So, in the end Arsenal’s summer net spend was approx. 120 million.
It’s like the boy who cried wolf. The Kroenke Family invest a serious amount of money but it’s too late, the damage has been done.
Whether it’s a PR move or an acceptance that the gap between us and the top 6 would only grow without investment, it’s hard to accept that our owners suddenly care.
We needed them to show ambition when we needed an established keeper when we were top of the Prem.
A Fabregas, Nasri and Van Persie needed experience names brought in offer game management at crucial moments
When those names left, we needed their fees reinvested on replacements – not put in the bank.
We needed them to go that extra mile to get deals for Suarez or Higuain over the line.
If even one of those things had happened our future might have been different.
So no, I’m not going to pat anyone on the back for only bothering to try and fix a problem when the rot has already settled.
As customers being charged the highest ticket prices in the UK, we should be seeing improvements if a business is failing.
Arsenal have taken too long to accept that inflated prices is what the modern game looks like.
They tried to fight it but when the Champions of England and Europe can pay nearly 100 million on one player, 150 for 6 players suddenly doesn’t seem that much.
Can the gunners complain about an inflated market while pricing shirts at 70 – 100 pound for a public in a pandemic?
Even if Stan Kroenke doesn’t know a lot about the sport, he’s got a right to know how he’s agreed to 150 million being spent, yet not one purchase is guaranteed to improve us on the pitch.
That’s for the recruitment team to answer.
They took the policy of quantity over quality.
So instead of a marquee name taking up your entire budget they chose to get players who have potential.
With zero European Football to offer, this is an action plan we had to take.
We are not in a period of history where we can attract world class players so it makes sense to build a team around potential, those who could become world class.
The fear is we don’t have enough leaders to support the youth and you sense we might regret not taking that extra step by getting a Auoar and/or Lautaro Martinez.
If you rewind back to January some gooners convinced themselves it was a positive window due to Arteta getting rid of ‘deadwood’.
I’ll say now what I said then, that’d only good if you’re bringing in better replacements.
There are still names on our wage bill that the club wish were not. Offloading these personel due to their salaries has been a problem that’s hurt us for years.
Not that the current regime can keep blaming the old one.
Edu’s hands are not clean when it comes to overpaying for mediocrity.
Whisper it quietly though, Arsenal are not immune when it comes to having players who can’t be shifted due to big wages.
They are not unique in having squad players who a manager doesn’t rate.
They are not a special case in making buys that turn into flops.
Where our manager has gone wrong is not holding his cards to his chest.
He freezes out anyone who doesn’t suit his ethos which encourages potential suitors to make offers at a reduced fee, because they know Arsenal would rather sell then keep a player who knows they are not rated by their own boss. That’s why so many of our players have left on loan but not permanent.
Too many loans.
6 loans!
Arteta was allowed to pay the likes of Ozil to sit at home but seems to think this is normal.
When he sees things he doesn’t like, instead of improving skills on the training pitch he simply gives up on them. His employers should have stepped in because it’s left an unbalanced mess.
There are players still at our club who know if the employers had their way they would have been sold. Can Arteta show the man management skills to transition players back into the squad having previously discarded them?
It’s hard to judge this window on its own without the context of what’s gone wrong previously.
In isolation, I like that we have a plan and a clear criteria about who we should target.
Selling players remains an area that needs improvements.
Too many times we are accepting loans instead of asserting a take it or leave it asking price.
The biggest question is; where do you think we will finish in the table?
If you think the gap with us and the ‘big 5’ will get bigger then I can’t score this window that high.
Ultimately that decides everything.
6 out of 10
Send me your score
Be kind in the comments
Dan
2%
2/10 a lot of money spent and nothing really to be excited about, with 3 defeats in 3 games it almost feels like the season is dead already.. we desperately needed creativity and goals from midfield and we went all out to get a squad player at Real Madrid who wasn’t exactly pulling up trees last season during an average loan spell,,, I’m sorry it just doesn’t fill me with any confidence..
