There are still a few days of the January transfer window left for Arsene Wenger to add another player or two to his Arsenal squad, but he strongly suggested in his press conference today, available on Arsenal Player, that it would not be happening.
The Frenchman said, “It looks very unlikely.”
Making a joke about only making another signing if a top quality player turned up on his doorstep, Wenger declared that he was happy with his team options, claiming that all of the positions on the pitch were well covered by the Gunners, both in terms of having the players to cover and having players of sufficient quality.
When asked of there were any areas that needed strengthening he replied, “Number-wise we look alright. And quality as well.”
Wenger went on to explain the the achilles problem that has already forced Laurent Koscielny out of action this season is not guaranteed to stay away and that Per Mertescker having to play every game was not ideal and that is why we signed Gabriel Paulista.
So is the boss right? In goal we have three good keepers fighting for a starting place, without any of them being at the really top level of a David Seaman, but we still have not seen enough of Ospina to really tell. In defence we have the central pairing of Kos and the BFG, now with Paulista as cover as well as Chambers, with Monreal as an emergency back-up. We have two good left backs with Gibbs just shading it over the Spaniard and we have Bellerin doing well on the right, with Chambers as strong competition and the unlucky Debuchy due back in April.
Apart from another spate of injuries you can see that there is not much room for any more players, but perhaps the quality could be better.
Our midfield options are good and will be even better soon, when Wilshere and Arteta are fit. Wenger already has the problem of finding game time for the likes of Rosicky and now that Ozil is back, the fight for that number 10 role should be intense, although Rosicky has also impressed in place of Ramsey this season, as has the Ox. So with Flamini or Coquelin to protect the defence and lots of creativity, you would have to say the midfield looks good.
And up front we have the amazing Alexis and a constantly improving Giroud, with Walcott now up to speed (ha ha) and Welbeck on the comeback trail. Then we have Akpom and the Ox to give the manager plenty of options. Again though, in an ideal world the quality of our forwards could be a bit better, but we don’t know how much Welbeck, Akpom and Campbell will improve.
So do you agree with Wenger that he does not need to do any more transfer business this season?