Sterling is better than nobody, but window was poor by Konstantin
Well lovely Arsenal people, another disappointment in the transfer window. We had 3 obvious objectives – midfield cover for Partey, a proper striker, and cover for Saka. The only one we actually achieved was Merino who’s immediately got an injury. According to reports it’s 8 weeks. That’s 2 months. We’re one injury away from from seeing Jorginho needing to start twice a week, or Zinny or Timber moving into midfield.
Then there’s Raheem Sterling. I think people remember prime-City Sterling. I see the idea where, put in a better system, he’ll do better and people dream of what has been, but is he at 29 going to give double digit GA being backup for Saka?
Is he better than Reiss? Definitely, in my opinion, but just imagine if we had signed Nico Williams? Then adding Sterling on loan would’ve been great as another option to help cope with the amount of games coming up.
Two extra CL games, and hopefully a better cup run this time. I think people forget how easily and early we’ve exited the league and FA cups. There’s nobody to play in the cups and having fewer games is the only way our short squad can cope.
Basically, from after the international break, it’s 3 games a week till January at least. We’ve not won a trophy for 4 years. I’ve heard so much about patience, it’s year 5 of the process. We are not better than any of the trophies. I’d love to win the league cup.
Here’s a little joke; we signed a GK on loan, who is actually cup tied in the league cup. Funny thing is, outgoings wise, we’ve offloaded a lot of players we didn’t use anyway.
ESR, Nelson, Fabio Vieira, Eddie and Ramsdale are not players we really trusted. They were never coming off the bench to change games, nor did they get us far in the cups, so with the amount of money we got for them, it’s a victory selling wise.
I’m just underwhelmed. City didn’t do too much in the window, although Savinho has been really exciting and Gundogan is a decent return. It was a golden opportunity to stamp our authority. I just don’t buy the idea we couldn’t sign Gyokores, for example, if we really wanted to.
Does he guarantee winning the league? I don’t think anybody can guarantee that, but it would’ve excited me. I don’t like Chelsea signings. Not one has really elevated our squad. Even if it’s not the Chelsea Sterling, we signed Jesus and Zinnchenko and didn’t topple City with players they deemed surplus to requirements.
Calafiori and Merino are decent signings, but it’s a 4/10 window at best and that’s kind. I am just fearful that we’re back to being a top 4 team and that’s all the Kroenkes want. If we wanted to win the title, we could’ve spent the money on a winger and striker.
The people with endless patience have already moved their goal posts from “wait until the window ends”, to “wait until the season ends”. It’s a poor window. Trophies, it’s what the game is all about. Deciding not to strengthen means Arteta and Edu believe we’re good enough to win it. Or the Kroenkes are throwing them under the bus.
I’m not surprised if that is the case. I just think Saliba, Saka and even Arteta will be evaluating their futures if we don’t win a major trophy. Wenger was wanted by multiple clubs including Real Madrid, and eventually got destroyed by the Kroenkes lack of investment. I just want to remind people, we’re just back to where we were 10 years ago. We were promised to compete with Bayern, we were told to be excited. Lies. If we’re so good that we didn’t need improvements, win the league title or the Champions League.
Konstantin
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My worry is we made a profit in this window. Are we paying back the Kroenkes for the debts of the last four years? Just at the time where we could unlock that final step? Or is money being saved for the rumoured increased capacity in the Emirates?
Either way, we had a lot of room left in PSR (heck, we’re only spending £40k per week more on Sterling than we were with Nelson).
I’d have loved us to sign Osimhen. Not a priority at £100m+, but when he was available for £65m or less, I’d bite. We know Arteta and Edu weren’t impressed with Toney’s attitude – maybe there’s something similar with Osimhen. Maybe we’re holding out for Sesko next year.
We could have had a proper striker. If indeed we are waiting for Sesko. Which, I am not sure we are. Why didn’t we get a striker this summer. If what you are suggesting, means we are going another year without a trophy but then we must trust this guy another year to see, if he can win with a striker. I dont buy it. This year has to be the year Arteta delivers. Or for me, he never will.
It was never going to be a case of buying a striker for the sake of buying a striker. The role has to contribute more than just goals in the Arsenal team, otherwise we’d just be playing Nketiah.
But I do worry we’re back in the Wenger-era of debt servicing.
