Morning all.
Some worrying news regarding Mikel Arteta to start with. The initial prognosis for his ankle injury is that he’ll miss ‘at least two weeks‘ and the club don’t expect him to be available again until after the international break.
After Everton, Besiktas and then Leicester next Sunday we have the first Interlull of the new campaign and following that it’s a game against Champions Man City. I’m ignoring the people who are rejoicing in the fact that one of our players is injured at a crucial time in the misguided belief that it might ‘force’ Arsene Wenger into the transfer market.
Frankly, anyone who takes pleasure in one of our own being crocked really ought to undergo the ice bucket challenge but instead of a bucket it’s a cauldron and instead of ice it’s dragon piss mixed with sulfuric acid. The fact is that we’ve got important games coming up – one of which a purchase couldn’t play in anyway – means having Arteta fit would be a good thing, especially as Aaron Ramsey misses out on Wednesday through suspension.
But that’s just the initial diagnosis and we’re waiting for the results of scans to see exactly what the damage is. It might be minimal, I hope it is, but if it’s more serious then it’s very worrying, simply because I don’t see us making a midfield signing. If Arteta is out for two months then I think the manager will shuffle his pack to cope with that absence rather than address it in the transfer market.
Remember, this is a man who had no full-backs for ages (including during a January transfer window), but made the decision to muddle through because what does he do with all those full-backs when they’re fit again?
If we buy a central defender he might think of deploying Calum Chambers in midfield when needed. He spoke last week about how that’s where he sees him in the long-term so might feel now is the time to blood him in, using the new defender as cover for Per and Kos.
The only thing that might sway him is that the defensive midfield area is one that’s going to have to be addressed sooner or later anyway. Arteta isn’t getting any younger, Flamini is the far side of the 30 now, and a prolonged issue for the Spaniard may open the door for something to happen.
However, I don’t think Wenger made Arteta captain by accident, and I don’t think he’d especially care for another non-playing skipper so he’ll give him every chance to recover and get back into the team. Anyway, whatever about the future, it’s not an ideal situation in the short-term so fingers crossed it’s not too serious.
Meanwhile, reports this morning suggest that the manager is willing to let Lukas Podolski leave the club with interest from the Bundesliga, Spain, the US and Turkey, with Galatasaray particularly interested. Podolski’s agent says:
There have always been enquiries. Now we have concrete interest from some teams.
He’s certainly a popular figure and his goalscoring stats from last season were remarkable when you consider how little he played, yet there have long been doubts about his overall contribution. Does he really suit our style of play? Rumours about our willingness to let him go are not new, by any means, but at a time when we’re struggling from an attacking point of view, his efficiency might well be handy.
People will ask why let Podolski go and keep Sanogo, who has never scored for us. Reasonable question, but they’re different kinds of player. The Podolski down the middle experiments have never really worked out, and that’s where Sanogo’s size and stature means he has to play. And if this reads as me preferring Sanogo over Podolski, I think the young Frenchman really ought to spend a season on loan somewhere else while we pursue an option that is more ready for this level of football.
There have been countless cries for Joel Campbell to given a chance with us, but in the current set-up it’s hard to see who he leapfrogs for first team football. Would people be willing to let Podolski go to provide more room for the young Costa Rican? The bottom line is we’re top heavy in terms of numbers – if not necessarily quality – and providing Campbell with his chance probably means sacrificing one of the wide options as he’s not a central striker either.
The state of the squad more or less dictates that any further signings mean we’ll have to let players go to bring more in, maybe this is the start of it. What I would say though, is that if we do let Podolski leave, I’d be much more comfortable with a solution that sees Sanogo go out on loan while we bring in a more established central striker to compete with Giroud.
If Campbell gets some games down the left then great, but I don’t think you can let the 15-20 goals Podolski would get you (for all his faults), and hope that they’ll be replaced by a couple of raw youngsters like Campbell and Sanogo.
Right, that’s about that for this morning. Tim Stillman will be here with his column later on and I’ll be back tomorrow with an Arsecast.
Until then.
