Good morning! It’s Lewis here on blog duty today, following another night of being too tired to watch quite as much of the World Cup as I’d have liked.
There was a time that I’d have relished this schedule but that was long ago, with far fewer responsibilities and a sleeping pattern that wasn’t conducive to a particularly productive lifestyle!
I did manage to watch Spain, and from early on it felt clear that they wouldn’t have any issues at all against Austria. They had a goal disallowed before scoring the opener and it was perhaps the softest ‘foul’ we’ve seen awarded at a corner this tournament. Pau Cubarsi jumped alongside the goalkeeper, was a little later to start his leap, and there was a normal amount of contact between the pair with them jumping for the ball in close proximity. There was no real jostling, there was no holding, no flailing arm.
For me that was just iffy goalkeeping – bad timing, too weak – rather than a goalkeeper being impeded. I hope Nico Jover is enjoying his holidays because he might have to work harder than ever for those goal bonuses next season.
Mikel Merino got on for the final 20 minutes with Spain already two up and looking comfortable. Next up for Spain will be Portugal, who prevailed after an incredibly eventful second half against Croatia, which saw three actual goals and a further four disallowed, before Switzerland eased past Algeria. Johan Manzambi delivered a wonderful assist as the Swiss took an early lead and seems like a great shout for Young Player of the Tournament.
During Spain’s win, the news broke that Manchester City were rivalling Arsenal’s interest in Jeremy Monga … and then the news broke that Arsenal had pulled out of the running entirely, with City set to pay Leicester City £10m for the 16-year-old. Arsenal had been in talks with Leicester but hadn’t reached an agreement over a fee, and it appears they thought £10m was too far to go. We have no idea what the total package is worth but you have to draw the line somewhere in any negotiation.
Monga is clearly a huge talent, and Arsenal are pushing to bring in top young players, but that is no insignificant sum of money when there’s lots of more urgent work to be done this summer. Let’s not forget the club have also been linked with another teenage left-winger, so it’s possible they anticipated difficult talks with Leicester and already had an alternative target on their radar with that in mind.
Yesterday, Andrew wrote about how he keeps writing about Declan Rice and concerns about his fitness. Tim also mused on the potential physical impact the World Cup (on top of such an intense season) could have in his column yesterday, and Phil shared this on Bluesky:
What are we doing here
— Phil Costa (@philcosta.bsky.social) 2026-07-02T20:39:23.214Z
Just like everyone else with an association with arseblog, I am spending multiple hours a day worried about Declan Rice and how the hell he’s going to continue to play regular football without his body simply giving up at some point.
Rice is, clearly, an almost uniquely gifted athlete and has the mental capacity to push himself through incredible limits … but he is also human, and it’s hard to see Thomas Tuchel say something like that and still believe Rice will be able to start 40+ games for Arsenal again next season. He needs a break.
And he’s not the only one.
Saka’s minutes are being managed (which means Noni Madueke is playing a lot) and Eze is with England as well; Saliba could reportedly require work done on his back; Gabriel is key at the back for Brazil and Gabriel Martinelli could expect more minutes now too after his heroics against Japan; Leandro Trossard and Martin Odegaard are starting regularly; it looks like, even if they aren’t playing much, David Raya, Martin Zubimendi and Mikel Merino will have to wait a while longer before holidaying.
That’s a lot of players who, after a gruelling season both physically and mentally, are either not going to be back for the start of the season or are not going to get a real break.
Injuries meant Jurrien Timber and Ben White didn’t even make it to the World Cup, and it’s currently unclear where they are in their recoveries.
When Arsenal look to thrash out deals for summer signings the quality (and qualities) of the player should be the first question, but having players with us as soon as possible would be a bonus. It’s another reason that a player like rumoured target Christos Tzolis could make sense: it would be a real bonus if signings are available to play plenty of pre-season and be raring to go in the opening weeks of the campaign.
Other players strongly linked with the club (Bradley Barcola, Morgan Rogers, Bruno Guimaraes, Julian Alvarez and many more) are still in North/Central America and could be there for a while yet. As things stand, if at least one Jurrien Timber or Ben White could have a real pre-season, a well-rested opening day team would look something like this:
Raya (he’ll be fine – right?); Timber/White, Mosquera, Calafiori, Hincapie; Norgaard, Lewis-Skelly; Dowman/Nwaneri, Havertz, Jesus; Gyokeres.
Some of the players there are very likely to move on, as are the likes of Reiss Nelson and Fabio Vieira. That won’t be the team against Coventry but that does mean someone will come into the side having not had much of a break, and that off the back of putting in a mighty effort last season.
At least one of Brazil/Norway will have their tournament ended over the weekend, then if England make it past Mexico, they’ll face the winner of that game. Rest assured, some extra Arsenal players will have their feet up a good 10 (or so) days before the final on 19 July. The Merino shouldn’t have too much fatigue, having just come back from injury, and Zubimendi at least isn’t playing loads.
Still, I’d definitely see sense in at least some of our signings being available to join and have a healthy stint with the club before things get serious. With Aston Villa away as our second game of the season and Xabi Alonso’s Chelsea visiting north London early in September, there won’t be much time to find our feet.
The World Cup features its final round of 32 games this evening but there’s no Arsenal involvement again until William Saliba and France are in action tomorrow. Wishing you all a lovely Friday and a great start to your weekend!
One last thing before I head off: Andrew was joined by Art de Roche on the latest Arsecast. Something for your ears ahead of the weekend in case you haven’t listened already. Cheers all, have a good one!
