Deadline Day Summer 2023

[LookingForEric]

I'd say it's ok.

With Timber out of the picture it's fair to question how much better off we are after the summer window, many expected way more incoming and outgoing.

I'm fine with it but I can understand those who are underwhelmed.

We were told at the start of the summer we want Rice, an 8/more attacking mid and defensive cover. We’ve managed to get Raya on top of that.

We haven’t lost any truly key, irreplaceable players. We’ve tied down all our stars, which people conveniently forget. Because it isn’t shiny and new, but tying Saliba and Saka down to new deals along with many others is just as important.

Overall, the window is an 8/10, comfortably an 8/10 as well.

 

[Tom Mix]

It was a transfer window of two halves. We started well by getting our signings in early-doors and selling Xhaka which was driven by him. The signings of Rice, Havertz and Timber (no-one can be blamed for his injury) were done fairly quickly, avoiding late transfer premiums, and Raya also in good time. Whether Havertz or Raya were needed and how much we overpaid for Havertz is another matter.

But on sales we got bogged down as usual. Apart from Balogun, which was a good deal for everyone, we have again been unable to move on international players like Pepe and Cedric, only managed to move Tavares and Lokonga on loan, undersold Holding (although at least we got a small fee) and incredibly dispensed with Tierney's services - a player universally admired outside AM's covens and rookeries and Chez Arteta - for nothing. This is bad business. With better husbanding of resources and slicker marketing, not to mention giving these players a shop window, we should have been able to raise pretty close to £100 million for them.

It's money which may be needed later on and won't be there. We've missed a trick and after a hint that we were strengthening the first XI and the squad we've ended up with more problems than solutions. We'd better win the league this season or the whole process could come crashing down. Fingers crossed.

 

[Macho]

We were told at the start of the summer we want Rice, an 8/more attacking mid and defensive cover. We’ve managed to get Raya on top of that.

We haven’t lost any truly key, irreplaceable players. We’ve tied down all our stars, which people conveniently forget. Because it isn’t shiny and new, but tying Saliba and Saka down to new deals along with many others is just as important.

Overall, the window is an 8/10, comfortably an 8/10 as well.

Wouldn't say 8 but I actually liked how we did our business early and actually did not do any deadline day bullshit.

I think people need to applaud that bit more especially seeing our rivals scrambling around for mid players which we have done years gone by.

I'm not as mad at the sales as the rest of the forum for reasons I have repeated enough but the entitlement lack of understanding on the landscape and basic football finance is still surprising.

6 or 7 out of 10 depending on Havertz.

 

[Bagels]

I'd say it's ok.

With Timber out of the picture it's fair to question how much better off we are after the summer window, many expected way more incoming and outgoing.

I'm fine with it but I can understand those who are underwhelmed.

Yeah, honestly everyone seemed happy with all our business early on to me. The moans started to come when Timber got injured. The injury to me is less about the transfer window and more about **** happens. He’s clearly a talented player and we did well to get him, that he got injured doesn’t change that for me. But I suppose that’s just a difference of perspective.

I’m not sure if people expected “way more” incomings? Maybe another RW? People were frothing about our depth in the back, and expressed concerns about the amount of changes to our midfield. But I’m running that assumption based on my perceived consensus of the forum, and I’m not overly active so I could be off.

Maybe the sales make the most difference to some?

 

[Lakersgooner24]

The Timber injury and the skepticism over the Havertz signing is what's dampening the mood over the window imo. Unsatisfactory terms for some of our outgoings will irk some as well, but it doesn't bother me as much as it may others (although I acknowledge it's an area we need to improve in).

Still would consider it a good window considering how we concluded our major deals in a timely fashion (which we haven't been accustomed to), brought in our top targets (whether or not you rate them is another matter), and re-signed our key youngsters like Saliba and Saka (and even the likes of Nwaneri) which was crucial. Helps that I didn't expect any signings today either.

7.5/10

 

[grange]

9/10

We will turn the have nots into Havertz, amen.

 

[Wilhelm Fink]

Yes, we need to get Edteta out of this club

 

[Nunowoolmez]

This window in terms of selling has been terrible & reinforces tough lessons learnt in the transfer market.

