THIRD CHOICE KEEPER SIGNED?

MESLIER JOINS. IS HE REALLY IN TO COVER FOR A PROSPECT?

Are we all living in a Mikel Merino wonderland? I think we are friends. The World Cup has been propped up by some pretty magnificent Arsenal player performances, and the hits kept coming yesterday when Merino finished off a dreadful Portugal side that flunked an entire World Cup because everyone was too scared to tell Ronaldo it’s over with regard to his top-level career. I would be so angry if I were a Portugeezer. Can you imagine having to watch someone as unsuited to the modern 9 role put in dreadful performances like that? Martinez is a mystery as a manager, but what a show of weakness. A whole nation, hostage to a ‘who is the GOAT’ debate that never really was a debate. The selfishness of the endeavor needs to be written about. Tragic for a very talented squad packed with stars that were not given the chance to succeed.

Back to Merino. The goal he scored was sensational, a proper striker moment, a surging run through the middle, perfect control, a beautifully placed shot into the bottom corner, delivered at the death Reiss Nelson style. Magnificent for Merino as well. If we’d had him for the back half of the season, I am sure Arsenal would have been better at shutting games down. His intelligence and mastery of the dark arts are extremely underrated. So good to see him get some joy after missing a major chunk of the action part of the season.

The USMNT reverted to type and put on a disasterclass of a performance bereft of heart and guts. Pulisic exiting the pitch with a hurt ankle and saying ‘I can rest now’ after the game was quite extraordinary cinema… especially given what we know about Declan Rice and the pain he puts himself through for his country. The mistakes were also really bad. The keeper, winning a duel 40 yards from his goal, then inexplicably taking the worst second touch in the history of the World Cup, pained me. The most depressing part of it all was hearing a stadium as loud as that Seattle mega bowl kind of go silent as they recognised after 75 minutes this team was not going to find something extra to threaten Belgium.

Some would say after the Infantino nonsense, the hammering might be just desserts. One suspects we haven’t heard the last of that decision. It has brought FIFA into disrepute. How can there not be consequences to phone favors to the most powerful man on earth?

My nightmare has come true as we write this post. Illan Meslier has joined on a free transfer after being let go by Leeds United. The Athletic are painting this as a third-choice keeper opportunity, but I fear this is a move a club makes because they are prepping for the exit of the number two. Why would Meslier come to Arsenal to not even sit on the bench? He’s 26 years old, he has held number 1 positions, relegating yourself to the Scott Carson role at such a young age makes little sense. I won’t sugarcoat this, I’m not a fan, he is error-prone, unreliable under pressure, not sure what we’re thinking here.

Arsenal transfer news has been quite slow, one would imagine, because a number of the targets are at the World Cup. But that won’t stop conversations going with agents behind the scenes. My big hope is that Berta hasn’t chummed the water with elite names, with the plan ending on players like Wan Bissaka. This summer needs to be a ceiling raiser — you’re not getting that from Belgium or the Bundesliga this summer. The Premier League is the surest method of adding NOW quality — or we’re raiding Atlético or PSG.

Let’s see what happens. Get your hit of ad-free AOP content. There’s an America 250 offer if you want to get a good rate for a year of content. We do over 200 podcasts, I write about 300 stories, we have a Discord, special data-driven presentations on players, and you’ll get access to tickets for the LIVE show nice and early. Sign up, become sub royalty.