So the transfer window came and went with not much to report on. Well not unless you include the sales of some of our first team players including two of our most influential players as well as those of a more supporting role:
OUT: Clichy, Denilson, Eboue, Bendtner, Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri as well Vela, JET, Kyle Bartley, Armand Trarore and Lansbury of any note.
While we have had some major activity incoming as well. With the arrivals of:
IN: Gervinho, Carl Jenkinson, Alex Oxade-Chamberlain, Joel Campbel (who has gone out on loan), Andre Santos, Per Mertesacker, Park Chu-Young, Mikael Arteta and Yossi Benayoun. To that we can add Ryo Myachi that we did not have available to us last season due to him joining Feyernord on loan.
That is a total of ten players incoming with at least three that can be considered for the future. A busy summer indeed.
The major question then is; have we strengthened when compared to last year? At this stage I will give a tentative, yes. Controversial I know but please bare with my optimism and try to understand that I am basing this on each position and how I would compare that to the start of last season.
There can be no denying that in goal we have improved ten fold compared to the start of last season. We finally have a keeper that is worthy to wear the Arsenal shirt for the first time in a long time. So it is a good start in terms of strengthening.
The defence in my opinion has been strengthened dramatically, (a shame it wasn’t a week ago but still) in Santos and Mertesacker we have the potential to improve our back line considerably with experienced players. Whilst there are concerns over the two as they are untested in the Premier League as well as other questions, I feel that the challenge of a new club and their past experience will combine to give us a much needed boost at the back. Whilst I have been very impressed with Gibbs thus far, his injury record is against him and we will struggle this season if we are to rely on him. It will be a good opportunity for him to get fit and hopefully the competition at left back will reflect in their performances.
The midfield has unfortunately got weaker and significantly so. Despite some last minute arrivals which have helped lift the mood immeasurably we are still in a position where we have lost our best player. That is not to say all is lost as we have made some quality additions as well the talent of Ramsey, Song, Wilshire and Frimpong already at the club and I think it is still a strong unit. This will be strong and competitive for the season ahead but without Fabregas cannot be considered stronger.
The strength of our forwards is fairly similar, perhaps it is slightly stronger this season despite the loss of Nasri. Having Gervinho in his stead has so far looked to be promising and he certainly has many Arsenal fans salivating. This combined with the addition of Park Chu-Young and a fully fit Van Persie and it can be argued that we are more experienced and therefore stronger.
It is impossible to judge either way as we realistically do not know how players will adapt and fit in but one thing is clear the past two days have seen us going from seriously depleted when compared to last season to at least comparable. Now if you factor in that we have already had enough injuries for the season, we may get a better run of luck with this. Ha Ha! Yeah right but we can dream. A bit of luck and we can certainly improve on last season.
Now how do I rate our dealings in the transfer market this window? Despite some great signings in Gervinho, Mertesacker and Arteta as well as some decent squad players we have not had the advantage of having a pre-season with them or having them in place for the start of the season and it has cost us dearly.
We have spent an estimated £48m this summer which represents a profit of around £17m. This can be seen as a good thing financially but also represents not only a profit of £17m but a further £40m of unspent transfer funds. This is money that could have been spent on a world class player or two or even three, if we are completely honest. This would have undoubtedly ensured we would have strengthened and meant we would be able to challenge for trophies on all fronts.
So with those two factors combined, whilst it wasn’t as bad as it seemed over 48 hours ago, it represents a missed opportunity. A missed opportunity to greatly strengthen, to make a statement of intent and to silence doubters. It seems strange that the whole budget wasn’t spent and after the dust has settled and the euphoria ended I fear that serious questions will be asked why the board/management was still so reluctant to spend money.
On the whole though, I am happy and I wish all the new signings the best of luck and welcome them to our great, great club.
Goonerverse
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