5 reasons why Arsenal’s transfer window was a success

So after a difficult to bear summer transfer window for Arsenal supporters, it’s all finally over with the Gunners having eventually got what they needed from an over-inflated market.

At least Arsenal fans can solely concentrate on the football from here until January with Arsene Wenger’s men having made FOUR first team signings altogether in Granit Xhaka, Rob Holding, Lucas Perez and Shkodran Mustafi.

Starting the summer in fantastic fashion having paid over £30 million to land the ready-made talents of Xhaka, Gooners had to wait an incredible amount of time to sign further players of this calibre.

Getting deals for Lucas Perez and Shkodran Mustafi concluded with just a day to spare, yet again Arsenal concluded their business late compared to their Premier League rivals.

But with Wenger having finally appeased fans somewhat having spent just over £50 million on both Perez and Mustafi, Arsenal Mania are today looking at FIVE reasons why Arsenal’s transfer window can be deemed a success.

They strengthened all the areas they needed to

No matter the length of time it took Arsenal to successfully fill the gaps in their talented squad, they did get the deals over the line in the end.

With Tomas Rosicky, Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini departing at the end of last season, the Gunners definitely needed a top class midfielder to arrive in the engine room.

They got that of course in Granit Xhaka.

Then they really needed to go out and get that world class striker that would turn them into definite Premier League title contenders but that signing escaped them with Gonzalo Higuain and Alexandre Lacazette unattainable yet again while Jamie Vardy rejected them early in the window.

In the end, Arsenal settled for a fairly unknown quantity in Deportivo La Coruna striker Lucas Perez but goalscoring in La Liga last season serves to suggest that he’s far from being a bad player.

Then Arsenal definitely needed another centre back despite Per Mertesacker and Gabriel Paulista going down injured at the start of the campaign.

Despite taking forever, Arsenal finally got a deal to sign Valencia centre back Shkodran Mustafi completed with a day to spare and there’s no doubting his talents for a huge fee of £35 million.

Arsene Wenger spent more than he’s ever done before

It’s cold hard facts now; Arsene Wenger spent more than he’s ever done before in a single transfer window.

Whether it’s wrong or right to deem a club successful based on the amount of money a club spends each transfer window, Arsenal ended up among the biggest Premier League spenders in the summer at over £80 million.

With insults of the club not being ambitious enough having been bandied about for a long time now, that argument has lost a little credence with Wenger having got the chequebook out to sign ready-made reinforcements in both Granit Xhaka and Shkodran Mustafi.

As for Lucas Perez, only time will tell whether he can amend the stereotype of him not being the calibre of striker the Gunners needed from the summer transfer window.

They got Mustafi when it looked like he was slipping away

Arsenal supporters now know not to celebrate a potential arrival until he is holding the Gunners shirt in front of the cameras, such has been their disappointment with targets they’ve failed to sign in the past.

For a long while, it looked as if Valencia’s Shkodran Mustafi was falling from their grasp with the Mestalla side holding out for £35 million with the Gunners valuing him at much less than this fee.

But after weeks and weeks since the first ground was broke on the Mustafi to Arsenal story, the German international is now an Gunners player.

In many ways, if Arsenal didn’t get their hands on Mustafi, it would have been a difficult psychological blow to take with massive questions then being asked over whether Arsenal can attract their first choice targets anymore.

But in a refreshing twist for Arsenal fans, Mustafi has spoken openly about how he’s been flattered by the Gunners’ interest in his first interview as an Arsenal player.

They didn’t lose any major players

Gone seem to be the days of Arsenal needing to part with their top pros such as Samir Nasri and Robin van Persie, and this is a factor that cannot be understated this summer.

While Gooners were made to suffer for months without a lack of decisive action from the club, at least there were no real fears over losing the likes of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil.

While their long-term futures still have to be sorted out, at least the world class duo are here at Emirates Stadium to stay this season with Alexis’ links to Juventus being nothing more than a long shot of a rumour.

Therefore, with Arsenal having added Xhaka, Perez and Mustafi to an already talented squad, this tight-knit unit should be able to compete with Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea, barring they can finally keep the majority of their squad fit for an entire campaign.

Granit Xhaka can be a major player for years to come

Arsenal shelled out a huge fee of £30 million to bring Granit Xhaka to North London and in many ways, his role isn’t the most spectacular on the football field.

That said, the Swiss international demonstrated the king of ability Arsenal fans can look forward to when impressing against Watford last Saturday.

Pinging the ball from deep much like Xabi Alonso in his prime, Xhaka was previously the captain at Borussia Monchengladbach and never shies away from a tackle, adding much-needed steel to Arsene Wenger’s central midfield.

Looking like a class act already, £30 million could prove to be a sound investment with the former FC Basel man still only 23-years-old meaning Arsenal are going to get the best out of him in his prime.