It’s been years since Arsenal spent money in January, often accepting a loan deal, the priority being to bring in a body the cheapest way possible.
All I ever asked is for the Gunners to try and be the best version of themselves on and off the pitch.
I have never needed the club to spend outrageous fees or wages, I just wanted them to be creative in the market. 12 million for Jorginho is being creative in the market.
The one thing our squad lack is experience, the youngest in the division.
An advantage Man City have in the title race is a dressing room of talent who are winners; who know how to get over the line and handle the pressure that arises come April and May.
Remember, the majority of our players choked in the race for top 4, so we don’t know if the pressure of ending a two-decade drought is too much.
We have seen how the winning mentality of Jesus and Zinchenko has changed the culture around the place. Adding one more face with that kind of history surely can’t hurt can it?
For 12 million?
That can’t get you anything in today’s market, but by us smartly taking advantage of the Italian’s contractual situation we bring in a player who has won Champions Leagues, European Championships, etc, is a masterstroke.
Even if he doesn’t play every week (and he won’t if all our midfielders are fit), what a personality to have in training!
Imagine our youngsters building up to the Man City fixture or a Europa League Final, and having someone with the 31 year old’s knowledge to seek out.
He would pay back his fee just by doing that.
I wrote recently about how having reliable fringe players is needed to be champions.
I referenced our Invincibles where a Edu and Parlour are not the most celebrated names from that team, but were individuals who when needed Mr Wenger could trust to bring in, knowing they would always give you an above 7 out of 10.
That’s what a Jorginho can do.
It’s great to see the club learning from their mistakes.
I remember a young Fabregas, Nasri, Van Persie, etc, building title bids, but their employers refused to bring in experience even when it was obvious that’s what was needed. Hence seasons would be ruined by injuries to Eduardo and Carabao Cup Final defeats and a lack of leadership not apparent.
This month Arsenal have acted from a position of strength.
In the past they would have been settled in the comfort of Champions League revenue almost ensured.
They realise they are in a position they might not be in again, that this is the chance to write themselves into history, to become immortal. To leave memories that last forever.
Even if they have spent some of the summer’s funds, it’s worth it if it means the title.
Plus if you need someone to take a penalty, who better then Jorginho?
Welcome to Arsenal Jorginho.
Dan Smith
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By buying Chelsea dead wood, come on guys now I see ppl saying Goerginhio is icing on the cake lol!. Supporting player because he is now Arsenal player is one thing but being so blind that all of sudden he has become an incredible player is just nonsense.
Mr Logic. It’s amazing how you see all these embrace about Jorginho as nonsense and yet you cannot even spell his name right. I believe you might have said the same about Casemiro when he was coming to Man United. Why can’t you you wait before you have enough evidential pictures before you open your mouth. Many players have left other clubs as deadwood and have done well in their next club. You are playing hasty generalization here but it’s not always true
So if I miss spell someone’s name that does not make my argument wrong. Second casemiro is class, I have always been bug admirer of him. Third its not we bought a player who is not well known so I am assume things. He is 31 and has been playing in pl for some time. His performances in last last season and specially this season are good enough evidence to come up with assumption I am making. Other so called dead wood players you are talking about in their previous clubs were not given enough opportunities to show their skills and discarded when they were young. This guy is past his best and is clearly on decline. His own club Chelsea did not offer him new contract. If he was that good, should they not have tried to extend his contract. Last the dude was struggling to be regular in a non performing injury struck team so that is enough of evidence that he is past his date by sell.
@Logic, but arsenal sold gerud to Chelsea whom we nicknamed donkey, he won the champions league with them. gerud had gone to world cup with France twice , won one and got to the final scoring important goals. If gerud had come from Chelsea to arsenal some fans here would have murdered our managers. Most of our recruit from Chelsea left them due to contractual disagreement, David Louis , and co. So it was not a panic buy but a necessity.
You can not use Giroud as an example, he provides a team with different dimension or option of attack. He at this age has proved to be dependable and usable player. Where as Gorgi does not offer us a plan B he is supposedly bought to cover Party. Do you think if Party gets injured for 10 games then he will be enough to keep us going for the title charge. Is he good enough backup player for Party. My issue only with Gorgi is he is not good enough backup to Party specially when we have such a golden chance to win the league. Plus Arsenal had enough time to bring a quality backup in two windows summer as well as winter but they missed the opportunity.
I wouldn’t say creative ,but settling for the next best .
We had our main targets which were not Trossard and Jorginho who have been bought in as backups which is fine for the rest of the season but how does this now effect our summer business where we should be signing players to improve the squad .
