ARSENAL TARGET £67M ODEGAARD COMPETITION

CRYSTAL PALACE 10 IS AVAILABLE, WHAT WILL ARSENAL DO?

Today felt like everyone returned from holiday at Arsenal and started answering emails that had ITKs on blind CC.

Loads to talk about… it feels like the summer is starting to reach sexy levels of spicy.

The first big news of the day was Myles signing a new five-year deal with Arsenal. The club went out of their way to drop a lovely family-led video. Myles is a script too on the nose for Netflix or HBO to put into production. He’s a Gooner, a massive character, an England international, he had an almost perfect intro to his career, he’s looking close to world-class already, he wears number 49, his mother taught herself how to become a powerhouse agent… and when Madrid came knocking, la familia said… sorry, we’re Gooners.

These words shouldn’t come from the mouth of an 18-year-old, but they did:

“I want a legacy. I want to win everything there is to win in the game. I want to win trophies on the biggest stages whilst being a person that's always learning and stays grounded, which is so important.”

He’s ambitious, hungry, and he wants to win it all… with Arsenal. What a beautiful story. I cannot wait to see this all unfold.

The second biggest story of the summer was Sesko unfollowing Manchester City after following Arsenal yesterday. I have no more on that.

Then out of nowhere, we landed what appears to be the first Berta-like move of the window (Ornstein special). Cristhian Mosquera (say it like you have a lisp), the 20-year-old Valencia centre-back, is a top target to pack out our defence this summer. He’s seen as perfect cover for Gabriel and Saliba. He’s tall, built like Konaté, he has outrageous ground duel winnerbility, and he has all the standard features you expect of a top Spanish player with 90 games under his belt before he hits 21 years old.

As Kandela said on the podcast, this looks like smart succession planning. The player is a right-sided centre-back, so this move kind of puts an end to the Ben White-as-Saliba-cover idea we’ve had for the past few seasons. As it stands, we have five centre-back options (proper) if this deal goes through:

• Kiwior

• Saliba

• Gabriel

• Calafiori

• Mosquera

The main question I have here is whether Arteta considers Calafiori a centre-back or a rotational option with MLS. I like Calafiori, but he really does look more like a classy centre-back on the left, versus a Jorrel Hato, who looks more like a Timber.

As for Tomiyasu, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Arsenal offer him a buyout. I don’t see how we can keep taking up a squad space for a player who looks like he’ll never play consistently at the top level because he can’t stay out of the medical tent. Zinchenko will move to a good club—there are going to be offers from all over Europe for him—I just don’t think the fee will be very good.

There are also some pretty haaaaawt Premier League-based rumours surrounding the freshly married Eberechi Eze. Folk are suggesting Arsenal’s interest is real and that he might be a more local option than Rodrygo.

I am… unsure here.

Not on the interest in the player—clearly, he has something special, because clubs like Man City have been interested in the past. More of my concern is focused on the position. Eze is not explosive. He is powerful, but he’s not skinning players, and he mostly occupies central positions. He’s a creator, a bang BANG merchant, he has that special sauce we lack when we’re fighting deep/mid blocks. If we’re moving for someone like him, surely it’s to reduce the single point of collapse we have with Martin Ødegaard?

I would be very surprised to see Arsenal sign a winger that didn’t have incredible pace. Rodrygo and Nico Williams feel far closer to the profile than shunting a central attacking player out wide.

But… nice to know we’re looking at players like Eze. He’s not a control merchant—he can obviously play a tactical game—but you have him in the side for that South London joga foggin’ bonito. When you watch him, he glides. Yes, he beats men, but it’s not about raw power, it’s about smarts. My favourite part about his game is his head is always up, he takes unnecessary chances, and he has supreme confidence. If Arteta is serious about upgrading the attacking output next season, we need a player like him competing with Ødegaard.

I still want Rodrygo at Arsenal next season. He feels like a game changer when it comes to quality and special sauce. We haven’t made an attacking move that consequential since Mesut Özil and Alexis Sánchez. Proven quality, winnertivity, a clearly world-class upgrade. And I know none of you are watching the World Club Cup, so I can confirm that Rodrygo started on the bench for ANOTHER game. This time against Salzburg… and please, if anyone can tell me why the fuck they are in the competition, because this is quite baffling. But 0-0 against Madrid after 35 minutes is quite impressive.

Ok, 40 minutes in, Vini Jr., on the left, scored a lovely goal.

Rodrygo is done, man. DONE.

I’m running out of juice here, but it is amazing to me how absolutely unsexy the Nørgaard signing is. He’s like a pair of Crocs. Yer mah was wearing them in the garden because they were functional and did the job. Then the kids caught wind, added some Jibbitz to them, made them high fashion. Nørgaard is Arsenal Crocs, no Jibbitz. You want Common Projects-type signings, but this squad needs Crocs. I’m starting to love the Crocs signings. So basic, so needed. I will die on the hill that we need at least 6 signings this summer if we want to feel comfortable heading into next season. Liverpool have dropped £200m already, Arsenal need to keep up.

Ok, that’s all I got. Get yourself a seat and listen to the latest action-packed AOP.