If you’re an Arsenal fan who engages on social media, then you’ll be well aware of the good work that HandOfArsenal does in keeping us all informed of the latest developments at The Arsenal. They either currently work at the club, or they are somebody who knows a few people at the club, and the club knows of them, hence why they can put out information ‘just’ at the right time.
Last night’s ‘HandBomb’ was that Morgan Rogers is advancing, and talks aren’t expected to be a problem. Apparently, the two clubs are in discussion, as I was speculating about yesterday, it looks like Villa is making moves to get their replacements going, too. My view on it remains that how ‘good’ this deal is, is dependent on the fee we pay. There are people out there who will say, “Well, it isn’t your money so what do you care?”, but my contention that is that it should matter to Arsenal fans. We don’t have a bottomless pit of cash, the PSR rules are such that we can’t just blow £500million on players anyway, so if you go hard and heavy on one player, it could mean you aren’t able to secure a player on a certain fee in another position. The difference between a Rogers at £100million and a Rogers at £130million could be a young prospect we miss out on.
So yeah, the fees does matter, in my opinion.
There’s also the whole “£72million Nicholas Pepe” curse that we are all very familiar with. That fee we paid for the Ivorian was a millstone around his neck. If Elliot Anderson isn’t essentially Rodri 2.0, he’ll be deemed a ‘waste of money’ at £116million, rival clubs to City will ‘banter’ City for the figure they paid, and it heaps more pressure on a player. We all thought with Declan Rice that he might suffer from the £105million price tag, but that quickly was kicked into touch, with us now even mocking the fact we got him ‘half price’. So if the rumoured fee of £130million is true, then personally I’d hope Arsenal start to look elsewhere. Transfermarkt has his value at €90million, which is about £76.5million. If Villa were to get £100million for him, that’s more than a fair deal, I’d think.
I like Rogers as a player, I really do. I remember in the last two seasons against us, he’s looked particularly dangerous on several fronts. He’s somebody who will have a shot from distance, he’s a guy who can take on a player or two, and, I think, two seasons ago in particular at Villa Park, every time he picked up the ball, he looked like he could hurt us. But I am still a bit bemused as to how he’s being deployed if he signs. Centrally? If so, where? Left eight? Left wing? Last season, to be fair, he started 14 times on the left wing, and got five goals, so as opposed to Eze, where we thought he was going to be the left-wing choice and then nothing of the sort happened, perhaps you could see this as something he is deployed as?
He also got five assists there, and played left wing in Villa’s home win against us, although I must confess I don’t 100% remember how he played last season. He bagged two goals against both West Ham and Man United over Christmas as a left winger, and when Villa were running crazily hot last season over their xG, I’m pretty sure it was he who was a big reason for that.
I like his athleticism too, something called out in this video, which I watched earlier. I can see why Mikel would want somebody with the physical profile that he has; the Premier League is a very physical league, full of battles and duels that have to be won all over the pitch, so if you have somebody like Rogers, you know you’re getting a dual monster and battler.
I still can’t help but think about how this works with the team at the moment, though. Does this mean Martinelli goes? If that’s the case, then we don’t really have any touchline wingers anymore. Tzolis is about to arrive, he’s right-footed, but players on the left are going to be somebody who wants to come into the field more, but I guess the counter to this point is that Martinelli was never really massively impressive as a touchline winger as it is. He found his best form coming in from the left, and I think Arteta has tried to push that out of him when he’s played, so if we get both Rogers and Tzolis, it will be interesting to see what job Arteta asks both of them to do on the left.
The other final bit of news is that apparently Barca have set a deadline of the end of this month for their offer for Alvarez to join them. Honestly, that club are a bunch of pr*cks, with their ultimatum. If you want the player so bad, pay the money, instead of constantly trying to low ball teams. They did it for years with us, now they’re doing it with Atleti. I hope the Spanish capital side stay firm. Or better, sell him to us foir cheaper than barca offered. That would really piss them off.
But for now it just feels like that one is probably one in which Arsenal need to just have a ‘watching brief’ on. There’s no point in moving for him whilst the circus is in town and ringmaster Laporta is playing his games in the press. Just leave it be and see if Barca do indeed walk away.
Right, that’s me done for today. I’ll be back tomorrow with more thoughts. There’s that pointless ‘Bronze place’ trophy this evening. I just hope no Arsenal players see a single minute. Play all those that haven’t played much, except The Arsenal boys, thanks.
Catch you all tomorrow. Have a good one.
Just an opinion, but I agree with your assessment.
There are positives with both Bruno and Rogers, and both should be valuable additions to Arsenal should they come.
The positives are:
1. That they both have requested to leave and join Arsenal, with their agents already in wage term agreements with Arsenal.
Both have great “domestic” STATs
2.Bruno has a better than average international STAT.
3. Both are versatile in more than one position although we are buying them for the sake of a left wing and a DMC, I would guess.
4. Rogers still not reached his prime and has a longer contract possibility and a small reclaim sell on value by the time he is 28.
Now the negatives:
1. Both Bruno and Rogers are overpriced for which I will explain below.
2 Rogers has little great internation form and low stats in that department compared to Martinelli, Trossard and Saka.
3. Rogers only gets marked by one defender (like Martinelli) whereas Sake can still reach high STATs at both international and lower domestic level when mostly being marked by two defenders, does this make Saka twice as good as Rogers, I don’t know. But even Martinelli although domestically not as good as Rogers he is certainly better internationally, both Euro Champions league and internationally with his country.
4. Rogers position is not a premium position like DMC or Loan Striker, where their is fewer high “internation stat” players available that perform great against world class defenders. Rogers is hower great at lower domestic level and more so consistent at that lower lever more so than at international level.
5. Rogers True value is £85m after add on when compared to a similar Stats and field position player in Newcastle’s Gordon who was only valued at £69m. Remember Anderson and Tonali where at premium DMC positions like Rice and unlike Bruno they are fairly still young.
6. Everyone knows how good Bruno is at “both” international level and domestic level and he is a premium DMC field player, but it is his age and valuation that is his only negatives.
7. Bruno almost 29 will have no long term contract investment in him, maybe two years at the top level maybe three.
8. Bruno has no reclaim sell on value.
9. Bruno has an average injury record.
10. Brunos valuation only due to his age being a short term investment should be £65m after add-ons.
No doubt both players are not happy with their current clubs greedy ambitious over priced valuations that different from my fair true market (comparing age field position and international STAT level) valuation by some considerably ridiculous margin.
But remember Brunos is soon to be age 29 with no sell on value, and a shorter playing longevity and the possibility of a slow injury recovery at that age. Then with Rogers being in comparison to another player of similar (non premium) position as Newcastle’s ex player £69m Gordon.
Their is a common mistake of teams over pricing their players that are not sold, because their form usually drops the following season as they are usually not 100% committed being unhappy not having their wish granted for a chance of silverware and competing against the worlds best at Champions league final stages. If their form drops and their contracts role down it’s a loose loose for their current club not letting them go for a fair market value, of £85m and £65m for both players mentioned after add-ons.