What is the most important thing Arsenal need to do in the transfer market? FT ‪@DiffKnock‬

People deluded I'm back again I've got the best duo since Thierry Henry and Dennis Burkard man Alex big up yourself you're always part of the furniture here and I appreciate your consistent support I've got him here very early at the time of making this video man how you doing my friend we've got a decent amount to discuss we've got a lot to discuss we are speaking post um England's masterclass should we call it that yeah and this is why I said we're like Thierry Henry and Burkard because that's the first thing I wanted to get into man I've offered my thoughts but what did you think of it man obviously Saka's amazing but yeah what's your thoughts on the first game against Serbia I will say my quality of watching England compared to Arsenal is is uh mostly talking complaining about Southgate over a pint so rather than with Arsenal I'm I'm actually watching it properly so uh please take my thoughts to the pinch of salt but um look it's just it's continued it's the same issues that we've always had with Southgate in my opinion in that we set up like we're a mid-table team even though we had the quality we have on the ball is unbelievable to me look I thought the first half we actually came out really well um I thought uh midfield rotations were lovely obviously Saka looked unbelievable but we know that but then what happens is I feel like we have one or two scares and then we go right Pickford start going long we don't trust Stones on the ball we don't trust Gehry on the ball even though these are you know I think Gehry is massively underrated but John Stones is literally a world-class defender if you don't trust John Stones to build up from the back for you who you who do you trust genuine question who do you trust Kieran Trippier was annoying me um in the way he was basically the way I saw it anyway in build up he was either he was playing with with Gehry and Stones and he'd be the sort of elbow so he wasn't quite an option in build up he wasn't actually making himself available either between the lines he was sort of hiding and then when we were a bit further up the pitch he wasn't quite creating the width in the same way that Saka was he was sort of inside again so just either way I didn't feel it was functionally working working sorry I thought the right side just completely carried us he you know what he was playing like he was playing like those guys remember at school where you get put in the wrong position and you actively play bad not badly but you you don't use your left foot because you're like I'm a right winger or whatever because you're like oh I don't know you don't shoot or whatever it's just like mate come on we know you're a professional football player you have a left foot um but yeah to be honest uh you know I was three would you make a Philip Foden man I can't let Foden get away with this um look I I think basically England have five difference makers and Foden isn't in that group so I would say that is Bellingham, Kane, Saka, Rice and Trent I would say those five can as a group but also individually not necessarily them scoring but through their performances turn us from a 1-1 to a 2-1 or wherever it might be right I think they've consistently proved it I think in an England shirt they they can do that I don't think Phil Foden can do that for England I don't think I've ever seen him do that I think people call him you know system player at Man City whatever it is I don't think it's that it's just that the zones he likes to occupy we have Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane in so you're not going to get in there sorry like you're just not like you know he's a brilliant football player he's not at that level in my opinion I think any good international team in the end is going to have to sacrifice someone the top top top little teams France Argentina but I think for example Argentina at the World Cup if I'm correct if I recall correctly they started out by putting everyone on the pitch and in the end they had to drop Lissandra because it wasn't working Lissandra is a brilliant football player but to make the rest of the team function I think um it's kind of everyone Lautaro came out the team and Di Maria came in Lautaro was probably the better player at that point you know in 2022 Di Maria is what 47 do I mean but it wasn't working so you have you have to do it right it's it's it and it's okay like it's genuinely fine someone's gonna have to be the fall guy and then what you do is support those five talents with base players around them so for me Phil Foden um should have been the person keeping the width on the left instead of allowing it to be here in trippier but again he's coming inside and trying to find those zones just stay out of them just stay out of them and yes you won't get the most out of Phil Foden but what you will do is platform your five talents who do make a difference so like he wasn't brilliant but I would argue he's stuck between a rock and a hard place where Southgate's saying you're kind of one of my main players but you're also I'm not gonna allow you full keys that you get at Man City so you're somewhere in the middle but you're not just playing a system role and supporting you I want you on the ball so I think Southgate's put him in a weird position did he have a good game no I'm not making excuses but like yeah I don't know I just I I don't think it's ever gonna be it's like it's like the Gerrard and Lampard discussions from from years ago Gerrard and Lampard's goals it's just someone had to drop out we never did that and we suffered for it and I think in this case it's going to be Phil Foden it's a weird one man because I don't I disagree when people say oh this player is a system player of course there's systems in life that get the most out of footballers but every player has a system or you know like a system that gets the best out of them and a system that's going to get the worst out of them where England's concerned I kind of share what you're saying in that essentially it's just square pegs in round holes I actually think we started well I actually feel although you could probably throw a blanket on how close our players were I could see you know Foden getting into pockets Bellingham running in behind I could see the the evidence around playing Trent I don't really think Trent in midfield is the angle for us I think Foden's struggling because essentially he's an eight and a ten but he's barely played there so I think he's going to look out of place and also when you consider that he's never had to make the difference he's never had to really show the responsibility for the country like Saka or you know you look Saka for Arsenal this ain't Foden versus Saka we've lived or died by Saka's performances arguably excluding the last two years I don't think Foden's had that luxury and I think Cesc Fabregas was bang on the money when he spoke about that and I feel to be fair to Southgate with the positions Trippier's taken off and obviously Declarise in the lone six I think when you've got Trent and Foden and all these guys he's tried to find a balancing act but essentially it's like you said it's like one or two scares we've reverted back to type there were some hairy