January Transfer Window - The Verdict.

[PaulMcGrathsNo5Shirt]

I wonder if players who've recently signed contracts for us, who have perhaps had promises made to them that the squad will be improved will be happy with our window? Doubt it.

[Dave P]

Calm before the storm. Our season is over let’s be honest so let’s get the players we really want for a better price in the summer.

We do seem light but let’s see what Duran is like

[TheMalandro]

Absolutely awful

Feels like we have just given up

Offloading Ings our top scorer for a big risk with a young MLS player.

Boring

Come on Flin5tone! I’d rather pay big money ditching Gerrard, than spend big in January.

[astonvilla82]

You watch Watkins will get a Vassell drill through his own foot injury at home.

probably miss his foot, so we should be okay

[tomd2103]

Can see two sides to it really.  I'll go with the more positive slant first - we now only have one game a week for pretty much the rest of the season with an international break in there as well, so it might be that it's felt that a large squad is not required.  We have moved some players out and now should be in a position where we can invest quite heavily in the summer.

Now for the not so positive slant - I just think we have taken a risk and left ourselves light an options at a time when the league is looking unusually open.  We have no viable replacement for Watkins if he gets injured (Duran is young and inexperienced) and we've attempted to solve the issue of Bailey's inconsistency by bringing back the equally inconsistent Traore.

Moreover, we went into the window with the club on a bit of a high and a couple of quality new signings would have continued that feeling that the club really is on an upward trajectory.  It probably still is and we just might not have been able to get the players we wanted over the line, but it just feels a bit like we might see another missed opportunity over the next few months.

[PeterWithe]

Summed up in that most were saying we were a top replacement for Watkins away from being a really useful side. Now we are praying he’s fit enough to play every single game until the end of the season.

[Toronto Villa]

We are about to find out just how good Unai Emery is as a manager. He’s done a superb job so far but I’m concerned we have squeezed as much as we can out of the current first team. And maybe that level is just about good enough but there are 3 or 4 players at least who should not be starters come August. That’s where we needed help and will need most upgrades. Losing fringe players is fine. What we need to do is make a number of today’s starting XI into squad members. We are a good way from that.

C for me.

[UK Redsox]

Puzzled…..that’s my verdict.

[eamonn]

Calm before the storm. Our season is over let’s be honest so let’s get the players we really want for a better price in the summer.

We do seem light but let’s see what Duran is like

I think the counter-argument being posited all window is that the season needn't be over considering the teams standing between us and a European place.

Granted, Chelsea and Liverpool should improve but we have to be setting a target to finish higher than Brighton, Brentford and Fulham.

[Axl Rose]

Disappointing.

[algy]

7/10.

Outs - let’s not kid ourselves, the players we’ve got rid of either barely played for us, looked unsuitable, or both.

Ins - don’t know much about Moreno but it sounds like he’s highly rated in Spain, so for the price is worth a punt if Emery rates him. Duran is one for the future, but again it seems like he’s highly rated so probably a good use of the Chuky money. It made more sense to bring back Bert than have some unknown on loan. Hopefully he’ll flourish under Emery - if not, we’ve lost nothing.

Overall, it’s slightly disappointing when there were some quite big names being bandied around. I guess there wasn’t much we could do about Nico Williams if we were willing to meet the release clause but he didn’t want to sign.  Maybe it’s a case that he’d be more open to a move in summer? If that is the case then we may have made the right choice - if not then we probably should’ve signed another striker.

Thing to learn is that if we don’t have them signed up in the first couple of weeks, it ain’t happening. I’d be inclined to take that as a positive that we’re buying players we’re targeting rather than panic buying when Plan A doesn’t work out … but of course it’s hard to say without being in the room as it were!

Edit: Archer out on loan seems a weird one, but he’s in danger of falling behind this season so perhaps better for him long term to be getting a better guarantee of game time. Particularly if it’s playing alongside Ramsey, A - getting a good understanding between those two could prove to be great longer term.

[tomd2103]

Calm before the storm. Our season is over let’s be honest so let’s get the players we really want for a better price in the summer.

We do seem light but let’s see what Duran is like

How is our season 'over' Dave?  We are currently 3 points off sixth place.

[DB]

I not only bothered we didn’t get a striker in. Summer, that’s I hope they a planning for, get the players you want in, more availability etc. Trim squad and then build.

[VILLA MOLE]

when i look back to last January and i guess we came away thinking that was a good window? and you look at it now and you think we’ll actually it wasn’t that great really ?

[brontebilly]

Not great to put it mildly. To be fair it's clear Emery decided that a number of players after the Stevenage debacle had no future at the club. Ings is the one that divides opinion, especially with Archer having left, but I think the right call was made there. I'm not sure LB or CM were positions we absolutely needed to strengthen but Emery got one of his two big targets. I thought we could have held onto Sanson until the summer but maybe the club did right by our young players and those on the fringes of the team by letting them go.

An injury to Watkins in the second half of the season would be a disaster. That's our big risk, expecting Duran to make an impact is optimistic at best. Carlos back fit asap could be critical and should be like a new signing. We basically have 15 or 16 senior players that have to see us through 19 games so fingers crossed. Think we will finish anywhere from 8-12 dependent on injuries. Hoping to see a lot more impact from likes of Ramsey, McGinn, Bailey and Buendia before the seasons end.