How many transfer windows will it take for Emery to fix Arsenal?

Emery needs four transfer windows to fix this Arsenal side, claims Neville by Iomie

Manchester United legend Gary Neville has warned new Arsenal boss Unai Emery that he will need four transfer windows to fix the team following their defeat to Manchester City.

Emery arrived at the very start of the transfer window and quickly got down to transfer business as he brought in five new faces that will improve the squad defensively, with Bernd Leno, Sokratis and Lucas Torreira the standout names.

But despite the optimism surrounding the club, Emery’s reign as Arsenal manager began with a loss as goals in each half from Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva sealed victory for the Premier League champion.

It was not the exciting, dynamic and entertaining side that Emery had promised and some media outlets are already stating that it is the same old Arsenal, just with a different boss.

And Neville believes Emery needs three more transfer windows in order to improve Arsenal enough to be able to compete with the likes of City for the Premier League title.

‘He has to have four transfer windows to make this team his. It’s not Chelsea here, by the way,’ Neville told Sky Sports.

‘I don’t think this is short term, the recruitment has been so bad there over this last three or four years.

‘It’s going to take basically two or three, four transfer windows to sort this out.

‘This is a great coach, Unai Emery, he needs three or four transfer windows.

‘I don’t care who the coach would be – you could bring Pep Guardiola in here.

‘It took Pep Guardiola three transfer windows at City, the first one in the summer, the January and then the summer after.

‘Pep Guardiola, the greatest coach in the world with the biggest budget, it’s going to take him [Emery] more than that.”

Now we can all sit here and tell Emery what he needs to do, who he needs to buy and what kind of football we would like to see him play, but the fact is he has won ten trophies in his career and not many managers in the game can say that.

It has been one game and already fans are turning on the Spaniard, how can you justify leaving the Emirates early on Sunday because the guys were losing, they need to be backed and need to feel at home.

And yes Emery needs to continue improving the squad in key areas, and many of us would have loved to see Ousmane Dembele, Leon Bailey or even Toby Alderweireld arrive. But the hierarchy don’t want to back Emery too much and land a big name signing / as first they want Champions League football.

I am not expecting miracles at the Emirates but I am expecting results, not many sides will limit City to just two goals this season and I am actually glad we have them out the way, as Emery will now be able to work on the side as he knows just how far apart we are.

Iomie

39 Comments

  1. 2 more this winter and next summer get rid of the deadwood and get some top players of he’s chose but more then likely free one’s and middle of the range one’s ?

    1. oot..Arteta is said to have advised on the tatics used to build and score B.Silvers goal against Arsenal and I believe it.look at how guadiola hugged him after the goal.This guy will be a coach and half..one if the future greats.
      positive to take..manc is a strong team which also benefited from the fact that Arteta knows us inside out something not to ignore

          1. Neither am I! Forget Arteta, how would Pep Guardiola go coaching the current Arsenal squad against the present Manchester City?
            It’s like people on this site praising coaches such as Sarri at Chelsea; whose record doesn’t compare to Unai Emery’s.

        1. Come on be fair John. kenyanfan was at the dug out listening to Arteta and Guadiola speaking Spanish and kemyanfan is fluent in Spanish. He knows – no problem and he is kindly giving us the benefit of his insider knowledge. 🙂

          1. What I could see was Guardiola calming Arteta not to celebrate. He grsbbed him down to the seat.

    2. This talk about “deadwood” is laughable. Where would Emery get the money to buy you the super stars from? “Deadwood” is usually the outcome of cheap buys. Today’s market is so scouted that it’s rare to get very good players at cheap prices. Most are already followed by the biggest clubs with fat wallets (that doesn’t include Arsenal). Kronke took over 500m pounds of bank credit to fund his takeover and you think Emery would be given funds?

      If a summer that the board made much noise about “rebuilding” ended with very small transfer budget do you think it’s the winter window or subsequent ones that would see massive investment? Besides, some of this summers recruits would be classed “deadwood” not long from now (Sokratis is 30 and Lichtsteiner turns 35 soon).

      Reality is that Arsenal could get the cheap class players in the past because the continental market was under-scouted and young players no mater their talent were cheap. Today, it’s no longer the case (look at Mbape, Martial, Dembele). It would be very difficult to build a very good squad without massive investment.

      Then, another argument is that it would take transfer windows to get there. The challenge with that is that it is not different from what Arsenal did in the past, getting one major signing each season, Ozil, Sanchez, Cech, Lacazzete). The big stars won’t have that patience for you to put this team together (e.g. Sanchez). Young stars who improve during this period (without winning anything) start getting tempted to jump ship and you return to square one. Any rebuild that would retain players has to see a massive injection of cash and recruitment of top players in a single window and not a slow patient process. Today’s football stars don’t understand that narrative. The want both money and instant success or your team is ripped apart.

