Morning all.
I saw a story from Simon Collings in the Evening Standard about how Lazio are going to take up the option on Nuno Tavares who has spent the season on loan there. The plan, apparently, is to immediately sell him and make a profit – but Arsenal would stand to benefit because of a sell-on clause that could be worth up to 25% of whatever they receive.
When you see it laid out like that, the transfer market – or the human being trading market as it might also be known – feels a bit less exciting, but it is what it is in the sporting context, I suppose. Lazio can make a profit, Arsenal can make some profit, and who cares where Nuno Tavares goes?! It’s not clear who is going to come in and buy him from Lazio, maybe another Serie A club, but let’s see.
He’s had an interesting spell in Italy, catching the eye early on in the season with 8 assists in his first 8 league games. A section of the Portuguese press labelled him ‘The King of Assists’, which was perhaps a little bit over the top. Since racking up those 8, the last of which came on October 31st, he’s yet to provide another in the league, although he did get one in December in a 3-1 Europa League win over Real Sociedad.
He’s been injured of late and may not make another appearance before the end of the season, so perhaps the Portuguese press will have to reconsider his title. Perhaps not the King of Assists, more a Baron, or the flamboyant Viscount of Assists. It’s not dissimilar from his loan spell at Marseille where he started the season with a handful of goals and then that was it. Is he an August to October guy? Can footballers be seasonal?
Anyway, it got me thinking that Andrea Berta has got plenty to do this summer when it comes to outgoings. Our focus as fans is, I think, primarily on who we’re going to bring in and who is going to extend their contracts, but some departures are very much on the cards, and the players out on loan this summer are probably close to the top of that particular queue. Let’s look at who did what and what might happen.
Albert Sambi Lokonga
The Belgian has had an injury hit loan spell in Sevilla. The various reports I saw early on were encouraging about his move there being made permanent, but a handful of hamstring injuries which have sidelined him for over a third of Sevilla’s La Liga games mean they’ve decided to send him back at the end of the season.
It’s basically impossible to see a space for him in the current Arsenal squad, even if a couple of senior midfielders go. The much mooted arrival of Martin Zubimendi basically closes that door, so Berta will need to find someone to take a punt on a 25 year old with one year left on his contract.
Fabio Vieira
For me he’s an interesting one, in that I think he could have been useful for us this season. Not necessarily a game-changer in any respect, but when Martin Odegaard got injured we didn’t really have anyone else. Mikel Arteta said he let Vieira go on loan because he wanted to make a pathway for Ethan Nwaneri, who has played 36 times for the first team this season, and scored 9 goals too.
If Vieira had been around, there’s no doubt Nwaneri would have played less, so if we seek to take positives from this season, the developmental minutes he played can only stand him in good stead going forward – even if I think his recent lack of playing time has been a bit strange.
As for Vieira, I remember James writing about him during last summer, and saying, “His performances in training have not enabled him to sustain his position in Arteta’s pecking order.”
If you read between the lines there, he wasn’t up to the ‘foggin estandards’, and if that was at the heart of the decision to let him go, how much will have changed since? 5 goals and 5 assists in 38 appearances in Portugal isn’t exactly tearing it up, but it’s not terrible either, and I suspect he’ll be one we see move on for a fee which will hopefully recover some of what we paid for him.
Reiss Nelson
He was doing quite well at Fulham until he suffered a serious hamstring injury in December – like Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz and Gabriel, he needed surgery. Perhaps a demonstration that not playing enough is potentially as ‘dangerous’ as playing too much. Ultimately though, last summer Arsenal decided to send him out on loan and ostensibly replace him with Raheem Sterling.
Even if I think Arsenal expected more from that particular loan deal, I don’t believe that augurs well for Nelson’s future. There should be a Premier League side who would take a chance on him based on what he did for Fulham until that injury, but quite who and at what price, it’s hard to say.
Karl Hein
The Estonian international signed a new deal last summer before being loaned to Real Valladolid, where he has played 29 La Liga games. He missed a few due to a shoulder injury, but was back in the team for their weekend defeat to Girona. It will certainly have been a season he can take a lot from, having played regular first team football for the first time, and experienced a difficult campaign as Valladolid prop up the La Liga table (P36: W4, D4, L28 – ouch).
In a summer when we need to sort out back-up/cover/competition for David Raya, perhaps there’s a case to be made that if money needs to be prioritised for attacking players, keeping hold of Hein rather than spending €25m+ on Joan Garcia is the more sensible thing to do. But, we know how much Mikel Arteta and Inaki Cana love spending money on goalkeepers.
One to keep an eye on, I wouldn’t necessarily be averse to holding on to him and spending more on making this team more potent up front, but I suspect he’ll be in the departure lounge.
Marquinhos
LOL
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So, with other first team players possible departures too, there’s a fair chunk to do even with the guys out on loan. Decisions to be made, deals be done. Andrea Berta getting into the swing of things like a market trader on a busy Saturday afternoon.
“TWO FOR ONE THE LEFT BACKS!”
Have a good one folks.
