So it seems that we have:
- Invested 35 Mln EUR in our back-up GK, Ramsdale
- Invested 50 Mln EUR for a Centre-back, White
- Invested 8 Mln EUR (plus add-ons) for our back-up Left-Back, Tavares
- Invested 17.5 Mln EUR (plus 4.5 Mln add ons) for our back-up Central Midfielder, Sambi
- Invested 35 Mln EUR (plus 5 Mln EUR in add-ons) for a central midfielder, Odegaard
- Extended Xhaka and Balogun
So we spent roughly 145 Mln EUR for 2 starters (85 Mln: White, Odegaard) and 3 squad players (60 Mln: Ramsdale, Tavares, Sambi).
Do you feel like the transfer window as it stands (i) is successful? (ii) helped us address our issues? (iii) needs to see the arrival of further players?
This post is purely about arrivals but feel free to discuss departures as well
Potential line-ups based on the transfer window as it stands:
Team A: Leno – Chambers, White, Mari, Tierney – Partey, Xhaka – Saka, ESR, Odegaard – Auba
Team B: Ramsdale – Bellerin, Holding, Gabriel, Tavares – AMN, El Neny, Sambi – Pepe, Balogun, Martinelli
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
Yes, we’re in a good place. Top 4 coming. Wish we could get a couple more out the door though.
A Terrible Transfer Market every single player is below Average. Arteta must be Sacked as he has wasted a lot of money on Shit. We play a shocking brand of Football, we don’t win which is the most important thing now we have wasted money too. The owners deserve this after employing a Manager with Zero experience and has no identity or tactics.
Still need a right back, defensive midfielder and a striker. Also need to shift about 9 players but keep Laca and get rid of Aubameyang
I’M HAPPY WITH MY ONLY TEAM IN THE WORLD THE GUY
They have bought young players with potential who will retain value so it is a good window for the long term but I’m not sure it will make us much better this season, Odegaard might if it works. I’m afraid we will have to wait until next year to get rid of the last of the deadwood. Whether Arteta is manage then remains to be seen but the players bought now will aid the club either way. As Eric says above we could use a striker.
I prefer Cedric,white, Gabriel, Tierney,sambi,xhaka, EMR,saka,odegaard,laca.
I feel like we still need a RB and a striker,chambers, soares and Hector for me are all surplus to requirements, Auba is out of form and I doubt he will regain his firm,Laca is good but not good enough, the rest are still young and have along way to go,their good for a long run but not for immediate impact.
It’s a long term build so doesn’t really matter if the players bought are instant starters or not. The age of the squad has been reduced considerably and the identity of the side has changed. Now it’s up to Arteta to put his stamp on this team and mould them into a unit. Transfers are always a gamble, and even more so when shopping in the bracket that we currently are (£10m-£50m). When you are buying players upwards of £60-£70m then the majority of the time you will get quality, but even that doesn’t always work out (Kepa at Chelsea, Keita at Liverpool, Di Maria at Man U). Some teams like City and Chelsea are fortunate enough that they can buy as many players as they want until they get what is required, others (ourselves, Liverpool, Spurs, Leicester) have to be a little bit more selective and can’t afford many slip ups. They need a few successful windows in succession to build a squad that can challenge at the top.
It’s frustrating that we are once again in the position of having to rebuild, but the gambles of the last 3 seasons haven’t paid off (Luiz, Pepe, Torreira, Leno, Geundouzi, Saliba, Ceballos, Sokratis). We seem to be going for players now who are younger and looking to prove themselves. It also seems work is being done to get the right kind of characters rather than going on ability alone. Fingers crossed this turns out to be a good window, but we won’t know until 6-12 months time.
They will lose against Chelsea and they will lose against Man City – then the job is done. Bye, bye, Farteta! He will have no more future than a Christmas turkey.
Arteta and Edu will still be around at the end of the season. Looking forward to seeing how we progress. I for one won’t be hoping the team lose and I certainly don’t think they will make any decisions based on the Chelsea and City games.
