Today is my first full day, and I am heading down to the Blue Grotto. I’ve decided to stay in Valletta rather than the livelier St Julian’s and the view from my hotel is incredible.
A tweet is floating about this morning from back in March. It came off the back of a The Athletic article written by David Ornstein outlining what he believed to be our transfer plans this summer.
Now I am not going to go as far as others and praise Ornstein as a godlike character who knows about everything Arsenal. What he predicted as our transfer window was not ground breaking stuff. Most of us also had the same list of positions.
What it highlights though is just how well thought out our windows are now. Whilst some fans were crying about the lack of signings early doors, we ended up securing 4 of our 5 targets.
In came Raheem Sterling (back up for Saka/Martinelli), Mikel Merino (a new 6, with no one leaving), Ricardo Calafiori (left back) and Neto (back up keeper).
It was only a striker that we failed to sign. Some will attempt to paint this as a failure due to a new striker being our “number one priority”. But you have to remember that Ornstein wrote this in March.
On 14 March 2024, Havertz had played just 3 league games upfront, scoring in all 3. Up to that point, a new striker was a priority.
Over the remainder of the season, Havertz would continue upfront and score 8 goals in 11 games as our centre forward.
Havertz form meant that we potentially had our new striker. His form also led him to become Germany’s starting striker at the Euro’s.
What Havertz’s form also did was raise the bar for any incoming striker – no longer were we looking for a replacement for the injury-prone Gabriel Jesus. We were now looking for someone better than Kai Havertz, Germany’s first choice striker and 8 goals in 11 games.
We went all out for Benjamin Sesko, but ultimately the Slovenian decided to stay at RB Leipzig.
Sesko would not have come in above Havertz.
At 21, he would have dovetailed nicely with Kai, sharing the load, with Havertz aso being an option deeper. Sesko is instead playing regularly in Germany.
Beyond Sesko, I struggled to come up with a striker that could come in and do better than Havertz – and I’m talking about more than just his goal scoring prowess.
We were linked with both Ivan Toney and Victor Oshimen. It is telling where both of these ended up, and neither is now playing top level football. Ollie Watkins was another we were linked with, but his counter attacking style does not suit us.
I would not be too surprised if Sesko is on the market next summer, and I would expect Arsenal to go for him again. Although with Havertz’s form this season, there is no guarantee Sesko would start.
Next summer will probably actually be a carbon copy of 2024, in terms of positional targets.
A new striker will be hunted down, replacing Gabriel Jesus.
A new 6 or 8 will join, depending on who leaves – my gut is Jorginho will leave whilst Thomas Partey will sign a new 2 or 3 year deal. Whether we get a new 6 or 8 will then depend on how Mikel Arteta sees Declan Rice.
Personally, I like Rice as the deepest midfielder. And unlike England, we have the players who can come deep and take the ball of him. He will then be backed up by Partey (if he stays), leading us to need another 8 to compete with Merino and Martin Odegaard. This could be Olexsandr Zinchenko.
The flip side is Rice continues in that more advanced midfield role, backed up by Merino. We then need to out and sign a top number 6 who will play ahead of Partey.
A defender will then be needed.
Time has surely run out for Takehiro Tomiyasu and Kieran Tierney, whilst I would be surprised if Jakub Kiwior remains after another season on the bench.
Those 3 departures would leave us with Timber, White, Calafiori and Skelly-Lewis as our full back options (alongside Zinchenko who will become a utility man), and Saliba and Gabriel as our centre back options.
The middle looks light with just two “specialist” central defenders, although White and Calafiori could both spot into their sides of the defence. I think we will look for one more specialist though, and that could be Jorrel Hato.
Finally, this summer we loaned in Sterling and Neto. Both will need to be replaced next summer.
Neto’s loan deal could become permanent. Although this depends on whether he wants his career to tail off as a back up keeper, and whether he is showing the right levels in training.
Joan Garcia is a long term target for Arteta. We were priced out of him last summer but we might go again this.
And then we have Sterling.
We will not pay Sterling’s wages. Nor do I expect him to take a huge pay cut to join us.
I would not be surprised if instead of it being a back up to Martinelli and Saka, we go and get someone who is better than Gabi, with the Brazilian becoming that back up. Could we go back in for Nico Williams?
Anyway, my bus is 2 minutes away from the Blue Grotto. Have a great day and hopefully it is not too cold back in Blighty!
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