Former Arsenal midfielder Anders Limpar has dismissed concerns about Arsenal’s squad readiness and strength-in-depth and has high praise for one player, calling him “The Next Ashley Cole”.
Speaking to BOYLE Sports, he also gives his perspective on the Rice vs Odegaard captaincy debate and argues that “Mr Arsenal” Bukayo Saka is worth £250 million to the club and how he compares with Palmer and Foden.
He also gives his thoughts on why he believes the sacking of Patrick Viera to be unfair, what Elland Road brings to the Premier League and his prediction for Arsenal vs Leeds at the weekend.
Arsenal's Squad
The Next Ashley Cole
Myles Lewis-Skelly is already the next Ashley Cole, but an unbelievable player is ahead of him in Riccardo Calafiori. He is something else. Liverpool and City have probably two world-class players in any position, so Arsenal need both Calafiori and Lewis-Skelly over the next 70 games. We need them both.
If Arteta goes for Calafiori, he must be better in training. We don’t know. Arteta knows. The players know. He is picking the team with the players who are in form. That's his style.
If Lewis-Skelly is not playing in the first few games, he has to have patience because he's going to play at least 40 games, and Calafiori is going to play up to 40 games. We need them both, and both of them can play as a winger as well.
Can Kepa Arrizabalaga Backup Raya?
It’s a question for all the top teams. What happens if Haaland gets injured? What happens if Mohamed Salah tears his hamstring? If you play for Arsenal, even if you're a goalkeeper or the third goalkeeper, you're a hell of a player. Otherwise, you shouldn't play for Arsenal.
The modern game nowadays it's pressure. You live with pressure every day, so I mean, there's nothing new for them.
Rice vs Odegaard
Captaincy: Rice vs Odegaard
I actually saw that interview, and Tony Adams was laughing, and he got booed when he said that. I can't say anything against my skipper, for sure. He is one of the best skippers there has been in the game, and he has won so many things. If he says that Arsenal need a new skipper, I can agree with him.
What I'm saying is that it's not even important because I can't sit here in Stockholm telling Arsenal to swap to Declan Rice. But if Tony Adam says that they're gonna swap to Declan Rice, I stand behind it.
As a former player, I can’t go out and slag people off. I think Odegaard is unbelievable. Is he suitable to have the captaincy? Yes, in my opinion. I think so. If Tony wants another skipper, yeah, that's his words.
Whatever Tony says, that's easy for me now. I stand behind him because I know how he was as a captain. He was Captain Marvel. So he said a few things about Martin. I don't know if it's fair or not. Only Arteta knows how he is in the dressing room, how he is among the players. Is he the first one going out in practice? Is he leading by example? I don't know.
All the things I'm saying is what you expect from the captain; otherwise, he's not captain for Arsenal.
You and I don't know if Declan Rice even wants to be a captain. We don't know that. What they say behind closed doors, we don't know. What we do know is that Martin is the captain. He must be a hell of a player in the dressing room for sure to claim the captaincy, and especially as a foreign player. That's unbelievable.
He is always good for Arsenal, and I hope that he can take them to the next level, score a few more goals, because he's a tremendous passing player. He's dictating the speed of the game. I like him. He's one of my favourites, and at the moment, he is the captain, so leave it there.
Bukayo Saka
Saka’s Worth
The most expensive player in history right now is Neymar. That’s £200million. For Saka, let’s say £250million because he’s like Neymar. He can go to any club there is in the whole world, so he would be the most expensive player in the world.
It is ridiculous money to even talk about, but if you have to ask me the question, he is my personal favourite, and he is Mr Arsenal, and I just love to see him play when he’s scoring goals and cutting inside. I like him. He’s a prospect.
Saka vs Palmer vs Foden
Wow! I mean, to pick one of those players to be the star for England, which must be the hardest job in the world! If you have Cole Palmer and Saka, who shall I pick today?
It should be the best job in the world, but actually, to pick only some of them, it is the hardest job to keep them happy, even for a top manager. You have to be so good at the mental side of it.
To tell Phil Foden or Palmer, you're not going to play now against Germany because I'm going to play Saka. I mean, what is he going to tell them to run 100% for him then? To be a manager nowadays is one of the hardest jobs you can have. But for England, to have these three players is just unreal. I would not be a manager nowadays; I can tell you that. That must be such a hard task.
Is Palmer's Goal Scoring Woes Concerning?
I’m not so sure we have to look at players to always have end products. The way I see Cole Palmer at Chelsea is that he is dictating the game for Chelsea, to play quick or play slow. It’s a bonus for these kinds of players. It’s a bonus when Declan Rice scores. It’s a bonus when Odegaard scores. Because these players are the engines of their teams.
He can help Chelsea to have more end product then that will help Chelsea, but I don’t think he is a player you should have to rely on to be scoring goals. Other players should be scoring too. Palmer is dictating the game.
But he can knock them in. I’ve seen Chelsea games where he has played. He’s been close. He’s always there shooting and suddenly bang bang he scores two goals or sets some up like in the Club World Cup.
He is a hell of a player for Chelsea, but you shouldn't put that much weight on him, just him, to be the end product player, because he is the engine of Chelsea.
Patrick Vieira
Viera Sacking “Wasn’t Fair”
Patrick Vieira has been a manager. Thierry has been a manager. Cesc Fabregas is doing a tremendous job at Como. If Arsenal decided to change their manager, bring all three of them in. They are all Arsenal through and through.
Fabregas is clever with his tactics. Henry can set up the attack. Vieira knows everything about Arsenal, and he has that toughness as an Invincible. At the moment, I’m happy with Arteta. But if Arsenal decide to swap managers in the future, bring in all three of them.
I think Patrick Vieira is going to bounce back as a manager. The way they sacked him at Crystal Palace wasn't fair on him.
Arsenal vs Leeds
Prediction: Arsenal vs Leeds
To be a newcomer like Leeds, that's better for Arsenal because they're going to lack a little bit of confidence. But I will go for Arsenal 3-1 Leeds, and Viktor Gyokeres is going to score two of them.
If you look at the history, Leeds are an attacking football side. The fans demand Leeds to be an attacking side. If they're clever enough to play like Arteta did in the first game and not lose, we have to watch and see.
Over the years, the teams coming up have struggled a little bit from the Championship because it's a big step to go up to the Premier League. We have to watch and see, but I think in my opinion, with the team we have today, Arsenal, we should beat any team at the Emirates. Any team. We have a definite chance to beat Leeds as well.
“Unreal” Elland Road
The thing is, if people ask me, what's the ground that has the loudest fans? You have three arenas. You have Anfield, you have St. James Park, and you have Elland Road. It’s unreal to play in front of Leeds fans. But they can also turn on you when you're not playing good.
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