When Mikel Arteta was appointed in 2019, he was the youngest manager in the Premier League. Heading into the 2024-25 season, only five managers — Fabian Hurzeler, Kieran McKenna, Russell Martin, Andoni Iraola, and Gary O’Neil — are younger. Youthfulness doesn’t stop there for Arsenal these days as Arteta’s right hand men are also young.
Albert Stuivenberg is 54.
Goal keeping coach Inaki Cana is 48.
Assistant coach Carlos Cuesta is just 29
Coach and analyst Miguel Molina is 31
Attacking phase coach Hussein Isa is 36.
Set-piece specialist Nicolas Jover is 42.
Even Edu is young at just 46.
A couple of Arteta’s team have been linked with a move away from the club. Albert Stuivenberg was linked with a move to Feyenoord to replace Arne Slot whilst Carlos Cuesta was linked to the managers job at Norwich. Thankfully, both seem to have said thanks but no thanks. Edu has also been in the news, with Nottingham Forest reported to be after him but even if true, why on earth would he want to leave Arsenal right now?
The oldest player in the Arsenal squad is Jorginho at 32, the youngest, Ethan Nwaneri at just 17. Assuming he’ll be listed as a first team player this coming season. Mikel Arteta has assembled a young squad in general really and whilst I’ve no idea what the average age of the group is, with Mo Elneny and Cedric Soares having left the club this summer, it is lower than last season. Obvious I know.
The transfer window seems to have gathered a bit of pace over the last few days with Chelsea agreeing a £54 million deal with Wolves for Pedro Neto, Totts have all but signed Dominic Solanke from Bournemouth for £65 million and Manchester United are reported to be going back to Everton with a bigger and better offer for Jarrad Branthwaite after learning their new signing Leny Yoro is unlikely to play again this year. Newcastle Utd meanwhile, are desperately trying to get a deal done for Marc Guehi. Liverpool appear to be close to signing a player I’d loved to have seen at Arsenal, Martin Zubimendi.
There’s little to no news about any player coming to Arsenal although that doesn’t mean Edu and his transfer team aren’t busy trying. Mikel Merino is one name heavily linked to the club but until a deal is done, it’s not.
It does look as if Eddie Nketiah could get his move to Marseille though as both David Ornstein and Fabrizio Romano reported yesterday that a loan deal with an obligation to sign him next summer could be agreed.
What about a replacement for him though should he leave? Mikel Arteta’s view seems to be that the false 9’s he has in the squad could be enough. Talking about Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus, and Leandro Trossard after Arsenal’s 4-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen, Arteta said:
The three, they have that false-nine profile. I like what I saw.
Who didn’t enjoy their performances but will they be enough to challenge for the Premier League again or the Champions League? Or do we need an out and out goal scorer?
Arsenal are one of very few top clubs to have an out and out striker in the team/squad. City, Utd, Liverpool, Villa, Totts once they sign Solanke – they all have at least one.
This transfer window has been a disappointment so far in my opinion. We’ve added a defender and sold Emile Smith Rowe. So far, we’ve not added a player who’ll improve our attacking unit. I know Ethan Nwaneri is likely to be involved in our season but he’s not going to add 20+ goals to our tally and nor should he be expected to at just 17 years old.
I know we scored a lot of goals last season but we cannot rest on our laurels in my opinion. We cannot expect Saka, Odegaard, Trossard and Havertz to score more, even though they might and we certainly can’t expect Jesus to suddenly score goals regardless of how fit he looks. But, that seems to what Mikel Arteta is banking on.
Arsenal have to be better than they were last season if they’re to win the league and whilst it’s great to sure up an already strong defensive unit, it’s in attack that we were sometimes left wanting last season. Not being able to take goal scoring opportunities cost us the league title in my opinion. Not scoring goals in games which we were in total control of. Scoring five or six in one game is great, but sometimes being able to score one or two is more important.
