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Arsenal.com
Morning all.
I didn’t watch much of the Charity Shield final yesterday afternoon but apparently Liverpool fans booed the national anthem and Palace fans were noisy during the minutes silence in memory of Jota and his brother. Shame on them I say. It was slightly amusing to see Liverpool the penalty shootout though. You’d think their players would be spot kick experts by now considering the amount they are awarded each season.
When Mikel Arteta was asked if Arsenal have concluded their transfer business for this summer, his answer was probably little more than one would expect:
> Let’s see what happens in terms of where the squad is in the next few weeks, but we are actively looking at options. There are a few players that have to leave as well, so we’ll be open to see what happens.
I think he has said similar during every transfer window since he became manager, it’s just a non committed response to what really is a stupid question. After all, he’s hardly likely to tell the media what the club has planned. Mind you, he wasn’t shy about selling players and those who ‘have to leave’, are probably already trying to find another club. Assuming they haven’t already because knowing they need to move on isn’t something which they would have found out yesterday. They would have known since the beginning of the summer if not before.
As well as the players returning from a season out on loan, Leandro Trossard, Oleksandr Zinchenko and perhaps even Gabriel Jesus must wonder how many playing minutes they are likely to get and with our new centre back signing Cristhian Mosquera looking so at home in the centre of defence and Riccardo Calafiori hopefully over his fitness troubles, Jakub Kiwior could be thinking about a future elsewhere too.
With numbers as well as quality being the goal for the summer, I’m sure Arteta would be reluctant to let a player as good as Kiwior go. However, money talks and just like any other club, if the right fee is offered, I’m sure the club will think long and hard before saying no.
Pre-season has been a bit mixed but then that’s to be expected really. Gaining fitness ahead of the new season is all that matters really. Of course we want to see the team win but more importantly in my opinion is seeing the team play well. Gabriel and Kai Havertz missed the last couple of months of last season through serious injuries and yet here they are now, back in the mix and looking stronger than ever. Certainly Havertz. He’s bulked up, he looks quicker and he certainly looks up for the battle with Viktor Gokreyes for the striker role. Competition is healthy and I think in certain areas of the pitch we’ve been lacking that. Perhaps we still are in the centre of midfield as who is breathing down our captains neck? What if suffers an injury again?
On that note, catch up in the comments.