The Summer Transfer Window Assessment

The window is closing and it doesn't look like we're signing anybody else. So let's do a round-up of the window and assess how we've done and where this squad stands at the moment.

INS
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - £15mil (£7mil initial fee add ons)
Gervinho - £11mil
Mikel Arteta - £10mil
Per Mertesacker - £8mil
André Santos - £6mil
Park Chu-Young - £3mil (structured deal with add-ons)
Carl Jenkinson - £1mil
Joel Campbell - £930k
Yossi Benayoun - Loan

Total: £44,930,000 rising to £52,930,000

OUTS
Cesc Fabregas - £35mil (£25mil initial fee add ons)
Samir Nasri - £22mil
Gael Clichy - £7mil
Emmanuel Eboue - £3mil
Armand Traore - £1.2mil
Jay Emmanuel-Thomas - £1.1mil
Carlos Vela - Loan
Nicklas Bendtner - Loan
Henri Lansbury - Loan
Denilson - Loan

Total: £60,300,000 rising to £70,300,000

One thing I can immeidately say about our window this summer is that it's lacked a plan. The club started off wanting to keep Clchy, Fabregas and Nasri but gradually changed their stance as the summer progressed and eventually sold all three without having replacements ready.

This indecisiveness has really hurt us. Fabregas was always likely to leave and the chances of Clichy and Nasri staying were very slim, so replacements should have been lined up but it seems that the club did not prepare properly. With Nasri being the final departure only a few days ago, Arsenal were left with a few days to sign replacements. It was always going to be a difficult job to get in real quality players with such little time left.

At this point, it seemed like only one player would come in, if we were lucky. But after that result, things obviously changed as three players were signed just days after the result. Good players, as well.

The harrowing thought is that had that result not happened, would Arsenal have signed those players? I'm doubtful they would have, and it's another indication to the lack of plan during this window.

Now on the positive side, André Santos is a good replacement for Clichy for a good price. Park add experience to the front line and a tad more guile, while Per Mertesacker is a real coup and probably our best signing. All of them, though, smack of rushed signigns and, as I said earler, probably would not have happened if we didn't lost 8-2 to United. Nonetheless, they're here and are good additions.

Gervinho has ended up being a Nasri replacement as opposed to an addition, but he looks a good player and for £11mil it's a very good deal. He will add pace and directness to our attack.

The only thing lacking is the centre of midfield. Fabregas is a massive hole to fill and though Yossi Benayoun is experienced and a decent player, he doesn't add that much. A loan is the best move, considering that and his age.

The addition of Mikel Arteta is a good one, however. While he might not be of the quailty we all wanted in this positon, he brings experience to our midfield.

In the end, I'm content with how the window went. I still think we're one or two players short and the overall quality of the squad isn't as good as last year, but I think the club has done well to bring in as many players as it has done in such a short amount of time.

So the squad will be:

Goalkeepers
Wojceich Szczesny
Luckasz Fabiasnki
Vito Mannone
Manuel Almuia

Defenders
Thomas Vermaelen
Per Mertesacker
Laurent Koscielny
Johan Djourou
Sebastien Squillaci
Ignasi Miquel
Bacary Sagna
Carl Jenkinson
André Santos
Kieran Gibbs

Midfielders
Alex Song
Emmanuel Frimpong
Francis Coquelin
Abou Diaby
Jack Wilshere
Aaron Ramsey
Mikel Arteta
Tomas Rosicky
Yossi Benayoun

Forwards
Robin van Persie
Marouane Chamakh
Park Chu-Young
Theo Walcott
Gervinho
Benik Afobe
Ryo Miyaichi
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

Great write up Jay, agree with everything you said. I believe we have good enough squad to compete for top 4 once again.

good write up...im reading we paid 10 million pounds for arteta now tht wud be an absolute waste if true...

undisclosed fee mate

bloodless wrote:good write up...im reading we paid 10 million pounds for arteta now tht wud be an absolute waste if true...

I rather waste the money then make the board take it. I am happy with our signing in matter of 2 days.

Where did Bendtner go?

Bendtner has gone on loan to Sunderland.

To Sunderland i believe.

I know some peeps aren't happy we didn't get some better players. But we gotta think that AW was in the market for theses better players and the clubs didn't wanna sell.

As i remember we were interested in Kaka but they didn't want him to go and he didn't want him to leave.

Hazard, we tried to get him, but we all know what happened.

