Arsenal 2020/21 - General Discussion

Looks like we're signing Martinez for 20m.

Surprised Arsenal are letting him go. Seems Leno is Arteta's number one but Martinez was superb for Arsenal in the run in.

Guess the fee is too tempting for Arsenal to turn down and the player wants to be a number one now rather than warming the bench.
 
FootballHQ said:
Looks like we're signing Martinez for 20m.

Surprised Arsenal are letting him go. Seems Leno is Arteta's number one but Martinez was superb for Arsenal in the run in.

Guess the fee is too tempting for Arsenal to turn down and the player wants to be a number one now rather than warming the bench.
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Leno's more flashy but from what I've seen not a better GK, well not unless these last few months from Martinez have just been a purple patch for him
 
FootballHQ said:
Looks like we're signing Martinez for 20m.

Surprised Arsenal are letting him go. Seems Leno is Arteta's number one but Martinez was superb for Arsenal in the run in.

Guess the fee is too tempting for Arsenal to turn down and the player wants to be a number one now rather than warming the bench.
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In some ways it's an unfortunate situation, but in hindsight it'll probably be seen as good business by Arsenal hierarchy. Martinez wasn't setting the world alight anywhere before Leno came in and £20m isn't bad business for a reserve keeper, as well as he is playing. If Leno hadn't gotten injured, Martinez might be slinking away to a La Liga club for £3m and no one would bat an eye. We've almost been gifted an asset from nowhere with his form. Arsenal fans will understand and accept the transfer as long as we use the money to buy Aouar or Partey and not £15m on David Raya.
 
Leno came second in the player of the season votings behind Aubameyang, and was monumental when the defense was conceding chances for fun pre-Covid. No doubt Martinez was superb in closing out the season, but Leno is definitely the safer bet at this stage when you consider their respective bodies of work. 20m is a difficult amount to turn down for Martinez, considering he likely would have been worth less than half of that just several months prior. It's unfortunate, but when you have two good goalkeepers, while having other areas of the pitch that needs strengthening, it's unsurprising that one of them will be expendable.

Martinez is the feel-good story the fans want get behind, with him being at the club for a decade (seems to be a Gooner through and through), seizing his opportunity which culminated in a trophy, but it's a minuscule sample-size in abnormal conditions. Ideally you'd let them compete for the #1 spot and decide by next season who you're going with, but if you're in a situation where you need to sell to buy, you have to make difficult choices. Both will feel they deserve to be #1, and Martinez will believe he has a real good chance to make the Argentine National Team if he keeps playing at this level.
 
FootballHQ said:
Guess the fee is too tempting for Arsenal to turn down and the player wants to be a number one now rather than warming the bench.
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I think money is playing a part in this but it is also because he won't sign a new contract and seems adamant about being our first choice keeper.

The club are in a bit of a tricky situation, Leno has been superb for 2 years for us. Emi stepped in and was great but played in a lot more settled defensive set up. Leno played for a defensive set up that was conceding 20+ shots a game at one point and was keeping the scoreline respectable! Up until his injury he was probably on course to be our player of the season. When he got injured we thought our season was finished. Fair play to Emi, he came in and looked as good if not better than Leno at times. In an ideal world we'd have them fight it out for a starting place but Martinez wants guaranteed first team spot or to be sold. 6 months ago no Arsenal fan would probably even comment or care about him leaving, things can change fast!

Wish him all the best though, I can't knock the guy for wanting regular football and wanting to start in the World cup. His rise was a great story, I'm happy for him.
 
charlenefan said:
Leno's more flashy but from what I've seen not a better GK, well not unless these last few months from Martinez have just been a purple patch for him
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Martinez is comfortably the better goalkeeper in my opinion.
Getting rid of him is dreadful decision. If we really have to sell I'd rather get shot of Leno.
 
JazzG said:
I think money is playing a part in this but it is also because he won't sign a new contract and seems adamant about being our first choice keeper.

The club are in a bit of a tricky situation, Leno has been superb for 2 years for us. Emi stepped in and was great but played in a lot more settled defensive set up. Leno played for a defensive set up that was conceding 20+ shots a game at one point and was keeping the scoreline respectable! Up until his injury he was probably on course to be our player of the season. When he got injured we thought our season was finished. Fair play to Emi, he came in and looked as good if not better than Leno at times. In an ideal world we'd have them fight it out for a starting place but Martinez wants guaranteed first team spot or to be sold. 6 months ago no Arsenal fan would probably even comment or care about him leaving, things can change fast!

Wish him all the best though, I can't knock the guy for wanting regular football and wanting to start in the World cup. His rise was a great story, I'm happy for him.
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A big difference for me is that Martinez comes out and claims crosses. He has a much better command of his box. He's also better with the ball at his feet which is actually supposed to be Leno's strength.
 
