DEADLINE DAY DISAPPOINTMENT

ARSENAL LEAVE EMPTY HANDED

The transfer window shut, and it played out how I thought it might at the start of January... lacking the bodies we, as fans, really desired.

We have one weakness in the squad right now - that's in the striker department. We are a Kai Havertz injury away from a disaster of quite epic proportions. I'd say the club is rolling the dice, but that would suggest there was something to play for this window that could have suitably replaced him. I don't think that's the case because no one of the profile we have been looking for moved to a club in the Premier League.

Before I get into the why of the window, we need to address the summer. Arsenal cannot miss in the next window. I've seen a lot of people complain they don't have faith in our ability to manage transfer windows. This feels like a deeply unfair criticism. We don't always get our targets, but we've exited most windows with players that have massively improved our output. Arsenal are in their third title challenge in three years; we successfully managed our first Champions League campaign last season, something Tottenham and Newcastle failed to do. The recruitment at Arsenal has been excellent... bar last summer.

Phase 5 should have been wrapped up last year. We needed a striker. We needed a forward that could operate across both wings. Most would have told you we needed a defensive midfielder before the summer started. Arsenal didn't get the funds they needed early enough, they fretted over Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), and they gambled that scoring goals was not going to be a problem this season because robust players would stay robust.

That didn't work out. All clubs gamble. Not all clubs win. This quote from Jamie Carragher on Liverpool was spot on.

"If Liverpool win the title, Slot will be the hero. If it goes wrong from here, (Michael) Edwards, (Richard) Hughes and the rest of the FSG hierarchy will be cast by some as the villains. That's how it works in football. Owners, executives and sporting directors are as unpopular as referees, thanked for nothing but blamed for everything."

Arsenal lost gambles on Saka and Odegaard coverage. Manchester City lost on Rodri. Liverpool won with Trent, Salah, and Van Dijk... so far.

But, despite the gambling losses, our season can be mostly pinned on sick treatment from the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL). Give back the red cards, even half of them, and we're within spitting distance or ahead of Liverpool. Arsenal are a better side than Liverpool; their Manchester City-like collapse got a stay of execution, it probably won't next season.

Needless to say, we can't gamble this coming summer. We have to sign forwards. We have to have coverage for important players. Phase 5 has to begin with the next season, no more waiting for tomorrow.

January transfer windows are tough. Clubs challenging for Champions League don't let their best players go. Premier League clubs challenging for survival or even midtable don't let their big players go. Brighton said no to £75m for Mitoma just to give you an idea of how hard the window is to operate in.

Why? Because they don't need to. Fans don't forgive January exits. It's hard to replace. The cost of things going south for the selling clubs is just not worth it. Losing great players in January is a mood killer for players, fans, and front offices.

That leaves clubs picking up teenagers looking for minutes, demotivated legends, or bad boys looking for a rebirth. Clubs very rarely get players on the rise because those players are playing for teams on the rise.

Arsenal had one real opportunity to improve the starting eleven this January, and that was Ollie Watkins. Aston Villa offered their striker to us because they were desperate to pay down PSR issues, and they were unsure if the Saudis were going to buy Boniface (Leverkusen) or Duran. Arsenal offered £40m sensing a middle-ground opportunity that could help both teams short-term. Could they have offered £60m? Maybe. But it didn't matter. When MBS bought Duran, that was game over for our Watkins negotiation. Serious clubs shouldn't waste mega money on 29-year-olds, especially for managers fond of breaking even the most robust players.

Outside Ollie, Arsenal decided that across the entirety of Europe, no one could match up to the strikers they think they can get this summer. Alex Isak is the number one target if Newcastle don't get Champions League football. Failing that, they think Arteta could turn Sesko into the next big thing and they'll get a good deal for a player that signed a one-year extension, likely on the promise he'll be able to leave for a good fee.

If you want players of that level, you can’t take chances on permanent deals in January. A foreign loan might have been interesting, but you have to get the players up to speed, and even when you do, they might have output like Sterling. He’s one of those ‘it’s a body’ signing and Arteta has barely used him because he can’t do what he needs of him.

Mathys Tel from Bayern? No one knew who he was three weeks ago. Why would we sign a 19-year-old who can't break into Bayern's side? Why would a player who has zero goals in eleven appearances be capable of taking minutes off our players? Reminds me of the Sammy Adingra links last summer - you know where he is now? On loan at Sunderland.

Arsenal look at what they could get in the summer. Nico Williams has a release clause. Semenyo will be available at 25 years old for £50m. Ethan Nwaneri could be better than both, and most people didn't have him down as an option out wide until about four weeks ago. We need level-raisers at Arsenal, not squad fillers or players you need to squint at to see a half-decent performer that might get minutes at 15th-place Tottenham.

Arsenal have six games over the next two months. We have a pretty decent run. There's a trip to Dubai. We're in great form. We've scored the second-most goals in the league. We just walloped Manchester City by a record score. We're a great team with a group of players who are finding form and ready for a title push. This season is not finished, it's just getting started. We didn't get what we wanted last summer, we were always unlikely to get what we needed this January, but the vision for next summer is looking electric, and the outcome of the season could still be explosive.

So dust yourself down, get ready to beat Newcastle, and let's get excited for a great run-in and PRAY for Moyesy-ball to deliver next week.