Our work in the transfer market is done

Think we just wanted these guys off the books. We've offloaded a lot. Still a lot more to get rid of. This squad had a lot of deadwood that needs to be cut out before it can be remodelled. We're still in the process of doing so.

 

Yup - TBH I would still like to see..

Ospina, Wellbeck, Elneny, Mustafi - I still think they are all below the required standard.

 

We have very little resale value in this squad, the management realizes that and unfortunately has to act accordingly. Until we can get fresh faces in and some measure of consistency, we're going to have to feed off scraps for a while.

 

Bit surprised to see Soyuncu go to Leicester. Thought we might have been in for him.

 

Think he was supposed to be the 6th signing but that never materialized for some reason. 35m is a lot and we'd have had to sell on in order to buy him I think..

 

Yup and Max Meyer go on a free to Crystal Palace.

 

He went for 19m in the end.

 

Regarding Perez, some outlets in Spain were saying he went for €19m euros. Sky are saying it's £5.5m with add-ons. Either way, it doesn't really matter. He obviously didn't see a future here and I'm guessing Emery didn't either. All the best to him.

Personally, I'd rather have kept him over someone like Welbeck. But I can imagine that Welbeck's high-energy, work-rate and pace fits into the pressing game that Emery wants us to play. Just a shame his shooting and finishing is wayward, otherwise we'd have a very useful player on our hands.

I know I've said this a few times already, but it seems like complete lunacy to have loaned Chambers out and not got anyone to replace him. Reports said Besiktas wanted £26m for Vida and we were unwilling to pay that, but I don't know why we spent so much time trying to get Vida when Soyuncu went to Leicester for £19m, who is younger and has a higher ceiling for potential.

I can only assume that Sokratis and Mustafi have looked a better centre-back pairing than they've shown us thus far. If Emery's happy with our centre-back options, I guess we just have to trust him on that.

With Kolasinac out until October/November time and Monreal losing a yard of pace, my guess is that Ainsley Maitland-Niles will be forced to be one of our full-back options. Which is a bit frustrating really, as I really wanted to see him thrive in midfield this season, but I don't think we'll get to see him play there that much.

 

Although the transfer window has closed in the U.K, we can still loan players to Championship clubs (and below) and can still sell abroad.

Sky reported earlier that Ospina has agreed terms with Besiktas, so that's another player off the wage bill.

Elneny I can see us keeping for cover, and he may even get deployed in defence every so often in some matches, although I think his time at Arsenal is coming to an end. Wouldn't be totally surprised to see him get loaned out. But I will be surprised if he's still at the club by the 2019/2020 season.

Welbeck, likewise, think will be gone by next Summer.

I also think Mustafi isn't up to the required standard. However, Emery must have seen something in his game to make him think he's worth keeping. I'd like to think he's a better player than we've seen so far, so let's see how he does under new management. But if he fails to impress this season, he has to be sold next Summer.

 

I've mentioned before, that Elneny could be used as a CB. He's played there before and done quite well. He's quick, good positionally and reads the game quite well.

 

I cant see Emery doing this.

I think the days of playing guys who are not physically equipt for that position are over. Wenger would play certain players in this position because he valued the ability to play the ball 'out of defence' more than he did the ability to actually defend.

Playing Elneny at the back would be a total disaster. IMO.

 

The main issues I have with Elneny potentially being deployed as a centre-back is his lack of height and size. Whilst this isn't everything, as we've seen from Mascherano at Barcelona (though this is an exception rather than the rule), he doesn't always read the game well. And I would argue he would be up against more physically imposing strikers in England.

His natural instinct is to win the ball as a defensive-minded midfielder, but as a centre-half you're not always going to win every tackle, so you need to know when to drop off and when to recover the spaces. I have to disagree with Piskie on Elneny being good positionally. If anything, if Emery is planning on playing him there every so often, he will need to improve his positional sense and anticipation. He needs to curb his desire to press and harry the opposition at every given moment.