JUST A QUICK TRANSFER WINDOW ROUND-UP by Funsho
Greetings to all you lovely JA folks out there! Imagine! We ‘partey-ed’ so hard the night of the day before yesterday that the part of sending this write-up to Admin Pat was done improperly. Even if this writer’s state (without the drinks) was not more despicable than Nicolas Cage’s in the 1995 Hollywood romantic drama-Leaving Las Vegas, ‘parteys’ just have a way of sapping your energy. Anyways, article stays the same and here ya go!
While some are complaining that his signing is a little insufficient for the gunners’ creative inadequacies from midfield, I bet Thomas’ deadline day signing got gooners pumped to some degree. Oh wait! Hope you had yourself a lovely little Partey as well and didn’t get too hung over afterwards?
Has to be said though, that in this writer’s opinion, Arsenal did OKAY transfer-wise, but questions persist. What now for Ozil? Overabundance of CB personnel: Sokratis, Chambers, Mustafi, even Kolasinac (who’s played as a 3rd CB in MA’s 3-4-3 a few times), what do you do with them? How much of Arsenal’s deficiency in creativity will Partey, Ceballos and Willian solve? Among several other questions lingering, this commentary will give a brief view of what each signing can achieve for their new club.
In the defensive department, Runarsson came in to replace Martinez — he may not play much, but should be a decent no. 2. Most have branded the Cedric and Mari signings pointless, but the presence of proper competition may have played some part in Bellerin’s recent resurgence; good, isn’t it? And pertaining to Mari, this writer believes he will be a good signing after all. The Spaniard has been written off before anything, but after all is said and done, he should be a good deputy for Gabriel Maghalaes, another signing who appears to be clear of most of the CBs at London-Colney since the season started. And the fact that Arsenal, Leverkusen and Kolasinac could not strike a deal makes the Bosnian LANS (Like A New Signing); nooooooo, come on, it was only a joke. To be candid, Sead’s probably the most hopeless defender at the club right now – he has zero confidence.
Moving further, in the attacking department, there was no new signing per se, but we saw important contract extensions especially that of our Gabonese skipper. Youngsters Martinelli and Saka’s new contracts are good developments going forward. Imagine if Bukayo Saka was signed for 27.5m from Crystal Palace or maybe Eintract Frankfurt; won’t that be an astute buy, similar to how Martinelli’s 10 goals last season quickly made the 6.1m fee paid for him look like daylight robbery? Even with yesterday’s ‘partey’ (winks) that lasted until the wee-hours of the morning, tying Aubameyang down to a new contract still represents that club’s most important investment during this covid-ravaged Summer. And though, he’s yet to score since he re-signed (LOL), when he finally does, the floodgates will open. Did I forget anyone? Uhmmm, don’t think so, because with hearsay from the media that Willian could play AMF in Arteta’s 4-3-3, I decided to leave the Brazilian veteran out of this section with the assumption that the current 3-4-3 system is being utilized out of necessity rather than out of choice/appointment.
In addition, in the midfield department, Partey’s signing is easily an upgrade on the options already at the N5. Even though, signing the OL guy (won’t say his name cos Arsenal refused to pay the money; and rumours have it that his brother asked for about 15m in agent fees or that he didn’t really want Arsenal – depending of who got your info from) would have made the Summer even better for the club, the importance of Thomas Partey’s arrival may be more in the flexibility and boldness he affords Arteta in his set up, rather than passes threaded through the eye of a needle from the signing himself. So, keep an eye on that!
Willian is obviously a stop-gap, but at the same time a good option to have in the squad. He’s a starter at the moment, and rightly so: can play on the wings (think his best position may be as a LWF) and in midfield. Therefore, if MA had played a 4-3-3 against Sheffield United yesterday, with Partey and Elneny sitting behind Willian in midfield, would there have been more that 6 shots on target for Arsenal? Who knows!
Ehmm, did I leave anyone out? Oh yea, our all-action on-loan Spanish midfielder (Ceballos) will expect himself to have a better season this time, and if his cameo against Liverpool is anything to go by, maybe the manager can even groom him for the #10 role like he thought Fabian Delph to play as a LB/LWB when he was assisting Pep at Man City. Also, think of a Ceballos-Xhaka-Partey midfield against Man City after the international break? Kinda tantalizing – a hardworking trio, but I’m not getting my hopes up too much.
Finally, a fan can only wish players (especially the new signings) all the best for the season and hope the coaching crew will fashion out a workable system that will deliver top-4. Maybe Partey’s signing will give Arteta more audacity to play his preferred 4-3-3. Maybe Pepe will kick on from his goal on Sunday seeing that Willian has taken the RWF spot thrice this season already in his stead.
Maybe Lacazette’s early season form will result in a 20-goal return in the league this season. Maybe Martinelli will return and hit the ground running right away. Maybe the whole team will raise their levels. Maybe young players like Willock, Nelson, Nketiah and co will grab every chance they get in the cups with both hands. Maybe Mesut Ozil remontanda is even on the cards (doubt it!) with Partey and Ceballos behind him against teams that come to the Emirates with a double decker.
Maybe Arteta will find a system that works and Arsenal will overachieve this season as other big teams fail. No one really knows what will happen. Accordingly, why not sit back then, relax, enjoy the suspense, grab some pop-corn and soda and be entertained by the 2020/21 season. Hopefully, the world continues to heal from the virus… stay safe everyone. COYG!
Really appreciate you reading along,
Funsho.
