If he had no space to cut inside then he’d very rarely beat the fullback on the outside. He didn’t have that acceleration over 5yds in the way Manè did at his peak. A good player, on his day very good just not consistent enough. Think it’s superb money for him at his age.

Well yes I think Wirtz and Ekitike will make up roses minutes from Diaz. Isak is the big one and possibly Fofana. We do need to strengthen the defence though. I’m guessing it might depend on fees for Elliott, Doak and Morton.

Or perhaps we already have with Ekitike and Ngumoha being promoted? I think we’ve got more pressing concerns in defence than signing another wide player.

Really interesting read on the state of club. It does appear, from the outside, that they have lost a little bit of interest in the club. As the piece points out, what is the long term plan for increasing revenues? What are they really hoping for this season with such little transfer activity?

They need to sell too after what they’ve spent this summer and possibly still want a midfielder too.

At the least. Possibly closer to £180m. Morton to go too. So we’ve got scope to still go really big. I see the Rodrygo links haven’t been shut down yet. Let’s lowball them and see how they like it.

Our sales will also dictate what we can spend. Diaz, Nunez, Elliott, Doak and Morton all likely to go.

Exactly. Hughes knows Howe so well so it’s an easy conversation. The language from the Newcastle reporters for the last few weeks has been odd. They must be tempted because selling him funds a big rebuild. They don’t have a squad for the league and CL.

The whole thing just didn’t add up at all. Why would we even enter in negotiations if we didn’t think Newcastle might sell?

Yeah it really does. It’s something Arsenal have to answer but is suspect they are going to hide behind the ‘we can’t comment’ line and essentially hope it will go away. The club clearly weighed everything up and drew the conclusion that it was ok to play him.

I was asking him more from a point of suspending the player rather than not picking him. Yes you’re right, he could and probably should have not been selected and that is something for Arteta and the club to answer.

I was with an owner of League 2 club yesterday when the news broke so asked him how he would have dealt with it. He said it’s just a legal minefield and Arsenal had little choice but to play him because if they didn’t, they left themselves open to other legal challenges.

Yep. They won’t cough up though. Will lowball and then get mouthpieces in the media to do the rest.

They tap the players up 2 years out, use the mouthpiece newspapers to declare interest and launch the charm offensive. Doesn’t look like we’ve done any of that here.

Yeah £50m+ makes no sense at all. If he’s said it’s Liverpool or I’ll leave on a free, it does strengthen our hand.