A new week – possible defensive departures mooted

Welcome to a model new week, and the countdown is effectively and actually on to the beginning of the brand new season.

I watched a small little bit of the Group Protect yesterday, however the climate was good and I didn’t need to be inside. So, I introduced a pill out into the backyard, put it inside a cardboard field to keep away from the glare from the solar, and acquired onto a hooky stream. Nonetheless, the WiFi was patchy and it saved pausing and I didn’t care sufficient to make extra of an effort.

Crystal Palace received on penalties, including to their FA Cup win at Wembley again in Might. By some means their win will probably be nullified as a result of somebody didn’t learn their emails, and Nottingham Forest – soccer’s #1 snitches – will find yourself with the trophy as an alternative.

“Thanks Mr Marinakis,” Morgan Gibbs-White will say in an pointless social media video, as Mr Marinakis stands in a very non-threatening manner proper beside him holding an image of the midfielder’s household and canine simply by coincidence.

“You’re the most clever and sagacious soccer membership proprietor ever referred to as Mr Marinakis, Mr Marinakis. And people individuals who say you’re only a corpulent wanker couldn’t be extra improper. Not me although, I might by no means say that, Mr Marinakis.”

Anyway, effectively executed Palace. I didn’t see sufficient to attract any conclusions about Liverpool, who will probably be one in every of our massive rivals once more this season, however there’s loads of time to try this, and in the end the Group Protect is only a glorified pleasant. The enterprise begins this week in earnest.

Talking of enterprise, after the sport in opposition to Athletic Bilbao on Saturday, Mikel Arteta was requested about the opportunity of extra transfers at Arsenal this summer time. He stated:

Let’s see what occurs by way of the place the squad is within the subsequent few weeks, however we’re actively choices, as effectively there are a number of gamers possibly that they’ve to depart as effectively so we’ll be open to see what occurs.

It does really feel as if any additional arrival could be depending on departures, and there’s a little bit of noise round one or two for the time being. This morning I’ve seen tales linking Oleksandr Zinchenko with each Fenerbahce and Napoli, with Arsenal stated to be on the lookout for round €15m for the Ukrainian worldwide. There’s additionally been a bit extra chat about Jakub Kiwior within the final week or so.

I’m paraphrasing a bit however, in his final switch replace on The Athletic, James stated one thing alongside the strains of how the participant likes it at Arsenal, however needs to discover alternatives to play often. Mikel Arteta has, in pre-season, used Riccardo Calafiori at centre-half forward of the Polish worldwide, which means that’s the pecking order. So, when you’re being informed you’re primarily third alternative for the left centre-half place, you possibly can perceive why a transfer could be one thing to contemplate. There may be, after all, inherent danger with Calafiori’s health, however I don’t know if Kiwior can gamble on one other participant’s capacity to be accessible (or not) in relation to his personal season. After an excellent spell within the workforce final day trip, I believe there will probably be golf equipment on the market who will fortunately pay first rate cash for him, so let’s see what occurs there.

None of Kiwior, Reiss Nelson, Zinchenko or Albert Sambi Lokonga acquired off the bench on Saturday, and there’s additionally Fabio Vieira to contemplate too. Is he again with us now, or nonetheless in some post-Porto mortgage limbo? Anyway, there’s work for Andrea Berta to do by way of promoting, which could then be crucial if we’re trying to deliver anybody else in. Then it’s about who that participant is, and the place they’ll match into the workforce.

There stays a variety of highlight on Eberechi Eze, but it surely does appear to have gone a bit quiet on that entrance. It’s in all probability not a coincidence that as quickly as we sorted out Ethan Nwaneri’s new contract, the Eze chatter died down, however who is aware of what may occur between now and the top of the window. He isn’t the one participant on the market, after all. There’s an entire market filled with potential additions, however there’s no indication as but that there’s anybody else on our radar. I believe it’ll keep like that till we signal one other Chelsea participant out of the blue. I child. Kind of.

Proper, I’ll depart it there for this morning. We’ll have an Arsecast Additional for you in a short time. We’ve already put out the decision for questions on BlueSky @gunnerblog.bsky.social and @arseblog.com with the hashtag #arsecastextra – or when you’re an Arseblog Member on Patreon, depart your query within the #arsecast-extra-questions channel on our Discord server.

Pod must be out round midday. Till then, have an excellent one.