Hard to judge a window until you see its effect. On the surface – it feels like a necessary one to keep treading water as opposed to substantially driving improvement.
A few thoughts on what you wrote though…
1) I doubt Arteta and Edu see Ramsdale as a back-up GK after this season. It’s clear that they see him as taking the no1 spot as the season progresses (leaving Leno to be sold in January or next Summer). No-one intentionally spends that money on a reserve keeper (not even Chelsea).
2) No way is Mari in the “A team”. There is a very good reason Arteta and Edu fought to sign Gabriel at double the cost they had already committed for Mari – Gabi is their first choice for the LCB position by some distance.
3) Retaining Odegaard was always the no 1 priority (even above getting a ball progressing RCB like White, Kounde or Tapsoba). So Arteta and Edu will consider that a big win for the summer.
4) The club seems keen to give opportunities to younger players with potential to step up in the very near term (ESR, Saka, Sambi, Martinelli). If you sign starters ahead of them, that doesn’t eork out – they need to play. So I’m not so sure that the club was targeting too many starting spots for a upgrade. CF is a possibility if they could find the right profile (which seems very rare and now highly unlikely) and right back where I think they’re keen to replace Bellerin because he isn’t bought into the agenda anymore.
If a swap deal can happen such as Trippier, Royal or Dest for Bellerin then I reckon the club will be delighted with the summer dealings and the fans will only follow suit if it leads to substantial improvement on the pitch, statistically and visually.
Thanks for the post RC and yes happy so far. I think we can move forward with what we already have if needs be.
Remembering how we were one of the best teams in the EPL for the 2nd half of the season, and we have added strength to the squad.
10 games in is when we should analyse where we are with Arteta. The next 2 games are a lottery and its just unfortunate they come as the 2nd and 3rd games.
Brentford was a banana skin we slipped on but I still don’t think that game identifies where we are overall. As I mentioned before we were a bit top heavy on rookies and light on experience and had players that haven’t played much together so there are reasons that stretch beyond where we are overall.
RC, I actually only see 1 back up player in the truest sense, that being Tavares. He is unlikely to unseat Tierney as long as he is with us and not injured, so he feels a genuine back up player.
Lokonga looks further along in his maturity of play than I thought he would be, and I expect him to be eased in and out of the side a bit, but am far from certain he is a genuine back up player.
White and Odegaard aren’t back up players and I think Ramsdale will initially come in as 2nd to Leno but have a gut feeling he’s earmarked as a number 1 in the near future.
It just feels that way, and I wonder if we have Leno for 1 more season as a number 1 and he may be off abroad after that. I think the club and Leno know something we don’t so this is forward planning by the club a year ahead.
It will probably turn out to be a prudent purchase once we understand the full situation a bit further down the line. I’m thinking a bit similar to Henderson and DeGea but think there will be a quicker transition and change with our number 1 than at Utd.
If Lacazette and Aubamayeng stay we dont need another attacking player. If one leaves we do.
As mentioned, what we do with Martinelli could be key, and possibly Nketieh. I kind of feel this is the season to start playing Martinelli more as a striker with some games from the left. The further question then is whether Nelson stays and can step up on the left attacking side?
I like Nelson and feel there is potentially a lot to come from him so think at worst we should loan him if he is not quite deemed ready as a more regular starter. This is where my thoughts on Zaha lie as the right attacker to come in.
Aouer is maybe a consideration but the more experienced and EPL ready Zaha feels more like the ideal solution.
Other than that maybe a right back deal is worth considering, although I am comfortable with our current options, but if a Bellerin / Trippier swap was possible that could be worthwhile.
No more DM’s though. Especially if we get Trippier we will have DM options from Partey, Xhaka, Elneny, White and Chambers.
We need to offload a few more or loan some but this is easier said than done in the current climate.
