The concerning thing was that some intermediary was shopping him around and no one is taking responsibility. We know it wasn’t Myles’ mum (his agent), so that only leaves the club. I suspect that it was someone from Berta’s team. Whether they’d gone rogue or not, who knows. But the fact is, we have too many central midfielders now:
- Ødegaard
- Rice
- Zubimendi
- MLS
- Bruno G
- Eze
- Nwaneri
- Merino
Personally, I think Merino is a terrible midfielder for us but he’s a clutch striker, so I can see why we’re reluctant to get rid of him. Even if I never want to see him in midfield because he breaks up our play too much. I think Arteta sees Nwaneri as the eventual Ødegaard replacement and so is determined to make that work in the long-term. With the squad currently too big, Berta’s office knows we need to move players on, and a massive offer for MLS makes that feasible. Given that he was a Champions League Final starter who performed at a world-class level, he’s our biggest sellable asset, but not one I’d move on. I’d rather sell Ødegaard, Merino and more reluctantly, Nwaneri and just force a proper evolution of our midfield. But the backlash has been loud. I think loud enough to kill any considerations Berta’s office may have had.
I’d batch them up like:
Ødegaard, Eze, Nwaneri
Rice, Bruno G,
Zubimendi, MLS
Merino falls more in the Havertz category. A weird hybrid. And I agree he does slow us down when he’s in the middle and things are tight. But he’s been great for holding up and crashing the box. Which gives us a new problem, we then have 4 strikers.
When you group them like that, it’s less overwhelming. But still Arteta insisting on Havertz in midfield has me worried that he’s not grouping them at all.