My monthlong exploration into Arsenal’s missing link(s), featuring deep profiles on wide and hybrid attackers like Rodrygo, Eze, Madueke, and dozens of others
Excellent piece as always Billy. One small q: how long did you spend trying to come up with a name for the ranking metric and what were the frontrunners before you gave up?
Yup I read it. And all in one go basically! Tremendous work as usual, what a treat, I feel like I just ate a whole cake, when I should've saved sections for later. But then they spoil! Some of the sections are already spoiled (by transfers happening while you wrote)! A dilemma.
PSV is my home team, but Arsenal my second love ever since Bergkamp joined. So it is interesting to see Madueke in the news this week. He had been injured quite a bit with us and at times was really frustrating to watch as it was clear he had massive talent. The most I have seen in a long time. In the end, I was happy with the big fee we received from Chelsea.
With Gakpo I knew for sure he would make it in England, even though he was less talented, but with Madueke I had my doubts as he didn't strike me as a very intelligent player and I wondered how much he would develop. He impressed in the Eredivisie playing purely on instinct it seems, but clearly talent alone is not enough in the PL.
I loved watching him breaking away at full speed or dribble and glide past his marker. Something I feel Bakayoko has been lacking completely last season. The Belgium has been so so frustrating to watch. He almost always stands still when receiving the ball, then does a couple of feints and eventually passes it back to where the ball came from. This might have something to do with a lack of confidence as his playing time has dwindled or with instructions from Bosz, but I feel Bakayoko has never really had this aggressive approach in him.
He is such a weird player really, I know his (underlying) stats are still good, but I'm almost certain that whoever bites this summer, will come to regret it.
Tillman however, oof what a player. I really wished Arsenal had come along for 35 mil. And for the life of me, I can't understand why Bayern München didn't exercise their matching right. He will go for at least double in a couple of years. Wouldn't mind us signing Simons btw, insanely talented as well, but I can see how we might not have a real place for him at the moment.
And lastly Babadi.. I'm a bit afraid he will get sidetracked again this year, I hope he will get a loan because he has huge potential. Watch out for Land as well btw, just won the Euro U19 with the Netherlands.
Love this all, Niels, and the amount of players you're able to discuss coming through PSV is incredible. One notch for Madueke is that I think he's been on a pretty clear path to improvement. Will check out Land, have heard about him but I don't think I've caught him yet. Couldn't believe my eyes in some of those Tillman performances late, he was on his own level.
This (fantastic) piece seems to implicitly accept that Gyokeres is likely to be Arsenal's summer striker signing over Sesko. The Striker long-read heavily preferred the latter to the former... any further thoughts on developments?
Correct! And I'm not a hater (the fan side of me is excited), he wasn't ranked 30th or anything, it's just not what I would have done. I think it makes an aggressive playmaker pretty mandatory (Eze, Simons type). Have to feed the beast.
Unreal piece billy! The only worry I have with Eze/Rodrygo is we don’t have an overlapping full back who is consistently fit, and we most likely need a pure touchline winger to allow for width.
That's an understandable concern. Some of my hand-waving is just that I don't love spending big-ish on overlapping full-backs from a squad-building perspective (they usually can only play in one spot). I think Rodrygo/Eze will for sure play well with Calafiori, and will probably play well with MLS, you just need some comfort and fluidity. One limitation is that I don't think Rice looks super dynamic when he's all the way out on the wing, by the corner flag.
George R R Martin or not, you are one of a kind in your background work and prose. Everytime you are tied up with too much to do, remember your creative juices are appreciated by many a fan. Keep going Mr. Carpenter, at least till we win a big couple of titles :)
Excellent piece as usual Billy. First read done. A question. If we do keep Martinelli (I agree with you that we should), how do you see him being played in a scenario that has any combination of Rodrygo, Eze, both – plus Gyokeres? Does that place him firmly as the more movement constrained chalk-on-boots wide LW option? Or does this relax that constraint for all, and instead make more overlapping use of either Calafiori, or even MLS? Thanks for another deeply insightful article.
The best Arsenal read out there hands down. Appointment reading if ever there was any, I wish you could put one of these out every day on a different Arsenal subject.
I love leao as an abssolute cheat code game breaker. I went to all the CWC games in atl this year (psg, Bayern, Porto, citeh, Chelsea, Miami) and saw a lot of the names on this list and Barcola was absolutely the best (possible singing). Every time he received the ball it was like theater, watch him in the first half vs Bayern on the halfway line, insane control, touch, wiggle. He’s long and thin but so elastic it’s crazy. I was also impressed with Coman, he gave Hakimi a hell of a time, he’s rapid and works really hard for the team also. I wasn’t super impressed with Madueke, was like he was playing at 75-80% most of the time with the occasional flash/burst. The only thing I’m curious about with these lists is where our current players rank, not in detail but like where does Martinelli fit on this list eg.
OH BOY, HAVE I BEEN WAITING FOR THIS
Thank you very much, Billy. Super grateful!
🔥❤️
Excellent piece as always Billy. One small q: how long did you spend trying to come up with a name for the ranking metric and what were the frontrunners before you gave up?
Haha. I was putting my thumb on the scale so hard that it felt wrong to call it a metric. Not that previous ones weren't vaguely bullshitty.