moments I think I think his performance went under the radar I think there was some nervy moments from Stones but generally did all right I think Kane was isolated and I don't know about you but it looked like for me Kane was carrying some sort of knock I think he woke up a bit in the second half and won a lot of fouls it's a joy to watch Saka and I know Saka does that for Arsenal and it's very different but I couldn't help but think you know what Mikel Arteta I don't really see Saka getting to do this on a consistent basis for Arsenal look how he's cooking this left wing on can we see that at our football club but that's not a criticism moving away from England wouldn't you argue that he's very rarely put in that situation in the sense that with one fullback I was shocked that Serbia left yeah yeah no that's that's that's my point I mean it comes with the terror it comes with the territory in it naturally maybe it's because of how Serbia playing or how England are playing Saka's a marked man in the Premier League you know there's about 10 players on top of him so it's not a criticism of Arteta it's just I think sometimes people forget because Saka has become a calculated cerebral consistent robot that the man's got ability and you know we're both on social media me and you both see the goalpost shift with Bukayo Saka every week he's not entertaining he doesn't move me you can keep your entertainingness and I want Saka to keep doing what he's doing so yeah man it's just like it's just it was just refreshing like no you know Saka can actually cook guys but you are right man you are right what is he 27 ga in 24 starts or something careful you're saying start Cole Palmer over him and it's not a disrespect to Cole Palmer it's just come on man Saka is one of our better players do you know what yeah I actually fell quickly on the England thing I think we're going to miss Marcus Rashford I did think if we had Rhys James and Marcus Rashford obviously there's reasons for them not being in the squad we'd be we'd look a bit better I'm not convinced with Trent in midfield I don't think he played bad apart from losing the ball but there's a reason you're a world-class right back and not necessarily a world-class midfielder yes you take up those regions but I don't want to draw too much conclusions on one game in it like even with folding if he's amazing in our next game everybody changes their narrative I want to move on to Arsenal though man I saw a glorious video you put out check it out people where you kind of alluded to how we can win the summer and things like that tell us a bit about that man what would be the perfect summer for Arsenal oh um well I think there's a number of sort of off-field things that maybe we could touch on so I think there's touch on it all man let us have it all yeah well so before we you know I'm sure we want to talk about transfers but the I think there's there's definitely some work we can do at academy level we could possibly go into that in terms of how we maximise on that I think we all know that we've not quite reached uh the maximum level we don't maximise that at all I would suggest I feel that there's stuff we can do off the field in terms of maximising this is this is more long-term stuff like where basically where the cronkies want to take Arsenal I've got I'm sort of writing a video about this at the minute in terms of certain decisions um I've got a controversial opinion about Trost I don't want to want to possibly bring up to you but certain decisions around certain around certain players where you go okay if we want to stay at a certain level that's fine that player can stick around but who are we competing with and what what those clubs do how do we sort of retain our identity and accept that where we're where we are while also trying to compete with the Madrid's the Bayern's the Barca's the whoever of the world that that's a you know a genuine question I think part of that might be looking into the you know the multi-club model or just I've been very passionate about that I don't know if we ever get that but I don't love it by the way as a I wish it wasn't allowed but also you know if you can't beat them join them right amen but the yeah the you know just just and just but more sort of how we operate as a football club in terms of what we do with our our talents and stuff and how we move forward um I think we need to sort out his contract sounds like it's being done obviously mainly it's on the pitch uh in terms of the the talent I think there is I think there's always scenarios right and I think this summer I don't sense I don't know obviously because I'm not not edu to shock everyone um but uh I don't I don't know my sense is there's not a total plan a as in a sense in the same way that was last summer with Declan Rice kind of system I think so yeah and from everything we know it every time there's a transfer cycle it's Benjamin Sesko or it's Flavich or it's Kaisedo last January it's Mudrick or whatever we seem to be aware that the club have a number of different strategies and avenues to go down you can't get this player whatever and I imagine what happens I don't know this is a lot of kind of scenario planning okay well if we can go and get this player that would mean that fills in this part of our jigsaw in which case we'd go after that player if we can go get this player done if that agent can talk to us whatever then you know we can that means we can go and pull out this bit of business whatever it might be and I feel like we're probably running through a sort of a sense of a load of scenario so for example with Sesko I imagine we thought that's a a really talented player that we don't have that raises probably the floor of our squad we probably need one more in probably the wide areas I would suggest and that could be you know insert your favorite talent your Rashford's your Liao's you know some people like Isak out wide etc etc you go and do that alongside a Benjamin Sesko and that would probably be raising the floor if you can't get a Sesko okay do you go after an Osserman and then maybe a prospect winger because you spent a bit more in the number nine position so I mean so I imagine there's scenario planning for me I think about it a lot more on the on the field in terms of what skills we need to add in every position okay what are we missing what we're missing in the forward lines and I've said it a hundred times we said it to you on this channel we've got a list of skills that we're missing in the forward line we saw that shot from Benjamin Sesko yesterday we don't have that we literally don't have that and it's so consistently but also in the midfield there's certain skills we're missing I think we're missing certain versatility in in the build-up and stuff so I think yeah for me I think about it skills wise what we're missing skills wise and then how you actually solve that I think is down to scenarios and down to that right okay if we can how do you feel about Arsenal's transfer window going forward because I think you're bang on the money there's really nothing I can add on that naturally and I big up Arsenal for being competent I think there's like an A list of targets you know if it was white and black as we want this player we can go get this player but we have to be fluid