Agree with you on the first paragraph, for the second, why do you think we are back to debt servicing?
I also have these questions for you:
Are we not allowed to make profits on player sale?
What will you do if you own a club that made no profit on player sales for over three consecutive seasons?
Reggie
I have a similar opinion to yours. If Sterling is a patch to get us through this season, then fine with me as a backup.
If we did not get a striker because we are going after Sesko next Summer, then fine with me as well.
IMHO if we replace Sterling with Nico or another talented winger next Summer, and replace Jesus with Sesko to compete with Havertz, then we would be primed and set to truly achieve big things.
Possibly more than 1 trophy; FA Cup and PL title, or PL and CL trophies if I dare to dream.
Is your problem scoring goals? NO. Last year, Arsenal did not lose the league because of Aston Villa Losses but because we made two silly mistakes against spurs (2-2) and Fulham (2-2) both games we had won. We also had to play to the hands of VAR at castle. I think we need to back up the team because over the last five years, it has been an upward trajectory in points, goals and a downward trajectory in goals conceded. remember we conceded 4 against spurs & Fulham, 3 against Luton and Aston Villa. That is 14 against 4 teams (7 matches) and 15 against all the others. with Sterling, Cala, Merino and the keeper, we have improved because all those released would not improve the way we played
As you say, KSE has only loaned Arsenal the money spent (over and above what the club has generated in profits – which isn’t much until last season anyway). The last figure I saw for Arsenal’s debt was around £520m which included the (smaller) sum for the stadium and the (larger) amount for transfers.
I haven’t seen a profit figure for this window as there is a mix of upfront money and add-ons in many cases. It won’t be that large though because we paid fees out for Raya, Calafiori and Merino and then sold ESR, Ramsdale and Eddie.
There are other very small sales to add in as well.
I assume that bringing in Sterling was a combination of (another) player purchase being ruled out because of time and/or cost.
The idea of signing in sterling is a very brilliant one. My wish he come to arsenal because he is able to be the immediate sub to saka and looking at the games which are a head of arsenal sterling is capable.
It’s 2024, not 2017, Sterling hasn’t been good for way too long, and he’s likely to strop if unplayed
This team now is 100% Artetas. These signings are 100% Artetas. Sterling is a strange one to say the least but does Arteta think he can rekindle something? Sterling has been poor at Chelsea. The midfield and defence is stronger. The attack is lacking in the one real quality that brings you trophies. Artetas will live or die this season. This is his team and it has to win big.
We’ve been challenging for the title last 2 years with Arteta team. Where have you been? The live or die comment was made last year on Havertz and made the year before when the likes of yourself were predicting 8th or worse. Give it a rest mate.
What have we won??????
Where have you been???????
Plus Angus stop putting your spin and your words to try and make a narative fit. Not once did I say last year Arteta will live or die by Haverz or anyone else for that matter. And what I did say was Arteta should win trophies last season with the investment and squad. AND HE DIDN’T.
Reggie
I guess for some top 4 is like a trophy again. Strange how under Wenger it was mocked when that was all we achieved, but now it is considered quite an accomplishment.
Celebrating finishing 2nd, but Wenger was mocked for top 4 and an FA Cup. Personally I’ll take Wenger’s top 4 finish and FA Cup every time over finishing 2nd and no trophy.
👍 Durand I am passionate about Arsenal and I just think every season that hoes by is a season wasted. We have never had investment at Arsenal like this before. It has to lead to trophies, not hard luck stories.
Reggie, were you saying the same thing about the team being 100% the managers under Wenger in 2011 ?
I dont get what you are saying.
Well you said that the team and the signings are 100% Artetas and that he has to win big. Well the signings and the team were all Wenger’s in 2011. Did you say then that Wenger had to win big ?
Oh right. And yes I did.
I guess Arsenal are waiting for Sesko or Vlahovic, instead of Gyokeres
If Sterling doesn’t get affected by his previous injuries, I think he can produce a lot of assists and goals because he worked with Arteta, Jesus and Zinchenko at Man City
I heard Chelsea will pay 60% of his salary, so it was a good deal
I’m just concerned about the lack of left-footed RW in our squad
Because Sterling worked with Arteta does not mean he will be success at Arsenal. Look at Jesus and Zinchenko the Arteta players at City. Based on the price we paid for them and their current performances these are liabilities to Arsenal. May be Arteta has a ego problem and he only wants to work with player who follow him all the time even though those are average players.
