🤝 Deal agreed Martin Zubimendi

[North5]

BIG BERT GETTING IT DONE!!!!

 

[Riou]

Considering our last Spanish signing turned out to be a crap midfielder but good in another position, I say welcome to our new starting inverted left back Zubi

 

[Aevi]

We need attackers but with Jorginho and Partey on the way out from age and contract length, a #6 is definitely a position of need. I trust that not only our interest but the interest from many large clubs is a testament to his quality and potential too.

Good get.

 

[Jason Jace]

The squad has reached its 3 year circle and need major upgrades.


Refreshing the midfield and attack would be nice . Gives us fresh ideas and direction

 

[Bagels]

Does he move the needle? Time will tell. I hope he does well for us. We have seen it can take midfielders some time to bed-in for us, fingers crossed he can hit the ground running.

Never a bad sign that we are being proactive in the market here.

 

[Batman]

With a player like Zubimendi who's a controller/tempo setter, surely that means that Ødegaard is now not *as* necessary (when it comes to on the ball anyways). Being naively optimistic you could maybe think it might free him more, but I don't necessarily think that's been his issue.

For me with a controller, Rice who does all the running and physical work, surely we could have a right 8 who's primary role is to create.

Actually I would argue that maybe the most prudent thing for us to do would be to move Rice to the right 8 position and put the more creative player at left 8.

My reasoning is as follows:

1) It negates Saka having to track back as much because we now have our most mobile midfielder on that side of the pitch ready to snuff out transitions. Lee Carsley got this to work quite well with Rice, Saka and Trent on the right side and Rice basically freeing both up to attack. I feel that this would allow us to play Timber or White higher up the pitch like we tried to do at PSG and negate the opponent's winger while pinning them in so we can recycle the ball and sustain attacks.

2) Rice is an elite ball carrier who takes multiple players out of the game when he goes on a run. We often see the LW benefitting from free runs into space as Rice carries the ball. I would rather that player getting the free runs be Saka or Nwaneri.

3) With the addition of a 9 who we hope makes runs into the box that we're not presently seeing, having Rice's ability to whip the ball in on the run should present great opportunities for chaos at the back post.

In short, I want our right side that teams work so hard to negate to be even stronger and more difficult to negate as well as the service to the improved left side and striker positions to be better and more varied from that right side.

Having Saka and Rice both able to fire in crosses from that right side and a more creative left 8 pulling the strings could vastly improve the way our left side functions and make us much more difficult to defend.

 

[HagnSprayGooners]

Considering our last Spanish signing turned out to be a crap midfielder but good in another position, I say welcome to our new starting inverted left back Zubi

Merino took a few months (after instantly getting injured) to bed in but the bloke fights for every ball, has done something outside his comfort zone and is actually really quite good, big game player as well.

He will most likely be backup and for £30M it's quality depth.

 

[HagnSprayGooners]

Does he move the needle? Time will tell. I hope he does well for us. We have seen it can take midfielders some time to bed-in for us, fingers crossed he can hit the ground running.

Never a bad sign that we are being proactive in the market here.

We don't really need a needle mover in midfield just a sideways move but younger is unreal.

 

[DuBB]

Actually I would argue that maybe the most prudent thing for us to do would be to move Rice to the right 8 position and put the more creative player at left 8.

My reasoning is as follows:

1) It negates Saka having to track back as much because we now have our most mobile midfielder on that side of the pitch ready to snuff out transitions. Lee Carsley got this to work quite well with Rice, Saka and Trent on the right side and Rice basically freeing both up to attack. I feel that this would allow us to play Timber or White higher up the pitch like we tried to do at PSG and negate the opponent's winger while pinning them in so we can recycle the ball and sustain attacks.

2) Rice is an elite ball carrier who takes multiple players out of the game when he goes on a run. We often see the LW benefitting from free runs into space as Rice carries the ball. I would rather that player getting the free runs be Saka or Nwaneri.

3) With the addition of a 9 who we hope makes runs into the box that we're not presently seeing, having Rice's ability to whip the ball in on the run should present great opportunities for chaos at the back post.

In short, I want our right side that teams work so hard to negate to be even stronger and more difficult to negate as well as the service to the improved left side and striker positions to be better and more varied from that right side.

Having Saka and Rice both able to fire in crosses from that right side and a more creative left 8 pulling the strings could vastly improve the way our left side functions and make us much more difficult to defend.

Really interesting idea.

 

[MikelHadADream]

Actually I would argue that maybe the most prudent thing for us to do would be to move Rice to the right 8 position and put the more creative player at left 8.

My reasoning is as follows:

1) It negates Saka having to track back as much because we now have our most mobile midfielder on that side of the pitch ready to snuff out transitions. Lee Carsley got this to work quite well with Rice, Saka and Trent on the right side and Rice basically freeing both up to attack. I feel that this would allow us to play Timber or White higher up the pitch like we tried to do at PSG and negate the opponent's winger while pinning them in so we can recycle the ball and sustain attacks.

2) Rice is an elite ball carrier who takes multiple players out of the game when he goes on a run. We often see the LW benefitting from free runs into space as Rice carries the ball. I would rather that player getting the free runs be Saka or Nwaneri.

3) With the addition of a 9 who we hope makes runs into the box that we're not presently seeing, having Rice's ability to whip the ball in on the run should present great opportunities for chaos at the back post.

In short, I want our right side that teams work so hard to negate to be even stronger and more difficult to negate as well as the service to the improved left side and striker positions to be better and more varied from that right side.

Having Saka and Rice both able to fire in crosses from that right side and a more creative left 8 pulling the strings could vastly improve the way our left side functions and make us much more difficult to defend.

