Good morning from County Kerry, where I sit in a hotel room with what I hope is going to be a nice coffee.
After Arsenal’s Dublin adventures, I’ve brought Elliot from ArsenalVision Podcast to see a bit of Ireland, and there are few places better in this country than Dingle. If you like a Guinness, as many people do, there’s nothing quite like the Guinness here. I don’t know exactly what makes it better than anywhere else, but I know for a fact it is. Please do not ask me to show my workings, just come here, have a pint and then say ‘Ahh, Andrew was right (for once)!’
So, the Vinicius Junior thing is done and dusted, with the player set to sign a new deal at Real Madrid. As I said yesterday, I have no issue at all with Arsenal trying to get a deal like this done. We want the club to be ambitious, to push the boat out to improve the team, but in this instance it didn’t work out. The question now is what do we do next?
I’ve already seen a report linking us again with Julian Alvarez, hoping that Atletico Madrid’s intransigence when it comes to dealing with Barcelona might give us a chance to bring the Argentinian in, and again I have no issue with the ambition. I do think this would be another complicated situation however, but you could argue there are no easy deals to be done at this level. Questions arise about his desire to go to Barcelona first and foremost, and whether we’d be a ‘second choice’, but as an addition to our front line, there’s no doubt he would raise the level.
I really do think this is such an important transfer window for the club. We’re the Premier League champions, we got to the Champions League final last season, and while that means we’re already very good, I think it gives a kind of cachet we should be using to really add top quality to the squad. Not doing so would be pretty disappointing, and the spotlight now shines a little more brightly on Andrea Berta as the key man with responsibility for that.
It’s also why I think whoever suggested Arsenal go after Christian Romero should be – and I say this without exaggeration – arrested and sent to a prison island for the rest of their natural life.
🚨 Arsenal among clubs interested in Cristian Romero – but with Spurs totally unwilling to sell to their north London rivals, it looks a non-starter. Atleti + Inter likelier destinations.#AFC still looking to strengthen central [email protected]/athletic/749…
— Gunnerblog (@gunnerblog.bsky.social) 2026-08-06T20:08:43.032Z
It’s hard to work out who exactly on the Arsenal staff might be keen on an Argentinian centre-half with a penchant for overly-aggressive play, but whoever that person is, they must never be listened to again (regardless of how close they might stand to Mikel Arteta). Romero is not only quite bad, but also very, very stupid. Nearly as stupid as Sp*rs who have refused to do any kind of deal with us, because what an opportunity they’ve missed. They could have got some money and then watched that lumbering idiot do some real damage to our team with his meat-headed decision making and borderline psychotic tackling.
I think most us, when we’re linked with a player, do our best to see how it might work, how he might fit etc, even if that player was not to our taste. Sometimes even when we know better. In this instance though, I would take out a full page ad in a national newspaper – objecting in the strongest terms possible – to call Romero a dopey c*nt because that’s what he is. Not every transfer works, and there are times when an unwanted player can win the fans around, but there is no world in which I can accept this man as an Arsenal footballer.
Elsewhere, Johnny Here-We-Go says, via a report in the Brazilian press, that Napoli have some interest in Gabriel Jesus which, if serious, we should pursue with some vigour. I don’t know how much they could pay, or would be capable of paying, but it’s probably best for all concerned this summer that he finds a move. It’s a shame, I really liked him as a player when he joined, but the injuries have really diminished him and perhaps somewhere like Serie A would be better for him at this point.
There’s also a story about Galatasaray having interest in Gabriel Martinelli, but we’ve already fulfilled our quota of rumours involving a Turkish club after Leandro Trossard moved to Besiktas. Two in one window would be remarkable, and maybe a sign of the apocalypse. Above and beyond Arsenal being linked with Christian Romero, of course. Imagine that Cro-Magnon buffoon in red and white. Just no.
Righto, there’s some breakfast to be had, a dip in the Atlantic at some point, and then a drive to Galway.
Have a good one folks.
