He came in through the bathroom window. But he left through the back door. So goodbye then Mickeytarrien. Farewell and enjoy your time in the dumping ground for failed footballers. Please seek out Alexis and discuss how you both dragged down each team while being a burden to the salary structure. Both failed miserably. At least ours was cheaper. But what a waste.
If only he could have left before yesterdays game and Nacho could have stayed for one more day. But, rather than looking backwards, let’s us rejoice in a nearly perfect transfer window.
How did we get £40m for Ob1? How did we manage to offload Mickey? We’ve just saved £200k/week in wages. I know it’s not my money but it was still a waste. I remember when he played his first game for ManU against Hull after being signed from Borussia. He was Ozil-like – intelligent and deft in his touches. But after one injury he was done. For us he was worse than a luxury. He was too lazy to defend and too slow to attack. As we saw yesterday he was too indecisive and careless with the ball. We will be a much better team without him. There was no merit in retaining him. He was a block on others coming through. Now we can see whether Nelson and others can fill that spot. And, once Bellerin regains his spot Maitland-Niles can now look to that open position.
We cleaned out both wing-backs; gained money and reduced our salaries. And we obtained Pepe! That’s a good window. We also obtained a real-left back. That’s great. And we added Ceballos. That’s nearly perfect. If only we could have dumped Mustafa. Then it would have been truly perfect. But then, even if he stays, he’s not playing for us again. He’ll waste away his talent at Colney never to play for us again (except in the Carrabo Cup).
Now I’m excited. Now I’m convinced that there is someone, at least, at Arsenal who can see what we could all see. That this squad was deficient in serious areas – carrying some serious dead weight. With Emery playing Mickeytarrien all last year the fear was that our new manager could not see what we all knew. This squad is much better. It needs one or two more windows to complete this transition. Whether Emery remains to over see it I don’t know. The odds are in his favour. We just have to complete the taking out of the trash.
The primary signings – Pepe, Tierney, Luiz – along with Ceballos have clearly strengthened the team. Once our new center-half turns up next year and once we replace Xhaka we will be fully on the road to recovery. This year will still be a challenge – we saw that yesterday. But we are better equipped than we’ve been in 5 years. And that because we now, finally, have some management that can clean up our squad, acquire talented players and also allow for youth to come through. Between Maitland-Niles, Holding, Willock, Nelson and Chambers we now have a new generation of English players who can shine and develop. Some will inevitably fail (as all the previous ones have – expect maybe the Ox) but this is the basis for our future (and ignores Eddie).
So farewell you useless Mickeytarrien. It’s an absolute pleasure to be shot of you. What a disaster that deal was with Alexis. He should never have left but he priced himself out of the market and, most importantly, the previous management screwed it up. By that, I don’t mean the great and imperious AW. But I do mean the flaky and media-aware Gazidis. He was the one responsible for letting Alexis enter the last year of his contract. This forced his hand that lead us to receive Mickeytarrien. He then followed that up with letting Ramsey to also enter the last year of his. But, now, it looks like the current management actually know how to run a football club. No more players entering there last year. Not like Erickson, Rose, Alderwald. Te He.
We are finally on our way. And we have people to oversee our future that can see what we can see. No more overpaid, unused talent. Ops, I forgot about Ozil. As much as I love him the new boy is a clear upgrade. Ceballos is Ozil on speed (literally). He’s Ozil with a work ethic. He’s Ozil with desire. He’s Ozil with something to prove. Long may Ceballos stay fit and healthy. We just have to make sure that in training he stays away from tackles by Mustafa and Xhaka.
So, after another great day, it’s back into hibernation for another 9 days.
-LB7