Ahead of the Premier League kicking off for us on Friday, yesterday was clearly media day at London Colney, because we’ve had Men in Blazers doing an interview with Arteta, Sky Sports sat down with him, plus Dan Roan from the BBC also talked to Richard Garlick. All of the interviews are worth a watch; all say good things, if nothing groundbreaking, but the snippet I’ve shared of Dan Roan’s interview is the one that has me somewhat concerned. Roan asks Garlick about the prospect of any Hale Enders being sold and, rather than pour cold water on any rumours, he effectively says that if the right offer comes along, they’d have a listen to it…

I don’t know about you, but I immediately put two and two together and made myself four. That sounds to me like Arsenal are gearing up for an exit of either Ethan or Myles, and after Myles’ performance in the Community Shield on Sunday, coupled with the fact he broke into the side in midfield and played in the Champions League final, I have a bad feeling we’re losing Ethan Nwaneri this summer.

That would make for sad times for me, because I think we’re missing a trick. I listened to the Arsecast Extra this morning on my run, and James and Andrew were talking about the situation with these two players. James’ point about Myles kind of forcing the hand and making him kind of unsellable by the way he’s played. Hey, that’s how all of us want Arsenal players to play, because if they’re all doing it, it makes for an amazing headache for Arteta, and it will almost invariably mean we’re winning football matches. But what is frustrating, I think, is how we seem to be prioritising the financial side over the football side. James and Andrew talked about the fact that both Zubimendi and Madueke, as examples, would not actually bank much cash in terms of the financial regulations, because their amortised values are still so high (i.e., the book value hasn’t been spread out over several years because they only signed last year). If that’s true, that the club is thinking about how they have to make this kind of ‘pure profit’ sale so they can give themselves headroom for other signings, it just makes me more frustrated about the Madueke deal last summer. He got eight goals and four assists from 43 appearances and 2,200+ minutes. In 2024/25, Ethan bagged – from the same position – nine goals and two assists in 37 appearances and 1,300+ minutes. Nearly 900 minutes less for Ethan, and he delivered one fewer goal/assist.

There’s nothing you can do about the past, this is all hindsight, but I’m just looking at the data, the two players, where they are at, and the fact that we wouldn’t bank much regulatory headroom for new signings because we decided that Ethan wasn’t a right winger (which I still don’t understand) and that Noni was a better output and outlay at £50million. I think Noni did alright for us last season; my issue isn’t personal to him. I just think we made what is perhaps not the right move there – to my very untrained eyes.

I guess we are where we are. But for me, if somebody gives me the option of not signing another player this summer, which means we keep Ethan but send him on loan next summer, I think I’d be ok with that. There are probably a few people who would choke at that, but I’m looking at what all of the pundits are saying with their predictions, and most are saying we should be favourites for the Premier League title by a mile. Now, last season, because Liverpool spent the GDP of a small island on players, everyone had them down to walk the league. And for the first five games, they won all of them (including against us) and Liverpool fans in particular were already booking days off after the season had ended for a blinder of a bender in Liverpool. But it didn’t pan out like that. So I understand that you can’t hang your hat on pundits’ predictions, but I think pundits got too hung up on the transfer business, and not enough on some of the other factors that impacted Liverpool’s position as defending champions. Slot had ridden the crest of the Salah and Van Dijk wave; at their ages, the age curve was always going to hit. They also picked up injuries – like everyone else did last season – and found out that Slot’s “injuries are excuses for losers” chuntering on from the season before was suddenly a crutch they wanted to lean on. Plus, and I remember saying this multiple times in his first season, I just don’t think Slot was really that great from a tactical and man-management perspective. Why bring all of this up? Well, think about where Arsenal are now compared to where Liverpool were:

  • Where are our ageing players who just had a blinding ‘season for all seasons’?
  • Where is our litany of mega signings that are going to over-index our ability to walk this league?
  • Where was our season of having barely any injuries last season?

None of the above applies to us going into this season. On top of that, there are a host of new managers who are unknown quantities. One or two might end up being the second coming of Fergie or Wenger, but as of right now, there’s a lot more uncertainty on that front. We have the continuity manager, the settled squad, the team that everyone thinks is going to win the league. It doesn’t mean we will; things might conspire against us, but we’ve got a squad that is already championship-winning, plus we’ve added one of the best midfielders in the league and a Greek lad that many think might be the surprise package for the season. So yeah, when I think about it like that, I don’t want to roll the dice by exiting Ethan and using that money to fund a random left winger that could just end up being the left-side version of Madueke (i.e., good, but hardly massively needle-moving).

We’re in good shape. Let’s not blow it up by exiting one of our most promising youngsters.