Soc, I would suggest, until we see everyone available AND see how they do (i.e. how a White/Gabriel will perform), AND see how Arteta uses them, we won't fully know.

Right now, I think we have to look at the signings in categories. First, did we fill the positions we needed? Second, are the signings competitive? Meaning, how likely we are to move up the table compared to the clubs above.

We've known we want to be rid of certain players for months. Many months with regards to some and they are still around. Like him or not, Xhaka was heavily rumored to be going to Roma. It was imminent every time you saw the back pages. What happened?

Anyway, the deadwood is also costing us on the wage front. It's shockingly poor. If we had an owner who cared, internally we'd be looking at who is responsible and asking very direct questions. That's if we had such an owner.

I definitely don't think we have filled all the positions we needed to, we need a RB, CM and striker/goalscoring winger at least.

The signings are a bit of a mixed bag in terms of short term potential. White and Ode are the only definite starters and Ode was here last year anyway, Lokonga could be a welcome surprise on the upside, Ramsdale is an unknown quantity in terms of how Arteta plans to use him but looked very promising on his debut and Tavares is just a bit of a low risk gamble who looks a strong pacy athlete but a little clumsy at times.

With the current squad, unless something happens in the remainder of the window, I see a long arduous season where we don't create enough chances or score enough goals and make too many unforced errors. Every single game is thus a struggle which is mentally and physically exhausting for the players and mentally draining for the fans.

One thing I do know, the atmosphere amongst the fans feels like a powderkeg ready to explode at any minute. A run of poor performances after the international break or a bad defeat at the Emirates and things could turn very nasty very quickly.

How can you spend every day scouring the internet for Arsenal news and not be clued in about the Xhaka situation?

I have some sympathy with the club over the Roma deal, basically Roma tried to take the piss. However, in the cold light of day it has left us stuck with yet another player we really needed to upgrade.

It was only reported on every Arsenal related website for weeks!

Yeah, in the end we end up with a player who wanted to leave and not being able to strengthen the position properly. This practice of only selling players when clubs meet our exact valuation just seems to put us in a weakened position time and time again.

The club can't really win at the moment. Sell players for less than their perceived worth or on a loan and the fans complain. Hold out for an appropriate deal and have it fall through, the fans complain.

Just more examples of the poor state the club is in.

Looks like building a good squad doesn’t happen by accident

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/live ... 08fd486df1

A little presumptive right ?

I mean Ramsdale surely is a better option than Ryan, Lokonga has shown me more in 2 games than Ceballos showed in 2 seasons. How can you tell white isn’t better than Luiz Mr red card and free penalty. Off the back of one game at Brentford when half our team was missing through covid! Surely a settled Ødegaard is better than an unsettled loanee.

Do you think some perspective is needed to be retained and that after 3 disappointing results all may not be as bad as it seems when players become available and we play easier opposition.

2 weeks of people moaning about Artetas favourite colour are coming up.

We seem to pay top dollar when recruiting and get bottom dollar when selling. Consistently.

Like all of us here I do truly hope that you are right that things aren’t as bad as they seem.

But it looks to require more than simply getting players back. The tactics and game management need to go up several notches. And we seem to be a long way off being a motivated and committed squad.

The despair isn’t wholly about three defeats, two of which were expected. It’s the awful way in which we have set about those games.

Some good news, Ornstein is reporting we're working on a deal for Bologna defender Takehiro Tomiyasu. Can play right back or centre back, 22 years old, 2 seasons in Serie A behind him.

And some bad news. John Cross reporting AMN won't be training with the team after his instagram post yesterday. So we won't let him leave, and won't let him train. Doesn't strike me as excellent man management if true.

Kind of easy to see why he might be frustrated. If Arteta was going to choose that ramshackle defence ahead of him then he really does need to be elsewhere.

After an extensive five minute search online (as I've never seen him play) I actually have to say this looks like the right profile for us. Young, talented and versatile. Played about half his games at right back last season, but was almost exclusively a right back in 19/20. Looks decent on the ball, is 6ft2 and looks athletic. Very interesting signing if we can pull it off.

Same search the club undertook to find him. Googled right backs for sale plus some stats site that has yet to be verified as actually properly identifying talented players. The trolley dash is on.

Apparently Arteta is a big admirer of the player and is the one pushing for a deal to get done. A lot of things are a mess right now, but this signing is not something I'm going to complain about if it happens.

Do you think that will have any impact on our owner? Or do you think 'very nasty' will actually just be a few boos and banners?

Very true.

But also kind of easy why the club cannot let that sort of thing go and why Arteta might not want lippy players.

Have you seen the stuff about AMN agent though?

He’s under investigation by the FA for making dodgy payments and the reason Maitland Nile’s didn’t sign for Leicester or saints on loan was because they refused to pay his ridiculous fees so he went to West Brom a far less attractive club because they were desperate and agreed.

In addition according to Ornstein the Everton offer is a 2 year loan without obligation which takes him to the end of his contract. Why would arsenal agree to that ?

Deadline day is always so weird. Normally it can take months to get a transfer over the line, but then it's deadline day and it all happens in a matter of hours. Already reports from Italy that Tomiyasu is having a medical today.

Yep. Sky are reporting that a deal is agreed between the clubs and personal terms are not a problem.

This tweet seems like a summary of our transfer business this summer. If we can't get rid of the players we don't want, we're not getting the player we do want.

I can’t say it’s a signing that excites much however I know very little about the bloke.

If you wanted to sign a right back he’s not in the first name that springs to mind. All a bit meh. I suppose your essentially swapping out 2 frustrated and uncommitted players for 1 who will be.

Like I said, I've never seen the guy play but it was the same with Lokonga and Tavares and both look pretty good. I think we're identifying talented players with the right profile, that doesn't seem to be our problem.

We live in hope that we'll get him and he'll be ok, particularly going forward. We desperately need someone to take ownership of that position.

It is a pity about Bellerin's patchy form and wanting away. He's still potentially a top class player.

I suppose the fee is only 16m it’s a signing with little risk. (Your saving 6m in Bellerins wages for the season )

Like Tavares or lokonga you are getting in another motivated player at the expense of one who isn’t.

Is Tomiyasu paying Arsenal £280,000 a year to play for us then?

https://www.spotrac.com/epl/arsenal-fc/ ... rin-11978/

It's evident the squad is mentally fragile. The way we played before the goal at City gives me a little hope. Without the goal, I think we would have lost but it would have been a much tighter game. Maybe 1-0 or 2-1. Respectable performance in a losing effort.

Sometimes in business, which is this, you ned to take the hit for the long term betterment of the business.

Hadn’t seen that about his agent before. None of that good if true.

Sky reporting as ‘done deal’. http://www.skysports.com/share/12395735

However, it only becomes true when on Arsenal.com

That article doesn't actually say it's a done deal. I'll only believe it when I see it on Arsenal.com.

Sky are saying if Bellerin goes to Real Betis is will be a loan with an option to buy, not an obligation for them to buy. Sounds more likely to me.

I’ve never disliked Bellerin. Always struck me as a decent professional whose injury record took his career backwards. But despite that, I would still have rather seen him as our right back than Chambers or Cédric. AMN or Bellerin? More debatable. Probably not much to choose between them.

According Fabrizio Romano.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.hitc.c ... asu/%3famp

Me too.

I've also seen it mentioned that it's just a loan, without option or obligation. Think Bellerin could still do very well in a less demanding league, and if him leaving allows us to sign someone potentially better for the starting eleven it's good enough.

Well some random bot has created a "Welcome to Arsenal" video so it's a done deal !