Squad Situation: Arsenal cover over the biggest risk with deadline day move

Taking a look at the Arsenal squad as the transfer window closes.

Arsenal have their squad now that will have to last them through January. Lets go position group by position group.

Forwards:

Additions: Raheem Sterling from Chelsea (loan)

Exits: Eddie Nketiah to Crystal Palace (£25m), Reiss Nelson to Fulham (loan)

I have already written a bunch about this and my thoughts have only changed slightly and it is for the positive with the late addition of Raheem Sterling from Chelsea in and Reiss Nelson out.

Overall I really like the level and versatility of Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli, and Gabriel Jesus. Adding Sterling to this mix only makes it better, with him able to cover left, right and through the middle in a pinch as well.

These are six good to elite players and they provide lots of options along the front line to mix and match different skill sets.

I was ready to roll with five players (uncomfortably) over the season hoping that maybe Nelson would be able to offer a surprise impact. Adding Sterling to this group makes me much more comfortable. It brings the team towards the ideal number of 6 players to be able to cover the minimum of 46 and more likely 50 plus matches in the Premier League and Champions League. That would have been a lot of minutes to try and navigate with just five players, especially with lots of this coming with two matches a week.

I don’t subscribe to the general consensus on how much rotation is needed, favoring that you play your talented players as much as possible if you want to try and get the right tail outcomes (what it would take to win the League or Champions League) but with six players that I think are at the level needed I am feeling much better about things.

The Sterling deal has come late so there hasn’t been much time to do a full write up but the stats still show a player that is solid if not better. While I was livestreaming Adam came through with a film study that is always important for a new signing.

During the international break I will properly break things down but overall my thoughts are that this is a low risk move where Arsenal have solid upside of getting a potentially very good player. He isn’t as good as he was at his best with Manchester City but even on the downside of the age curve, he should still have something in the tank to help Arsenal.

Last year his numbers were good and this was in a Chelsea team that was not super functional.

From the Chelsea accounts I follow he was good in pre-season and didn’t look like there were any major issues or red flags. That was part of what caught him off guard being on the outside of the squad.

His too seasons his numbers have been nothing short of fine and exactly what you want in a season long buy low deal.

Overall, I feel much better about the forwards than I did a few hours ago. Arsenal didn’t solve the long term problem of the depth or sign a game changer but they also didn’t tie themselves to a bad deal that limited their ability in the future. On deadline day you can’t ask for more.

Midfield:

Additions: Mike Merino from Real Sociedad (£31.6m)

Exits: Emile Smith Rowe to Fulham (£27m), Fabio Vieira to Proto (loan), Sambi Lokonga to Sevilla (loan), Mohamed Elneny contract expired

This was one of the key areas that Arsenal needed to do business in and Arsenal did bring in a player that should slot into the first team with Merino. The bad news is that in today’s press conference he had this update on him:

It’s very unfortunate. Yesterday he had a collision and got a shoulder injury. He’s going to be out for a few weeks. It’s really bad luck and we were all very excited. He was looking very good, he landed on the floor, Gabi went on top of him and it looks like he’s got a small fracture probably. He was in so much pain, so we have to wait and see with the staff to do some more tests to have more conclusive answers.

This is light on details and the information on the injury like this on the internet basically would be best case 4-8 weeks and worst case 4+ months. For what it is worth the Arsenal “in the know” who goes by Team News and Tickets had this update:

That is rotten luck and it is not really something that the club could have or should have planned for. Merino looked to replace Havertz who has left the midfield group joining the forwards and to lose him right away hurts.

The loss of Smith Rowe and Vieira are probably less painful given the lack of minutes both played last season but they did provide nice insurance on a depth chart. That role looks like it will be taken up by Ethan Nwaneri, it is a big call for the youngster but the old saying if you’re good enough you’re old enough probably applies here for him.

Overall, it is hard to say for certain with the injury situation to Merino but this is an area where I think Arsenal have improved over last year. I don’t love that two of the key depth pieces are over 30 with Thomas Partey and Jorginho but this is a good group of players and looks much better when you can pencil in Merino.

Defenders:

Additions: Riccardo Calafiori from Bologna (£42m)

Exits: Cedric Soares contract expired

The defense was a solid last season and has improved this season with the addition of a player that should help provide a long term answer on the left hand side in Riccardo Calafiori. There is also the classic “like a new signing” with Jurrien Timber returning to the group after a long term injury last season.

The depth here and options to mix and match looks very strong. Calafiori, Timber, Ben White, Takahiro Tomiyasu (when healthy), and Jakub Kiwior all have the ability to cover both center back and fullback and when added to one of the strongest center back pairings in the League/World.

Overall, the defensive unit looks stacked and ready to be the core of this team.

Goalkeeper:

Additions: David Raya loan turned permanent (£30m), Tommy Setford from Ajax (£1m), Neto from Bournemouth (loan)

Exits: Aaron Ramsdale to Southampton (£18m), Karl Hein to Real Valladolid (loan)

This is arguably worse given that Ramsdale was an excellent player to have as a backup but it was not a good use of the salary or for what they player to have him in that role for this season.

Neto seems like the perfect prototypical backup keeper here. He’s toward the end of his career (35 years old) with lots of experience, including in the Premier League. Overall his numbers look fine, he seems like a solid shot stopper, does average with his actions in the box, and has played in a similar system with Bournemouth last season and previously as a backup for Barcelona. I don’t want to see him playing a lot but as a backup it is fine.

I don’t know anything about Setford but he does have England youth international experience.

Overall, I am happy with Raya as the number 1 and Arsenal have made sure to get a perfectly acceptable backup keeper that they would like to not use in any important matches. Just like things should be.

Overall Squad situation

Arsenal, with three injuries at the moment here, make this look less than ideal but overall, they look to have solid depth at all the positions. It is dependent on the fact that most of the players in the squad have excellent versatility being able to play in multiple positions but that is still a strength when you can only have so many players in the squad at once.

Getting Sterling in on deadline day has made a big difference for how the end of the bench looks in attack and will make the idea of 50+ matches not seem impossible to navigate.

On the outgoing side of things Arsenal did really well. They got the majority of the players moved on (all expect Tierney) and did so for fees above most of what us would have expected.

The team that won 89 points and had the strongest underlying numbers got a bit better this summer. Arsenal didn’t strengthen enough to change from being favorites for second place to favorites for first place, but realistically there didn’t seem to be a move this window that would have done that for them.

This is before any moves on deadline day but this is the list of the wide attackers that have moved this window. I like several of these players but the players that I think would have made a lot of sense for Arsenal, there is an understanding why the club missed out or didn’t target them.

Getting Sterling for a season compared to some of these other less than perfect options on 4 or 5 deals doesn’t seem like that bad of a trade off. It was nervy to wait until the end of the window for this but Arsenal being able to be flexible was something that they were able to use to their advantage this time.

Overall rating for the window 8/10. Arsenal’s incoming business was a 7/10 and the outgoing was a 9/10.

I am excited for how this team will look and ready for the transfer window to end and to focus on the actual matches.