I think that Arsenal will be busy in the January transfer window, as Arteta recently intimated in his press conference ahead of the 3-1 win over Burnley. The Spaniard has had to deal with key players being sidelined due to injuries, something which has limited his game plan.
Due to our ongoing injury problems, he has been unable to use players such as Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli, Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Eddie Nketiah, Thomas Partey, Ben White, and Jurrien Timber at different times of the season so far.
Arteta told reporters that he now has good squad depth, but injuries are making some positions weaker. While recognizing this, I believe he will address his squad issues with a winter transfer window move for quality players.
“Some of the injuries that we had they are some bad luck. Some of them have been long-term injuries with some special players and when we didn’t have a lot of depth. We can talk about the depth, but after you have to talk about the specific positions or certain units where we are a little bit shorter.
“But it is the challenge of the season and other people have to step up, and that as well is a good test for the team — how we take those moments and how we actually respond to them.
“So far, the team is doing well.”
As the Gunners go into the severely congested December schedule, and the injuries are likely to carry on mounting, is it obvious that Arteta will have to make some additions in January? Ivan Toney, Douglas Luiz, and Martin Zubimendi have all been linked with moves to the Emirates. Who do you want at the Emirates to give Arsenal’s title charge new life? I’d go for Toney and Douglas Luiz; these two have PL experience and could be an instant hit at the Emirates.
Darren N
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Once bitten twice shy, on top of the list got to be a next mobile and powerful midfielder, all action one that could arrive in the box late when it matters most.
Barrella, Tchouameni are two that comes to mind even a direct swap of Ramsdale for Romeo Lavia must be on the cards.
Lavia?! You want our cover for injured players, be a player who’s been out the whole season so far?
Not sure he’s injury as we speak, he looks sharp going into training last week, but yes the way he plays and attract players to him he’s likely to be kicked.
Lavia is injury prone.
Doubt MA will be active in January after spending over 200M last summer. That said, one thing MA has done better than any other Arsenal manager is getting the owners to spend big, so maybe there’s still more in the coffers, if we are not held back by FFP
Arsenal reluctance to spend heavily in the last Winter window is one of the reasons, why the big jug slipped through our fingers.
And though we spend in the summer, two powerful midfielders should have brought in to strengthen the spine of the team ,instead of one, regardless if Partey stays or goes.
Timber would also likely recover next year
I think Arsenal will only sign a new player if some players leave
There will undoubtedly be limitations on spending. However, regarding your latter point other managers have spent big. Wenger spent over 40million on Ozil which when adjusted for inflation is considered to be equivalent to around £125million when compared to todays football transfer fees; Sanchez (~£93million).
There is a false narrative that other managers have not been supported by simplistically looking at headline figures and not considering the whole context and circumstances.
Look at the players Wenger had to sell though and for years where that money went
After Arsenal first team eleven we are down to pure bones, we can’t win the competition without similar quality players coming off the bench.
The kind of midfielder you are talking about might be Teun Koopmeiners of Atalanta very good with the ball in is feet versatile play as a DM/CM/attacking midfielder and sometimes can be deployed as a left sided CB incase of an injury to any center back, The like of D luiz,Zubimendi and Tchauameni will totally be out of reach in January let alone in the summer.
Naftali, Zubimendi has a release clause of £53 mill, and Tchouameni is very unsettles as he’s finding playing time very hard to come by.
The Madrid base club should have their resolve tested one way or another.
I must have a look at this Koopmeiners guy.
From all indication the likes of Pathey and Jorginho isn’t what Arsenal needs in midfield again. Jorginho is sluggish and lacking strength while Pathey is just too injury prone. Both players aren’t as energetic like Rice and Odegard. We aimpley need 1 box to box Midfielder in January. We can try Monaco Fofana, Baccelona Gavi etc. I think Madrid won’t letTchouameni leave cheap.
I think a proper striker like Toney and a midfielder like Zubimendi would be good purchases in January. I doubt Villa would sell either Watkins or Douglas Louis to Arsenal. We might need to sell some players in order to make room for Toney and Zubimendi.
Years of lack of rotation catching up along with some faults in training/conditioning. Add ontop of it quite a lot of wasted transfers and it was just a matter of time.
Nothing unlucky about it
Unless you work at the Arsenal Training Centre,how could you possibly be privy to supposed faults in training and conditioning? Far as I’m concerned these are never made public except for short clips and pictures from which you can’t make reasonable deductions. But even if you had the access, you’d have to be an expert in Sports Science. Are you?
Besides,some of those injuries have been due to impact and would happen notwithstanding the conditioning of the player.
The only bad piece of business is Havertz. that’s where the real badluck is. And ironically, he’s the player so far with the most yellow cards.
He’s unable to bear the psychological pressure of getting his Leverkusen form. Just play him from the bench and give him time.
The other is Raya although he showed some glimpses of art against Burnley. He’s still noway near Ramsdale. it will be a terrible idea to let Ramsdale leave in favor of an inferior athlete like Raya.
We need an outright striker. Partey, Xhaka and Odegaard made our attackers better last campaign. That midfield is gone and the link is broken. So we also need a progressive no 8 who can play with Rice and Odegaardto fix our attacking issues. I will take Partino or Myles Skelly over Havertz in that position.
SHOULD TROSSARD BE SITTING ON THE BENCH WITH 5 goals 2 assists in 13 games while Havertz with 1 goal and 1 assist is a regular?
Every Club is faced with injury problems and rotation is essential to avoid certain fixtures in the team from entering the red zone which I believe has happened with Odegaard.I only hope Rice steers clear of injury as it’s hard to imagine us functioning well without him.As it is certain players such as Kwior, Elneny and Nelson have hardly played and I hope Arteta will give them an opportunity in the remaining Champions League section matches.I very much doubt if we are in a position to spend big in January and let’s hope our medical people can somehow hasten the return of Odegaard, White, Partey and ESR.In the longer term, it will be very interesting to see how Arteta uses Timber next season.While he was effective as an inverted LB, that is not his natural position which is RB or RCB.He has on occasion featured as a DM for Ajax and I suspect our Manager may use him in that role to avoid the need for another expensive addition.I think he could be a successful DM but if so we still need a quality B to B operater , assuming the departure of Partey at the end of the season.
From how he writes, it appears that Darren has Kroenkes financial ear and knows that ” our esteemed owner” is BOUND to let MA spend whatever he thinks fit to bolster our squad come JANUARY.
I dont mean to be overly critcal Darren but some thought and a little careful consideration of what will and of what ALMOST CERTAINLY NOT will beallowede by Kroeke in January , would have made your article far more realistic and worthwhile.
I doubt there is a Gooner anywhere, who in his or her fantasy world,would not spend countless millions of Kroekes money, IF he or she could.
But there are , among the many fantasists, some of whom write articles, still a number of realists who prefer to live in the REAL world and knows that an astute multi billionaire and not Harry Potter AND HIS MAGICAL POWERS, OWNS AND RUNS OUR CLUBS PURSESTRINGS.
But if Arteta sells players to buy surely its nothing to do with Kroenke? But explaining that to you is as unlikely as you actually talking about the content of the discussion because you obviously know much more than anyone else….
I think all players will be available by January, maybe except for Timber. Unless better players are available for immediate impact, I expect the manager to keep the current crop. Unless some players move on and new players needed.