My oh my, what a difference 24 hours can make to the mood of Arsenal fans.
David Ornstein dropped a monster story yesterday afternoon that was CATACLYSMIC in impact.
So many layers to unpack here…
Firstly, how does a team like Chelsea keep on finding bottomless pits of money? They are not in the Champions League this season, they have had all sorts of clashes over their finances, yet somehow… they have found £117m and potentially a 7-year deal for one of the best English U24 players on the planet. Ornstein said on a podcast that this was an owner to owner deal, it was done fast, it’s the full whack of cash.
Kind of crazy…
Now, I will say, ignore all the ‘only has eyes for Arsenal’ chatter that goes on. Most players, unless they are Max Dowman, will have preferences, but not definitives. When it all shakes out, the best money, a clearly defined project, and the longest deal comes out way ahead of anything emotional like who they supported as a kid. Arsenal might have been the preference, but we didn’t offer the best money, we didn’t move fast, and we forget that at the top of the market, speed is usually the greatest asset.
But more to the point… Andrea Berta didn’t have the money to do this deal, he tried to drag it out from what I’ve heard, that annoyed everyone along the way apparently, and Rogers’ people sniffed out the strategy… probably by looking at what happened last summer. In the end, owners stepped in, and made it happen man to man.
Again… first big clue… we are dragging out deals (Bruno) or walking away from numbers that are too rich (Monga/Fernandes)
So let’s make this complicated outcome easier to digest, using a little bit of copium to get through.
Money is likely a little bit tighter than we think
Arsenal spent about £300m last summer. This was not what we expected. It was an exception to the rule. It was… a madness. I don’t think that was the number people were planning towards at the start of last year.
When the dust settled, what happened that none of us spoke about? Arsenal axed Tim Lewis, when most thought he’d be promoted. They reshuffled the board, and there was only one position we spoke about, because we were all kind of wowed by it.
Ben Winston was the showstopper. Young, dynamic, incredibly successful both sides of the pond in the world in media and production. He would be capable of elevating the club to new levels in many areas that are fundamental to being a global power player… he was added to the board to help Arsenal go to the next level in the world of media partnerships… and also, let us not forget, we added the care of a massive Arsenal fan. Something I think we can all agree on felt like it lacked, at least at a level we could connect with. Strategically, this made sense. From an outcome perspective, one would sense that we have already seen exciting movement here.
What didn’t we talk about? The other three members and why they were added. This is how the Arsenal website framed it.
Along with this change comes evolution to our Board of Directors, led by Co-Chairs, Stan and Josh Kroenke. After five years with Arsenal, Tim Lewis steps down from the Board and has left the club. Kroenke Sports & Entertainment’s Kelly Blaha and Otto Maly will join our Board as Non-Executive Directors alongside long-time KSE advisor, Dave Steiner. They will bring the KSE family closer together and offer a wide range of expertise to strengthen Arsenal.
What do we have?
Kelly — Finance.
Otto — Day to day operator of KSE sports franchises.
Dave — Accounting.
First name terms on a blog? Why not.
I have worked for an English independent company that was taken over by a Japanese company, which put it under the control of an American leadership group. What is the message when names like that come in after excesses of an earn out?
Financial control, baby.
Did you put an M&S luxury prawn sandwich on your expense report between the hours of 18:00 and 20:00? Fired. Did you stay in a Holiday Inn Premium Deluxe ++ instead of a Premium Luxe + on Thursday night? Fired. Dear lord, tell me you didn’t have a Jack Daniel’s and Coke vs a Jack Daniel’s and Sainsbury’s Coca-LOLa? Fired.
When they helicopter in the Americans, exit the English lawyer who was in love with the manager, let me tell you… there’s usually a reason for it and this one feels fairly clear to me based on those job titles. This happened in September, right after a summer that blew our damn minds. The last time timing worked so clinically was when Tim Lewis was brought into the club, and Raul was out weeks later. Again, after a lot of expenditure.
I am not suggesting Arsenal won’t spend this summer, I just think there’s a new world Andrea Berta and Mikel Arteta are living in, and it’s a world much more alligned with processes and rigor we saw pre-Berta. We can’t be the richest spenders, so let’s be the smartest, and if a deal looks crazy, we’re going to walk away. That is essentially how Man City operated for years - they dropped out of many deals as soon as the finances got too heavy. They passed on Declan Rice, but also a number of others.
