The most important £16m Englishman to join the club this summer.
Yesterday I said I’d have everything crossed that, if Arsenal only signed two players, they would be a holding midfielder and a centre back. And that only Falcao would sway me.
Welcome to Arsenal Danny Welbeck and… oh, that’s it, is it?
A week or so ago, Nick Miller wrote a piece on F365 about why supporting Arsenal must be the most frustrating pursuit in football fandom, and it’s day’s like this that back up his statement. Even a certified Welbeck fan – i.e. me – was left frantically updating Twitter (couldn’t face Sky Sports News) to see whether a player had been brought in to provide strength in the club’s two areas of weakness. Arsene Wenger had stated a desire to bring a defender in should Vermaelen go, so there’s no question he knew we needed extra bodies at the back. But not only did no one arrive, Ignasi Miquel (admittedly not a player we should be relying on anyway) left for Norwich. Three centre backs in and around the first team left this summer, one joined. And he had never really played centre back before.
Rumours were that Arsenal were in for Matija Nastasic, and it wouldn’t surprise me, given the boss’ pathological refusal to learn from past mistakes, if City ‘Demba Baed’ us, leaving us insufficient time to go after another. But there’s no excuse for being in such a position for a third/fourth-choice centre back. A suitable player for the role would surely not have the status/asking price that required Champions League football to be guaranteed before signing them. Why not make a concerted bid for someone like Winston Reid when it was obvious Vermaelen was gone? I scoffed at the notion of Brede Hangeland back in July. Now he’s another that got away. I know the players I’m talking about aren’t world beaters, but we’ve not been crying out for players better than the BFG and Koscielny, just people who can step in if injuries/illness/form requires it. Good job Per hasn’t had a World Cup to get out of his system and Kosc isn’t fighting tendon and (possibly) brain problems isn’t it?
Then there’s the situation in midfield. If the back four hardly covered themselves in glory in our lunchtime tonkings last season, they were not helped by a complete lack of cover from midfield. Any change to that will have to be through tactics, as we’re left with Arteta – great signing, still a valued servant, currently injured, old – and Flamini – a true fan, allergic to rational thought, constantly imminently suspended – in the holding role. Not so long ago, people were debating whether they wanted Carvalho, Schneiderlin or Khedira in that role. Rabiot was an archetypal Wenger signing, we were told. Now we’re left wondering whether a move for Mapou Yanga Mbiwa might have been wise.
A look at the comings and goings make it pretty clear that Arsenal have had a far from perfect window:
IN: Alexis, Welbeck, Campbell, Chambers, Debuchy, Ospina
OUT: Bendtner, Ryo, Park, Vermaelen, Djourou, Miquel, Sagna, Jenkinson, Fabianski
There is one major positive. Up front, we’re a far better team, and the difference will truly tell when Walcott returns to fitness. As I alluded to above, I’m a fan of the Welbeck move. He has pace and strength, an underrated eye for goal, at 23 he has plenty of developing to do, his defensive work is very sound, and he can play in the middle or on the left, which should mesh well with Alexis (and mean Ozil is finally restored to the middle). If Alexis is Wenger’s Plan A for a striker, and I believe he is, we were never going to go out and buy a player to obstruct that. Welbeck has the ability to give Alexis more time, and when he does move inside, he can be a foil on the pitch or an alternative off it. His flexibility also means that he should be able to play with Giroud too, and we saw in the Cup Final that we can be effective with two powerful forwards in a more orthodox 4-4-2.
The second forward that day was poor Yaya, and I think this arrival will be good for him. I haven’t seen anything to suggest Arsenal fans have it in for Sanogo personally (then again, I don’t follow c**ts), but it won’t have taken long for the crowd to get on his back more out of frustration at the manager. That atmosphere has the potential to stunt development and sap all-important confidence. He now has an opportunity to grow as a first-team member, and perhaps get a loan deal, along with Chuba Akpom. Ahead of him, Wenger, fitness permitting, has a forward cohort of Alexis, Giroud, Welbeck, Walcott, Podolski and Campbell to choose from. It’s doesn’t compare to the great early-Wenger days of Henry, Bergkamp, Kanu, Wiltord and Reyes, or to United, Chelsea and City’s strength in depth today, but it’s a big step forward. And in Ozil, Ramsey, the Ox and Cazorla we have fantastic attacking talent in midfield too.
Of course so far we’ve showed little sign of being able to get into our stride in an attacking sense but I don’t doubt that it will come. While it does, we’re in the lap of the gods and Shad Forsythe to ensure our shallow group of defensive players stays fit. And if we’re to make a real success of this season, it’s probably going to owe much to the versatility within the squad. With such a lack of cover in defence, we should expect to see Monreal, Debuchy and Chambers deployed across the back four, and it is likely that Chambers will be the one drafted into midfield in the event that neither Arteta and Flamini are available.
It’s funny that only a month ago, Wenger had this to say about Chambers:
“(A)t the end of the day I was ready to take a gamble because he is a player for the future.”
Either this is an insight into the unplanned nature of Wenger’s transfer approach (Welbeck certainly didn’t seem like it was in the works particularly long), or an indication of just how much the manager has been impressed that, through his versatility and apparent comfort at centre back, a gamble for the future has already become one of the squad’s key players and helped convince the manager to hold off making further additions. As the go-to stand in at right back, centre back and defensive midfield, he stands to carry a heavy burden this season.
And surely it’s a sign of our shortcomings, Wenger’s failings, and our likely inability to compete for league or European honours that he looks nailed on to exceed the 22 appearances he got for Southampton last year. Despite a number of excellent additions this summer, there are still too many holes left unfilled for us to be truly satisfied, especially with the amount of newly generated money we’ve left unspent. We were promised that this summer would be different, and with our early, exciting activity, we even started to believe it but, just like Nick Miller said, when the transfer window closed, we were left on the outside, staring longingly at what might have been.
Links:
Mandatory Arseblog link. Welbeck: Cool. Lack of defenders: potentially disastrous negligence.
Amy Lawrence looks at Arsenal’s Transfer Deadline Day
The Welbeck transfer tells you all you need to know about United and Arsenal’s changing methods.
Welbeck caps a big summer of spending. City AM bring talk net spend and Welbeck’s statistics.
Talking out their Arsenal 