Mikel Arteta has long had a reputation for giving up on our Arsenal talent the moment he feels they don’t suit his ethos.
Those who used to work with him explain that he’s not the type to put his arm around your shoulder and explain his decisions.
I blame our owners for letting a rookie in his first job think it’s standard to wash hands of assets and not getting the best out the resources he has.
We can debate if Ozil and Aubameyang were released for footballing reasons.
I will always maintain Ozil was paid to sit at home while a lack of creativity was the cause for our worse league position in 25 years!
I will still argue that the decision to rip up Auba’s contract (and not replace him) cost us a place in the top 4 that season.
Yet, counter points are valid. I do see that long term our boss stamped authority over his dressing room by getting rid of strong characters, and with the future in mind the Kroenke’s message was they supported their manager.
Yet how many individuals have now been loaned by the current regime?
How many releases have there been?
You could field an entire 11 of players who Arteta has either made a free agent or loaned out til there contract runs down.
Loans that are not intended as a chance to prove a manager wrong, but to slash the wage bill.
This week Arteta may have gone too far with the confirmation that Kieran Tierney will spend the season at Real Sociedad.
There’s been zero reports of a bad attitude from the Scot, who is relatable to the modern fan, thanks to stories of carrying his boots in a carrier bag and short sleeves in the snow. Many had earmarked the left back as a future captain, only halted by niggling injuries which meant he’s never been fit in North London for a full campaign.
There’s zero transfer fee that can be pointed as being too good to turn down for squad player who is injury prone.
That’s the issue here.
This choice has been made purely based on ability and that’s why this could come back and haunt Arteta.
While Tierney may be viewed as an old-fashioned left back you could argue, purely based on defending, he’s better then what we have, a player you could bring on when protecting a lead.
Remember the plan was to replace him for Zinchenko at Anfield while we were leading, but we conceded before we could make the change.
So clearly Tierney’s qualities were appreciated.
If we are dropping points because our left back is defensively struggling, it makes little sense that our best defensive left back is in Spain.
All just to slash the wage bill.
The juice doesn’t seem worth the squeeze.
