International breaks are boring! We have to wait till 11th afternoon to watch our boys play against Norwich.. I’m expecting that game will bring us some joy after three straight losses out of which one was a humiliating 5-0 loss against City. Norwich have lost all three games, just like us but sit above us in 19th place due to goal difference.
Transfer Window is over and we have invested heavily this summer. We have spent GBP 142m, bringing in 6 players in different positions. Let’s look at our overall window now.
Whom did we buy?
The first incoming was Nuno Tavares, as a back up to Kieren Tierney at LB. KT is a bit injury-prone and we require a back up / understudy to him knowing Kolasinach is the only option we have left. Xhaka & Saka both have covered the LB in some cases but it’s not a long term solution and disturbs the dynamic of team.
We got Sambi Lokonga as a midfield option. He looks a bright prospect and of whatever we have seen him, he is really good in playing driving the ball forward. I’m expecting him to be a regular in midfield along side Thomas in coming days.
After sending Saliba back on loan for another season, and having Gabriel, Mari, Holding and Chambers at CB, Arteta decided to bring in Ben White from Brighton. He has only player the first match before getting Covid but he is a nice addition to the team. He is a ball playing Center Back and though the price range was more than what you will pay for someone who is not word class (yet!), we certainly required an upgrade to what we have. I would have rather seen Saliba given chance though!
Next was Odegaard coming in. He was Mikel’s favorite last season on loan and we got him probably at the right price. I’ve my concern but I seriously hope Martin proves me wrong!
Ramsdale joins us as back up to Leno. Leno has shown desire to move to a new challenge and Ramsdale is expected to fill his place eventually. I won’t be surprised if he steals Leno’s place from starting XI seeing how many we are conceding these days.
Last but not the least, we got Takehiro Tomiyasu from Bologna as Bellerin replacement, who left on loan. Bellerin was world class before he picked up an injury and we certainly required an upgrade on him. All our attacking options from left means it was easy for other teams to isolate our attacking threat. We needed a KT-like on right side and Tomi has been brought in for the same.
Who left us?
I wish this list was longer! We sold Willock to new castle and Willian contract was cancelled in mutual agreement.
We sent a lot of player out on loan, some with the ‘option’ to buy. Mavropanos went to Stuttgart, Guen and Saliba to Marseille, Lucas Torreira joined Fiorentina, Reiss Nelson to Feyenoord, Runarsson to OH Leuven and Bellerin to Real Betis.
We would probably never see Guen, Mavro, Torreira and Bellerin again in Arsenal shirt. Saliba will be returning with us and I’m hopeing Nelson would do great at Feyenoord before coming back to us and fighting for his place in playing XI.
What do I think of our transfer Window?
If you ask me if Arsenal are doing the right thing, the answer is Yes. We have been targeting the right profile of players, with right age group. Am I excited? No. We badly needed midfield additions and probably a center forward. We have scored 0 goals against 3 opponents and there is no creativity in final third of the pitch. Either Auba returns to his Golden Boot form, or we would be struggling through out this season to score.
Ben White looks like a great addition but we could have used Saliba, who in my opinion is a better player. We could have used those 50mil to get us Aouar/Bissouma and that would have strengthen us in the field.
The fact that our playing XI somewhat will remain same to last year when we finished 8th, after spending some 150mil odd, is weird. We can just hope all these signing go on to become great players, but for current season, we only can hope the seniors step up and bring out their A game, and Partey don’t get injured again.
Right, see you in the comments.
