Gundogan to Barca looks to be a done deal

More smoke around Xavi Simons. He just switched agents. New guy is David Dein's son. There are also indications that we may be stepping up the pursuit.

Swiss reports claim that Bayern are trying to hijack Leverkusen's deal for Xhaka by offering a 3+1 deal.

Aston Villa & Newcastle are both interested in Tierney

I do like Xavi Simons. Quick and happy to play direct and take on defenders one on one. Would help add something to the attacking setup that we've missed for like the last 20 years.

Question is just can he elevate an refine his game further or did he peak young.

🚨 Arsenal make breakthrough in contract talks with Reiss Nelson, who is now expected to stay and sign a new deal. https://t.co/iTw1gSIzFi

— Sami Mokbel (@SamiMokbel81_DM) June 2, 2023

On this FA Cup Final day, a trip down memory lane with the first final I ever watched live. In the words of Tim Lovejoy, "it's only Ray Parlour"

Caicedo’s destination could be known by the end of next week

— Link Up Arsenal (@LinkUpArsenal) June 3, 2023

Personally feel like he is going to Chelsea if I had to guess

If he likes money, but looooooves losing, that makes sense

Arsenal get to play in the Community Shield game. Yay, I guess.

🚨 Agreement in place between Arsenal and Reiss Nelson for a new, 4-year contract. Final details are being ironed out. Reports, @skysports_sheth. pic.twitter.com/MIzx3r3Kgc

— Eduardo Hagn (@EduardoHagn) June 6, 2023

Obviously very possible but people keep reporting about his desire to play UCL matches.

Caicedo and Rice in midfield is very very interesting.

Have a difficult time seeing us get both Rice & Caicedo. While their playing styles are a bit different, to me they would be competing for the same spot on the field. Unless we plan to shift to a 4-2-3-1 again, I cant see us really trying to buy both. Think this is an either/or situation and the 2nd MF signing will be more of ab offensive 8 / AM type.

Based on the most consistent links from the last several weeks and info we are getting from top tier analysts, it appears that we are targeting 3 players/roles at the moment...

DM - Rice/Caicedo. There have been some suggestions/rumors that we want both but I have a hard time seeing that both from a cost and playing time perspective. While some have suggested we could want Caicedo as an inverted RB, that seems like alot to pay for a FB when we already have a solid starter in that position.

RB - The rumblings about a CB/RB hybrid have gone quite the last 2-3 weeks and the consistent focus has been on a true FB. Been linked with Cancelo, Boey & Fresneda. Rumors that Cancelo wants to leave England and Fresneda now has a 20m euro release since his club was relegated. However, the most buzz has been around Boey. Outside of Cancelo, none of these guys would immediately put White on the bench. However, I could see a scenario where he starts to rotate at RB & CB to get the new RB minutes as well as let Saliba rest.

AM - We've been linked with Gundogan, Maddison, Mount, Simon, Kudus and likely 1-2 others I am forgetting as presumed replacements for Xhaka. Gundo is assumed headed to Barca but no deal yet. Heard this morning that the Saudi clubs are sniffing around. Mount appears to be locked in to ManU. Simon is the one most consistently linked but PSG have a buyback and they are talking about exercising it as long s Simon is on board.

I feel like the club view Rice as the Xhaka replacement. Caicedo is to be the eventual 6 and learns under Partey. At least I think that's what they are thinking in going after both

You may be right but I feel that pushing Rice further up the field takes away some of the skillsets that make him great and I'm not convinced that he is creative enough for what we need/want out of the left 8. Based on Xhaka's stats from last year (especially his defensive stats) as well as the hole host of other MFs we have been linked to, I am thoroughly convinced that we are looking to start running a DM with two 8.5/10 types. Ideal scenario would be one playmaker (MO, Vieira) and one dribbler/scorer (Gundogan, Simon, Maddison, Mount, Kudus... ESR, Trossard). I don't see Rice fitting that role. Plus his ability to read the offense, intercept key passes and turn the ball back up the field would make the 2 MF in front of him that much more dangerous.

Honestly, despite many of the reports, I don't think we are pursuing both at the moment. I think we are keeping Caicedo on the line just in case and will move on from him after Rice is sorted.

