Hello, TSFers and good afternoon. It’s always a good time to talk about transfers, right? Everyone loves to play armchair GM (armchair Director of Football?), to speculate about transfers, analyze players, and build rosters. It’s why FIFA franchise mode or whatever it’s called today is so successful. Heck, Football Manager built an entire game out of it — no in-game action, just management.
The winter window closing earlier this week means we’re a few days closer to the summer window opening. When
one door (window) closes, another one opens.
Today’s topic:
What spots do you think Arsenal will target in the summer transfer window? What roles should they target?
I’ll start by pointing out the important difference between the two questions. The first asks what you think the club will actually do. The second asks what you think the club should do. Maybe they share an answer but they don’t have to.
My expectation is that Arsenal have a comparatively quiet summer. There seems to be an on-off pattern to the club’s business the last few years, and the Gunners spent big this past summer. The World Cup complicates things, too. There isn’t an enforced pause on business during major competitions, but transfer business generally happens either before or after a tournament, not during.
For the first time in ages, I’m having a tough time pinpointing the holes / shallow areas of the Arsenal roster. This squad is deep all over the formation. So it seems natural to look to age next — Leandro Trossard (31) and Mikel Merino (29) are the two oldest first-team regulars. Trossard is the more important player to — not replace because I’m not sure he needs replacing, he’s been quite good this season after plenty of people wrote him off — succession-plan.
Gabriel Jesus is also 29 but his contract expires at the end of next season, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Arsenal sold him this summer. It’s also possible they keep him around for next season and allow him to leave on a free. He’s been pretty good since returning from his long ACL injury layoff.
It’s slightly concerning that both Trossard and Merino are significant goal-contributors for the team and on the older end of the roster. If Kai Havertz is available for more of next season, that should ease the scoring burden. I’d expect Bukayo Saka’s goal involvements to increase after a down year. But it’s something to keep an eye on.
That’s where I think the club will focus this summer. As to what I think they should do…sign good players. One of the great things about having no gaping holes in the roster is that the club don’t have to focus their attention or resources fixing problem areas. Instead, they can go “best player available” and make it work. At some point, squad-building at the top end of the game becomes more about adding unicorn players / superstars like Declan Rice. So yeah, simple as. Just go sign players who are arguably the best in the world at their position.
Arsenal could do with a Martin Ødegaard understudy, too. Players like the skipper don’t grow on trees, and the ones that are out there aren’t likely to want to play second-fiddle to an established club captain. So what I’m saying is we shouldn’t get our hopes up on that front. There will be plenty of talk about how the club need an alternative for him, just as there was the last two summer windows running. I doubt much will come of it.
