BIDDING WAR FOR THE SMITH

ARSENAL STARS ATTRACTING ACTUAL INTEREST WITH BIG MONEY ON THE TABLE

Gareth Southgate is gone.

Benny Blanco vindicated.

The English right-back problem has been solved.

We now have THREE top-tier English talents ready to take us to the World Cup final in 2026.

There are stories that Thomas Tuchel wants a piece of the job - I like that.

It’s quite amusing reading about all the people who were burning effigies of Sir Gareth a few days ago slipping into top-class-English-gentleman-mode with the embarrassing online eulogies.

I really hope a Premier League club takes a chance on him. Specifically, I hope it’s Manchester United picking him up in November to replace EtH. They’ll give him at least three seasons to take the club absolutely nowhere. It’ll be spectacular.

Anyway, good decision, whoever made it. Hopefully, the next guy understands how to bring out the best in an incredible crop of young players heading into their peak.

Arsenal news is mostly focused on moving players out the door. The eyeballs have mostly been drawn to Fulham and Crystal Palace’s pursuit of Emile Smith Rowe. It seems like the bids have started closer to £30m, and Arsenal want someone to bring £40m to the table. Anything over £35m represents a good deal for me, especially considering the injury issues.

Reiss Nelson seems quite likely to follow him out the door, with West Ham United being the main suitor we know about right now. He could age down their front line, offer them some additional pace, and a bit of one vs. one flair. If we get £20m for him, I’ll be dancing in the streets. That’d be a tremendous injection of capital I didn’t think existed, and it’ll fully vindicate Edu and Garlick for tying him down to a new deal next year.

Eddie is being linked to Marseille at the moment, though it is worth noting they’ve just announced a deal with scuz bucket Mason Greenwood for around £30m. Were the links with Eddie part of the negotiation tactics to keep the price for Greenwood low, or are Marseille going to have a madness summer by dropping £60m on two English players?

The driving narrative of the summer seems to be focused on shifting deadwood and replacing it with players that have specific skillsets that might not seem sexy, but they give us tools we might not have had last season. Calafiori gives us backup to Gabriel, and he’s an aerial duel monster who carries the ball through midfield like a #6. Mikel Merino is a 28-year-old duel monster who offers the squad an exceptional technician, is good in the air, press-resistant, and gives us the fitness we lack with Thomas Partey. He’s also in the 99th percentile in Europe for aerial clearances. Imagine closing out a game with someone who has this sort of profile? A threat from set plays with close-out merchant attributes built in Spain. Not a sexy signing, but this is a guy who has to be comfortable being a backup for Declan Rice (or maybe the new #6 if Declan gets pushed up).

We’re in a unique position. The first team is kind of set - what we lack is enough trusted players who can offer us legitimate options during crunch times. I think we’ll improve the baseline of the squad, but also bring in players who can give us more unpredictability. We’ll also lower the overall age of the team.

If we can deliver on that, we’ll be cooking from day one next season, and I think we’ll win the Premier League.

Ok, that’s me done. Check out the latest podcast with me and Johnny.