as you know players that might be available there might be a change of heart and vice versa obviously in terms of outgoings it's very touchy but what do you feel like is the minimum Arsenal could afford to do you know the striker it feels that with Kai Havertz's form and I don't know how you feel on it I like Kai Havertz I like what you're doing I do believe maybe us Arsenal fans we overstate the need for a striker because we got 91 Premier League goals and over 100 when you consider everything else and you know Kai Havertz's form has probably tipped the balance for Arsenal to be a bit more comfortable equally I do like something we've done in the last two three years in that in previous years before Arteta we would just sign like if we needed a striker which you could argue we do now and we don't get the Cescos and insert like you said any talent there'd be a scenario where we would just sign someone just for the sake of it or to an ignorant fan it would appear like that now under Arteta for rightly or wrongly we'll just say you know what their solutions in-house or we'll find another way around such I think Cesco was a bit of a twofold I think it was almost a unicorn and like you said he's got areas to his game that we don't have he's young he can get better he's impressionable he's 21 years of age he comes in without necessarily disrupting Kai Havertz but do you feel like we are how do I make how do I ask you this do you feel like we're over exaggerating the need for a forward because on one hand if Kai Havertz's form continues and the rest of the players score we can keep going but on the other hand it's not an assurance that Kai is necessarily going to do that and I'm sure you would agree in that it's weird because you know we will score goals because the last two years we've scored goals but apart from Kai Osaka who can you really throw your hat on in August and say you know what you are going to be there in August I mean May of the next season so where do you where you at with that I think about yeah I hear that and also you're right to point out the last two seasons we've broken our goals record in the Premier League so it's you know I don't think that's a skill we're missing but again you use the word they're solutions and that's what I think about it so I go right okay we've got Kai Havertz at number nine that to me isn't a line leading channel running aerial winning sort of you know ball center forward that's more of a link up one to platform your other players somebody's more of a maybe a target but someone who can sort of you play off is a platformer really does that mean you then have to go inside a nine who does that well maybe you can find that out wide and that's when you look to the market for me I always think about in terms of solutions and skills and and what don't we have and we saw the club say um to the athletic you know and supposedly that should be pretty well well sourced they felt they were missing a level of x factor does that mean you have to go inside a nine not necessarily it could be a winger it could be a left wing or whatever so then I look to the market I go right okay let's say Alexander Isak you go okay that's that's someone who the club feel that they can go and get go and get that done well that's an incredible level actually let's use Cheshka because that's kind of off the table and people will get you know I don't want Isak or whatever Cheshka is off the table so let's use him as an example Cheshka he was someone who could bring you a different level of uh transitional quality because I think he if once he turns you in terms of his top speed I think he's like Mbappe's top speed at one point when I was watching I didn't feel he was a massively quick accelerator but once he got going because he's just so big once he gets he's so tall he's just his stride pattern's massive so you know so he could have bought us that and then and the sort of the ball striking his hang time in terms of his aerial stuff is unbelievable though I would say he was misdirecting a lot of so he's bringing different stuff to Kai Havertz and then I'd be looking out wide and I'd be saying okay feels that we've got a very different profile of nine if Reece and Eddie leave you look at the group and you go okay we've got Trostov we've got Jesus and maybe then you miss more of a creative winger so then I'd be looking at someone like a Nico Williams and I'd be saying I think he's because Nico Williams from what I've watched again is a lot more get to the byline whipping across can play both sides that's probably useful for both sides it's a 42 million pound I so then that jigsaw is sort of mean you fill in the you fill in the sort of gaps and you make sense of it you go okay we've got versatility both sides we've added a different style of nine etc I look at what we have right now and there's a there's a skills gap and different ways you could fill it that's one way or you can fill it in other ways but I agree with sort of what you're saying in that the skills gap to me when people say a number nine or you know also need a number nine or the the byword of that is essentially asking me more goals and I don't agree with that I think we need different solutions which is what we're missing we are the the skills gap in terms of what we have let's say in our midfield at everyone's absolute peak is a lot smaller than the skills that we have in our forward areas we don't have a number of things that I would like in a forward area so and how you do that not to sound like I'm sitting on the fence is up to you and it will depend on the who out who is out there in the market but I don't think there is the rice type signing who solves everything all your problems in one fell swoop I don't think there is that so it's going to be a bit more of a jigsaw and that's where it's it's a bit of a techie situation and one where I'm happy I'm not Mikel Arteta because it's not you're damned if you do damned if you don't you have to find that you know that balance of you know not disrupting the squad but bringing in absolutely quality players whether that is some simply put people who are better than what we have or as you said different solutions in an ideal world for me it would be another striker and another winger I am quite fluid in that okay in the sense of you can't get a striker bring in a winger you can't get a winger bring in a striker if it was up to me I'd love it's not to say that we haven't got strong ball carriers trust Ark and Dribble Martinelli when he's on form is a joy to watch Sacre Sacre we was waffling about him at the start but I would like someone who is who is a strong ball carrier maybe on the transition someone that can get us a couple extra yards up the field that would be amazing you know me bro I think for me central midfield is the most important area we could address because I like Jorginho but I maintain that take nothing away from Jorginho I think Mikel Arteta in his heart of hearts probably had to use Jorginho more than he would have liked me and you have spoken about Partey at Lemps we all know everything in relation to Thomas Declarais is Declarais Odegaard is Odegaard I would like someone that more addresses that left eight position that is closely aligned with what we lack with Xhaka obviously I would want