So to summarise, this is the list of all the incomings and out goings this month. In: Leandro Trossard - £21m from Brighton & Hove Albion Jakub Kiwior - £17.6m from Spezia Calcio Jorginho - £12m from Chelsea Out: Albert Sambi Lokonga - loaned to Crystal Palace Cedric Soares - loaned to Fulham Marquinhos - loaned to Norwich City Academy & U21s: Harry Clarke - permanent transfer to Ipswich Town - £1m fee Brooke Norton-Cuffy - loaned to Coventry City Miguel Azeez - loaned to Wigan Athletic Omar Rekik - loaned to Wigan Athletic Kido Taylor-Hart - loaned to Derby County Arthur Okonkwo - loaned to SK Sturm Graz Ovie Ejheri - loaned SJK Seinäjoki Tom Smith - loaned to Colchester United Nathan Butler-Oyedeji - loaned to Accrington Stanley Taylor Foran - loaned to Hartlepool United Although I think we've improved the quality of our 18 first team players, I still think we're a bit short in midfield and don't really have sufficient cover on the right wing (no update on Reiss Nelson's whereabouts from anyone). We're going to have to be a bit lucky and hope we don't suffer any fatal injuries for the rest of the season. I included the academy loans because I think there are a number of good moves in there for some of our younger players, some of whom are quite highly rated (Taylor-Hart, Okonkwo, Norton-Cuffy etc). Overall, I'd say the window was a 7/10 - some important squad positions filled, but more could have been done.
It's interesting you know the reaction to this window is soo mixed. Arsenal fans have long been the most vocal on social media and transfer windows have become massive events. It's come to the stage that false stories get thousands of retweets. There's a whole industry of wanna be agents/journalists. Any move made by scouting teams, Edu etc.. get scrutinised and blown out of proportion. I have no doubt our fan base is a detriment when it comes to signing players. They create hype when its best to work silently, they get emotional when rumoured player transfers don't materialise. Every Club has this in 2023 but Arsenal fans are next level. Trossard is a good signing - adds experience, will suit our style of play, allows for more rotation. Kiwior looks decent, still young, wasn't huge money so the risk is less. Hard to Judge until we see him play in the EPL. Jorginho this is the tricky one. Only a year ago the guy came 3rd in Ballon d'Or! Soo for 12 million that seems like an absolute bargain. I guess it depends how his fitness and pace hold up at 32. (He's never been the fastest player) Glad to see Lokonga get a loan - they guy needs games to develope.
I agree with a lot of what you say, but I also think a lot of people got drawn in by Chelsea's unprecedented amount of spending and because they were able to sign a lot of the hottest properties on the market, it is naturally underwhelming when you go for players who aren't as 'shiny' or 'spectacular' in comparison. That said, I think it was a fairly solid window for us and I think we made sensible signings - my worries are that we still lack a bit of depth in the centre (unless we plan on using ESR/Vieira in deeper positions or if Arteta can tweak this system to accommodate them where necessary) and we lack natural width on the right. Saka and Nelson are our only 2 right wingers. Nelson's been injured for ages now, though, and there's been no update recently regarding his recovery. I don't want us to burn Saka out, as he looked a bit jaded in the last game. As I said, hopefully there are no more long-term absentees for the remainder of the season. On the plus side, it seems as if Gabriel Jesus is back in light training so could be back in about 3 weeks (reportedly). That will be a big boost.
Jesus will be a huge boost, Nketiah is scoring goals for fun but we miss Gabriels ability to take on players, pull defenders out of position on and lay the ball off in tight spaces. Chelsea's spending just seems insane to me. When you send big money on a young player the risk is often greater because they may not develop into the talent you expect. One of the main reasons traditionally younger players where cheaper.(not any more!) For sure some of these guys will flop and won't get the game time they need to develop. The other thing is it doesn't seem like they are addressing squad weaknesses just adding good young players regardless of position. How many wide players does a squad need?
If we land our reported targets in the Summer.. how do you rate this as a squad? Ramsdale / Turner White / Tomiyasu Saliba / White Gabriel / Kiwior Zinchenko / Tierney Partey / Caceido Rice / Xhaka Odegaard / Viera Saka / Trossard Martinelli / Smith-Rowe Jesus / Nketiah
Let’s not forget we have Balogun coming back too, who is absolutely killing it in Ligue 1. I think he’s joint-top scorer with Mbappe on 14 goals. What a loan spell. Gonna have a headache trying to fit Jesus, Nketiah and Balogun into the side getting regular minutes, but it’s a good problem to have. I still think we need another midfielder if we sell Lokonga/Elneny personally. Will also be interesting to see if we send Marquinhos on loan again for the entire season this time or whether we think he can be part of the squad.
Isn't there a young player called Edwards who has had good reviews? There seems to be enough natural talent in London these days, so why the need to scout the globe.
Also you have to say as good as Jorginho has been lately... Partey made a big difference, His pace and ball winning allowed us to completely dominate that midfield. Ah wrong thread.