Good business all around. Good luck in Bundesliga next season
15-20M please Sven.
Still he should have stayed imo Guendouzi Leno deals are good Mavropanos too the others are dreadfulThis guy sabotaged Arsenal in the transfer window when he was here, its the least he can do.
This guy sabotaged Arsenal in the transfer window when he was here, its the least he can do.
Wish he were still here. I still trust his judgement over Edu’s.
Think given more time he would have unearthed a lot of gems for us.
Wish he were still here. I still trust his judgement over Edu’s.
Think given more time he would have unearthed a lot of gems for us.
His track record was poor when he was here. Auba was a no brainer. We will likely be loosing money on Leno, Torreira, Guendouzi ect. Lichstiener was a disaster and Mavropanos has been pointless so far, let's see if we make any money on him.
For me it's not even uncontroversial that we made a mistake by sacking him. He was the talent spotter, but his personality didn't fit in the structure Gazidis set up, so Gazidis chose Raul over him. A year later Raul was sacked. It's clear as day we made the wrong decision, should have recognised that Sven's eye was more important than Raul's contact book, we didn't and we're still paying the price for it.
For me it's not even uncontroversial that we made a mistake by sacking him. He was the talent spotter, but his personality didn't fit in the structure Gazidis set up, so Gazidis chose Raul over him. A year later Raul was sacked. It's clear as day we made the wrong decision, should have recognised that Sven's eye was more important than Raul's contact book, we didn't and we're still paying the price for it.
Torreira was a much needed additon in defensive midfield and had an interesting profile similar to Kantés and was okay priced at around 30m. E.g. Mislintat did a similar profile based search at Stuttgart and found Wataru Endo who's been one of Bundesliga's best DMs this season. Signings can work out or not for various reasons, but I don't see much fault in the Torreira signing - of course hindsight is always better.
Mavropnaos has been "pointless" because he didn't play that much. Either because he wasn't selected or injured but he's just now proven he's imo probably got the tools to succeed in the Prem or become a top Bundesliga defender. If he's sold, it should be with a nice financial upside.
Regarding Guendouzi Mislintat very early on talked about scouting and signing him and that he had a lot of great tools but was also very, very, raw. Not his fault neither Emery nor Arteta got his head fixed.
When Lichtsteiner was signed, Bellerin was still a much better player, not often injured and a deadset starter. There's not too many players out there agreeing to sit on the bench for 37 of 38 games if chance doesn't hit. Also, Lichtsteiner's physical dropoff was kind of unexpected as he didn't show any signs of that during his last season in Italy. On top of that it's said he was an important figure off the pitch and specifically also brought in for his professional character and tactical understanding to help the coach.
As you say, Auba was a no brainer. The team desperatly needed goals, he was the only proven top scorer on the market and Mislintat had connections to the player and Dortmund.
Sokratis was meant to be cheap stopgap at a time when Koscielny was past it and no other reliable CB at the club. In a perfect world Kos leaves at some point, Sokratis gets faded out while Chambers and Holding stay fit to develop longer than they have, plus Mavro develops. And I'm sure Mislintat had more CBs on his list. At that time it was very much about finances and finding short term, cheap solutions to fix a myriad of holes in the squad to quickly get back into the Top 4.
In hindsight sure some of these transfers backfired to certain degrees, but transfers fail for various reasons. The thing is I actually agree Mislintat's hit and miss ratio at Arsenal is lower than that of his at Dortmund or now Stuttgart - for whatever reasons really but I suspect a mix of problematic leadership structures, limited finances, high earners eating large chunks of wages and thus hard to get out (remember even before Mislintat, Sanllehi et al Wenger wanted Mustafi gone but couldn't manage it and it took until 2021 the guy was gone), immediate focus on short term goals (Top 4) and thus the need to try and quickly fix a lot of holes
on relatively less money.
