Arsenal: 3 key squad areas to address in transfer window

One saving grace from the early FA Cup exit is that the transfer window remains open for business. Arsenal fell short in every department on the pitch, just as they’re running low off it.

Sanctioning the loan departure of Ainsley Maitland-Niles was a kind gesture for a player disheartened by minutes. A simple loan also opens the door for an increased bidding war in the summer. Most importantly, it leaves Arsenal thin in the middle of the park.

Thrusting Sambi Lokonga and Charlie Patino into the starting lineup against Nottingham Forest brought upon the expected result. They’re two extremely talented midfielders, just as they’re two talents who’ve barely had a kick in senior football over the past month.

The answer to seemingly every issue in football is transfers. Player out of form? Buy a new one. Player struggling for form? Sell him.

Arsenal: 3 key areas to address in transfer window as Mikel Arteta eyes signings and sales in January to continue squad rebuild

It is no secret that Arsenal are depleted at this present moment in time. They do need aid in the transfer market. This ongoing rebuild is just that: ongoing.

Defeat at The City Ground laid that bare: Eddie Nketiah offers few of the connective qualities that Alexandre Lacazette does and Cedric does a worse job than a cardboard cut out of Takehiro Tomiyasu would do.

But beyond just players for certain positions, there are also attributes Arteta needs to source in the window to aid the current plight. The AFCON quartet won’t be gone forever, but any additions won’t just be for winter; with contracts expiring in the summer it’s merely fast tracking future signings.

There are three key areas Arsenal need to address.

1. Presence

Whether in midfield, attack, or both, Arsenal need presence.

Using one defeat in the FA Cup shouldn’t be the measuring stick for what the club has to acquire, yet when your deficiencies are laid bare against Championship opposition, that tends to transfer into matches against higher quality opposition.

On the night the midfield was soft and submissive, while the focal point in attack was an Nketiah without any of the physical qualities required to piece together the creative and fleet-footed forwards in support.

With no Partey or Xhaka in the centre of the park Arsenal lacked presence, just as the central axis wasn’t there to help play build through the middle.

Why the club are keeping tabs on strikers like Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Dusan Vlahovic is clear: these are two players who occupy their areas of the pitch in dominating fashion. Much like Partey and Xhaka do in midfield.

As targets get flung about from every corner of Europe, whether they play as a No. 9 or a No. 6, it is essential that they can impose themselves physically in matches to balance out the technical partnerships forming in wide areas.

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