FOUR GONE CONCLUSION

 

As Bob Dylan so eloquently put it “The times they are a-changing” and at Arsenal Football Club they are a-changing for what seems the a-better. This change is exemplified with the succession of departures from the bloated squad of Özil, Mustaphi, Kolasinac and Sokratis. These four players say a lot about how we arrived, as a club, into the minor leagues from the majors.

The arrival of an elite player in Özil, in our case, was all about telling the world that we were still big boys in the playground. The salary handed out initially was commensurate with the profile of the player but what was irksome was the fact that he, seemingly, could pick and choose which games he deigned to play in. The latitude that he was given is reminiscent of that given to Derek Rodman by the Chicago Bulls, but guess what? Rodman delivered. 

Özil was perhaps at his best when playing with Alexis Sanchez (for my money the last real elite player to play for us) and when Sanchez angled for a get out the renewal of Özil’s contract and the large wage packet created a problem. The recent trend of players happy to sit out their contracts because clubs were stupid enough to give them a king’s ransom is crystallised with Mesut. There were clearly issues with both Emery and Arteta, which meant that this undoubted talent lay dormant for almost a year. He seems a decent enough fellah but now he’s gone and I hope the club have learnt valuable lessons from the situation.

Mustaphi is a good example of being sold a faulty item but not being able to get a refund. At £35m you wonder what bargaining tool his agent employed. Sure he was a German international with a world cup winner’s medal who had played for Sampdoria and Valencia (and a brief spell at Everton) so it was fair to assume that he was going to be a useful addition to the squad but he became known more for his catastrophic errors than his status as a winner of the ultimate football prize. The problem was that he could not be relied upon to not fumble in consecutive games. He also became a player not being selected but sitting on a lucrative contract. His exit will not be mourned.

Sokratis and Kolasinac both offered more in terms of personality than consistency and fit into the category of “what was the point?” much like Mavrapanos, Lichsteiner and Suarez. These sort of purchases were indicative of a club unsure of its direction, a club with too many agents in it’s ear, a club with poor negotiating skills. One wonders if the outlay on these players would have been better spent elsewhere.

Now we have cleared the decks to an extent. That’s not to say we are error free, take Willian (please) for example, but what we have seen is the rise in young home grown players. No they are not all at the level of Saka, Martinelli and Smith-Rowe but they offer opportunities to grow a better squad and also make a few bob if things don’t work out. Loan deals for AMN and Willock look like sensible moves that are a bit 'win-win' for all concerned.

I feel, as you all know, that the job of repairing he damage of the Wenger/Gazidis era was going to take time, and that it needed both some surgery upstairs, and some removal of failing organs within the squad.

The majority of additions to the squad seem reasonable and in the cases of Tierney, Partey and Gabriel we have definately improved the squad (even Cedric is showing signs of solidity)

Still a fair way to go but I see the departure of the Four Horsemen of Mediocrity as a positive move by the club. Getting squad balance is key and we are moving in the right direction in this regard. The 21/22 Season will, I think, prove rather interesting as we, hopefully, see the recovery from the wilderness years continue.