Yesterday, the reports were Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain Kieran Gibbs (shoutout Andre Marriner) had verbally agreed to join David Beckham’s Inter Miami club at the end of the season. According to Nathan, when you combine that signing with Ryan Shawcross (BOOOOO!) and a look at the rest of Inter Miami’s announced roster, they’re, uh, doing some strange things.
I wonder if it’s going to be weird for Gibbs to share a locker room with the guy that nearly ended his teammate Aaron Ramsey’s career.
But I digress. I wanted today’s CF to be about Arsenal dudes. Kieran Gibbs was an Arsenal dude. He played pretty regularly but wasn’t ever a star nor was he ever really labeled as a player headed for stardom. He was there and he played. So it’s not an “oh yeah, he played for Arsenal for a hot minute” situation, that’s a different thing.
This is not meant as any kind of sleight on Gibbs — there is value to having unremarkable but consistently slightly above average players on your roster, see e.g. Granit Xhaka. Also, Gibbs is 31. Remember when he was part of the young British core at the club? My word. I did not enjoy my quick perusal of his Wikipedia page, specifically because of the age realization. I guess this really is what getting old as a sports fan is, when you’re of an age where you’ve watched the entire arc of a guy’s career.
Who is your favorite Arsenal dude?