Word of the day is 'spuddle' (19th century): to be extremely busy whilst achieving absolutely nothing.

I’ve read a lot of discourse this morning & last night around ‘Why Arsenal haven’t bought anyone?’. I agree with what some people are saying around needing a sporting director etc now that Edu isn’t there. But I think we have broader issues that are not necessarily hard to fix, but have hampered us in the last 3 windows. I will go back to All or Nothing, when then DoF Richard Garlick is discussing with Edu about releasing Auba, it is Tim Lewis who has to sign it off. Lewis was tasked by KSE to keep our business above board following the debacle that Raul Sanllehi led, with dodgy deals including the huge overpay on Pepe. This…… this deal created the valuation risk aversion. This deal gave Lewis the power to prevent spend over perceived value & sales under perceived value. He needed persuading by RG/Edu/MA that Auba going for free was best. Fast forward to summer 22 & we now are now bidding for Lisandro Martinez. As soon as that price hits £38m and still no agreement, we immediately walk away and get Zinchenko, the other option at £35m. Was the hard top end valuation limit stop given by Tim? Or did MA/Edu/RG all agree that that was the limit? Either way it was second choice. In the winter window of 23 we moved for Caicedo, we were prepared to pay £75m. We also were prepared to pay £80m for Mudryk……. These top end valuations must have been agreed with the whole team. We landed neither but brought in Jorginho - who Mikel always wanted as a player, Trossard who was a market opportunity to provide cover for the injured GJ9, and Kiwior who was seen as a good rotation project for LCB. Summer 23 & we land Kai & Jurrien at their valuations. We then pay £30m over the perceived value of Rice. MA & Edu drove hard for this & it must have hurt Lewis to sanction. This transfer in my eyes, changed our business for the last 3 windows. It made us have to chase sales even though we had Money (lots of it) available. Winter 23, everyone thinks we need a striker. We don’t buy Toney, we stay as we are and Mikel first uses the term, “We must only bring in the right players who add the right value to the team.” Summer 24, and this is where we get the disconnect between Manager and Recruitment. He is given options that do not fit his need. Something in the model is wrong. Edu is offering Rodrigo Muniz as an option upfront when it’s clear MA wants Sesko who fits his criteria perfectly, but is not available. The secondary options presented are just not good enough. James Ellis, Jason Ayto and Edu are bringing options to the table that are just not the players Mikel wants. He insisted on Merino because if he wants Dec to roam, destroy and build, he needs another duel winner to supplement him. Edu doesn’t agree and it all ends with MA winning the argument and Edu gone. There are other issues in summer 24. Raphinha won’t join because he wants guaranteed playing time, Edu can’t negotiate this and we lose out. We are offered Neto and wait too long, we under value Amadou Onana & miss that, extended Jorginho instead. Then there is the sales, the team, realising the strategy & options don’t align, decide to hit the SCCR button and sell now whilst we can attract buyers. We end up short on squad numbers. Winter 25. We need a wide player and forward. We chase MA’s 1st option of Sesko, not available. We get offered Watkins who we value at £40m but Villa want £60m. If MA really wanted Watkins, would he have pushed the board (Lewis) to sanction this? I think he would. We need to change the ID model to match Mikel and blur the upper valuation limit line. This is on EVERYONE to make a small change. Most of all, we need a Sporting Director who is ELITE.