Arsenal: 5 huge successes from the January transfer window

Arsenal’s January transfer window has come to a ravishing close and it has to rank among the best we’ve had. Here are five huge successes from January.

The January transfer window is now behind us, and Arsenal and their fans have to feel good about what was accomplished. For the fans, it’s a matter of critical thinking (not always their strong suit, but…). No, we didn’t spend big on monumental game changers. But we also didn’t need to. The winter window is never about that.

When you stop and look at what we were able to accomplish, you can’t help but be excited about it. The club had a clear objective going into January, and while I’ll admit that all of the moves could quality as underwhelming, they are also incredibly smart, well-devised signings and loans.

This isn’t a quick-hit window. It’s not a wham-bam, we’re incredible now. It’s going to be a slow burner, but I’m confident that we will look back at this window as a staging point for a lot of future successes. And that’s what I want to highlight now.

These five successes I’m going to draw attention to aren’t that exciting on paper, but when you extrapolate them to logical endpoints, they are huge successes. So let’s get right into it at No. 5.

5. Left-footed centerback

It sounds stupid right? Who cares what foot he is, just give me a good defender. That’s fair. But if you can get both, all the better.

Pablo Mari comes in on loan with an option to buy and he has zero expectations from fans. Few have heard of him, few rate him highly. But Edu and Raul Sanllehi chose him as our defensive solidifier for the rest of the year.

That says a lot. And while it’s unlikely he is our great defensive solution, he doesn’t need to be. All he needs to do is be a quality option. The fact that he’s a left-footed centerback just adds a little extra razzle to the dazzle.

And since we’re talking about the defense, let’s keep that going at No. 4.