Why would either of Jorginho or hTrossard have any
definitive effect on on the clubs summer transfer
plans? As you stated both additions are very good
depth pieces that didn’t cost the farm, including
Kivior AFC spent a little more half of what they
seemed willing to spend if either the Zubimendi or
Caicedo bids were accepted. Obviously Arsenal had
the economic viability to be players in this window
and that reality will only be exacerbated in the
summer if the club is able to enjoy the fruits of both
the EPL and CL financial windfall.
With the potential outgoing of players such as
Tierney, Holding, Pepe, Nuno T, Lokonga, and
AMN AFC stand to only add to a summer kitty
that I honestly believe will reach close to £200M
You have answered you’re own question Ace .
Both good players so what is the likely hood that the club would look again at both positions that have now been filled to a reasonable standard .
Dan, one of your articles I agree with 100% with regards to Jorginho.
For me, the beauty of this deal, and the Trossak one, is that we have two experienced PL players ready to go… while still having 5substantiak pot of money to use in the summer.
As for comparing our recent deals with Chelsea, what has that got to do with anything that Jorginho brings to the club?
Nice article Dan Smith, good to see a nice balanced view here on JA….
Yet watch how those who accuse me of writing negativel articles don’t respond but will to my negative article lol
WELL WRITTEN DAN!
We will see how creative these signings were in a few months.
Overall think we have had a pretty good transfer window, however I still believe we have left ourselves a central midfielder light. Obviously Partey Xhaka and Odegaard start in the PL but who starts alongside Jorginho and Viera for the EL ties? Probably have to be ESR but is that Midfield three strong enough protection for the back line? I’m not sure.
Exactly what i was thinking
And if Arteta sticks with Xhaka
The midfield will be slow
Plus the last three months of the season are stacked with PL fixtures especially April when you add the EL knockouts and the tbd rearranged Everton (H) our squad will stretched to the limit. Xhaka is a machine but even asking him to play every three days without an expected drop in performance levels is extremely difficult when we chasing PL and Wl glory.
After some of the hysteria yesterday with #EduOut trending, it’s nice to see a series of more nuanced articles.
This was a good read Dan and I couldn’t agree with you more. These moves strike a good balance between putting us in a stronger position to win the PL this season while not sacrificing the longer term plan.
I don’t know what the fuss is about Jorginho being a bit slow if that is his only weakness then we play him against teams who park the bus against us and there are plenty of them this season, I’m not certain but didn’t he refuse to sign a new contract with Chelsea? If that’s the case his no reject
No, he didn’t reject a new contract. According to Matt Law (DT), he (Jorgi) was one of the players lined up for summer clear-out. Others being Ziyech, Pulisic, Havertz, and Azpi.
I read somewhere that there was a contract made for him to sign
I cannot help but feel a bit underwhelmed, we wanted Vlahovic, we got Jesus. We wanted Tielemans we got Lokonga. We wanted Mudryk we got Trossard. We wanted Ndicka we got Kiwior. We wanted Caicedo we got Jorgingo.
Im not saying i am unhappy with any of those signings, but i just feel that we are window shopping at harrods, before buying from John Lewis.
After the wild comments posted last night, it’s been a relief to read that Jorginho’s signing is being valued
I did read your comments previously about Edu and Ray Parlour. A squad doesn’t have to be made up of superstars to make a team tick and to provide that necessary consistency
So after 24 hours I have now come to point of reflection.
I agree (like i always did), the amounts of monies that were quoted for targets was madness and I am glad we didn’t pursue any further. So my assumption is as follows…
Trossard: Yes, we should have got him at the beginning before BHA.
Kiwior: Dunno, don’t know enough about him and I can’t be bothered to watch YouTube.
Jorginho: Hell no!
If Arteta sees something that Chel$ki has stifled and that any fan with eyes or a guide dog cannot see, then fair play.
All I see is an absolute liability…(Can I just add I have seen enough of him as I am football mad… MAD, I say!!)
In addition… he hasn’t joined to become a ‘back up’ as a lot of posters keep preaching. He is here to be a first team player. Part of his contract is add ons, ffs.
As a “backup” I hope his first and last game will be when his contract ends.
Anyway, I’m bored of Jorginho, it is what it is.
Next topic.
On paper, Jorginho is a very good piece of business.
Tons of experience (5 years in the EPL), has won some the biggest trophies both at club and international level, and has been brought in specifically as a backup with lots of quality.
Considering he’s not coming in as a first choice pick unlike previous Chelsea signings such as: Luiz, Willian, Cech, etc, I shouldn’t be so worried given that all Chelsea signings flop for us.
It’s just that Chelsea always have the last laugh when we buy their players, and would it surprise any of us if Jorginho somehow cost us the title?