The Truth behind Arsenal's decision to reject €35M Trossard offer!

Arsenal apparently have had an offer for Leandro Trossart from Saudi Arabia and it must be tempting. Apparently the Athletic have offered a think piece and spoken about SESCO and our transfer window in total and what it was. And apparently Nicole Williams has finally spoken on his future. As you know he was linked with Arsenal, Chelsea and at one point it seemed like he was set to join Barcelona. Big up yourselves for tuning in. Don't forget to smash the like button. Turn on your notification bells. Leave a comment because I'm sure the creative juices are flowing and let's get exactly into everything that concerns the football club we know and love people. Even though, you know, it's been a bit of a mixed August hasn't it people? And as usual, good morning, good afternoon, good evening and of course good night to all of you lot tuned in unless your name is Chris Kavanagh or, you know, you're a family member of that referee and his shoddy performance in the Arsenal draw against Brighton. But ironically keeping up the theme with Brighton indirectly, you know, I know Trossart plays for Arsenal but he was a Brighton man and I thought he would bag against his former club. It wasn't to be. Romano has said exclusive mispronunciations. Submit proposal in the region of 35 million for Leandro Trossart. Decision up to Arsenal as he's always been an important player for Arsenal. Official proposal arrives ahead of Saudi pro league deadline and apparently they're keeping to look for a new winger. Now for me, I'm on the fence with this and I would say my first thing would be in theory if you signed a Trossart model, if you signed probably two bodies, if we got a winger and a striker, if we had the depth that we needed in the squad more so up front, in theory I'd be open to this but we don't have that really and truly and Trossart for me is one of our best players. He's a great first team starter slash rotationary player. I know he didn't do anything against Brighton. Again when he signed for us midway through his first season he got like what 10 or so assists. Last season he got double figures in the Premier League for goals. Goals win games but Kyle Saka brings that. Kai Havertz has started this season as he kept it going. He's kicked off this new season as he left the second half of the season. If Dentu aren't getting the numbers in Kai Havertz and Saka, who is? It's probably Trossart really. Goals win games, it's as simple as that. Trossart is an experienced member of the side and I think he's absolutely vital and you know the amount of games we've got people. There's a reality where if we go to where we want to go, whether we do or not, including the pre-season games, all the way in the Champs, the League Cup, the FA Cup, the Champions League and obviously the 38 games scheduled in the Premier League, there's around 70-odd games. We need Trossart. Now obviously in an ideal world, while I wouldn't actually want to sell Trossart, if we did all the business we needed to do for me personally and this offer came in July, then there's a serious offer to make because it does present you with the chance to maybe recoup some sort of fees that you spent for Trossart and at 29 turning 30 there might not be too many opportunities to do such. Although we did hear a few months ago Trossart is actually in line allegedly to get improved terms at Arsenal Football Club. For me if you were to sell him now, we've already got poor depth. If you sold him now, for me you can kiss goodbye to any sort of whatever we're trying to do this season for me personally. The Athletics' David Ornstein has simultaneously spoken and he said Arsenal have turned down the informal proposal for Trossart. Now Trossart, if he wants to go, I guess there's a decision to make. There's a lot of money that's got to probably be enticing. Arsenal have turned an informal proposal from Al Etihad to sign Leandro Trossart. The Saudi Pro League side made a preliminary offer of a season-long loan including a fee of £5m with an obligation to buy next summer for a price between £20m to £25m. However, Arsenal made it clear the 29-year-old Belgium international is not for sale at any price as remains a key part of Mikel Arteta's side. He's joined us in January 2023 and he's got 19 goals and 12 assists in 71 appearances. Unless your name is Bakai Osaka, really nobody can talk to him. I know Kai Havertz has formed towards the second half of last season and so far you've got that. Again, I know we've brought in Sterling but Sterling, even if he has the best season ever at Arsenal Football Club, he's not a permanent Arsenal player. He's here for