Arsenal Transfers: Grading all 6 summer purchases

Arsenal got a shocking amount of business done this summer despite the odds stacked against them, so let’s look back and grade each move.

This might go down as one of the most successful summer transfer windows that Arsenal have ever had. Not necessarily just because of the players they signed, but because of the way in which they signed them, and the stakes that they were up against.

I mean, going into this window, it was said we had £45m to spend. That’s it. And spoiler alert, that’s not a lot of money. More than that, no significant business was done in June.

Even when the Adidas deal kicked in in July, and even when Edu joined the club in July, it was still a slow build. It wasn’t until late July and the one week in August that the window was open that we saw something truly special in the way that these guys were going after their targets.

True targets weren’t given up on and, in the end, we actually managed to address each and every issue. Miraculously.

Now, let’s go back and look at each move and grade it, report card style. We will start with the first move and progress through them all. We start with No. 6.

6. Gabriel Martinelli — A

I know I’ve said this before, but it speaks volumes to the quality of this kid that as soon as Edu was announced, Gabriel Martinelli came with him. Not to draw unnecessary comparisons, but it reminded me a lot of Arsene Wenger pulling Patrick Vieira with him on his way to Arsenal.

Martinelli has featured off and on in the preseason and two things are apparent. 1) he needs work, 2) he is immensely talented. Both pair quite well with the current development of youth at the club.

Martinelli might not pay an immediate return on investment, but being a left-sider, which we don’t have much of, there is definitely a chance he gets into the first-team picture this year and begins to establish himself and the future he has ahead of him.

Next up, the next move.