in that aspect, they finally get a proper ball progressor from deep midfield which means they can hit the wings swiftly and early within a touch or two, instead of having to take all those steps with ball carriage because of the inability to consistently hit targets 40+ metres away.
Not sure on Zubimendi, but the logic behind acquiring makes a lot of sense to me.
This doesn't get them any closer to winning the league, obviously.
While I'm not particularly envious of them buying Zubimendi, I am envious that they are getting business done early.
We've clearly been planning ahead too.
Zubimendi is around 35M level player. Not a bad player at all but imo there's nothing special in him. Can do a bit of everything but not elite in anything.
Their season finished then moment they lost to PSG. Zubimemdi has a release clause, so they just need to negotiate the contract.
We still don't know whether we'll be in Europe next year or not. That's kind of important when negotiating contracts.
Not particularly when we give all players an automatic 25% bump if we qualify for the champions league. I think it's madness, but it's what we've done for years
How do you know they still want to do that? And you're just confirming what I said. If you're about to join the club, you want your contract to be worth as much as possible, not be contingent on UCL qualification, which we haven't exactly been great at these last few years.
Besides, it's likely some of our targets change or become more attainable if we win the Europa.
It feels like you just want another reason to moan about the club.
Wasn't impressed at all in the 4-1 win against him.
We don't give players a 25% bump. We give them a 25% reduction when we don't qualify for Champions League. Subtle difference.
So he's half as good as Hojlund?
Makes sense, so it's a bit strange some are bemoaning the fact we haven't signed anyone when we don't know yet which market we will be even shopping in.
Probably just didn’t want to live in Liverpool.
Reminds me of Arteta, an Everton player. Tidy enough, boring as feck.
Do we? I’m pretty sure that they count in as performance bonuses on top of the base salary. A lot of the contracts in our team were signed under the assumption that CL qualification is more or less guaranteed though, so the salaries were always reported with those bonuses included.
Yeah, this is how it seems to have been reported over the years. We tend to see the higher end of a player's wage as opposed to the basic. Perhaps what I should have said is that it is perceived as a 25% reduction, purely do to how our player's salaries are exaggerated in the first place.
50M for Zubimendi? That’s pure Euros tax.
Not saying the lad’s bad, but let's be real if Spain hadn’t won that tournament, no one will be coming close to that figure.
He’s tidy on the ball, reads the game well, but he's not a controlling midfielder. He's also lightweight, struggled against our midfield in the europa league.
We’ve seen this before, Euros/World Cup hype inflates value, and suddenly clubs are rushing to pay premium for players who look good in a well-oiled national system, without remembering that national football level is way below club football level.
Another example is Nicholas Williams, sure he's an exciting young player but 100M+ for him? No way just see his numbers in la liga. Nothing special.
Not saying the lad’s bad, but let's be real if Spain hadn’t won that tournament, no one will be coming close to that figure.
He’s tidy on the ball, reads the game well, but he's not a controlling midfielder. He's also lightweight, struggled against our midfield in the europa league.
We’ve seen this before, Euros/World Cup hype inflates value, and suddenly clubs are rushing to pay premium for players who look good in a well-oiled national system, without remembering that national football level is way below club football level.
Another example is Nicholas Williams, sure he's an exciting young player but 100M+ for him? No way just see his numbers in la liga. Nothing special.
We paid €50m for Ugarte. Look at the cost of CM's now, just look at the price for Rice, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez, Tchouameni, Melo, Pjanic, Lavia, Mattheus Nunes, Tonali etc.
None of them are really any better than Zubimendi and some cost double the price and some 10m more than him. Its kind of the going rate.
People are not grasping that the release clause needs to be paid in FULL. There is no negotiation to increase the overall payment but be paid in installments.
They had the opportunity to do pay the release clause last year, alongside Liverpool. They just wasted a year for an older player with the same release clause.
They had the opportunity to do pay the release clause last year, alongside Liverpool. They just wasted a year for an older player with the same release clause.
