Arsenal News Show:Saka has surgery! | Rafael Leão UPDATE | Samuel Chukwueze £20m deal?

Not what you want to see. Bakaio Saka has been confirmed. He's had surgery on his hamstring. Now, the first thing I would say is, you know, we've got to keep our prayers up for Bakaio Saka. Forget football for a sec. We hope the man makes a full recovery and he's able to continue doing what his job is and living his life really. Other than that, of course, we're all still concerned with our small hopes of winning a trophy, whether that be the Premier League or whatever. Bakaio Saka is a big part of that and we've got a lot of games to come when he's not going to be there. Obviously, he's torn his hamstring, so you're going to have to let that recover. Of course, you know, from the moment of him being fit or past medically fit, that doesn't necessarily mean he's fit to play again. And I know many people have had their opinions. You know, he's been overplayed. He hasn't been overplayed. You know, this isn't the cause of the injury isn't there. Personally, I think it is an element of wear and tear. And I think generally, without getting into the isms and schisms, not in a mad way, but Saka's been due this. You know, injuries to footballers are like chefs cutting their hands in his 23 years of life. Or, you know, him being 23 and more or less being a veteran in this team hasn't had that. And this is another obstacle that he's going to have to overcome. If there's one thing I can give Bakaio Saka, because we've all seen the highs and the lows for club and country, the man's resilient and it sucks, man. It really does suck. It sucks for Saka because he's, you know, one of our best players. It sucks from a human point of view. It sucks because, you know, in the last two years, specifically this year, we've had a lot of injuries and a lot of them have been fairly long-term. Like Tommy Assu's a no-show. You know, Tim Burke had his ACL last year. This season, wait, what players haven't been injured would probably be a better question. You know, we've missed out. We've missed Saka, Rodrigo, Benjamin White, Gabriel, Calafiore, technically Zinchenko, Thomas Partey at a point, Moreno at a point, Gabriel Jesus. You know, very few players have been fit now. I'm bored of it if I'm honest with you, of getting into the whole isms and schisms of injuries, because Arteta said at the start of 2024, we've got one of the smallest squads in the league. As we approach the end of 2024, last week he echoed that. So I don't know if it's a failing on his part. I don't know if it's a failing on the Cronkies, on the recruitment staff, including the recently departed Edu, or it's everybody. All I know is we knew, we asked these questions, you know, I'm a broken record, but whether it's Saka getting injured, Odegaard getting injured, this one getting injured, squad depth, needing a striker, needing an attacker, anyways, regardless of the injuries, a lot of the problems on and off the field, from recruitment to tactics, you know, the negatives, because there are positives, but the negatives, we've not discovered none of them this season. We've been talking about this for a while. So yeah, man, get better soon, Saka, man, poor news. Apparently Rafael has made it clear he would like to join Barcelona over the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United. And there's also simultaneous reports of George Mendes aggressively trying to get Rafael from AC Milan to Barcelona, but he's still linked with us. We've been linked with the Frenchman Luis Agame, who's, you know, been at Solskjaer, been at a couple of clubs, doing quite well in Sevilla. Apparently, Arsenal could use Saliba agent links to sign him. So without reading this, apparently, Arsenal have him on the shortlist, 22 years of a central midfielder. Apparently, he's registered to the same agent as Saliba, which obviously, I imagine his agent is French or has some links to France. And he's got, you know, I'm sure a stable of talented young French players relatively like Saliba, et cetera, and probably some that are not. So it does help, obviously, if Arsenal legitimately want this guy. We know how the agent likes to go about things. You can never downplay, better yet, good relationships with people. But I don't think that really plays much of a point. He was signed for Sevilla, apologies for four million. He's contracted until 2028. So again, gonna have to see what we're doing. Arsenal allegedly have identified Samuel Chakwisi as a potential target as they look to cover for the injured Bakayo Saka. The AC Milan winger is understood to be available for 20 million euros, which could be right up our street in January, if I'm honest. Not a bad player. We was linked with him going back to the days of him playing at the Under-17s World Cup. Don't think he's a difference maker, but he'd be a decent body. It's easy to link Arsenal Football Club with strikers on the best of days, you know, attackers on the best of days. And obviously, with Bakayo Saka's injury, we're going to get linked with a whole bunch of people. I know Mikel Arteta, a bit of mind games in the public, he's been doing that whole, we'll only act if there's a special player on the market, in which, if I accept someone's words at face value, I agree with that. But I very much doubt what they're saying publicly and what they're trying to do, whether they do it or not, internally, is something different. You look at January, you look at all the games from now to the end of the season. That's accounting for no injuries for the players that are available. That's accounting for no setbacks with Bakayo Saka. We're still in the League Cup. We're still in the Premier League, obviously, trying to fight for the league. We're still in the Champions League and we've got the FA Cup. And even that, the games have been coming thick and fast in this festive period. But very quickly, we've got some tough and tasty fixtures. You know, we've got Brentford away, Brighton away, North London derby, Aston Villa, Manchester United in the League Cup. The games are coming thick and fast. And I think even Gabriel Jesus and Timba, if they pick up another suspension, I think they both avoided