Now I understand why Ancelotti let his only left-footed CAM go to Arsenal. I think he’ll stick with 4-3-3 by signing a left-footed box-to-box midfielder like Camavinga
That’s the reason RM sold us MØ,once they had agreed a deal with Cavaminga and Rennes,they no longer needed him and ended up with few millions to spare.
so true Kev82…certainly nothing to hang your hat on here…obviously, it’s too early to rate this bunch of new recruits, but unless our ultimate goal was to increase jersey sales in Norway and Japan, this was a rather uninspiring window that focused too heavily on quantity instead of quality
Too many loans out, all we are doing is running down contracts and devaluing our poor squad even more
Lokonga looks like a quality player though, hopefully MA doesn’t coach that out of him 🤔
So a 5 out of 10
3 out of 10.
We couldn’t create or score last season, quite evidently. Solution? Just buy ONE OFFENSIVE player. And it’s the same guy who was already here last spring and we still weren’t that much better.
Look at our midfield of Elneny, Xhaka, Partey, ASL. How many goals you think these players will bring? How many did they score last season? Next to none. And the rookies actually gave one of them extension.
5 defensive players bought, 2 grossly overpaid half the budget on.
We won’t make top 6 and I don’t think we’re going to even challenge top 10 with current “manager”.
Our best bet right now is to get an actual manager who can get the best out of current crop of players. There are also some high-profile DOFs available so we can have a professional on that position too.
#sackArteta
#sackEdu
just a continuance of our longstanding inability to properly prioritize our transfer window recruitment practices…for all those Arteta apologists who spoke ad nauseum about our defensive prowess last season, maybe they can explain why our “manager” felt the need to invest so heavily on that side of the ball, while completely ignoring our most glaring weaknesses…the term gross incompetence comes to mind
2 out of 10. we lost Sanchez, Ozil, Ramsey, Chamberlain and the best we could do to replace them is Ordegard. These are attacking midfielders who could take responsibilities of attackers when the chips are down and our lazy fowards fail to score
We don’t have lazy forwards. Just forwards who are starved of service and low in confidence!
Ozil was lazy on the other hand. Ramsey was injury prone and Sanchez was greedy for money. Chamberlain though was the best of the bunch but had is off days too. He was not very consistent unfortunately.
👍 “It’s the midfield”
agree with the “starved for service” comment…that said, the Sanchez debacle was actually predicated on Alexis’s unwillingness to buy into Wenger’s ineffectual “pass the ball into the net” philosophy and things unraveled quite quickly from there
For £150 million if Edu and Arteta had moved quickly, Arsenal could have bought the following players:
1) Three out of the following midfielders Matheus Pereira, Emi Buendia, Marcel Sabitzer, Martin Odegaard, Houssem Aouar, Yves Bissouma, Sambi Lokonga, Bruno Guimaraes, Ruben Neves, Renato Sanchez. Arsenal bought only two (not the best available), the major omission being Yves Bissouma, so one midfielder short; plus
2) Mat Ryan as the backup goalkeeper (wanted to stay, but told by Arteta he wanted English) plus Onana to work out his suspension for the future; plus
3) RB/CB Takehiro Tomiyasu and LB Nuno Tavares, plus
4) Plan B CF Georgios Giakoumakis (went for £2.5 million) top scorer in Eredivisie with 26 goals in 30 games for relegated VVV Venlo.
Savings on not buying Ben White (£50 million) and by not loaning William Saliba, selling Xhaka and not buying Aaron Ramsdale.
Grading on transfer window 6/10
Great list Ozzie. I would also like to throw Paul Onoachu’s name in the hat. CF- gigantic- Arsenal fan- I think lit up the belgian league – believed to have issued a come and get me plea- quoted price 12 million
👍
My initial assessment would be somewhere below average. Somewhere around 4/10. But, I think all the signings should be given time to integrate into the club. With our key players back and fit we should know more if the transfer window has worked and, if the gamble on buying “players with potential” was the right choice. Or, were they simply the only choice and have we just wasted another £150m?
MA on the other hand only has until the end of October for me. If we are in the relegation zone by then, then he should leave anyway!
