It has been an exciting transfer window for us, Arsenal fans. We have been very active, trying to fix the positions where we were lacking expertise, strengthening the bench and bringing in competition for other places. Let us look at the confirmed transfers till now.
Transfer Ins
Kai Havertz – £65.00m from Chelsea. We all have been asking for an upgrade on Xhaka from God knows when. Initially I thought Kai has been brought in to fill that position but I could be wrong. We saw Kai in more advance position playing centrally up top in our game against Manchester City and with Jesus injury records, he might be more of a competition to Jesus/Nketiah than a replacement of Xhaka. Frankly, if he is to play a striker role, we should have got an outright CF and 65m is a lot of money to get one. If he is a Xhaka’s replacement, who happens to cover the CF if the need be, I am more than happy. We may have paid a bit more for him, since his days at Chelsea wasn’t really exciting but he is young and was part of a Champions League winning team. Mixed opinions among Arsenal fans, we will have to revaluate once the season is over.
Jurien Timber – £38.00m from Ajax. Jurien has been brilliant whenever he is on the pitch so far. He is a natural right back, came to deputise Ben White but we have seen Arteta using him at LB position and he hasn’t disappointed. We have to accept two things at LB – Zinchenko is not going to be available for 38 games a season and Tierney is a limited defender who doesn’t suit Arteta’s football. We have seen Tomi at LB, Kiwior played too but Timber has made that position his own. Right side of our game is pretty aesthetic with Ben White overlapping Saka and drifting in the final third when we are in attack. Timber can do the same at the left side and it would be a treat to watch once he has the chemistry built up with Martinelli. He is fast, and don’t shy away in a 1v1. He is convincing in his defending and has good challenges/tackles in him. We paid good money for a good defender, no complaints here.
Declan Rice – £105.00m from West Ham. This one’s a pickle, not because I have any doubt in Rice’s ability but because the amount we paid for him to hammers. However, if you looks his age profile and consider the fact that Partey is 30+ and has only couple years left on his contract, he seems to be a good buy. He do not have an injury record, can play in a single / double pivot and I’m sure he has his best days ahead in red and white. We paid more, but that’s English premium I guess. Likes of Lavia and Mac Allister are going in the range of 40-50m to Liverpool, but Klopp doesn’t really need a high profile, high valued player to implement his game.
David Raya – £30m from Brentford. This one’s almost done. Fab confirmed the deal has been agreed and he will go through the medicals soon to be an Arsenal player. We have Ramsdale, who is not a bad keeper at all and pretty much does what Arteta expects him to. However, he has been erratic at times and Matt Turner wasn’t the answer. We are also going to play a lot of games this season (4-competitions, Champions League one of them) and we not only need a back up to Ramsdale but a competition who can play equally well every Wednesday/ Thursday and cover for him in injury times. Again, we are paying over the top for a keeper who plays for Brentford and has only a year left in his contract. Compare him to Bernd Leno, who was playing for Arsenal, was player of the season and one of the best shot stoppers in the league and he only fetched us less than one-third to what we are paying for David.
These 4 confirmed transfers brings our spend to 238m GBP… till now.
Transfer outs
Granit Xhaka – £21.5m to Bayer Leverkusen. I wasn’t expecting that but Granit fetched us good money after his best season with us. We have already replaced him with Kai, and have Vieira and ESR who can play in his position. We have also seen Arteta experimenting with a double pivot of Rice and Partey, which eliminates a need of #8 who need to track back, which is what the case is, with ESR and Vieira.
Pablo Mari – £3.7m to Monza. Good luck to him, we didn’t need him last season and we have enough body in the defence.
Auston Trusty – £4.9m to Sheffield United. At some point, we will have to learn how to best judge a player whether he can make it at the grand stage at Arsenal, or sell him and make some profit. Sure, we will have cases like Kevin DeBruyne and Mo Salah, but for every Salah, Chelsea sold 10 academy players for good money. I’m happy we decided Trusty wasn’t the answer to our questions and though the fee is very small, at least we made some money unlike Maitland-Niles. Do you remember we let go of 20m not long ago from Wolves for AMN, only to send him on loan and releasing him for free this window? Yes, lets avoid that and with the amount of investments our owners are doing, we need to recoup some of the money through player’s sell.
Till now, we have made about £30m in players sell.
…which leaves us to a £208 deficit. All our buys are costly, makes sense if you consider the fact that we finished 2nd last season and are going to compete for the title. It also makes sense when we are playing in Europe against the best of the world. CL will bring us extra cash, we have recovered from Covid and shirt sells are on a high. Some of that will cover this spend, the other, will be paid by some sacrifices in near future.
For now, we are winning the transfer window. In terms of the bodies we have brought in and sold; not so much in terms of the money we have spent.
