31 days, 744 hours or 44640 minutes, whichever way you look at it, it is the length of time made available for managers to bring players in to lift the squad; and also the time to sell on “deadwood” for that extra manoeuvrability in the window.
As with the general trend in recent transfer windows, the total money spent in the Premier League increased by another £10 million from £120 million last year. The biggest deal of the transfer window this year in terms of the monetary value was the sale of Juan Mata from Chelsea to Manchester United for an estimated £37.6 million plus add ons. From being Chelsea’s player of the year two years running to a bench warmer under Jose Mourinho, it was surprising to see them sell one of their prized assets to a rival - unless Mourinho doesn’t see Manchester United as a rival..? Other big deals this January were the sales of Yohan Cabaye and Kurt Zouma to PSG and Chelsea respectively and former Arsenal target Sebastien Corchia made a move to Lille.
As an Arsenal fan, I will be going over the debacle that was the transfer window. The season thus far for Arsenal has been very promising as we are still in contention for 3 trophies, however it’s no secret that we lack a bit of strength in depth in the striker department, especially with the injury to Theo Walcott.
As with the general trend in recent transfer windows, the total money spent in the Premier League increased by another £10 million from £120 million last year. The biggest deal of the transfer window this year in terms of the monetary value was the sale of Juan Mata from Chelsea to Manchester United for an estimated £37.6 million plus add ons. From being Chelsea’s player of the year two years running to a bench warmer under Jose Mourinho, it was surprising to see them sell one of their prized assets to a rival - unless Mourinho doesn’t see Manchester United as a rival..? Other big deals this January were the sales of Yohan Cabaye and Kurt Zouma to PSG and Chelsea respectively and former Arsenal target Sebastien Corchia made a move to Lille.
As an Arsenal fan, I will be going over the debacle that was the transfer window. The season thus far for Arsenal has been very promising as we are still in contention for 3 trophies, however it’s no secret that we lack a bit of strength in depth in the striker department, especially with the injury to Theo Walcott.
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| Our Worst Nightmare! |
If Olivier Giroud were to get injured (we all hope he doesn’t), the contenders to replace him are well below par. Nicklas Bendtner is an erratic player who I believe shouldn’t be at the club, Yaya Sanogo is currently on the treatment table and on top of that Park Chu- Young and Chuba Akpom are out on loan, which means the only other “recognised” striker is Lukas Poldoski, a player who has just come back to full fitness. It made sense therefore to bring a striker in, a loan deal would probably have been the best option in January. A lot of names were floating around, as per usual; Miroslav Klose with a loan fee of £2 million, Salomon Kalou, Fabio Quagliarella and a few others, but in the end we failed to pick up any of those.
What surprised me even more is yet to come; not only did we not sign a striker, we signed a midfielder on loan. With Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey currently injured and Mathieu Flamini serving a suspension, it would make sense to have some cover in the central areas, so the signing of Kim Källström on loan would have fit the bill. However, after reports from the reputable David Ornstein, it became apparent that Kim Källström was already carrying a lengthy injury while on his medical and it seems Arsene Wenger was contemplating using him at the latter end of the season. It is definitely a strange signing but as always I will be totally behind Wenger and I firmly believe this could be our year and hopefully the lack of a back up striker doesn't come back to haunt us.
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