a loan. It does not make sense to get rid of Trossart at this moment in time. Whether Trossart starts games or is off the bench, he's a vital member and it makes zero per cent sense for me. Again, some talking points are flowing in relation to Raheem Sterling. While Chelsea were insistent on a loan fee for Sterling, Arsenal made it clear that it wasn't happening for them. Ultimately, Chelsea's need to get players out trumped everything else in discussions. I mean, considering that Sterling wasn't our first choice, clearly we weren't able to get the targets we wanted. To get a versatile, experienced Premier League winner like Sterling, I'm for it. I guess it puts Edu in great light that the loan makes sense. I don't agree with this risk-free and low risk. He's still paying money. We still need the player to make an impact. We still need him to obviously do what he can do in his small way to help us collectively achieve stuff. But if the loan makes sense, it makes sense. Apparently, we felt our negotiation position was strong and we were prepared to keep both Eddie Nketiah and Reece Nelson. Nelson has departed on loan to Fulham after the Ibswich move broke down. As you know, Eddie Nketiah has joined Crystal Palace. It resulted in a deal where no loan fee was paid and Arsenal are now paying far less than 50 per cent of Sterling's £325,000 a week wages. Some close to this talk insist it's as little as £100,000 a week. Fair enough. So, £100,000 a week to the point of Sterling signing to when the loan is finished, that's the true cost. I mean, it is what it is. We could do a lot better. We could do a lot worse. But to have Trossart and Sterling, who are 29 years of age, to go with Moreno, who's 28, and Jorginho and Partey, we've got some experienced players that are here for right now. So, yeah, big up that really. A player has had their deal terminated at Arsenal, Omer Ekic, who's almost a forgotten man. He's no longer an Arsenal player as his contract was terminated by mutual consent. He's now available as a free agent after his specific request to leave and try a new chapter. Now, Martial and Rabiot, the French internationals are free agents. I'm not saying we should sign them. Just let me know where you lot are because you could argue we could do with another versatile attacker. We could do with another central midfielder. I'm more likely to have a bias towards bringing Martial, despite his injuries. But we probably need another midfielder in terms of Rabiot because De Claris is suspended, because double M, Mikel Moreno, is currently injured with a shoulder problem at this moment. And we're hoping to God Partey and Jorginho are able to stay fit or we're really in trouble. We're a couple. Any nonsense. In fact, going into this game, I really want to see Kai Havertz play up front and I would probably go with Jorginho, Partey and Odegaard. But how much does that work? For me, you know, you could throw in Ethan, but I could understand if for that game Kai Havertz goes into midfield next to Thomas Partey and if and a big if Gabriel Jesus is fit or maybe Trossart in the false nine or even Raheem Sterling really because the fixture list is starting to get real now. You've got Spurs, Champions League, Manchester City. It's now a case of two games a week, three games every 10 days. I don't know if our squad's able to cope, but we've made our bed. We have to lie in it now, people. Moving away from that, let's see exactly what the Athletic said. The Athletic have done a think piece. As you can see, there's a lot to go over in relation to Arsenal's transfer dealings, people. Sterling loan terms and goalkeeper frustration. I mean, we didn't get our first choice goalkeeping targets. Big up Neto, who also joined us on loan on deadline day. Obviously, the talking point is going to be Raheem Sterling. The need for an additional forward was met with the loan of Raheem Sterling from Chelsea, a low-risk move that could potentially have a significant upside. When Arsenal's attempts to prise away goalkeeper Garcia from Espanyol hit an impasse, they found a similarly pragmatic answer, swiftly wrapping up a loan deal for veteran shopstopper Neto. According to sources who, like all of those spoken to for this article, were kept anonymous to protect relationships, Arsenal staff are particularly enthralled about the arrival of Sterling. I am as well. They feel he can add versatility, experience and quality to every position across the front line. I don't think any Arsenal fan disagrees. He's also a proven winner with four Premier League titles already to his name, which is true. Sources with knowledge of the deal say Arsenal struck a deal on favourable terms. They'll