an upgrade so I think those are the areas we can improve and obviously Mikel Arteta said it mid-season is that we've got one of the smallest squads now I think we've got 12 players that are I might be exaggerating if we assume Trossart's on the bench and there's 11 players out there Trossart's the first to come off the bench I'd extend that to about 14 I kind of want to get to 20 you made a great point about players with x-factor or stuff coming out of the athletic and I think that's true and that's where you're in this difficult scenario in that you can find players that you know have this x-factor without spending great money who those players are I couldn't necessarily tell you but this has been done but you do feel like you know where you're or the guy from Napoli or in you know Rodrigo Vinicius it's crap amounts of money so we are in that difficult kind of scenario if you had to pick yeah you bring in whatever striker of your dreams or central midfielder of your dreams to partner Declan Rice what were you going for okay yeah putting all feasibility issues aside I look at Victor Osman and I just think that's someone who can bring you x-factor and the way he separates in the box again we don't have that the venom in his shot we don't have that so in terms of the skills gap it's bringing something extremely different to what we have and I also believe that Kai Havertz in a kind of second striker role could really could really work with Victor Osman you know if we're being honest do I have feasibility issues yes absolutely but in terms of the someone who is cooked as opposed to as in not physically cooked as in ready compared to say a Shashko or whatever I think Isak's a bit nice and although I think he'd give us a bit more on the transition he feels to me very technically gifted very secure I like his finishing it just feels a little bit nice Osman feels like a bully and feels like he he would I sort of want someone who's going to ignore Mikel sometimes I think we need that a little bit someone who is a little bit of a rogue Diego Costa-esque I don't want an Ivan Tony but I do I would love because Victor Osman works incredibly hard out of possession it's one of the biggest um question marks about him for some reason and I don't see that whenever I've watched him I think he works really hard out of possession but the the what I love is it feels like he'll he'll break a game open in a different way so that's probably what I go for in there midfield I'm a lot less secure I don't know I look at I mean you know okay let's call it a dream Jamal Musiala I mean I mean you know again in terms of carries in terms of beating him out of the edge of the box uh taking risks shot taking if you added Musiala and Osman you are you're in dreamland and we've got a very very different set of skills in the team I just can't see Arteta doing that to be honest I don't think he has to not say Musiala is a renegade or sort of uh you know I don't know he's not he's a lot more disciplined but to get the best out of him you'd have to give him the keys and I don't think Mikel would give both Musiala and Osman the keys to just basically do what they want so I don't know but I mean the midfield feels like a weird area because again in terms of the skills gap I was talking about earlier if you had everyone at their absolute best we're kind of comfy in that regard you're kind of because yeah this is the problem if you had a 20 if everyone was 25 and fully fit and I appreciate what we're doing if my grandmother had wheel stuff here but if everyone was you'd have ball progression a metronome in Jorginho you'd have physicality you'd have creativity you'd have final ball you'd have carries you'd have reception you literally have everything you wouldn't have to travel man you could do everything with with that group of midfielders but you we don't my god our mother so it's yeah I for me that's a lot more dependent on who leaves and I think Mikel is a lot more likely to go for like uh honestly like a yeah like a Granit Xhaka Adam Wharton I don't think he'd go for Adam Wharton but someone like that who's a bit more you know can all-round profile really solid you know just calm sort of presence in the midfield and maybe put the the marquee and attack but again even that I do question and that's the thing man I always ask myself you know obviously in an ideal world we've touched on it we address out wide up front and central midfield but where I look at those three and they're all of equal importance I don't think there's any rights and wrongs but if there was only like for argument's sake we're only bringing in one signing I might lean towards central midfield I just feel defensively we've got some good options in the attack we are we can talk about missing profiles and different solutions I think we're kind of okay even though I want to upgrade central midfield like you said if everybody was younger and on the face of it we're right I just feel we really need to address that I feel Declan Rice goes to the next level even more if he has that long-term partner and I think you'll see an even greater Rodegard then I just feel we need some long-term options there we all know Part A and Jorginho are not going to be there forever I wanted to ask you yeah I watched another video of yours it seems like you have a fascination with Marcus Rashford why is that well I think there will be people who just immediately say no to that and I get that I did like a you know I guess I mentioned him he's going in the title man do I know do I not have a clip do I not have any concerns obviously not there's a lot of concerns about Rashford but the problem is is two things people will say we're not uh we're not um what's the word we're not a rehoming center we're not you know we're not a rehab center essentially not a rehab center and I'd say okay that's fine in which case show me someone in the market with his skill set that we wouldn't have to rehome exactly he's almost a unicorn in that show me someone with that level of like the ability the separation he can get the shots he can get the transition quality he can give you how inevitable that cut in on his on his right and shot is the height the age the Premier League experience someone who scored 30 goals in the in in in England last season okay there are concerns but I always say this look even Declan Rice there was concerns about his you know his passing and stuff whatever and obviously it was which I'm happy I could say I shut them down early doors by God that I that really annoyed me but yeah but there's concerns about every single talent every single talent so so for me exactly I mean literally Ben White Granite Shot everyone there's concerns about every single talent there's always a narrative about them so for me I would say choose your problems and the problem with talent with with Rashford is not talent that's no one is suggesting that the problem I would suggest is a lot more about off-field stuff can he you know is he going to put in the work for you all that sort of stuff and I would say look that is of course a concern but I the stuff I read of Rashford when he first came through his like articles in the Players Tribune all this sort of stuff I think he's in the wrong environment I think he's in the wrong environment for