It is embarrassing to know non league club outspent Arsenal in January

The January transfer window was one that some Arsenal fans looked forward to as we continue to rebuild the squad under Mikel Arteta.

We had hoped the club would make some statement signings, but it instead used it as an opportunity to reduce our squad by offloading some players who are surplus to requirements.

Considering the actions of the Premier League clubs who didn’t do well in the first half of the campaign, we probably had the quietest winter transfer window.

But it gets worse when you consider that even non-league sides were more active than we were.

The Sun reveals that Wrexham had a much better January transfer window than Arsenal did.

While we missed out on deals for Fiorentina’s Dusan Vlahovic, Real Sociedad striker Alexander Isak and Espanyol’s Raul De Tomas, the report claims Wrexham splashed £300k on Ollie Palmer from AFC Wimbledon as they attempt to get back in the football league.

That is a small figure, but the most important thing is that they needed to fill a spot in their team and did.

Just Arsenal Opinion

We had put in some fine performances in the first half of the season, but the poor form of our stars in January was a clear sign we needed fresh players.

It is sad that no serious player arrived at the Emirates and it will be interesting to see if the fans would turn on Arteta if we end this campaign without European football again.

Tags transfer window

31 Comments

  1. We did our buying in the summer and our selling/giving away in January. The squad is now really Artetas and we can look foreards to 4th with more optimism than the summer. We have seen that we are competitive with the teams around us and its all down to Arteta to deliver now, if he is upto it.

    1. We are more competitive but also far more stretched. If we lose Partey who is injury prone or Martinelli then what next?
      My biggest concern is that we are putting our eggs in one basket with Nketiah and Lacazette and if we fail to get fourth or fifth? Do we chalk this season of as another “transitional” season ? How many chances will Arteta and Edu be given to make us competitive?
      Furthermore with the high prices of the Arsenal season tickets will supporters be happy with another season of failure rebranded as a season of transition ?

      1. Im not holding my breath but there are no excuses now why we cant be 4th by May. Leaner squad and Arteta now has his little angels to work with. If he is good enough, the team are. One focus and one direction.

  2. So what, I am not happy we didn’t get the players we need, but what is the point of buying players for the sake of it. I don’t trust Edu in the transfer market and the fact we have bought an American defender who will never play for Arsenal stinks of a favour for Kroneke. It is what it is, we have in my opinion thrown away the best chance of making top four, The thought of Eleney being a regular for the rest of the season is laughable along with the hapless Xhaka. We have a tough game against Wolves and our recent record is not too clever against them. Lacazette looks like he really doesn’t want to be there. I f we make EL it will be a miracle but eighth three seasons in a row beckons

    1. Suddenly Lacazette looks like he doesn’t want to be here. The same Lacazette y’all praise all he does in any game he plays.

      It’s so appalling that y’all can’t even hide your hate for Arteta and your childish way of seeing and saying things.

    2. Some of you arsenal fans grumbles a lot. When signings are made, you grumble, if they are not made, you grumble. What if Edu had brought in ISAk for 90million Euros and becomes a flop? You would also jump and grumble about it. Let’s stay away from this ugly way of being an arsenal fan. It’s time to get behind the boys.

      1. what a ridiculous example, as no one was yammering for Arteta/Edu to pay upwards of 75+M for Isak…the common belief amongst most intelligent fans was that he was worth somewhere around half that mark, as he hasn’t being scoring with the frequency required to justify the former number mentioned…that said, if he had paid over the number for another player, there would undoubtedly be grumbling, and rightly so, especially if he were to struggle, as this type of decision would defy logic and common sense

        the bigger issue at hand is the fact that when conducting a “rebuild” you simply can’t waste windows, which isn’t to suggest that moving on from players is a waste of organizational time and efforts, far from it, but infinitely more important to the “process” is that “need” purchases must be made at every available opportunity…in a “rebuild” time is a rare luxury, as most managers are always “on the clock”, but they should never take this for granted because if you’re not moving forward, you’re either standing still or, even worse, regressing, which simply can’t take place under these particular circumstances

  3. This January was never about spending money. It was about saving it! It’s difficult to get the players you really need in January. It’s not worth paying so much out if they are not right for the club. Just look where that has got us before.

    I am disappointed that we are very light as far as squad depth goes now, but hopefully it will set us up better for the summer having so much to save in wages alone.

    As for Auba; I must admit, I am a little shocked. Especially after tying him down last year following a stellar year previously. Something massive has obviously gone wrong between MA and Auba! I think we all know by now that MA doesn’t take no s**t!

    1. Aubameyang never had the character to be a captain. The fact that he never had any interest in the captain’s duties such as representing the club at the club captain’s meetings or even writing the captain’s column in the game programme suggests he was a poor choice – but that is Arteta’s judgment for you…
      We have saved 25 million on his wages alone and I expect us to make further savings when other players leave in the summer. It is essential that we qualify for Europe otherwise we will never attract the players that we need to take us to that next level and if this “period of transition” continues Saka and Smith Rowe will not stick around.
      This is a big three and a half months ahead – for Arsenal and for Arteta’s future…

        1. That is too simplistic, Auba didnt stop performing because he was made captain or because he was given a payrise. It was because we dont play to score goals properly, our attacks are to easily read.

