Arsenal January transfer deadline day discussion

It's looking more and more likely that Arsene Wenger will be pretty quiet today, on this final day of the January transfer window. Late last week he secured the transfer of Gabriel Paulista from Villarreal, which followed his acquisition of Polish teenager Krystian Bielik a week prior.

Heading into January, the thought that Wenger would make a holding midfielder a priority this winter was grounded based on Mikel Arteta's failure to maintain health and Mathieu Flamini's general awfulness. With nearly all available options unavailable, Francis Coquelin was recalled from his loan at Charlton Athletic and something strange, yet beautiful, happened. The guy with virtually no future left at Arsenal suddenly started playing at a level no one predicted. While he has faults - like all players - Coquelin provided range, athleticism, strength, and more importantly, confidence in his teammates that he's capable of helping the club win matches. Suddenly, the need for the club to buy a holding midfielder wasn't - and isn't - as great.

As a result, this might be a slow day around here. Don't worry, though, I'll still cover any news or rumors that crop up, so stick around here today as things progress.

Meanwhile, around the league, it appears that Chelsea's in the final stages of authorizing a sale of Andre Schurrle to Wolfsburg. It's nerve-wracking for all involved, especially Schurrle's dad who's stepped out to have a smoke outside of Wolfsburg's offices a couple hours ago:

Papa Schürrle braucht eine Entspannungs-Kippe pic.twitter.com/G2N1WOpPKj

— BILD VfL Wolfsburg (@BILD_Wolfsburg) February 2, 2015

A sale of Schurrle frees up Chelsea to buy Fiorentina's Juan Cuadrado, who appears set for a move to Stamford Bridge with Mohammed Salah moving in the opposite direction.

Other than those two moves, there doesn't appear to be any imminent moves on the horizon today. So feel free to use this thread as a place to discuss all transfer activity (or lack thereof), other Arsenal-related news and rumors, and anything else that crops up today. Cozy up, get a nice pot of coffee brewing, and stay tuned to The Short Fuse today for all the moves that probably won't happen.