Is it weird that I don't care to keep up with all of this? 90% of all of it is just rumor and speculation, so I just prefer to wait and see how it shakes out when the window closes. What I do know is that I trust Edu and Arteta in who we pursue, and that we will never be able to outspend the gulf state clubs, so I don't find transfer rumors all that intriguing.

Teacher_Ag said:

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Is it weird that I don't care to keep up with all of this? 90% of all of it is just rumor and speculation, so I just prefer to wait and see how it shakes out when the window closes. What I do know is that I trust Edu and Arteta in who we pursue, and that we will never be able to outspend the gulf state clubs, so I don't find transfer rumors all that intriguing.

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Most of its rumor but it sure seems like Rice and Caicedo are high probability

Teacher_Ag said:

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Is it weird that I don't care to keep up with all of this? 90% of all of it is just rumor and speculation, so I just prefer to wait and see how it shakes out when the window closes. What I do know is that I trust Edu and Arteta in who we pursue, and that we will never be able to outspend the gulf state clubs, so I don't find transfer rumors all that intriguing.

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It's just our version of the national enquirer. It's fun but frivolous.

Teacher_Ag said:

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Is it weird that I don't care to keep up with all of this? 90% of all of it is just rumor and speculation, so I just prefer to wait and see how it shakes out when the window closes. What I do know is that I trust Edu and Arteta in who we pursue, and that we will never be able to outspend the gulf state clubs, so I don't find transfer rumors all that intriguing.

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That's fair enough.

I listen to the first half of The Gooner Talk podcast each morning where Tom goes through the transfer news. Its about 15 minutes on the way to work or the gym and covers it all pretty quickly. That keeps me up to date without spending much time looking at crap.

Yeah you have to take it all with a grain of salt and certainly not get emotionally invested in any rumor/player.

For me it's just interesting to speculate about squad building/potential tactical evolution, but I don't spend a lot of time on it.

I agree, I think Rice can play all over the midfield but I think they like him in the Xhaka role, Caicedo as the 6. I think Arteta likes a bigger physical profile in that left 8 role. While I think they want both, I think probability is against us in actually signing both and I think Rice is the priority.

On the other hand supposedly we have around 190m plus sales to spend. If we sell Tierney for 35m, Xhaka for 10m, maybe Balogun for another 30m or so? Plus small sales like Lokonga and Tavares, it could be a decent total.

Xavi Simons rumors I also find intriguing.

Not sure why so many here think Rice will be replacing Xhaka on the field...

- 90+% of the "experts" expect him to effectively replace Partey
- He currently plays in a DM/Holding role for both England & West Ham
- We have been linked to 5-6 offensive CM / AM types that make far more sense as replacements to Xhaka as most of them aren't going to consider coming to Arsenal to be a backup to MO (or Rice)
- While Rice shows some similarities to Xhaka, I'm not sure/convinced that he would be the offensive upgrade that you would want/expect
- His ability to read the opposing offense and intercept passes is less effective further up the field

It's 1 metric but looks a lot more like Partey/Rodri than Xhaka

I agree with you. I think he is more of Partey replacement. I remember one of those player comparison wheels and he lines up perfectly (if not better) with Partey. Just feels like a lot of the ITK stuff says they want him as a Xhaka replacement. Maybe because of the duel links to Caicedo who is definitely a 6. I do think Rice has the versatility to play an 8 if needed, but its not his best position

I'm not buying that we want both. For me, adding both Rice & Caicedo (especially with the money involved) would be an indication that we plan to go back to a 4-2-3-1 (MO, ESR & Vieira as #10 and Rice, Caicedo, Partey , Jorginho & OZ as defensive CM/DM) and I don't think we would abandon the 4-3-3 after 1 season unless we did not have a legit single pivot #6 option. Guess we will see for sure if/when we get Rice deal agreed.

I could definitely see him playing in the 6 (Partey) role, to be clear. Obviously he can do it. But Xhaka is gone. Who's replacing him, Smith Rowe?