Firstly, thank god it’s over. I don’t think Arsenal have ever been associated with so many players in such a short period of time. Whether or not Arteta and Edu got the players they wanted, only they will know. To be honest I’m not excited by any of the six so far because it’s too early and the idea that having Xhaka back is like a new signing is almost a slap in the face to any thinking Arsenal fan. Along with a top class fullback my priorities were Buendia and Bissouma but then what do I know. So Arsenal fans are now being asked to be patient, get behind the new boys and give them time. This could also be read as don’t expect too much this season. As a rating, I will give it a five out of ten. I’m not expecting too much from White and Odergaard, zero from Xhaka but hope the other four players can offer some long term rewards.
big ups on your “slap in the face” commentary…just can’t imagine another club allowing their former captain, who disrespected the armband, flipped off the fans, performed poorly for the vast majority of his tenure, openly flirted with another team while the “world” was watching, in the hopes of forcing us into a lower fee demand and committed a myriad of boneheaded maneuvers that led directly to goals and yellow/red cards, to return to the club, secure an extension, with a raise to boot, and actually be given the “honour” of wearing the armband for week 1 of our supposed “rebuild” season…just another day in the Bizarro World known as Arsenal football club
It’s also 6 out of ten for me, because we haven’t fixed our worst department yet
Barcelona loaned Luuk de Jong and Everton signed Salomon Rondon to strengthen their ball holding front lines, whereas we couldn’t ship out any of our CFs
We can only pray for Lacazette to make his hold-up play as good as Lukaku’s and Kane’s, because he’s the only one who can do that at Arsenal
Meanwhile, West Ham keep adding towering players to dominate the aerial duels, by acquiring Zouma and Alex Kral. At least Marco Alonso can’t bully Bellerin and Soares in the air anymore, because we’ve got Tomiyasu
Gai, why are you so fixated with towering CF? You know there are different ways a team can play without having a big CF. Even Pep’s Mancity where MA learned his trade plays without a dominant CF. A good manager sets the tactics based on what he has and not what he wish he had.
The new CF doesn’t have to be towering, but he must:
– Pose good aerial challenges to the opposition’s CBs
– Be able to do good hold-up play
– Be good in tight spaces
Benzema and Suarez aren’t towering, but they’re highly involved in midfield and dominant enough to do those for their teams. Whereas we only have Lacazette for that tactic
Even the highly experienced EPL managers like Rafa Benitez and Brendan Rodgers have two in their squads. Benitez already has Dominic Calvert-Lewin and just signed Salomon Rondon, whereas Rodgers has Kelechi Iheanacho and just bought Patson Daka
Guardiola’s systems at Barcelona and Man City are highly stable and mature, so he doesn’t need that type but still has Ferran Torres to do hold-up play if required. If we don’t want that CF type, we’d better play with low ball possession and always wait for counter-attacks
Gai
The fact remains Arteta can improve Auba, his height isn’t bad for headers and he has scored a few with his head for Arsenal. Lacazzet can also work more on his old up plays. Some strikers have gone to other clubs and become much better because of their coach. This players are professionals. Now we don’t have towering CF let Arteta work on what he has. Harry Kain wasn’t perfect at hold up play before but he improved a lot under Morhinho providing several assist for Song.
Aubameyang won several headers against Man City, but he’s too weak to hold off their CBs. Kane said he’s worked hard to improve his abilities, but I’m not sure whether Aubameyang has that work ethic or not
I also hope Lacazette works harder to get his last big contract, be it from us or from another club
Sylva, Arteta has overseen Aubameyang going backwards so far, so he needs a big turnaround in his coaching impact. This is not just for Aubameyang, but the team as a whole.
GAI, as I have stated previously Glasgow Celtic have bought Greek international CF Georgios Giakoumakis from relegated VVV Venlo for £2.5 million. The 26 yo 6’2″ striker was the top scorer in the Eredivisie scoring 26 goals in 30 games despite his club being relegated. Why couldn’t Arsenal scout a player of this quality for such a price?
2.5 M is an unbelieveable price for an Eredivisie top scorer. Unfortunately we couldn’t sell any of our CFs, to make room for a new one
Ozzie gunner I am from Greece and I have seen him play many times. I can guarantee you that Giakoumakis is just a decent forward who just had one good year and is nowhere near Arsenal quality, I would even say that he wouldn’t cut it at any team in the prem as a starter. Stats do lie sometimes, or can manipulate/mask the truth.
