Former striker defends Arsenal’s dreadful January transfer window
Cameron Smith
- 1 Feb 2022 12:51 CST
- 4 min read
Former Arsenal striker Alan Smith has defender Mikel Arteta and the club for not "bump[ing] up your wage bill with players who aren't actually improving the team."
Arsenal were a busy side in the 2021 summer transfer window, spending the most money of any Premier League team, with Arteta adding vital reinforcements to his squad. Aaron Ramsdale, Benjamin White, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Albert Sambi Lokonga, and Martin Odegaard were all signed as Arsenal looked to stamp an identity on a team that has fallen behind the top sides in England over the past years.
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However, if the summer was a story of incomings, January was all about outgoings.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang left for free to Barcelona, Calum Chambers did the same to Aston Villa, as did Sead Kolasinac to Marseille. Ainsley-Maitland Niles and Pablo Mari both moved to Serie A on loan, to Roma and Udinese respectively, while Auston Trusty, the only signing of the window, returned to Colorado for the rest of the campaign.
What has been said?
It was underwhelming transfer window for the Gunners, and fans have express their displeasure at not bringing in new additions. However Smith doesn't agree with these complaints. "In an ideal world, I'm sure Arsenal would have preferred to have brought someone in," he said in his Sky Sports column.
"But they have had their fingers burnt far too often in the recent past by bringing in players not at the required standard.
"It's so easy to bump up your wage bill with players who aren't actually improving the team, and I think Arsenal are conscious of that.
"They recruited really well last summer with Takehiro Tomiyasu, Ben White, Aaron Ramsdale and others, and they want to continue down that path by being cute in the transfer market.
"How things have ended up, obviously it does leave the manager short of options up front, especially, but he's offloaded a fair few players who were on the fringes and he's lightened that wage bill by a considerable amount with Aubameyang's departure.
"That is a big bonus when you look ahead to the summer transfer window."
The departure of Aubameyang is one that many expected to come following the stripping of his captaincy back in December due to disciplinary breaches. He hasn't featured for the team since, and has now joined Spnaish giants Barca.
Without the striker, fears of missing out on a top four finish have crept in.
"There is still a long time to go in this season, so we will see, but for Arteta, as much as he would love to get into the top four, it is also about improving the position of the club and the stature of the club," Smith added.
"So, whether or not they finish in the top four, Arsenal are heading in the right direction under Arteta, and that's the main thing for the club and the manager at the moment.
"There is still so much ground to make up for Arsenal. They have slipped a long way down the pecking order so something drastic really needs to be done to make up the gap and Arteta is trying to do that.
"He is trying to turn over that team and produce a young, hungry unit. Aubameyang heading out is another step towards that."
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