Premier League 2017-18: Ranking the transfer windows of all 20 teams
By James Dudko
11. Arsenal
Notable Ins: Alexandre Lacazette, Sead Kolasinac
Notable Outs: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Wojciech Szczesny, Kieran Gibbs, Gabriel Paulista, Lucas Perez
No club experienced a more contentious transfer window than Arsenal this summer. Once highly touted prospects were let go, while signings of recent windows were also dumped barely after the ink on their contracts had dried.
Then there was the case of Alexis Sanchez, star player and contract rebel. Arsenal kept hold of their man, despite entertaining late, late interest from Manchester City, Sanchez’s preferred destination.
Things would have been different had the Gunners secure their desired replacement, Monaco winger Thomas Lemar. Yet in a sign of the times for Arsenal, BBC Sport’s David Ornstein revealed exactly why neither deal happened:
"It is understood a conditional agreement was reached in principle between City and Arsenal for Sanchez to move to the Etihad Stadium. The fee was £55m, plus £5m in add-ons. But it depended on Arsenal first securing a replacement to fill the gap left by the 28-year-old. Their target was Monaco winger Thomas Lemar and an agreement was reportedly reached between the clubs for a fee in the region of £90m. However, it is thought that the 21-year-old France international decided against the move. City are currently not prepared to resurrect the deal by offering a player in exchange or more money for a straight cash deal."
The situation means the Gunners are left with an admittedly brilliant footballer in Sanchez, but a want-away player who could join City for free at the end of the season.
It’s also telling Arsenal couldn’t convince Lemar to move to north London. The Gunners’ star has naturally fallen after slipping into the Europa League. Yet it’s easy to assume Lemar may also have been left wary by what he saw during the worrying capitulation at Anfield recently, when Arsenal were beaten 4-0 in the league.
Lemar is even said to have preferred the chance to move to Liverpool, per Kaveh Solhekol of Sky Sports News. The Reds had already paid £35 million to Arsenal for Oxlade-Chamberlain, per BBC Sport.
In all honesty, such a fee represented great value for the Gunners, since Oxlade-Chamberlain was also in the final year of his contract. He had also serially failed to develop on his initial promise during six seasons in north London.
Oxlade-Chamberlain became the third once-promising young thing to be sold by the club this summer. Arsenal also collected fees for goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny and left-back Kieran Gibbs.
Seen on one level, beleaguered manager Arsene Wenger deserves some credit for fetching fees for players who never made the grade on his watch.
It was a similar story with Gabriel Paulista, although the Brazilian centre-back only joined the Gunners in 2015. Sending striker Lucas Perez back to Deportivo on loan, per the club, one summer after signing him, also raises questions about Wenger’s recent ability to spot and nurture talent.
However, it’s easy to get swept away by the negative narratives commonly surrounding Wenger and Arsenal during recent years. It’s also worth nothing the Frenchman did sign Alexandre Lacazette this summer, a striker ready to be the natural and prolific finisher this squad has lacked for too long.
Getting Sead Kolasinac, the best left-back in the Bundesliga last season, on a free transfer also represents good business.
Ultimately though this transfer window is too heavily defined by questions such as ‘what if?’ and ‘what now?’ for Arsenal.