Quote Originally Posted by Peter View Post
I don't think it was about replacing Zinchenko. I think it was more about Arteta not really trusting Kiwior who was our only cover for Gabriel. Arteta probably wants to get where City are- having the ability to change the back four regularly for different types of games, by shuffling players who can play in multiple positions. So far that hasn't really been possible as we have had 3 or 4 defenders unavailable each game so we have had to pick from what is available.

I also think this summer was the first time the financial situation has really hampered our recruitment. I have no doubt whatsoever that we wanted to strengthen the forward and creative parts of the squad but we simply couldn't afford to. Calafiori and Merino represented affordable solutions to the areas we could actually fix. Sterling was the affordable solution in the wide areas but is clearly not setting the world alight in training so far I suspect we would have been better off keeping Reiss Nelson but Arteta doesnt trust him....
If you remember, Zinny was MA's second choice. He initially wanted Martinez who was a LCH/LB.

I think he wants FBs who are ball playing CHs who can play as FB or DMs {so can invert.}

So when won FB is attacking, if we get hit with a counter, we have a back 3 who are all pwoppa CHs.