Tam it sounded from reports that came out like Arteta was all on for it once he found out he was available but the club didn't like his profile and it was delayed. Eventually when we bid it turned out to be too late but yeah the opportunity was there if we moved faster.

And its not just Watkins. He's a good example because he was a ready made proven top PL striker. There were others too though. Tel was an opportunity we decided was too expensive, I don't think he's a world beater but he's a lot better than Sterling and would have helped. Morata was available on loan, again I'm not a huge fan but clearly he's a better striker than Merino. Even if all he did was give Havertz 15 minutes rest each game and provide some fresh legs it would have been worth it. There were options available, we just weren't bothered or weren't decisive enough.

Qwiss but the club didn't like his profile and it was delayed

This is the bit that troubles me. So we’re to believe that Arteta had pretty much carte blanche to sign who he preferred whilst Edu was around, to the extent that Arteta’s increased influence was a factor in Edu’s departure, but when we’ve an empty glove holding Edu’s pen Arteta then faces enough pushback from the higher ups?

Doesn’t seem reasonable to me, but if it’s true there’s potentially a rift brewing there.

And Claudius would've been happy with paying 400k a week for Tel, because if we ended up doing it he would've found a way to rationalize that it was the right decision.

Claudius I come from the perspective that 18 teams would rather be us. But we can still do better.

Actually thousands of teams would rather be us. And if we come 8th again some time, that will still be true. So from the perspective of how many teams would rather be us, doesn't matter much where we finish really.

awooga83 Llllllllllliiiiike! He's been washed for the past two seasons. His shooting has alwaaaaays been poor, even at its best. And then, without his pace? Then what the heck are you purchasing? What is the point of spending a single dollar on a player who can't run and can't score in the forward line? What is he good for? Absolutely nothing!

Tam March will be a more enjoyable month with only two games.

Two league games, but also the two CL games if you're so inclined to see the final competition exit for the season. Technically we could still go through with two 0-0 draws, but not sure where we finding 4 or 5 penalty scorers from.

I couldn't watch this as I had an early meeting in the morning, but sounds like I didn't miss much at all.

I didn't mind the Sterling transfer. While he is definitely lacking confidence now, when I saw him play live for us, it looked like he was unable to form any consistent patterns with the our midfield and RB. Timber did not gel with him and never looked like helping him create isolations to use his dribbling effectively. His few eye catching runs seemed to stand out from the rest of our play and also felt like the same about Martinelli. Thoughts at time were whether a healthy Ben White would have changed things for Sterling. Also made me appreciate how much Saka has had to do in our set up and how it has likely limited his contributions as an attacking force. Sterling won't change anybody's opinion of him now and maybe he is a spent force, but just feel other options would have struggled a lot as they can't cover what Saka does for us.