The Sound of Silence (Transfer Window in Review)

By: Martin | September 1st, 2009

Well, that’s it. The transfer window has come and gone, not with a bang but a whimper. No signings, no sales, no loans to report on the last day. For better or for worse, this is our squad until January.

To review, we sold or released three players over the summer–Amaury Bischoff, Kolo Toure, and Emmanuel Adebayor. Bischoff was clearly never going to feature in the squad, Toure wanted out and looked suddenly very old last season, and Adebayor was . . . well, he was Adebayor. We raised £40 million total from sales this summer.

We also sent four players out on loan–Henri Lansbury, Jay Simpson, Havard Nordveit, and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas. Promising players all, but none figured into our plans for this season, so this doesn’t hurt us in any competition except the Carling Cup.

In terms of players we brought in, our only purchase was Thomas Vermaelen, who looks a bargain so far at £10 million. This, despite media reports linking us with scores of players over the course of the summer, most notably Felipe Melo and Marouane Chamakh. Other than that, the only player we could claim as an “import” would be Phillipe Senderos, who returned from his year-long loan spell at AC Milan.

So we lost three players, got back two, and made a profit of £30 million on the transfer market. Now, I can’t think that Wenger doesn’t think the squad couldn’t use another player or two, but despite making a large profit, he made no move. I don’t want to beat this drum yet again, but I honestly believe that Arsenal’s finances are substantially worse than they’re claiming, and the board feel they need that profit to cover real estate losses or interest payments on the Emirates loans. The only other explanation is that Wenger really believes that the squad doesn’t need any more players, which would also be very concerning for different reasons.

Anyway, the loss of Adebayor doesn’t worry me–we’ve still got Robbie, Arshavin, Walcott, Eduardo, Bendtner, and Vela up front. Replacing Toure with Vermaelen was definitely an upgrade, and with Djourou and Senderos providing cover before Silvestre sees action, we’re not in terrible shape at the back (make no mistake, I think we could have used someone like Bassong for extra cover and to provide some pace, since Djourou and Senderos aren’t all that fleet of foot–I just think it could have been a lot worse if, say, Senderos had gone to Everton).

The middle of the field is the one area where I really would have liked to see one more quality player come in for cover. With Rosicky, Nasri, and Cesc all currently injured, we’re having to make do with Diaby, Denilson, and Song. Behind them, all we have are the talented but extremely raw teenagers, Ramsey and Wilshere. We’re an injury or two away from having a real mess on our hands, and don’t forget that Song will be out for virtually all of January at the African Cup of Nations. A guy like Felipe Melo really would have been a perfect fit, I have to say, and I think there will come a day when we’ll all really be pulling our hair out that we didn’t pony up the extra cash sign him when we had a decent chance.

Still, though, Arsenal is a good team, and an improving team, that I think can take us on a fun ride this season. They’ve proven this season that they’re going to be a force to be reckoned with, let’s hope that despite the lack of reinforcements, they turn that promise into silverware between now and May.

Back to the international break monotony, I’ll post if anything happens over the next couple of days.

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mattsmash

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Arsenal shirts

I was really hoping for a couple of signings on the last day for cover, particularly in defence but as long as we keep everyone fit we have a great squad of players
Gigi

seems to me that we all are in the same page, one big happy family! hahaha
good thoughts everyone, let s win something!
Peevish

I agree that wenger has always made good decisions, and keeping faith in him has served us well, but I think the time for people to be pointing towards the potential of the team and how young they are should be done with. Don't get me wrong, I love how young this team is, but these youngsters who turn into elite players need to win trophies, or they will leave the club. I don't want to spend season after season rebuilding, and thinking about how great we will be in a few years time, only to see other big european clubs reaping the benefit of arsene's undoubted ability to turn good players into great ones.
As pessimistic as I sound, I really feel we have a great chance of getting silverware, including the premiership and even a chance at the champions league. I just wish I didn't keep having to add "as long as our first team stays healthy"
But we have what we have till 2010, so let's look forward to plenty of wins!
MoMONEY

