By Matty Sadler
August 12 2016

Arsenal transfers are probably one of the more widely discussed football topics on the internet and on social media and don’t really need any further discussion. So, let’s discuss them once more.

2016-17 Season Preview Part 2

As mentioned in Part 1 (see link below) , our squad situation is near-identical to last season, and so is our transfer situation. Last summer we signed one “starting player” in Petr Cech, who was a much needed signing and came in to have a good season. This summer we have signed one “starting player” in Granit Xhaka, a much needed marquee central midfield signing.

So far, that is yet. Yes, we have signed young Japanese striker Takuma Asano, who is set to go out on loan this season, and young centre back Rob Holding, but by neither of these can be classed as immediate “first team signings”. Anyway, last summer’s transfer problems, on the surface at least, seemed to very much be Wenger having too much faith in, and gambling on, the quality of his current squad, as he came out with frustrating gems like “the best way to strengthen other areas of the team is to get the players who did not play a lot last year fit and keep them fit”, followed by “after, if we can still add some quality, we will do it”, before adding no further quality.

He gambled on Per Mertesacker being okay for another season, but he wasn’t and notably cost us in three big games. He had faith in Gabriel’s progression, but he didn’t develop as we might’ve hoped and was a liability at times. He gambled on Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini being adequate backup for Francis Coquelin, but they weren’t. He put faith in Walcott’s ability as a centre forward but he let us down massively and had a very poor season. This summer, on the surface at least, we do actually appear to be trying to get transfers done, with equally frustrating Wenger sound bites such as “we always look for quality”, “we’re active” and “we’re alert”, but, if news reports are to be believed, penny-pinching is an issue again.

Everybody will have their own opinions as to where they think we need to strengthen, but as things stand to two most pressing areas for investment are the long standing centre forward area and the increasingly alarming centre back area. If we do not strengthen these areas it is difficult to see this season being any different from previous seasons. We’ll create a lot of chances because of attacking midfield and flair players. Olivier Giroud will go on a scoring run that will cause many to debate whether he truly is world class, before going on a barren run which will see him panned by fans and pundits alike. What will we do then, throw Chuba Akpom in? Try Theo Walcott up there again? Not exactly ideal. Even with Mertesacker and Gabriel, possibly, fit and Koscielny available, we’re far from a strong side defensively either, and their injuries have just made the situation worse. As things stand we won’t score enough and we’ll be too easy to score against.

Higuain we go again

Apparently Arsenal were used by Jamie Vardy and his agent in order to engineer a new improved Leicester deal, but it wouldn’t be an Arsenal transfer window without us being embarrassed somehow. Of course, the now-annual Gonzalo Higuain rumours cropped up again, though he has since signed for Juventus so I think those rumours are dead and buried for at least another year. Mauro Icardi and the now-injured Alexandre Lacazette are the other forward rumours this summer, but they immediately become hard to believe when you hear the quoted transfer fees.

A rumour for City’s Wilfriend Bony has recently appeared out of nowhere as well. In terms of central defenders, German World Cup winner Shkodran Mustafi has been the biggest rumour, as of the time of writing this, it is being reported by various sources that we’ve agreed personal terms with him and are in discussions with Valencia over a fee, rumoured to be anywhere from £20 to £43 million. Personally, I think he’d be a good signing as he is a good defender, is comfortable in possession and can also play right back, where we probably need another option (more on this below), plus he’d be another mate for Mesut Özil. We’ve also been linked to Jonny Evans, nobodies first choice but a solid defender with Premier League experience, and Fabian Schar, who we’ve been linked with on and off since at least 2014. There have been a lot of rumours about Leicester’s Riyad Mahrez as well, and whilst I wouldn’t be against us improving any position, I just feel we have more pressing matters.

I don’t want to turn this into an article ranting about players we’ve missed out on but, when you consider our desire to do things “on a budget”, there are two players who moved this summer on the cheap and I don’t really understand why we didn’t go for them. Ashley Williams moved from Swansea to Everton for somewhere between £9 – 12 million, while Wissam Ben Yedder moved from Toulouse to Sevilla for about £8 million. Williams is a solid, experienced Premier League defender and would have added some much-needed leadership qualities to our squad, plus his age, 31, would tie in well to the expected development of Calum Chambers, 21, Rob Holding, 20, and Krystian Bielik, 18, and you’d hope by the time he is finished at least one of those would have been ready to step up.

Ben Yedder, on the other hand, had been a consistent scorer in France for years and years in a poor Toulouse side, and would’ve provided that alternative to Giroud we desperately need as a short, fast, skilful flair player. Personally, I just think that, for a combined fee of around £20 million, these could’ve been two shrewd moves.

In terms of outgoings, Yaya Sanogo was completely left out against Lens, and left out of the US and Scandinavia tour squads, so you have to assume he is going to depart either permanently or temporarily. Gedion Zelalem and Serge Gnabry, who is doing excellently at the Olympics by the way, both need loan moves, while it also doesn’t make sense for Ainsley Maitland-Niles to return to youth football after a full season of Championship football, so you have to assume he will go back out on loan as well.

As mentioned above, it has already been said that Asano will go out on loan this season, as will Nigerian youth signing Kelechi Nwakali. Mathieu Debuchy doesn’t want to be here anymore and, in normal circumstances, nobody would stand in his way, but given how short we are at the back you feel we’ll probably keep him at least until Carl Jenkinson is fit again. That being said, Jenkinson’s future here is no guarantee either. After one excellent season on loan to West Ham, the following season he was inconsistent before his loan move was cut short due to injury. The right back spot is one we’ll probably have to revaluate next summer.

At the risk of oversimplifying things, in my opinion there are two tiers of “top sides” in the Premier League. There is a “top tier”, which contains Chelsea, Man City and Man United, and a “second top tier” which contains Liverpool, Tottenham and us, and I guess sides like Everton, Leicester and West Ham have to be included in that group now. Although it will be harder this season than ever before, I feel our current squad, on its day, is perfectly capable of finishing in the top four, but further additions are needed. We need to finish the reinforcement of our spine. Even before Mertesacker and Gabriel’s injuries, we needed a better centre half, but we now we find ourselves down to the barebones. We still lack quality in attack, and have done since RVP left in 2012. I guess what we do in the remainder of this transfer window will be the biggest indicator as to whether we are a top side who want to challenge for the biggest trophies, or pretenders who are happy with coasting in the top four every year. If Wenger pulls something out of the bag in the remaining weeks of the transfer window, the “madness” Arsenal fans on Twitter have hyped about, I’ll happily hold my hands up.

I wanted a central midfielder, a striker and a centre back this window. I still dream of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. It is just a shame these deals weren’t sorted earlier. Also what Arsenal does in the remaining weeks of the transfer market could also play a very big part in whether Ozil and Alexis, and even Koscielny, choose to extend their contracts here.

It is a shame that the club is re reactive, rather than proactive.

Part 1 of Season Preview. Here