https://www.football365.com/news/january-2021-premier-league-transfer-window-the-winners-liverpool
Mikel Arteta
Little over six weeks have passed since reports emerged of the ‘toxic’ atmosphere that had engulfed Arsenal’s dressing room. It was the Daily Mirror who claimed that the ‘large group of players’ Mikel Arteta presided over was creating problems, with ‘some’ said to be ‘unhappy’ at the ostracisation of ‘big characters and personalities’, Mesut Ozil and Sokratis in particular.
There has been an obvious revival in terms of results since. Their 2-1 loss to Everton came the day before that story was published, their seventh winless Premier League game in succession. They have now gone as many consecutive league matches unbeaten. It might be pure coincidence, perhaps the quirk of a kinder list of fixtures, but it is interesting to note that the upturn in form has come when those squad issues were cut off at the source.
Mesut Ozil has left for Fenerbahce. His last appearance for the Gunners may have been in March but he cast an undeniable and foreboding cloud over the team. That distraction is gone. So, too, Sokratis, a popular figure thus one whose continued exclusion posed obvious issues. The same can be said for Shkodran Mustafi and Sead Kolasinac. Joe Willock and Ainsley Maitland-Niles might not have been disruptive behind the scenes but their loans further reduce the risk of disharmony in a healing squad, while giving both Premier League experience. And as regrettable and frustrating as it has been to see William Saliba’s career stall in north London, he and Arsenal both benefit from this temporary separation with a view to a fresh start in the summer.
Even before assessing the shrewd, risk-free arrivals of Mathew Ryan to bolster their goalkeeping options and Martin Odegaard as an exciting creative option, Arsenal have overseen a necessary squad refresh. Those ‘factions’ that were developing under Arteta have become fiction, and further proof that he has full backing from the board.
