Arsenal: There’s been a problem with transfer policy

Since Sven Mislintat took charge of Arsenal’s transfers, there has been one, consistent problem with the club’s policy that needs to change: the age of the targets.

Under Arsene Wenger, Arsenal were always painfully hesitant in the transfer window. They would delay decisions because of money-based complications. They would dither when it came to high-profile additions, often missing out on them as a result. They were cautious to invest heavily. They often had to, in panic, clump together any players they could simply to fill out their squad. It was far from a structured, organised, intelligent and efficient process. It was unruly and unsuccessful.

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So when Wenger departed and Ivan Gazidis began to recruit high-performing individuals to first help Wenger and then succeed him in the transfer market, there was an eager anticipation that the transfer policy of the club would evolve and improve.

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Sven Mislintat was the most significant hire, the former Chief Scout at Borussia Dortmund becoming Arsenal’s new Head of Recruitment. He is tasked with finding talent. Raul Sanllehi of Barcelona was brought in as Head of Relations, tasked with acquiring the talent that Mislintat finds. And then there is Unai Emery, the Head Coach, but still with an input on the transfer decisions made. This was the team that directed the new transfer policy of the club.

And for the most part, many of the grievances that were aired regarding Wenger’s way of working have been somewhat eased. In January, Arsenal broke their transfer record for the second time in six months to sign Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang — they also acquired another high-profile attacker, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, in a trade for the troublesome Alexis Sanchez. In the summer, the deals that were done were done swiftly, all bar one completed, if not officially, by mid-June. Moreover, the deals in the summer were of a fair price and addressed key areas of need, many of which persisted for over a decade during Wenger’s running of the ship.

But there has been one major issue with this new, evolved transfer policy of the club: the age of the players. Mkhitaryan had just turned 29 when he was signed in January. Aubameyang turned 29 six months later, in June of this year. Sokratis turned 30 as his saga was unfolding, while Stephan Lichtsteiner is 34.

Yes, there were deals for a 26-year-old goalkeeper and 22-year-old midfielder, as well as two youth prospects in Konstantinos Mavropanos and Matteo Guendouzi, signed. But that does not make up for the deceptive ageing of this current squad: Arsenal could very feasibly field a team with an average of 28 and that includes starting  22-year-old Torreira and 23-year-old Hector Bellerin.

This is no longer a young squad with a plethora of burgeoning talents with bright futures. There are those players at the club — Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Eddie Nketiah, Mavropanos and Guendouzi, Reiss Nelson just to name a few. But they are unlikely to be first-team regulars throughout the season and it is unreasonable to expect them all to fulfil their potential.

It is vital that Arsenal begin to buy players that are at the right age, between 22 and 25. Those who are good enough and ready to play in the first-team right away but are also young enough to have longevity and a potential re-sale value. Thus far, they have veered away from these type of players. It needs to change.