News Thread

Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte will undoubtedly be sweating ahead of Saturday’s North London derby against Arsenal, due to a last-minute injury to one of his key players. According to Football London, Spurs winger Dejan Kulusevski returned from international duty with Sweden “feeling tightness in his hamstring” and will likely miss the return of the Premier League campaign. 

Arsenal continued their impressive start to the season with an emphatic 3-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the North London derby on Saturday, once again showcasing the talent of Mikel Arteta’s youthful and exciting side. The average age of Arsenal’s starting XI stood at just 24.8 years, a whole four years younger than Spurs’ average on the day. And goes some way to explaining why the London club have hit the ground running this season. 

Arsenal center-back Gabriel Magalhães has signed a new long-term contract. Although the club did not report the length of the new deal, sources have told CBS Sports and The Guardian that the new deal will run until 2027. Gabriel joined Arsenal for €26 million from Lille in 2020 and has scored nine goals and one assist in 83 games across all competitions for the North London side. 

The market value update in the Premier League, in which all players were reassessed ahead of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, provides a novelty. For the first time in the history of Transfermarkt market values, which have been determined since 2004, the English top flight has the most valuable footballer in the world in its ranks: Erling Haaland has replaced Kylian Mbappé. Almost as impressive as Manchester City’s 22-year-old star striker, things are also going well for Arsenal, who register the biggest increase in squad value, while there are 14 devaluations at struggling Liverpool.

Although each Transfermarkt market value update often focuses on the biggest and brightest stars in each league and how their own value has increased over the past few months, our reviews of each European league can also underline how well a club is doing too. And this week’s Premier League update did a fantastic job of showing just how well Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal side are doing this season. 

The peculiar timing of the 2022 World Cup has meant that Europe’s biggest leagues have come to a halt a little ahead of schedule and will now take an extended break from domestic duties. And, as such, that has given Transfermarkt the unique opportunity to take a look at which players have improved the most in the first half of the Premier League season. 

Arsenal are apparently very serious in their attempt to sign Mykhaylo Mudryk. The Athletic and Fabrizio Romano report that the Gunners have submitted an official offer to Shakhtar Donetsk for their star winger. The 21-year-old has been linked with a move to North London for a few months now.

Arsenal returned to Premier League action on Monday night in fantastic fashion, with a 3-1 win over West Ham to cement their spot at the top of the English top flight with all three points. And, once again, Bukayo Saka was central to the success enjoyed by Mikel Arteta and his side. 

With an increase of €114 million, Bayern Munich are one of the world’s biggest winners in terms of squad value in 2022, moving up four places in the international ranking of the most valuable squads and finishing the year behind leaders Manchester City. Thanks to support from Greece and Saudi Arabia, the biggest gains were posted by Nottingham Forest and Newcastle, two clubs that were able to make use of their financial resources, as well as Barcelona, who had to be a bit more creative raising the funds necessary.

A lot can change over the course of 12 months. Managers can go from hero to zero and find themselves quickly out of a job, league or European champions can be relegated to yesterday’s team and, perhaps most notably, the form and fortunes of star players can rise and fall in dramatic fashion. And that’s undoubtedly the case when it comes to the market values of some of the Premier League’s biggest stars.