Chris, I am looking at him as a Plan B striker, who looks good in the air. You and I can follow his progress under our Greek born Australian export Ange Postecoglou at Glasgow Celtic! 😊
By the way where do you live Greece?I have friends (ex neighbours) in Patras. I love the country and the islands, particularly Rhodos. Another neighbour in my Mum’s street comes from from Lindos.
Agree 6/10
Signed 6 new players all with ‘potential’ with the future in mind but how many can you confidently say improves our starting 11 immediately? Tomiyasu White Odegaard will be definite starters while Lokonga Tavares Ramsdale were signed as back ups orginally. I think not signing a top quality dm (Bissouma Kessie Zakaria etc) was a massive make and leaves us with just Elneny as an out and out dm in our entire squad! Partey, Lokonga are more box to box and xhaka as seen vs man city is not capable of protecting the defence in the lone holding role.
Then we move onto the outgoings and we only managed to sell Willock with the rest loans and you compare it with other clubs being to recoup money most notably Chelsea that’s poor in comparison. So just above average window for me and it is now fair to say Arteta has been backed sufficiently so if results and performance don’t improve he is a goner!
6 out of 10 sounds about right. I expect 4 out of the 6 (Ramsdale, White, Tomiyasu and Odegaard) to be regular starters by Xmas with Lokonga putting pressure on Xhaka.
Whether that’s a sign of a good window or more an indication of weak competition for spots only time will tell.
The plan in this window was.
1. To invest in young players with potential who have a decent resale potential.
2. Get rid of the underperformers.
The weak market favoured us when buying.
Ramsdale 23. White 23
Tavarez 23 Lokonga 21 Odegaard 23 Tokiyasu 22. All good purchases but of course we had to pay English prices for White and Ramsdale.
155m in total.
The weak market worked against us when trimming the squad however.
We sold only one player Willock 20 mll.
Net spend 135m.
We could have sold ten more but have gambled that next season prices will be much higher.
I project net summer we will sell Niles 30m Nelson 15m Guendouzie 25 mill Bellerin 15m.
Saliba if he succeeds will be worth his 27m fee.
So another 85m in sales.
So 6 new young talents for a projected
net spend of 50m is excellent.
Add on Crowd revenues + TV revenues
plus a lower salary spend overall.
Disappointing we did not shift at least one of Lacca or Auba even just for their salaries.
Overall 7 out of 10 is spot on.
Very difficult question to answer. It will take time before the team can find consistency together. On the plus side it may make the next one or two windows a bit simpler, a CM player and a striker possibly arriving, then another midfielder if there’s money for it.
It might be best to rank them individually -then you have an average score
It’s a decent window. It could become great if the signings all click.
Fans had unrealistic signing expectations at the start of the window, so I understand why anyone would be disappointed.
6.5/10
Loans, too much dependence on youth = cheap, resigning deadwood who don’t want to be there, not buying the players in most needed areas etc etc..
Building for a future we may never survive long enough to get to without falling even further.
2/10
“Arsenal have taken too long to accept that inflated prices is what the modern game looks like.”
This is wrong. It’s not the amount spent but the quality of the recruits that counts, and how the manager makes them into a team. How much did Leicester City cost to assemble? They do okay. West Ham did well last year. Not a squad of highly paid stars.
For a long time, back to the Wenger days, our problem has been how we play without the ball. We have been poor in stopping the opposition playing and poor in stopping them scoring. Hopefully, new defensive recruits will help, but this problem also stems from midfield. We badly need a player who stops the opposition. Bissouma at Brighton and Ndidi at Leicester fit the bill. And both can play as well as stop. Frankly, I’d sign them both if I could..
So this transfer window I’ll give a 5.
5.5/ 10
Couldnt get a forward or a CM who could start. RB, LB backup, CM backup look good. Like Ode as he offers something different to ESR. GK backup looks good but not a type you associate with playing out of the back sides. Marquee purchase- 50 million White, who looks more like an English Mustafi than an FA Cup final version Luiz. Spent too much to show too less for it. But as all are young, I hope they can adapt to our tactical hotpot quickly enough!
All the best to all new signings.
COYG!
Is always a risk – rebuilding with potential, let’s hope it pays off as where we find ourselves right now we really can’t afford for it not to!
Could be a while until we find out if they’re all decent or not though as I can’t see them all starting regularly..
