Brighton can do what they like! They are a well run club. If they have a player who is valuable and of interest to other teams, like Caicedo, they can choose to keep or sell. Presumably the contract situation will embolden them if they choose to keep.
Do as well as we can now, go as high as possible, maybe qualify for Europe? Go for it!
If they want to cash in on Caicedo in the summer, there will be plenty of suitors who will give them the money.
The only caveat to all this is what the player wants. If he is agitating for a move then a parting of the ways will happen sooner rather than later. But if he is ok where he is, at least for now, then fair enough.
Thing is what have Arsenal done in the last 10-15 years? It’s easy to say the days of our success are over and all that but stuff can literally turn very quickly.
I don’t naturally see the progression of Arteta that suddenly goes from Europa league place challengers to PL champions. That isn’t a progression that’s an anomaly.
No one is saying Arsenal title challenge this season. In fact I bet you could have got more saying he will get the sack.
There is also Tony Bloom who is an incredibly clever guy and savy CEO. If he says the price is £100mil it’s unlikely he will budge on that.
As you say it will be more principle than needing the money, they are probably about to sign some 18 year old Venezuelan kid for nothing who we’ll be wanting next season at £50mil!
Sure, but they are a million miles from challenging for a title like Leicester were. The rationale for them not selling Caicedo now is the accelerate cadence of it. A model like theirs presumes their best players will be sold on, but they need to do it on their schedule so they have the time to make unrushed decisions on the replacements. They had to know they would have to be selling on Caicedo sooner or later. The issue is it is too soon in the process to have allowed them enough time to have that next in line already lined up.
Brighton really shouldn’t be in danger if they decide to keep Moises Caicedo for half a season, if they judge it’s worth it - sports wise in terms of what they might achieve this season (above their expectations) and the interest Caicedo still might attract this summer. Age is on the player’s side and he’s important for them.
I’m no Arsenal fan but under Wenger they were very good, more often than not. Three titles, I think, 15+ years of CL qualification, a new stadium and some belt tightening to get that done, while still qualifying for CL, and generally they were at the forefront of becoming more professional, as the game moved on in terms of nutrition and how players train and look after themselves.
Towards the end of Wenger reign the fans were grumpy as they weren’t contesting the title and were well off the pace, so it all ended. I thought they were a bit ungrateful, but then again, nothing lasts forever.
They slipped further back after Wenger and then landed on Arteta, which coincided with Kroenke opening up the purse strings. Arteta might have been fired as he was backed, and fell short, but they were patient with him.
Fast forward to this season and Arsenal have a good young side, they play nice football, and they have a bit of steel about them too, which couldn’t be said in recent years. It’s not certain that they will win the title, but it would take a real reversal for them to finish lower than second.
Looking to the future they will need to add a bit more depth to challenge in the Champions League and compete for the Premier League title. Right now they have an easy schedule.
To my mind Arsenal look like they will be there or thereabouts for the next few years.
I’m no Arsenal fan, and I can’t forget Michael Thomas at Anfield, but they are a proper club and they have got themselves back into a position to compete.
Yeah, mate, just wait till next summer. Then we will spend at least 250 mln. pounds. Or at least FSG will promise to do that at the end of the this transfer window /using the journos connected with the club/.
After 4 months, of course, you will read a different story - that we failed to qualify for the Champions league /of course it is Klopp’s fault, not the owners, they are best in the world/ and there will be maximum 30-40 mln. pounds available for net spending.
And Pearce, Joyce, Doyle, Reddy and all others mouthpieces of the owners will write long and meaningless articles why we don’t need new midfielders - Morton, Bajcetic, another chance for Naby, new contract for Millie add to that group Hendo, Thiago and Fabinho and maybe a cheap loan at the transfer deadline like Arthur /Guendouzi or you can tape here any name of another reject of a big club, who is undreperforming for several seasons, but he will be CHEAP/.
Why would anybody ask about a new player? Never spend like a drunk sailor /as redalways says/, keep the money in the wallet of mr. Henry. Arsenal spending 400 mln. pounds for the last 2 seasons /while misssing CL football for 7 years/, Chelsea spending 450 mln. pounds for 6 months, Manure spent 200 mln. pounds last summer and more than 1 billion pounds for the last 10 seasons, $ity practically buying their success and now Newcastle spending more than 150 mln. pounds for less than 6 months /with the imminent transfer of the Rat face from our blue neighbours.
Links confirming that the the club is not supported enough on the transfer market by the owners, while we are definitely in top 5 of the biggest football clubs in the world and also in top 5 in terms of revenue.
No I agree but I think there is a reason the likes of Arsenal, Utd, Newcastle are doing well this year… They played 15 games or so less than us, City and Chelsea, aren’t in the CL, nor had that many players at the world cup. Is it any surprise the same 3 teams have the most players out injured?
I’m not saying we’ve not made mistakes, for sure, but I think this season is a bit of a freak one due to all the reasons above.
Football can be difficult to evaluate because weak links make the sum so much less than the sum of its parts. That means a side on the way up can improve without seeing clear a upswing in results. When a side gets to a point that the foundations are good, but have a couple of weak links, the strides that can be made with a couple of shrewd moves are huge. Much like us between 17-18 to 18-19. If you watched Arsenal last season they were very clearly much improved from past seasons, but had gaps, and gaps that cost them points in games they’d played well in. Jesus up front has done very well. Zinchenko likewise. But the key as been Saliba. Them finally giving him a shot at the back has been the equivalent of us replacing Karius/Miggy with Alisson. It’s not an addition. It’s a multiplier.
I think we shouldn’t dismiss the idea that the owners may have a longer term view for the club than many of its fans and may see us missing out on CL for one season a price they are willing to pay to get the better quality options in - and may have an understanding with their favoured targets that it is acceptable with them also.
They may have already found their next £70m player - they signed Buonanotte for £6m this month and they have an 18 year old pn loan playing every week in Holland - Kacper Kozlowski. They also have Julio Enciso and Jeremy Sarmiento in and around tĥe first team as well as 17 year old Evan Ferguson who is a regular starter over the last two months.
Football is more of a business module in these modern times than it has ever been…
Buy your raw materials for £10m… (Coutinho)
Turn it into an end product for £140m two or three years later!
Brighton might have been slow to catch on… but they are certainly onto it now eh
Been a while since we signed a snip like wee Phil, our scouting network need to up their game and find some decent south american or African talents because the youngsters we’ve signed since Phil…none of them have been up to scratch…
Phil was only 21 when we signed him, but had been playing senior football for 3+ years, over 2 of those in the Inter first team. Comparable signings to him are NOT coming out of South America or Africa from well placed scouts finding gems, but of people taking a risk on a well known talent who had up to that point failed to live up their billing as a huge talent.
Yes. They spent terribly in the latter part of the Wenger era and in the years immediately after. It was a club desperate to not appear unattractive and so spent poorly from a position of weakness, essentially overpaying players as the sole means of getting them to play for what was by then an unattractive club for an ambitious player. It left them with a terrible squad. When Arteta came in they changed course and started getting rid of the high paid malcontents and over paid under performers. Xaka is the only player left who plays an important role who was there under Wenger and I think only about 2 or 3 who were ever involved under Emery. It was slow work at first, but they are now 3 years into that project, and we’re now seeing the fruits of exactly what @Draexnael points out.