My Arsenal Blog

According to a recent report from Spanish outlet Fichajes, there is plenty of interest in Villarreal winger Samuel Chukwueze when it comes to transfer plans for the summer of 2023.

Chukwueze left his homeland of Nigeria to join Villarreal’s Under-19 side in 2017, and having passed through the club’s “B” side rather quickly, he earned a place in the first-team squad in late 2018. Since then, he’s gone on to represent the Yellow Submarine on 176 occasions, scoring 27 goals and producing 24 assists in all competitions.  .......Read more here.....

According to football.london, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is still keen on adding another wide attacker to his ranks before the ongoing transfer window closes. The two candidates currently being considered are PSV Eindhoven’s Cody Gakpo and Villarreal younger Yeremy Pino.

Having gone through the youth ranks at Las Palmas and CD Roda in Spain, Pino joined Villarreal’s “C” side in 2019 and broke into the first team only a year later. Currently playing under former Arsenal boss Unai Emery, the 19-year-old made a total of 40 appearances in all competitions, starting 21 La Liga games as well as six in the Champions League. He scored seven goals and provided four assists.  .......Read more here.....

According to Spanish outlet El Desmarque, Arsenal are one of the two clubs to have made contact with Villarreal over the possibility of signing Yeremy Pino. The other is Liverpool, though Real Madrid are also said to be keeping an eye out for developments.

In case you don’t follow the game in Spain too closely, Pino is a 19-year-old winger who prefers to play on the right but is fully capable of playing on the left too, as well as through the middle as a central attacking midfielder. Having previously gone through the works at two different academies, he joined Villarreal’s youth setup in 2019 and was promoted to the first-team squad a year later. Since then, he’s gone on to score 14 goals for the club, along with contributing five assists, in 71 appearances across all competitions.  .......Read more here.....

Arsenal’s season is essentially over after they fell to another embarrassing Europa League exit last night at the Emirates. All the Gunners needed to do was register a 1-0 win, at home, in order to make it through to the final. Instead, Villarreal held on for a 0-0 draw that saw them go through 2-1 on aggregate.

The loss compounds the fact that this club is going nowhere in a hurry and as we look ahead to the future, Mikel Arteta’s future seems to be in doubt. After the game, he spoke with the media about another poor night at the office.  .......Read more here.....

Forget about Unai Emery, forget about Aubameyang, because tonight is about one thing and one thing only – Arsenal beating Villarreal to reach the 2021 UEFA Europa League final. Technically speaking they only need a 1-0 win to get the job done, but in reality, they need to go out there with the intention of putting a beating on this team.

The Spaniards got the upper hand in the first leg but that away goal could change everything for the Gunners. Either way, it’s going to be a tense evening, and manager Mikel Arteta spoke about that and so much more with the media prior to kickoff.  .......Read more here.....

There can be no doubt that the second leg of the Europa League semifinal against Villarreal, played tonight (Thursday) at the Emirates, is the most important one of Mikel Arteta’s time in charge of the team so far. The whole season seems to be hanging on its result, but it’s actually more than that, for several reasons, some rather obvious, some perhaps less so.

The importance of playing in the Champions League cannot be overstated, either from the financial point of view, or in terms of club reputation. The Gunners have been trying for years, without success, and the Europa League has (too) long been their consolation battleground.  .......Read more here.....

Arsenal were considered to be the favourites to beat Villarreal over two legs and progress to the final of the UEFA Europa League but now, that’s no longer the case. The Gunners were beaten 2-1 by the Spaniards last night in the first leg and, in all honestly, they’re probably lucky that it didn’t get worse than that for them.

Mikel Arteta has a lot to answer for in the eyes of supporters and in his post-match press conference, he answered all of those concerns as the pressure continues to mount.  .......Read more here.....

Arsenal may not be destined for great things in the Premier League this season but the jury is still very much out with regards to the Europa League. They’re at the semi final stage of the competition and tonight, they face an exciting first leg encounter against Villarreal.

The winner will meet Manchester United or Roma in the final but for the time being, the focus needs to be on one thing and one thing only: building a solid lead heading into the second leg.

Prior to tonight’s festivities, Gunners manager Mikel Arteta has spoken to the media about the game.  .......Read more here.....

Having had great success with Sevilla and a reasonable amount with Paris Saint-Germain as well, Unai Emery was chosen ahead of a number of other candidates (including Mikel Arteta) to succeed the legendary Arsene Wenger as the Arsenal boss in 2018. The Spaniard arrived with fresh ideas and moved to reconstruct the team he had inherited, bringing in the likes of Bernd Leno, Matteo Guendouzi, Lucas Torreira, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Stephan Lichtsteiner straight away.  .......Read more here.....

Arsenal’s Barcelona loanee Denis Suarez has confirmed that a groin injury will mean that he will not play again for the Gunners this season. It will also most probably mean that the midfielder will not play for Arsenal again.

Struggled to make an impact at Arsenal

Suarez has struggled to make an impact in north London since a January loan switch from Barcelona. Reportedly the Spaniard has cost the Gunners £3.2million in wages and signing-on fee, yet never started for the club. In fact, he has made just over an hour’s worth of football in the Premier League for Arsenal.  .......Read more here.....