Like many I think Arsenal have left themselves short. A very good team should have been strengthen ed.
I feel your pain Konstantin,as a fan you would have wanted better just like me but it is not such a sorry state as you have painted.
On departures we must all agree that we have done fairly well.We have been able to shift all the players deemed surplus, deadwood or not Arteta type, either permanently or on loan apart from the injured K.T which is a commendable job.
Personally I wanted our left side to be upgraded and with Calafiori, Merino and Sterling I can’t complain. The injury to Gabriel may have meant a new addition but may it is not as bad,only Arteta knows and we can give him that benefit.
Overall am happy with the window, let’s support the team and if there will be a glaring need it can be sorted in January.
I agree with you, Pat. However, there is an opportunity for Arteta to show confidence in a benched player and give them a chance to make a significant impact rather than just the predictable Trossard/Martinelli switch.
A 7/10 window for me with top quality incoming, but losing some decent players permanently in the process, and temporarily getting one or two off of the wages bill for a season.
I’m now looking forward to the January sales.
7? Calafiori is a great purchase, Merino is only replacing Xhaka a year late and is already injured until winter (and why did it take so long to sign him?), Neto meh, and Sterling at 29 who hasn’t done well for four or five years. We still need a striker and a left footed RW. Considering we all knew we needed an attacker but chose to lose ESR, then Nketiah, Vieira, and Nelson also go and we only bring Raheem who’s past it.
4/10 at best. Definitely not enough to catch City. Another poor window, starting with bs promises and just ending with bs.
I don’t think Arteta should be punished as he’ll no doubt get the team firing but its time to lose Casual Edu, apparent master of the South American market. Imagine if we had someone like Brighton do, uncovering actual talent rather than following agents on Instagram.
Your article is misleading… how are we back to where we were ten years ago? In my opinion Califiori is an upgrade at the left back position, Mikel is also an upgrade to Smith Rowe, while Raheem is a clear upgrade to Nelson (decent backup to Saka)
You seen how ESR has started at Fulham?
We’ve got cover for Saka, Partey and solved the LB problem.
The club have got deals for every player that MA deemed not to fit in with his plans and made good money while doing so.
The only area not addressed was the striker situation, but with Saka, Martinelli, Trossard, Sterling and, of course, Havertz the goals will come.
As Reggie said above, it’s 100% Mikel’s squad now and he needs to deliver.
👍
absolutely excellent window, absolutely astonishing title
high quality additions addressing our under performing left side, cleared out everyone we needed to for good money, and last minute x-factor Sterling loan adding depth out wide
even better Arsenal have financial firepower intact to secure Sesko and Nico Williams next summer, or even a cheeky January bid
‘striker, striker, striker’ talk was only in fans heads, and it is really telling the names craved by some were of no interest to any club not just ours – Toney to Saudi after no bids, Gyrokeres no bids, Osimhen marooned as Napoli outcast after no credible suitors – the people who know football came to the same conclusion as Edu/Arteta
Well said Arsenal1886.
👏👍
Bang on the mHoney Arsenal1886 👍
By the looks of things, this season is going to be difficult for Arsenal
It’s interesting how people on here view the window so negatively, but then several websites have listed Arsenal as winners of the window.
you mean people who understand football rate Arsenal’s window highly
striker, striker, striker
window closed now and schools back Monday so hopefully last we hear of this, for 4 months at least
A good window for me bar the lack of a striker signing.
I think that this window has been one of facing the financial realities of the time. In that regard Arsenal did well to balance the books. I always knew that this was not going to be another 200+ million spending window.
I’m sure some gunpowder is left in the pipe for firing in the January market if the need arises.
Agree with the financial side and for me while the right striker would have been a bonus, not being able to get the right one is far from being a death knell to our title hopes. While not perfect, there was a lot of great work done by Edu and the club. In general, we continue to properly look to the short-term as well as the long-term by being selective with our signings and departures.
Underwhelming are you being serious, what a terrible summing up? In my opinion it’s a clear 8 out of 10 window. Gone are ESR, Ramsdale and Nketiah for decent money, Nelson and Vieira out on loan and we’ve bought well in Calafiori and Marino, with a great bit of negotiation for Sterling with no loan fee and we are paying him less than half of his wages. As for suggesting Saka, Saliba and Arteta may be deciding if it’s worth staying with us, well I’m sorry Mr Negative but this could be your worst article ever, which is saying something! Go support City if you love them that much!
