Are Arsenal going back to their old way of doing transfer business?

Years ago Arsenal had a transfer policy that was heavily tilted towards young players but over recent seasons that policy has shifted towards more experienced players, however, I am starting to sense that we may be going back towards a more youngster focussed stance

To give you an example of what I mean had a look at what we brought in last season.

Lucas Torreira, 22, Bernd Leno, 26, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, 30, Mattéo Guendouzi, 19 and Stephan Lichtsteiner, 34.

That is an average age of 26.2 years, now let’s go back to 2011/12 and we can see the sort of players we were acquiring Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, 17, Carl Jenkinson, 19, Joel Campbell, 19 and Thomas Eisfeld, 19.

Now, let’s shift to this summer and anyone looking at the abundance of transfer rumours cannot have failed to notice the number of youngsters we are targeting.

Of course, until we officially sign anyone we will not know what the average age will be of those new signings that is why I said I am getting a sense that we are shifting policy back to the way it once was, I could be wrong.

It may well be that the reason we are targeting young talent is not because of our transfer budget and that they are cheaper options but because that is the direction the club is going in.

It would also mean that they are not necessarily bringing in youngsters because our young players are not deemed good enough, but because they are there to compliment what we already have, which would be a relief I will admit.

Time will tell if my assumption is even close to reality but I do have this feeling that I can’t shake that Arsenal is entering a brand new era in terms of the sort of players it is now after.

This could be the start of a long term project and we know what that will mean.

It will get worse before it gets better.

20 Comments

  1. I think we all have to realise that we have dropped way behind the top teams and a 1 or 2 transfer window with our spend will not cut it. Therefore we have to accept it is going to get worse before it gets better.
    Therefore like a previous post stated I do not think it is a bad idea to almost skip a window and rely on the youth to save that money.
    Yes we may not have some great results but those young players will learn so much in a year. The following year would give us a much better idea of who can cut it and those that need improving on. Then with a much bigger budget we can go into the market and get those players we need and more importantly want.
    Let’s face it its not like this year will all be kids anyway. We still will have plenty of experience with mustafi ozil Abu laca xhaxa etc that we won’t be able to shift anyway.

    1. Yes, those older players would not go anywhere, so the youngsters’ chances would still be very limited as long as their seniors still occupy the starting positions

      I like the ages and the physicalities of our targets though. The senior players will eventually be sold or released in 2021, so buying younger and bigger players is a good strategy to replace them

  2. Just In:
    Arsenal have made a £30.5m bid for Hakim Ziyech. Ajax want £35m but the player is very keen on Arsenal move.

    1. £30.5m? So we have about £9.5m left then?

      I just can’t see Arsenal spending that much on one attacking player when the defence needs an overhaul!?

        1. Well sue, we can get Moreno for free. That leaves us with the whole 9.5m!!! 🙂

          Happy days!!!

          1. Haha not sold on Moreno.. we have enough defenders that can’t defend ?
            Isn’t it amazing how one week it’s all good news as we’re signing Carrasco & Fraser, now that appears to have gone pear shaped.. I’m quite expecting the club to have a rethink about Lichtsteiner & offer him another year ?
            The only good thing I’ve read today is.. it’s been confirmed about Ljungberg & Bould.. come on Freddie!!

      1. Paid in instalments not all upfront.Clubs do this all the time just that it isn’t usually stated

        1. Yeah Sue I hear you, about Freddie!

          AS for the way things are “likely” to pan out..

          Signing Moreno and extending Lichtsteiner’s contract would compound my summer to misery 🙁

          The problem is, it’s just so very probable at Arsenal!

          The club used to be exiting and “on the up”! Now, it’s hard to find the energy to get that exited..

    2. @Kev,
      No paper or newsblog is reporting this your submission, maybe it’s possible, time will tell.

  3. The summer of 16/17 will go down as the dark year which wrecked the club slow and steady progress which set us back big time and we are still feeling the effect now. it also allowed liverpool to rise above us as they were in the same position as us a few years ago.

    13/14 we got ozil a good signing for the duration of his 1st contract
    14/15 alexis was bought and again a top signing
    15/16 cech was another good upgrade on gk position
    16/17 we got xhaka, mustafi, perez and 100m wasted
    17/18 lacazette and aubameyang top signings
    18/19 torreira, leno top signings

    If we had got the 2016/17 signings right we would have a good cb and dm and continued to progress steadily toward the top of the league. We likely would have gotten 2pts more and finish in the top 4 so no europa league, no nasty breakdown between wenger and fans. less financial burden. For example imagine liverpool had gotten the salah and mane signing wrong which they signed during that same period of time. it would have wrecked their plans.

    1. like GunneRay said above The club used to be exiting and “on the up” before the disaster that was 2016/17 transfer window. It is no coincidence that our fall from top 4 team happened at the same time as liverpool rise. it also allowed tottenham to catch up on us.

    2. Interesting take. I seem to remember part of the rationale for not going after Kante that year was the signing of Xhaka

      I don’t think it needs to be all youth or all experience. I’d rather see us spend the whole transfer kitty on one experienced playerin a key position and give the Nelsons, Bieleks, Holdings and AMNs of this world anchance rather than buying a bunch of mediocre players who aren’t better than what we have.

    3. Nice recap, but I think the biggest letdown was 15/16, when we did not buy a single outfield player. It was a really dumb decision that halted our progress and lead to panic buy 16/17. I think Wenger should resigned after 14/15 season when we won FA cup and just gotten Alexis. That way he would have left with dignity and provided a good foundation for the next manager.

  4. There is a lot of negativity around. I’ll keep my powder dry till the transfer cannon sounds but I hope to see a few fresh faces in and one or two departures gaining us a fee. A blend of youth team and two more experienced players hopefully defensive to give us a solid base. If we can shore the defence up the younger players can play with a bit less pressure and hopefully establish into the first team

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