      Arsenal is in a difficult terrain and I mince no words when I say it would be a tall order to turn it around, not least, when the rivals are far more funded than them.

  2. We need a winger priority one! Bring in Draxler or Bailey, a realistic option. We arent getting Dembele. Look at what Man City did to us with their wingers.

    We need players with steely resolve, Replace Xhaka as at the moment i’d rather Guendozi playing over him. I’d say get rid of Ozil but lets face it we are stuck with him and his crazy wages. Ramsey is hit and miss, would like to see his partnership with Torreira in Central midfield.

    Our defence needs a complete overhaul imo

    Torrerira – Guendozi (new CM)
    Draxler/Bailey – Ozil – Auba
    Lacazette

    1. I was saying during the summer, as bad as some of our central players can be, the most damage done against us is out wide. Its the same when we face a smash and grab side, its usually the space out wide that hurts us before a CB has to try and do something to contain it, but like Neville mentioned ..you don’t allow wingers to get a run at your defenders. Neville was talking about the difference between Litch and Bellerin, how Litch doesn’t allow the winger to just turn and then back off leaving space between himself and the winger before the winger gets a run at him.

      I missed the first goal at the time during the game, it started with Bellerin following Sterling, and then Guendouzi came over and made a mess of it …should have been an easy push back making him play the ball away from goal. Bellerin was as much to blame, allowing him to manoeuvre straight along the danger area like that, and then allowing him onto his strponger foot, it was piss poor from the both of them.

      1. Bellerin should have ran next to Sterling and try to muscle him off the ball. But Bellerin can’t tackle when its important to do so. Atleast Matteo tried to get there is time to block.

        1. Lichtsteiner is light years ahead of Bellerin as a defender. His record proves it and it was demonstrated against Man City again on Sunday.

    2. Why not give this a try a against chelsea

      Chech
      Bellerin Mustafi Sokratis Lichsteiner
      Guendozi Torreira
      Wellbeck Ozil Aubameyang
      Lacazette

      Lichsteiner out of position but no choice due to injuries. Otherwise I’d have him ahead of Bellerin. He and Torreira can add some steel to the defence. Wellbeck has the pace to be a winger / wide man. Just needs to cross. Also he has the pace to get back and help Bellerin out. Who definitely needs help in defence. Pierre in a similar role to what Sanchez played. Reckon it would give Chelsea something to think about.

  3. Gary Neville is absolutely correct.The squad will need to be strengthened and some players clearly will not be here next season.But the Club realised this and Emery was only given limited funds this season to work with.He will be expected to Coach ( not a word our previous Manager can be associated with )better performances out of the existing squad and the aim must be to reach the Top4 as a minimum.
    We did look tighter at the back against arguably the best team in Europe and there was signs at times the system Emery wishes to use was working.But we need better players in key positions and to do that we need to buy.At times on Sunday we were crying out for some pace down the flanks which only a top class winger can give us.His priority must be to strengthen through the core and get some pace down the wings.The transfer budgets will be important and Kroenke will need to spend big to give the Manager a chance to buy the quality we need.

  4. I am not sure tif it is a question of how many windows but more a question of how much money he will be given per window.

    If he is given 50million per window it might well take more than 3 year, if at all.

    1. Hopefully Mislattat is scouring the lower leagues of the UK and Europe for some hard nosed combative professionals with a ruthless will to win.

  5. – sign Rabiot on a free next summer, sell Xhaka (he won’t improve).
    – sign Thilo Kehrer on a free from Schalke, sell Mustafi if he doesn’t improve.
    – buy LB like Gaya, sell Kolasinac/Monreal.
    – sell Mkhitaryan, bring in a winger ie. Bailey.

    There’s a few transfers if Emery manages on a tight budget.

  6. Yeah, the size of the budget will be dependent on how long it could take. This years didn’t get off to a flying start, we got enough money to buy five players but che, city or utd or even liv could spend that on one player. We need to start pushing the boat out because we aren’t gonna gain huge fees like liv done. But that’s not gonna happen so our budget will come in under liv’s so we have to make the most of it esp with tott financially struggling for the time being. I think we’ll have a shot at taking totts CL place, they’ll eventually be the easiest to reach, but che could be a problem. If all goes as well as could be expected I’d say another two windows. That should be enough time to create a solid top four side, then try to make ground on our title chances with the next couple of windows. I don’t know really, this is all just guesswork, I haven’t got a clue, but I was hopeful of seeing immediate results.

