The Januray transfer window slams shut very soon indeed. It will close to all English clubs on Monday night at 11pm.
That means Arsene Wenger, Ivan Gazidis and Dick Law will have to be very quick in order to do any more business.
In fairness though, they haven’t been slouching during this transfer window. That is something welcomed by all Arsenal fans, particularly as the club seemed to have neglected transfer windows in the not-too-distant past.
Coming into the club, we have seen the welcome arrivals of two new defensively-minded players. The first signing was defensive midfielder Krystian Bielik from Legia Warsaw. The 17-year-old was signed for a reported £2 million and will most likely feature for the under-21s this season after building up his match fitness. However, he is seen as a very exciting prospect for the future and is a type of player that Arsenal have lacked in their midfield for a number of years.
The second defender to join us was 24-year-old Brazilian centre back Gabriel Paulista. Arsenal have mostly fielded a make-shift centre back all season, whether it be Mathieu Debuchy or Nacho Monreal. Now, we have an out-and-out centre back to provide cover as Calum Chambers can’t do two positions at once. Paulista is a very welcome addition to a position where we needed some ammunition (yes, I am Eminem).
So, we’ve strengthened in positions where we needed to. Excellent! So, what about our attacking options? What has happened to them over the window?
Well, we’ve seen the loan departures of three talented back-up options. We’ve lost Podolski to Inter Milan and probably won’t return, Sanogo to Crystal Palace to get some Premier League experience and Joel Campbell to Villarreal as part of the deal to permanently sign Paulista.
Under normal circumstances, fans should be very worried if not outraged at letting three of our attacking options leave the club when we’re still fighting in three competitions going into the ‘business end of the season’.
We should be asking ourselves: “what if someone gets injured?”, “what about rotating the team to stay fresh?” and “shoudln’t we be signing someone to replace them?”
You’re right; we should. But as was said in the British political comedy series ‘The Thick Of It’, “should doesn’t mean yes”.
The fact of the matter is that I think we’ll be more than fine without signing anyone.
Wenger may indeed look to a spring an Ozil-like surprise on us tomorrow.
Edinson Cavani has long been linked with a move to us, particularly after becoming very publicly unsettled at PSG. Or, the longest interest and negotiation in history might end tomorrow with the arrival of Salomon Kalou. Marco Reus is someone who Wenger is known to admire greatly with reports saying a deal was close before he got that big injury before the world cup.
But although another top signing would be greatly welcome, we don’t want to turn into Manchester City. We don’t want to become a huge warehouse full of amazing talent with just a small shop to show them in.
Despite the trio of departures we still have Giroud, Welbeck, Alexis, Ozil, Cazorla, Rosicky, Chamberlain and Walcott who can fill those front three positions. All eight have lots of experience and quality there.
Quite a few of them have also had more than their fair share of injuries this season. At the time, it was disastrous. But now we should reap the benefits. The likes of Giroud, Welbeck, Ozil, Rosicky and Walcott should be fresh and in fine-form for the rest of the season.
There are two more players who can greatly help us out in the coming months and beyond. They are Chuba Akpom and Serge Gnabry. The latter has hardly been mentioned in press conferences so I have no idea where he is at in terms of recovery at the moment. If he can get fit this season, he will be another great asset on the wings.
Then I finally come on to Chuba Akpom. He’s been more news-worthy than normal because his contract is running out and there are many top clubs interested. Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund are among them.
His performance against Aston Villa shows why, in my opinion, he is a much better option than Yaya Sanogo and has a great future at the club. His pace is first-class and he quite clearly has great technique and quality. His desire, acceleration and reading of the game won the penalty to make it 4-0 at the Emirates in that game.
His finishing is what you’d expect from a 19-year-old but he has everything in his locker to succeed. His role this season will be to fill-in and make cameos. He will do that and has done that very well. Anything more will be a bonus.
So relax Arsenal fans. We’ve found some fantastic form, we’ve strengthened our defensive numbers and our attack is as strong as it was before the window opened. Any incomings now will just be a bonus. So sit back and enjoy what might become of our season.