Wenger does know and that is why I am not panicking. I just wish we had a gattuso type to scare the crap out of everyone we play against so we can focus on playing the game. Would Fletcher dare do what he did if Gattuso/ Vieira was around? More about attitude and less about skill. We should be the intimidators and not the intimidated
otariq

In the middle of park Arsenal is very solid. In the middle we have Rosciky, Song, Diaby, Denilson, Ramsey, and Nasri. In a year Song, Denilson and Diaby will be better players than Melo. Remember these guys are still only kids. We are all forgetting that the currently economic situation is affecting all the big teams and we have groom our own players. Have faith in our players, if you think Song and Denilson have improved a whole lot this year, just wait until they are 25 years of age and have played together for five years plus.

At 18 million dollars, Melo was not worth the price. Keep faith folks, Wenger knows.
b

i think the other thing to remember here is that we bought arshavin not so long ago. and on top of that fee, we added his salary to our books, not to mention whatever extra dealing went down to finally get that thing finished.

so that was what, 15 million pounds?

and maybe wenger is looking to see how this team starts and then he'll go and buy someone in the winter window again for a boost.
MoMONEY

Vieira would have been enough... too bad...
Homey

Just a couple of points. I'll first offer one other explanation for the lack of buying. I've said this before too. Maybe the real estate debt isn't as bad as we thought, and the owners are just playing around in a big pile of cash. I mean, it is also a business right? So if the owners want to maximize profits, that's their right. It doesn't make us happy, but that may be the case. But to keep us from rioting, they blame the debt situation. I see this as entirely possible.
Now, given the players we have left, I just want to discuss Senderos. Now that he's staying, I want him in the rotation somehow. Or at least on the sub bench. There's positively no way that Silvestre should be ahead of him. So with Djourou out, Senderos should be first in line behind both CBs. He should also be getting some action to keep him fresh - at least in some Carling and FA Cup matches, when those come along.
Gigi

Sad that we did not buy more players, still a good operation because getting rid of Ade and Kolo apparently solved issues that we might never be aware of, in the dressing room; at least this is my opinion because the team really, really got upgraded, I mean they started like there was no tomorrow and even with the Man U defeat, they looked strong in the defence, strong in the middle (even without our beloved Cesc and the rest of the dream midfield we have). I really think these guys wanted out and got on each others nerves. So Arsene knows better.
On the other hand, yes, I agree that maybe the real estate issue is a big one, like everywhere else, and they needed the money to breathe (which as a fan is not too bad because it means they will go on, and not make a bad joke on all of us saying the finances collapsed and they have to "declare bankrupcy" or something like that.
It would have been great to have players on the bench to jump at the injury, but then maybe those players did not want to? Players like Ramsey they can be patient and explode, some others would demand action right away? But nevertheless, if they did and missed the chance to be in the Arsenal, then they are too stupid.
Our team might lack of "bench" this season, but I just saw that kind of glow in all of their attitudes that make me say, once again: we just need to stay focused.
...Man I am philosophical!
Peevish

Its a really strange feeling I have right now - I mean, the team we have is looking very good, and I wouldn't really say I would want to make too many changes to our strongest 11. But then at the same time I feel really pessimistic about injuries, and if/when they happens, I can't see us competing with the other big teams. And the big worry for me is that this is the year we HAVE to deliver, if we want to keep our elite players beyond this season.

I have always, always always kept my faith in what Wenger is doing, even over the last few dark seasons, but I am beginning to wonder if his ideals and a stubbornness is going to hold our club back. Its hard to take the persistent reluctance to buy in talent and experience, especially when big names and big transfers are going on around us. Wenger has always been an excellent transfer scout, but in order to continue to prove that, he actually needs to make the signings, not just show us how much return he can get on an investment when it comes time to sell.
Corey

I see your point about the middle of the field, but Denilson and Song are pretty hardy guys, they do not get injured all that often. Diaby is a different story. But I think Ramsey is ready to start games, while Wilshere will do the trick a few times. I never liked Nasri in the center, I think he is much better out wide, likewise Rosicky. Song is a better player then people give him credit for, and he will quietly assert himself this year as one of the best defensive midfielders in England. Still not up to snuff in the Champions League maybe, but it comes with games.