{"id":272085,"date":"2025-06-04T05:34:01","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T05:34:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/uncategorized\/the-window-that-drives-us-mad\/"},"modified":"2025-06-04T05:34:01","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T05:34:01","slug":"the-window-that-drives-us-mad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=272085","title":{"rendered":"The window that drives us mad"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Morning all.<\/p>\n

I suspect one of the challenges Arsenal fans might face in the coming weeks is seeing other clubs do business while we haven\u2019t yet got the chequebook out. For example, Man Utd have signed Matheus Cunha from Wolves, a player we were linked with in January when our need for a striker was pressing, and yesterday David Ornstein reported that Bryan Mbeumo \u2013 another player we\u2019ve been linked with already this summer \u2013 has decided Old Trafford is where he wants to go.<\/p>\n

I guess what we can glean from these two deals (one done, one not yet), is that despite running the club like a poor house, firing hundreds of staff, and operating a literal soup kitchen, Man Utd are throwing a lot of money around to bring in new players. It won\u2019t be just the transfer fees they pay, but wages\/bonuses for the players themselves, and I would imagine considerable incentives\/agents fees too.<\/p>\n

Both Cunha and Mbeumo are good enough to have got moves to clubs with European football, and they\u2019re joining a club that has been a shambles on and off the pitch. The only reason you do that is money. Which is fine, by the way. But let\u2019s not pretend that they\u2019re being convinced there\u2019s a great and healthy project for them to join when we all have eyes and can see that\u2019s not the case. The bottom line, I suppose, is that they are two players who improve that team, regardless of how much United throw cash around to entice them to eschew better options.<\/p>\n

Still, as we await Arsenal\u2019s decision on a striker signing \u2013 will it be Sesko or Gyokeres? It definitely won\u2019t be both! \u2013 other clubs doing things you wouldn\u2019t mind seeing Arsenal do can raise the anxiety level a bit. I mentioned Mbeumo yesterday<\/a> and said how it didn\u2019t make much sense for us because we have Bukayo Saka who plays in that position, but he\u2019s a good player and you\u2019d rather he didn\u2019t go there. I even saw a story about Man City signing Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolves and got a bit antsy, even if left-back is basically the last place we need to make a signing. I like that player, I know we don\u2019t need him, but still.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s classic transfer window stuff. For me, the most important thing is that Arsenal get the right business done during this window and, hopefully, get it all done before the start of the season so we can go into the new campaign as ready and settled as possible. If that means we go through June without making a signing (not saying that will be the case, btw, just a hypothetical), and get it all done in a July flurry \u2013 I will be fine with that (in July!).<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s hard not to experience the transfer window through the prism of what other clubs do, even if for the most part it\u2019s not particularly relevant to our situation. A couple of summers ago we had that Declan Rice scenario where we hoped he would sign for Arsenal, but with Man City interested too, there was some doubt as to whether we could get that deal over the line. If he\u2019d chosen them, you would have fully understood it, but we presented him with a compelling project to join (and lots of money), and he rejected evil. Good for him.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think there\u2019s anyone we\u2019re after this summer where that kind of \u2018will he, won\u2019t he?\u2019 decision is in play. At least not for now. Other clubs in Europe want strikers, and regardless of who we eventually plump for between Big Vik and Big Ben, the other one will more than likely be on the move somewhere else. There is probably a need to get make a decision on this one sooner rather than later so your process, such as it is, isn\u2019t complicated by the arrival of other interested parties who could end up gazumping you, but right now that doesn\u2019t seem to be part of the equation.<\/p>\n

And yet when some other club makes a signing, there\u2019s that pang of \u2018Oh, look what they\u2019re doing!\u2019. I don\u2019t suppose it\u2019s completely irrational. My strong preference is that every other club in the Premier League is handed a transfer ban while we can go and buy players with gay abandon, but that, unfortunately, is not how it works. So, my advice is find a coping mechanism, such as:<\/p>\n