Amid a summer in which the Premier League is firmly on course to obliterate all spending records, if it hasn’t already, Arsenal’s outlay of just over £40million has understandably given fans cause for concern – especially when coupled with the Gunners’ slow start in the Premier League and Arsene Wenger’s notorious history of clutching to the purse strings like the club’s transfer budget is also his retirement fund. Another club-record signing and he won’t be able to afford that seaside villa on the Iberian peninsula.
But with less than a week to go until the transfer deadline, there appear to be only two players who could arrive at the Emirates before Jim White calls time on all summer business in the Premier League – Valencia defender Shkodran Mustafi and Deportivo forward Lucas Perez.
Those are two departments most Arsenal fans would like to see Le Prof strengthen. Per Mertesacker is only getting slower – if that’s possible – and out of action until December, whilst Gabriel Paulista has struggled to convince as Laurent Koscielny’s permanent partner. Likewise, a strike force of Danny Welbeck, Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud produced just 25 Premier League goals between them last season – the same number Harry Kane managed single-handed for Tottenham Hotspur.
Yet, with the Perez and Mustafi deals seemingly set for a photo finish, it’s the motivation behind them that concerns me most. Are we looking at two signings that will improve Arsenal, or two panic buys?
No doubt, Mustafi is a capable defender and the fact of the matter is that world-class centre-backs are becoming an increasingly rarer breed. The German World Cup winner is just outside that bracket but Manchester United’s £30million deal for 22-year-old Eric Bailly proves even top-end Premier League clubs are having to settle for next-best alternatives. The Gunners could certainly do a lot worse.
But the one-time Everton youngster didn’t appear to even be in Wenger’s thinking until Mertesacker was stretchered off in pre-season. As much as Arsenal fans would like a new, reliable and relatively young centre-half, the club’s transfer policy can’t become reactive.
Similarly, if criticism is rife now, it will be even more intense a few months down the line if Mustafi doesn’t work out. Questions like ‘why didn’t you spend Arsene?’ will quickly turn into ‘why did you spend so much money on him?’. One of the inevitable disadvantages of managing a single club for so long is that every failing, whether large or small, genuine or perceived, traces back to Wenger and his lack of spending means Arsenal barely feature in all betting tips at tomwaterhouse.com.
At the same time, Rob Holding was nothing short of phenomenal against Leicester City and already looks a real steal at just £2million. He can’t be expected to perform as consistently as Mustafi but what would the German international’s arrival mean for Holding’s development? Less game-time, less chances to impress, less chances to learn. And just because he cost a fraction of Mustafi’s potential price-tag doesn’t mean the former Bolton Wanderers youngster is any less talented.
If Wenger has one undeniable strength, it’s spotting enormous potential at an incredibly early age. At the same time, Gabriel Paulista will be fit again next month, so is Arsenal’s need for a centre-back so great that they need to shell out at least £26million? We’re talking a handful of games in which the Gunners will rely on Holding.
Admittedly, the Mustafi case creates lingering doubts at most. He’s been highly-rated for some time, has experienced Champions League games and World Cups and even started in the Euro 2016 semi-final against France.
Lucas Perez, on the other hand, raises more concerns. I’m not a La Liga expert and my exposure to the Spaniard has been relatively limited, excepting brief glimpses on Revista de La Liga as he bagged 17 goals in the Spanish top flight last season.
But the rest of the 27-year-old’s career has been considerably less spectacular; 33% of his entire career return came in La Liga last season and he’s not an out-and-out goalscorer by trade. He could be a late bloomer finally coming of age, in a similar manner to Jamie Vardy, after wading his way through Ukranian and Spanish football. On the other hand, he could be amid a real purple patch that will be brought to an abrupt end via a £17million move to north London where the dynamics, atmosphere and system he’ll play in are entirely different.
There’s no doubt Perez is a risk, a risk the club are taking because Wenger’s missed out on his preferred strike targets – namely Antoine Griezmann and Alexandre Lacazette – and the fans have been incredibly vocal about their dwindling faith in Walcott and Giroud. But Perez is a drastic fall from Griezmann – Euro 2016’s top scorer – and even Lacazette. To give some comparison, Lacazette has scored more goals in the last two seasons than Perez has managed throughout his entire career.
New signings would inject some much-needed excitement into Arsenal’s increasingly apathetic fan base, but they won’t necessarily make the Gunners a better side. Likewise, would signing Mustafi or Perez put Arsenal back into the elite end of the transfer market they’re seemingly excluded from? I’m not so convinced.
It may be an unpopular opinion, but Arsenal should only be looking at world-class players. Whilst Mustafi could well reach to that level before the end of his career, I fear last season will be as good as Perez gets.
So with less than a week of the transfer window remaining, Arsenal yet to win in the Premier League, bodies needed and the fans restless, should Wenger just hold onto his money? In my opinion, yes. The fact of the matter is that Arsenal have left it too late to bring in world-class players.
