Blog

Welcome back to this weeks blog.

A week in which two signings have been confirmed by the club. Finally Martin Zubimendi signed for the club which feels like it’s been 84 years, check the Titanic meme, those that know will understand my referencing here and also the shrewd signing Christian Norgaard.

Seemingly the midfield bolstered ahead of the new season, one bought in to dictate the tempo, the other bringing a steel and Premier League experience.

Also, the continuing Gyokeres saga rumbles on, with reports of a stalling Gyrokeres deal by all accounts from the Portugese side of things and finally the imminent signing of Noni Madueke next week. A signing that has divided opinion and sometimes shown the sour side of modern day fanism.

Noni Madueke

From all major accounts over the weekend, the player has agreed terms with the club, with reports that he is flying back to Europe ahead of his move to complete his medical.

Now, the vitriol I’ve seen to this signing both online and actions which included defacing spray paint around the Emirates is all very embarrassing. The one thing I will say is this, as supposedly fans of the club surely you can do better.

To abuse a player online and calling the club manager endless amounts of swear words is small minded, ignorant and in my opinion absolutely ridiculous. You can disagree with a signing of course, but the level of discourse to me is baffling.

My opinion on the signing as discussed last week is all positive, a dribbler, not afraid to keep attacking. I see a raw and talented footballer, who is maybe a little old school currently in his play, takes chances, yes sometimes loses the ball but just keeps going and going.

Now last season and even before that, plenty of fans moaned that there is no sufficient cover to Saka. Now, we will have that, a player that can play either on the right or left flank, can dribble and has a shot on site, therefore we can vary the lineup and rest players when we can.

When I look back at last season, once we lost, Saka, Havertz and Jesus, the bench was a no-go attacking wise. The players available were largely defensiveness or youngsters, we had a centre midfielder upfront for the last 5 months of the season.

The bench in a semi final in the Champions League was not one where we could change the tide of the tie. But, opposite to us was PSG, they had Barcola, Dembele, Doue, Kvaratskhelia and Ramos in the squad, all with different strengths and ways to impact a game.

As discussed in previous blogs, you need a squad, you need depth. Madueke is 23 years old, has experience playing in Europe, has gone away to PSV before Chelsea and can still get better.

Okay, £48 million and adds on looks excessive but is that not the fees kicking about for a standard Premier League player these days? Especially factoring in age and the England quota.

The backup to Saka last season was Sterling. Now I’m not one bash a player but in all honesty was he adequate cover in the front line last season? We all know how it turned out.

And ask yourself this, how much would Sterling currently be worth in the market? Now for a similar price, what adequate player would you get different that can come in and cover the front line currently that meets the level neededed? I just don’t see anyone now south of £30 million that meets the standard to come in and cover in the league right now.

The sticking point for some fans is being burnt before with buying from Chelsea but recently, Jorginho came in and done well, plus Havertz being a key member in the side that ran City close in 2023/24, they were positive additions.

Now that Madueke is going to be signed, it’s time to get behind him, he is now an Arsenal player, I believe and hope he will bring us lot to the side for years to come.

The Gyokeres saga

It seems we’ve hit a brick wall in this transfer. Sporting seem to be playing on the players desire to move to Arsenal.

They want to us to show our hand at the poker table, push all the chips in to meet the figure the Sporting president Frederico Varandas desires, but currently Arsenal are holding firm. The player himself not reporting to training this weekend, sighting a Gentlemen’s agreement with the club that if a £65 million and add ons offer came in that, would do the trick but Sporting are demanding more. It’s all looking a tad unsavoury at this point.

Where do I see this going? A meeting in the middle, Arsenal know they can’t go into the season with no out and out striker, Sporting know they can’t go into the season with a player refusing to join pre season training and a player desperately wanting his big move before it’s too late, plus it’s not a great look for any prospective talents looking at Sporting as a destination in the future.

I’ve discussed Gyokeres in previous blogs and having reflected even further, the man scoring 54 goals last season, he is different to what we have had since say Aubameyang, a runner in behind, a bully who can carve out his own goals. If 50 goals in Portugal equates to 25 in the Premier League, I think that’s exactly what we need. 15 more goals than last seasons total as a side and we are in to try and win it again following last seasons petered out challenge with injuries.

So moves being made, the club showing it’s hand, bubbling in the background, the young centre back from Mosquera, the name of Eze still in the mix, which is interesting considering the news on Palace European competition status next season and finally Rodrygo, who saw very limited minutes in the Club World Cup.

So until next week, we’ll see if the club makes further progress on any new deals and maybe we might just have another incoming or two before the squad heads off to Asia for the pre season tour.

Have a great week, until the next one.