Arsenal: 5 mistakes of the summer transfer window

Arsenal have ended their summer with six new arrivals and a net spend of around £125m. Mikel Arteta insisted it would be an ‘unprecedented’ period of activity and breaking the club’s record transfer spend for a single window certainly confirms that.

For the first time in a long while, there also appears to be a strategy. Well, at least a strategy that supporters can get behind and one not centred on immediate gratification via the the acquisitions of players who failed to do so.

"“[They all have] different experiences, some had experience in the league, some abroad, and some have been coached in other ways, but they are players we have followed for a long time that we knew could fit in the model we are trying to implement at the club. So we are pleased,” Arteta said of this summer’s dealings. “You have to blend them all together, some of them haven’t even trained with us yet because they have still to come in the next week or so. We have a good group, they will help them to adapt as quick as possible and get them to work with us and see when we can integrate all together.”"

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• Mikel Arteta provides Gabriel Martinelli injury update after Everton win

5 big mistakes of the summer transfer window as Arsenal conclude their spending with £150m on six new arrivals

Nuno Tavares got the ball rolling with his £8m arrival from Benfica, followed by Albert Sambi Lokonga and Ben White.

Martin Odegaard was next up having been tracked by the club all summer, with his parent side Real Madrid finally sanctioning his departure late in the window to the tune of £34 after add-ons.

Aaron Ramsdale, it felt, was completing the window’s transactions on a deal that could rise to £30m, only for that elusive right-back to make his way to north London with Arteta landing Takehiro Tomiyasu from Bologna for £16m on deadline day.

That’s what went right, but what did the club fail to pull off that they perhaps should have? Granted, everything that wasn’t concluded does come with a degree of mitigation amid the wealth of work undertaken, but there were areas of the squad that were not appropriately dealt with.

1. Alexandre Lacazette & Eddie Nketiah Futures

The striker situation was one that would only be seen to if there were outgoings to balance the department. It became well-known that Arsenal were tracking Tammy Abraham in the window with the Chelsea striker even holding out for a bid from his boyhood club, only for no offer to arrive.

Because, of course, Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah stayed put.

In regards to Lacazette, the failure to move him on is a byproduct of the decision not to in the previous window. There was a ‘substantial‘ offer for him last summer and instead of taking the money with two years left to go on his deal and nearing his 30’s, Arsenal bizarrely said no. He now walks away for free after another season of £180k-per-week wages.

As for Nketiah, it’s a mess.

Deciding to foolishly keep hold of him in January with 18 months left on his deal instead of entertaining loan offers, Arteta proceeded to barely play him at all for the rest of the campaign. His value was shot as a result thus selling him this summer then proved even more difficult.

Crystal Palace had offered over £10m for him only for the deal to break down over personal terms (agents being greedy) but the decision not to involve him in the Ben White deal was also puzzling. Brighton wanted to include Nketiah in the £50m deal which would have lowered the outlay, only for Arsenal to favour tying the striker down to a new contract. One the duly rejected.

That left him still on the books and into the final year of his deal.

Arsenal can get a tribunal fee for Nketiah if a compensation fee was agreed, but he’d crucially have to join an English club.

2. Not Clarifying Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ Future Sooner

On the eve of the transfer window deadline day, any player who takes to Instagram to plead for his club to let him leave and play football elsewhere is clearly in the dark over what his future holds.

To then have clear the air talks with the manager hours later where he is informed that he remains in the plans for the coming season just reeks of mismanagement and a lack of communication.

If Ainsley Maitland-Niles was in Arteta’s plans from the beginning then it should have been relayed to him. Keeping Xhaka and signing Lokonga confirmed that the midfield area was solved early enough (in Arsenal’s eyes) to then clarify matters for Maitland-Niles.

It’s even come to light that the 24-year-old has been asking to be played at full-back all season – which feels a bit off – yet has been fielded in midfield all throughout pre-season as well as in the substitute appearances he’s made in the league.

The end result is a player who is currently fourth choice to play central midfield and second, at best, to play right-back. Being informed he’s part of the ‘plans‘, if those involve being on the bench for most of the campaign then Arteta will be left with an unhappy egg heading towards his final year of contract.

3. Arsenal Needed to Sign Another Midfielder

Reports have emerged that Mohamed Elneny is now attracting interest from Turkey and has proposals to consider from two clubs. If Arsenal do opt to sell him, this point becomes even more noteworthy.

Thomas Partey (off to AFCON and injury prone), Granit Xhaka, Sambi Lokonga (young and inexperienced) and Ainsley Maitland-Niles (not the standard required) are not sufficient options to see out a season in which Arsenal hope to be competing on the Premier League and two other fronts.

It’s too big of a risk. In other circumstances it could be acceptable to have four options for a European-less campaign if the four had the right blend of quality, experience and clean injury records. These four don’t.

Elneny, as painful as it is, needs to stay just to bolster the numbers. He could have left if another option was brought in, but it became clear finance would be focused elsewhere with the heavy spending on Ramsdale and White, as well as the decision to tie Granit Xhaka down (a huge mistake on its own) to a longer deal.

There was room for experience with the 21-23 years old’s joining now nesting under the wings of the already established senior members of the squad: Xhaka, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Lacazette, Bernd Leno, and others. Instead, Sambi and Xhaka for even longer was deemed adequate.

4. Folarin Balogun Should Have Been Loaned Out

When it became apparent that Lacazette had no nibbles and Nketiah would be staying put, Folarin Balogun should have been loaned out. No question.

If he can’t get into the squad for a Carabao Cup second round tie then there is no point in him being with the senior setup this season. He’s still only a teenager, but there would be no shortage of suitors for him, just as there were plenty eyeing him on a pre-contract agreement back in January.

Miguel Azeez is a fine example. Better than Under-23 football but not yet ready for senior Arsenal level, a season-long loan to Portsmouth was the wisest option. League One level where he can play every week under a manager who Arsenal know well is an excellent move.

Balogun will now get only dabbles here and there for the whole campaign, likely not even making squads most of the time while his teammate is playing at a decent level every single week.

Lacazette is No. 2 behind Aubameyang and it appears as if Gabriel Martinelli is next down that list, leaving Flo to pick up the scraps.

Hopefully this is something that can be revisited in the winter window if and when Aubameyang returns from AFCON.

5. Edu the PR Prince

There were seven areas of the squad to tend to this summer and Arsenal managed to land six of them. Every deal Arsenal were in for but didn’t get over the line – that we know of – was not a failure, but a decision. Emi Buendia, for example, was a move Arsenal gravitated away from.

So, Edu, did that side of his job well. He got players over the line.

But someone, somewhere, needs to have word with him. If indeed there is anyone to do so.

You can’t be posting photos of yourself out on yachts with the former DoF’s of this club. Stop snapping pictures of yourself on jet skis in Ibiza too, while you’re at it.

There is no issue with Edu enjoying his free time. None whatsoever. Nobody expects him to be sleep deprived reading through contracts with fingers red raw from typing furiously into his phone. It’s just that from a PR perspective, maybe keep that stuff under wraps until after the window closes?

When there are loan with buy options on the table for the likes of Hector Bellerin and it goes until the final day of the window for Real Betis to get him on a simple one, those social media posts don’t look as smart.

Have fun and enjoy yourself. Do your work from the Balearic Islands, that’s totally cool. Just maybe, given the state of the football club you’re employed at, read the room first. It’s not like you are high up in everyone’s estimations.