Weekly Mailbag — October 14, 2022
Welcome to the inaugural DailyAFC Weekly Mailbag! In this feature, we will answer questions submitted by readers about all things Arsenal. Without further ado, here are this week’s questions.
From @knilirabaj: “Now that we’ve seen Tomi play left back, are you interested in seeing how he does at LCB. Especially if Big Gabi has a dip in form.”
He definitely could play left center back if we needed him to. I actually wondered last week if we could see him there if Cedric started at right back when we hosted Bodo/Glimt. I think he would be great there, just as he is everywhere else in the defense, it seems. But I do want to note that it would take a string of consistently bad performances for me to seriously consider replacing Gabriel in the starting lineup. I still think he’s a terrific defender, kind of in the Laurent Koscielny mode with some added physicality. And he contributes so much in terms of goals; last season he was the highest-scoring center back in the league. But yes, one day I would like to see Tomiyasu at left center back at some point, probably in a cup match.”
From @ArtOfMikel: “Do you think we can use Liverpool fans’ salt on some fries?”
For sure. What you’ll want to do is thoroughly scrub the potatoes before cutting them. Then, drain the potatoes and pat them dry with a towel. After that, slice them into strips and heat a pot — I personally prefer to use a Dutch oven — of vegetable oil to 325 degrees Fahrenheit (I believe that is about 162.78 degrees in Celsius). Work in batches when frying the potato strips; throw too many in at once and you’ll get soggy fries. After five minutes of frying, lift the fries (or chips, if you’re British like that) out of the oil and drain them on a wire rack. At this point, add the Liverpool fans’ salt immediately. The salt must be sprinkled onto the fries/chips while they’re still hot. That will maximize the flavor you get from the salt. And if you want a good dipping sauce to pair that with, I like to mix three parts ketchup, three parts mayonnaise, and one part sriracha. Enjoy your Liverpool fan-salted fries!
From @SemperFiArsenal: “Watched Tavares closely past few matches and he’s not going to comeback as a player who has improved on his weakness because of the role he plays at Marseille. Do you think we need to let him go in the summer or will you give him one more year at Arsenal.”
This is tough. I think Nuno Tavares has definitely improved as an overall player from what I’ve seen of him at Marseille. But I agree, I doubt his defensive ability has risen to a level that makes him reliable in the Premier League. In addition to his defensive deficiencies, there are a couple big negatives going against him at the moment in turns of keeping him. The first is that we currently have Kieran Tierney and Oleksandr Zinchenko, both only 25 at the time of writing. They are both firmly ahead of Tavares in the pecking order when he returns, and I don’t see the Portuguese player being accepting of that. Secondly, I think Tavares sees himself as more of a wing-back than as a left back. He indicated as much early in the season when he stated that Arsenal had played him out of position last season. I guess my answer is that if he was happy to stick around for a little while longer then I wouldn’t mind. But I currently don’t see a place for him at Arsenal long-term for the reasons above, especially with who we currently have, Takehiro Tomiyasu also being able to play that role, and the likes of Lino Sousa potentially coming through the ranks as well. We would be guaranteed to make a pretty good profit if we sold him next summer.
From @ydembri221: “Do you think we can sign players in January which will help us win the league?”
Maybe. I certainly think people who expect the coming January transfer window to resemble the previous one haven’t taken into account that the 2023 window will take place almost immediately following the World Cup. Every player who has a good showing in Qatar will attract attention from top clubs. Those players will want to use that attention to catapult up the ranks in their club careers. Clubs will see an opportunity to cash in and capitalize midway through the season. Granted, some clubs will want to hold onto their star players for the remainder of their campaigns, but for the most part I expect more movement than usual in January. To that end, I think we can use that to our advantage, although the two players we have been most linked to — Mykhaylo Mudryk and Danilo — won’t feature at the World Cup (was about to include Douglas Luiz in here, but he just signed an extension with Aston Villa). I do think it’s important to note that despite KSE reportedly being willing to back Arteta in January, I don’t see us signing superstars. We’re not going to push the boat out for one of the biggest names in the sport. But I certainly think we will go for at least two more talented footballers, especially if we are still in the running for the title in the new year. Based on what they did with the Rams last year in signing Odell Beckham Jr. and Von Miller, the Kroenkes have set a precedent for pushing their chips in when they feel a championship is in sight.
From @afcbinks: “Would you take Kylian Mbappe at Arsenal?”
If money wasn’t an object and we had assurances that he would behave in the dressing room, then sure. But we don’t live in that reality. The fact of the matter is that despite being probably the best player in the world, Mbappe is not worth the money he would cost. On top of his reported yearly salary of about €50 million, he also received a signing bonus of around €180 million and full control of his image rights upon inking his new deal in May. It also appears that he is being given more influence at PSG, almost as something of a pseudo-board member, and was allegedly instrumental in bringing Luis Campos to the club. I hope this isn’t news to anyone reading this, but Arsenal could never offer that. The salary alone would tank our wage structure. But Mbappe would expect that and more if he was somehow enticed into joining Arsenal. We aren’t in the Champions League yet (we are certainly on track for it, but the job’s not finished), and it has been a long time since we competed for Premier League or CL honors. He will need additional incentive to “downgrade” and join a team that isn’t yet firmly entrenched among Europe’s current elite. We have been tremendous this season, but that is probably how Mbappe will view it. And we even if we did somehow scrounge up the money and the gumption to give Mbappe all that, it wouldn’t be worth it. For all that trouble, we would probably get 40-50 goal involvements, which is great for a season. But then there would be dressing room clashes. Players would leave, either because Mbappe wouldn’t want to share the spotlight with them, or because we wouldn’t be able to avoid increased salaries for other players due to how much we were paying Mbappe. And even when it became apparent that we were suffering in the long term, offloading Mbappe would be nigh-on impossible because of the financial burden. TL;DR: Mbappe is a generational talent, but signing him would destroy the club’s finances, which has an impact on what we do on the pitch long-term. So it’s a no from me.
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