For what it's worth: when you go by numbers alone, Lookman fares extremely well.
Yup I read it. And all in one go basically! Tremendous work as usual, what a treat, I feel like I just ate a whole cake, when I should've saved sections for later. But then they spoil! Some of the sections are already spoiled (by transfers happening while you wrote)! A dilemma.
Ah thank you Jon.
PSV is my home team, but Arsenal my second love ever since Bergkamp joined. So it is interesting to see Madueke in the news this week. He had been injured quite a bit with us and at times was really frustrating to watch as it was clear he had massive talent. The most I have seen in a long time. In the end, I was happy with the big fee we received from Chelsea.
With Gakpo I knew for sure he would make it in England, even though he was less talented, but with Madueke I had my doubts as he didn't strike me as a very intelligent player and I wondered how much he would develop. He impressed in the Eredivisie playing purely on instinct it seems, but clearly talent alone is not enough in the PL.
I loved watching him breaking away at full speed or dribble and glide past his marker. Something I feel Bakayoko has been lacking completely last season. The Belgium has been so so frustrating to watch. He almost always stands still when receiving the ball, then does a couple of feints and eventually passes it back to where the ball came from. This might have something to do with a lack of confidence as his playing time has dwindled or with instructions from Bosz, but I feel Bakayoko has never really had this aggressive approach in him.
He is such a weird player really, I know his (underlying) stats are still good, but I'm almost certain that whoever bites this summer, will come to regret it.
Tillman however, oof what a player. I really wished Arsenal had come along for 35 mil. And for the life of me, I can't understand why Bayern München didn't exercise their matching right. He will go for at least double in a couple of years. Wouldn't mind us signing Simons btw, insanely talented as well, but I can see how we might not have a real place for him at the moment.
And lastly Babadi.. I'm a bit afraid he will get sidetracked again this year, I hope he will get a loan because he has huge potential. Watch out for Land as well btw, just won the Euro U19 with the Netherlands.
Love this all, Niels, and the amount of players you're able to discuss coming through PSV is incredible. One notch for Madueke is that I think he's been on a pretty clear path to improvement. Will check out Land, have heard about him but I don't think I've caught him yet. Couldn't believe my eyes in some of those Tillman performances late, he was on his own level.
This (fantastic) piece seems to implicitly accept that Gyokeres is likely to be Arsenal's summer striker signing over Sesko. The Striker long-read heavily preferred the latter to the former... any further thoughts on developments?
I am of course not Billy, but I presume the answer will have a healthy dose of “it is what it is”
Correct! And I'm not a hater (the fan side of me is excited), he wasn't ranked 30th or anything, it's just not what I would have done. I think it makes an aggressive playmaker pretty mandatory (Eze, Simons type). Have to feed the beast.
Thanks for the response Billy!
Unreal piece billy! The only worry I have with Eze/Rodrygo is we don’t have an overlapping full back who is consistently fit, and we most likely need a pure touchline winger to allow for width.
That's an understandable concern. Some of my hand-waving is just that I don't love spending big-ish on overlapping full-backs from a squad-building perspective (they usually can only play in one spot). I think Rodrygo/Eze will for sure play well with Calafiori, and will probably play well with MLS, you just need some comfort and fluidity. One limitation is that I don't think Rice looks super dynamic when he's all the way out on the wing, by the corner flag.
Plus, you saw my Minteh LWB shout :)
George R R Martin or not, you are one of a kind in your background work and prose. Everytime you are tied up with too much to do, remember your creative juices are appreciated by many a fan. Keep going Mr. Carpenter, at least till we win a big couple of titles :)
Excellent piece as usual Billy. First read done. A question. If we do keep Martinelli (I agree with you that we should), how do you see him being played in a scenario that has any combination of Rodrygo, Eze, both – plus Gyokeres? Does that place him firmly as the more movement constrained chalk-on-boots wide LW option? Or does this relax that constraint for all, and instead make more overlapping use of either Calafiori, or even MLS? Thanks for another deeply insightful article.
Excellent piece Billy!
Thank you!
Have been waiting for this. Billy is appointment reading.
Excellent analysis and writing as always, Billy. You make it more fulfilling and interesting to be an Arsenal fan. Cheers!
What an absolutely brilliant and thorough piece of analysis!
I hope the scouts at Colney get early access to these write ups. Exceptional work.
Great Work Billy.
Wonderful read! Bravo!
I would personally love to see Eze light up the Emirates!
Proper Arsene Wenger baller!!
The best Arsenal read out there hands down. Appointment reading if ever there was any, I wish you could put one of these out every day on a different Arsenal subject.
I love leao as an abssolute cheat code game breaker. I went to all the CWC games in atl this year (psg, Bayern, Porto, citeh, Chelsea, Miami) and saw a lot of the names on this list and Barcola was absolutely the best (possible singing). Every time he received the ball it was like theater, watch him in the first half vs Bayern on the halfway line, insane control, touch, wiggle. He’s long and thin but so elastic it’s crazy. I was also impressed with Coman, he gave Hakimi a hell of a time, he’s rapid and works really hard for the team also. I wasn’t super impressed with Madueke, was like he was playing at 75-80% most of the time with the occasional flash/burst. The only thing I’m curious about with these lists is where our current players rank, not in detail but like where does Martinelli fit on this list eg.
Thanks so much!