Arsenal has its fair share of contingent representing their respective nations in the forthcoming European Championships and as expected, all the nations have been involved in warm up friendlies.
Kai Havertz led the line for the host nation, Germany, as they took on Ukraine with a certain Oleksandr Zinchenko in their ranks. Unlike his first season at Arsenal where he revolutionized the attacking play with his inverted style, Zinchenko suffered a tumultuous campaign riddled with injuries, loss of form and lack of trust from the gaffer.
Germany, as expected, had the better of the exchanges but the game ended in a goalless stalemate. Havertz played for an hour before he was shunted out for the experienced Thomas Mueller but Zinchenko played the full 90.
Scotland were also in action against minnows, Gibraltar, and ended up with a comfortable 2-0 win, but the only Arsenal presence involved was seeing Kieran Tierney, yes, he still exists, come onto the pitch in the second half to replace Andrew Robertson. Tierney’s loan at Real Sociedad was quite underwhelming, and he suffered a couple of injuries that sidelined him out of action, and he even lost his place in the team upon his return to full fitness. Real Sociedad will surely not return his services and with Zinchenko linked with a move out of the club, there might yet be some hope for Tierney.
England smashed Bosnia with three unreplied goals, and there was no Arsenal presence, with Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka and Aaron Ramsdale not selected.
The news making the rounds on the Arsenal front is that Fulham is interested in signing Eddie Nketiah for a reported £30m. Since losing their star striker, Aleksandr Mitrovic, to the oil greens of Saudi Arabia, Fulham has struggled to effectively replace him. The signing of Raul Jimenez from Wolves seemed like a stroke of genius, but the Mexican forward has not been the same since that career-threateningly head injury. The backup forward, Carlos Vinicius, is bang average at best. Young emerging striker, Rodrigo Muniz, had a purple patch and the loan signing of Armando Broja from Chelsea yielded no fruit.
Nketiah should be at the point in his career where he should focus on playing consistently, rather than languishing on Arsenal’s bench season in, season out, so I hope this move materializes. He’s earning £100,000 a week, so I hope it will not be a show stopper for the Cottagers.
Sayonara.
