Arsenal: 4 winners of January transfer window

The January transfer window draws to a close for another year, the final opportunity Arsenal and the rest of the division had to strengthen their squads for the remainder of the campaign.

For most, it’s a chance gone begging.

While Arsenal have weakened their squad as far as depth goes – the core group that got the club into a top four race to begin with remains in tact – it crucially wasn’t added to. Particularly at centre-forward, where Arsenal are desperately thin.

Six senior players departed the club, the most notable of all being Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s deadline day departure to Barcelona on a free transfer, while the three signings the club made will have no impact on the first team between now and the end of the season.

Arsenal: 4 winners of January transfer window as Mikel Arteta and Edu sanction six departures including Aubameyang with no new signings

Lino Sousa signed a professional deal but will be part of Kevin Betsy’s Under-23 setup, while Matt Turner (not yet official) and Auston Trusty will remain will their respective MLS sides until the summer.

It is generally considered a curse to ‘win’ the transfer window. Arsenal were largely considered to have done so in the summer of 2019. And, in the most recent summer, the Gunners were lambasted for their business only for the six additions brought in to have made a undeniably positive impact on the team. Top four is a possibility due to the successes of those signings.

A very different story in January, Mikel Arteta made it clear that he wanted to strengthen across the window, with a midfielder and centre-forward high on his list of priorities, although he and the club failing to land any of his preferred targets.

But there are winners in all this. A smaller, tight-nit squad will see out the final 17 Premier League matches and, to some, it’s to their benefit.

1. Cedric Soares

One of the drawbacks of there being so much media coverage in the modern game is that we’ve lost the Sol Campbell-style transfer announcements. A small price to pay for greater insight, granted, but there was something special about a transfer being announced totally out of the blue.

A bit like Calum Chambers’ move to Aston Villa.

Nobody saw it coming, with no journalists covering either club aware of the deal, while even fans felt the move was highly unlikely to occur given Arsenal had already allowed Pablo Mari to leave on loan earlier in the window.

All the while, lurking in the background, is a smiling Cedric Soares.

There is no argument to make that either right-back is of the standard required to play for Arsenal. That much is clear whenever Takehiro Tomiyasu isn’t involved in the team. The drop off is glaring.

However, as a tactical fit, Chambers was more suited to cover in case of Tomiyasu being unavailable and, as a whole, was a more defensively sound option to Cedric. He was most peoples’ preferred second choice.

Having gone it means Cedric can fully own that mantle. Backup right-back is his slot for the remaining 17 matches at least and, given the worrying calf injury Tomiyasu is nursing, one that has prevented him from taking part in full training in Dubai and ruled him out on separate occasions this season, Cedric knows he’s in for minutes.

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