Arsenal: January transfer window disrupts Unai Emery’s process

Arsenal might not do any business in the January window, and while some see this as outrageous, it really isn’t. It’s a want, not a need.

I’m not sure why fans continue to put so much hope in the January transfer window. Not a lot of good ever comes out of it, and given that Arsenal haven’t really found a lot of gold in the window (barring the most recent January… and Kim Kallstrom), you’d think they would just come to terms with the fact that January is not a good time to do business.

Unai Emery has spoken out about the January window and essentially said that he’s not expecting to do any business in January either. Which, to some, is unfathomable.

I’m not one of that ‘some.’ I would prefer we don’t do any business in January. Unai Emery is here to build long-term. January is often a time for panic buys. As much as we all love Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan, the former was a panic buy and the latter was a last-ditch effort to reclaim some value from Alexis leaving.

There is nothing to panic about with Unai Emery’s current set up. Nothing at all. And by nothing, that includes the defense.

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Southampton was such a fluky circumstantial match that we were without so many different defenders. And yes, it’s been flimsy before that, but going out and buying another centerback, likely an average one, as it’s January, doesn’t help things. We have quality centerbacks already, we just need them healthy and not suspended.

Especially now with Koscielny back, who will shake off the rust and get back into top form, we could construct a perfectly functional defense.

Come the summer time, with players’ contracts wearing down, maybe we reassess, and given the added availability and extra time to settle a player in, it would make sense to approach the situation then, but right now, I think the most important thing is really going at it with what we have and trying to weed out who is here for the long haul and who just isn’t worth it.

Without a encyclopedic knowledge of what is already at the club, as well as the trajectory of each player, it’s hard to assess what is an isn’t needed. Think about Ozil, Mkhitaryan, Ramsey, Mustafi, Monreal, Welbeck – all these guys have their future’s in doubt.

They need to be figured out before we can go in and start bolstering things, because it may be far more (or far less) serious than we think.