Morning all.
A really fast Friday weblog for you, as a result of there’s nothing concrete happening, however numerous rumours. First, Mikel Merino is reportedly not within the Actual Sociedad squad for his or her upcoming sport, with rising suggestion it’s because he’s nearer and nearer to a transfer to Arsenal.
Maybe, and it is a long-shot, issues have accelerated during the last couple of days. Different reviews say this is because of damage, nevertheless it does appear as if there’s numerous smoke across the Spanish worldwide, and more than likely some hearth too. Fabrizio Romano says talks between the golf equipment are ‘energetic’, and that the participant desires to hitch, and that’s backed up by another reviews I’ve seen.
So, let’s see what occurs. His arrival is actually an fascinating one in that he may redefine what we expect Declan Rice’s function is likely to be this season. If now we have issues in regards to the age and the legs of Jorginho and Thomas Partey, they might simply be offset by the actual fact Rice has stated a number of occasions he thinks his finest place is at ‘6’, and that just about solves that downside as a result of he’s a really, superb participant. If he was the person anchoring our midfield, would anybody actually have any complaints?
Merino because the ‘left 8′, with Havertz additionally an possibility there, provides us a bit extra depth in that place, however the knock-on impact of that’s that it leaves Gabriel Jesus as the primary alternative centre-forward. If he can preserve his pre-season type and sharpness, that’s not precisely an enormous downside both, however there may be danger given his damage report. To not point out he can’t play each sport, and when the opposite huge hearsay of this morning is Eddie Nketiah’s transfer to Marseille being again on, it means Arsenal must be energetic within the ahead market too.
I don’t understand how a lot reality there may be on this Eddie story, I’ve seen stuff on social media about how he’s been on the Marseille airport, and all I can consider is the lunacy of switch aircraft monitoring which more often than not seems to be full nonsense. However, I believe what is evident to me is that it’s time for him to maneuver on for the sake of his personal profession. Whether or not that’s Marseille now, or an English membership slightly later within the window, the very best factor for him is to seek out someplace he can play commonly and, hopefully, rating numerous targets for his new membership.
The identical applies to Reiss Nelson who didn’t even get on in a pleasant when Mikel Arteta performed literal kids, so I absolutely count on him to depart earlier than the tip of the window. If/once they depart, there’s room within the ahead line for another person. Whether or not it’s a winger, a striker, somebody versatile who can play throughout the entrance line, your guess is nearly as good as mine. There have been a couple of names talked about right here and there, however nothing notably concrete, so we’ll simply must bide our time and see what occurs.
Lastly for right this moment, I loved James’ piece in The Athletic yesterday, revealing one among Mikel Arteta’s little methods to maintain his gamers on their toes:
At a dinner together with his gamers, Arsenal supervisor Mikel Arteta secretly employed a group {of professional} pickpockets. The sleight-of-hand artists had been tasked with going around the tables, pinching telephones and wallets from an unwitting first-team squad.
On the finish of the meal, Arteta stood up and requested them the group to empty their pockets. A lot of gamers had been lacking beneficial gadgets. The concept was to show his squad the significance of being prepared, alert and ready — always.
It’s humorous, and a bit unhinged, and the very first thing I believed was that one other title for ‘skilled pickpockets’ is ‘thieves’, however there you go. On the opposite aspect although, a lot of soccer and training is about repetition, practising drills and patterns and so on, and as a lot as there’s satisfaction when these issues repay on the pitch, they may also be fairly boring whenever you’re doing them over and over and over on the coaching floor.
So, whenever you’re making an attempt to maintain 25 younger millionaires engaged, as a lot as folks may scoff a bit, issues like this are most likely very efficient. I put no boundaries on the place Arteta may go subsequent. A 2026 piece in The Athletic:
“And in an effort to motive his gamers additional, Arteta sanctioned the kidnapping of every participant’s first born youngster (or canine for these with out youngsters). A sequence of puzzles to pay the ransom was seen as an issue fixing train.
“All of the whereas, Arteta and Edu barbecued burgers and hotdogs for the youngsters whereas frantic gamers desperately tried to make their households full once more.”
If it means factors for us, I’m all for it. Proper, have yourselves an awesome Friday, and there’s a brand new Arsecast beneath in the event you haven’t had an opportunity to hear but.