FootballHQ said:
Looks like we're signing Martinez for 20m.

Surprised Arsenal are letting him go. Seems Leno is Arteta's number one but Martinez was superb for Arsenal in the run in.

Guess the fee is too tempting for Arsenal to turn down and the player wants to be a number one now rather than warming the bench.
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We need cash unfortunately.

I actually think Martinez's form in the restart was better than anything I've seen from Leno - he was more dominant in the air and better with the ball at his feet. But he's 28, and that's the first time I've seen anything like that from him. Seems a sensible transfer strategy to sell him while he's hot, and reinvest into positions (CM) where we're weaker. Certainly beats our prior policy of offering silly contracts to players after inconsistent form/ fitness, and then being stuck with them years later.
 
jus2nang said:
A big difference for me is that Martinez comes out and claims crosses. He has a much better command of his box. He's also better with the ball at his feet which is actually supposed to be Leno's strength.
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I'd agree with both of those views, especially about him commanding the box better. Really wanted him to stay and if he kept up his form he might have had a decent shot at being our first choice keeper. Unfortunately he wants a decision now and considering our squad needs improvements a decision looks like it has been made.

His good form however has been over a very limited period of time and I saw him earlier in the season in some cup games and he looked questionable! Is it a purple patch or did he just need confidence and a run in the side? Wouldn't be the first Arsenal keeper to have a period of looking sensational and then not returning to that form.
 
I don't understand the backlash, it's the best decision to make. If you sell Leno and Martinez can't carry his form into the new season, you just properly fecked yourself. You have a keeper that you can't really rely on on a new contract with the understanding he's the new #1. What do you do then ? Buy a new starting GK for 30M and a transfer request from your new/ex #2.
If Leno doesn't get injured and we sold Martinez for 4M to whatever spanish club, no one would have said a word. We've been given a massive 20M gift, let's just take it and thank Emi for his service. He deserve to play somewhere but we need cash.
 
awop said:
I don't understand the backlash, it's the best decision to make. If you sell Leno and Martinez can't carry his form into the new season, you just properly fecked yourself. You have a keeper that you can't really rely on on a new contract with the understanding he's the new #1. What do you do then ? Buy a new starting GK for 30M and a transfer request from your new/ex #2.
If Leno doesn't get injured and we sold Martinez for 4M to whatever spanish club, no one would have said a word. We've been given a massive 20M gift, let's just take it and thank Emi for his service. He deserve to play somewhere but we need cash.
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I totally agree. Leno is one of Germany's national team keepers and was first choice in their last match, and is vastly more experienced than Martinez who is yet to play a single international match for Argentina. Whilst Martinez had a brilliant end to the season, it's still too early to say if he will maintain this form long term. If I was Arteta I would rather gamble by selling Martinez and keeping Leno, and reinvesting the funds. If Arsenal fail to win big silverware it's not because they sold Martinez, it will be because they had weaknesses in other areas of their team. Lehmann and Kasper Schmeichel won the league but they were definitely not the best keepers in the league. If Arsenal manage to sell Martinez and reinvest the money in either Partey or Aouar they will be much stronger than keeping Martinez.
 
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Will Saliba start this weekend actually?
 
I think sticking with Leno is the sensible decision.

Arsenal have to be plan correctly in the transfer market if they want to get back to their previous status of being a CL team. Martinez looked excellent towards the end of the season, but it's a small sample size and he's never showed that he's a great GK before that, plus he's 28 so hardly a young kid waiting for his chance. He may be a better GK than Leno in the long run but Leno has proved himself over a number of years and is a good PL keeper. As mentioned, Martinez form might just have been a purple patch and he could revert to poor form and then you have let go off your main reliable GK who you acquired for a good price. You're now back in the market for a new GK which to get right can cost a lot of money sometimes and still carries risks (Kepa), and you've lost out on the £20m you could've got for Martinez.
 
JakeC said:
Will Saliba start this weekend actually?
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We're the only club struggling to field a defense while having 17 CB on our books. So many injuries...
It should be Bellerin - Holding - Gabriel - Tierney - Kolasinac. I doubt Saliba will play much for now. Sokratis is almost gone, Holding is still between staying and getting loaned to Newcastle.
Supposedly Auba-Laca-Pepe up front and Willian only on the bench.
 
SambaBoy said:
I think sticking with Leno is the sensible decision.

Arsenal have to be plan correctly in the transfer market if they want to get back to their previous status of being a CL team. Martinez looked excellent towards the end of the season, but it's a small sample size and he's never showed that he's a great GK before that, plus he's 28 so hardly a young kid waiting for his chance. He may be a better GK than Leno in the long run but Leno has proved himself over a number of years and is a good PL keeper. As mentioned, Martinez form might just have been a purple patch and he could revert to poor form and then you have let go off your main reliable GK who you acquired for a good price. You're now back in the market for a new GK which to get right can cost a lot of money sometimes and still carries risks (Kepa), and you've lost out on the £20m you could've got for Martinez.
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Arsenal have 18 year old Karl Jakob Hein coming from their academy. Young goalkeeper who just made his debut for Estonian national team in the Nations League. He is our #1 choice senior keeper now. In a year or so he needs to be #1 on club level also.
 
