Category Archives: Fanzone
Pros and Cons of Signing Leandro Trossard
Trossard celebrates goal at the Emirates
Arsenal has acted swiftly after missing out on Mykhailo Mudryk to agree a deal with Brighton for the services of their wantaway attacker, Leandro Trossard. The imminent signing of Trossard has come with some mixed feelings, so Gooner Daily reached out to some selected Arsenal fans to give their own thoughts of the Trossard potential signing.
Many thanks to Barack, Not Obama, Keshi, Yomi and MC Bernnie for sharing their insights!
Without further ado, here are the pros and cons of signing Leandro Trossard, from the fan’s perspective.
Pros
Good Cover for Martinelli and Saka
This season, Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka have featured heavily in all competitions, and injuries to the likes of Emile Smith-Rowe, as well as lack of trust in the likes of Marquinhos, has allowed them play without getting any good rest. Having a player like Trossard will allow Mikel Arteta rest his favored wingers adequately.
His Versatility
In his time at Brighton, Trossard has been used in a host of positions to devastating effect. He is primarily deployed as a left winger, but he has featured on the right wing, attacking midfield, center forward and surprisingly, as a left wing back. This versatility gives Arteta several potential options to feature the Belgian jack-of-all-trades.
Transfer Cost
In a world where Mykhailo Mudryk is going for €100m, signing Trossard for £27m is a shrewd piece of business. According to Sky Sports, the agreed fee is an initial £20m plus add-ons – it could reach £27m.
Good Squad Player
One can look at the 0-0 draw with Newcastle and remember how Arteta needed to make a sub to change the outlook of the game but he couldn’t delve into his bench to sort that out. Having a player like Trossard would have been welcome, because he would have provided that quality to see Arsenal through. He will certainly be a dependable squad player that can be counted upon when required.
Proven EPL Quality and Experience
Trossard has been in the Premier League for four seasons, and has the right levels of experience to come into the Arsenal squad and deliver from the off. There is no adaptation period required and he is also old enough to have a calm head when required.
Cons
His Age
In recent times, Arsenal has recruited players in a certain age bracket with the sole aim of building for the future, and in all honesty, Trossard doesn’t fit into that bracket. This essentially means that Arsenal is taking a short term approach, unlike the club’s initial target, Mudryk, that was a vital part of the club’s transfer market philosophy.
Is He Ready to Play a Bit Part Role?
In Trossard’s first three seasons for Brighton after arriving from Genk, he played 31, 35 and 34 league games for Brighton. This season, he featured in 16 of their 19 fixtures so far, which essentially means that he has become used to playing regular Premier League football for the team. In Arsenal, he will certainly be behind Martinelli and Saka in the pecking order, so will he start agitating for a first term berth, so will he be okay with a bit part role? Time would tell.
Injury Concerns
Per his profile in TransferMarkt, Trossard has quite an extensive injury record. With Arsenal already suffering some injuries to key personnel, one can only hope that he will spend more time on the pitch, rather than off it.
Inconsistency
Trossard is set to leave Brighton with a record of 25 goals in 122 games, which doesn’t light up any fireworks. He doesn’t really turn up against teams that play in low blocks, and joining a club like Arsenal, he will need to step up his game to fit to the kind of football the club plays.
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Thoughts on William Saliba and his Arsenal Future
William Saliba was voted the Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year last season
After another stellar campaign that saw him rightfully earn the Young Player of the Year award for his stint with Marseille in Ligue Un, William Saliba had a major decision to make concerning his future, especially after breaking in to the France squad, with a World Cup in Qatar around the corner. With two years left on his contract, he could easily had agitated to remain in France, like the Hector Bellerin’s situation at Real Betis, where he would have continued to feature regularly for Olympique Marseille (made 52 apps last season) and strengthened his chance of sealing his place in the national team. Instead, William Saliba has pledged his future to Arsenal,
‘I belong to Arsenal, I still have two years left.
‘I will be back with Arsenal. I have played zero matches and I still want to show them my true face and have the chance to play for these fans and this great club.
‘But it doesn’t just depend on me. In any case, to leave like this, would be a shame.’
At Arsenal, the center back position has been light, with only Gabriel and Ben White forming a fledgling partnership with Rob Holding providing some cover. This is a far cry from how overloaded the center back position used to be with the likes of Calum Chambers, Skhodran Mustafi, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Pablo Mari, Rob Holding, Dinos Mavropanos and Rob Holding all in the club when Mikel Arteta arrived. It has been quite a clear out.
Saliba comes into the team next season with just three players to contend with – White, Gabriel and Holding – players that have had their own phases of inconsistency in the recently concluded campaign. Yes, Gabriel stands out with the amount of goals he scored, as well as some strong performances but he also had games were he was badly exposed and had a rush of blood to the head. Case in point – Man City (home), Crystal Palace (away). Man United (home), just to mention a few. White also forged a good partnership with Gabriel in his debut campaign, and had his fair share of errors as well. Holding, would pretty much be a squad player at best, always coming to the pitch to protect a lead, but Arsenal fans wouldn’t be quick to forget his rashness in the North London Derby (away).
