Well, looks like we are on a clearance sell. Having sent a few of the players on loan in previous transfer windows, we are selling/loaning few more. We have been crippled with high wages for average players and in some way it’s comforting to see the club taking notice of it. Few contracts have been terminated (Ozil, Willian, Kolasinach) and few others have been sent on loan (Bellerin, Torreira etc). If you are looking for the extensive list, here’s one;
Players loaned or sold in this window
Ainsley Maitland-Niles – loaned to Roma for the remainder of this season.
Folarin Balogun – Middlesbrough loan for the rest of this season.
Sead Kolasinach – contract terminated and joined Marseille.
Pablo Mari – loan to Udinese for the rest of season.
Tyreece John-Jules – A loan to Sheffield Wednesday for rest of this season.
Calum Chambers – Sold to Aston Villa for an undisclosed fee.
I don’t think we needed most of these players anyway. Balogun is too raw to start, we have seen it at start of the season and needed frequent game time to develop. Kolasinach and Mari should have been moved on earlier, they are not making in to playing XI. John-Jules is an upcoming youngster and needs couple of season to play before we can evaluate him further.
Now, we can understand selling Calum Chambers to Villa since he had only 6 months left on his contract and we have enough cover at RB in Tomiyasu and White but Maitland-Niles? I believe his services could have been used this January when Partey and Elneny were off to AFCON and Xhaka was banned for a red card. We had to start games with Patino partnering with Lokonga and we lost a cup game we should have won. We should have kept AMN unless we are getting someone.
Players who were already on loan from earlier transfer window(s)
Matteo Guendouzi – Marseille
Willian Saliba – Marseille
Lucas Torreira – Fiorentina
Hector Bellerin – Real Betis
Reiss Nelson – Feyenoord
Dinos Mavropanos – Stuttgart
Matt Smith – DOncaster Rovers
Alex Runarsson – OH Leuven
Brooke Norton-Cuffy – Lincoln City
Frankly, we should have brought back Guendouzi. I don’t know how good he is playing at Merseille but he was a decent player when played for us and somewhat better than Lokonga. A partnership of Partey and him would have suited us better. William Saliba is another player whom we could have used. Enough coverage at CB means it’s not a priority but those 50m spent for White could have been just used to get a midfield / CF.
Rumors?
Couple of rumors on internet; Eddie Nketiah is being linked to New Castle, Barcelona and Juventus reaching out for Auba’s loan – who has fallen out due to disciplinary issue at the club.
What does this all mean?
We are short of midfield option and a striker. With Xhaka and Partey fit to play next games and Lokonga on bench, midfield can still survive but we will literally be left with Lacazette as a striker and Arteta has declined to play Martinelli as CF. We must also remember that Laca is in his last 6 months of contracts and probably will leave in the summer for free. We need an understudy for him, who can understand our play in next 6 months and be ready for the next season when Laca is gone!
So, a CF is coming? Or a Midfielder? Or both? Only a handful of days left for the transfer window to get over and we will need a few signings to challenge for the Champions League spot. We are a couple of injuries away to finish 8th third season in the row.
Top 4 is the target! Anything less than that is a failure for Mikel Arteta, who is in his second full season, having spent 150m+ and bringing half a dozen first team players. Bringing a back up goal keeper is not enough in my opinion; we can wait and see how the rest of transfer windows go.
Regardless he gets a few incoming or none at all, top 4 remains the target! See you in the comments.