him imagine trying to carry that circus at United for 10 years it's just you know and being the number 10 and being the homegrown boy like that's gonna it's gonna have a massive weight on you he needs a fresh start and people say there's other talents out there and I go okay absolutely fine absolutely fine who are they and then there's a bit of stuttering and they go well um Rashford uh Isaac I'm like okay that's a very different profile it's a very very different profile if you're trying to add someone who can play on the left give us that x factor can shoot from distance can be um you know can be a target for us can be someone I think you know technically in terms of his passing as well when you see that pass in the FA Cup final like he's got the technical quality to play for Arsenal I suppose what I'd say is this you might have him you might be watching this and saying absolutely not to Rashford I'd like you to come up with five other names who fill that gap for us so emphatically I don't think you can and secondly yeah please do and who's who's proved it at that level and secondly who is the person who are the players in the Premier League that you the night before the game go for me someone's in for a long day it's De Bruyne, Salah and Rashford so why why wouldn't you go and get that talent I don't understand do you think the pros go on go on if it's available basically do you think the pros to Marcus Rashford outweigh the cons though because I agree with a lot of what you say I think especially what you said about his environment I think with a new environment he could do stuff I think the main thing that attracts me to Rashford is actually the biggest thing I'm concerned about is Mikel Arteta the track record with young players that need a bit of love is immaculate but he's not Jesus forgive me for the blasphemy he will get things it's not even that he'll get things wrong he can't save everyone where I look at Rashford I love him you know on the transition the technical ability I just have concerns around his decision making at 26 years of age with all this wealth of experience you don't seem like your footballing IQ is really improved and I think obviously Mikel Arteta can change can change that and not just Arteta the coaching staff you look at a lot of our coaching staff like Declan Rice it goes under the radar but when he speaks about the assistance he speaks about body language how you receive the ball the sort of angles you open up so I guess you could learn that but at this stage in his game is Marcus Rashford going to do that and I'd say with Marcus one thing as much as I love him because I did a video on this even when he's had those strong goal scoring seasons I have not necessarily been convinced like it feels like great form from him but I don't feel there's been too much of a difference then you can you factor in things that are irrelevant to us as fans his wages and all of that jazz for you would the pros outweigh the cons obviously the underlying one pro would be if it works nobody cares a bit like Kai Havertz but surely it could be seen as a risk and he'd probably be our top earner or one of them yeah there's the wages conversation I think there's you know that's the way we're gonna have to be able to deal with if you want to be a big club yep we want to be a big club by the way we're gonna have to put Sakura on over 300k at one point in the next six months he's gonna be on something big he's gonna be on something like that so you know I think this idea that we're just gonna be you know we're gonna have to pay if we again we we all sat there in April wanted to beat Bayern so if we want to do that we're gonna have to act like them a little bit in certain areas we can be ourselves and do things the right way and be a good club but we're gonna have to do certain things look you can make an argument against Rashford and I don't I you know look am I not concerned at all no but I will go back to the Newcastle game the 4-1 at home and I think it was the was it the Havertz goal or the Martinelli goal was it either Martinelli assists for Havertz or Havertz assists for Martinelli I think it's I can't remember which way around I think Havertz or you know did Jorginho to Martinelli and then there's the one where Havertz cuts it back and someone's is it Havertz cuts it back or Martinelli cuts it back and someone's attacking the 6-yard box we're scoring too many goals man because you will have to look back in time I kind of think I know what you alluded to where there's two Arsenal players the ball's running away from one and he literally just cuts it back to the 6-yard box and the other's crashing the box the 6-yard box and scores we scored you know Martinelli said I don't know man we scored too many those types of goals the way we crash the box shows me there is a structure in place once that ball's coming back in Martinelli knows my job here is that whatever it is is to crash the box is to crush the 6-yard box if you look at how for example a lot of last season the way we were crashing the box when the ball was wide you'd have two men in the pocket one man pushing the line and two wide and then the late runner into the box as well and the late runners if you look at the structure Mikel look whether Rashford takes these instructions on or not or can it is irrelevant but would Mikel put Rashford into a structure where he'd be saying look when the ball is here I need my left winger here tucked in ready to counter press or ready to go out wide when we're in possession here I need you high and wide as possible to stretch the defense when we're close to the box I want you on the edge of the box ready to ready for the cutback or wherever it might be I know Mikel could teach those automatisms because he's we've seen it with soccer we've seen it with Mikel we've seen it with everyone so he would put him into a structure whether he responds to that structure and that gets the best out of him I don't know but the idea that Rashford would just be sort of wandering around like sort of picking up bits of grass or something and just sort of like not helping anyone I don't get that at all I also you know I think the character stuff does get massively overblown and to be honest like I do feel he's got a strong character it pays me off like people can't deal with the pressure that he's been dealing with and the fact that he's like obviously you're gonna crack at some point I mean people could talk about his attitude and I guess there's three sides to every story and there's things Rashford could do but that's one thing that for obvious reasons as you could imagine that's one thing that's always annoyed me about Marcus Rashford or comments surrounding him that's one thing I'm not concerned about I'm sorry but you know and I would defer to you on this a lot of that feels like it's got undertones to me 100% 100% it does that can't that can be it's the same with Saka it says you know we know how young black men are treated in this country and like how how the media we've literally seen it this week with Bakayo Saka how could you hate this man that's what's crazy about Saka it's like he's such a good lad like I could understand it not understand it but I get why it might be Sterling he's got the tattoos he kind of fits the image but