Quote from: SmartCharpa on July 21, 2025, 01:39:51 PM

Quote from: Raflesia on July 21, 2025, 10:56:37 AM

Clearly, this ultimately becomes another criticism. If he's only intended to be a backup option for Saka, the amount Arsenal paid for Madueke is clearly a bit excessive in my opinion. Therefore, I consider this criticism to be perfectly normal and will certainly be met by Arteta.

He previously felt this way for Kai, although his performances were quite good on several occasions, but his less-than-stellar performances led to criticism. I believe this could also happen for Madueke next season, as criticism and praise are naturally influenced by his performance on the pitch when given the opportunity.
On the other hand, for Arteta, the situation is currently more risky compared to the right wing, but he's imposing his will with Madueke at this point. We'll just have to wait and see what happens in the new season to see whether their current transfers will truly be successful or not.

In my opinion, Madueke's being at Arsenal will not be just as a backup to Saka, it makes sense for a club to have at least two players in each position. Saka may not start every game next season because he may become tired or injured before the end of the season, which is why I believe Arsenal signed Madueke to strengthen their attacking position whenever Arteta feels the need to rest Saka for some games.

However, I've seen that many people are upset that Arsenal spent so much money just to buy an attacker who failed to score up to 20 goals in two seasons for Chelsea, 13 goals in 67 games for his previous club, and 11 goals in 51 games at PSV. The player is still young, at 23 years old, he still has a long way to go. Perhaps we'll see some positive impacts from the player under the new manager.

You're indirectly saying that Madueke is a rotation option for Saka, and that's not much different from being a backup to give Saka a break, right? Cheesy

So, this just makes me think it's quite reasonable to see the wave of criticism that spending over 50 million just for a substitute is clearly a bit excessive, but that might not be a problem, as Arsenal can afford it, even though a player of Madueke's stature shouldn't cost more than that.

Now we just have to wait and see how Arteta will implement his new squad. Tomorrow's friendly begins, and Milan will be the first opponent to test Arsenal's squad for next season. I hope Madueke is available so I can see what steps Arteta wants to take in terms of his formation and formation for next season.