With great spending comes great pressure

It seems Edu finally put the barbecue tongs down yesterday and remembered what his job is, as deals for both Martin Odegaard and Aaron Ramsdale were struck for €35m and an initial £24m possibly rising to £30m respectively. Say what you want about the players and the price tags (and lets face it, the pundits already have), but these were players that Arteta identified early and he has got his men. They fill urgent needs in the squad in terms of creativity and a back up goalkeeper who is not Runarrson, so in that respect, it is a job well done for me.

I particularly like the Odegaard deal. He is a player that Arteta clearly liked after his 6 month loan spell who at one point it looked like we had no hope of getting, especially not for a reasonable price, so to have got him for less than we would have paid for Emi Buendia is excellent work by Edu. We saw in his loan, particularly the first half of it pre injury, that he is a player that loves to press, has an eye for a pass and seems willing to do everything that Arteta asks of him. Critics point to his stats of 2 goals and 2 assists in the 6 months, which is fair in a way, but also ignores other metrics. Despite only being there for 6 months, he ranked first for passes in the final third per 90 (20.16), first for chances created per 90 (2.08) and first for expected assists per 90 (.20). Obviously the onus is then on the strikers to take those chances, but making them is half the battle. He also ranked second for times winning possession in the final third, which is key for a team whose play seems to be lots of sideways passes to no where leading to no chances. It’s obvious to me that winning the ball higher up will help us create more and score more goals in turn.

I get people are disappointed and that it’s not James Maddison. But in all honesty I would rather not give Leicester £70m for one of their players, knowing how good and effective their scouting network is. Odegaard is 22, Norwegian captain and has a point to prove.

 

Ramsdale has been much more divisive and I can understand why. A likely £30m on a three times relegated goalkeeper who will likely be back up for the season is a hell of an outlay. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see him starting in the league pre-Christmas, especially considering Leno’s shaky confidence. Ramsdale has proven to be a decent shot-stopper. The acid test, as it is so often with goalkeepers these days, is what he can do with his feet.

If I’m Arteta and Edu, I’m now looking at potentially getting another keeper lined up for January, be it Onana for peanuts if he’s available or someone comfortable being a back up to Ramsdale who’s not come from Kia’s rolodex, and trying to shift Leno back to the Bundesliga for something close to what we got for him. I think his value will have held well and will offset the outlay on his replacement so will make good business sense.

One final thing on the Ramsdale situation. Morons flocking to his Instagram account sending him abuse: He didn’t ask for the fee and he sure as hell wouldn’t want to turn down the opportunity. There’s obviously frustration that other areas of the field need upgrading still, but it isn’t his fault. If you don’t think he’s good enough that’s one thing, but the abuse is not the Arsenal way. Get behind him, give him a chance and support him.

With the two done deals here credit has to go to Edu, whether you agree with the deals or not. If paper talk is to be believed, Sheffield United were looking for £40m for Ramsdale, so to get them down as much as he did was solid work and exactly what we should be expecting of a technical director. Similarly, getting Odegaard for the low fee was good work, especially as it seemed like we wouldn’t get him at all early on. He’s quite rightly taken some flack in his time in the job so far, so if we are going to criticise when it’s deserved, we should praise when it is deserved too.

 

With the outlay on these two, it takes our summer spending so far to a net £125m, the highest in the premier league so far this summer, and a total of £200m since Arteta took the reins. Make no bones about it, this is very much becoming his squad, and with the financial outlay there is nearly at the point where there will be no place to hide if results don’t go his way. He can’t claim that he hasn’t been backed, that would be demonstrably untrue. The pressure is now well and truly on him to get the players firing and results heading in the right direction. Time will tell if he has what it takes, and if it starts to look like he doesn’t, it will be interesting to see how long he lasts.