Confident that the signings put us on a good footing, still think we’re three players away from being excited about our team and that’s after the 3 already in and the 2 impending transfers.
If we can get a swap deal done for Emerson, that would be huge but if not would upgrade AMN to our starting RB – Trippier isn’t the upgrade we need. Looking at midfield, think we’re missing a player like Sander Berge, imposing and confident on the ball with a link up with Odegaard an interesting prospect. Then finally, a striker that can guarantee us 20+ goals and has a growth potential beyond this season aka Auba and Laca to be phased out.
It’s the striker position that is the real headache, most top quality strikers are 80m plus so I think we may see some movement on that next season but for now, Auba needs to be moved centrally and justify his 350k a week.
Thanks for the post and the responses, which in the main, are excellent!
I don’t agree with all the points, I don’t think we need a striker or RB, but do think we need a DM! We also need to sell Xhaka!!!!!! Please somebody buy him!!! 🤣🤣🤣
I also don’t agree with your A an B teams, but time will tell.
I’ll keep my final verdict to the end of the window
FOR NOW, I’M FINE BECAUSE, AT LEAST, WE ARE NOT WORSE OFF THAN LAST SEASON.
Willock’s departure might turn around and bite us in the ass but aside from that, we seem to be on the right track. The new arrivals are younger, promising players we have seen before and they fit Arteta’s vision for AFC to a tee. Will they work out…only a season will tell.
It is true that it seems that we focused on acquiring younger players so it may be good for the medium to long-term but that is assuming:
1. That the players will play and improve;
2. That the players want to stay with us in the medium and long-term.
On my side, I feel that the transfer window so far has not really addressed glaring gaps:
– At GK – as you know, I am not a fan of Leno and find him more as a liability than an asset. Apparently Ramsdale has been recruited as a Nr.2 but I am hoping he is going to be so good that he will put Leno on the bench…If not and if Ramsdale is not better than Leno, then there is no improvement on this critical position.
– At right back – Chambers has done relatively well but he is definitely not the equivalent of Tierney…Bellerin has disappointed in the last 2 season and well AMN wants to play further up the pitch or as a wing-back…
– At DM – we re still missing our enforcer. Xhaka and El Neny are ok at best, and we do not seem to be using Partey in that role. Sambi is one for the future…
– At CM. We wanted goals and creativity and we let Willock go and replaced him with Odegaard so let us see what he brings in that regards but in his stint with us, he did not record much assists nor goals so based on that, m not sure he is the answer…
However, the transfer window has addressed the need for our team to have more depth with the acquisition of:
– A back-up GK with Ramsdale
– A back-up LB with Tavares
– A back-up DM/CM with Sambi.
Anyways…let us see how the window ends..
Too much dead wood. No formidable striker.am not happy.
The chances of Willock succeeding at Newcastle rather than Arsenal are high for the simple reason that they play a completely different style of football, one that is more suitable to his skillset.
I’d like to see a switch in formation. I thi k that’s what Arteta has wanted to do and he has played different formations, including 3 at the back(that still might what we end up seeing in the future), but I’m talking more about a switch to a 4-3-3…. I’m pretty sure that’s the formation he is looking to be our go to choice…
Ramsdale
Chambers – White – Gabriel – Tierney
Odegaard – Sambi – ESR
Pepe – Laca – Saka
For that formation to work the midfielders need to be mobile and put in a shift, defensively and offensively, while the fullbacks also need to get up and down the pitch.
For me, that means Xhaka, Elneny oh and Willian wouldn’t suit that system. And if we did adopt this formation, we could use Partey as base of the midfield, meaning we might not need a new DM! 🤣
It could also allow AMN to play in midfield, although as I’ve said loads of times… I really think he could be an amazing fullback!
Gush. Jnr.
We need to give time to the young lads no judge by the game of Chelsea and Man. City. We are going to go very soon..
