we do believe

the vulnerability of precious things is beautiful because vulnerability is a mark of existence

Original tags:

#okay i am reblogging this again because i think we as a fandom took too long to reach the obvious conclusion: DAEMON.#that man absolutely has the soul of a raccoon.#settled later than his peers; when he was 17 and playing first-team football in the eliteserien.#in contrast martin (arctic fox) settled at the age of like ten.#antonio nusa has a sea otter. alex sorloth has a huge fuck-off moose.#kissa thorstvedt has some form of primate; not sure what.#sander has a northern gannet: social; expressive; vocal; wanders about a lot; mates for life.#mikel arteta has a wolverine.#do you see it.

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From @odeskittysteps:

#prev i am begging you to tell us what you think the arsenal boys daemons are#i feel like kai has some sort of small mammal that sits around his shoulders#long tail#very soft#tempted to give declan a horse since they call him horse but i don't really think that fits#declan is some sort of stubborn unglamorous working animal#that could he a horse or maybe a donkey but i feel he's more middle-sized#leo is also a raccoon and martin has to sit for a while and think about why he's so fond of these raccoon-ed men#no ideas for bukayo

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I do agree that Kai is a small soft cuddly mammal; I think he's also a fox, just a different sort of fox from Martin. Big Gabi's got a swan: beauty elegance strength grace + WILL fight you WILL play dirty WILL win. I love thinking of Vik as a black-footed cat: self-assured and private and intense and also Smol. Ben White has a marmoset and they drive the dressing room nuts. Wilo's got a roadrunner: hardy, stubborn, territorial, dramatic. Also I love the thought of our central defense being two birds that will Fight You.

David Raya's daemon settled when he was around thirteen or fourteen, the day he decided to play in goal instead of as an outfielder; he has a tarantula, like Yashin. (Due to the nature of their whole thing I feel like goalkeeper daemons should be more solitary than the usual footballer daemon.)

For reasons that are obvious to us all Granit Xhaka has a honey badger. Leo is definitely a raccoon, of course. A horse is a bit too nervous of a creature to be Dec's soul, I think; to me Declan Rice is a border collie and he will tear your yard up if he doesn't get enough enrichment.

I enjoy the idea of Mikel Merino as a fuck-off huge Aldabra tortoise. Admittedly I have not given too much thought about what we're supposed to do about the daemons on the pitch, if, if you want to be a footballer, your soul better settle into the appropriate shape. But I like the combination of the wisdom symbolism and how it fits with the whole thing Meri has going on, where it is occasionally very very obvious that his brain moves at a velocity his body can't match.

There are probably better personality fits, but due to the sheer symbolism of it all I cannot give Bukayo Saka any daemon other than a lion.

#'j unrealcities why are they mostly mammals and birds' in many ways the reptilian ethos and the footballer ethos are very different.#but also i am giving mesut ozil the same daemon i give myself (saltwater crocodile).#(at the risk of running a cliche: per mertesacker's a capybara. friend shaped. lukas podolski's a golden retriever.)

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Anyway Premier League winner World Cup winner Mikel Merino settled about the same time as most of his peers, but then he settled into- that. There'd been thoughts of playing him further up the pitch, as an attacking midfielder in the Michael Laudrup mold, or as a false nine, or even as an out-and-out number nine, but not after that. The daemon wasn't usually a problem, but that was because usually, if the daemon wasn't small enough to be carried on your person, it would at least be able to run up and down the touchline as you moved up and down the field, if it weren't the sort that flew over your head either way. Notttt if your daemon is. That. So: centre-back at Dortmund, defensive midfield at Newcastle and Sociedad. And then Arsenal had an injury crisis, and Mikel Arteta had a bright idea.

grace on football

brian phillips in grantland

Martin Ødegaard signs an Arsenal shirt for Declan Rice after Arsenal and West Ham drew 2-2. 16th April 2023.

norway's 2026 world cup run