Morning.
The news that has most people talking today is the report from James in The Athletic (£) that Leandro Trossard has agreed a new Arsenal contract. Typically, this means an extension in terms of the time-frame, but in this case, it’s about salary. The report says:
Leandro Trossard has agreed a new contract at Arsenal which will grant him a significant pay rise. The 30-year-old has reached an agreement on a contract adjustment, increasing his salary but not extending the deal beyond its previous expiration of 2027.
James goes on to say that despite some rumours about the Belgian international departing this summer, there are no developments on that at this point, and you would imagine that having put pen to paper on a new deal which gives him a pay rise, that’s unlikely to transpire between now and September 1st when the transfer window closes.
The reaction has certainly been … interesting. I’ll say this first, I think Trossard has been an excellent signing for us, and he is a very good player. On that basis, I’ve got no problem with him staying. The season is long, he has goals and assists in him (although perhaps not with the kind of consistency you’d really like), and he’s one of the few players we have in the squad right now who has regularly made an impact off the bench. Not quite super-sub territory, but we’ve seen him deliver when he’s been introduced in the latter stages of games.
As I said, there are lots of games to play between now and May, and he’s got lots of experience. I don’t worry about his age (he’ll be 31 in December), because he’s not reliant on youthful pace or power that fades as you get older. As a valuable squad member, he ticks a lot of boxes, he’s crafty, finishes well as a rule, and despite a recent injury niggle, he’s generally very reliable in terms of fitness.
However, it’s impossible to view this through the prism of what fans want to see before the end of the transfer window – a new signing for the left-wing. There are concerns about Gabriel Martinelli and his output/form, which I fully recognise, but I do think that desire to see an upgrade in that position has coloured people’s view of him and Trossard to an extent. I’d be all up for an upgrade, as I would be in any position, but I don’t think there’s an obvious candidate we’re actively ignoring to stick with those two players.
Most of the names mentioned throughout this summer have been unrealistic. The main one is Rodrygo, seemingly on the outs at Real Madrid, but who would command a fee of €90-100m, and come with wages of €300,000 a week at a minimum – not to mention the agent’s fees and so on. Personally, I don’t think he’s worth that expenditure, and financially I don’t think it’s actually doable after what we’ve already spent this summer. Especially when Andrea Berta has yet to sell a single player, despite the fact we have a handful who really could do with being moved elsewhere.
Eberechi Eze going to Sp*rs stings, because he’s such a good/fun player, but the question is do Arsenal view him as a left-winger, and I don’t think they do. He can play there, but if you want to get the best out of him, I don’t think that’s where should deploy him on a regular basis. At which point we come back to the most salient point which is that Arsenal’s interest in the Crystal Palace man was linked strongly to concerns about Ethan Nwaneri’s new contract, and you can all work out why things have seemingly cooled over the last few weeks.
To an extent, there’s always going to be a missing piece in any squad. This summer, and for months beforehand, we were told over and over it was the striker at Arsenal. We bought the striker, and then immediately it became the left-wing. Again, I would be very happy with a player better than Trossard or Martinelli out there, but the market isn’t awash with options this summer. If it were me, I’d go all in on Antoine Semenyo but having signed a new contract at Bournemouth, that seems unlikely before this window closes.
Back to Trossard, and where my eyebrow is raised a little is the salary increase without the extension. It’s quite strange, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before – at least not at Arsenal (that I can remember anyway). It’s unusual. Does it suggest that when Arsenal signed him from Brighton, they low-balled him on salary because he had burned his bridges with Roberto de Zerbi (Leo might well be a solid judge of character based on that, btw)? It’s possible, I guess.
Perhaps tied to that is that other players have signed for the club on substantially more attractive packages, and some players have had their contracts extended of late. I’m not saying this is the case, but let’s say that in order to secure the futures of promising young talent who made their Premier League breakthroughs last season, Arsenal have had to pay them more than Trossard is on. Part of managing a dressing room and getting the best out of players is keeping them happy, and if you’re an established pro who has delivered consistently and you find yourself lower on the pay-grade than a couple of 18 year olds, you might feel like you’re being undervalued. Like I said, I don’t know if this is the case, but it would make some sense if that’s at least a factor in this decision.
The final part of this though, is that with Trossard signing new terms, and the fact there’s zero interest at this point from elsewhere in Martinelli, it makes that dream signing on the left quite unlikely now. I think, after we left 5 or 6 senior players at home when we went to Manchester on Sunday, everyone can see that the squad is too big as it is. Any arrival, in any position, would necessitate some departures, and as yet we don’t look able to make that happen. Who knows how the final couple of weeks of the window might play out, but if I had to guess I’d say our incoming business is done this summer.
To some, that will obviously be disappointing. And I get it, it’d be great to have that upgrade on the left, but I also think we have to acknowledge it’s not a complete Achilles heel or anything. I think Martinelli has plenty to prove and I do have worries about him and the fact his development appears to have plateaued, but he had 10 goals and 6 assists last season. Trossard had 10 goals and 10 assists, and that’s sharing game-time with Martinelli. I doubt there’s a left-winger out there now that would come in and score 20 goals and make 16 assists if they played all the games. I know it doesn’t work exactly that way, of course, but that’s what many are looking for.
For me, the biggest issue last season were the goals and assists we lacked in the absence of Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka after their injuries. We’ve added a striker, and ostensibly brought in Noni Madueke to offer some depth on the right even if we’ve mostly seen him on the left so far. Is that going to be enough? I can’t say I don’t harbour some concerns, but we’ll have to see how it all plays out.
Anyway, I think the main factor in the reaction to this is the fact it makes a new arrival more unlikely, and that’s always going to feel more acute when the window is still open. Maybe if Berta can get his selling cap on things might change, but right now rather than one stellar option on the left who is imbued with all the goodwill and optimism a new signing brings, we’ve got two players who feel a bit familiar/tired – onto whom people are projecting the worst possible outcomes because of that. Perhaps as and when they start scoring and assisting that will fade, so hopefully they can start to do that asap because the reality of the squad as it stands is that we’re going to need them to do that.
Right, I’ll leave if there. We had a bonus Arsecast with Ian Wright yesterday if you fancy. It’s all in all the usual podcast places right now or on YouTube below.
