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Grading Arsenal’s Summer Transfer Ins and Outs
By Josh Sippie
With the summer transfer window officially shut, we can take an all-encompassing look at how our dear Arsenal did this window. If you judged it solely based on the final day and the social media reaction that followed, a big fat ‘F’ would be at the top of Arsene Wenger’s final exam. However, taking a look at the entire window as a hole breeds a different kind of perspective.
Here are the ins and outs.
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Despite what you may hear about Petr Cech being our only signing, he was not. Arsene Wenger again made serious strides to give us an even more promising future. Each player he brought in has a tremendous pedigree.
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Jeff Reine-Adelaide is the cream of the crop. At just 17 years of age, he looked like an absolute force in the preseason. Matched up against class opposition, Reine-Adelaide made a name for himself and asserted his way to the top of our top 10 Arsenal prospects list.
Donyell Malen, Vlad Dragomir and Yassin Fortune all boast a tremendous background with gobs of potential and Ismael Bennacer has upside as well. Arsenal’s youth system is already locked and loaded. Adding names like this make it that much stronger. Arsenal have a stellar senior side now but in a handful of years, it will be magnified.
As far as the outs, Arsenal yet again went another year without losing anybody crucial. I would not have minded seeing Lukas Podolski given another go just because Arsenal are clearly in need of a finisher and that is all Podolski is. However, we could not have accommodated all of his needs and a departure was the best for both sides.
The rest of the exits were either free transfers or releases. The most notable is Abou Diaby, who, after so many injuries, has finally departed the club.
Overall Transfer Grade: B+
Despite being heavily criticized for not bringing in that ‘title-winning signing,’ this Arsenal squad got stronger. By adding Petr Cech to the side that shined so brightly in the second half of last year, Arsenal were ticketed to contention for the title.
For more in-depth grades of all of Arsenal’s acquisitions, begin the slideshow below.
Next: Grading Petr Cech