Jorginho (2018) — City had a deal shaping up with Napoli, but pulled out when the price rose to £57m, leading Chelsea to sign the midfielder instead. goal
Harry Maguire (2019) — City were keen but refused to meet Leicester’s asking price of £80m, which saw the defender eventually move to Manchester United instead. goal
Kalidou Koulibaly (2020) — Same story with Napoli again; City withdrew from a deal to sign Koulibaly from Napoli in 2020. goal
Marc Cucurella (2022) — City backed away from a move for Marc Cucurella, who later moved to Chelsea from Brighton for more than £60m. goal
Riyad Mahrez (2017 window) — City pursued him but were unwilling to meet Leicester’s £95m valuation, though they did eventually sign him a year later for a lot less. ESPN
Harry Kane (2021) City's real number one target after losing Sergio Aguero. Their opening bid was £100m guaranteed plus the option of including players, which Spurs rejected outright. City then prepared an improved offer, but Daniel Levy's valuation sat around £150m, while City weren't willing to go that high — City wanted to get closer to £120m even after already breaking the British transfer record for Jack Grealish. ESPN
I also think the through thread of the summer makes a lot more sense… we spent a huge sum last summer, didn’t sell any players. We have an even bigger squad this summer, still haven’t sold any players. If you want to be dispassionate here the way an owner like Stan would be… why does a squad that won the Premier League with loads of injuries AND was within a penalty shootout of a Champions League final need a £400m upgrade? I know, I know, it’s more complicated than that. But you’re not selling me on this idea here, I want us to spend… you’re selling a guy who runs businesses sustainably. They might be looking at the squad and asking, at what point, do we shift players that are not needed? Where are the sales? Villa and Chelsea seem to be very capable of selling players, where are the Arsenal exits? How is our record sale STILL The Ox.
Berta and Arteta
I’ve seen a lot of commentary about Arteta demanding a big summer after the Champions League and some anger being put the way of the Sporting Director. Matt Scott has it right, they don’t set the budgets. If they don’t have the money to work with, they aren’t going to be able to do much. If you valued Rogers at £85m, then go back to the board as have to ask for £32m extra, how do you think serious business people view those convervsations? It’s not easy. Have you ever had to ask your boss for £10k extra on a salary for talent? Doesn’t often go well. Now imagine asking for that much money that has to come out of their pocket. You are not only asking for more, you are also saying you don’t believe in your valuation, which is an indecisive look.
Can Berta be criticised for moving slow? I think there’s a grain of truth that his approach to saying he’s interested in everyone, then slowballing clubs, or generally messing everyone around, might not always be the best way to operate. But at the end of the day, what makes transfers move fast is conviction… and having the money to push a deal over the line.
One thing that stood out to me hearing Josh Kroenke discuss spending £105m on Declan was that the whole exec team was brought in on the deal and knew what was happening. It wasn’t a deal based on emotion or a whim. It wasn’t reactionary. I do wonder if the spinning plates approach of Berta might feel a little unplanned and rushed? Opportunistic moves also tend to cost more money. I’m thinking of that Eze deal that probably could have been wrapped earlier in the summer. If you’ll remember, Steve Parish telegraphed his availability September 2024.
“I was really worried from a club point of view of losing Michael and Ebbs in the same window and we didn’t have in Ebbs the interest that I thought we would have,”
“I was astounded. Genuinely astounded. I mean, the guy’s just an outstanding footballer, an outstanding person.”
Instead of moving early, we waited until Spurs had a fee agreed, and went in above it. That cost us money. Remember, Olise, the younger player, moved for £50.8m. How did we end up at £67m? Hard to imagine that wasn’t related to the late move desperation and having to blow Spurs out the water. Eze, was clearly not part of the early summer plans… does it make for incomfortable chats to be asked to fork out big cash last minute?
As for Mikel Arteta, he’s about to sign the richest deal in world football. He’ll be pushing £25m a year. He will always demand money for players, he doesn’t care about finances, he just wants the best players… as he should. One positive is I am sure he’ll be pushing to have assurances over transfer spend in his deal so we are competitive. Also, I’m not worried about him leaving… no doubt, he’d have suitors. But he’s in the Wenger position now, no other club would afford him the power we have give him. That’s a good thing in the short term, because Arteta is the best in the game… longterm, it’s not great that we afford coaches so much power. Never ends well.
Targets can shift…
Do you have faith in the system that brought you a Premier League title and a Champions League final?
