Morning all.
A really fast Friday weblog for you, as a result of there’s nothing concrete occurring, however numerous rumours. First, Mikel Merino is reportedly not within the Actual Sociedad squad for his or her upcoming recreation, with growing 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 stories say this is because of damage, nevertheless it does appear as if there’s a number of smoke across the Spanish worldwide, and most probably 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 stories I’ve seen.
So, let’s see what occurs. His arrival is definitely an attention-grabbing one in that he would possibly redefine what we predict Declan Rice’s function could be this season. If we have now considerations concerning the age and the legs of Jorginho and Thomas Partey, they might simply be offset by the very fact Rice has mentioned a number of instances he thinks his finest place is at ‘6’, and that just about solves that drawback as a result of he’s a really, excellent participant. If he was the person anchoring our midfield, would anybody actually have any complaints?
Merino because the ‘left 8′, with Havertz additionally an choice 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 kind and sharpness, that’s not precisely an enormous drawback both, however there’s danger given his damage report. To not point out he can’t play each recreation, and when the opposite huge hearsay of this morning is Eddie Nketiah’s transfer to Marseille being again on, it means Arsenal have to be energetic within the ahead market too.
I don’t understand how a lot reality there’s 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 airplane monitoring which more often than not seems to be full nonsense. However, I feel what is obvious 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 search out someplace he can play repeatedly and, hopefully, rating a number of objectives 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 totally count on him to go away earlier than the top of the window. If/after 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 should bide our time and see what occurs.
Lastly for at the moment, I loved James’ piece in The Athletic yesterday, revealing one among Mikel Arteta’s little tips to maintain his gamers on their toes:
At a dinner together with his gamers, Arsenal supervisor Mikel Arteta secretly employed a staff {of professional} pickpockets. The sleight-of-hand artists have 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 staff to empty their pockets. Various gamers have been lacking precious objects. The thought 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 identify for ‘skilled pickpockets’ is ‘thieves’, however there you go. On the opposite facet although, a lot of soccer and training is about repetition, practising drills and patterns and many others, and as a lot as there’s satisfaction when these issues repay on the pitch, they will also be fairly boring once you’re doing them over and time and again on the coaching floor.
So, once you’re making an attempt to maintain 25 younger millionaires engaged, as a lot as folks would possibly scoff a bit, issues like this are in all probability very efficient. I put no boundaries on the place Arteta would possibly 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 little one (or canine for these with out children). 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 kids 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 incredible Friday, and there’s a brand new Arsecast under in the event you haven’t had an opportunity to hear but.