I was hoping more would be moved on permanently, but I guess you can’t have it all…
5 for me
Trying to shift players is going to be a problem for all clubs for the next few years. Spurs have a similar problem with N’Dombele. Undeniably talented but seemingly totally unmotivated he cost £62m and earns £200k a week. No one was interested in him in the transfer window. You could probably find similar stories across European football. Its going to make rebuilding a squad a lot tougher.
Dan
Your comments about lack of ambition stretching a good number of years is key IMO
Somebody used the word sleepwalking the other day. It is like twig drifting along a slow moving river until it reaches the rapids before dropping like a stone over the waterfall.
We could go on ad infinitum about who we think is to blame but the reality is we are no longer able to attract some of the best in the market. Partey was a big signing but unfortunately didn’t start the season and was blighted with injuries. When ManC came onto the scene they bought up everybody they could get their hands on and paid top whack in the process. Quite a few could be classed as mercenaries until the club had reached the top and could then attract the best by just being the best.
This doesn’t apply to Arsenal, so yes, the finger in the dyke approach has failed. Cedric and Mari were there to plug a gap but never more than that. For some reason Raul signed them later on with handsome terms. It appears that Arteta thought Willian could be the quick fix back to top4. That didn’t work out – perhaps because the twig was already closing in on the rapids. One big signing is too little too late. There was never enough momentum, so it is now a case of almost starting from scratch and this is what has happened this season with signings having potential rather than being ready made. Our senior players are few and far between and hardly whet the juices.
How this situation was ever allowed to develop is beyond me. Invincibles, a new stadium and top4 football, so it should have never come to this. On the basis that too many signings were stop gap or not good enough and given outrageous salaries, then getting a decent price or getting rid has shown how inadequate our recruitment strategy has been for years.
Chambers and Holding are ok but not spectacular and don’t come into the ‘deadwood’ category even now. We have had heaps of mediocre players that are difficult to shift. Only Willock got a fee. It’s painful
6 or 7 out of 10. I’m trying to face the reality that Arteta has gone for potential because as a club we can’t do a ManC and buy our way to the top – and that took a few years to come to fruition too Rant over
Spot on. A well run club will always look to buy potential and unearth gems which I don’t think fans have a problem with, I just think we never quite get the balance right, this window being a case in point where all our signings are young but were not back up with quality experience if you add say Bissouma(PL experience) Jerome Boating-Experienced CB alongside those already here Partey Auba Laca Xhaka(lol) thinks look a lot brighter.
Good balanced rant.
Tomiyasu looks like a player we were in need of. Lonkoga and Tavares seem promising. Get Partey and Gabriel fit… Fingers crossed. But it’s telling that Arsenal tends to be more and more “fingers crossed”.
Final score… Well I’m a gooner so one-nil will do me this season.
When everyone is fit I would like to see the following lineups in said formations;
(4-2-3-1) Ramsdale
Tomiyasu White Gabriel Tierney
Lokonga Partey
Saka S. Rowe/Odegaard Pepe
Auba/Laca
(3-4-3) Ramsdale
White Tomiyasu Gabriel
Maitland niles Lokonga Partey Tierney
Saka/Odegaard Auba/Laca S. Rowe/Pepe
Still think central midfield isn’t strong enough in terms of quality and depth, maybe we can address Dm position in January(not hopeful though) and offload the players we didn’t manage to this summer.
I think this summer is what Edu should have done in his first summer 3 seasons ago. There is still alot of players who are decent but not great or what we need at the club. If we started in this way the summer after Wenger left we would be far further down the line.
The fact is we’ve unfortunately just started the journey.
For me it’s difficult to measure as the current public grey cloud over Arsenal along with our lack of any European football makes us less desirable despite offering well paid contracts.
I feel that based iron the current climate, (post covid) of limited mid quality player sales and desire for lots of.loans we’ve done okay with the.players out category.
When it comes to players in time will tell.
There are lots of names in this list that I’m not overly familiar with and I.watch.a lot of the Europen Leagues.
The fact they aren’t huge names isn’t a problem as I hadn’t heard of Martinelli when we,(Edu) discovered him
I think MA is going for young fit impressionable personalities that he.can mould into an ever pressing hard working team that does what he.asks without doubt or question.