Went for Goetze too. Apparently we bid 35mil but it was turned down.

Three big players right there. We couldn't get em. We tried

And also think what coulda been if we hadn't signed Mertesacker, Santos, Arteta, Jung, and Benayoun. We would be in crisis. These players will help us out in one way or another. With these players, we are atleast good enough for a top 4 finish....

i believe the fees being quoted about arteta

BBC said it was 10mil. And they're reliable....

very disappointing, defense has been revamped and will be good, but our midfield is not trophy quality, 4th is not good enough.

I agree that the midfield is still short of a real outstanding player. Even with the addition of Arteta, is still looks weaker than the other big teams in the Premier League.

Getting into the top four is going to be hard since Liverpool look very strong. As much as these new signigns have improved our mood, they still need to settle into new surroundings and we still need to win a game in the league.

Top 4 finsih should be our goal.

I dont know about you guys, but I have high hopes for our team once again.
I believe we got stronger, and we can challenge for EPL. Maybe I am just crazy.

At least we're looking much better than a few days ago.

Very happy with most of our signings

Merteseker, Arteta, Santos, Gervinho and Park are all massive signings imv. not sure if we really needed Benayoun at all. as for Alex, i have high hopes for him. i do think we could have done with one more winger though, and a bit dissaponted we loaned both Bendtner and Vela at the same time.

very happy, improved defence alot. added creativity in the middle to allow our front three which looks very good to flourish. We needed someone to come in and help ramsey grow and control our midfield and getting arteta will do that. But our defence looks very good, lots of depth, height and speed. We are gonna concede less then last year.

GoonerJay29 wrote:

Top 4 finsih should be our goal.

Only at Arsenal is a top 4 finish considered an achievement.
Hate to be the downer but which of these does everyone actually think we are going to knock out of 4th?
Manu
Manc
Chelsea
Liverpool

6unner wrote:

GoonerJay29 wrote:

Top 4 finsih should be our goal.

Only at Arsenal is a top 4 finish considered an achievement.
Hate to be the downer but which of these does everyone actually think we are going to knock out of 4th?
Manu
Manc
Chelsea
Liverpool

actually, every club bar chelsea us and united find it an achievment.



I think we are better then liverpool, and chelsea. We have a solid defence, and a very fast attack. Adding arteta in will allow us to control the games more like when we had cesc, and he is also very good at findind the "killer" ball.

6unner wrote:

GoonerJay29 wrote:

Top 4 finsih should be our goal.

Only at Arsenal is a top 4 finish considered an achievement.
Hate to be the downer but which of these does everyone actually think we are going to knock out of 4th?
Manu
Manc
Chelsea
Liverpool

Well, no actually. Liverpool and Spurs would also consider top four an acheivement.

If we're going to beat anyone to fourth, it's going to be either Chelsea or Liverpool. We'll have to see how our new look squad shapes up over the season.

And given the circumstances, a fourth place finish would be a decent season.

I see this as a cup winning side. Depth at the back to rotate defence, depth in the middle, can rotate wilshire ramsey arteta, and lots of pace upfront that can unlock teams on the counter if we have a lead.

Initially I felt short slightly changed, but after fully evaluating each signing, individually, I would say that I'm satisfied. I'm still somewhat mystified by certain decisions made my Wenger and co; Why leaving the signings till the last minute? Why not sign Enrique? Why didn't he sell Cesc and Nasri sooner?

I think what we'd all agree on is that we lack a 'marquee' signing', which I think is fair to say. A team like Arsenal deserves to have at least one recognised world class player. In todays game, it extremely difficult to achieve success without it. I know it sounds crazy, but that's what it boils down too.

What I do like about this new look squad, if we'll call it that, is the balance of experienced, mature and youth player wehave at our disposal. We've allowed several youngsters to move on permanently and on loan, which in turn allows the new batch of players to come through.

I'm intrigued to see how we'll look, when the epl resumes. I'm buzzing to see how all our new players will look and fit in. Bizarrely though, I'm probably most excited about Park. I think he'll be our dark horse signing, especially with all the alleged millitary service suggestions. Mertesacker pair alongside Vermaelen will also bring us some much needed balace and stability as will Santos. I asked that under no circumstances do we play Djourou and Kos alngside one another. I've been well aware of their lack of understanding, and it was evident against Utd.

Overall, we've sold and signed, and guess what...we made a profit. Anyone surprised- or was merely a coincedence?!?!?!