I’m not gonna talk about the thing I then go on to talk about

Morning all.

It’s Friday, and Mikel Arteta will meet the press later on ahead of our FA Cup tie against Man Utd on Sunday. There’s not a lot happening, to be honest. I don’t think I need to write any more about Arsenal’s need to be better in attack and all that comes with it – but if you’re Jonesing for your fix of that stuff, Tim’s column this week might give you some of what you need.

I do think it’s worth considering, as Tim points out, how it’s not just as simple as popping to the shops and coming home with a new star attacker. Transfers are complicated – there are so many aspects to take into account with regards a player’s quality, his character, his suitability for the team, his adaptability if he’s coming from abroad etc, and those are all the things we as fans deem much more trivial than the club. They have to weigh everything up, then commit a massive amount of money to a transfer and wages and bonuses. We just wanna see someone new smash one in from 30 yards.

I’m sure Arsenal have targets on that famed white-board, but how many of them are realistically available in January? You can try and prise a player away by paying over the odds, but is that the right thing to do if it has an impact on other business you want to do in the following window? What is the opportunity cost if take a gamble to win something now, but it hampers your future? It’s tough, because football is a game in which long-term planning and strategy is absolutely vital when you’re running a club, but everything is judged on an incredibly short-term basis.

Quite often, established top class talent – which is where I think people would like to see the money spent this month – aren’t willing to leave mid-season because they generally have it good where they are. That might mean you take a lower-cost punt on someone younger with the potential to develop, but how much can you then expect that player to contribute when the second half of the season really heats up?

That said, for me that seems the most realistic kind of arrival this month if we make one (beyond a loan of some kind). The big names we’ve been linked with seem more or less untouchable during January, so if there’s someone young we have our eye on, at a ‘smaller’ club, we might push the button on that and wait until summer to do something bigger. At that point we might need to fill the spaces in the squad currently occupied by Leandro Trossard (1 year left on his deal and a decision needs to be made there), and Raheem Sterling (end of loan, sent back to Chelsea), so in terms of the planning, it fits with the overall strategy.

Some might say, Nico Williams – a player who has long been on the list – is gettable because he has a release clause we could trigger at any time. Which is true, but that clause is close to €60m and must be paid in full. I think Arsenal have money to spend, but I’d be surprised if we could do that without some kind of assistance from the ownership. We did it for Thomas Partey, you’ll recall, but subsequent to that there were a lot of behind the scenes changes with regards our finances – some of which were because of Covid, but others were to ensure we didn’t fall foul of existing regulations because this was basically funded by KSE fronting up the cash.

Add his £300,000 (ish) a week wage packet to that + signing on fees, agents fees etc, and I think you’re looking at a figure close to €100m, which seems unlikely to me in January. Not to mention will he be open to a January departure with his club going well in La Liga and really well in the Europa League to this point? I’d be surprised.

Anyway, look at me talking about this stuff again when I said I wasn’t going to. To be clear, I still really, really, really want Arsenal to sign someone in January. I badly want us to improve the squad because there are still trophies that we are in with a shout of winning, but I am conscious that it’s not always easy. Maybe the market itself will shift and throw up some opportunities. I’ve seen stories about Khvicha Kvaratskhelia going from Napoli to PSG (and even Liverpool are reportedly interested which would break people’s brains if they added him to their already impressive attacking line-up), but that might be a kind of domino signing that seems other players become available – perhaps even on loan. Let’s see.

Elsewhere, there’s a report from ESPN Brazil that links Jorginho with a move to Palmeiras, even suggesting he could go in January. It’s very vague though, and I can’t see Mikel Arteta sanctioning that, even if his role is verging on the peripheral these days. We need more in, not anyone else out at this point.

Right, I’ll leave it there for now. We do have some stuff over on Patreon for you. Yesterday I spoke with Czech journalist Martin Vait about Tomas Rosicky after the story linking him with the job of Sporting Director. We chat about that, his work at Sparta Prague, and lots more. Plus we’ll be looking ahead to the United game in our preview podcast which will be available this afternoon.

You can get instant access to that and everything else we do on Patreon for just $6 per month – sign up at patreon.com/arseblog.

Have a good Friday folks.

The post I’m not gonna talk about the thing I then go on to talk about appeared first on Arseblog ... an Arsenal blog.