England and West Ham both play in a double pivot whereas we don't, so I don't know that his past heat maps are a guarantee of where Arteta sees him playing, particularly when he is known for putting players in slightly unexpected roles (White, Xhaka, etc). And several Arsenal pundits I like are predicting him there (Clive Palmer, Tim Stillman). In our double pivot of a couple years ago, Xhaka played the same role as Rice for West Ham.

Obviously I could be wrong, just a hunch/opinion.

I do think we are going after both Rice and Caicedo, although the chances of landing both are low. But I think it's the goal and so I see Caicedo definitely more in that 6 role, as Rice has a pretty good shot on him and Caicedo is definitely a DM/less versatile of the two. I also don't see us moving Partey and Jorginho and so we obviously don't need 4 players of that caliber in that position.

I also don't see us going back to a double pivot, unless something catastrophic happens to Saliba. Gabriel and Saliba don't need that kind of cover.

Inverting our left back sort of has us playing in a double pivot, right?

I guess you could sort of say that but it's not 2 DMs pivoting on a single 10. From a midfielder perspective still a 6 and 2 8s (single pivot). Right 8 plays more like a 10 and left 8 more like a true box-to-box 8. In possession, it's like a 2-3-2-3 with an overlapping RB. Pretty cool.

I think Arteta likes to change things every year tho (like Pep) so who knows what we do next year.

I think next year Tomiyasu will be the Ben White role, but at LB to rotate with Zinchenko. Then we may bring in a RB to be the inverted RB (the Zinchenko) on the right side. I think Ben White may play both RB but also more at RCB in Saliba's spot, for certain gamies or if Saliba is out for some reason.

We purposefully trimmed down the squad with no Europe, but with UCL it'll be interesting to see how we build it back up. I hope Arteta gets a little more willing to rotate some players, I think he has tended to overplay some in the past, although clearly he only trusts a certain number of them. Hopefully as he continues to bring more of his guys in, he'll feel comfortable rotating.

Strangely Attractive said:

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I guess you could sort of say that but it's not 2 DMs pivoting on a single 10. From a midfielder perspective still a 6 and 2 8s (single pivot). Right 8 plays more like a 10 and left 8 more like a true box-to-box 8. In possession, it's like a 2-3-2-3 with an overlapping RB. Pretty cool.

I think Arteta likes to change things every year tho (like Pep) so who knows what we do next year.

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He is playing OZ offensively the same way Xhaka played last year when we were running a 4-2-3-1. The difference is instead of running the LB up the sideline and LW cutting in, the LW & L8 are swapping between the sideline & left 1/2 space.

We are technically running a 3-2-2-3 in attack. White overlaps at times but stays back as a 3rd CB most of the time.

With the number of offensive 8s we have been linked to, I am convinced that Arteta plans to run the same 3-2-2-3 in attack but with a more offensive L8.

Strangely Attractive said:

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I think next year Tomiyasu will be the Ben White role, but at LB to rotate with Zinchenko. Then we may bring in a RB to be the inverted RB (the Zinchenko) on the right side. I think Ben White may play both RB but also more at RCB in Saliba's spot, for certain gamies or if Saliba is out for some reason.

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I agree with this but I think Tomi may be a defensive supersub. My expectations for DF depth this season is...

LB - OZ, Kiwior, Tomi
LCB - Gabi, Kiwior, Tomi
RCB - Saliba, White, Walters
RB - White, Boey/Fresneda, Walters

Yep I agree with that 100%. Arteta values versatility. Instead of being 22 deep we may be like 17 deep but with a lot of guys that can cover in multiple positions.

Yeah I agree, I said 2-3-2-3 in possession because the 2 center backs tend to play at the back (with Saliba as sweeper) and White edging into midfield if not overlapping.


I have a feeling tactics change again next season. We'll see. Squad building and thinking about tactics is what makes the off-season a lot of fun.

Tom Canton from Gooner Talk is claiming that Fresneda is our next priority after Rice is wrapped up.

So...

I watched EVERY goal Arsenal conceded in 22/23 & THIS is what I noticed... 👀

A THREAD ✍️🧵 pic.twitter.com/zq3wyA4K2z

— Alexander (@AMonFootball) June 9, 2023