Kai Havertz scores again + teenage transfer links

Happy Sunday everyone.

I don’t have anything particularly interesting or profound to write about today. I suspect I’ve wrung every last drop out of the title win in that sense, but who knows? You can never say never.

Focus will, inevitably, turn towards the World Cup, and last night Germany played the USA in a warm-up game in Chicago. Kai Havertz headed his side in front , there was an equaliser (and a hell of an equaliser too), before Kai provided an assist for Leroy Sane to score what turned out to be the winning goal .

Somewhere, because of the result, Alexi Lalas was sad, which provides me the excuse to remind everyone of the greatest Tweet of all time, and I won’t hear any arguments about this.

England, minus the Arsenal contingent of Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, and Noni Madueke, beat New Zealand 1-0. Ethan Nwaneri, who is with the squad to make up the numbers, didn’t get off the bench despite a plethora of substitutions. What a weird old time he’s had of it in the last 6 months. Going to Marseille, the manager who wanted him then getting sacked so he didn’t play much, apparently on the fringes of our title celebrations even though he did play a bit during the season, and now temporarily in an England World Cup squad before probably being sent back home when the other lads arrive.

Obviously we have to wait and see what happens with him this summer but I have a strong suspicion he could be in the departure lounge. The emergence of Max Dowman is probably a factor somewhere along the way, and when you read about us being linked heavily to Leicester teenager Jeremy Monga, you can’t help but wonder what the future holds for Ethan. There’s probably more to say on this as and when the situation develops further, but I think it might be one of the ongoing stories of the summer.

In addition to the 16 year old from Leicester, it’s being reported that we’re making a move for 18 year old PSG defender Emmanuel Mbemba (🎵Do you Mbemba the first time?🎵). I looked him up and a Transfermarkt article describes him as ‘the next William Saliba’, which works for me. I’m very happy with the current William Saliba, but if you ask me we should definitely get the next one and the one after that and possibly all William Salibas in perpetuity. It seems like a smart way to operate.

Then I looked at his profile and it said he was a ‘left-back’, and I’ve never been more sure a transfer is happening. If there’s one thing Mikel Arteta loves, it’s a left-back who clearly has the profile to play more centrally too. Would it even be summer at all without signing a left-back? You don’t need me to answer that. Especially when said player is the next William Saliba.

Elsewhere Leandro Trossard scored for Belgium in a friendly against Tunisia , and that’s about that. But what more could you want for a quiet, post-season Sunday?

Enjoy your day, more tomorrow, and we’ll have an Arsecast Extra for you too.