BIGGEST REHAB JOB IN FOOTBALL - WILL ARSENAL DO IT?
Arsenal has been linked to Marcus Rashford by the excellently sourced Dean on the AFCCamden X.com account. He said conversations have taken place and there’s an interest in making something happen.
Mikel Arteta no doubt has an interest in a player who has been nightmarishly good against him repeatedly. The player ticks a lot of boxes. He’s technically gifted, he has the explosive pace Michael Olise lacks, and he’s an output machine when he’s in the right frame of mind.
I have a few thoughts on why I think this might be a difficult deal to push through.
He earns a f*cking fortune as one of the highest earners at Old Trafford. If it doesn’t work out, you have nowhere to go, because you’re taking damaged goods, then dropping it down 2 flights of stairs.
We rehabbed Kai Havertz, but he was a player of impeccable discipline, raised in a hardworking system at Leverkusen, he’d worked with a lot of top-tier coaches, and he’d scored the winning goal in a Champions League final.
Rashford has been at the same club since he was a kid. He’s not had a good coach in a decade. He’s never moved clubs. He has a massive entourage. The big issue with him is the lack of discipline off the pitch - and that he has more comps of him slacking off in games this season than pulling up trees.
Signing Rashford is an extremely expensive gamble. He’s never really had to press, there’s no chance the entourage goes, and we’ve all read the flagrant discipline issues.
United fans don’t care he’s doing and England fans are glad he’s not heading to the Euros.
We’d basically be taking a chance on a player who could destabilize the squad in the same way Mesut Ozil did.
Rashford is a world class transition player, he’d be great from the bench, but is he programmed to put in the relentless graft players like Saka, Kai, and Declan put in every single week?
Who knows… but I don’t think the gamble is worth it for the money we’d have to shed to get him in the door.
Never say never in football - but this feels a stretch given how perfect the squad vibes are right now. £65m and £380k a week could be spent on better players more suited to what we want to do.
Benjamin Sesko feels far more likely to join the club. The player is working for RB Leipzig and he’s following the same path as Erling Haaland through their system. They get the best young players in the world because there’s an agreement that if they get really good, they will be able to leave for a fair price so they can get the sort of contract that merits them taking less money early on in their career. Erling Haaland got his big move to City for mere pennies compared to his true value because that’s the agreement Leipzig offers their players.
Sesko would likely 5x his wages if he came to Arsenal, we’d get him for a fee that represents value, and we’d have a gem on our hands that can be polished in the shadows over the next few years. The player is 20 years old. The upside is Erling Haaland levels. The player would finally give us the Tall Boy™️ Summer we’ve been waiting for - an explosive player who can score a multitude of different goals with his right or left foot - and have the ability to develop his heading under the best setpiece coach in the world.
The midfield conundrum is very interesting. It depends on exiting Partey - but if Arsenal do, how will the club play it?
Do they sign a hardcore #6 and push on with ambitions to make Declan Rice a #8.
Or, do they find a left-sided 8 that can do Frenkie-like things and stick Declan in the role we all love to see him in.
I don’t know whether a decision has been made on that yet because there are so many variables in the way. But it is a great space to be in - maybe we can find a player who can do both.
I’m also quite interested in our City players and what happens to them. Gabriel Jesus moved to Arsenal for minutes, and now his path has been blocked upfront, so he’s now fighting it out for a wing position. Is he going to want that at his stage of his career? Surely the move to Arsenal was about being a starter? If a Spanish side came knocking - or even a Premier League club like Newcastle or Chelsea - would he push for first-team privileges?
Same for Zinchenko. I love him; he’s absolutely top quality, but Timber is going to take his position next year because we’re not investing a mega contract on Ben White to Ramsdale him out of the club. Zinchenko has to be the fall guy. People who think he won’t get big interest from the elite of Europe have grossly underestimate how damn good he is. One thing you can be sure of - in the new world - Zinchenko is no longer first name on the teamsheet and players like him want minutes. I expect him to attract suitors from France, Spain, and Germany.
Manchester City lost the FA Cup final to United yesterday. It must have been a shock for them to play a team that wasn’t willing to roll over and die for them. It makes me so angry to look at how the fixtures roll for them every season at the business end. The Premier League put the Spurs game at a point in the season when they’d given up. The rest of their games were a walk in the park against sides that strategically chose to not put up a fight. I still can’t forgive Emery for throwing that game only to go big against us. It’s hard to beat a team with 13 teams that s*it the bed against City because they’re beaten well before a player gets on the bus.
Our big hope? United rewards EtH with a new 4-year deal. That would be DELICIOUS.
Ok, that’s me done. See you in the comments. x