The biggest talking point in the summer was Arsenal’s failure to land a top left winger.

Eventually, we opted to stick with just the one new signing in Christos Tzolis, who would be supported by a combination of Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke.

Now I have always maintained that the left wing is the toughest position in the world to find talent right now. There is simply not an abundance of top draw players out there, which in turn inflates the prices of those that are simply average.

Liverpool broke the bank in the summer to sign Bradley Barcola.

At the time, I labelled him as a French Gabriel Martinelli – someone who has blistering pace, poor one on one from a standing start, and not great end product. He has looked distinctly average for Liverpool this season and has certainly not shown anywhere near enough to justify the huge price tag.

Long term target Vinicius Jr looks a shadow of his former self.

We were willing to brank the bank to sign the Brazilian in the summer, and maybe the sage has taken its toll mentally. Or maybe, at 26, with over 500 senior games under his belt, the spark has gone and the demise is beginning.

One of my favourite things right now is reading the conspiracy theories about Vinicius Jr and about how he is on a yacht somewhere in the Caribbean sea enjoying life and what we see playing week in week out for Real Madrid is a body double.

Then we have Iliman Ndiaye. He was some fans favourite for us to go for – a lower level player who many thought had the game to step up if he joined a top club. A bit like Antoine Semenyo. He is yet to get off the mark for Man City and it is beginning to feel he was overhyped – remember, Ndiaye scored just 6 league goals last season.

Ndiaye’s Man City team mate Jeremy Doku is probably the most overhyped player in world football.

Doku does some brilliant things with the ball at his feet, and is a scorer of great goals. But he will always lack the consistency to ever be considered a top player.

The Belgium left wingers goal against Liverpool was his 1st of the season. That takes his tally to 12 Premier League goals in over 3 seasons. One of the best in the world apparently.

Meanwhile, another fan favourite Rafael Leao ended up in the Turkey retirement home. Get your teeth and hair done whilst earning millions playing football at a lower level. He has yet to score this season.

Anthony Gordon scored his first Champions League goal for Barcelona earlier this week. He celebrated like he had done it all himself, completely ignoring Yamine Lamal’s world class build up play to put it on a plate.

Two goals this season, Gordon is what he is. Hard working, direct, quick. An English Martinelli.

Kenan Yildiz, another long term arsenal target, fractured his metatarsal back in September and will do well to be back before Christmas. Likewise, Junior Kroupi is recovering from an injury picked up in July. Both have required surgery, with the Frenchman potentially back in 4-6 weeks.

Finally, we come onto Luis Diaz and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

Dias is decent, but not really World Class. He is now just getting huge numbers in a very poor league. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, meanwhile, has looked off the pace for PSG.

Ultimate, it feels like Arsenal did well to spend big in a market where talent is thing. Only really Morgan Rodgers has shown any sort of form to have justified us spending big – and he is playing in a much narrower position than we would have played him.

Come January, the calls will come again for us to sign a left winger. Yildiz and Kroupi will come into the equation. Although I see Yildiz as more of a Martin Odegaard replacement.

Kroupi would be a very good option – I think his future would be down the middle, but he has shown he can play as an inside left forward in the Premier League. He could be a sensible recruit for the 2nd half of the season before transitioning next season into a centre forward option (replacing Viktor Gyokeres).

The only other one I would bother keeping an eye on is Desire Doue. I think this kid has it.

At the moment he is playing right wing for PSG with Kvaratskhelia one of the first names on the teamsheet on the left – but his best position is on that left wing.

Maybe a PR campaign, highlighting that he can become a superstar at Arsenal rather than a player playing out of position for PSG could see a summer move. Who knows?

What we do know is the market is still very thin, and, Rogers aside, none of those who moved have exactly shown Arsenal wrong for opting not to sign them

Keenos