Evening everyone.
I suspect, it'll be a short one today as not much new is going on.
To start with, Arsenal has confirmed Carl Jenkinson will spend the duration of 2014-2015 campaign on loan at West Ham. He's already held the Hammers shirt, said all the usual niceties, but I think the situation is clear for everyone involved: Jenks is there to make an impact and, if he succeeds, he will return to Arsenal to fight for his place. That's certainly what he, most Arsenal fans and maybe Arsene Wenger hope for. However, it's a great acquisition for West Ham and they'll be hoping Jenks will stay beyond this campaign.
I suspect Campbell is in more-or-less the same position right now. I've argued his case yesterday and came to the conclusion the Costa-Rican is not ready to play for us on a regular basis. For starters, he is unlikely to be physically ready, though he stated otherwise. And then you have to look at the competition he's facing, accept there's hardly a chance for Campbell to make any kind of sustained impact right now and loan him out. Despite most our wingers not really viewing themselves as wide players (Walcott, Podolski) or not being viewed as such by Arsene (Oxlade, Sanchez, Cazorla), the reality is, I don't think we'll see those deployed somewhere else. At least this season.
If someone goes, then perhaps Campbell has a chance. But it's hard to envisage such a situation. Oxlade and Walcott were handed lucrative contracts not long ago, Cazorla stated he's happy where he is (and today Atletico said they don't want the Spaniard), Giroud will likely extend his contract and Sanchez has just been signed. The only weak link is Podolski, who's been quiet about his plans this summer and who'll definitely start the season on the bench. If he leaves, then maybe we can keep Campbell, if not, Joel should be loaned out, together with Gnabry.
I suspect, it'll be a short one today as not much new is going on.
To start with, Arsenal has confirmed Carl Jenkinson will spend the duration of 2014-2015 campaign on loan at West Ham. He's already held the Hammers shirt, said all the usual niceties, but I think the situation is clear for everyone involved: Jenks is there to make an impact and, if he succeeds, he will return to Arsenal to fight for his place. That's certainly what he, most Arsenal fans and maybe Arsene Wenger hope for. However, it's a great acquisition for West Ham and they'll be hoping Jenks will stay beyond this campaign.
I suspect Campbell is in more-or-less the same position right now. I've argued his case yesterday and came to the conclusion the Costa-Rican is not ready to play for us on a regular basis. For starters, he is unlikely to be physically ready, though he stated otherwise. And then you have to look at the competition he's facing, accept there's hardly a chance for Campbell to make any kind of sustained impact right now and loan him out. Despite most our wingers not really viewing themselves as wide players (Walcott, Podolski) or not being viewed as such by Arsene (Oxlade, Sanchez, Cazorla), the reality is, I don't think we'll see those deployed somewhere else. At least this season.
If someone goes, then perhaps Campbell has a chance. But it's hard to envisage such a situation. Oxlade and Walcott were handed lucrative contracts not long ago, Cazorla stated he's happy where he is (and today Atletico said they don't want the Spaniard), Giroud will likely extend his contract and Sanchez has just been signed. The only weak link is Podolski, who's been quiet about his plans this summer and who'll definitely start the season on the bench. If he leaves, then maybe we can keep Campbell, if not, Joel should be loaned out, together with Gnabry.
We have an overloaded front line (Just repeat it. Slowly. A couple of times. Feels good, doesn't it?), that's why I found Quintero talk suspicious. The Colombian winger was reported to be on his way to London, with the fee (around £16 million) having been agreed on by the clubs, but then his agent denied all this. Quintero is staying at Porto.
This deal didn't make any sense on a number of levels (why splash money on someone we don't really need when we still want to strengthen DM's position?). It also was strange regarding Campbell. But I still think Joel should go on loan to get experience. Not as a part of an exchange deal for this psycho from Milan (why are we still being linked to him?), but to Southampton or Newcastle or whatever other BPL mid-table side you can think of. He'll gain valuable experience there, return to us next summer and then we'll see.
However, there's an interesting side to the proceedings, should Gnabry and Campbell follow Jenkinson's example. When was the last time you've heard Arsene letting go a promising player? These guys are not just promising, they've been as close to first team football as it gets. In other circumstances (if we had player shortage), they would have been thrown into the mix without a second thought.
Remember the beginning of 2011-2012 season? We purchased Arteta and Mertesacker back then. At that point in time, we played a team chock full of youngsters like Coquelin and Miquel. This season, I'm sure we won't see this. Not even close.
Thing is, as soon as resources (i.e. money) became available, Arsene became ruthless. He immediately purchased three players that can slot into the team right from the start and added Chambers on top. And I think Chambers, despite his young age, is also ready for first team football. If needs must, he'll play on a regular basis and I won't be experiencing a sense of uneasiness to see Chambers named among the starting eleven. Like it was with Jenkinson or Sanogo. Like it would be with Campbell, should he get this far during this campaign.
With such resources at his disposal, Arsene became who he always was (though he didn't have the opportunity to show it for the last ten years): a hardened professional. He thinks first and foremost about the good of the team and if he thinks some player will be a risk, Arsene will get rid of him. Either permanently or on loan. Sounds harsh, I know, but I like this.
Finally we are able to operate from a position of strength. Finally we know that everyone left is no risk to the integrity of the team at all. I'll get back to you tomorrow to discuss the possible line-ups this season, but even without my help you can see we have at least two great players for every position on the pitch (except central defence).
If we bring in a quality DM, this will be the ultimate indication that Arsene now operates differently. To drop a couple of (however promising) youngsters is one thing, however unusual it is. To drop Arteta, one of Arsene's most trusted lieutenants, our de-facto captain because he's not (even partially) up to scratch is another thing entirely. It will the strongest demonstration up to date of what lengths Arsene is willing to go to in order for Arsenal to become successful again. I love this new, ruthless Arsene.
On a side note, I've added a search bar on the right-hand side, should anyone need it and made the comment section a bit more open. Feel free to share your thoughts below, or contact me via email (it's on the profile). Or both.
That's it for today. Not short, as I originally thought it would be, but I hope you enjoyed it.
Back tomorrow as we start looking ahead to our clash against Benfica.
Until then