play significantly less than the 50 per cent of his salary for the duration of his loan. Chelsea were contacted for comment by The Athletic. A week ago, Arsenal thought they may go without their primary attacking targets in the window, Benjamin Sesco and Nico Williams, which I like that. You know, Sesco could have tied in long term and in the meantime been a rotationary option, but he was keen to keep his development at Leipzig. Nico Williams, as much as it would have been a signal intent, and it's easy for me to say, could we have wrapped up the deal before the Euros? At the end of the day, you know, he signed a new contract. He then had the Euros. He's clearly been enticed by Barcelona. So he was always on the back foot, people. Ultimately, we tried doesn't go far. You know, hopefully we can try for them next summer. And in an ideal world, we get them. We tried. It don't mean anything. We know we got 91 Premier League goals. So I don't think we need goal scorers, but evidently we do. Let's be brightly honest, people. We do. You look at the December period last season. I know Kai Havertz scored against Brighton, but you look at him and Saka not quite able to do it beyond that point. You could do with another attacker away from the Sterling sorts, people. We know we're linked with Kingsley Coleman. It didn't happen. So it depends because I think there's been some good deals in terms of outgoings and some we could have done better. Technically, we've addressed all areas, but it feels like we've added some quality additions, not necessarily looked after the depth. And where you look at the goalkeeping targets, where you look at Nico Williams and Cesco, we didn't really land our top targets per se, excluding California and Moreno, really. So it's a bit of a mixed bag. I'd give the window a 6 out of 10 if I'm honest. I think California, Moreno, 10 out of 10 signings. I applaud the club for getting Sterling because it's better than nothing, but this isn't how they wanted it to go. So it didn't go to plan, much like our last two Premier League title attempts, For his part, Sterling did not hide his admiration for Arsenal or Mikel Arteta. It was an ideal move for the 29-year-old, who has trained away from his teammates since being left out of Chelsea's matchday squad for the Manchester City game and subsequently in the three games so far in the Premier League, he's played no part. I wonder how good his fitness is. Apparently, he sees Arsenal as providing a solid platform to regain his England spot. Of course, he's got a young family and he's living in London. We're a big club and he's got a great relationship with the manager, Mikel Arteta, going back to the City days. We all know Mikel Arteta once said his time with Raheem was exceptional. They had a big, strong relationship and he had a good season in terms of output or period, better yet, with Mikel Arteta. We all know we've got injuries at the moment with Gabriel Jesus, Mikel Moreno. We technically add Tommy Yassi to the mix and just marry that with squad. It's jarring. Apparently, Arsenal entered into a transfer merry-go-round that involves Sterling and close friends Jadon Sancho and Nelson. Sancho obviously has gone to Chelsea. Nelson's obviously departed because we've probably got Sterling through the window. We all know Richard Garlick. We won't waste time. That's your job in the transfer market to get things done. Arsenal end the window having signed goalkeepers David Rayo, Neto and defender Californi Marino. Apologies to Sterling. They believe they've improved Arteta's options in every outfield department, which is true, standing them in good stead for another title challenge. Yeah, but getting over the line, I'm not sure. The sales they've made, meanwhile, I'm sure they'll continue to have flexibility in the market moving forward. I mean, the bank sheet is positive, whatever I have to say, I guess. Hopefully in years to come or next season, that gives us something. But it always feels like we go into the summer fairly bullish, or we're told to be bullish. We do some good things, but you're expecting a bit more. I know us fans can be a bit greedy. Ultimately, it doesn't happen. And then it feels like next summer is the blockbuster one, the game changer, where we're not necessarily going to sign big money players, but sign players that really kick things on people. On Thursday, we found ourselves scrambling over the goalkeeping situation. As we know, there's been a lot of goalkeepers at this football club under Mikel Arteta, Aaron Ramsdale, David Raya, Matt Turner, Leno, Emi Martinez. There's been a bit of a merry-go-round. We knew we was obviously going to lose Aaron Ramsdale. We knew