Review the new

The summer transfer window slammed shut at 11pm last night. So for now, what we have we hold, and what we hold we have to make the best out of.

Now that there is no scope for further incomings (with various windows around Europe still open, there is potential for more outgoings), I think this would be a good time to judge our business. At the start of the summer, it was pretty obvious that we needed:

 

Backup goalkeeper

Backup left back

Ball playing centre back to replace David Luiz

Starting right back

Central midfield depth

Creative midfielder

 

That is a fairly long list that needed to be completed and I think we made a pretty good job of it. For the back upgoalkeeper we signed Aaron Ramsdale, who although may begin as the back up has clearly been signed with taking the number 1 jersey in mind. You just don’t spend the money we spent on him to be a long-term number 2.

We signed Nuno Tavares to fill in as back up left back. A cheap, young player with potential who was happy to come in and learn behind one of the best left backs in the league when fit in Kieran Tierney. That spot was never going to be easy to fill, so it was always going to be youth prospect or experienced player in the autumn of their career, like Ryan Bertrand. Signing the young guy is smart business as even if it doesn’t work out we should be able to recoup some, if not all, of the transfer fee we paid for him. But from the limited sample size we have seen of him so far, does not look like it will be an issue, with him showing great promise as well as versatility.

Ben White was the marquee signing of the summer, if not in name then certainly in price. The £50 million man from Brighton has been brought in to replace Luiz, but it is hard to make any firm judgement on the player. After a dodgy league debut against Brentford, he has missed the last two fixtures with Covid. He should be back against Norwich, andpartnered with Gabriel who is no doubt the preferred partner in Mikel Arteta’s eyes, so I will reserve judgement until there is a larger sample of work to analyse.

 

Martin Odegaard has returned to be our creative midfield signing, only this time on a permanent deal. I have made my thoughts clear on this deal in a previous post, but to sum it up, I like the signing. He’s still young but very experienced, and we just look better with him in the side in my opinion, last Saturday excepted. For a deal that looked like it was off the table at the start of the window, to have this one done is a huge win to me.

 

Albert Sambi Lokonga provides some of the midfield depth that we were looking for. He is easily the player who has excited me the most in the two league games we have seen him in so far. For a young man of 21, he seems to exude confidence on the ball and always looks to make things happen. It was though that he would be a back up to Xhaka and Partey when he signed, but there’s a chance for him to stake his claim for a regular starting spot in the wake of Xhaka’s most recent red card.

Finally, Takehiro Tomiyasu joined us towards the end of deadline day and looks like being our starting right back going forward. I will confess that I have not seen anything of him, so I will not judge him but give him my full support. I’ve seen too many people pre-judge him based on where he has come form or that they have never heard of him, but that is not me. Even Sky Sports news decided to jump in on the attack, saying they had heard from “an agent” who had been trying to find him a club that he’s not a right back or a centre back, and that he isn’t even very good. None of this was mentioned when Sp*rs were looking to sign him, but that’s where we are right now. All I can say is good luck Takehiro. He must be better than the other options we have at right back, surely?

Whether you like the names that have been signed or not, it’s hard to argue that a decent amount of business has been done there. Aside from the quality of the individuals a great deal of work has been done to get players of a certain age profile, with all signings being between 21-23 years old. It makes a change for there to be a strategy in place to bring in a platform of young players to build on and grow together, and it is very refreshing to see. Time will tell if it is with this manager or another, but that is for another day.

 

It almost seems unfair to judge the incomings at the moment, as it is evident that a lot of the players are not for “now” but for 2-3 years’ time. With that said, it is not unfeasible for 5 of the 6 to be regular starters (sorry Nuno, can’t be dropping KT), by the end of the season or sooner. 

 

With that in mind, I would score this window at the moment a 6/10. We filled a lot of needs, but I feel like we have missed an opportunity to bring in either an Aouar or Bissouma to really help us now. I also am a bit disappointed with the lack of outgoings, particularly Nketiah, Kolasinac and Elneny still being here. However, as mentioned, some windows remain open for a few more days, so there is still some potential outgoing business to be done. With a couple of outgoings, the 6/10 could become a 7/10. 

 

The real time to judge the success of this window though will be in a couple of years’ time when these players hit their peak. If they achieve the potential that they have been bought to fulfil, this could easily prove to be an 8 or 9/10 window, and one of the most important in recent memory for Arsenal Football Club