I watched the Germany v Ecuador match last night, while sipping a white wine in the garden, recovering from the meltdown of the day in London. It wasn’t bad to be honest, with Germany scoring first to add some urgency, although the goal they scored really shouldn’t have stood. If that’s not a high kick from the German player before the goal is scored, I’m not sure what else is. In reality, they didn’t need to win it and I think that showed in the urgency between the two teams. What also showed is that when you have a goalkeeper whose body starts to creak at 40, he doesn’t get to the ball as quickly as he used to. I think five years ago Neuer probably discounted the two goals Ecuador scored, but hey, they qualified, and after seeing a ton of Ecuador fans in New York experience the atmosphere earlier this week, it’s nice to know they’ll all be happy today.
So we have both Kai and Pierro Hincapie, newly confirmed by Arsenal, both happy. Which is nice. On Hincapie, the club announced a deal for around £34.5 million. I think when you think about his impact last season, that kind of money is a real bargain. The reality is probably that we paid a large loan fee to Leverkusen first, so both parties will be happy; Arsenal may (through back channels) present this as a theft, but Leverkusen are still getting a decent fee and what they wanted for a player who helped them win the Bundesliga two seasons ago.
The other World Cup matches didn’t really pique my interest enough to talk about them in depth. But again, that’s the problem with this expanded format. There are just too many “meh” matches, and the number of people I’ve spoken to who have just said they don’t bother watching until they get to the round of 16 really shows you what a farce this competition has been. I’d love to think this will force FIFA and that obnoxious moron Infantino to change their ways, but he/they have probably made so much money from ad breaks and more teams and games, that he/she really doesn’t care.
Instead, let’s turn our attention to the Premier League, in which the big news was Elliot Anderson to Man City for £130m. Wow. It’s just a mental figure. I bet Newcastle are blaming themselves, because two years ago Forest paid them around £35m, and they’ve just made a profit of £95m. This weirdo from Maranakis will be delighted.
As for the player, it’s a big step, a huge step in fact. And for a lot of money. And I have mixed feelings about that. This kind of money is Ball Golden-level money; you should have a player who will completely change his world. When Rice signed for us people questioned the deal, said the pressure was on, but Rice was a year older than Anderson when he signed, he had been established in the West Ham team for about five years, had played in several positions, was an England regular and I think everyone knew what a leader he was. Anderson has some similarities; he’s rarely injured (he injured his back for Newcastle in 2023/24, which kept him out for many months, but that’s it), but I’m not sure he’s as good as that price suggests. Sky Sports are running articles showing how he was first in the Premier League last season for ball recoveries, duels won, fouls won etc., but in a Nottingham Forest team that is deeper and has to do a lot more defending than Arsenal, those numbers are obviously going to favor him a bit more.
Man City have gone big, they are clearly looking for a replacement for Rodri, and he is the best to be fair. But this price still seems a bit mental to me. What’s also frustrating is that this means every other deal this summer will be compared to this one. It wouldn’t surprise me if Morgan Rogers’ rumored around £80m move now turns into Villa saying they want over £100m for the guy. There are also rumors that Newcastle’s Bruno Guimaraes doesn’t want to sell, so they will want that kind of money too. One of the things Arsenal have been successful at in recent years is finding proven Premier League talent and integrating them into the team. Ben White, David Raya, Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard – all were bought into the league and have done very well. But while Arsenal aren’t against paying big money for players if they think they’re the right fit, I don’t think we’ll be ‘got’.
That’s why I wonder if this decision by Anderson could have a ripple effect on the acquisition of foreign talent. There probably won’t be the same bonus as that paid to a Premier League player, and to a taxed player in England as well, so I can understand why there’s a lot of noise about Berta having his fingers in a lot of pies on land and sea at the moment.
The good news for us is that we are in a strong position in the market. We have a deep group, we have a quality group, we are champions. We are not in a position, as on some occasions over the years, where we felt we needed to make massive improvements in the team to be competitive; that’s what everyone says about us. It’s comforting to know. It’s also comforting to have confidence in the manager and the whole club to make the right choices. Winning the title now means they officially earned it. I think most of us trusted them before, for a few summers, but now it’s been rubber-stamped. And it’s nice.
Okay, I’m done for now, so I’ll see you again tomorrow – let’s see what comes out of another hot day in the UK.
Later.
PakarPBN
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