I think we’ve got a mismatch in terms of age from the strikers balanced to the young back line but I guess this will be okay for this season but laca and auba aren’t getting any younger.
My main issues were spending 80m in Ramsdale and white but quality wise I rate Ramsdale but have my doubts about Whites physical stature and aerial ability.
The cost of 80m was obviously hiked due to:
1. Young players.
2. Home grown players.
3. Our fairly desperate need for signings due to lack of Europe and current poor performance.
At least with Partey, Odo and ESR we should have some creativity to link with the likes of Pepe and Saka.
Fingers crossed.
Coy…..MA!
8. no european football means we could not attract top proven players. so we had to look for young talent and we brought some interesting players, 3-4 of them will walk straight to our starting 11, meaning we have strengthened.
we needed to strengthen in every department so obviously, we could not answer all problems in one window, and it might be wise to prioritize strength and still over technic, but overall we did fine.
Also don’t forget the club hasn’t spent that much he’s actually spent 32m this year with incomings of 25m from Willocks sale.
The other payments have been amertized over the next 4 and 5 years.
Club revenue should pay for this rather than Kroenkes deep pockets.
on Paper i would say 7/10
cover for KT – Check
Another AM – Check
New RB – Check
Competition for Leno – Check
Lokonga looks good fro CM cover for this season with my view that he replaces Xhaka next season, which is why we extended his contract to keep value with a potential sale next season, just my opinion there.
White was abit of a shock tbh, but after watching our opening 3 league games, i could see how much we miss Luiz’s leadership at the back.
It does puzzle me a little as to why we bought him over not giving Saliba a shot, it is what it is i suppose.
Overall i am satisfied we got areas of the squad we needed to strengthen, strengthened .
Only time will tell if the club got it right with signings.
outgoings isnt too bad again, we still have Kola which i am shocked about tbh, same with Nketia
but other than that, i think we have done ok, It would have been nice to shift and replace a striker but we cant have it all.
Overall, not a bad window on paper
@03gooner.
Ot won’t happen but you mentioned strength in mf.
I really wish MA would give AMN a run.out in MF at least use him in the.more winnable games abd see how he.goea.
What I saw for WB was a powerful skillful Yong player with good desire and a good engine, the sort of grit and fight we could do with atm.
👍 Rather Maitland niles over Elneny who works hard and gives his all but is very limited and Xhaka. For whatever reason Arteta is reluctant give Ainsley a run of games in midfield but gives less talented players multiple chances.
I think his attitude is the issue mate, it showed in the insta outburst. If your young player what a time to put your best foot forward. Jack Wilshere said it in his interview with the athletic, he regrets not getting his head down and forcing himself into the team. Look where Jack is now clubless and regretting his actions.
I hope this was the conversation that Arteta had with the lad. His sulking is ruining his top talent, let’s hope he turns his attitude around for our benefit and his.
2/10 disappointing, no imagination.
Is that a rating for yourself cause unfortunately your the one lacking imagination. What did you want us to do blow 100m on Lukaku or 100m on Grelish. Instead we spend 150m on 6 players the squad needed. This hopefully where whe can buy 2 players for 60m each or Halaand for 150m
I think fans are rightly sceptical about another ‘youth project’ as we’ve been here before. First we had the era of Fabregas 06-011 where we did well to finish top 4 and had some what of a title push 2007-2008 where injuries derailed us and 2010-2011 Injuries again but ultimately collapsed after the shocked defeat to Birmingham in the Carling Cup final, remember there was talk about doing the quadruple at that time! Then the was ‘British core’ era which didn’t quite work out either. Bottom line is there wasn’t enough ‘Top quality’ experience to support the talented youngsters especially in the earlier Emirates era. Fast forward to the present and it looks like we are about to repeat the same mistakes by resting our hopes on Saka S. Rowe etc which adds unnecessary pressure on their shoulders when we should have proper experienced leaders to lead the way and I’m not talking about Xhaka or Elneny or Auba or Laca…
👍 Rather Maitland niles over Elneny who works hard and gives his all but is very limited and Xhaka. For whatever reason Arteta is reluctant give Ainsley a run of games in midfield but gives less talented players multiple chances.
