So that's it for transfers until January. We all wanted Arsenal to spend money in the transfer window - sure, we may have wanted it to happen, say, in July, but whatever. Spend they did, and they have all these shiny new players to show for it. They also hit the returns desk, though, and sent a few players on their way. You've seen the individual posts, but now let's take a look at the overall effect of these acquisitions, shall we?
Might as well jump!
ENTER LIGHT:
Gervinho
Mertesacker
Park
Santos
Benayoun (loan, Chelsea)
Arteta
EXIT NIGHT:
Campbell (Loan, Lorient)
Lansbury (Loan, West Ham)
Sunu (Transfer, Lorient)
Bendtner (Loan, Sunderland)
The first and most important thing that all these new players represent is much-needed depth. To call Arsenal's pre-Monday squad paper-thin is almost an insult to paper, and any pile of warm bodies is a good thing. But wait! These bodies can actually play! The links above will tell you specifics about each player, but even the most bitter, angry Arsenal fan, who was unhappy a week ago, has to feel a bit better today. Signings!
Ju brings versatility, Mertesacker brings organization, brawn, and phenomenal tackling, Benayoun brings creativity with the ball and a name full of vowels, Arteta is a great passer who also is great at moving the ball around, and Santos brings the fact that he's not Bacary Sagna. All of a sudden, a team that had no depth and very little positional versatility has more of both - every problem wasn't addressed, but a lot of them were, and for reasonable prices. Are you still thinking Arsene should be fired?
Short of going all Manchester City and buying every player in sight for transfer fees that look like Central American nation GDP's, I think Arsenal have had a really solid transfer period. I would have liked to have a lot of this activity happen earlier, and there are a few players I would have loved to have seen Arsenal pick up (Eden Hazard, Juan Mata), but overall I'm not at all unhappy with the work Arsene and the scouting staff has done. Which I'm sure will be a major relief to them.
I was worried that leaving it late would mean jacked-up fees and lesser quality players, but those fears seemed sort of unfounded; Arsenal got a good mix of players that will help address some of their glaring weaknesses in the short term, and should help stabilize things over the season. If nothing else, it proves the "Arsene Wenger never brings any players in" canard to be false, at least for this season.
A note from the Guardian's minute-by-minute coverage of deadline day (really?) :
And while we're on the subject, an observation from reader Euan Rellie on Arsenal's newfound leadership: "Benayoun=Israel captain; Park=Korea captain; Rosicky=Czech captain; Vermaelen=Belgian captain; Ramsey=Wales captain; Arshavin=Russia captain."
Arsenal are officially the captainest team ever.
Because the Internet is constitutionally obligated to ask you your opinion, here's a poll.