    1. exactly utd spend big every season and yet they are not winning the title…

      this season they are quiet…and spud got no money to spend

  7. It`s going to be a long haul Arsenal are so far behind as a club. A lot depends on Kroenke and by reputation he`s not terribly interested if Arsenal wins or loses providing they do enough to stay middle table and keep the odometer ticking over.
    If all things were equal (and they never are) and investment available then I`ll stay by my prediction of three seasons, which means three full summer windows plus the January ones which need to be cancelled, both players a spectators need a break this time of year.

    1. Would rather Lacazette centrally and Aubameyang wide; you only have to note the difference/influence when Lacazette came on against Man City.
      Draxler has had a few issues with recurring injuries.

  8. @Arsenal FC has told @ArsenalFanTV to change their name because it negatively impacts on the football club. They have changed it too AFTVMedia, not sure what the A stands for probably nothing they’re probably just trying to keep it because fans today know what it did stand for. I was wondering when this would happen, I’m surprised they let it go for so long. I wonder if they (AFTV) even care at this stage, money and all, it’d have to sting a bit with your favorite thing ever telling you you have negatively impacted on them.

    1. Actually like justarsenal I find that Arsenal Fan TV has communicated a number of varying views and opinions on matters Arsenal FC. The site makes money because it is successful.
      Without putting out conspiracy theories this smacks of the board trying to control media comment on the club, particularly now it appears to be heading for private ownership.
      The decision by Stan Kroenke to force purchase of the minority 3% shareholdings is an act of pure bastardry. This is the sort of issue the board don’t want scrutiny of/comment on.

  9. Wasn’t it Unai that had to clear up the mess that the Neville bros left behind them at Valencia.
    Even if it wasn’t Unai who had that task why should he or anyone else take notice of failures.

    ‘Unai Knows’ – to coin a phrase

  10. I see that Ramsey has come in for a lot of abuse. Wasn’t he our player of the season last year? I agree that he had a horrible game, but he wasn’t alone on that list. If you consider the new manager and new approach combined with his injury niggle and then being asked to play against City in an unfamiliar position, then his performance really cannot come as a surprise.

    In fact, one could argue that Emery set him up for failure. Based on what I saw on Sunday, the squad is going to be very important for us. Subs will need to be used very wisely to maintain the intensity and a fair amount of rotation to keep the squad fresh. Ramsey I believe can certainly be a squad asset if used the right way and experienced players like Xhaka could add value during Europa.

    For me the tactics and selections are on probation. If I see an improvement on Saturday, great. But if it is more of the same, then we might have a problem on our hands, but I doubt it.

  11. We are apparently getting a 330m/5year pounds deal with Adidas.

    If we can use atleast 120 of that on a Winger (80m) and Defender (40m) come January, then I say we can strengthen for the rest of the season.

    Lets see what the new/only owner does come in the next window.

    Kroenke should know that, he is now taking 100% risk in the club, which means he is 100% responsible for the value of the club, so if we don’t win more and generate more in the future it now 100% affects him. So he must now start putting money to improve our football status.

    1. And dont forget that puma has the first option to match that price and still be our sponsors. So puma will be eaiting untill midseason to see how well arsenal do this season so that if they decide on matching that offer they will be making more than double of what they pay to arsenal.

      For that to happen, arsenal should be performing well on the pitch and along with the established shirt selling stars like auba,laca,ozil players like torirera, niles , guendouzi and nelson have to establish themselves as first teamers so that fans can buy shirts with thier name too

  12. How did Gary Neville perform as a manager? Didn’t he flop? No wonder that he makes such outrageous assertions! How can any serious person judge a team on just one game against the best team in the EPL currently? There is absolutely no cause for alarm. Arsenal is going to recover and perform beyond many detractors’ imaginations. Time will tell.

  13. Pep needed 3 transfer windows to make city what they are today and he literally threw money at every young world class player available. Pep 1st season was 78 pts and i see emery getting to a similar total. Anything over 80pts which we haven’t had in a decade would be a bonus.

  14. I firmly agree with Gary Neville. Four windows to get us back to where we need to be , seriously challenging for the title. It could be done in two, IF we had an owner who loved the club, instead of just filthy rich personal money. The real power always lies with the owner, anywhere, and IF we REALLY want to be bigtime and consistently so, we need KROENKE OUT.

  15. We can always start from the next window. We need to prioritize our needs. I believe our major priority is a winger, seasoned defender as well as a creative midfielder/box to box player. We can’t keep depending on Ozil for that. That is why we don’t play well during his off days. There are good wingers we can take a look at without paying Dembele-like Money. Leon Bailey, David Neres, Armine Harit, Floriant Thauvin are some names that stand out. I’d like to see us try for Fekir too. That guy is a baller.

Comments are closed

Top Blog Sponsors