Yesterday I had a discussion over whether “if Arsenal do not sign a player in January, does it show that Edu and Arteta have written off winning the league this season”.
My simple answer was no. And then I asked “name a player that has come in during January that has had a huge impact in his first 6 months, leading his team to the league?”. No one could name a single player.
The point I was making that taking into account many players need a settling in time, they are often signed in January with an eye on the next season. A summer transfer bought forward 6-months because they became available. That (for title chasing sides at least), they were not being signed to make an immediate impact.
I did a little Google to see what players joined in January, and the impact they made. This Top 20 January transfers in Premier League history blog is from January 2022.
20. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – Made a huge impact becomming the fastest player in Arsenal history to hit 50 goals, but never won the league.
19. Seamus Coleman – Premier League legend. Never won the league.
18. Tomas Soucek – Not sure why he is on this list? Surely there has been better? Plays for West Ham so of course he has never won the league.
17. Youri Tielemans – Had an immediate impact for Leicester City as they finished 9th.
16. Emmanuel Adebayor – Perfect example of someone who was signed with the next season in mind. Scored just 4 goals in 13 games in his first half a season.
15. Mikel Arteta – Did not win the league with Everton.
14. Jose Antonio Reyes – Had an impact with memorable goals against Chelsea in the FA Cup. Scored his only 2 Premier League goals after the league title was won.
13. Ashley Young – Did not win the league with Aston Villa.
12. Clint Dempsey – Did not win the league with Fulham.
11. Branislav Ivanovic – Won 3 league titles with Chelsea, but did not play a single second of football in the first 6 months of signing. Took a couple of seasons to become a regular.
10. Jermain Defoe – Loved a January transfer (Tottenham twice, Portsmouth and Sunderland). Did not win a league title at any of them, but saved Sunderland from relegation.
9. Gary Cahill – “Completed football”. Finished 6th in his first season.
8. Philippe Coutinho – Liverpool won the Premier League after selling him to Barcelona.
7. Nemanja Matic – Re-joined in January for his second spell with Chelsea. Won the league, but 18-months after re-signing.
6. Robert Huth – Joined in January, played almost every game in Leicester City’s run-in as they won the league. Had an impact.
5. Bruno Fernandes – Has not win the league with Man U
4. Patrice Evra – One of the best left backs in Premier League history. 5 league titles. Had a horrendous first 6 months with Manchester United and labelled a flop. First league title came 18-months after joining.
3. Luis Suarez – Goals nearly dragged Liverpool to the title, 3 and a half years after joining.
2. Nemanja Vidic – Signed in the same window as Evra. Won the league 18-months after joining.
1. Virgil van Dijk – Best Premier League defender in the last 5 years. Won the Champions League 18-month after signing, and the league the season after.
Analysing the above list supports my initial view – that players signed in January tend to begin making their impact 6 months later.
Robert Huth is the only man named above who had a big impact as his team won the league. Many of the others (Vidic, Evra, Van Dijk, Matic) were key in their teams winning the league (or Champions League) 18-months after they signed.
This then brings the debate on to whether we should be buying in January for next year, so that they have the 6-month settling in period and will be ready to go come 2024/25.
The answer to that is “yes, we probably should”, but that then does not escape from the fact that the players we are looking at signining will probably not be available in January.
Looking at the names bought “for the next season”, many of them were making a step up from a lesser team, so were available. The likes of Ivan Toney and Borja Mayoral might fit into this category. But the likes Victor Osimhen and Dusan Vlahovic will unlikely be moving this month.
Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal or whoever wins the league will do so due to the squads they have built over the last 5-years, pushed forward by the new signings from last summer. Any January signing will unlikely make a big difference maker in the second half of the season.
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 
I think you might onto something. HOWEVER, it is obvious you more often than not can’t sign +5 players in the summer, correct? If you squad needs players, you have to spread out the recruitment. Arsenal’s recruitment in the last 3 windows:
Summer 22 – Jesus, Zinc, Vieira, Turner
Jan 23 – Kiwior, Jorginho, Trossard
Summer 23 – Rice, Havertz, Timber, Raya
So had we not signed players last January, MA/Edu would’ve had to sign much more players in one window, and this would’ve had an effect on the squad balance (I think MA spoke about this once..?).
So signing players in January might not win us the league today, however the incoming player might win us the league next year after settling/adapting the first 6 months (like from the list happened to Matic and Van Dijk (CL)).
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The best option is world class consistent Santiago Gimenez, who scores 20 plus goals every year.
The mexican international has also so far scored an impressive 18 goals this season from only 16 games played.
Westham are about to make an accepted bid of £52 million for the 22 year old striker. He scores everywhere he goes, both domestic, international and in Europe.
If Westham beat Arsenal to this available striker then Arteta and Edu should be sacked.
Arsenal have the money. FFP rules state that Arsenal being the second largest financial club in England, can spend up to £248 million NET per season due to the financial size of the club, which is bigger than both Man City and Chelsea. The only club to have a bigger FFP NET spend limit is Man united at £262 million NET.
Seeing as Arsenal’s NET spend has so far this season been Apx £125 million after players in and out, that leaves Arsenal with a possible NET spend of £123 million. So no worries about breaking FFP Rules. No where near.
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West Ham have not yet signed him
There is no evidence Arsenal want him
So you are calling for Arteta and Edu to be sacked for missing out on a player that you want, but no one else has signed?
I like Santiago Gimenez, but if I called for the manager to be sacked everytime we didnt sign a player I liked, there would be no managers left available. Grow up.
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Of course there is no evidence, there is no evidence about any of the speculated intetests in players, thats why its called speculation you village idiot. Also learn the english languish, when someone uses the word ” if ” instead of “when” it dosnt mean they think its going to happen. You need to grow up and learn to read, before commenting and making a fool of yourself on national blogg websites.
Sent from AOL on Android
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“Learn the english languish”
“National blogg websites”
Stop embarrassing yourself on my blog website…
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It is about the right players coming up at the right time.
We tried to sign Vlahovic 2 years ago in January because he was on the move. That is similar to Liverpool who were able to get a deal for van Dijk in January.
Once we missed out on Vlahovic, we did not panic and sign someone in January for the sake of it. Our next target (Jesus) was not available until the summer.
If a player high on our radar comes available in January, I am sure we will move for them. but the likes of Oshiemen, Zubimendi or Vlahovic might not be available until the summer.
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