Opinion2 min read
Our summer window, judged by people who refreshed it at 2am
Bruno in, Trossard and Jesus out, no Álvarez, and Nwaneri sent to Dortmund. Most of it was right. One of it we'll be moaning about until May.
Two months into the season is the perfect time to judge a transfer window. Too early to be fair. Late enough to be smug.
For anyone who spent June to September in goon hours (refreshing a journalist's feed at 2am, praying for a "here we go"), here's what actually happened.
In: Bruno Guimarães from Newcastle, Ezri Konsa from Aston Villa, Christos Tzolis from Club Brugge, Piero Hincapié made permanent from Leverkusen, and Illan Meslier on a free.
Out: Leandro Trossard to Beşiktaş, Gabriel Jesus to Barcelona, Christian Nørgaard to Everton, Jakub Kiwior to Porto, Fábio Vieira to Hamburg, Reiss Nelson released, and Ethan Nwaneri on loan to Borussia Dortmund.
The good
Bruno. A reported £75m on a 28-year-old midfielder is the kind of fee that makes the group chat split in half. Nine league games later we're top. We're not saying it's all him. We're saying the people who called it a waste have gone very quiet.
Konsa. A Premier League-proven centre-back who doesn't need a year to adapt to Stoke away on a Tuesday. Boring signing. Brilliant signing. Those are often the same thing.
Selling Trossard and Jesus. We loved them. We still love them. But both were the wrong side of 30 or close to it, and the squad needed the room and the wages. Waving goodbye was the grown-up decision. Crying about it on the walk to the Emirates was also allowed.
The one we'll moan about
We didn't get Julián Álvarez. The main target never happened, and honestly? Fine. We're top without him. The striker conversation will come back in January anyway. It always does. It is the Arsenal equivalent of the weather.
No, the real one is Nwaneri.
Loaning out the most exciting academy player we've had in years to Dortmund, a club whose entire business model is making other people's young players look incredible and then selling them for £100m, is the kind of decision that ages either brilliantly or horribly. There's no middle.
Maybe he comes back a monster. Maybe Dortmund fall in love, and we spend next summer in a bidding war for our own player. We know which one feels more like us.
Verdict
Eight out of ten. Bought what we needed, sold what we had to, didn't chase a striker into the sea. Minus two for sending our best kid to the one club on earth that's best at keeping them.
Prove us wrong, Ethan. Please. Come home.
Photo: Emirates Stadium by Coentor, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Transfer details from Sports Mole and Yahoo Sports; fees are as reported, not confirmed by the club.