the most shocking thing Saka has done is fallen off an inflatable toy swimming it's mad it's mad and that's look you know Rashford went out partying and whatever fine fine yeah you know like fine but he's some complaints we've all been there exactly I'm not sure the girls he's getting with but down before our last three so look I just I think exactly are there no concerns obviously not but I would also suggest people to look at um uh ten hog system in terms of the distances he's asked to cover loads of stuff I don't want to go too far I've said my piece on this but I just I just think people sort of immediately say no rather than looking at it and the other way around and saying well that's a objective layer what are the problems here because there's problems with everyone and can I solve them and I think when you go through each problem the wages the attitude the adaptability etc you start to find little well I think we'd be all right I think we'd be all right so I don't know do I think it will happen absolutely not but neither do I neither do I because I can't I mean you never know people you know the bigger clubs have been dealing with each other but they're going to want a decent transfer fee and when you factor in all this stuff I think there's an admiration for for Rashford I think there's a willingness to get it done if it could happen but who knows really and truly man what do you make of um obviously whether we sign them or not but we've been linked with Javi Simmons and Xerxe what do you make of them too Xerxe I haven't watched enough I don't know um from what I do know as in you know the comps I've seen of him uh he looks a type number nine which doesn't feel right I would suggest well two things firstly his agent's so no chance secondly um I I do feel sometimes what happens is I've said this before a couple of pods Arsenal need to know what is going on with every single number nine in the world every big number nine on the move for let's say more than 30 million pounds this summer we need to know we need to know where Tony's going we need to because we need to know so for example Brentford aren't going to sell so they're not taking Ketiot you need to know what's going on in the market so what will happen is Arsenal will contact an agent and they'll say what's the situation with Xerxe you know we're just you know inquiring about the player someone will send a response back we're waiting to hear from this without the other that agent then texts his mate saying just had a text from Arsenal boom it's straight out in the media Arsenal are interested exactly so yeah but on the play I don't particularly know him Simmons again he gives me like I don't know I don't quite know what he is he's very technically gifted clearly I love him on the ball he's a bit more of a carrier than something we have has he got the end product I don't know he's a work in progress without a doubt he's just he feels like a very floaty sort of behind sort of number 10 out wide he feels like he feels like a very Arsene Wenger sort of 2010 player I don't quite he could play in a number of positions I don't really know what he is good player obviously but is that am I crying out for Javi Simmons this summer it's a shiny it's a shiny new toy man I would take Javi Simmons because I think kind of what we've been saying and been the theme of Mikel Arteta he's young he's impressionable he's versatile he's at that kind of sweet spot where you're experienced and you've picked up a lot of stuff and I'm sure you've got bad habits but you haven't been in the game a long time to have had ingrained bad habits that Mikel Arteta could coach out of him obviously you can play as a 10 players at 8 or players of out wide but as you said you're not necessarily a specialist yet and I don't want to judge anyone on international football because even someone like Foden who was player of the year or whatever struggled for England last night it's a completely different dynamic but he was quite anonymous for the Netherlands and whether PSG sell him is a completely different thing would you go back in for Lloris? Maybe I just I look at the career trajectory maybe this is unfair but I just it just stinks to me of do you remember it just stinks of Michu as in not the talent as in the season he's had of that sort of incredible what was it 12-13 season out at Swansea it will never quite hit those heights look you know again to be honest have I watched him loads and loads I've seen the comps everyone else has seen I look at my wide scout he looks pretty strong looks like a nice centre forward my concerns about him are more translation wise I just always struggle with the Portuguese Portuguese leagues in terms of forwards I just think I look at the the sort of the track record over the years and there's a few flash points obviously you have Ronaldo whatever but like a lot of forwards who come from the Portuguese league and I've always felt this translation issues Darwin Nunes you know you maybe get your moments here and there but in 20 years of sort of me following football every forward who's come from Portuguese leagues and gone to you know your Villas your Chelsea's your whatever it might be I just don't think I've ever quite landed I feel like I don't know I need to speak to someone who watches the league a bit better than me but for me that always feels like there's translation issues that I would say in terms of tiers of translation if we put it that way because at Bundesliga players generally do okay in the Premier League well there's a more there's a higher hit rate then it's probably I feel like Ligue 1 does quite well French French league I feel like La Liga there's sort of somewhere then you're heading down into the sort of the the Portuguese leagues and whatever it just feels like it's not I don't know I I do I just do have concerns about I if I'm honest I haven't watched him enough to be a world expert on him that's just my concern I think he's overpriced in a sense of I just think he's out of Arsenal of a budget but I just don't deem him worth that I think the general play spot on I think all the other facets Mikel Arteta wants from a striker is great I do think you'll be able to translate because you I know it's the championship but you've done in the championship you've done it in Portugal so there's a bit of adaptability in that regards I just feel when you've scored the amount of goals he scored like he's probably the most informed striker give or take in Europe you know probably the summer signing arguably of last year obviously if you score 20 and not necessarily what he's done now then you would have still had a good season but I just feel when you set them heights nothing you do to me anyways is going to quite be there and I think there's an admiration for me here Arsenal have been watching you know sporting Lisbon on a regular basis that could be with your boy and my guy Dia Monday we just happened to see Jocorez but I'm prepared to and so no one can misunderstand me I would love a striker to this summer but I'm prepared to say do you know what if you bring me a winger central midfield we hear Mikel Arteta wants a left back and any other areas that Mikel deems that he needs to go to keep this team moving I would leave the striker stuff for another for another