Round Up: Piers Lunacy, Flirtatious Courting + Jan. Biz

I’ve been away! Taking a break from blogging every day aligned with this break which always feels nice, even if I would pay just about any sum to skip to the part where Arsenal return to Premier League action. And I mean any sum… Like the sum Piers Morgan wants us to pay to bring Ronaldo to Arsenal.

Is he kidding with that? The man has just broken the most exclusive report on the toxicity surrounding one of the highest profile players — if not the highest — in the world, coming out to everyone about every gripe he has about Manchester United down to the food, and Piers is saying “yes, sign my club up for that”! It’s unreal amounts of laughable.

Meanwhile we have an Arsenal team that has made dedicated efforts in removing those profiles and are witnessing one of the most cohesive, gelled sides in the last half-decade at least — one that’s growing day by day together and stands to compete at this level for the next decade — built on youth and a lack of deviling, aging, expensive players… but yeah let’s invite that toxicity into the club and pay a fortune to do it? Let’s not pretend that toxicity stops following if he came over either.

Anyways, it’s not worth spending much time on, because it’s Pier(s) lunacy. Although, I could do without the constant stream of rinse and repeat tweets stemming from it. “Ronaldo to Arsenal”, “Ronaldo to Gunners for a final run at a title”, “Ronaldo? Who says no”. Everyone.. everyone should say no. But hey, I’ll take the unrequested Arsenal compliments that “United legend” wants to throw our way.

But, Ronaldo isn’t the only transfer buzz swirling, for better or worse. There’s nothing more inevitable than the dead air of no football matches leading to a surge or transfer season buzz. The name every Arsenal fan is itching for more news around: Mudryk.

The cost is too damn high!

He is simply begging for a move away from Shaktar, and unless Real Madrid go knocking, he seems to at least have eyes on north London. His interview with Zinchenko’s wife was almost laughably flirtatious. It was almost uncomfortable to watch how much he wanted Arsenal. Well, read because I don’t speak Ukranian. But I was blushing! If you told me Mikel was behind the camera holding cue cards instructing him what to say, I’d believe you.

The problem is… Shaktar Donetsk seem determined to put a £100m price tag on his head. I get it, the market on quality wingers is extremely inflated these days, and has been for a while, with Antony really blowing it up this summer. And I can’t blame Shaktar for doing swinging for the fences. The chances of them turning out another Mudryk anytime soon is slim to none and they have to get every penny they can. Even “settling” for a little less is probably above his value and is club sustaining money, probably for the next 5 years is spent well.

But Arsenal can’t get caught up in that money for this guy. I believe their assessment of him falls far lower, and it’s the correct assessment. He’s a great player, very devastating when given space and opportunity, but he’s not a player that walks in an displaces Martinelli on day one, so you can’t get be invest exorbitant fees into him.

I firmly believe that few to no players are worth £100m, and even less are worth that much when you’re not a club in which £1oom rolls off your back water on a duck. Can Arsenal afford that and financially recover from it? Yes. But not with ease and not without near certainty in the spend being entirely advantageous. They won’t gain money in resale value, the “prospective” value will become more clear as he he ages, and his actual value will emerge… and it won’t be £100m.

I really like what he has to offer, he shredded Celtic in the Champions League, but transfermarkt probably has him valued at 15 million — too low to be fair — for a reason. Buyer beware, but right now, the cost is too damn high!

Other January Business a must?

Short answer: Yes. Duh.

But it will be interesting to see what that business actually manifests as. I, personally, have had a hard time believing that Arsenal will “go for it” the way many fans are begging for them on Twitter. You won’t see the club flip that switch and risk altering a project they view as both ahead of schedule and in it’s early phases, in order to overpay for players and chase a dream. Even if that dream is what it’s all about.

January has always felt like a month we will see Arsenal spend moderately for depth purposes, unless they can land a winger — weirdly, like Mudryk but for a reasonable fee — that could offer depth, competition, fit the projects mold, and worth uncinching the purse strings in face of reduced competition for the signing, given it’s January.

To me, that is a name like Danilo to support Partey or a different defensive midfielder that splits the talent difference between Elneny and Thomas. And there is room for a player that can support the wings, even in the face of Emile Smith Rowe returning to health to help there as well. Arsenal need depth now, tomorrow, next year, and beyond. They must ‘maximize’ each window, as Mikel says. I just don’t expect it blow us away.

Alright, that’s what I got for today. Everybody enjoy the World Cup to whatever level you’re comfortable with. If thats every game and soaking in the feeling of the global game uniting once more, good on ya. If it’s abstaining giving the circumstances, good on ya. This even is testing me dearly. It seems like for every good aspect of bringing the global game to the Middle East, this even has conspired against itself from the get go in every way. One step forward, two steps back. One advancement for the game, one indictment for it’s corruptness and the burden it puts on fans to adopt that cognitive dissonant stance. It’s difficult, getting tougher.

As I said, I hope everyone takes in the content to whatever level keeps them happy and they wish too, and I will see you all on the other side. Arsenal have a few friendlies in the meantime, and has plenty of players at the World Cup to peek in on. Enjoy your weekend!