Arsenal: Grading January transfer window moves

Selling Olivier Giroud for £18 million – F

In the context of the market at the time, I am actually in favour of selling Olivier Giroud. Without his going to Chelsea, Michy Batshuayi could not have been loaned to Borussia Dortmund and Aubameyang would not have arrived in North London. It is a compromise worth making.

But for these grades, I said to myself that I would assess each move in a vacuum, independent of what greater transfer mechanism it may be a component of. And so, I have to adjudge whether selling the best plan B in world, a player who has only been outscored by three players since his arrival on these shores, a player who has scored the equal most substitute goals for a single team in Premier League history, to a direct rival for a reported £18 million, per BBC Sport.

And, in that isolated context, it is impossible to give this sale anything more than the lowest possible grade, an F. Giroud could have helped Arsenal; Giroud will improve Chelsea. It seems a little backwards to depreciate your own options while bolstering your rival’s. But that is exactly what has happened here. Not good. At all.

Next: Arsenal: 30 greatest players in history

In conclusion, I feel that Arsenal had an excellent January window. Given the pressures they were under, most of them self-inflicted, they did wonderfully to come out the other side having actually bolstered their squad. Now, for the rest of the season.