ZUBIMENDI AGREES DEAL IN LONDON

FIRST PIECE OF MEGA BUSINESS IS DONE, WHAT'S NEXT?

My word people, it is my birthday, and the age range has now moved out of ageing legend, given one last sympathy deal to please the home crowd… right into ‘absolute freak, why won’t he pack the game in, it’s embarrassing at this point.’

But, I’d still be a young manager, so there’s that.

Our transfer window has been far from PS2 levels of gifting so far—not many moves in or out of the club—but that does appear to be moving. The big papers and mega ITK folks all announced that Zubimendi is in London to finalise the deal of the summer for 6s. The fee, as reported by The Athletic, sits at around €60 million, which is quite expensive… until you remember the Spanish head coach says he’s the second-best 6 on the planet.

We’ve done the ‘he’ll be good’ to death on here, so I won’t go over it again, but needless to say… Arsenal have picked up a best-in-class player here, about to head into the prime years of his career. This is a ‘win now’ type of player, and though it might not feel sexy, I think it’ll be a move we really feel next season.

The second piece of MUST-DO business is the striker. The whole saga feels like it’s dragging out, and it has certainly moved into the ‘I’m bored’ stage of the deal. It’s pretty clear to everyone that Sesko is the player. The player seems to be pretty sure he wants Arsenal. The only thing left to do is get the fee over the line.

In my humble opinion, RB need to get this deal done. There’s the obvious reason… they are a big club and they’ve missed out on Europe entirely. There will need to be a course correction in their squad spending, and they’ll need to rebuild. A big Sesko fee helps that. They also need to sell Sesko because I imagine part of the re-signing deal for the player was that he’d be able to leave for a fee that didn’t hamper his ability to make good money. RB’s model is basically: say no to the mega money of Chelsea, come to us for a few years on less, but know you’ll get coached to elite levels, we’ll put you in the starting XI at 19, and we’ll let you go for a fair fee when the time comes. If RB get in the way of Sesko leaving, it puts doubt in their model for future players, and that sort of behaviour will be closely watched by influential agents who want to make sure their talent is getting what they signed up for.

After I put Jorrel Hato in my ‘would be nice’ pile on the AOP, it seems the club took note, and they’re making a move for him. There are reports from Mercato journalists suggesting we have an offer out for him. The player is quite versatile. He can play left back or in the middle. He’s not a monster, so more likely we’re looking at him as competition for MLS and as a replacement for Zinchenko, Kiwior, and Tomi. He’s a very good player, he’s only 19 years old, and he’s captain levels of leadership. If we could get him for £40m, that’d represent a very good deal for a Timber-like freak of a talent. Remember, we were pushing for him two years ago when his deal was expiring at Ajax—this move wouldn’t be new if it were true.

Some lolz… Chelsea were smacked up by Flamengo 3-1. These Brazilian clubs hire American social media agencies who don’t give a shit about anything, and they’ve been relentlessly shitposting about their win, and it has been very amusing. Also worth noting that Jorginho won possession back more times than Caicedo and Enzo combined. The Brazilian teams have been very good so far—Botafogo beat PSG last night, and deserved it. This tournament is good, guys and gals. Just embrace it. And wonder… is Pedro taking a job with FIFA? Is that why he’s doing that?

If I speak…

One player who keeps coming up in conversation seems to be Bilal El Khannouss of Leicester. Their BIG signing last summer, at 21 years old, is on the transfer list and he’s consistently been linked with Arsenal. The Moroccan attacking midfielder was far better than his output suggests. He’s skillful, he has bang BANG, and he’s very creative. If we’re looking for someone to send Fabio Vieira packing forever, this kid might be the guy… especially if we could land him at a cut-price deal. He is a dogged worker, he’s very fast, I’m sure in a better team he would develop into a more potent player. A name I like, I can’t lie.

Ok, short post today… have a great day, we’ll chat more tomorrow. x

P.S. We recorded a crossover with Elliot from ArsenalVision. A banger, as they say—it’s on Early Bird until Sunday. Check it out.