HairSprayGooners
My brother posted it ⏩
Interesting. Luiz was signed by who? And who in the squad was a better ball playing centre half than him? And which youngster did he keep out? Presumably you'll say Saliba? Wouldn't it be Holding that kept him out considering Luiz was the better ball playing centre half?
Cedric, brought in as a back up. Also brought in at the age of 28 so not someone typically classed as old or in decline. 28 I'd consider to be at peak. But again let's play along. Who did he keep out? Amn? He doesnt want to play full back.
Willian is a so so situation. He got offered a lot of money for sure. But we finished the season with Pepe (our club record signing) and Saka (a young academy player) taking the wide spots. So not sure he kept anyone out. He was brought in as an option and was used as such.
You've listed 3 players out of a squad of 24. That means 92% of players are not in the bracket you've mentioned.
Let's go the other way and look at how many young academy players were given game time under Arteta.
Saka, Esr, Martinelli, Nketiah, Willock, AMN, Balogun, Nelson, Azeez and Cottrel all got game time at various stages throughout the season.
Let's also look at Arteta's signings since being in charge.
Ben White (23 years old)
Lokonga (21 years old)
Tavares (21 years old)
Ødegaard (22 years old)
Partey (27 years old)
Gabriel (22 years old)
Mari (26 years old)
Runarsson (25 years old)
Ceballos (24 years old)
Cedric (28 years old)
Willian (32 years old)
Matt Ryan (28 years old)
The average age of these signings 22.7 years old. Hardly coincides with your Arteta likes old players, past their best and in terminal decline. The available evidence suggests the opposite is true.
I absolutely get lots of people don't like Arteta. There are things I don't like about him but so much said about him simply isn't true. It boils down to 2 or 3 players (Saliba, Guendouzi normally and throw in an academy player of your choice). Personally I'm backing the manager over those two. We've heard the Saliba deal was dodgy and Raul has been swiftly let go and Guendouzi has been a problem everywhere. We have a massive squad and can only pick 11 players to start games. We can't appease everyone but we try our best to do so. Most young players via an academy simply aren't good enough to play for a top team straight away and thats seen through comparable numbers elsewhere.
If you've got this far thanks for reading
You just absolutely bodied that poor guy!!
It's true though. Arsenal haters like to focus on Cedric and Willian but I have no idea why. Its bizarre, it's as if different regimes don't make bad signings guys!! Every signing has to be perfect !!!