Jag känner absolut att mittfältet har stärkts. Bra med långa kontrakt på yngre spelare👍 mycket bra med en backup målvakt också. Tror det va det som drev Leno ifrån början till starka insatser. Dock tycker jag att de borde ha behållit Martinez efter de insatser han stod för i slutet av säsongen. Ja för övrigt behövs det en mycket starkare målproduktion/ chansproduktion. Där hade verkligen Smith rovve, Ödeegard, Tierney och Saka mycket att visa. Det finns mycket att önska av andra. Frågan är om de har den inställningen som krävs? Skulle gärna se en viss anfallare ifrån Inter att ansluta om det är möjligt. Försvarsspelet tyckte jag va ganska okej emellanåt i alla fall. Frågan är om White ensam kan balansera det som behöver balanseras där bak. En annan sak är ju att Willian har verkligen gjort sig. Ingen serie A klubb som är sugen?
Jorgen – agree about Martinez…
So PEA, Lqca and Willian all tested positive for covid last week…. not sure why that wasn’t mentioned?
But at least we know Auba is likely to start Sunday.
hope u don’t mine me posting Willock Interview
If COVID was an acronym for available at the right price what would it be?
Clear Out Valueless Individuals
I am crap at this, someone must be able to do better.
LB
🤣🤣🤣
Clearing Out Value In Decline…
Seeing how we have a number of players with positive covid tests, couldn’t the game have been cancelled last week?
Is there a set number teams have to reach or something?
We already have a number of injuries to key players, then a few more get covid, what’s next? We really have so much bad luck. The fixtures given to Arzenal yet again haven’t helped.
Clearing Out Vastly Inadequate Defenders
Club Offers Vastly Improved Discounts!
Clearance Offers. Vast Introductory Discounts!
Nice but still room for improvement.
FFG
Top work fella!
Currently Offereing Vaguely Interesting Deals
The return. New No.8 Martin Ødegaard (Norway, age 22, AM/RW/LW), contract till 2025.
Our club has spent over £100M this season on new players.
I think it’s clear….
Arsenal’s game vs Brenrford should have been cancelled and re-arranged. However I imagine the Premier League would have been under loads of pressure from Sky, etc to make sure it did go ahead.
First game of a season, Arteta being under pressure would have also added to the drama!
We were shafted once again!
Thanks to Brexit Odegaard can’t play Sunday!!
So, Sunday’s Line up….
Leno
Chambers – White – Mari – Tierney
Xhaka – Lockonga
Pepe – ESR – Saka
Auba
Think martinelli will get another start
If there is anything that encapsulates everything that is wrong about modern football, it is Arsenal fans complaining that the £120m they’ve spent hasn’t improved their first eleven, and then saying that Arteta should go if they lose the next 2 games.
Why on earth would the club back the manager to the tune of £120m and then sack him based on 2 games that we might not win if we spent £500m!?
I really enjoyed reading Arteta’s interview and I love the passion he has for the job. He’s a young manager who now has a young team. Players improve over time and so do managers. I hope that Arteta gets the chance to build his team and prove everyone wrong.
No.32 Aaron Ramsdale (England, age 23, GK) contracted till 2025 (with option for a further year).
Just reading comments attributed to Martin Keown and it’s made me realise again, just how poor and ill informed most pundits are. I mean, I knew most of them are a combination of lazy, thick, agenda driven, but still…. they’re supposed to be ‘professionals’ Thank fuck for the influx (finally) of female pundits and commentators, who seem loads more clued up and intelligent than their male counterparts. But I digress.
Oh Martin Keown. Used to love you as a player for Arsenal and you were great, initially as a pundit. Eloquent, intelligent, analytical, totally different to the majority of lazy narrow minded ex pros who simply turn up for games with no research or insight.
In fact Mark Lawrson actually boasts about bring totally unprepared! He just arrives at the stadium, gets himself mic’ed up and proceeds to spout his world weary lamentable bollocks!