Who said they’re ignoring the striker position. Hes clearly just available now and they’ve struck early. Theyre defo signing a striker in the summer.
They will obviously sign a striker too and probably a few others.
Obviously we need to translate this into euros. Only fair.
60M is a huge amount for Arsenal to spend on the midfield. But they already have a decent team so they only need to add 1-2 each year to stay competitive for the 2nd place.
60M is a huge amount for Arsenal to spend on the midfield. But they already have a decent team so they only need to add 1-2 each year to stay competitive for the 2nd place.
You may be right, players are worth a lot nowadays. I'd say Rice, Caicedo and Enzo are easily better players.
For reference PSG paid 40M for Vitinha and 60M for Neves. I'd say that's a way better deal considering the players level and age.
All of them are better. Most comfortably
An absolutely crazy signing from Arsenal if true. Have a look at his seasons stats
https://fbref.com/en/players/3ee0dd59/Martin-Zubimendi
Does that look like the kinda player who's gonna thrive in the premier league? 83% pass completion in La liga where almost none of the opposing teams play a high press against Sociedad, is awful. I feel like his reputation has come from him looking great as a sub on the euros final? I've watched la liga for years and seen at least a dozen or so Sociedad games against teams other than Real/Barca and he's a good player, but eating up a huge chunk of Arsenal budget seems pretty dumb. Barca, Atletico and Real havent even made an attempt to try and sign him, and given he clearly prefers to live in spain based on his rejection of liverpool, I feel like he was hoping one of those clubs would try and buy him but it hasn't materialized so hes decided to go to a place where the manager speaks his language.
You can quote me on this, This transfer will not work out. He is not suited to PL football at all.
https://fbref.com/en/players/3ee0dd59/Martin-Zubimendi
Does that look like the kinda player who's gonna thrive in the premier league? 83% pass completion in La liga where almost none of the opposing teams play a high press against Sociedad, is awful. I feel like his reputation has come from him looking great as a sub on the euros final? I've watched la liga for years and seen at least a dozen or so Sociedad games against teams other than Real/Barca and he's a good player, but eating up a huge chunk of Arsenal budget seems pretty dumb. Barca, Atletico and Real havent even made an attempt to try and sign him, and given he clearly prefers to live in spain based on his rejection of liverpool, I feel like he was hoping one of those clubs would try and buy him but it hasn't materialized so hes decided to go to a place where the manager speaks his language.
You can quote me on this, This transfer will not work out. He is not suited to PL football at all.
So is he supposed to provide cover for Partey? Surely their best midfield trio would still be Rice-Partey-Ødegaard.
So where does Merino play then if they have just two spots for the players behind Odegaard?. In that sense alone they have wasted money here if reports of Party’s renewal are true, that’s 4 players for two positions, and you’d assume MLsS would be moving to midfield as well next season.
4 players for 2 spots is the bare minimum you want if you're trying to challenge in 2/3 competitions. Wether Partey stays or leave don't make much of a difference, he needs phasing out for many reasons.
MLS will still be at LB next year and will see plenty of minutes if Calafiori keeps getting injured every 2 months.
Patently obvious to everyone that arsenal need a elite striker. Don't really understand why you wouldnt put everything towards on of those elite strikers.
Buying in a area of the team you are already quite strong in, doesn't really make sense. But then again I'm not a arsenal fan so may have it wrong.
Buying in a area of the team you are already quite strong in, doesn't really make sense. But then again I'm not a arsenal fan so may have it wrong.
Rice, Caicedo and Enzo are not double the price better.
They all do a lot more than his sidewards passing. A lot more progressive passes and progressive carries in a stronger league, not to mention the assists and goals that Enzo and Rice have on top and the far more ball winning Caicedo does
Not to mention Casemiro and Fernandes played him off the park just a few months ago
Really not arsed about this, he doesn’t improve them.
Wasted money.
Wasted money.
This 1000%. If he never played in that final I doubt anyone would even have noticed who he is. They should be spending that money on a striker and feel like he's a complete waste of money/profile of what they need
I dont even think his final performance was that great. It was good, but nothing special.