I’d be shocked if Sesko moved based on what he, DoF and manager have all said

Our net spend was just above £20m last summer. We definitely have money to spend.

I probably favour sesko a bit more because he seems to be a longterm target for us, so there upside into the future. cunha is going to have more of an immediate impact but I can't shake the feeling we might regret signing him in 18-24 months

TambourineMan not 22/23 Jesus.

We ain't getting that guy again man

I wonder if Sesko is going to be the game changer people think. I saw some tweets from people who watched him the other day and while he scored a good goal they said he looked a bit raw and did give the ball away cheaply as well. He sounds more like a project rather than someone who we will sign and score 15 goals and lead us to the title. He is only 21 so for his age he definitely looks a top prospect. I trust the clubs judgement though on this and I think for us it isn't even just quality we need, we are desperately short on numbers as well.

Someone like Cunha or even someone like Mbeumu I think possibly have more of an immediate impact, they are both familiar with the league and settled into the country. Again I am just throwing names out because we don't know if they are available.

JazzG buying Sesko is like buying Hojlund or Zikrkzee. Fortunately, we have Havertz who is doing a good job at CF. For now, I would expect Sesko to come in and replace Havertz in a few games either from the start or at the 60th minute. Havertz has looked completely spent in a lot of matches - he's already racked up 2500 minutes in January, which is an incredible number.
I don't expect Sesko to unseat Havertz. But I'm a big believer in having gears in attack. Being able to bring a fresh player on in the 60th minute. Even Nwaneri statistically pumped out more than Sterling yesterday in half the time on the field. (but then again...)

Tierney is still a very good player. Much better than Zinchenko for example.

JazzG I agree that he wouldn’t have as big an impact on this season as someone like Cunha or Mbeumo. I would be interested in getting him in this month only because: 1) we need bodies in attack pure and simple and while he is raw, he’d still be able to help us with numbers and putting away a few chances. I’d rather see him work through his development than see Sterling putter around the pitch personally. 2) he’s part of our long term plan and getting him training with the team and Arteta will only benefit his development and adjustment for next season.

I’ve said before that I am opposed to short term half measures since I think they set back team building and we need to be nailing our attacking team building over the next two windows. But if a profile like Cunha or Mbeumo is part of that long term attacking vision, as I’m starting the come around on, we should definitely try to bring one of them in this forward since it would help us immensely in this run in before and after Saka returns without sacrificing our long term plans.

If Leipzig plays hard ball, I’m fine with us respecting those wishes and waiting until the summer. But if they have a somewhat reasonable position to let him go this month, we should pounce. And if we have the chance to get Cunha/Mbeumo this window, I have come around to the opinion we should just get it done. Long story short, a window with just Sesko likely won’t have a great short term impact this season but a window with Cunha/Mbeumo likely will.

est he's barely used. what he shown historically is a bit of usage always leads to a breakdown

Claudius Just like all our other LBs. Good thing we spent a ton on just as injury-prone players to replace him and now find ourselves in a position when he's still the only one available.

He's just another one to add to the list of good players Arteta refuses to use for some personal preference. A real chink in his managerial armour. Doesn't get the most out of his squad because of his rigidity. Wouldn't be an issue if he got the players he wanted and the level or football went up noticeably, alas we're still playing poor unimaginative football even with the expensive replacements.

est I doubt there is anything particularly unusual about Arteta’s squad usage. I’ll run some numbers later, but I would be surprised if Arteta is an outlier on squad utilisation.

If we don’t sign anyone by Jan 31st I will be very pissed. How can you show such a lack of ambition when even if the league looks done we can go far in the CL?

Sicario2 - Tier 1 because the owners aren't that ambitious.

est He's just another one to add to the list of good players Arteta refuses to use for some personal preference.

But he is using him...

Chelsea going to make a formal bid for Garnacho. They just really love collecting decent to mediocre wingers (Estevao excluded) don't they? Personally, I don't rate Garnacho and so I would be glad if they did this and took themselves out of a potential Gittens race this summer.

Coombs Nah he wanted rid from the moment he arrived. Sent him on loan and only recalled and played him when all the youth team players were injured and he had no other choice.

