Arsenal: 4 vital transfers to facilitate final window spending

Before the window opened, and in fact quite some time before, what featured on the summer transfer window docket read something resembling ‘a lot’. The outrageous amount of work for Arsenal to undertake couldn’t be circumvented.

Cursed with an obscene amount of deadwood and overpaid mediocrity, without even factoring the requisite injection of quality there were a wealth of sales to sanction.

So far, that aspect of the window can’t come close to being labelled as a success. A few loan moves with obligations have been added to with the permanent £25m departure of Joe Willock, and with that sale new doors have opened.

Martin Odegaard’s imminent arrival for a fee in and around £30m-£35m ensures Willock’s sale is painted in an even brighter light. It’s a move that if incorporating the 21-year-old will cost Arsenal between £5-£10m depending on add-ons. That’s great business.

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4 transfers Arsenal need to make to facilitate Mikel Arteta’s final part of the Gunners’ proposed summer window spending spree

With £75m already parted with on Nuno Tavares, Albert Sambi Lokonga and Ben White, securing that elusive creative midfielder, one at an excellent age with the talent and development potential to pop in the Premier League, constitutes fine work.

Aaron Ramsdale will follow suit to jump up the net spend, meaning five new faces will have walked through the Emirates Stadium doors as part of the previously labelled ‘unprecedented’ summer window.

Is this the ‘ruthless overhaul’ laid down before us? You’d argue not. The total outlay will exceed £130m and looking at the first team, only two of the additions will start in a fully fit squad: White is a mainstay in defence and Odegaard joins the frontline.

Easily observed are the issues that still remain at right-back and at centre-forward. The latter would, ideally, be left untended to were Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to rediscover his 2019/20 form. Odegaard’s arrival could springboard that but growing concerns are tough to shirk. As for Alexandre Lacazette, he’s never been an elite goalscorer in red and white.

The right-back department, meanwhile, consists of three defenders, none of whom are going to elevate this team into European hopefuls. However, none of those two positions will be attacked with any vigour unless these departures occur to facilitate them. This is the next job.

So what needs to happen?

Continued…

Strikers – Alexandre Lacazette & Eddie Nketiah

In the modern age, transfers are almost more important than results. Fans flock to the papers and social media baying for the arrival of a statement signing, one that allows them to one-up their rivals and get the internal gratification that comes with large transfer fees.

Not only do they feel good, they’re also seen as a reflection of the player’s ability. Arsene Wenger’s famous Rob Holding comments spring to mind.

But marquee or ‘big’ signings do more than tickle the tastebuds; they provide a boost for the supporters and a lift in and around the training ground. Players aren’t ignorant to what takes place in football and they know if a Mesut Ozil-esque big-money acquisition is made that the club who employs them is serious, and they need to be too. Competition and intensity rise.

Should Odegaard’s signing be completed as expected, he will arrive as someone familiar to the club, players and staff. In some ways it’s a ‘safe’ option. That which does not imply it’s the wrong one to make.

For the talisman arrival, nowhere would suit that better than at centre-forward. It wasn’t a position that was felt to be as important, but form and transfer activity, or lack thereof, elsewhere in the squad has altered that landscape.

However, whoever comes in can’t do so without two players being moved on. Eddie Nketiah and Alexandre Lacazette have to be sold or else this move is stopped in its tracks. Lacazette more so than Nketiah, but until that comes to fruition there will be no new centre-forward.

Get these moves over the line (quickly) and a striker with presence, potential and experience and the club can lean more towards what would be deemed a successful window.

Odegaard may arrive as the facilitator in the squad, but Laca and Eddie could rival him for that title for different reasons.

Continued…

Right-Back – Hector Bellerin & Cedric Soares

This situation differs from at centre-forward as both needn’t be moved on in order to provide the platform for a starting right-back.

Of the three on the books – Calum Chambers, Hector Bellerin & Cedric Soares – it is the long-serving former Southampton man who features on the ‘keep list’ by quite some margin. No, not that one. Is he Arsenal quality for that position? No. Chambers is certainly a serviceable option and on his good days can be of genuine benefit to the team, but that’s not a weekly occurrence.

In order to move the needle Arsenal need another right-back. It’s a weak spot in the team and beyond the talent of the individual himself, Ben White needs a partner on that side to complement him. It’s no use spending £50m on a centre-back if he can’t reach his own heights due to a lack of quality alongside him.

Of course, selling Bellerin has proven to be some ask for Edu and co. Inter pulled the plug and reports emerged that the Spaniard has not been impressed with how the club have handled his desire to leave. That eventuality is a mutual agreement.

Swap deals with Atletico and Barcelona for Kieran Trippier and Emerson Royal respectively have been mooted, with as of yet no deal in the offing.

As for Cedric, there is loan interest in him. He is more keen on staying and fighting for his place, however.

A new right-back could significantly lift this team. Someone in that department with technical flexibility and greater athleticism to be capable of managing a higher line and helping build in wide and half-space triangles.

Who could that be? It won’t be anyone unless one of Cedric or Bellerin moves on, and especially selling the latter would open an avenue financially and squad-wise for Arsenal to further improve their starting lineup.

Again, if this window it going to be a success it will rely on trimming the wage bill and squad, and adding bodies in the starting lineup who can elevate the team’s overall ability.