Arsenal’s Transfer Window, Never A Dull Moment

This feels a lot like a broken record piece that I’m writing. Reason being is that no matter how much good Arsenal and Arsene Wenger do, there will always be large sects of Arsenal supporters who will want to see him removed as Arsenal manager because his time at the club over the last 10 years has been far less than stellar. Keep in mind that Wenger won the FA Cup last season and the Community Shield during the pre-season while qualifying for the Champions League for the 17^th straight year.

But with the transfer window closing, it seems as if the fan base is back to being split on Wenger and it’s such a puzzling dynamic that even rival fans think Arsenal are the most peculiar fan base in all of football. This last few months for the club has seen more good than bad but with the singing of Danny Welbeck from Manchester United, and no signing of a new defensive midfielder or centreback covering, are the Wenger Out fans justified?

Wenger Missed Out On The Position We Needed Most…

All summer long Arsenal fans were clamoring for the purchase of a new Defensive Midfielder, myself included. Supporters wanted a new striker, but for me, replacing Giroud could wait; we needed a DM. All summer Arsenal were linked with players like Morgan Schneiderlin, Sami Khedira, Sven Bender and William Carvalho. I would have gladly taken any of those players. But back in July I wrote that none of those players were coming to the Emirates.

The main reason for this was because Mikael Arteta was going to be made the club’s captain. And after having Thomas Vermaelean on the bench as the captain before, I couldn’t foresee another season of Wenger making a captain sit the bench. From the point Arteta was made captain I knew the chances of Wenger buying a DM were not good. And the end of the transfer deadline came and of course, no DM was purchased. It was rumored that Wenger actually tried to purchase Carvalho but the player has a tricky third-party ownership situation that held up any potential for a deal going through.

It’s going to be hard for Arsenal to exhort much power in the middle of the pitch with Aaron Ramsey being more of a box-to-box and Arteta being past his prime. But this is all the Gooners have to work with for the time being. Mathieu Flamini is good on his day but he is not the class DM Arsenal need in order to protect Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker in front of Wojciech Szczesny. In regards to not purchasing a DM, I can understand why supporters will be upset. Without cover the defense will be exposed and the team may suffer thrashings like they suffered last season at the hands of title rivals Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool. Arteta has a large job ahead of him until at least January. I wish him luck, because him and Arsenal are going to need it this season.

One Miss Does Not Negate All The Good…

As poorly as Wenger whiffed on the DM position, for anyone to say this was an unsuccessful or poor window, they may be being a bit harsh. Wenger brought in Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona, and if his displays the last couple of weeks prove anything it’s that Sanchez is a one-man show. Against Leicester City I saw him play striker, DM, CB, winger and had he had gloves he may have dabbled in-goal.

The man is a menace. And he’s starting to come to grips with the speed of the Premier League. Sanchez is going to wow the EPL for year to come, and he’s all ours. Wenger also brought in 19-year old Calum Chambers from Southampton in what might be the stagecoach robbery of the year. The young man is getting better with each game. He can play CB and he can moonlight as a defensive midfielder if the situation at the club becomes that dire.

He’s going to be a top-class Gooner for years and Wenger pulled off a transfer coup with his acquisition. Wenger also replaced fan favorite Bacary Sagna with France International Mathieu Debuchy and the new Arsenal right-back has been superb. Debuchy keeps his head down and just goes about his business. We have yet to see what Colombian International goalkeeper David Ospina can do because he’s been out with injury. 

Then we have the deadline day transfer himself, Danny Welbeck. This tweet from the Manchester United twitter account was subtle but bitter swipe at their departing striker: 

Danny Welbeck has signed for Arsenal after 29 goals in 142 appearances for #mufc. Good luck for the future, Danny. pic.twitter.com/QL12bjMyVO

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) September 2, 2014

That was cute, but when he’s had players like Tom Cleverly, Nani, Anderson and Marouane Fellani behind, and fighting for spots up top against Robin Van Persie and Wayne Rooney in front of him, it’s easy to see why Welbeck hasn’t shined. Now Welbeck has a manager that will believe in him, a fan-base that will be behind him, and a midfield full of world-beaters to supply him the ball in spots.

Welbeck is not the striker most Arsenal fans were clamoring for with their unrealistic expectations of Radamel Falcao and Edison Cavani, but four-year deal with a 23-year-old English International is great business. And although this isn’t a transfer, keep in mind Theo Walcott has been out injured and has not featured yet this season. Once Walcott gets back to full match fitness and both him and Sanchez are on the flanks and Mesut Ozil goes back to the middle behind Welbeck, the pass and skill of this Arsenal team will be frightening. 

If the Welbeck transfer bangs and the striker bags a good amount of goals this season, then Arsene Wenger can look at this transfer window as a success. Although the biggest hole was not filled at DM, and another CB would have been ideal, but I can’t argue with what Wenger’s done. After 9 years of watching our best players fly the coup, it’s nice to see world-class talent brought in and only fringe players leaving. Now it’s time to show and prove. And as always, “In Arsene We Trust.”

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