Arsenal January Transfer Window Grade

Arsenal enjoyed a fruitful January on the pitch, going unbeaten in the Premier League and finally showing signs of progression under Mikel Arteta in the current campaign. Can we keep replaying that month, please?

Barring the FA Cup exit it was a thoroughly enjoyable four weeks. But we won’t focus on what happened over the white line, and instead what took place off it. Which was a lot.

No less than eight players left in the January transfer window either as loans or permanent deals, signalling the importance of stability and manageability to Arteta as he builds towards the future.

Starting with the signings, there were three realistic areas that needed tending to: goalkeeper, left-back and creative midfield. Acquiring those targets was an uphill struggle from the off, most notably in attacking midfield.

Arsenal’s grade for their business in the January transfer window

From Dominik Szoboszlai to Houssem Aouar, Emi Buendia to Christian Eriksen, the profiles varied from inverted winger to desperate stop-gap, all of which came with heavy financial burdens or unmatched needs.

Thus, securing the six-month loan signing of Martin Odegaard was admirable. Too early to tell? In terms of on-field contributions, yes. But in regards to market availability and the risk it entailed, there were no better viable options out there.

Then there was undeniable urge for a backup goalkeeper. Once again, trying to bring in the long-term successor for Bernd Leno was a near impossible task in January with no club willing to part with their keeper in the middle of the season, at least not for a hefty fee. Mat Ryan became available, and his Premier League experience coupled with the lack of bedding in period, it was another shrewd addition.

While the recruitment side performed admirably in those two departments, the left-back conundrum proved too troublesome to navigate around. With Kieran Tierney’s increasingly worrying injury concerns and Cedric’s obvious drawbacks on the opposite flank, despite filling in well, that comes as the only downside on an otherwise impressive pair of incomings.

If Cedric falls foul to injury and Tierney continues to be beset with niggling concerns, then Arsenal could be in trouble.

Arsenal’s Outgoings Must be Heralded as a Success

The caveat to the departures in north London being a success is the lack of transfer funds accrued. Contracts were either terminated or temporarily passed on to other clubs, with only a £2.5m loan fee heading Arsenal’s way from Sead Kolasinac’s loan to Schalke.

Could most of the players who left have been shifted in the summer? Arsenal did try. Perhaps with a more experienced technical director and without the major upheaval in the recruitment side they could have succeeded. Yet that dances around the harsh reality that no club had money to spend in a pandemic-influenced market.

Moreover, whatever money clubs had was unlikely to be spent on players deemed below the standard required for a club at their lowest stage in decades.

Arteta knew who he wanted out and together with Edu Gaspar, the club achieved it. The sad truth is so much of the January window was spent righting the wrongs of past regimes. Managing to remove Mesut Ozil, Shkodran Mustafi, Sokratis and Kolasinac from the squad and still saving some money (the contract terminations meant Arsenal didn’t pay their entire salaries out) must be praised.

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These are players few clubs wanted or could afford. Just look at the Bundesliga’s bottom club with one win in a year signing two of them as an example.

Also the fringe players such as William Saliba, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Joe Willock had loan departures sanctioned, three players who wouldn’t get adequate playing time at the club and were there damaging their value, all the while costing wages. Whether they deserved to be playing or not, that was the situation and it needed dealing with.

Willock will play regularly at Newcastle and the move suits him perfectly; Maitland-Niles had the chance to join Southampton but turned it down, and while West Brom was not the preferred choice, it’s still minutes. As for Saliba, he’s showing what he can do in a division he knows well.

Arsenal January Transfer Grade

Looking at it from a recruitment point of view, and without Arsenal seeing either Odegaard or Ryan play, they’ve secured 2/3. Being literal, that’s 66% success. Being not so literal, they’ve brought in reliable cover in goal, a better creator than envisaged and might get away with the lack of a left-back depending on injuries.

In terms of outgoings, there was never going to be place for Ozil, Mustafi, Kolasinac, Sokratis or Macey, and Saliba, Willock and Maitland-Niles were better off getting regular minutes elsewhere as opposed to the occasional ones at Arsenal. Even if the trio are at club’s with different styles and systems to Arsenal.

Maitland-Niles’ versatility will obviously be missed, as he can provide cover across the pitch, while Willock departing leaves only four central midfielders in the double pivot role of the 4-2-3-1. That should be enough to see out the season although Ceballos and Elneny have both lacked consistency this term.

Full-back positions are where Arsenal could falter as even though Kolasinac was a liability, he had the energy to get up and down the pitch just as Maitland-Niles did on the other flank.

How detrimental not signing a left-back could be remains to be seen.

On the whole though, trimming a bloated squad down and leaving Arteta with not only a more manageable group but a group he wants to manage has been done to the best of the club’s abilities. Despite losing to Wolves, that was the most fight Arsenal have shown this season and their best half of football all term. Coincidence? Who knows.

Stability and unity coincided with a lessened wage bill to form a very impressive window. Not perfect, but impressive nonetheless.

Arsenal Transfer Grade: B+