Summer Transfer Window - The Verdict

[Villan82]

I think Ratboy really fucked us harder than we knew at the time. The whole vibe changed, I think they expected him to stay and were buying better players to play with him.

We knew Jack would probably go and had planned for it.  Call him daft names all you want but the club knew this was likely, had supposedly planned for it and have a huge amount of financial clout to deal with it should they want to.  The fact they don't is what seems so perplexing.

Aren't you a better person then.

[rob_bridge]

We lost the Big One which is so annoying on every level despite humungous recompense.

Young - excellent full back cover and good experience in dressing room. No longer a midfielder
Bailey - exciting and bags of potential
Buendia - no brainer and annoyed the hell out of Gooners. Just hoping slow start isn't Curcicesque.
Ings - needed someone to supplement Ollie. Wesley is unlikely to make it and Davies never will at this level.

Still think MF balance isn't right and would like another sitter and play McGinn further up v better team

[robbo1874]

The summer business was decent. The club stated they had been planning for Grealish leaving. The incoming players of Ings Buendia and Bailey, should make us stronger overall. Young coming in has been a bonus and probably you could say, he’s had a significant impact already.

What’s fucked us is a disrupted preseason where we’ve had the likes of Targett not match fit, but he’s probably 90% there now; injuries Bailey and Watkins, now Konsa by the looks of things; and COVID with MCGinn.

The start to the season has been OK under these circumstances and I only see us improving. Watford was a wake up call, we beat Newcastle almost at a canter and I thought we’d draw against a solid Brentford side and we got a point. I really don’t think we can be pointing the finger at Smith or the club at this stage for the most part. Also think we have a lot of depth from the Youth to fill gaps if needed and should also be pushing them forward to integrate with the first team towards the end of the season/ next summer.

[ROBBO]

Always uncomfortable relying on one player, undoubted talent yet everytime he got injured and was missing for a few weeks the performance of the team dropped away alarmingly. Everything went through him, he demanded the ball he got it even when he was closely marked. There was no balance in the team we were solely reliant on one player every game to turn it on, you can see it in other teams, Newcastle, Wolves for example. I am not happy about not strengthening midfield but I am happy that we are no longer a one player team.

[gpbarr]

Underwhelming. I think compared to our business last summer, it’s a step backwards.

I really thought the club would try to kick on this summer - while I like the signings we have made I don’t think any of them are real marquee signings that have made others sit up - we have made steady progress only.

The fact the message appears to be that a repeat of last season would be a good season is a bit alarming - that rationale makes sense if the ambition is to slowly and steadily progress but I thought (perhaps my misreading of the ambition) that we would realize this summer was another big opportunity to upgrade (quality and quantity).

The goings on behind the scenes perhaps suggest the owners are on the fence re how far Dean can take us. Perhaps they realize that any change in management will come with a hefty transfer budget next year.

All supposition but underwhelmed is where I’m at.

[paul_e]

Right now I'd give it 6-7/10

Young > Taylor and much more versatile
Tuanzebe > Engels and more versatile
Buendia > Barkley
Ings > Davis/Wesley

Bailey < Grealish but still a decent replacement and, with the other signings, might make us a better team anyway
Heaton not replaced (but I do rate Sinisalo so I'm less bothered by this)
Elmo not replaced (if Guilbert is going)
DM not signed

If we address the last one today it'll be a 8-9/10 and if Bailey settles in as we hope it'll be even better.

[Beard82]

Underwhelming. I think compared to our business last summer, it’s a step backwards.

I really thought the club would try to kick on this summer - while I like the signings we have made I don’t think any of them are real marquee signings that have made others sit up - we have made steady progress only.

The fact the message appears to be that a repeat of last season would be a good season is a bit alarming - that rationale makes sense if the ambition is to slowly and steadily progress but I thought (perhaps my misreading of the ambition) that we would realize this summer was another big opportunity to upgrade (quality and quantity).

The goings on behind the scenes perhaps suggest the owners are on the fence re how far Dean can take us. Perhaps they realize that any change in management will come with a hefty transfer budget next year.

All supposition but underwhelmed is where I’m at.

Seems a sensible reading of the situation

[caster troy]

Gone backwards.

Losing Jack is a disaster, one that could be mitigated if the money was well used - but it hasn't been used this window.

Buendia, Bailey and Ings are all very good signings. Problem is that they have made us very lopsided and fitting them in means a change to a system we do not have the players for in other areas.

Young and Tuanzebe are OK temporary cover, replacing loaned out or sold cover. No real uplift, just a holding position.

Problems the signings have created as I see it are as follows:

1. I do not like the look of any formation that fits all of Bailey, Buendia, Ings and Watkins in. It means a two man midfield which we simply do not have the right players for.

2. Traore is one of our best players, but he now has Buendia and Bailey in front of him. I absolutely think we needed a right winger to cover the loss of Trez to injury, but not two of them.