Agree but you had to know one of these articles would be coming out no matter what.
Having lost both ESR and Vieira an lnjury to Odegaard would leave us without a creative player which worries me.
Saka could play that role (he’s done it for England) and we have decent cover for him now.
He gives no academy player a chance they they say, well, it’s time to see what Nwaneri and Skelly can offer as they both part of this first team.
Adding Toney to Sterling would have made it a 9/10 summer for me. I’m not happy that we didn’t get a top striker and I don’t know how on earth it won’t affect our title race. I don’t want to say MA is stubborn but I feel he’s been frugal with the resources and the owners are going to be very happy with that. Signing Sterling anyway, is better than not adding anyone. However, one thing I’m about in this summer is the way Arsenal have shown the door to players who are not at our level. Many of the dead woods have been cleared and I’m optimistic that future additions would be quality. Com’n gunners!
Hmm!!! @ konstantin
Do you really sit down and think before you write this article or you just write out of your frustration of the club not getting a striker deal.
I mean this is absurd!!
No it isn’t, it is HIS opinion. How do you know if it is absurd or not. You don’t know how it will all play out. DO YOU EVER WRITE YOUR OPINION INSTEAD OF JUST DISAGREEING WITH PEOPLE. Keyboard warrior.
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Chronicle
An 8/10 window for me. Nico Williams was not available so I can’t imagine what would have happened, likewise Sesko. After the signing of Merino, all we needed was a quality forward player for the right wing backup for Saka or striker position, Sterling is that player and can even play across the front three.
Your article is clearly your opinion, as I don’t relate or agree with 2/3 of what you felt were Arsenal’s objectives.
1. We needed a midfielder, that I agree
2 & 3. We needed either a right winger or striker not both, so I do not agree with you concerning 2 & 3. Then you didn’t even include the cover/solution we needed for our Left back problems last season as we can not fully trust or give so much work load to a retuning Timber, who was out for over six months.
No mention of the LB situation is very revealing of the myopic nature and clear slant of the article.
👍👏
Hi Bertie.
Do you know that we sold EDDIE NKETIAH for £30m with the addition of a SIGNIFICANT SELL ON CLAUSE? You and some thought we would never get more than the £23m OM offered, some even said we could we be lucky to get anything close to £20m. They aren’t talking now. INDEED, TALK IS REALLY CHEAP for some. We’ll, not for all and not for me, we need to be circumspect and mindful on how we talk down on others.
Bertie?
Hello Solwills.
You really do take posts very (overly?) personally, don’t you – UPPER CASE for extra emphasis no doubt! Anyway, it’s good to get it all off your chest.
Arsenal clearly got a good deal (a better deal) for Eddie in the end. You seem to have missed my original point (unsurprisingly) which was made before any of that happened. This was that getting a deal early, albeit for less money, would release funds with weeks to go in the window that may (it’s all pure – and rather pointless – speculation now, of course) have meant Arsenal could have secured a better striker/winger option before the window closed.
The fact that they got Stirling on loan at the last minute may or may not be a “good thing”, only time will tell, but other options could have been available had there been more time because clearly Eddie had to go first.
However, we are where we are and will have to see what happens. Phew, all that and not a single upper-case word.
What they have done in terms of ins /outs looks good. But it feels like we are still short of 1-2 attacking players. Another Striker or goal scoring wide player & some young promising player who can play few games would have made the difference
That would be play station stuff. Who has such a team in the world now? We already have cover across the front three, bringing in another would mean selling another.
Martinelli/Trossard, Kai/Jesus and Saka/sterling.
The negative article and negative early comments made me scratch my head. Only people who are so certain that Arsenal must have a striker could see it that way.
For those who see an out-and-out striker as not being necessary, it has been a good window. I never really rated Sterling but I know Arteta managed him at City and I believe he even played against him at the back end of his career(?). So he knows him well.
The additions addressed the squad depth weaknesses and the need for cover, also bearing in mind that many of the players in the squad now are verstaile (e.g. pretty much all of the defenders can play in multiple positions, Timber could even play as DM at a pinch).
