Sorry, I was replying to Robin Thicke/Gallant Knight. I was quoting the price that I would accept from Aston Villa for ESR this summer. They would have to pay the English premium for a young superstar in the making.
Maybe we will loan you one of our young players that can’t get into the villa team to sweeten the deal
I’m not super pumped about paying the English premium but I’m sold on White. I think he’s going to be good. I didn’t know hardly anything about him when I first heard his name. guys like Kounde and Tapsoba might go for similar money but I think the reality is Arsenal can’t recruit players like that right now without European competition.
there’s risk in any transfer. I’ll take the youth and potential over experience at the point. it’s not like he’s completely unproven.
To me that’s a great argument for trying to sign the next Koundé or Tapsoba rather than Ben White for an expensive price. I don’t know enough about White to formulate an opinion on if he’ll succeed or fail, but there’s a risk with players of all caliber that they won’t pan out for a new club. Why make that a 50 mil £ risk when you can get a similar level of young player on the continent for much cheaper?
at this point Arsenal probably should be doing both, but with White they're looking for a player to step right into the job as the first choice RCB. you can't find the next Kounde and expect him to do that right away. Arsenal took this gamble on William Saliba two summers ago and he's yet to play a competitive game with the first team.
I could have worded it better but that’s the point I was making. They’re both too expensive now so sign the next versions of them before they make that move to a Champions League or Europa league level club in another league. Otherwise you’ll generally be stuck overpaying for English players or taking big club castaways. Maybe not the best example since they did pay quite a bit for him, but look at Fofana at Leicester
I gotta say I don't get this. the squad is big enough that you can use depth spots to fill the quota, you don't need to be paying huge premiums on your most expensive players in order to fill it.
Given White’s profile I’m skeptical he can do that as well, but as I said, I’m not too familiar with him so I could be under selling him. Saliba is a weird case since they took the gamble but seemingly haven’t even tried to see if it will pay off. Maybe there’s good reason for that via training, off the pitch stuff, etc., but his less hyped, one year older, CB partner at Saint-Etienne did just fine right away.
I agree the Saliba thing is a complete mystery but it's just an example of one of the many things that can go wrong when you invest in young talent. it's high risk/high reward. I think White is established enough that he can step into the Arsenal squad and at least share that starting role with Holding. obviously they're overpaying, but whatever I'm not going to get too worked up over Stan Kroenke's money.
They're obviously trying to do that in certain areas (e.g. Lokonga) but until we clear out some more of the deadwood, I'm not sure we'll see more of those signings. IMO, they're going to try sign some players who have a higher probability of contributing early - players who they don't have to worry about in terms of acclimatizing to the country, league, etc. Of course, people keep forgetting how Brexit is making it hard to go out & grab the unheralded young frenchies and germans going forward.
Maybe I am misunderstanding, but if Arteta's preferred defense is a back 3, couldn't Saliba still be part of that with White and Gabriel?
Mavro off to Stuttgart. Loan with Obligation (unless they get relegated) for 5mill and a sell-on clause. Meanwhile, People on Reddit acting as if we're selling Saliba for 5 million.
The versatility plus mention of him possibly playing DM sounds awesome to me. If he can actually pass like it sounds like he can, could see him in the Busquets style central defender role that steps forward.
Yeah but I see what he is saying, look at last year, we were so bloated you could just have a U-23 ride the bench if needed. You should certainly never get to that point, but we are Arsenal so I agree with you as well.
Required Reading on Ben White from his time at Leeds and playing in a back 4 that pushes a high line.. https://allstatsarentwe.medium.com/can-we-really-compare-ben-white-to-rio-ferdinand-7e091873c3f2 https://statsbomb.com/2019/11/who-a...tars-playing-in-the-championship-this-season/ Relevant bit from the Statsbomb article: Part of the tightest defence in the second tier, White has been earning rave reviews for his performances at the heart of the Leeds back line, adapting quickly to the demands that have been placed on him by Marcelo Bielsa’s system. Tasked with playing in a high defensive line, White has excelled in the front foot defending style, making more interceptions than any other Championship centre back by some distance. As well as being cool and composed in one on one duels, the Brighton loanee also has a trait for driving forward with the ball to set Leeds attacks on their way. For a first spell at this level, it’s been an impressive start. (Statsbomb) Ben White has made 302 progressive passes* this season, more than any other Championship centre-back, and the fifth-highest tally by any player in the division (@LUFCDATA)
If we sell him for pennies to a club with a big club sell on agreement already done it’s gonna hurt my feelings
Again, I think this is an instance where Clive would birth Saliba's child with a nice combination of being horribly run. I'm also pretty confident Arsenal probably are encouraging him to go. Also there is nothing wrong with everyone at Arsenal hating Saliba, I think the key is to just maximize his return at this point.
disagree with this statement 100%, especially if he turns out to be good, or even a slight upgrade over what we already have tells me they’re terrible talent evaluators or play favorites/have personal biases at the detriment of the club’s goals both on the pitch and financially imo
Would love to know exactly what Raul signed us up for. Phillipe has mentioned that the deal was unusual
I wasn't trying to edge lord here. I love everything about the kid, based on what I know and when I caught him on Bein last season. Just saying, it's okay to hate players at the club. There has been a collective effort to get rid of those players over the last two years. If that was done three years ago, we might be in better shape? That's certainly debatable and I could fall on either side of the story if it was told a certain way. That said, just because you don't like someone doesn't mean you can't turn a profit on them. I will say the way in which he has been handled has been horrible. We should have zero indication that they hate a player, and that's pretty clear. Ultimately I think we both agree on this. They either do not like him or we are run by complete morons. Neither is a good look at all.
arseblog has done everything but come out and say that he thinks Arsenal are on the hook for something major whenever the kid actually plays a competitive match. I don't really understand what the stipulations could mean but there's enough smoke out there to be pretty sure there's something shady about this deal.