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We’re 6 days away from lining up against Chelsea in the Community Shield on Sunday and know no more about our squad’s contract situation than we did in May. The Emirates Cup happened this past weekend and Mr. Wenger was questioned by the media about how the future might look. Needless to say, Arsene never disappoints in walking around the answer without really saying much at all.
From Arsenal’s official website:
on whether he is happy for Mesut to go into the final year of his contract… ”Yes, I think in the future you will see that more and more. Players going to the end of their contracts. Why? Because transfers become so high, even for normal players, that you will see more and more players going to the end of their contract because nobody will want to pay the amount of money that is demanded and I am convinced that in the next 10 years that will become usual.”
My thoughts below.
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on whether it’s an issue that five or six players are in their final year of contract…”Not at all. I think it’s an ideal situation.”
Well this interesting, because if you consider these players dead-weight and tying up wages (looking at you, Mathieu Debuchy) then I could see where this is an ideal situation to just let their contracts run out and on they go. Now, if two of those contracts are your two highest paid, most well know and best performers on the squad, clubs from all over will be circling like sharks to poach them with a pre-contract in January.
Speaking of dead-weight, let’s take a look at Arsene’s comments regarding who may or may not take place in the squad in 2017/18 season for the Gunners.
on Kieran Gibbs…”He has been sick over the weekend. He was supposed to play for the reserves on Thursday night at Boreham Wood but couldn’t play. At the moment he’s not available.”
on whether he sees Gibbs’ future at Arsenal…”He has one year to go [on his contract].”
Poor Kieran, it was rumored we turned down a bid in the range of 10m from West Brom. 10m for a player unlikely to feature with Kolasinac, Nacho, Ox, Welbeck and probably Bramall ahead of him at left wing back seems like a deal we shouldn’t balk at.
Some quick hits on Lucas Perez
on what the latest is on Lucas Perez…“He is injured at the moment.”
on whether Lucas is likely to feature during the season…“Yes.”
on Lucas’ agent saying his shirt number was given away without consultation…“Well look, we sort that out internally.”
Dating back to last season, it seemed like Wenger’s go to strategy with explaining why Lucas was in and out of the squad was stating he was injured. I’m not sure how injured Lucas exactly was during that time, but I don’t think it was the typical Arsenal player timetable for injuries. The most surprising answer to these questions is that Arsene says it is likely Lucas will feature this season. I think we all assumed Lucas would be back off to Spain this summer. The last straw being his #9 shirt being reassigned to Alexandre Lacazette without his consent. “We’ll sort that internally” is a funny take, because it clearly has already been sorted, Laca will be your new #9 so we can recoup some of that transfer fee with shirt sales.
And the final question of the weekend was about Mr. Jack “Honeymooner” Wilshere
on why Jack Wilshere was not involved…Jack Wilshere is joining in full training next week again.
Jack has been photographed at London Colney all week so this is not a surprise. Sampdoria has been rumored to be sniffing around, but I’ve got a very convincing feeling Arsenal will feature Wilshere in the lineup this season at some point. We need to strengthen our squad at the center midfield position, and until we do, I don’t see anyway Jack is sold without a replacement.