The last phase of “the project” will be to get the remaining players off the books who are surplus to requirements. They are mostly out on loan now – and some of those are there because the jury is still out on them.
All in all, a window that moves a squad that’s a close second on in the way thios has done… is a stellar success.
To those who think “Arteta must win something”. Or else what? Conte? Mourinho? Steve Bruce?
As the great AW would have said, CL qualification is a trophy. Learn to manage your expectations and you won’t experience disappointment – for me, the glass is (much more than) half full.
Underwhelming? Considering how slow and underwhelming the whole transfer window was, Arsenal pulled off some great deals, both incoming and outgoing. A solid 8/10 window for me.
And we have finally got pace and x-factor in the squad for those defiant low and midblock with Sterling that no other forward in our squad provided.
It was a matter of 2 points last season, and this season Man City has arguably weakened with Alvarez leaving. People overlook how crucial Alvarez was for City and City doesn’t have an out an out Haaland backup in the squad and he has shown he can be injured. They got Gundogan and Savinho, but overall, I think with Alvarez leaving, City are equal or less than last season. Arsenal in comparison has strengthened considerably. For the first time, we have players on the bench that can actually hold the quality of the first XI. So, a great window for Arsenal.
Why did we loaned Nelson. looking at current squad he could have been useful in cup games and last 15 minutes as substitute. The main players need rest, we have lot of games in a season. Now obviously some main players will play midweek in less important cup games and then comes the weekend and we loose points to Fulhum, Westham, Villa due to fatigue.
I will like everybody to know one thing about Sterling. He is one of those type of players that started playing men’s football at 17 and peaked too early. He is in the mould of players like Sanchez, Rooney, Torres etc. World class players at very young age but the declination started early at 26-27yrs. Incase you are wondering why he is not playing well at 29yrs, he was in Liverpool first team at 17. So don’t expect him
to be pulling up bigs trees this season , I am just praying edu and arteta thought this through and the manager has a magic wand.
Hi Konstantin
I agree with several aspects of your article- such as moving on the majority of the largely unused players – for decent money and getting loan time for Reiss Nelson, Hein etc. Only Tierney remains.
However, 4 out of 10 is a bit harsh but that’s because you mostly find very little to be happy about. There must have been financial constraints at play this season and I think it’s fair to note that the transfer window was muted generally.
Sue, I am not saying I agree with the article. It is their opinion. But if we finish better than 2nd or win the CL, this window will be a 10. If we do the same as last year, it would be a 5, as no improvement. But if we finish 3rd or below, with no trophy, it could easily be described as a 4.
I was critical of Arsenal’s slowness in the market for some deals which inevitably truncated the time left to complete others – and this seems to have been the case to a degree although Edu certainly got a move, late on.
However, overall, I think it’s been pretty good business. On the buying side Arsenal was generally thought to want a defender, a midfielder and a striker or winger (and a replacement keeper if Ramsdale was sold). Edu has achieved all that in one combination or another. Now, Stirling may not be everyone’s choice, but I suspect other options were either unavailable because of time and/or money constraints.
As for selling, again I think most people would consider Arsenal’s exit list at the beginning of the window as, give or take, ESR, Eddie, Ramsdale, Nelson, Kiwior and Tierney. The first three have been sold (the first two all for profit). Nelson is out on loan, but there were no buyers for him it seems. Kiwior was linked to Italian clubs earlier on nothing came of that. Selling Tierney was – and is – a problem as potential buyers know all about his injury record just as we do. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a contract cancellation in the offing in the New Year. There were various other loans as well, Vieira for example.
Overall, I’d say it rates a “B” really. As others have pointed out quite rightly though the proof of this (transfer window) pudding will be whether Arsenal are EPL champions next May. If they are, then this window will have been a great success. If they aren’t then it will have been a great “if only”!
My worry is the number of players (22) Tierney included, an at the moment is just enough for 1 or 2 competitions(PL & CL)and actually four of them are injured whit not known return date;in abouth 3 weeks the team must start playing 2 games a week;any injury on those playing could be a terrible blow to the aspirations of a tittle.The ideal should be to have a 25 players squat to cover well for any missing.
Hi justarsenal.com administrator, Nice post!
I am very pleased with the transfers transactions done, much more with Rahim Stanley very happy he is a good player .