Arsenal summer transfer window: Attack, midfield, defence

Arsenal’s Midfield Transfer Task

This to my mind is where most of the work needs to be done. There are great pieces to work with up top regardless of if you make any moves or not, whether you bring new strikers and wingers in or simply sell, the talent is there. Yet the middle of the pitch for Arsenal is barren and in need of fresh innovation, creativity and imagination.

Houssem Aouar and Julian Brandt come to mind right away for me, yet Yves Bissouma has also been in the headlines regarding a move to north London. Any of those three players would be special in concert with other pieces like Thomas Partey and Bukayo Saka, and surely could help to give us some fluidity from back to front, side to side and everything in between.

Meanwhile, Lucas Torreira will surely be sold permanently when he returns from Atletico Madrid, while it wouldn’t surprise me Granit Xhaka were told to find a new club as well. Dani Ceballos will not be returning as has been previously reported and so he could find himself back at Madrid or even to Real Betis as he has discussed previously.

Mohamed Elneny deserves his spot on the team and both Smith Rowe, as well as the other Madrid man Odegaard, should naturally retain their own respective spots on the roster; keep an eye out for Aaron Ramsey as well, to be filed in the “Hot Take” category.

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Arsenal and their defence: Some good and some bad

There is no doubt that Gabriel Magalhaes is marvelous, and would’ve been a major signing for whatever club was lucky enough to get him. As that was Arsenal, this is certainly a positive to be counted, yet the defensive backline is complicated for a few reasons mainly.

The first in my mind is that outside of him there seems to be a need for new names and talents; Konstantinos Mavropanos, having spent another loan spell abroad, should be given the chance to show that he can be a full time contributor for Arsenal in the center-back position. Should he be a fit, his massive size and athletic ability could make him and Gabriel a convincing and intimidating pair.

Like Willian above, David Luiz needed shifting so news of his contract not being renewed was no great surprise. The Brazilian has had an immense career at every team he’s played for but the time had come to go back to Portugal or Brazil for the final stages of his professional playing career.

Moving on, as we get to the full-backs, the left side has Kieren Tierney, who is a young star without question. I love him as a player and believe that all we need behind him is depth and the rest will work itself out fine.

At the right-back position, reports essentially confirm that Hector Bellerin will leave the club. When he does, a replacement will be found whether from Inter in the form of Achraf Hakimi, or someone else, since it is apparent that person will not be Ainsley Maitland-Niles. It will have to be addressed when it becomes an issue.

Of course there are other names, but this piece cannot be a book. We will pour over more names across the weeks and months it is guaranteed, and rumors will sprout out of nowhere and die just as quickly; such is the transfer market and the rumor mill.

Transfer Window and patience will save Arsenal

Arsenal have the young pieces from the Arsene Wenger era still growing into dynamic talents, as well as big name transfers who are still growing into the club and team around them. They must select the few pieces to try to purchase across the world or Europe, and then simply go all out to do it.

While some might’ve wished I’d have done a bit on Bernd Leno and the goalkeeper situation, I’m not sure it’s too dire to be honest. Leno is very good and Mat Ryan has been a positive. While a name like Wojciech Szczesny might sound appealing to some with the proper memory, the price could be prohibitive and the talent might not be that much more at each of their career stages.

No, for me, it’ll be a matter of fixing a few positions, shoring up others, while focusing on how to further develop ourselves internally all the while. Arsenal is on the right path, even if that path has difficult terrain to manage at times; when success is earned, those hard times are but laughs and stories to tell the poor souls who never suffered the blight.