So we have the first young player confirmed outgoing in Jordi Oseu-Tutu and, at 20 years of age and not really got near a regular starting place in the first team, I’m not too surprised.
I won’t pretend to be an expert on the youth team and I simply don’t watch enough, but this feels like the first of what is probably a few promising youngsters heading out on loan to earn their stripes next season. I feel like we’ll see a few loans like this agreed this summer and after Reiss Nelson went out and must surely be considered for the first team now, I think the club will be looking at giving a fair few players the opportunity.
Whether that’s in Germany remains to be seen but the Nelson and Sancho effect has clearly had an impact on German football. There’s also question marks over Emile Smith-Rowe and whilst he did spend a fair chunk of last season’s loan at Leipzig injured, I’m sure I read somewhere that the club have struck up a decent relationship with Leipzig and so there might be a potential for him to go there again next season.
That makes sense. He will have already got to know the backroom staff, he’ll see a lot more familiar faces and if it happens and he stays fit, then he could get games in a decent team before returning to Arsenal a more rounded player.
Whether other German teams come in for Arsenal players remains to be seen but what is for sure is that we need to be making sure that for those that have a lot of promise, they go out only after we’ve tied them down to longer deals. As I mentioned yesterday the ‘Nelson Approach’ is the right one and so I hope that’s what the club are looking at.
In the meantime the noises have come back about Saliba and St Etienne’s insistence that the player comes back to them next season on loan was reiterated by a French Journo yesterday and plastered all over Twitter within a few hours. If this kid is the real deal, then we simply have to get him and as mental as this sounds, if the only way is to give him back for a year then I think we just have to do it. It’ll mean we still have to bring in another player for next season but with Nacho, Koscielny and Mustafi all potentially out the door if we can find buyers, an additional centre half wouldn’t be too much of a problem.
I get that people are worried we’ll spend £30million of the supposed £40-£45million on a player we can’t even use now, but if St Etienne are intent on having him back I’m sure Arsenal will just back-end payments to reflect the fact we don’t get him until next summer. That will keep most of the £40million in tact but then also secures the services of a player who could turn out to be quite something of his rapid trajectory continues.
But we have to recognise that we have to have gambled with younger players because simply put we can’t afford to get those ready-made first teamers with our approach to self-harming sustainability. A sustainability plan that sees West Ham, Wolves and Leicester City all set to outspend us this summer. So instead we are trading off our history and reputation in the game as a successful club over the years and hoping that we can attract players who are young enough to be in our budget, but good enough to make an impact on the first team.
How many of those we’ll have by the team the first game of the season comes around? Your guess is as good as mine.
Catch you all tomorrow.
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