Opinion: Arsenal’s bad habit of loaning not selling continues this transfer window
If you were a club truly looking for a bargain, you could have acquired for a season Lokonga, Vieira, Reiss Nelson and Zinchenko for a fee of around 5 million. That is not factoring in wages of course, and that is the issue. These are players not good enough to be at this level but […] The post Opinion: Arsenal’s bad habit of loaning not selling continues this transfer window appeared first on Just Arsenal News.
RR aka Rishi-Raj
If you were a club truly looking for a bargain, you could have acquired for a season Lokonga, Vieira, Reiss Nelson and Zinchenko for a fee of around 5 million. That is not factoring in wages of course, and that is the issue. These are players not good enough to be at this level but being paid like they are, meaning when they drop down the pyramid, those clubs are not willing to carry on paying salaries designed for talent who play in the Champions League.
It meant it was almost impossible for Andrea Berta to raise funds this summer because, as predicted, buyers waited until the final day of the window, and even the last few hours, to call his bluff. Why would Nottingham Forest feel the need to offer a transfer fee for Zinchenko if he is out of contract this time next year?
So Edu Gasper of all people essentially offered to take over our left back’s deal, compensating us with a small loan fee. Our only other choice was to pay the defender to sit at home for 12 months, because that is how far down the pecking order he reached.
Loan culture at Arsenal
Because it is only a loan to Brentford, it means Reiss Nelson clings on to his Gunners career simply because no one is investing money on top of his 100,000 pounds a week earnings. Why would they once they realise Arsenal are content just not to have to pay him? Academy talent was on the bench at Anfield instead of the 26-year-old.
No loan fee from the Bees has been made public. Hamburg have confirmed they did not have to pay a loan fee to take Fabio Vieira to Germany. All they have to do is cover his wages and they have an option to make the deal permanent for 20 million. Arsenal had little room for a counter offer because it was say yes or pay the Portuguese to not play. So there is a good chance in the next summer window we are in the same situation regarding Nelson and Vieira, accepting another loan or offering a massive discount.
Surely for their own careers, these players want to feel settled somewhere and part of the team? Our new Director of Football’s hands have been tied in these negotiations because in reality the Italian would have adopted the same strategy himself. His employers have for a long time made it too obvious how desperate they are to sell, which in a game of poker is like showing the world what cards you have.
A bad habit that must stop
This policy stretches back to the Ozil saga, which still divides opinion today. The German’s contract was ripped up because the priority was to reduce the wage bill. If anyone thought that was a one-off, the same happened to Aubameyang, not coincidentally also our top earner at the time. A sign should have been put outside the Emirates saying “players available, no transfer fee required, not a joke”.
Essentially anyone who did not fit into Mikel Arteta’s ethos was written off. Our owners should have stepped in and insisted part of his job was to get the best out of the resources around him. Yet once the Spaniard insisted someone did not suit his principles, they were removed from the wage bill.
Instead of trying a proper business plan, the decision was to fast track assets out of the door. The quicker the exit, the smaller the balance sheet. It was like a meeting was held and it was decided that no one would match the money these players were on, so rip everything up and start again. Pepe, Sokratis, Bellerin, Mustafi, Kolasinac, Willian, Mkhitaryan, Chambers and Tomiyasu all had contracts ripped up early. That is a crazy amount of names in such a short time.
Maitland-Niles was loaned out until his contract expired, which is now the situation Zinchenko, Vieira and Nelson will be in. Nothing the last two can do will change their employers’ minds, as the loan is not set up for their development but simply to save money.
It would help if our boss was less transparent about his thought process. Could he not have at least pretended this summer that everyone had a future in North London? At the weekend the 43-year-old preferred to travel to Merseyside with youth players rather than experienced professionals who could be trusted off the bench. By leaving them at home you are telling the rest of the market you do not rate them. A potential suitor then assumes that if you are too lazy to try and get a fee for others, are you really going to haggle over a price for Nelson?
I am sure there was a point in August when Berta pretended that was the case, but you knew he blinked first because he had to. This has been a bad habit that has gone on for too long. Hopefully this is the last group of players this happens to?
Your thoughts welcome in the comments.
Dan Smith
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