David Raya's move was going to be made permanent. I personally feel David Raya's been our best player in the last three games. Big up Kai Havertz and Saka as well. We knew Karl-Hein was convinced to sign a new deal, but was going to head out on loan people. So yeah, it's a bit boring in that. We know in addition to Garcia, we did not get Dan Bentley's move from Wolves to anything really. Arsenal contacted Garcia and explained they would only proceed with a deal once they were confident of selling Ramsdale at the time. Garcia had a £25 million, in brackets, £21 million release clause in his contract, which rose to €30 million in August. Throughout their pursuit, Arsenal were assured they would be able to acquire Garcia for significantly less than the clause, which didn't make sense. He left it late. Espanyol are obviously doing what they're doing with the goalie. They need an inconvenience for this. Either pay the release clause or F off people. Obviously, things probably didn't go to plan with the speed of getting Aaron Ramsdale out of the club. To be fair, I did think he'd leave on loan. So I applaud the club for getting him gone to Southampton. I think he was a boyhood Southampton fan. I could be wrong. So I wish him all the best. But another case of not getting your top targets. To be fair to Garcia, and you look at the wigging keeper, I'm sure you never know. You can't rule out David Rayo meeting the fate previous goalkeepers met. But if we signed the wigging goalie at 22 years of age and this Espanyol guy at 23, who's just emerging into first team football, really, how long would he be prepared to sit on the bench without playing somewhere? It's a bit different from Bournemouth's Neto, who's 35. With the greatest of respect, I'm not saying he's happy. On Thursday, it became clear that despite their best efforts, Arsenal could not get Espanyol to budge. But in recent months, Kanye had vetoed several alternative goalkeepers proposed by the club. Arsenal were faced with a dilemma of pay £30m for Garcia or, you know, kind of ruin Ramsdale's move to the South Coast people. And obviously, Ramsdale at that point already had a medical. Edu knows Neto from his time in previous roles, people. Credit to Bournemouth, they were able to help us out, really. Apparently, we're looking at Chelsea's Marcus Bittenelli, who I think he's played for Charlton as well. He would have come as a homegrown guy as well. Sam Tickle apparently rejected the move right away. I don't think he rejected Arsenal at all. It's just the man wants to play games. He was Wigan's player of the season. Why do you want to sit on the bench? Tommy Setford at 18 years of age is going to have to be our third choice goalkeeper, which is good for him. And he'd probably supplement that by playing under 21s level, assuming we're not traveling when the academy is playing. So we'll have to see. Arsenal's overarching strategy for the summer window was to raise the level of the squad. I think we've raised the level of the starting 11 with California, Moreno and indirectly, whoever's not starting raises the squad. But have we really raised the squad? Not really, if I'm honest with you. That's lifting the squad's floor and giving our Teter a wider pool of reliable players to work with. Last season, the first few minutes were largely shared among just 14 trusted players. Could you argue it's the same then, really and truly? Off the top of my head, of course, David Rayo. If anything happens to David Rayo, Neto plays. So fair enough, we'll include Neto, even though he's a goalie. But you've got Rayo, Neto, Benjamin White, Timba, California, Saliba, Gabriel, Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard, Jorginho, Partey. Who else have you got? Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka, Martinelli, Trossart, Sterling now, Mikel Moreno, Mourinho, Zinchenko to a slight degree, Tomiasu as well. So surely it's about 14, 15 players the same way. I would love 20, but I think we need to get to the 15 to 17 mark. Kvyu is there, but is he necessarily trusted? I don't know. Thien is technically part of the club still. But yeah, people, we know we needed to sell. At the end of the day, I'm sure the PSR and the FFP and all of that, we have to have a positive net spend. I know people don't want to see us excel from a footballing point of view. And I hate to refer to football as a business, probably don't care for that. But you get the point. Arsenal's desire to sell players this summer was well known within the footballing industry, so much that several agents took it upon themselves to seek out buyers for those deemed dispensable, which agents should be doing for their clients, which