CHRISTIAN NORGAARD DEAL AGREED - UHHHH?
Well, I did say that the most interesting moves of the summer would likely come from those that have us bulking up the squad. I didn't realize the first of those would be Christian Norgaard of Brentford.
The Danish midfielder is the subject of an £11m bid from Arsenal, presumably to bulk out our midfield after news dropped that Thomas Partey has finally exited the club after failing to agree terms.
Now, Thomas not signing on for Arsenal is a bit of a hammer blow if that is the case. You've all seen the video doing the rounds by now where he explains how his agent was such a nightmare for Atletico when agreeing to the deal, that he was banned from the premises. Then when the President offered him a new mega deal, he told Thomas his agent would only get 3%, not 10%, so Thomas got the deal with Arsenal out of principle to look after his agent. Some people thought he was stupid for putting that out online; I thought it was great—he's looking after his people, and he's showing how complicated football deals are.
Thomas is old. He's usually broken. This next deal is his last. The player has to make it work for himself and his family. No way should Arsenal offer a player that unreliable more money than he's on right now, and if that's the impasse, we're right to pass on him. Fans are nutters; we all imagine that he'll be fit next season—he probably won't—so if we do pass on him, I get it.
But... that's a hell of a gap we're leaving in our midfield with Jorginho exiting as well. The gap is so big now that I'm starting to worry about our ability to hit the ground running next season. Norgaard is a good player, but he's also 31 years old, and he's been at Brentford keeping them midtable for a long time.
This graph, from three years ago, did pique my interest.
He's basically the best DM in the Premier League. Thomas Partey, he is not. He's a destroyer, someone who is very good defensively, and he'd probably be quite good at seeing out a narrow lead in a game. The player is also an on-field leader who is probably quite sound from a tactical perspective after working closely with Thomas Frank for so long.
Is it an exciting signing? No. Are we losing quality in Thomas Partey? Yes. But we have the best non-Rodri 6 in the world coming to town, and Norgaard gives us the bulk we need to feel secure from a numbers perspective. It's also important to highlight the experience part of his game... Agoumé looked great in the comps, but he's never played in the Premier League. Norgaard has done 190 games, never gets injured, can do the job.
The striker and winger stories haven't dropped yet... but the big news is Šeško followed Arsenal.
I don't have anything beyond that. So enjoy your evening and we'll see more of you tomorrow!