it against Ibswich. But if they both, if either player picks up a yellow card against, yeah, it would be Brentford, first of January. I think they have a short little suspension before the amnesty comes in play. So fingers, toes, everything crossed, people. Dani Almo's been linked with a bunch of clubs. Obviously, he's just signed for Barcelona, but they've made a mess over what's going on with his registration. And apparently, according to reports, they faced the prospect of losing him on a free transfer during the January window. A Spanish outlet reports that Barcelona will present a new lawsuit against La Liga on the 30th of December in a last-minute attempt to register Dani Almo for the remainder of the season. It's claimed Barcelona's argument will centre around the fact that all registration rules should be invalid because they are regulated by a body they consider to be incompetent. So why has everybody else been able to do their job but not you? Arsenal, Manchester United and Manchester City have all been linked. Apparently, his agent said he was in, well, his agent, not Almo, his agent was in Manchester. Apparently, he's there on holidays. I mean, big up the area of Manchester, but you know, I'm sure there's a lot to do. But is that the most greatest kind of holiday to take? Maybe he's got family. Maybe he wants to see a different part of the world. Maybe he enjoys the weather in England, much less Manchester. But is that a bit of mind games? I don't know, people. Let's click this report. Dani Almo agent arrives in Manchester. Apparently, his priority has always been to stay with Barcelona, his boyhood club. But the drawn-out process is understood to have forced his agent to begin exploring potential moves for the 26-year-old, which is harsh because the manager signed for them, people. Literally just signed for them. He said they're on holiday. So we'll have to see how that develops, people. Let me know. Would you want him? Arsenal have again been linked with Leroy Sane, who a few days ago was linked with Barcelona, who's always linked with Arsenal, whether it's the fact that he's played in a position where we need a replacement or an option for Saka or just greater options. His contract is running down. It's too easy for the journalists, if I'm honest with you, to link him with us. As it stands, to us, there's been no agreement on a new contract with obviously Bayern Munich. Bayern Munich have got a couple of players' contracts running down. Kimmich, Davies, obviously Sane. Look at Liverpool. Obviously, some will do better than others. But Liverpool got a few in Mo Salah, Van Dijk and Trent. And there's probably a couple of other examples. Would you lot take Sane? I'm not sure, people, but I want to know your thoughts. We're still linked with the Atalanta goalkeeper, Marco Cossensi. Forgive me for mispronunciations, people. The 24-year-old allegedly has impressed for the Serie A side since last season, people. I don't know if we're going to make Neto's move permanent, but you'd imagine a goalkeeper, probably be the first one we sign in Jan, would be on the agenda. If you still have some small hope for Martin Zubermendy to sign for Arsenal, I don't know what you'll make of this. Allegedly, Manchester City are ready to trigger the £50m release clause in January, and Pep came out this weekend and said we need to sign players. You would have seen over the last few days in relation to Kunja being linked with Arsenal and the fact that he scored a corner against Man United should be alerting the set-piece coaches. Arsenal hold an interest in Wolves' Mateus Kunja, but would face a huge battle landing him during the January window. It's understood that Arsenal's interest was sparked before the injury of Bakao Saka. Bearing in mind Wolves are fighting for their lives, he's going to cost a lot of money, he's got two years left on his deal, surely they're more open to selling him in the summer. But could you argue, if Arsenal really did have interest in him, they've done the scouting, they know how he can improve us individually and collectively, could you argue you've got to make players available? Yes, you can go for different profiles and find a Kunja before he's at Wolves or an Isak before, different position, but Isak before he lands at Newcastle and he costs a lot more, Kudus when he's at Ajax and he's fairly viable. If you can't go down that route, then surely whether it's Kunja, Semenya, anybody that's linked with Arsenal, Kudus, anyone that's linked with Arsenal, Lukman, Nico Williams, surely you just have to be prepared to pay the inconvenience fee, if I'm honest, I'm just asking you lot. Apparently talks between Arsenal and 18-year-old Aiden Heaven over a new deal are still ongoing. Arsenal are pushing to get the contract done, while Ajax and Dortmund are both among interested clubs in case he leaves people. You'd imagine Ethan when he turns 18 gets a new deal, you'd imagine Lewis Kelly is in line for an improvement on his contract, I'd imagine if he keeps doing what he's doing. Santi Cazorla was at the Emirates to see a 1-0 win against Ibswich and he didn't rule out the possibility of returning to Arsenal. Could I come back? Yes, why not? Arsenal is my home, I love the club and the people, so we'll see in the future, I don't know. To be fair, we might as well register you, the way injuries are going, we might need you. To be fair, Santi Cazorla is the eight I would like to see, or someone with that skill set at the club. I think we're lacking in the middle of the park, but I do think, for me, I wouldn't be against another defender. I think we need to sort out the goalkeeping stuff on a more permanent basis. I've just said I'd love another centre midfielder, I'd clearly love a striker. I think the priority has to be another wide man, whoever that is, where that is, I couldn't tell you and I don't know how feasible it is. This was prior to Ipswich game, Gabriel Jesus and Timbaugh have to avoid picking up a booking in Arsenal next two Premier League games to escape a one-match ban and you don't want to see that, people, because, boy, you get through the Bedford game and you're about, there must be an amnesty. So, yeah, man.