Half of the game is up to defending and half of the game is up to attacking. None of them is covered by the transfer that would potentially threaten MC, MU, LIV, CHE, Spurs….
Probably okay for 8th to 12th placement
I give 4/10
Don’t really think, we would have been better off, if we had spent the majority of our money on 1 marquee player. Who on earth should that be??
The transfer window has underlined our problems, as they have been for years.
We have spent plenty of money over the pat 10 years in every department;
Transfers
Salaries
Salaries to managers and executives
Facilities etc.
Our problems are:
1) We have recruited badly for at least 10 years
2) We have not improved our players, when they came (also an old problem)
3) We have managed contracts extremely poor
The 3 above has led to no. 4), which is, we have not had the ability to sell valuable players that could create funds for further investment
So if nothing else, our transfer window has nearly made everybody understand, where our problems come from. Or?
7/10…for reasons given in a previous post.
We needed to replace Luiz for younger ball playing CB. Find an able back up to Tierney. Get in CM and ACM which we did. Sign a back up Keeper and a RB. I’m happy that we still have Auba and Laca, they are 2 quality experienced attackers. Laca was decent towards the end of last season and Auba had illness and family issues hopefully we’ll see our boy back.
The fact is we need to get Gabriel, Party and White back as well as getting Laca, Saka, Auba, Odegaard up to match speed. The only boys who have been at it so far is Emile, Sambi and Tierney. We have 2 weeks to work these boys and integrate Tomiyasu. This side looks like something we can build upon now, as well as the youth lads who will come through this season.
I’ve been in the Arteta needs time and his own squad camp. Now it’s time to start seeing the plan on the field and better results. I’m happy to give him the next 2 months to show improvement and get a form pattern going. We’re not going to compete with the Utd, Chelsea, City and Liverpool yet. We need to compete with the West Hams, Evertons, Leicesters and Spuds.
Top six is the priority this season. Don’t get drawn into thinking we’re a Champions League team, you’ll end up dissapointed and frustrated. We have a platform now that bringing in Bissoumas and Aouars will add to the quality and youth we have. We were in for tier 1 players cause all those were out of our price bracket and competition level.
Let’s get behind Arteta, spurs are top but did they have 7-8 players missing and Chelsea and City.
The Spuds beat City 1-0 as far as I know but I get your point.
Was going to give 3 given xhaka debacle but plump for 4 mainly because the last minute shifting out of bellerin was a plus … most of deadwood still on the books and spending 140m without solving midfield and attacking weaknesses is tantamount to criminal behavior
7/10
The remaining 3points for
-Xhaka contract renewal (though am a fan of his but we have seen enough from him it’s time to move on)
– Saliba debacle ( I would have kept him and sell off Holding, but again it may be because of home grown quota)
– AMN , kola and Nketia remaining here when there were concrete bids for them ( I don’t know if this fault is from the new contract negotiator or MA but I think we shouldn’t have forced players to stay against there wish
I am happy we didn’t bring in marquee signing this summer because every of those in recent years have not performed to expectations and still carry the burden of ‘marquee signing’, maybe now that all our incoming are normal signing, they will have time to develop without the weight of price tags
5/10 for now long term 8/10 thankfully I don’t think arteta will be around to manage them by then
Ben White. Marquee signing- 50 million. Already has a burden due to not performing well against Bretford.
This transfer window was bound to be a difficult one, no European competition and 8th place in the EPL. No top player was going to consider us anyway therefore we had no option but to aim for younger players with potential at a reduced cost. My only bone of contention is paying £50m for Ben White which seems a lot of money for a young and relatively inexperienced CB. The question I would ask is why other big clubs showed no interest at that price? Time will tell but I hope I’m wrong and he turns out to be our VVD!!!
If you look at the other side of the coin, Chelsea the ECL champions have signed Lukaku for £97.5m and have just pulled of a loan/option to by for Saul Niguez of Athleti who had a release clause of £128m, for a fee of £4m plus option to buy of £34m. Would he have signed for us?
Whether or not our signings will prove to be good ones, again only time will tell. Will MA get the time if bad results continue? Only the owners can answer that.
Due to no strong and capable offensive player and spend unnecessarily on White while we have Saliba.
I will give 4/10
Lokonga and Tomiyatsu looks a good buy though