year again I don't know the dynamics of Sesco next year because you'd imagine he's going to keep scoring goals they've removed removed his release clause and put a gentleman's agreement as me and you both know in business gentlemen's agreement means nothing if it's not a cold hearted writing so the dynamics have shifted there I want to ask you I've got two more questions for you before I let you get out of here yeah we've been linked with Onana now equally there's he's someone we're always linked with there are some there's some that are saying we're talking is he someone that maybe excites you a bit of a strong word but is he is he a midfielder you think could bring something to us yeah I've been watching him a little bit recently obviously with the links coming out I I would suggest people go and watch him for Leal because he had a very different role there and when you watch something you start going okay there's something here there's something a little bit more he's a bit more of a glider on the ball than maybe we have um obviously the physicality is really special what I was really impressed with when we played them is it felt like he had a really good connection with the nine with obviously obviously Calvert-Lewin he's a bit more of a kind of battering ram nine so I don't know whether that's quite the same you get the same with Havert he managed to find those passes and get those passes off to to Calvert-Lewin from the midfield and the sort of the I think Wiseguy calls it the um the interaction with the with the forward is is really good in terms of that side of his game um in terms of the price I mean if we're if we're looking around and we're going I would suggest people look at Yusuf Hafana again it depends if Thomas Partey leaves I think that's a really nice replacement you sort of gain stuff and lose stuff I feel with him 15 to 20 million euros for him it's really good uh Onana I yeah I I don't I don't it's not like it's not to get everyone off their feet I don't feel and I but I feel if Partey goes and you go and sign Amadou Onana to replace him I think that's pretty good business to be honest it's it like I think there are concerns about him um but a lot of them I think come down to what he looks like in terms of he's just a big man who plays for Everton so people go oh he's just not going to be good on the ball no firstly he's underrated on the ball if I'm honest it's not amazing it's a lot more technical he also he's he's a carrier as well we can carry anyway we did a lot 22 he doesn't look it but it's 22 years of age a lot of longevity there and the size like when someone's that big and also that techie you know Mikel's gonna like them so imagine him and Rice in the middle of the park together there's two bullies I mean you'd imagine Rice would in that scenario you'd imagine Rice would continue kind of being the eight but you can't rule out Rice also being a six and letting Onana go and that's that's an angle I think Mikel Arteta long term wants Arsenal's midfielder I think we have to kind of get away from specialists of course people can specialise at one thing than the other but I think we need multi well I think Mikel Arteta wants multifunctional midfielders there might be 10 games five of them Declan Rice is this adventurous eight five of them he's a six so I just want the midfield address bro like you can tell like I just want midfield I can say I just I need it addressed this summer from from what I'm for what I'm told let's put it that way um I think the Onana stuff is a lot from the Everton side of things 100% so it's a lot of creative journalism man come on we've been like you said we've been linked with him from his days at Lille we evidently need a midfielder Everton it seems like they need to sell and obviously it's it's there's nothing really from a footballing point of view beyond the euros for journalists to talk about so how else are they going to get the clips man the game is the game my last thing to you would be just to quickly touch on potential outgoings now I know you've been passionate on getting a decent fee for Aaron Ramsdale there's been 40 to 50 million asking price shouts apparently Smith rolls got an asking price of 30 million apparently Reese Nelson's arcs to leave and he's available for about 20 and Eddie and Katie or 30 million price tag still on his head what do you feel about those prices you think they're fair value and obviously we're not going to sell everybody and bring everybody in but people say I do needs to do well in terms of sales yeah I mean this is a big thing but look I I I feel they're all fair fair prices I think you know I saw who was it the who were Chelsea trying to sell recently I know it was Tottenham trying to sell Emerson Royale it was like 30 million and I was like look if we're the who knows where this information is coming from let's assume it's coming from the club in terms of the numbers they're putting around if they want that information to be out there good I'll be sticking a 60 million pound price tag on Smith row like you know like who knows like I think we just have to I think we'll have to my main feeling about say our way builders we have to hold on earth we do have to hold on earth and I I don't want us to be selling you know Reese Nelson in four days time for 50 million pounds hold off hold off because this is a talent if Dougie Friedman is interested the guys picked up Adam Walton the guys picked up Tariq Mitchell the guys picked up as a lease a well maybe he hasn't but you know he's been involved in that sort of that project that tells you something about the talent that Reese Nelson has a lot of talent we haven't seen it yet at Arsenal but he was he was rated on the same level as so let's you know let's hold our nerve with Reese I'm not saying we have to wait and hold out for 40 million pounds but don't sell them on the cheap just hold our nerve a little bit we might have to be sat here in a month you know sort of end of August and a couple of those players haven't quite gone everyone's going what's going on and those sales happen quite quickly but that means we get good fees for them I'm okay with that I'm with you with that and that's something I want to see you know can it goes we'll be going south with it but you know where you look back at our we're going to miss certain players but we could look to mimic Chelsea and City in my opinion in that players that evidently for one reason or another whether they're good enough or not don't reach our first team are sold for decent profit it's a bit of a double-edged sword it with you know you know I'm a big fan of Smith Rowe Ramsdale I'd love you to stay but we're at Eddie you've done very well to get to this point but the way we're going it just is where it is Nelson's in particular to me because are we gonna I have so many unanswered questions for him from the you need to go you need to go and play first team football and it'll be romantic to see that because I think we've only scratched the surface for your potential now if I look at the Jose Mourinho in me decide that doesn't really necessarily care about you personally listen you're an asset as you just said you're an asset if these teams are interested in you you could be like a penny stock you could be like bitcoin you know we signed