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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Charlie Patino – Ainsley Maitland-Niles Replacement

Of all the departures that Arsenal have sanctioned (so far) none have been quite as head scratching as the decision to allow Ainsley Maitland-Niles to join Roma on loan.

On the surface it made total sense. The midfielder needed minutes he wasn’t getting at Arsenal, and in allowing him to leave on loan without a buy option it opens up a market for him in the summer where other clubs can enter the fray with bids that could be higher than that Roma had initially negotiated for.

But without a replacement lined up? Much less so. While the club can’t account for stupid red cards, letting Maitland-Niles leave weakened a key area of the squad that, coupled with Covid and injuries, meant players were either overworked, played out of position, or both. It stretched the squad at a pivotal time.

It doesn’t look like anyone is boarding a flight to London, however, which means there is likely to be extended involvement in the first team squad for Charlie Patino.

Making his senior debut against Sunderland in the Carabao Cup, followed by his full debut against Nottingham Forest, Patino has since been on the Premier League substitutes bench against both Norwich and Burnley. It’s fair to say we can expect a few more.

Boasting just four central midfielders, which should be enough for one game per week, as soon as one gets injured there will be a promotion for Patino. Well, in truth, the squad is so thin he’ll probably be involved anyway.

It’s very clear that he is not ready for senior football. Having allowed so many players to leave though, Arsenal may not have much choice but to hand him some Premier League minutes this season.

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Gabriel Martinelli – Aubameyang & Nketiah Replacement

Could Arsenal really be about to let 3/4 of their centre-forwards leave in the January transfer window? It appears as if they might be. It’s quite remarkable situation.

Aubameyang is wanted by Barcelona and Juventus and whether it’s one, the other, or someone else entirely, it feel inevitable that the former skipper’s time at the club is up. Banished players tend to stay banished.

Then it emerged on Friday that Newcastle were closing in on the signing of Nketiah, this despite Arteta stating just a couple of weeks prior that the striker was not going anywhere.

If those two head off as expected, it leaves Arsenal with a 30-year-old who doesn’t score goals and can barely last 90 minutes. Everyone loves Lacazette the man, and to some degree Lacazette the player, but he isn’t the striker going to fire in the goal en route to the Champions League.

With Balogun already gone and Mika Biereth still some way off senior football despite his impressive campaign, that surely only leaves Gabriel Martinelli left.

Whether one feels he is more suited out on the left or not, he will be forced to feature at No. 9 if nobody else arrives before the deadline. There is no way on this planet that Lacazette can play the full 90 minutes for the coming 17 matches. He does not have the legs.

For some that may be exciting as it injects energy in central areas and brings Emile Smith Rowe back into the fold, while on the other hand it’s absolutely incredible that Arsenal have let it come to this.

Working on the basis, that is, that nobody else arrives.