Morning folks, how we all doing?

Now, I don’t usually do this, but the wife has been practicing this thing called ‘manifestation’ and I am thinking I might give it a go today. It’s basically this concept of ‘if you will it enough, that positivity will net a positive outcome’ – or thereabouts. If you’re a regular reader of my waffle you’ll know that I try my hardest not to get too invested in transfers; I’m happy to talk about them, weigh up the pro’s and con’s, but getting too invested usually leads to a little bit of heartbreak when the transfer inevitably doesn’t come off.

However, given how our attacking options are looking quite thin on the ground, given that I’ve banged on for about three weeks about us needing a ‘spark’ and given that the wife has planted this seed of ‘manifestation’ into my head recently, I’m thinking i’m going to go all in and manifest that Benjamin Sesko transfer happening this January.

The rumours have been hotting up on socials and in the press this past week and having seen a few people talking about a potential £67million move, I am thinking it seems like a good idea to be pulling the trigger right about now. This feels like a ‘do-able’ deal to me and whilst £67million is a fair chunk of change for a player rated on TranferMarkt as a €50million player, perhaps Arsenal can get some negotiating hats on and perhaps Jason Ayto can put his hat in the ring for the Sporting Director job full time if he can pull it off for less that £67million. TransferMarkt isn’t always 100% spot on with it’s valuation, but given he had a £45million release last summer, I suspect Arsenal or any club would probably have had to pay north of £55 – £60million in the summer anyway.

The deal feels like it ticks a lot of boxes on all sides too. Firstly, we have a relationship with them, having loaned them Smith Rowe four or five years ago. So there will still be amicable lines of communication. If Leipzig are looking at losing him in the summer for around £60million (as the rumours go), this represent a handy profit on top of what they already thought they might be getting. They are out of the Champions League having lost all of their matches so far and although they’re currently fifth in the Bundesliga, there are three points between them and Mainz in sixth (fifth gets the Germans a Champions League spot) and clearly there is a bit of a gap between those top five clubs and everyone in the league. There’s an argument that losing their top scorer (he has 13 goals in all competitions this season, just behind Openda on 10 goals) could cause them an issue in fighting for that fifth spot, but in Openda they have another guy who is bagging goals and with circa £60million burning a hole in their pockets, they can look to reinvest that not just in another striker, but in other positions too should they wish.

From the players’ position the motivation would be clear. He will be joining a team that – should we beat Zagreb tomorrow – will pretty much have automatically qualified for the next round of the Champions League without having to play a qualifying match. He’d be joining a club with whom he’d be playing in the biggest league in the world. He’d be rocking up to a team second in the Premier League and with one of the most well-regarded coaches in the world in Arteta. Plus he’d be joining a team with which he knows the coach likes him. We went after him in the summer last year and by returning now – if we do indeed make another bid – we are showing that “you’re my number one choice, Benjy”. If I’m in Sesko’s position, seeing a club not only return for me, but also put down big cash for me, I’m feeling quite excited by that prospect.

Arsenal even decided to keep the powder dry when that deal didn’t work out, which might even have the lad thinking that it’s quite exciting to have that opportunity at a club like The Arsenal. Then there’s the possible cash windfall for him too. He’s rumoured to be on around £90k-per-week at Leipzig. If this move comes off then he can double that at least. You don’t pay £60million for a footballer and then offer him a £100k-per-week deal, so he’s getting a big bump up, for sure.

And he goes straight into the team – or at least gets plenty of minutes with the games we have and injuries we’ve got – as well as getting a solid six months to ‘bed in’. Joining now gives us a body we need, a player we want, so all I see is an upside from this deal.

Arsenal’s benefits are obvious, as I’ve just outlined, so the real question comes as to whether there is a) an appetite to do the deal at the prices mentioned, and b) all parties making this happen relatively speedy enough.

As for the profile of the player, it all seems very juicy to me, I have to say. He showed a bit of loyalty by saying he wanted to stick around at Leipzig for another season so he could continue his rise to prominence and it appears to have paid off; 13 goals at the halfway stage this season is a good return. He’s also scored three in six in the Champions League, so it’s not as if he’s bagging big numbers in the German equivalent of the League Cup. One question I had about the player from last season was “is this just a Joe Willock-style ‘hot streak’ he’s on?” From last season. He didn’t play a ton at the beginning of last season, broke in to the team as a regular in the second half of the season and caught fire. That’s what Willock did and we made a tidy £25million from him. I wondered whether that could be the case for Sesko but in the first half of this season I’d say he has proven that he’s a finisher.

His age profile (he’s 21 and turns 22 at the end of May) is such that you’d expect him to only get better too, if the environment is right for him and he is given the right opportunities. I don’t watch a lot of Leipzig, but I’d wager he’d get as many at Arsenal as he does there, so then it’s just a case of him putting it in the ol’ onion bag on a consistent basis.

So for me, this feels like it could – and should – be something that Arsenal are looking at doing now. Vlahovic has baggage, Jonathan David looks good but is he prolific? Gyokeres will cost a fortune and in Sesko you’re taking a punt on the future but it feels like it has more upside to me.