A cynic might look at Arsenal fans’ broad satisfaction with their January transfer dealings - the centre-point of which was the departure of Alexis Sanchez to a direct rival - and suggest that ten years of tedious predictability under Arsene Wenger has made any sudden change in circumstance, good or bad, something to make supporters excitable.
Such an analysis clearly oversimplifies a complex situation (Sanchez had become a toxic influence at the club, for starters, while spending nearly £100 million on two attackers would make any fan a bit giddy) but nevertheless there is a morsel of truth to the less enthusiastic interpretation. Some Gunners fans might find, come May, they have conflated optimism with relief and have allowed themselves to be swept up in transfer sagas in lieu of intrigue on the pitch.
Sadly, there are several reasons to believe Arsenal have in fact had a rather poor window, buying badly, prioritising the wrong areas for recruitment, and selling the wrong squad players.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan are widely regarded as excellent attacking additions to the Arsenal squad, but at 28 and 29 respectively the nine-figure outlay on these two former Dortmund players is alarming. The former’s similarity to Alexandre Lacazette instantly makes the Frenchman the most expensive substitute in the Premier League while the latter has just two full seasons of high-quality football to his name – 2013/14 and 2015/16 with Borussia Dortmund, hardly a ringing endorsement for a man of his age.
Both players could be successful in north London, but Arsenal have certainly taken a huge risk. Assuming it takes six months for them to settle, Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan will be approaching 30 before they live up to their potential. It is a strange shift in policy from Arsene Wenger, a man who until recently was loathe to spend money and exclusively signed young players.
Even if both hit the ground running it might not be enough to revive Arsenal – or make us look back on January 2018 as a successful window for the club. Firstly, it is hard to see how Wenger can fit all of his new players into the same team. Mkhitaryan and Mesut Ozil, who signed a new contract this week, are surely too similar (and similarly lazy from a defensive point of view) to function together. The same can be said for Aubameyang and Lacazette.
But more worryingly, Arsenal failed to strengthen – or even attempt to strengthen – in their most vulnerable areas. The Gunners desperately need a new commanding centre-back to help stabilise the back three, two defensive midfielders who are strong in the tackle and can finally close out those enormous gaps through the centre, and a new goalkeeper to replace the increasingly wobbly Petr Cech. Having failed to add any players in this area, while adding yet more faces up front, Arsenal’s squad is more lopsided than ever.
The 3-1 defeat to Swansea typically exposed each of these long-term flaws. Arsenal’s three central midfielders failed to make a single tackle in the match, the defence was remarkably lifeless, and Cech instilled a sense of fear in the side with some appalling mistakes. Champions league qualification looks a long way off.
Finally, Arsenal’s window could be viewed negatively because they let both Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott leave cheaply, losing 138 goals from two highly dependable squad players. Granted, Wenger’s new recruits are potentially upgrades, but the time it will take both to settle makes the 2017/18 campaign even more challenging than it was 31 days ago.
Or perhaps this pessimistic analysis misses the most important subtext of Arsenal’s January window. Signing two ageing former Dortmund players for extortionate prices could suggest transfer dealings are finally being taken away from Wenger as Arsenal prepare for a future without him; a future that embraces modern football’s gegenpressing speed. If this is true, then perhaps a serious title challenge in 2018/19 is the real goal of this January window – in which case the cautious optimism inside the Emirates isn’t quite so misplaced after all.