No?
Stop reading, go outside, and give yourself the hairdryer treatment.
Ok. Are we ready to be serious? Good.
Transfer windows are crazy. We attach ourselves to names before we even think about how they’ll work. If you are telling me that you wrapped last season and said, you know what boys and girls?
‘We need Morgan Rogers to tip us over the edge next season…’
I would not be believing you.
Is he a good player? Sure. Is he the difference maker we’ve been crying out for? I’m not so sure. There are some red flags for me in his game and he just simply isn’t a £117m player. Not in any world. He ranks 33rd of 35 for ball control in the Premier League up against other attacking midfielders. 221th of 251 for the same metric at the World Cup. An alarming number for a player who will be up against filthy deep blocks that require extreme levels of control to meander.
Arsenal have missed out on plenty of first-choice targets and we’re still the Premier League Champions.
Declan over Caicedo.
Zinchenko over Martínez.
Big Vik over Sesko.
Jesus over Vlahovic.
Trossard over Mudryk.
Odegaard over Maddison.
Rogers, for me, felt like the sort of signing Arteta typically goes for… powerful, fast, a little bit unsophisticated.
Don’t we want better? Are we really convinced a player with an average touch is the level we didn’t have last season? No way. I’m not having it. Too many people agree with me, but just don’t like the principle that we missed out on someone Arteta wanted.
New targets will emerge, old targets will drop…
I have heard there are strong feelings of positivity that Arsenal will get the Bruno deal over the line in the coming weeks. The fee will not be £100m, Newcastle have to sell him, I have my doubts that United would go to £100m in a gazump move. I also have faith that this player does actually want Arsenal, and so does his agent (I know what I said earlier). A deal is there to be done and there are absolutely no doubts about his ability to impact the club. For me, Bruno would be a better signing for our needs than Rogers ever could be, even with the age issue.
I also think there are other targets the club is working on that will come to light. We might not have nation state money, but there will be room to spend, especially if do sell some players who are sure to have some sort of market rate.
Exploding this early in the summer, after we’ve won a title, feels a little premature… especially over someone like Rogers. I have been told that there are no worries at Arsenal, so we should trust that it’ll all work out, just like that Sampha song. You know I wouldn’t write something like that unless it came from a good place.
Putting money on the obvious isn’t always a winning idea (copium trigger warning)
Liverpool spent £400m last summer, and we all thought that was it; Arsenal’s progress was about to be sledge-hammered by some wow signings… we were wrong. Badly wrong. But does anyone ever hold their hands up when rich transfers flunk? No.
Spending the most money doesn’t always equate to the best outcomes. This has been the whole United model for 10 years. It is the entire Chelsea project. Even Spurs have spent a fortune and have back to back 17th places. Arsenal did not get to where they are by being the biggest spenders, they got their the hard way, making smart decisions.
If I were to be really harsh, last summers signings were mostly floor raisers and many of them didn’t live up to the billing. We packed the squad and the packers allowed us to suffer less when inevitbable big ticket injuries landed. But were we massively better at expanding margins last season? I’d say no. We just had more of the fine ones roll our way.
The amount you spend isn’t always equal to the success you get out the back end. Liverpool went backwards, barely made Champions League, sacked their manager and lost their football CEO.
There are plenty of players available that could move the needle, especially when the reality of our campaign last season, that no one wants to talk about, is this… we won the Premier League with monster injuries and those players will be more available this season.
My hot take? Fitness will be more key to what we do next season than big signings.
… oh, you read my post from yesterday, and you are concerned here as well? I’m sorry man. Just a lot of negativity out here right now.
Let’s quickly chat on something more promising…
England played the most pointless game of 2026… the 3rd place play-off. They smashed France in a brutal 10-goal showing. Declan was immense, so was Saka, this is how the numbers finished.
Minutes played since August 2025:
Declan Rice — 5,394
Chelsea — 5,310
Liverpool — 5,130
Tottenham — 4,680
Man Utd — 3,600
Ugly. Take nothing away from what I penned yesterday. If Declan is in the starting 11 for the Community Shield, we are finished.
BUT… I like this interview from Saka.
‘Yeah, I’m fit, I’m fit’
Ok, that’s all I got today… see you in the comments. x
Well in España......I'm taking the day off. I'm getting drunk tonight. Happy for the Arsenal boys in that squad.
Argentina again showing how they are graceful in defeat, as well as in victory (not).