There's been a lot of talk about players Mislintat looked at during his Arsenal time who are in a very, very different bracket than those he immediately brought in: Kai Havertz, Ismaila Sarr, Silas Wamangituka, he already looked at Pepe, Tierney apparently was on Arsenal's list way before he was signed. He obviously works on longterm projects but had only gotten one winter and one summer window in which the squad was in dire need of quick fixes like desperatly needing goals asap. Think down the line we would've seen a very different transfer strategy to the one we saw in those two windows and also now under Edu/Arteta.
Sort of with you here, but it's still not as easy as saying scouting vs. contacts or something. Mislintat has spoken up about the importance of contacts and a personal network, too. But the way Mislintat is working and talking at Stuttgart, it's clear he has very specific ideas on signings players and building squads. It worked at Dortmund because of the harmonic setup of him, Klopp and Zorc and it works at Stuttgart due to him being the top dog in terms of squad management and his good relationship with Hitzlsperger. If you don't see eye to eye with him and trust him, he's gone.
To be fair you make a very good point about the leadership structures and the short term goals that the board probably set him. I don't think that type of environment suits him.
That being said, the signings of Sokratis/Torreira/Guendouzi/Mavropanos have cost the club a lot of money, as well as imparting a huge opportunity cost.
Without trying to sound disparaging, Stuttgart/the Bundesliga is a good fit for him. There is far less competition/pressure in that league, and much more scope for clubs like Stuttgart to buy and blood in a load of youngsters. It looks great when it succeeds, but in reality I think it's very hard to do in the PL, and especially at a "top 6" club.
Guendouzi and Mavrapanos are probably going to be hugely profitable deals tbf. Think total outlay for both was under 10M and each one is probably worth a bit in excess of that.
If we sell for a sizeable profit those are very good deals in my books. I guess we can say Auba and Leno were no brainers but look at the nightmare Chelsea has had with more money trying to buy a striker and goalkeeper.
At the time Auba wasn’t a totally loved deal because of how bad things had gotten between him and Dortmund.
As @Toby Andrl said, Lichtsteiner was clearly supposed to be a back up and a squad presence who only played when Bellerin did his ACL. The fact he only had a one year deal was pretty well negotiated tbf.
Torreira and Sokratis were iffy but without Covid I reckon we get decent fees for both.
Without trying to sound disparaging, Stuttgart/the Bundesliga is a good fit for him. There is far less competition/pressure in that league, and much more scope for clubs like Stuttgart to buy and blood in a load of youngsters. It looks great when it succeeds, but in reality I think it's very hard to do in the PL, and especially at a "top 6" club.
Guendouzi and Mavrapanos are probably going to be hugely profitable deals tbf. Think total outlay for both was under 10M and each one is probably worth a bit in excess of that.
If we sell for a sizeable profit those are very good deals in my books. I guess we can say Auba and Leno were no brainers but look at the nightmare Chelsea has had with more money trying to buy a striker and goalkeeper.
At the time Auba wasn’t a totally loved deal because of how bad things had gotten between him and Dortmund.
As @Toby Andrl said, Lichtsteiner was clearly supposed to be a back up and a squad presence who only played when Bellerin did his ACL. The fact he only had a one year deal was pretty well negotiated tbf.
Torreira and Sokratis were iffy but without Covid I reckon we get decent fees for both.
You're missing one of the biggest ones: Çağlar Söyüncü. Mislintat was enamored with him. What a masterstroke that would have been.There's been a lot of talk about players Mislintat looked at during his Arsenal time who are in a very, very different bracket than those he immediately brought in: Kai Havertz, Ismaila Sarr, Silas Wamangituka, he already looked at Pepe, Tierney apparently was on Arsenal's list way before he was signed. He obviously works on longterm projects but had only gotten one winter and one summer window in which the squad was in dire need of quick fixes like desperatly needing goals asap. Think down the line we would've seen a very different transfer strategy to the one we saw in those two windows and also now under Edu/Arteta.
Didn’t he have an awful first season?You're missing one of the biggest ones: Çağlar Söyüncü. Mislintat was enamored with him. What a masterstroke that would have been.
He wasn't really awful, he just didn't play. Rodgers said he had adaptation issues due to the language barrier.Didn’t he have an awful first season?