At first, I thought to make this a ‘frequently updated’ article, but it will mess up the date of publishing and I’m sure you don’t want to re-read part of the article to check what’s new. We can review it again once the transfer window is over and we have played few games.
What do you think of each of these transfers? Happy for some, not for others? Let us know in the comments!
driver’s
not the most scintillating of opening day fixtures, as Burnley looks to have tried to emulate our last couple league matches against City, but it’s great to have things back and going…if Rice can give us even 75% of what Rodri provides for City, I’ll have a bit of a rethink on the whole overpayment gig…still wish we had made Caicedo our priority signing, although I do wonder where his head is at after all the transfer shenanigans surrounding him since last winter
sending only good vibes Arsenal’s way…I won’t be watching the match live, as it’s on a tad too early in my neck of the woods…hopefully all the regulars will be in good form on here so I’ll have some interesting reading material on tap once I’ve emerged from the crypt and finished watching the taped version…Cheers to one and all
Finally sanity of a sort can prevail from 12:30pm GMT today as the PL season kicks off in earnest. The huge hole left in our lives in the close season can be closed by filling it with hopes and dreams for this season.
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Once again we look to Mikel to fulfill on his promises to win the league by going better than last season. Hopefully, this isn’t one of his many fluff lines, as he used on Willian with CL trophy in 3 years: classic Arteta.
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Havertz to be or not to be that is the question? Whether tis nobler at 8 or 9 that best makes Forest suffer the great Bard might say today. Far from convinced with Kai’s pre season, but I wasn’t expecting to be, if I’m truly honest.
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Timber is the best signing for me and although I preferred Caicedo to Rice, as the Chaves and Klopp do, Rice will do well with us. Havertz? We’ll need time to asses his performances by the eye test and then cross reference with his stats to get the full picture.
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I hope Havertz smashes it out of the park all season; he’s PL tested and seasoned, so no excuses here for Havertz or less than a winning performance at home against a mid table at best team; last season relegation fodder.
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Very soon Arteta will be 5 years and counting where much is expected and excuses will no longer be tolerated by the masses. As Marc rightly says our squad has cost and is worth more than a £billion, if you can’t win the title with your own hand picked team, then you’re in the wrong job.
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3:0 to us with the opening game at home and the faithful bursting their long under used can cobweb filled lungs to full effect. Steve Cooper is a wily manager, but we have a squad on a completely different different level.
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All eyes on Mikel then and Havertz I would imagine. Timber MOTM perhaps?
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Enjoy Marc if you get to the game. 🙂
With all that natural lispiness, Saint Harold of Tottingham may have been better suited to the Spanish league, at least linguistically. I dare say he’ll be a fluent teutonic in no time whatsoever whilst delving enthusiastically into Goethe. Pity the hapless German hacks who’ll need an umbrella (wo ist die regenschirm bitte?) in order to hear his insights on the hoffenheim back 4.
A valedictory from the brilliant John Crace in the Guardian today describing him (again) as one of their own. No, no, no. He’s one of OUR own surely.
I wonder what would have happened had Arsenal kept him. Great goalscorer in a shit team but a dirty, snidey bastard who used his status to con refs everywhere. I can’t see it happening, but imagine if he ends up trophy less at Bayern? That would be something.
I love a Shakespearian scene-setter Tony. Cheers mate. I assume you and Junior will be giving it the big one. I’m busy part of the day but will be following it. This is a completely different outlook from 2/3 years ago when anyone could beat us – home or away – on any day. That season where Arteta conspired to set 5 or 6 negative records comes to mind.
The money’s been spent, the hot dogs are cooking and the players are looking sharp(ish) – let’s fucking go! Once more unto the breach!
County drew 0-0 last night which was a bit of an anticlimax. The GK is a real gem and pulled off some saves that Almunia (our one) would be proud of.
Anyone reading this who doesn’t contribute with their thoughts and comments? Today’s the day to start people. Us grizzly old cynics would love to hear what you think this season.
Tony
With all his indecision in front of goal, that’s a particularly apposite quote for our new German.
Hamlet Havertz!
Matchday post is live now.
Brilliant KP.
It’s mothers day here so our daughter has come to visit with Pumpkin for the first game.
She said she thought she had to bring the mascot as Win wasn’t working.
Ramsdale, Partey, White, Saliba, Timber, Rice, Odegaard, Havertz, Saka, Martinelli, Nketiah.
I believe this is the line up
Seems like Partey at RB with White in his natural CB and Saliba moves over to deputize for Gabriel. Rice at 6 with Havertz at 8 playing a CM role with ode more forward.
Neketiah playing to be in the shop window? Can’t see why him instead of Trossard?