It’s the same with most ex pros, although these days we’ve now got the ‘shock jock’ version: the Talkshite radio inspired tabloid headline screaming morons…. Jamie O’Hara take a bow son… you were totally inept and bang average as a player and as an actual serious pundit you were lame and boring. So good on him and his PR people for rebranding him as a ‘no nonsense, says it as it is, firebrand’ ready to chat utter shite at the drop of a hat and wholly undeserved pay packet.
Do Arsenal fans actually listen to people like O’Hara and believe their bullshit? I hope not! It’s simply put out to get a reaction, like talk radio in general, where narratives are contrived to get listeners blood boiling. Just how Brexit was contrived at a morning meeting at LBC radio in 2014! It wasn’t meNt to be taken seriously everyone!!
But back to Martin…. he seems to either have succumbed to the 1st category: lazy and ill prepared, or he’s trying to up his controversy game!
Come back Martin, all is forgiven!
Your right Dex, Martin was initially a very articulate and analytical pundit with well thought out and presented arguments but more recently has somewhat succumbed to seemingly saying controversial things just for the sake of it.
I would like the old Martin back. I’d be interested in which recent bit he said that got your back up. The last thing I saw that he said was that we were prioritising in the wrong areas getting a creative player like Odegaard, and should be focussing on spending on our defensive midfield area. There does seem to be a trend of ex defenders overly focussing on defence.
I disagree with his opinion on this but think that this is more in line with your thoughts Dex and would be interested in your take on it. My argument is that we have been recruiting excessively in this area for a few years now and in fact are actually trying to offload some like Torreira and Guendouzi.
Even with them gone I think we are still top heavy numbers wise. Of course there is always the argument that we may not have the right quality or the right type of DM, but personally I dont believe that and cannot see for the life of me how we cannot have a top level DM set up with choices from Partey, Lokonga, Xhaka, White, Chambers, Azeez and possibly even AMN.
Fir ne it’s the attack that still needs to be looked at carefully particularly the strikers in the attacking front 2/3. I am worried we may be messing this up slightly, reading somewhat between the lines. It’s hard to get a top striker right now, at least one that improves on what we already have in Auba, Laca, Martinelli, Ballogun.
It’s hard to find better than those 2 youngsters if your looking at developing strikers, and even now there are not many experienced strikers out there that top what Auba and Laca being to the table.
Either we had to go in early and hard for a new striker or make sure we keep Auba and Laca on board and happy. There’s a bit of a feeling that they are unwanted by Mikel, but I feel that this is a dangerous game to play unless we have a viable and clear option that we can bring in that at least matches those two before you even consider if it improves on them.
We are late in the transfer window and not many clubs want to lose a top striker at this stage with little time to replace them.
My view now is we should secure Laca. I don’t believe he and Auba are finished and could still see both have a resurgent season. Neither looks to have lost much physically and athletically and I dont believe the natural ability has just suddenly deserted them all of a sudden.
For me both were as much the victims of a poor overall team set up for the first half of last season, and it is normally the strikers that the drop in form becomes most obvious with.
I just hope they haven’t become disillusioned and feel undervalued by the club because at base level they both still feel like the ideal older experienced strikers to compliment the emerging youngsters.
“The last thing I saw that he said was that we were prioritising in the wrong areas getting a creative player like Odegaard, and should be focussing on spending on our defensive midfield area.”
I haven’t been following things that closely but doesn’t he have a point?
I am slightly confused as to why we have pushed the boat out for Odegaard when we have ESR; in fact, can someone explain how they see those two players fitting into the same line up without having to shunt ESR out to the wing?
Gooner B
As usual, really well thought out post mate.
Yeah it was based on the comments you mention. And while I’d definitely like a new DM (Bissouma me baby!) 🤣
But more his views about Odegaard and ESR. Its this premise that signing Odegaard will somehow stifle or impede the development of ESR, like they can’t play together??? It’s lazy, not as lazy and half baked as Merson’s, but few are!!
