Well, now that the summer window is over it's time for a little review. As an Arsenal fan, I had a particularly frustrating and underwhelming summer. It started with our wonderful Chief Exec, Ivan Gazidis, telling the world that we finally had money to spend and that we would make major signings.
Good move, Ivan. First, every club is going to add £5-10 million to the price tag of any player Arsenal enquire about. Second, to go almost the whole summer making low bids for players and then missing out on top-level players when the fans know how much money there is, is no way to win the fans - a number of whom were already disillusioned with Gazidis and the board - over.
However, what an ending to the window. The signing of Mesut Özil is an incredible one for Arsenal, on many levels. First off, a player of his calibre agreeing to join Arsenal shows that someone behind the scenes must have been very convincing about the trajectory of Arsenal's future. Secondly, we always hear that great players want to play with other great players, so hopefully his signing will attract other top players to join in January or next summer, the way it did all those years ago when the surprise signing of God (aka The Non-Flying Dutchan, aka Dennis Bergkamp) did; within a few years we had signed the likes of Vieira, Henry, Overmars and Anelka, to name but a few. Finally, he is without doubt a top quality player. Özil ties Lionel Messi in having the most assists in Europe's top leagues since joining Real Madrid; imagine the chances he'll create for Olivier Giroud. He inspired the Germany U21 side to victory in the 2009 European U21 Championships and has a decent goal-scoring record at international level (14 in 47 games for Germany's senior team; though only 32 club goals - but it's not the goals we signed him for).
The re-signing of Mathieu Flamini after 5 seasons in Italy was a bit of a shock at first. I wasn't sure how to react. I always liked him as a versatile player before he left for Milan, but I wasn't sure going back to an ex-player was the best idea. Then he came on in the 43rd minute against Sp*rs and absolutely bossed the midfield. He was strong in the tackle, chased opposition players, barked out orders to his defence and, most importantly of all, showed passion for the club. It's early days, but he's been encouraging so far and will go some way to filling in the defensive midfielder role.
A small word on Emiliano Viviano here: a good signing. No transfer fee committed to yet and genuine competition for Szczesny, perhaps even an alternative should the Big Pole lose some form. He seems to be Italy's number 2 or 3 keeper, and started most of their qualifiers for Euro 2012 when Gigi Buffon was injured. And for me, a huge, huge upgrade on Flappy-hand-ski. Looks a bit like Almunia though.
Oh, almost forgot Yaya Sanogo. I've seen so little of him in preseason and the season so far that I have nothing to comment on - other than he was touted as a wonderkid on Football Manager a few times, so here's hoping!
In my opinion, though, we have missed failed in a few areas. None of us can really know what goes on behind the scenes during a transfer, or who a club is really making a bid for (anyone who claims to be "in the know" is talking out of their arse, as far as I'm concerned); however, there were some sagas for Arsenal this summer. Luis Suarez, in my opinion, is a top quality striker: the goals speak for themselves, but the guy is a nutjob. I have no idea why someone so talented would insist on ballsing up their career by talking to fellow players in racist terms, and biting others. Overall, though, I would have welcomed the signing had Arsenal finalised... I think. Looking back I'm not so sure now... Anyway, another player that I definitely would have been happy signing was Yohan Cabaye. I've seen quite a lot of him over the years, having lived in Lille for a year when he played there and followed the team since then, and I was genuinely shocked when Newcastle signed him - I thought it was a real coup. He's very similar to Mikel Arteta, more of a deep-lying playmaker than a midfield-enforcer (one of which I think Arsenal could do with), but he's still a good player. The Cabaye bid was a very odd one, though: why make just one bid for a player that you allegedly want? If the Club really wanted him, surely they would go back with another bid; if not, why bid at all? Missing out on Gonzalo Higuain is a shame, as it seemed he wanted to join, but Real Madrid starting asking for more money than we were willing to pay so we backed out. Imagine having the luxury of rotating Higuain and Giroud! That's a strikeforce most Premier League defences would be scared of.
Finally, I thought we needed reinforcements in both central defence and in the defensive midfield position (though as mentioned above, Flamini has impressed). A central defender would have been nice, and I'm quite jealous of Liverpool snapping up Mamadou Sakho. who I think would have fit in nicely. Also, a striker as cover for Giroud would have been perfect, though now we have Özil I can see Podolski being used through the centre more often. And we always have Sanogo and the Great Dane as backup - every silver cloud, eh?
Later this week I'll be dishing out awards for the summer transfer window. I'm sure all the top clubs will be on the edge of their seats.
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