Guys like Cedric, Mari, Willian
Gambles on guys like Tavares & Sambi

Pepe was a mistake from previous regime but there has been an element of mismanagement with him. The £72 million man nobody wants. Ouch.

We only have to look at City & Liverpool, who rarely buy poorly & hardly ever have 'deadwood' to move on, at how it can be done. We should learn from them, as they learnt from their own mistakes.

At the end of the season, Elneny will be gone, & if we don't move Pepe & Cedric before, they will be gone too. Then we can finally be free of deadwood which holds us back in the transfer market.

Hopefully our loanees have good loans & we can sell.

 

[A_G]

I don't think own player getting a 315 day injury is hilarious.

Who said it was? Do you even read the posts you quote?

 

[ASAP Berg]

I don't think we are short in defence, there's no point having versatile players if we don't consider them great options in different positions.

LB - Zinchenko, Tomiyasu
CB - Saliba, Gabriel, White, Kiwior
RB - White, Tomiyasu, Partey

We have talented youth to play in cup games and just have to get through to January when we can make a move if needed, I believe in our recruitment so I'm sure they have a target or two in mind.

If you look at City squad it's the same, not big bloated squad but versatile quality.

Guys need games to develop, imagine Vieira or Smith Rowe, Nelson with a full season 38 games last year coming into this season. Imagine Nketiah after this season if he can develop further? Well they gotta play if we believe in them

 

[SA Gunner]

The only real negative is the Timber injury. If you want to stretch it, you’d say no 8 profile in the team (Barella, Locatelli, Tonali, etc) and probably a top quality CF (Mbappe, Osimhen, Leao). I’d throw in we could have kept Granit as well.

Otherwise it’s been a solid window, 7/10. We have the versatility needed to develop playing options over the season. We’ve also been fair to our fringe players and given them a chance to play elsewhere. I don’t think it’s just about Edu and team being poor selling wise, these players actually get to move as well, helping them.

What I also like is that we no longer the biggest spenders in Europe, and interestingly talk of “must win the title” has gone quiet with these other teams. Funny eh.

 

[Makavelii]

It was a transfer window of two halves. We started well by getting our signings in early-doors and selling Xhaka which was driven by him. The signings of Rice, Havertz and Timber (no-one can be blamed for his injury) were done fairly quickly, avoiding late transfer premiums, and Raya also in good time. Whether Havertz or Raya were needed and how much we overpaid for Havertz is another matter.

But on sales we got bogged down as usual. Apart from Balogun, which was a good deal for everyone, we have again been unable to move on international players like Pepe and Cedric, only managed to move Tavares and Lokonga on loan, undersold Holding (although at least we got a small fee) and incredibly dispensed with Tierney's services - a player universally admired outside AM's covens and rookeries and Chez Arteta - for nothing. This is bad business. With better husbanding of resources and slicker marketing, not to mention giving these players a shop window, we should have been able to raise pretty close to £100 million for them.

It's money which may be needed later on and won't be there. We've missed a trick and after a hint that we were strengthening the first XI and the squad we've ended up with more problems than solutions. We'd better win the league this season or the whole process could come crashing down. Fingers crossed.

We didn’t dispense of Tierney. He’s just on loan for one season and has 3 years on his contract.

The loan will ensure he looks good in a system that fits his skill sets so that there’s demand next season.
It’s a gamble. Just need to hope it’s more of a Balogun loan and less of a Pepe loan.

Also, we may yet still be able to move Pepe. Saudi Arabia and some other transfer windows are still open.

Tavares could end up an amazing deal. If he achieves certain playing milestones, then it’s a mandatory 16 million sale.

 

[Makavelii]

I don't think we are short in defence, there's no point having versatile players if we don't consider them great options in different positions.

LB - Zinchenko, Tomiyasu
CB - Saliba, Gabriel, White, Kiwior
RB - White, Tomiyasu, Partey

We have talented youth to play in cup games and just have to get through to January when we can make a move if needed, I believe in our recruitment so I'm sure they have a target or two in mind.

If you look at City squad it's the same, not big bloated squad but versatile quality.

Guys need games to develop, imagine Vieira or Smith Rowe, Nelson with a full season 38 games last year coming into this season. Imagine Nketiah after this season if he can develop further? Well they gotta play if we believe in them

Good take. I think this is the point some people are missing.
We actually don’t need 2 individual players on each position when we’re set up in this versatile way.

