Deadline Day is Here

As the title says – Deadline Day is here! The January window is always trickier than I believe most give it credit for. Teams are in the middle of their seasons, fees are elevated, time to replace is minimal. Arsenal find themselves in a positive situation at the top of the league, so this is about ensuring we have a squad that can complete the task and go the distance.

Our primary targets this window have not worked out, but I’m not sure there’s much more the club could have done in either situation. What Todd Boehly and Chelsea are doing at the moment defies all logic and to blame Arsenal for that just seems wholly unfair to me. The long-term damage we could do to other future negotiations, both on transfer fees and internally with the squad, doesn’t seem worth it. It sets a horrible precedent I don’t think we can keep up with. I want to win the title as badly as anybody, but paying over €100 million for Mudryk and €80 million for Caicedo just doesn’t sit right with me for the long term.

It looks like instead we will finish with the much more sensible Leandro Trossard and Jorginho to finish the window. These are quality players who are proven in the Premier League and can make immediate impacts. Trossard has already shown this for us in his first few appearances. Jorginho is dividing opinion much more, but this is a short term deal. He’s with us for 18 months and we have an option for another year. Chelsea fans seem upset he’s leaving them, with Marc Cucurella recently saying he’s by far the smartest player at their club. He’s a player Arteta has wanted for some time, who knows what it takes to win things. Where I find most Arsenal supporters getting tripped up is the notion that he’s some sort of Partey replacement. This is an absurd thought that’s not based anywhere in reality. He’s an Elneny replacement folks! That’s more than fine with me. Both of these moves are sensible. We will go for the blockbusters in the summer. For now, these moves are exactly what we needed to do. It’s a shame about Elneny’s knee injury. Kiwior fills a gap as a left-footed LCB who now gets 6+ months training with us before next season. Plus it looks like Sambi will get 6 months under midfield legend Patrick Vieira at Palace. From there he either boosts his value for us to re-integrate or sell at a decent price vs. worst case we sell and get our money back. Overall, I’m pleased with what Edu and Arteta were able to do this month. Again, the key word is sensible. We know there’s money there to spend big in the summer. That’s when we go in for Rice, Zubimendi, Caicedo, etc.

More tomorrow when the window officially shuts. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for all the latest updates. COYG!