Mikel Arteta is a manager that rewards players that perform up to the required standards, and a player like Saliba can see himself playing consistently if he proves he can do the job better than the current center backs in the club. Hell, he was a nominee for Young player of the Year in just half a season at Nice and eventually won the Young Player of the Year award in a full season with Marseille. I’d admit that I don’t want the Ligue Un regularly, but Saliba has done well for himself in his spells at France, even to the point he was recognized by the national team gaffer to feature for Les Bleus at just 21.
As an Arsenal fan, I am chomping to bits at the prospect of finally seeing the lad we coughed out 30 million quid when he was just 18, with so much talk of how much potential he had, with the ability to lead the line at the back for years to come. Three loan spells at St. Etienne, OGC Nice and Marseille later, William Saliba has finally ‘come of age’ and his manager, Mikel Arteta, shares the same sentiments,
“We made the right decision. He has to come back. He has the experience necessary to be competitive with us.”
“If he had stayed with us this year, with one Premier League match a week, with Ben White and Gabriel, he wouldn’t have had half the playing time he had with Marseille, that’s for sure.
“For his growth and what he can do next season that wouldn’t have been good. William wasn’t with us because he wouldn’t have had the playing time to gain experience. That’s it, there’s nothing else.”
With the Gunners looking to strengthen the squad this summer ahead of a grueling Premier League and Europa League campaign, quality players like Saliba returning to the squad are highly welcome, and we will finally get the chance to see him strut his stuff in the famous Red and White.
Sayonara.
Bonus Reading: The Curious Case of William Saliba
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Our FA Cup Title Defense Starts at Nottingham
Winning three FA Cups in the last four seasons is really one of the best feelings in life knowing that despite our usual consistent shortcomings in the Premier League, the FA Cup has offered the Gunners some solace and our lads then to turn up in style when we play in this competition. I still vividly remember celebrating the 2014 FA Cup in Bheerhugs, Ikeja City Mall that ended our long trophy drought for nine years. Emotions ran wild and the 250,000 fans attendance in the bus parade showed how much it meant to everyone.
Four years later, Arsene Wenger has added two more FA Cup trophies, taking Arsenal’s count in the competition to 13, much more than any other club. It’s also worth noting that Wenger is the competitions most successful manager. Good times, yeah.
Like every campaign, most Premier League teams start from the third round and we have already seen some unique results over the past two days. Liverpool’s 75 million quid man, Virgil van Dijk, earned a spot in the back pages when he headed in what proved to be the match winner in the FA Cup Merseyside derby. Romelu Lukaku returned from his scare injury to score the match clincher for Manchester United as Jesse Lingard continued his mean goalscoring streak. Then there was the imperious Manchester City that sent Burnley to the cleaners with their bamboozling style of attacking football that leaves no prisoners. There were also some interesting draws as Fleetwood Town held Leicester City to a stalemate, Bournemouth had to leave it late to salvage a draw against Wigan Athletic, while last season’s beaten finalists, Chelsea, could only muster a draw against Norwich in Carrow Road and earn themselves a replay at home. On a sad note, struggling Stoke City lost to Coventry City, adding to their wretched vein of form and it was too much for the owners to handle as Mark Hughes finally lost his job.
After several top half finishes in his four-and-a-half year spell in the club, things went awry for the manager and his side and we know how cruel and unforgiving this beautiful game can be. I guess I’d be seeing him on SuperSport Premier League MatchDay Live with the other failed coaches. Oh well.
Today’s opponents, Nottingham City, clashed with the Gunners last season in the Carabao Cup and were on the end of some lethal finishing from Lucas Perez. Shame things didn’t pan out so well for the Spaniard as he currently plies his trade in Deportivo de la Coruna. Nottingham is currently managed by Gary Brazil after Mark Warburton lost his job and the caretaker manager’s first game against Leeds United ended in a draw. They are currently 14th in the SkyBet Championship and while today’s clash against Arsenal offers a nice spectacle for the fans, they would be hoping for some improvement in the coming weeks as they search for a new manager. From an ex-Gunner perspective, Armand Traore would be looking to catch up with the lads from the team he spent the formative years of his career in.
It has been confirmed that Arsene Wenger will not be at the dugout for this game as he starts his three match ban from the FA, but the boss has confirmed that he will shuffle his pack ahead of the fixture,
“I will rotate a little bit because we have also come out of a very high-loaded period,” he said. “We played three big games in six days and twice we were away, followed by a big game at home.
“We have to keep our level of focus, of urgency, because the third round is very difficult especially when you play away from home against a Championship team.”
The Gunners would be without Nacho Monreal (ankle), Sead Kolasinac (ankle), Laurent Koscielny (Achilles), Granit Xhaka (groin) as well as the long term absentees, Aaron Ramsey (hamstring), Olivier Giroud (hamstring) and Santi Cazorla (Achilles). With half an eye on the Carabao Cup semifinal against Chelsea, I’d expect the manager to feature the likes of David Ospina, Rob Holding, Per Mertesacker, Mo Salah Elneny, Francis Coquelin, Reiss Nelson, Danny Welbeck and Theo Walcott. I believe these guys would be good enough to do the job required of them.
Sayonara.
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