MUTED FEELINGS ON A BLAND TRANSFER WINDOW
Probably one of the maddest transfer windows of all time, and where did we end up when the bell tolled 11?
In the powder room, which one would assume Berta was keeping very dry.
I have muted feelings about this transfer window. It’s very easy for me to accept that we added two top-class players to a top-class team. Bruno and Ezri Konsa are best in class in their positions… and by positions, I mean the multitude they can play. They have strengthened us, undoubtedly. If you keep all the players that won you the league, add monstrous experience, and keep your best players fit… you’re in with a shout of the league this season.
In attack, it is extremely tough for me to crack a bottle of El Positivo over this window. It has been a dismal failure. If you’d told me in March that we’d end this window with one addition to the forward line, and we’d lose our entire left wing, and Gabriel Jesus… I’d have been very sad. I might have performed seppuku before seeing us win the league.
It’s so bad, I’m seeing people gas up the idea of Madueke on the left. That’s really not where I wanted to be. Viktor Gyokeres, well below the standards, shockingly didn’t have any serious suitors, despite it being clear he was available. If the mission was to raise the level, it’s very hard to say that Tzolis has done that… he’s a roll of the dice. I like the deal, but I think our collective assumption was he’d be back-up to a world beater, not the world beater. Might be great, might be bland. We just don’t know yet. Anyone can have a bad night against Villa, just ask Eze, who has been pretty bland despite the promise.
It’s hard to know where to point the blame. I told all of you who danced for Berta’s spending last year to bide your time before making judgments. We’re into his first summer and his ability to land big players, the whole reason we bypassed a more sophisticated Sporting Director, was that he could get big deals over the line.
Morgan Rogers was a miss because we moved slow and didn’t want to do a deal at £117m.
Vini Jnr was a crazy opportunity where you can kind of forgive the miss because of the boldness of the ask.
But Julián Álvarez? So against moving to London… he chose to stay at Atleti? How did we only fathom that so late on, don’t we have his personal number?
This feels like the summer the supposed 4D chess caught up with the Sporting Director. He’s been using intermediaries to sell players instead of doing it himself, we’ve heard Arteta thanking Josh for getting the Konsa deal over the line, and there are rumblings that rival clubs aren’t enjoying the process of spinning plates. I mean, read the room: when clubs are creating cartel-like partnerships at an ownership level, why would they take the call of someone they know is using them to gauge one of 50 options?
There’s been a lot of ‘you don’t deserve this, daddy Arteta’ on the timeline, but look, he’s the whole reason Berta is here. That’s his man. He wanted a ‘big deal guy’ and the problem with big deal guys is they are low on ideas unless they are being fed them. How did we end up in the conversation for Malick Fofana? I mean, seriously, just keep Ethan who has gone to Dortmund on loan to cover on the left.
This tweet was quite pointed.
I’m not sure I’m quite with the taticos who think Konsa is some sort of incredible signing, he’s a great rotation option who won’t hold a candle to Timber or Saliba when they return. We Ezri Konsa’d last summer in attack, signing a highly rated Prem-proven winger in Madueke, and a Gerd Müller award winner. They were decent punts that flopped.
I am being picky here over the tweet, what I agree with is the core insight… we don’t take flyers on attackers. We almost NEVER exit a summer without a centre back or a full back. We’re quite happy to keep powder dry on our attack, then when we spend, it’s always on ‘just ok’ talent. We take a flyer on Madueke at £55m, instead of going big on Semenyo for £8m more. There’s too much dithering, we indulge too many options, and I honestly think we put too much focus on attackers who defend like monsters, which limits us. Kevin Schade felt real to me because he’s number one in the Premier League for duels on the ground and in the air… how am I thinking like that? Because that’s how it looks. 6 weeks in solitary for Eze for losing a runner. Never forget.
How are we 6 years into the Arteta project and we still can’t buy a world-class attacker? It’s frightening how bad we’ve been on that front. But look, Arteta hired Berta, let him tell the old technical team they couldn’t sign Šeško, and then opted to sign Viktor Gyokeres because he had a magical look in his eyes. You can’t make it up… no one looked at the videos, now we’re stuck with a soon-to-be-29-year-old attacker who couldn’t attract a bid this summer despite scoring 21 goals who has good eye contact when he’s selling himself.
But… context. We still have options. Tzolis could bang. Eze on the left is an idea we were doing cartwheels for last summer. Saka looks fitter than ever before. Max Dowman is ready to bang. Kai Havertz… dear lord… am I going to say it? Kai could stay fit until January…
I mean, it’s quite frankly diabolical how ‘yeah, it’s fine’ our attack is right now. No speed whatsoever, extremely fragile, and it lacks output.
But… we did won the Prem last season, so I guess we’ll see how it goes.
Arsenal are Champions. We have had the least disruption. We’ve kept two clean sheets on the bounce. We have the best coach in the world right now. Man City are Pep-less and they have made so many crazy changes that feel very un-City-like. We’ll also see what Chelsea are made of this Sunday.
The transfer window is a distraction. It’s kind of its own TV show. You get very much into it, you project your dreams onto it, it disappoints you, or it amazes you… and quite often, it doesn’t correlate with outcomes.
Chelsea sign every player your group chat transfer fiend recommends and then some.
They finished 9th.
How many of your doomer pals spent the whole of last summer foreshadowing Liverpool’s impending dominance because they spent £400m?
They finished 5th.
Arsenal didn’t do crazy work this window because maybe they didn’t need to. Maybe stability and being Champions is enough. Maybe, just maybe… we should show some faith and get back on the HYPE train because we look really good?
I am so determined to enjoy this season. Too many people I know live on the edge of despair because they’re waiting for things to hurt them. It’s cowardly. I can’t be around it this season. The transfer window didn’t work out the way I wanted it to… but I’m gonna be a big boy and cry my eyes out this evening… then tomorrow, it’s a new damn day.
We ride at sunrise. Chelsea next. Let’s have a f*cking great season. x
P.S. Johnny did his ratings show for the members. Check it out. Get subbed up to the MAX.