3. Grealish was our best player, and now we have only El Ghazi as a true left winger. We seem to have replaced him with either Bailey (a right sided player), or Watkins being shifted out of position.

4. We needed a number 10 to replace Barkley, but have not signed one. Instead we have the options of playing Buendia or Ings out of position. Either of which would leave the midfield right open.

5. We have lost a very good defensive coach and not replaced him.

6. We have reduced cover in Goal, and are now in a position where we are already looking at our second choice keeper playing important games against Chelsea and maybe more. Had Heaton stayed this would not be an issue.

7. Our midfield has lots of number 8s and no no 10s or no. 6s of any note. This has been an issue since Bruce came in and it beggars belief we have not taken the opportunity to sort it out.

Meanwhile Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool, Man City, Arsenal, Leicester and Spurs have improved their squads making the task of getting into Europe more difficult.

I still think we sign a player that allows us to better use our players in formations that suit them, but if we don't I give this window a 4 out of 10. Predict we finish 14th and struggle to hold on to Emi 1 and Watkins next season if that happens.

This is absolutely spot on for me, looking at the signings in isolation you'd say we've done ok business, but then when you try to make a decent XI out of it you can see where we fall short vs other teams. Such a missed opportunity unless we pull something out of the bag today.

[PaulWinch again]

I think we’ve missed an opportunity. I like all of our signings, but we haven’t done enough. We do have some really promising youngsters, but we’ve loaded pressure on them. It’s been said ad nauseum but there’s a clear gap in midfield that we haven’t addressed. I’m utterly bewildered that we haven’t managed to plug that gap.

[Villafirst]

I find the zero net spend a bit concerning. Hopefully the owners haven’t lost a bit of heart with Grealish leaving?

[SoccerHQ]

6 for me, 7-8 if the mythical DM of some reputation arrives in next 11 hours but looks pretty unlikely given no serious links this morning.

Lots of doom and gloom around currently but think it's far too early, I mean we are missing at least 5 proper first team players so think it's only fair to judge when they're all fit and have strung a couple of games together as a unit.

I think Bailey is an incredibly exciting signing based on his level in Bundesliga for consistant top 6 club, just got to get him out on the pitch. Ings and Buendia also excited plenty of people when they signed and they've had their moments on the pitch.

Interesting how many neutrals are saying outside top clubs we've done the best business of the mid range clubs. Just listening to Simon Jordan now and he's saying Bailey and Ings are brilliant signings for us and with Watkins in the mix it will be a very dangerous attack for many teams and he's not the only one saying that in pundit world so think we need to give this season time to develop.

Still think it's an issue how long we're taking to get over one player leaving. Just checked and he left on 4th August so it's been one day off a month now. It will simply not do the morale of the club any good if people are on here whining day after day about him as the season goes on. I bet any Leicester fan who has a look on here will be chuckling, someone like Kante left after just one season and they just shrugged their shoulders and got on with it, same with Maguire and Mahrez. Now Leicester are an established top 6 club that wins stuff.

Doubt Spurs would have been mourning all season long if Kane had gone. Just need to get on with things now and support the players playing for us.

[Richard E]

I'll tell you in about March.

[Smithy]

I think losing Joe means that our first-choice 11 is possibly marginally weaker now, than it was last season. Possibly. I think it's very close. Especially if you think of Bailey as his replacement, and Buendia instead of Barkley (or whoever played that position), and Ings playing either with Ollie or instead of him (depending on formation).

If Bailey is as good as people hope then I think it might be a better 11 this season, but we won't know that for a while yet, until everyone is fit and bedded in.  He doesn't have to be at Joe's level to make that 11 better than last season, because there are improvements elsewhere too, but if the drop off from Joe to Bailey isn't that big, then our starting team is probably better.

However, I would say our matchday squad is DEFINITELY better than last season.  Football is pretty much a 14-man game now, and I would say the 14 we can put on the pitch in any given game is now definitely better than any 14 we could have put out last season.  So I think that is progress.

Dean was often criticised for his reluctance to make substitutions last season - and I wonder if that will change now that we will have 2 or 3 solid game-changing options on the bench, regardless of the formation we play, and whatever 11 he chooses to start with (barring injury, obv).

So, first 11 possibly slightly weaker, but marginally so - but a stronger match-day squad.  I think that's probably a solid B- for me.  Would be an A if we'd got a DCM too.

[edgysatsuma89]

The zero net spend some people may find concerning but it doesn't mean we haven't tried to get more people in. My gut instinct based on very little is that we have tried and failed. Not much can be done about it if who we want doesn't want to come. I'd be surprised if we only tried to JWP and ESR but no-one else. It's a shame we haven't got a star DM coming through the ranks but I don't think Smith wants one anyway (which I disagree with).

[Ian.]

Sometimes the transfer window can skew everything and cause imbalance or create a near perfect team, thinking back to Little's summer of 95. We will have to see and I will reserve judgment for a few months.