          1. Auba was made Captain by Emery gents, not Arteta. He was a bad choice though and ever since we signed Auba we have failed to qualify for the Champions league. We lost the ability to play in and around the box when we sold Giroud and signed Auba a call wenger got wrong

            1. if only footballing life were so simple…if you think even for a second that the main reason we haven’t finished in the top 4 in recent years is due to the arrival of Auba and the exit of Giroud, you have a lot to learn about this wonderful sport…maybe a bit of a rethink is in order

              1. I know a hell of alot more about this sport than you do obviously. I stated about a style change from Giroud a typical 9 to a pure goal scoring player . How the hell can you say that we haven’t underachieved since auba has joined??? I know you love th guy but we should never have signed him full stop.

                He became our main source of goals opposed to when Giroud was a cental point other players scored far more cause he had the ability to bring players into the game. We scored 77 twhen he joined in Jan 31st 2018. The following seaon 75 then 58 then 56 goals were now on 36. Before you though needless insults at people check the stats first idiot

                1. you’re such a clown…you can regurgitate stats until your blue in the face, but they mean functionally nothing unless you can fully grasp the differing circumstances each of these players faced while at our club…it’s called context, check it out sometime when you’re not wasting everybody’s time with your grade school-level understanding of the world around you…btw stop patting yourself for being able to read stats, as that’s hardly a bragworthy achievement “little” guy

                    1. shouldn’t that be expressed to the other party involved too, as my original reply was fairly innocuous

  4. Disappointed we could not buy a striker we needed as it is an opportunity missed at the same time, I am glad we did not sign anyone for the sake of it otherwise that would just be panic buying. I am sure we will get a top forward in the summer.

    Also glad Arteta is getting rid of the deadwoods/players that have not been performing a while now.

  5. if Arteta doesn’t qualify for EL then he has no business managing this club next season. Him and Edu have to be relieved of their duties.

    1. Defo Edu should be sacked anyway and let someone who knows what their doing manage recruitment. Arteta needs Eurpean competition as a bare minimum.

  6. I think where the squad is now is obviously very light, but we now have a core to build around. We have Elneny, Partey and Xhaka back in the fold soon, plus Azeez added into that too. Martinelli can play CF and Saka can play both Left and Right side. Also ESR can play wide left like he did when we tore the Spuds a new one. Pepe could also play as central player, where I think his current skillset might suit him in the prem better.

    What we have now done in terms of sales and releases have A. Created room for players like Saliba and Balogun, shame Guendouzi burned his bridges B. Saved a ton of cash to spend in the summer transfer window. Auba alone will save us 25m in wages, added to that Chambers, Kolasinac and so on. Whether or not that extra funds we will gain will be with or without Arteta remains to be seen.

    We went all out for Vlahovic for a very good reason to try and beat Juve who were apparently “Broke”. But he had eyes for them and they too for him, we had little chance but at least we tried to beat them to the punch. Players, especially top players in their respective squads are difficult and expensive to get in Jan. One reason being its midway through the season and secondly they too will have to find a replacement which as we know can be difficult.

    We can now hope that, In terms of our lighter fixture list, we can get Eurpean football for next season. Then we can get those top players that we need and have made room for in the squad.

  7. Reggie for someone who wants MA out and says so constantly, you are surprisingly relaxed and calm about our now far too thin squad.

    I wish I could share your optimism that we will be OK to seriously challenge for top four with this now too thin squad. But I do NOT!

    I am glad to see ALL the ones go that have left but to not replace any at all seems to me to be like driving while uninsured. An accident waiting to happen!

    1. Jon, lets get this straight because you dont seem to comprehend for someone who keeps telling us until you are blue in the face how intelligent you are. I want Arteta to succeed but i just dont see it. I dont want him or any manager out, i would rather they achieve what they are brought in for. NO manager in the history of Arsenal football club has been backed with cash like Arteta, no one including the great Arsene. I expect with the standard of players we now possess some sort of recognition for what he has at his disposal. He and Edu have hand picked this squad and with the correct guidance very possibly get top four. That for me with any manager after wenger and Emery being sacked for not getting CL Football, the bare minimum. He inherited a squad that had finished 5th the season before, the amount of quality he has and has been bought in, now being a good 2 years down the line, has to start delivering. I dont care about your time frame or crystal ball prophesies but 2 years and 6 months (come May) i expect that to be the start of improving on the 5th and squad he inherited, I expect results in May. For me if he does, he may have something that we can work with. If he doesn’t, i dont see anything in his resume that says he deserves longer. Wenger got 2 years after his FA cup, Emery got far less, Arteta should not need any longer for any reason whatsoever. So let get this straight i dont want Arteta out but i do if he doesn’t start producing something from what he has. This May for me is his time to prove the investiture was actually not wasted on him.

  8. Why do people think Wenger got the sack for not getting CL football ? If that was the case he would’ve been gone after we finished 5th in the 16/17 season, not after the following season when we finished 6th.

    1. Ultimately that is why he got sacked, if we had stayed in top 4, he would still be here. If we are being padantic, he didn’t get sacked the very first season we didn’t but thats Ultimately why he got sacked the next.

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