JuriM said:
Arsenal have 18 year old Karl Jakob Hein coming from their academy. Young goalkeeper who just made his debut for Estonian national team in the Nations League. He is our #1 choice senior keeper now. In a year or so he needs to be #1 on club level also.
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Needs to ? How many 18/19y old have ever been #1 in their club ? Donnarumma, Neuer and Buffon maybe ?
 
Robertd0803 said:
Think they will do better than people are expecting this season.
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I think they will finish between 5th and 7th. They are not as strong as the top 4 in the premier league. I do like Saka though. Noticed he is on the bench today. We should be putting an offer in there.
 
awop said:
Needs to ? How many 18/19y old have ever been #1 in their club ? Donnarumma, Neuer and Buffon maybe ?
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That list a lot bigger than you think, the era when u need to be ~25 to be first choice GK are over. I believe in him and his ability.
 
FootballHQ said:
Looks like we're signing Martinez for 20m.

Surprised Arsenal are letting him go. Seems Leno is Arteta's number one but Martinez was superb for Arsenal in the run in.

Guess the fee is too tempting for Arsenal to turn down and the player wants to be a number one now rather than warming the bench.
Click to expand...
Martinez wants to be Nr. 1 understandably and I think Arteta couldn't guarantee that. So they considered offers and we get 20/25m this would be really good business for us. And I think it's just fair to Martinez.

I also would have prefered Martinez as Nr. 1 but you don't know if he's gonna performe like he did for a whole season.
 
Tomb Bombadil said:
Martinez wants to be Nr. 1 understandably and I think Arteta couldn't guarantee that. So they considered offers and we get 20/25m this would be really good business for us. And I think it's just fair to Martinez.

I also would have prefered Martinez as Nr. 1 but you don't know if he's gonna performe like he did for a whole season.
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You would have preferred Martinez over Leno? Why?
 
Their away record is rank. Especially against the bigger clubs, can't even remember the last time they won at Anfield never mind OT.

Arteta probably needs another season to clear out players before talk of top four.
 
Willian with 3 assists? When i suggested why we are not aggressively pursuing him I was insulted. This guy would have been a temporary replacement for sancho next year. Once again we have failed to take advantage of the market when we needed to.
 
I would not mind Elneny staying to play the easy games and allowing us to rotate. Average but very tidy player to have.
 
Typical knee-jerk reaction. They will not manage top 6 imo. Well, maybe 6th.
 
KennyBurner said:
Willian with 3 assists? When i suggested why we are not aggressively pursuing him I was insulted. This guy would have been a temporary replacement for sancho next year. Once again we have failed to take advantage of the market when we needed to.
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2 assists and this is the first game of a 3 year contract, let's see how he's performing at the end of that deal shall we?
 
KennyBurner said:
Willian with 3 assists? When i suggested why we are not aggressively pursuing him I was insulted. This guy would have been a temporary replacement for sancho next year. Once again we have failed to take advantage of the market when we needed to.
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He wanted a 3 year contract. That's why he rejected Chelsea's offer of 1 year and that's why none of the Champions League clubs were in for him.
 
Jacob said:
Typical knee-jerk reaction. They will not manage top 6 imo. Well, maybe 6th.
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That's just typical caf though.

If we don't make any other significant signings I don't see us finishing any higher than 5th
 
KennyBurner said:
Willian with 3 assists? When i suggested why we are not aggressively pursuing him I was insulted. This guy would have been a temporary replacement for sancho next year. Once again we have failed to take advantage of the market when we needed to.
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And when he'll be awful for few games will you still beat the same drum. It's just the first week..
 
Jacob said:
Typical knee-jerk reaction. They will not manage top 6 imo. Well, maybe 6th.
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To be fair I thought they looked good at the end of last season too. They are clearly looking better under Arteta than they have in a good while, obviously whether that's good enough for a top four finish is another matter but I don't think there's anything wrong with acknowledging their improvement as a team.
 
I know it is just Fulham, but Arsenal can run Chelsea and United very close for the CL spots this season if they manage to keep their important players fit for most of the important matches.
 
Obviously Willian started today but I think Pepe’s going to have a big season. Looks very sharp here.
 
Think Mkhi had 3 assists in his debut(?) too at Arsenal :D
 
Arsenal need both Auouar and Partey to be in strong contention for top four. With just one of the two we'll be in the conversation but will ultimately fall short. With neither, we'll find it difficult to get top 6.
 
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