I also agree with you on the strikers, we deffo need to keep both Laca and Auba, at least this season. I love them both, and justice Sanchez flourished with Ozil, Auba and Laca need creative players behind them, who are on their level. Hopefully with ESR and MO we will see this more and more.
LB
I thi k there’s a few was they can play together mate. The one I’d like to see is in a 4-3-3…
Ramsdale
AMN – White – Gabriel – Tierney
ESR – Partey – Odegaard
Saka – Laca – Auba
Hmmmm, I suppose so, I would be curious to see what that team plays like as well, although, I would rejig that front line but that is not what the question is about.
It is all about 15 more goals this season.
Chance creation and finishing!
Can Mikel get the team to play in a way that that harnesses the players strengths?
Not so sure.
Won’t go into the formations when in possession and out, as it has been well covered here. However, Mikel seems to set the teams up in practice one way, and in some games the players can’t play and his rigid tactics make for some horrific games.
Putting Auba out left and running him into the ground defensively is not wise, and ESR on the left when he and Saka are developing a partnership.
Mikel needs some healthy bodies, Gabriel and Partey or the entire thing is going to go kaput, sadly.
Dexter,
Really like that lineup minus either Auba or Laca, would place Martinelli out left and put Auba or Laca in the center.
Don’t believe those two compliment each other or the team very well.
There will be differing opinions on this one LB. Personally I still think Partey can play the sole deeper DM role if asked to do so and remain disciplined in it.
Lokonga also looks further ahead in his development than I thought and looks very tidy and athletic sitting in that deeper DM role.
White is very good on the ball and has the ball playing skill set of a DM and Chambers also got player of the season in that position in his loan year at Fulham.
Those 4 options are before we even factor in Xhaka, Elneny and the emerging Azeez. I believe that we have the quality amongst those options but also a slight variability in the different types of DM.
I also think we shouldn’t always play 2 DM’s and I kind of feel the final transition for Arteta is to move to 1 DM with 2 number 8 / 10 hybrid types alongside / in front of that DM similar to DeX’s line up. These 2 would primarily be Odegaard and ESR so they form a partnership rather than compete with each other.
We of course can play 2 DM’s in certain games but I feel we could be a better team overall with greater balance and control in games if we switch to 2 more attacking CM’s. That’s where I feel the Odegaard purchase makes sense.
Assuming everyone’s head is in the right place and with no injuries or illnesses then I would like to see the following :
—————————— Leno
Chambers —— Mari —— Holding —— Tierney
—————————— Partey
————- Odegaard —————- ESR
Saka ————————————————— Martinelli
————————– Aubamayeng
We can have a really strong bench as well including the likes of White, Gabriel, Tavares, Lokonga, Xhaka, Elneny, Pepe, Lacazette, Balogun, Nelson. We can replicate the above set up with a number of players from that reserve list.
Now seeing why u guys like bissouma
52nd minutes of there game just watch how he beats that press
New Post
Denna dåliga chansproduktion framåt är ett stort problem. Inlägg är för dåliga. Det är för dåliga kvalité på framåt passningar och löpningar. Smith rovve får för lite bollar på mitten. Men framför allt passningskvaliten är alldeles för dålig.
Some encouraging signs from Arsenal but we’re a long way behind Chelsea at the moment.
The missing first teamers might have helped but I suspect they wouldn’t have swung it for us
We were playing the European champions who have strengthened since winning that crown.
We’re in the early stages of a rebuild, so the result is no surprise.
If all the decent chances had been taken we’d have maybe lost 2-4.
Positives: ESR, Lokonga.
All what we need now is a prolific attacker to replace Aubamenyang to bang in the goals.
Okej håller med om en produktiv spelare. Det känns som att våra nyförvärv levererar. Dock är det ju skört vid skadefrånvaro. Personligen tycker jag vi ska gå all in på Alexander Isak👍 tror han trivs med Ödeegard. Lacazette bort och kanske någon av de yngre borde frigöra pengar till denna övergång👍