Really like the sound of this. Saka is a playmaker as well as a 1v1 player, so you don’t really lose the creativity from the right sound. If anything it balances the attack out more as you spread the creative burden across the pitch.

Would be really useful if Ødegaard could play on the left, it’s a bit frustrating we’ve not tried that out yet.

 

[Goonger]

Actually I would argue that maybe the most prudent thing for us to do would be to move Rice to the right 8 position and put the more creative player at left 8.

My reasoning is as follows:

1) It negates Saka having to track back as much because we now have our most mobile midfielder on that side of the pitch ready to snuff out transitions. Lee Carsley got this to work quite well with Rice, Saka and Trent on the right side and Rice basically freeing both up to attack. I feel that this would allow us to play Timber or White higher up the pitch like we tried to do at PSG and negate the opponent's winger while pinning them in so we can recycle the ball and sustain attacks.

2) Rice is an elite ball carrier who takes multiple players out of the game when he goes on a run. We often see the LW benefitting from free runs into space as Rice carries the ball. I would rather that player getting the free runs be Saka or Nwaneri.

3) With the addition of a 9 who we hope makes runs into the box that we're not presently seeing, having Rice's ability to whip the ball in on the run should present great opportunities for chaos at the back post.

In short, I want our right side that teams work so hard to negate to be even stronger and more difficult to negate as well as the service to the improved left side and striker positions to be better and more varied from that right side.

Having Saka and Rice both able to fire in crosses from that right side and a more creative left 8 pulling the strings could vastly improve the way our left side functions and make us much more difficult to defend.

Yeah, I like the thinking behind this Bruce. Would also mean having a creative 8 on that side should offer more creativity for Martinelli who you would isn't as good as creating for himself than Saka.

Edit: Started writing this before @MikelHadADream posted, same idea and thinking.

 

[Gunner D]

Slating Raya for his “ lack of concentration “ and in the same post begging for Ramsdale to return.
Get in the ****ing bin!

Mitch’s ball knowledge is awful.

 

[BBF]

Nice. He's a lot more mobile than people are making him out to be. Very interesting timing though

 

[Batman]

Really like the sound of this. Saka is a playmaker as well as a 1v1 player, so you don’t really lose the creativity from the right sound. If anything it balances the attack out more as you spread the creative burden across the pitch.

Would be really useful if Ødegaard could play on the left, it’s a bit frustrating we’ve not tried that out yet.

Yeah, I like the thinking behind this Bruce. Would also mean having a creative 8 on that side should offer more creativity for Martinelli who you would isn't as good as creating for himself than Saka.

Edit: Started writing this before @MikelHadADream posted, same idea and thinking.

Yeah what I feel makes it work is that Saka is a chance creation machine whenever he has time to get to his spot and pick a cross or pass.

I would hope that we're upgrading on Martinelli as well to a player a bit more similar to Saka in terms of ability to function well without optimal service but I feel that having creativity on both sides of the pitch and a finisher occupying the box would make it far more difficult than it has been for teams to nullify us.

As for Ødegaard, I would be interested in seeing what he can do there but I also think that MLS could function in that role pretty well if given the chance. We've seen some really incredible passing from him when he's got movement ahead of him further up the pitch. I think with more license to attack and the LB role being played by Cala or a more traditional LB we could see him really become a chance creation machine in that role.

At any rate, I think the midfield should be re-imagined to allow us to both control games and kill them off more effectively and I hope that Arteta is thinking the same.

 

[Let's play Aubamawang]

Really like the sound of this. Saka is a playmaker as well as a 1v1 player, so you don’t really lose the creativity from the right sound. If anything it balances the attack out more as you spread the creative burden across the pitch.

Would be really useful if Ødegaard could play on the left, it’s a bit frustrating we’ve not tried that out yet.

Arteta probably hasn't tried it because Rice has been a huge support to Martinelli and Ødegaard has been anonymous on the right and might as well not play than be on the left.

 

[Sapient Hawk]

Wow, officially done! Mokbel and co were right, fair play. Guys like Lee Gunner completely in the mud.

Fantastic signing in my opinion, you'll see a lot of these early deals to appease fans.

Oh well, at least he'll always have "Wahalli"

 

[Morning_woody]

Real Madrid, Liverpool and City were all after this guy - meanwhile on AM: s*it player, doesn't move the needle, bang average...

Spoiler: FARZAD STYLE RANT

Some of you guys are like many women out there.
If you watch telly they get mad because you don't socialise with your friends. When you go out for a drink with friends they're mad at you because you came home late.
If you eat too much they'll get mad and tell you that you need to lose weight. If you don't eat a lot they'll get mad because they think that their cooking isn't good enough.
Theyll get mad at you if you don't buy them a present. When you finally do buy a present they get mad because it's too expensive.

 

[TH14shahriar]

Real Madrid, Liverpool and City were all after this guy - meanwhile on AM: s*it player, doesn't move the needle, bang average...
Some of you guys are like many women out there.
If you watch telly they get mad because you don't socialise with your friends. When you go out for a drink with friends they're mad at you because you came home late.
If you eat too much they'll get mad and tell you that you need to lose weight. If you don't eat a lot they'll get mad because they think that their cooking isn't good enough.
Theyll get mad at you if you don't buy them a present. When you finally do buy a present they get mad because it's too expensive.

Post of the year imo.

 

[Fewtch]

Xhaka replacement:
Havertz - 65m
Merino - 30m

TPiddy replacement:
Rice - 100m
Zubimendi - 50m

Total: 250m

 

[James Bond]

Not sure about the player/their profile, but green tags in May? Did I die?