Friday, August 1, 2014

Ramblin' Gooner Transfer Review

The Premier League starts just 2 weeks from now. The Community Shield is next week. And the Emirates Cup is upon us. Summer is over. And a lot has happened.

Since the signing of Alexis Sanchez, Arsenal has signed 3 more first team players and sent one out on loan elsewhere.

Mathieu Debuchy was bought from Newcastle to replace Bacary Sagna. Debuchy has been ahead of Sagna in the pecking order for the French National Team for many years. Debuchy should slot straight in to the first team.

David Ospina was bought from Nice to replace Lukas Fabianski. The Colombian goalkeeper was excellent at the World Cup. Ospina provides much more serious competition for the goalkeeper position than Fabianski ever did. 

Ospina was bought from Colombia to replace Hugo Lloris when Lyon bought Lloris from Nice. Ospina filled in very well for one of the world's best keepers. His save percentages were among the best in France before he signed for Arsenal. In the end, I think Ospina could be a very significant signing for the future success of the club. He could either take Szczesny's place in the first team or push the Polekeeper to greater heights. 

Perhaps most excitingly, this week Arsenal confirmed the signing of Callum Chambers from Southampton for more money than Debuchy and Ospina combined. Chambers is just 19, but put together extremely comparable stats to Luke Shaw last season as a right back. 

Chambers cost less than half as much as Shaw, and he's far more versatile. Arsene Wenger and the player himself have been quite vocal in their interviews that the club's view for Chambers is to fill in wherever needed, at multiple positions. Chambers played as a box-to-box midfielder for Southampton's youth team. In his initial interviews with the club, Chambers has said Wenger projects to play him as a holding midfielder or a center half. Bacary Sagna somewhat provided that versatility in the past (although not even Sagna could play in midfield). Debuchy, while stepping in at right back, does not provide the needed cover at other positions. Chambers will.

Carl Jenkinson was loaned out to West Ham, one of the better defensive teams in the league. In fact, defending is all West Ham does.

Jenkinson's loan makes room for Arsenal's two new right backs, Debuchy and Chambers. 

I still believe Jenkinson has a future at Arsenal, and I think a season at West Ham will help refine his defensive ability. Jenkinson has always been very useful going forward. He can run all day and he can cross the ball well. But his defensive skillset needs refining. If he can get consistent playing time at West Ham (which seems likely, considering Joey O'Brien and Guy Demel are his only real competition at the Hammers) I think Jenko can get the playing time he needs to significantly refine his defensive ability.

Personally, I think Callum Chambers's future is in a more central role than at right back. Simply, I doubt Arsenal would have spent so much for a player who would face significant competition at that position (see i.e. Cesc Fabregas). Arsenal needs center backs, not right backs. And right backs simply aren't worth as much as Arsenal paid for Chambers. Even Sagna cost less than 8 million pounds when Arsenal bought him from Auxerre. And if Chambers has a future at center half, perhaps Jenkinson can still be seen as the eventual replacement for 29-year-old Debuchy on the right. Jenkinson or Hector Bellerin, who also is expected to go out on loan.

I genuinely like Jenkinson. I thought he filled in really well every time he was called upon with a Sagna injury (which were pretty frequent). He even played well enough to get called up to the England team. I won't give up on him yet. Playing for a defensive team like West Ham might help him learn the skills he needs to be a fully reliable defender.

Overall, Arsenal's preseason has been hit-and-miss. Chuka Akpom has looked good. No one else really has. I'm looking forward to seeing the players who didn't suck at the World Cup. Sorry Cazorla and the Englishmen, but your teams sucked (maybe because you were on the bench most of the time...)

The Emirates Cup begins tomorrow with a match against Benfica. I'm looking forward to seeing a more complete team in action than the team that traveled to New York last week.

Simply put, the "Tomas Rosicky as a False 9" project should be put in a paper bag and lit on fire in front of Steven Gerrard's front door. I expect a better showing against Benfica.

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