Happy Monday folks. We all good?

I had a lovely weekend after the football and yesterday spent the day in the sun with the family watching bits and pieces of the Brentford/Palace game, then the Chelsea/City game. No Ivan Toney for Brentford and Thomas Frank afterwards suggested it was because his head wasn’t right because of a possible transfer. Cue tonnes of people online thinking he’s off to their club and whilst a year ago there were a few Gooners who I think were thinking he might be the man for us up top, I don’t think I’ve seen as many Arsenal fans I follow now suggesting we’ll be his final destination come 1st September.

It’s funny how speculation around certain types of players works, eh? Remember when everyone supposedly wanted Wilfred Zaha at some stage, as his contract went down to zero, he then ended up going to Turkey and now there are talks about him coming back to the Premier League on loan before the end of the window. I was thinking about who might take Ivan Toney in the Premier League and it doesn’t feel like that ‘big club’ move is going to come for him.

Chelsea are after Oshimen.

United have Zirkzee.

City have Haaland.

The Scum have just bought Solanke.

Liverpool don’t need him.

Then there’s us. What do we want Toney for? We’ve just witnessed our centre forward getting his head on to a peach of Saka cross and we all know how much Arteta loves Havertz. We’ve got Gabriel Jesus also waiting in the wings and some have suggested that maybe Martinelli could have a go. The noises around Eddie and Reiss have died down and as a result we just don’t have the space for somebody like Toney, so I can’t see us having a nibble at him, despite the fact we have a decent relationship with Brentford following the Raya deal.

Going the other way and having Nketiah off to Brentford as a Toney relationship could / should be something the two clubs talk about though. On the Same Old Arsenal podcast yesterday I said to the guys that I’d read about some tentative Everton interest, but I don’t know why Brentford aren’t having a sniff at Nketiah. Proven Premier League goalscorer, experienced in the league, has been an England Under-21 international and I think if somebody came along and offered £25million Arsenal I’d bet we’d take it. I mean, Oliver Skipp is going to Leicester for over £20million, so why on earth somebody isn’t putting some cash down for an experienced oven-ready player like Nketiah, I don’t know.

Toney and Eddie clearly aren’t the same kind of striker, of course, but Eddie will bag goals wherever he goes and given how Brentford play I would have thought his pace and ability on the counter would be a great move for all parties.

But for Toney it looks like Saudi Arabian cash is his destination. Which I find really interesting because players like Zaha and Toney talk about their desire to play Champions League football, yet what they end up with is sometimes very different. I wonder if it speaks to the money in football that these types of players sign such long contracts at clubs. I remember when Zaha signed his deal for a big pay rise at Palace. It was when he had a year left on his contract and I think that was when we were interested. But Palace asked for too much money and he ended up having to see his revised contract out. Toney is doing what feels like the same situation and if he doesn’t go this summer he’ll leave on a free as a 29-year-old next summer. Hey, he might get a big payday, but would he get the team he wants?

I wonder if that’s why we see at places like Arsenal, more players doing these four-plus-one deals. Four years means you’re negotiating within two and if you do want to move on then you can work with the club from that point rather than it getting to a contractual saga like we used to have in the old days. Clubs like Chelsea can have their long contracts and assets they can’t move on, but any club worth their salt is going to focus on getting that balance of contract length right so that all parties can be happy with the direction of travel when it comes to the players’ career and the cash the club could recoup as a result.

Brentford have  him on a five-year deal which expires next summer and I wonder, if they could go back in time, whether they would have thought a little sooner about changing the terms of that one so that they avoid this particular situation they – and he – find themselves in?

Anyway, it’s all a bit inconsequential to us as Arsenal fans, because he’s not coming to us, nor do we need him and for me personally, want him. We are in a good place, we’ve got a good squad, with the start of the season kicking off in fine fashion. We’re quite happy with our lot, thank you very much.

We’ll get more on the Merino stuff this week apparently, but until then there’s little else to be said and as MOnday’s go, it’s a pretty quiet one. So I’ll stick a pin in today’s ramblings and bid you all adieu.

Enjoy your Monday, folks.