We’ve been here before. If I could receive a 100 euros for every time I heard “ player to Arsenal nearly done”, I’d probably have my own private jet by now and I’m only 22. To be honest, as an Arsenal fan, there’s something frustrating about the way the club conducts business, it’s almost as if it’s run by amateurs.
Imagine making a £40 million bid for Wilfried Zaha, proposed to be paid in instalments over five years, this is the part I wish I could insert a rolling eyes emoji. It’s madness, especially with Man Utd expected to get 25 percent of that fee, you’d feel Palace would want to replace him with a promising player, making the proposed payment in instalments a big joke. £40-60 million would be the fee that Palace want to be left with after United have taken their 25 percent share, hence the £80 million valuation of the player, it’s not rocket science.
Another practical example of how much a disappointment our club is in terms of transfers is the situation surrounding Krystian Beliek, personally, I’d be unhappy to see him leave without getting the chance to prove himself after a fine display on loan last season. If we sell him, we should include a buy-back clause with a low fee, because it’s just a matter of time before he’s one of the most wanted CB’s in Europe.
Should that happen we’d probably not exercise it anyway; after all, we’re happy keeping Elneny when we can have Bennacer in his place instead. Bennacer is a far better option to have, he’s young, possesses great passing ability, he’s the sort of player you need alongside Xhaka and Torreira during a cold rainy night at Stoke and let’s be honest; he’s a better attacker as well. I sense a Gnabry type of story with this guy.
We need to get rid of Mkhitaryan, he’d be easier to offload compared to Ozil because a few teams can afford his wages, and Arsenal can get a younger first-team quality winger like Ismael Sarr, who’d earn far less than the £200k that Mhki’s currently on. Something isn’t right with him, maybe its confidence; a move might be good for him and the club.
On the other hand, we have a promising crop of youth players; it is important that we handle them with care and not play them out of position, but Freddie’s promotion will help integrate them into the first team seeing that he has worked with the young guns before. We will, however, need to loan out a few of them in order for them to progress, the Dutch and French leagues, as well as the championship, might be a good fit for some of them.
And then there’s the Koscielny saga, honestly, we have to let the guy go, did he go about it the right way? No, but it’s about time he leaves, he’s been a loyal servant. These things of playing tug of war with players create a bad picture of the club, and as far as it’s concerned, it’s already bad enough. Let him go, bring in Alves and another CB like Lascelles, and we’ll live to see next season.
By Kandy Theodore