are the players, whether you're Ramsdale, Nelson, Eddie, et cetera, vet prep, Smith-Rowe. Premier League clubs were approached by third-party agents offering them Arsenal players for sale with the details of Arsenal's demands and associated salaries. In April, Edu and sporting director Jason Atto flew to Saudi Arabia to build relationships with potential buyers. Who did we sell to Saudi? Apparently in the early weeks of the window, Edu had several meetings in London regarding the futures of players' people, which again, sounds great in this talking point. And I'm not dissing Edu, but this is what you should be doing, much less in the transfer market. So I'm trying to skip through stuff. Arsenal were prepared to be more flexible. Obviously, Sambi Lokonga has joined Sevilla with an option to buy, which again, you hope they take that out. Lazio have signed Nuno Tavares with an obligation, people. When it comes to incomings, one of Arsenal's primary targets was Cesco of Leipzig. Arsenal track the 21-year-old Sevillian striker's progress for years, and the presence of the 65 million release clause in his Leipzig contract made for an market opportunity. Cesco was also intrigued by the prospect of joining Arsenal. Although Man Utd and Chelsea showed significant interest in the forward, the Emirates Stadium was his preferred destination if he was to leave Germany. The biggest issue for Arsenal was timing. Cesco wanted his future resolved before the start of the Euros on June 14th. Arsenal, however, preferred any major expenditure to fall within the 2024-25 accounting period after the June 30th deadline, which makes sense. What's more, Arsenal wanted to offset any additions with sales to sign Cesco. They needed assurance that one of their existing strikers would leave at the early stage of the window. None of the interest in Eddie had matured into serious negotiations. There was some tentative interest in Gabriel Jesus, but nothing concrete. I do wonder though, not that I'm criticising the big money additions or the incomings that made a difference, but indirectly, as much as I praise Arteta and Eddie, have some signers that haven't worked impacted our ability to move fast? Because this tells me Cesco was saying, you know what, I'm on staying at Leipzig. I will join you lot, but I want to go into the Euros sorting out my future. Arsenal probably said, you know what, we'll sign you. But again, we need to get some outgoings. The Euros was there and the accounting period. So that time loss, ultimately, you see what's going on. And that's why Arsenal actually never made a formal bid, as you can see here, people. Arsenal will continue to monitor his progress in Germany. He's expected to attract a significant market again next summer, and probably for a lot more than he was available now. Arsenal were relaxed about Cesco's decision, in large part due to Kai Havertz's excellent form up front. His release clause presented an opportunity, but apparently we felt we were already good with Havertz, Jesus and Keita in Trossart. Now, big up Trossart and actually Gabriel Jesus. Jesus is injured, Edd Keita is no more, and you're praying nothing happens to Kai Havertz. We know we brought in David Rayo. We know we needed another midfielder. It appears, people, that Declan Rice will still be playing in the eight. You could reckon that it could, you know, when you go to the Emirates, you do see the two midfielders in the pocket. So it could be two multifunctional kind of midfielders with Double M and Declan Rice. Declan Rice could move to the six. Moreno could be the eight. Moreno could be the six at times, and Rice persists as the eight, really. I think Rice would do a lot better on his natural right side with Benjamin White, Saka indirectly, Odegaard, if I'm honest with you. So I have to see. Arsenal discussed holding midfielders such as Martin Zubimendi and Jael Neves. Zubimendi, again, it's hard to price him from Saka. Solskjaer, Neves, it costs a lot of money. You know how that story goes. It's going to end up at Paris Saint-Germain. Again, we got Mikel Moreno through the door. Mikel Ote allegedly pushed for that, people, and yeah, apparently we first made contact with California's agents in January and dialogue increased in May. Apparently there were some reservations in relation to Ricardo, the knee injuries, whether he was physically robust enough. I mean, in the cameos he's made, I think he's put to bed that. There was a 40% sell-on close from Bologna to Basel, which obviously this was red tape. Chelsea got involved. He wasn't on that. Real Madrid kind of attempted his fate, but Arsenal had assured California's camp they'd proceed with the signing. Of