ARSENAL TRANSFER TARGETS RATED
I've been thinking about the type of players I want at Arsenal and where I suspect the focus of the transfer window will be.
Arsenal will likely be looking at wide players and forwards. I imagine more of the focus will be on a striker, mainly because Ethan Nwaneri is a mega-prospect and he'd be an example of not letting a crisis go to waste. If he can get 10 games in over the next 60 days, we could have ourselves the sort of player Chelsea would spend £60m on.
We only have one striker at the moment, that's Kai. For all the criticism he's faced this season, he's scored 13 goals, which isn't a bad return. I emphasize that number because people keep hyping up Nunez (fewer goals than Jesus), Muani (2 goals in Ligue 1 this season), and Osimhen (13 goals) who has such a poor reputation he ended up playing in Turkey.
Gabriel Jesus opens up a spot not just because he's out this season, but because you'd imagine he's probably not coming back the same player. At this point, it's probably time to cut ties with the idea that he'll ever be able to sustain fitness at the highest level.
The names that excite me:
Benjamin Sesko: Great with both feet, chaotic in the box, tremendous leap, and an outrageous work rate. I've written about him a lot. He's the striker for me, and his agent has gone from 'not possible' to 'yeah, actually, possible.'
Semenyo: Rumored to be available for £55m this window. He's a sensational talent. He has that bang-bang about him, can operate in a detail-oriented system, he's fast, extremely powerful, and he'll come ready to explode. He has 7 goals, 3 assists, but his superpower is that he can operate across the forward line. Arteta loves those Swiss Army knife players. The only disadvantage is his age... 25 means we're buying his peak. I do wonder if for that sort of money, a Nico Williams over the long term looks like better value. That said, there's no way he's earning £300k a week.
Cunha: Arteta absolutely loves this guy. Another forward who can do Jesus-like things, can cover in that number 10 role, someone who works his backside off, occupies defenders, and can score all sorts of goals. He has 10 of them this season, plus 4 assists. Last season, 14 goals, 8 assists.
Look at the positions he takes up.
If he can do those numbers for a bang-average Wolves, imagine what he'd do in our system? The other area with crème brûlée levels of deliciousness is that the new contract announcements doing the rounds the other week were specifically a 'verbal' agreement.
This sort of leak is one of two things:
His agent pressuring Wolves for more money
His agent alerting Arsenal to the unsigned deal
I can't for the life of me understand why he'd sign a new deal with Wolves if Arsenal are lurking. But one piece of interesting info I saw on a Wolves blog is that the new deal will have a release clause of just £45m. Sounds like a steal to me.
Bryan Mbeumo: Look, you can't deny it. The guy is a straight-up baller. You might not feel like he is because you're basically looking at a Basquiat hung in a brutalist library. You like the painting but can't be sure if it's real, because what is it doing here, in this cold and slightly damp building? But let me assure you, this painting is authentic, and if we moved for him, I think we'd have a fan favorite very quickly. He's a monster out of possession, he creates chances out of nothing, he's electric in transition, and his finishing is out of this world. He has 13 goals and 4 assists. He's mostly interesting and worth putting a number on because he's out of contract next summer, and I don't think Brentford has an option. A big fee for them might not be possible in the summer, so moving in now, with a prime bid, could be the move.
Nypan: This Norwegian sensation is available for about £10m. It's not often you look at comparisons from that league and truly believe someone has something special, but this kid really does have it.
He moves like Jack Wilshere and looks like he could be perfect cover for Odegaard. Again, he’s quite young, I don’t know how he’ll adapt to the pace of the league, but I do like the idea that we’re now able to sign the very best teenagers in the world and bake them into our system. £10m to get cover for Odegaard? A steal if it works. A move I suspect we’re going to activate this window. The thinking I’d imagine would be to have him ready as cover for next season. Worth mentioning he has 10 assists and 8 goals this season. That’s quite the return for an 18 year old.
A little round up of some other bits…
I told you Spurs would collapse when they were at the peak of their powers in 2023 and here we are, in 2025, and they’re in a relegation battle after losing ANOTHER game. It’s delicious. Ange, that breath of fresh air, is now stinking out Spurs so bad, I’d be shocked if he was still in a job by the time this is released. My main worry? It’s a little bit easier to hire a banger of a coach this time around and I do have concerns that they’ll get it right with Iraola or Mckenna. Two modern systems managers with those young players could be problematic for the hope I had that they’d be shite forever. But come on… let’s not worry about that, let’s just laugh at them and those Arsenal fans who were purring over their signings. Where are the ‘Madders over Odegaard’ folk right now? Jokers.
Another joke is Man United. Their new owners have been in a while now and I still have no idea what they’re playing at. But, the Amorin signing seemed like one with good fundamentals. I just wasn’t prepared for United not to back him with a rebuild. I was also not prepared for Amorin to only have one way of playing. His dogmatic view that he has to play this way is amusing, but a bit mad considering how bad they’ve been. I’m also not sure about his maturity with he media. Telling a broken squad you can’t improve they are generationally shite feels like a massive own goal. Say what you will about Mikel, but even at his lowest, he never slagged the players. What a nightmare job he has on his hands. It’s also striking to witness the parallels between Amorin/Rashford with Arteta/Ozil. I will never understand how people who are paid to have a deep understanding of the game will use their time with managers to ask the most inane questions: Rashford is out because he’s not fit for purpose. How can these journos be challenging Amorin on that? Do they really think the answer to being totally shite is to add someone like Rashford who doesn’t give a fuck about United? Madness. But again, I am enjoying the spectacle.
The broader insight into the Premier League now is this: You can’t fix a club with a good manager these days. You have to be a healthy club to succeed. Arsenal fans often critique Arteta for being a king, but I’m not sure that’s totally true. They have a braintrust at the club and lots of people have a say on how things go down. Arsenal succeed because they have a clear idea of how they want to play, the types of players that will allow them to succeed, and they have disciplined to a fault in getting back to the very top of the Premier League. That’s why you won’t see Arsenal sign a 28 year old bum this window, because anything that damages their long term strategy will not be activated upon.
To be a great these days, you need to have a strategy, playing philosophy, and a technical team that is in tadem with a manager that shares their values. Why? Because that’s what Arsenal, City, and Liverpool are. A superstar manager cannot counter the effects of misallignment. United have lacked clarity in their system because they’ve actively worked against it. They sign players that can play all systems because they hire managers who all have wildly different views of how the game is played. They are 5 years away from being Arsenal. Spurs are in the same situation. They have to cut Ange, who played wild attacking football with no tactics, and pivot to a systems manager who will need systems players. You think Madders, Richarlison, and Djed Spence are cutting it?
Finally, just to leave you on a bit of good news. Arsenal should be welcoming Tomi, Ethan, Calafiori, and Ben White over the next two weeks. That’ll be massive for the squad. Especially because Saliba’s injury isn’t that serious.
Ok, that’s me done, see you in the comments. x
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