they sell you for pennies and then you're amazing you're under I think you and Ramsdale in particular of interest to me because you've signed new contracts and but it's probably the onus is probably on Nelson and Ramsdale's camp to kind of force the issue in that regard and as you kind of said we need to hold our nerves and you know where Ramsdale for obvious reasons concerning Nelson I don't want you lot to leave until we bring someone in or at least there's an assurance that somebody's walking in the door but it will be interesting I know we can't sell all of our homegrown players but we're gonna have to see my last question because I don't I need to hear this I can't let you get away with that I need to hear this one okay so as this is something I want to write in a video today as as part of us becoming you know trying to become an elite club again there's are there certain decisions that we're going to have to make that are that are different we're thinking in different ways now of course so I want to put my point out here very clearly so people don't get me wrong they're still getting wrong that's fine that's it's football I I wrote on twitter yesterday um uh that I was concerned about Kivior and I just worried that he he just seemed a little bit mentally fatigued and then one arteta router guy quote tweeted it and then everyone was going bro thinks he's a psychologist all these are tutoring guys they're just chatting waffle because I said he he looks a bit I love to have I hate it like a bit fatigued to me that's literally all I said it's incredible it's it's genuinely a professional dad's mad anyway um so your people get me wrong but I I there's a very uh small set of outcomes where I go and sell Trossard but there will be some people who would say you absolutely don't sell Trossard this summer and I would say okay is this part of the mentality shift that we need to do because say we go out and we raise the floor of the squad again let's use the scenario that hasn't happened so we don't get attached to outcomes or whatever let's say we went and got Sheshko and Leia this summer we did that and we sold Eddie and Reece and there's no offers for Jesus an offer comes in for Leandro Trossard for 25 million pounds do you take it yes I know I would say yes because he's 29 no because I think at that point you've got Sheshko, Leia, Saka, Havart, Martinelli, Jesus and Trossard is your seventh attacker we of course as Arsenal fans are going to say but he you know he's he was so clutch for us last season we can't be selling that asset we've raised the floor of the squad you're basically banking on the idea that Trossard is going to do the exact same thing again next season it's going to over perform I think you have a problem it's actually by like literally double but I'm going to perform in the same way going to be as clutch as he is we spend a lot of time being like we need to sell at the right time in the same way that the Madrid's and the six and we never do we never go and sell the assets that make us feel like ah this isn't quite right but everyone who says don't sell Trossard don't sell Trossard okay brilliant do you want to start him then no okay he's not expendable I'd say that I probably wouldn't do it but I do think there are conversations where we're gonna have to start thinking in a different way and thinking about you know for example what would what would Bayern do with a Smith Rowe this summer he'd be gone probably what would you do with a and we can't just go well let's just act like Bayern and Madrid but I think having that kind of north star of going that's the way they act do we want to go there as a club or do we want to be the sort of second tier of clubs forever and if we want to get there how do we get there these types of conversations about talent for the Smith Rowe you know there's so many people are so attached to the Smith Rowe project and I get that I can myself my heart's bleeding listening to this 100% but just ask yourself what would happen at the club we tried to beat in April what would happen well he probably wouldn't well to be fair he probably wouldn't have these injuries because they you know got some questionable medical stuff people sign for them for two minutes and then wham and whatnot but it's all right but you're all right though man like again you have to have you have to have uncomfortable conversations and you know I don't feel the minutes not even it's the Smith Rowe's case but the minute someone has a bit of woeful form but we have to just cast them off but the way we're going we can't carry passengers so like you know you look at Smith Rowe Ramsdale who else is there Zinchenko potentially Gabriel Jesus Thomas Partey players that were held in high regards and still are or players that are on the first names on the team sheet they're expendable unfortunately that's life and I don't ever want to get into this scenario but if we get to where Arsenal would be which is Madrid level and all these things there might be one day where you're looking at Saka Rodriguard or even Saliba and saying could you upgrade or if their form is shaky are they on the bench but that's a long way to go man but that's not you know what you're not wrong with the truss up thing that's why I said yes or no I'd say yes because at the end of the day I don't want to be ages because I think people do too much but he's 29 you might not have another opportunity to get rid so that would be the last thing I'm trying to get exactly that's a decision to make so that would probably be what sways me but a part of me would say keep him just because it's a long season he is one of our most adaptable kind of players in feeling over the front three but I would say to close off is this is why I'm happy I'm not Mikel Arteta because you're damned if you do damned if you don't there's a million sort of ways things could pan out and ultimately people just don't care just they just want to see you win so hopefully we address what we need to address but I'm looking forward to seeing what's going on in the summer what videos and content you got to come out you alluded to a Stan Kroenke piece you alluded to something else as well man yeah I don't quite know this bit but I'm gonna I got yeah I want to put something together about this kind of it's a kind of mentality shift so it's just it's a new way I think we need to view a lot of these conversations you know if we want to be an elite club we're gonna have to we're gonna have to change our I think perspective on a couple of stuff so I don't quite know how that's gonna turn out well that'll be out soon and yeah you can find me on the Canon podcast find me on x at am on football he's everywhere man there's about three youtube channels man you know he's got the live the different not live the different not in general which obviously is the bread and butter and you've got the Canon podcast with George and Babs so yeah man and he's always here and I appreciate you for your time man so I'm sure you lot have disagreed and agreed with what a lot we've said so yeah make sure you're subscribing to the platforms you're liking you're commenting and all of the good things Alex let me let love and leave you man appreciative for you tuning in man it's always a pleasure my boy come on my guy peace