Arsenal: 3 internal solutions to transfer madness

Arsenal are on a bit of a mad one. With the club picking up some fine form in December to finish the year on a high, the start of 2022 might have felt like a quiet period in north London.

While the January transfer window always coughs up a few surprises, it was largely felt that Arsenal would get by moving on one or two players with the possibility of an additional midfielder or striker.

Everyone knows how difficult the transfer window is to navigate around, with selling clubs either not willing to sell at all or charging a premium to move their assets on mid-season. Clubs tend to find themselves in a panic, for a number of reasons, and plans can often turn to desperation in the quest for additions.

Arsenal are known for a panic buy or two, but how about a panic sell?

Arsenal: 3 internal solutions to the January transfer madness as Mikel Arteta and co allow multiple departures without any signings brought in

With Calum Chambers becoming the fifth player in the senior squad to depart across the window, an already depleted squad continues to lose shrapnel. It’s excess that did not have collective futures at the club. But even when you throw out an old chair, usually you have a new one lined up to take its place.

The question is whether Arsenal do.

As far as the public are aware, they don’t. All the reporting at present hints that the Gunners are only in line to secure one signing this window, Matt Turner, and even he isn’t due to link up with the rest of the squad until the summer.

Should they fail to sign anyone this month, what might they do? Having let so many go without any replacements, the only solution is to solve those issues internally.

Omar Rekik – Chambers & Mari Replacement

Before the window opened it was claimed that one of Pablo Mari or Chambers would be allowed to leave in January.

These were two players who couldn’t get a kick even when Arsenal had three competitions to compete in, and with the dour FA Cup exit as well as the Carabao Cup venture coming to an end, their faint chances of involvement took another significant blow.

So, for that reason, allowing Mari to join Udinese on loan until the end of the season made complete sense. Sanctioning Chambers’ transfer to Aston Villa, less so.

Moving those two on in a window where midfield and centre-forward were the areas of desire, it leaves Arsenal with the whopping total of three central defenders to see out the remaining 17 Premier League matches. Injuries or Covid to any two, or even one, of three could derail the campaign.

Looking down into the academy, the standout name next in line to feature is Omar Rekik. The Tunisian has been away with his country at AFCON this month, just rewards for some fine form in Kevin Betsy’s Udner-23 side.

An expansive central defender who loves to progress the ball at feet and carry into midfield, Rekik arrived in north London with plenty of plaudits and, without further reinforcement, looks set to be the fifth choice in the position after Takehiro Tomiyasu.

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