Also - I hate to say it but Cedric is also an option in the backline for safe cup games etc.

 

[Makavelii]

This window in terms of selling has been terrible & reinforces tough lessons learnt in the transfer market.

Guys like Cedric, Mari, Willian
Gambles on guys like Tavares & Sambi

Pepe was a mistake from previous regime but there has been an element of mismanagement with him. The £72 million man nobody wants. Ouch.

We only have to look at City & Liverpool, who rarely buy poorly & hardly ever have 'deadwood' to move on, at how it can be done. We should learn from them, as they learnt from their own mistakes.

At the end of the season, Elneny will be gone, & if we don't move Pepe & Cedric before, they will be gone too. Then we can finally be free of deadwood which holds us back in the transfer market.

Hopefully our loanees have good loans & we can sell.

There will always be deadwood. It’s a cycle.

The end of last seasons window it felt like we were finally mostly free of deadwood.
I.e. We didn’t see Holding as deadwood back then.

Injuries, aging and players failing to cut it will come up most every season.

 

[ASAP Berg]

We didn’t dispense of Tierney. He’s just on loan for one season and has 3 years on his contract.

The loan will ensure he looks good in a system that fits his skill sets so that there’s demand next season.
It’s a gamble. Just need to hope it’s more of a Balogun loan and less of a Pepe loan.

Also, we may yet still be able to move Pepe. Saudi Arabia and some other transfer windows are still open.

Tavares could end up an amazing deal. If he achieves certain playing milestones, then it’s a mandatory 16 million sale.

Tierney will get to play CL games and also we know he has great defensive ability but he will also possibly develop more technical skills playing in that league and could come back more suited to our system. I really like him and believe that players shouldn't be written off when their attitude is elite, they overcome obstacles with the right mindset. That's why I believe in Nketiah from what I can make of his character looking from the outside. And a bit why I don't believe in Zinchenko (don't flame me guys) just what I see on the pitch.

 

[Tom Mix]

We didn’t dispense of Tierney. He’s just on loan for one season and has 3 years on his contract.

The loan will ensure he looks good in a system that fits his skill sets so that there’s demand next season.
It’s a gamble. Just need to hope it’s more of a Balogun loan and less of a Pepe loan.

Also, we may yet still be able to move Pepe. Saudi Arabia and some other transfer windows are still open.

Tavares could end up an amazing deal. If he achieves certain playing milestones, then it’s a mandatory 16 million sale.

We have dispensed with Tierney's services for this season. The fact it is a loan is academic, we cannot count on his services and the track record of our loans is that the recipient club rarely buys the player afterwards because they can't afford to which is why they loan him in the first place. And with two years left on his contract next summer unless we sell him then his value will become insignificant.

 

[Malky]

Something needs to change at this club, we’re constantly getting the piss taken out of us when it comes to selling players. We’ve sold a 27 year old, experienced HG CB for far less money than some clubs are getting for loaning players no one’s ever heard of.
Holding you’d expect at least £5M, Tierney should be £25M, Turner should of been £10M etc, clubs are bullying us in deals because they know the people they’re dealing with are incompetent!

 

[North5]

Havertz clearly being willian 2.0 but for 65 mil and outgoings make it a 6.5

 

[GLITCH]

People expecting Waitrose prices when we're seen as Lidl.

 

[Legend14]

I don't think we are short in defence, there's no point having versatile players if we don't consider them great options in different positions.

LB - Zinchenko, Tomiyasu
CB - Saliba, Gabriel, White, Kiwior
RB - White, Tomiyasu, Partey

We have talented youth to play in cup games and just have to get through to January when we can make a move if needed, I believe in our recruitment so I'm sure they have a target or two in mind.

If you look at City squad it's the same, not big bloated squad but versatile quality.

Guys need games to develop, imagine Vieira or Smith Rowe, Nelson with a full season 38 games last year coming into this season. Imagine Nketiah after this season if he can develop further? Well they gotta play if we believe in them

I think we are short an inverting LB if our plan is to play that way. Tomi doesnt invert well and Partey inverting on right is a hack that doesn’t work.

If we couldn’t find an impactful player, then yes, we are better off waiting until Jan instead of signing mediocrity.