course, Smith Rowe ended up at Fulham, people. So I have to see. Fortunately for Arsenal, the Smith Rowe sale was not far behind. Smith Rowe's agent Jordan Wise had an open and respectful dialogue with Eddie across the summer. There was a mutual agreement that Smith Rowe had not played enough first team football, and if a suitable offer arrived for him to move, the club would be prepared to engage in conversations. Smith Rowe obviously joins the London club. Hopefully he returns back to his best. We know we've already bought in California. Apparently we're pleased with the prices we got for academy players. Mika Beres signed for his club Stuttgart for £4 million, which is their record fee. Some would argue, them being a Champions League club, could we have signed him to a new deal, whether he would have accepted that or not and made more money? Brook Norton-Coffey, again, sell-on close, £3.5 million, but he'll be sold to England, back to English Shores for a profit. For me, I'm not happy with that personally because he's played 100 times in the Championship. That's ridiculous. For Charlie Paterno and his family, I think their boyhood, his dad's a boyhood Deportivo fan, and Paterno obviously has Spanish blood, so it's good for him. And the Spanish La Liga slash the Gunda division is good for him. And again, I think Deportivo, that's one of their highest acquisitions in recent years, but should be getting more money in that regard, if I'm honest with you. Of course, you look at Chido, Obi Martin, Coles of Dubree, Ronald Waters, that's all going to tribunals because they all left for free, people. So we'll have to see where that's concerned. We all know Edu looks set to go to Nottingham Forest. That didn't work out. He's gone to Crystal Palace. Nelson's obviously linked up with former Haaland boys, Iwobi, Smith-Rowe, as well as former Arsenal player Leno at Fulham. And Fabio Vieira has gone out the door to Porto, people. So we'll have to see really and truly. Arsenal had hoped to sell Chirin Tini this summer, but the hamstring injury picked up in Euro 2024 would effectively rule him out of a move. He's not expected to return to training for several weeks yet. The subject of his future will likely be addressed in January. So for Tini, you might get a couple of occasional cup games. Other than that, I don't really know. You could fight your way into Mikel Arteta's plans, but it looks bleak in that regard. My heart is in Bilbao, but no one knows what will happen in the future. It's always good when big teams want you. I've always said that I wanted to be here. If there was anything, it was from my agent, but I wanted to play in Europe with Bilbao. And again, apparently it's widely understood he was tempted by a move to Barcelona. Barcelona, Arsenal and Chelsea all remain big admirers of him, who still has a £58 million release clause in his contract. If you're Bilbao, you're trying to get him to sign improved terms and increase that. Chesney, who's retired, has apparently said he turned down the opportunity to return to Arsenal. He said, Sentiment kicked in and I was open to talks with Arsenal out of respect for the club, but I knew it wasn't for me. It was all about logistics. Something very significant would have had to happen for this move to happen. I didn't start talks with anyone, not even with Mikel. I could have made a phone call and reached an agreement. The Arsenal option came up before I terminated my contract with Juventus. I said, OK, we can talk. But two days later, I said it didn't make much sense. I wonder why it doesn't make much sense. I wonder why logistics is being said. Are you happy with England? Are you happy to move to Poland? Do you have any other plans away from football? If you didn't speak to Mikel, who did you speak to? Did you speak to Edu, which I'm pretty sure is the case? Or did you speak to Richard Garlick? I don't know. And I can't answer that question, folks. We've already gone over the Leandro Trossart things. Is there anything new in relation to Arsenal Football Club at this moment in time? No. But where the transfer market is concerned, at the end of the day, it's shot. Rightly or wrongly, we've got what we've got until January. Let me know your thoughts on Trossart, on Sesco, on Nico Williams, on everything we read in The Athletic. Don't forget to check out the rest of the content. Turn your notification bells on, people. The road to 70k subs is alive and kicking. Every comment, every like button, every bit of engagement boosts the YouTube algorithm. So yeah, man, I'd appreciate your support. And one love to you lot for listening and those who've done such already. On that note, stay blessed, stay safe. Peace.