Sicario2 - Tier 1 the only people apbsessed with Sesko in January are the press. Sesko ain’t going anywhere. It’s just a way to engage Arsenal fans and get them riled up on January 31st about a non-existent story

Yeah we need to move on and bring in someone like Cunha who can help in the run in and also as a part of our long term plan. Feels like it will be either Cunha towards the deadline with him forcing his way out or Vlahovic on loan. Cunha would be great but Vlahovic would be very underwhelming.

Him and Williams weren't going anywhere in the summer either, but it didn't stop us from being obsessed with them then.

Other than maybe Olise, who we weren't even linked with, who did we miss out on then? It's easy to say we should have signed someone but no one that really would have moved the needle even moved.

Now fast forward to this window and of course we would love to have Kvara and Marmoush but I would bet a substantial sum of money that there is some under the table dealings involved with Kvara/Mendes and PSG, in addition to big amounts of wages, and Marmoush would be our highest paid player if we were to offer what City did.

I'm as frustrated that we aren't bringing in players as anyone but there also has to be a bit of realism in these takes. The reality is that none of these teams we are trying to convince to sell their players are hurting financially right now. Leipzig is part of the Red Bull ecosystem, Wolves doesn't need to sell and they are also in a relegation battle and Brentford is one of the more profitable teams in the PL at the moment. The same fans that are begging for signings would be the ones complaining about overpaying for players when they don't perform to their price tag later on. I do have faith there is going to be a lot more movement this summer without the Euros/Copa and I also still have faith we are going to bring someone in this window but the rhetoric around our transfer strategy is a bit off base IMO.

samthegooner Other than maybe Olise, who we weren't even linked with, who did we miss out on then?

Xavi Simons and Desire Doue.

Doue is a good call- we definitely should have seen if we could beat PSG to him.

PSG made it clear they weren't interested in selling Simons. Maybe we could have appealed to them to loan him but it seems like he pushed for his path back to Leipzig.

One thing I do want to see us do moving forward is be more aggressive signing young talents even if the fees are 20-30m+. I still don't understand why we let Chelsea have a free run at Estevao and get him for _30m. That is one I think we are really going to regret.

samthegooner the issue with young £20-30m talents is the hit rate is going to be very low. And at a club in the top two, they aren’t typically going to get the minutes to accelerate. We’ve done guys like Vieira. And we’ve had all our own internal kids that we’ve moved on. With Nwaneri and MLS, we probably have space for one more serious youth talent at most

Claudius
Deadline is apparently 11 PM Feb 3rd. The day after we play Man City.

I will be very curious to get your thoughts if we don’t sign anyone.

Sicario2 - Tier 1 I’ll give you my thoughts now.
I would like us to sign a player. Because the schedule is insane and inconsiderate to players and fans alike. So we are always at risk of cascading effects from one more injury. One really quality player give us a lot of relief all over the field. Ideally a winger. A striker would do wonders as well.

Claudius Yep. Given what we now know after the Deloitte report today, we have ample financial headroom. We also can see what it means financially to have a great season in the league and in Europe. We have to ensure we do as well as possible this year to keep that momentum towards the elites. So even if it means going up to 70m for Cunha, I think we have to do it, as much as I was opposed to that previously.

Claudius he’s said many times he loves it at Madrid even when he’s not getting the minutes. If we think we wasted time chasing Nico Williams and Sesko this summer, chasing Rodrygo would be repeating the exact same thing.

Coombs would you rather be owned by the Saudis/Qataris? I don't mind personally. Once football became a nation state / billionaire owner play thing I feel like it doesn't matter who is fucking us. The Americans, the oil money boys, the Russians, all the same to me. Let's let them in.

lorddulaarsenal que sera sera!!!

This season is fucked. Keep the powder dry for summer, for this window just get bodies in. Even a Stirling level signing is fine or bring up an academy lad. Mikel just needs to rotate better.

flobaba I honestly don't know. I didn't even mean it as a critique, really. Just as an observation when looking at how they run the club.

samthegooner he may love it, but there is a basic reality that he’s 3rd behind two balon d’or level left wingers. Something has to give eventually. Defenders, right wingers and 8s are needed.