Aaron Moniz

This is a nice gamble for Villa. Fee is about half what PL teams have been paying for good mid-20s PL attackers and I think Guessand most likely ends up being just as good as many of those guys (across multiple positions)

Prices aside, if I could pick any one player in the world that isn’t already at a superclub for United to sign, it would probably be Baleba. And so I am walking around today with a smile on my face. Silly season is BACK

At least Ugarte is young lol

Palhinha on loan one of the most obvious good deals of the summer. €51m last summer was such a farce. The people running football even at the pinnacles are still doing nowhere near enough process control or due diligence before spending their money

The way Rashford’s time at United has ended has been sad and disheartening. The way people are understating how successful and important his United career has been is outright annoying. Rash could never kick a ball again and he would still be a massive, almost unprecedented success story

Tolu Arokodare, the goalscorer who can’t finish Can a striker be great if they can't keep shots beneath the crossbar?

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Standing at 6'6", Genk's Tolu Arokodare is a prolific goalscorer linked with big moves away. There's just one issue: his finishing. Is he worth the punt, and will his performances translate well to the big-5 leagues?

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Oh I so want to read this. One of the most interesting players in Europe rn

It’s so much less deep than you think it is. I like football, I say what I think is true online basically for free for those who want to read it. (You don’t have to be one of those people.) Then I log off and go to my real job which is where I make money, hopefully just like you

I mean if you want to say this I can’t change your mind but just for full disclosure I make basically nothing from podcasting and tweeting about United

Always find criticisms of my “positivity” funny. United are one of the richest clubs in football with one of the highest salary bills. They finished 15th last season, missed CL in 3/4 seasons, and spent over £750m+ in transfers this decade. Do you want me to lie?

£135m dropped and no striker, no midfielders, and no wingbacks. No young prospects. No league-leading forwards. I think it’s now fair to say we might be cooked

Not sure sadly

Lauriente?!?!?!

It is wild lol. I think there’s a scenario in which he’s better than both but it certainly isn’t the most likely one

Alvaro is good – ball striking in particular has huge upside – but is he €50m starter for Real Madrid good? I think it’s possible but the proof is not in the career mins he’s played to date. Good for him though

They very much could go down with this strategy too tbh. But any promoted team could go down. Also they sold Jobe for like half what they’ve spent overall

Now adding Adingra at <€25m. If you can get him on the pitch he’s worth more than that

Yeah. I probably won’t be here as much as I used to be on X though. Got a lot going on outside the football world now

Yeah I hear you. I mean I’d have picked Leao and/or Osimhen. But I do still think Gyokeres is really good and it sucks way less if he flops than it rocks if he’s amazing

It’s certainly possible. It’s a spread of outcomes thing. We know a lot about Watkins. If he plays 35, I’m pretty confident you get ~15 xG. I don’t think that hugely moves the needle re: winning the league. Maybe Gyokeres flops for 10, but if there’s a chance he gets 20+, that’s huge

I guess my point is, what is the “risk” really vs the upside? Arsenal’s a sure fire good set of players if everyone’s fit. If Gyokeres sucks you’ll still finish Top 3. I wouldn’t be trying to play it safe anymore, I’d be swinging for the fences

Maybe. I think Watkins is a known but subelite quantity. And I guess I think you already have good forwards, you just don’t have amazing ones. You might not NEED someone to really bang to win the PL (see: 23/24), but it sure would help

If there was a Haaland 2.0 in age and level hitting the market then yea, you don’t sign Gyokeres. But if you keep holding because the options aren’t perfect, you’ll blink and your core will be 28-32 and start tailing off

I mean it’s not impossible. I just think he has such physical advantages and ball striking ability that it’s hard to imagine he totally flops in English football, fitness permitting. In general the finances also carry risk given his age but you guys need goals yesterday, not tomorrow

For sure, but concerned insofar as whether he’ll be decent vs amazing as opposed to thinking there’s high pure flop risk on him at Arsenal

Interesting. I haven’t seen a ton of him on the left so I’ll take your word for it

Talent wise I hear you, but Gyokeres is certainly a tactical disruption and Madueke plays the same position as Saka. I think “the gamble” I’m describing that’s worth taking is moreso that they blow up the tactical outlook of their attack/first line of defence as we know it

Are Gyokeres and Madueke the guys to take Arsenal to the title? I have no idea. But they are very good forwards who break games in different ways, joining a team that can do everything except break games in different ways. Arsenal should have been sanctioning gambles of this sort since 2023

He’s the one I’ve seen the least of from their major signings so cool to hear

Spend your £60m on a bunch of talented youngsters. Best case they boom and you stay up, they’re all worth £50m. Likely scenario they are decent and you yo-yo and profit enough on a few to build more (Southampton 22/23). I see the argument over spending big on 28yos for a tiny chance of survival