Who will they gamble on?
We now firmly in the mad January Transfer Window season and the media are full of stories linking clubs to various loans and signings. The BBC Gossip Column is an excellent page to visit each morning for a quick summary of the morning papers but even they can only provide a synopsis of the stories, which frequently conflict. Only last week one story informed us that Mo Elneny was likely to be sold to Besiktas, where he starred on loam in 2019/20, only for the next story from another news outlet confirming that Elneny was delighted with his game time under Arteta and had no interest in a return to Turkey.
In short, much of the transfer new is speculation based on nothing much at best and pure fabrication at worst. The January window is a tricky one to predict, often surprising us with outlandish deals born out of desperation in the case of teams fighting relegation or team gambling on a big signing to push for honours or European places.
The question for Arsenal supporters is are their team, in the guise of Arteta and Edu prepared for the window, with targets in mind or are the club again going to gamble and speculate. The latter approach, epitomised, arguably by the signings of Cedric and Willian is more akin to an evening gambling at an online casino like those on this list.
On a serious note, three wins in a week for Arsenal, will have strengthened Arteta and Edu’s negotiating position. The Gunners are once again on an upward trajectory and will hope that any new additions will be to help the team push for Europe and Cup glory, rathe than to fight relegation.
Brandt linked
With players such as Kolasinac and hopefully Sokratis and Mustafi leaving, the wage bill decrease should give them some wiggle room so new arrivals are expected but in which positions. Most of the links to players to date seem to believe that the position Arsenal are looking to strengthen is in the creative midfield role. Both Buendia from Norwich and Brandt from Dortmund are the names most linked and both sound attractive propositions. The real question for the decision makers will be whether either will provide a better central creative link than Emile Smith-Rowe.
Share creative load
The form of the young Englishman in the last three matches will certainly have given his manager pause for thought. Ye she is young, inexperienced and has a poor injury record, but I don’t think his ability has ever been doubt by the last three regimes at the club. In truth, with Ozil out of favour, a club the size of Arsenal, needs healthy competition for places. If Arteta feels the previous gamble mention on Willian has not paid off, as a central role was hinted for the Brazilian, then I suspect we will see a new arrival to share the creative load. The question is which player they will take the gamble on?
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