Mikel Arteta made a huge gamble in the January transfer window. And understandably, Arsenal fans are rightly concerned with the Spaniard’s decision making. The window was Arteta’s first since succeeding Unai Emery as Gunners chief last December.
His appointment, which initially raised plenty of eyebrows, brought a renewed sense of optimism to the Emirates faithful – many of whom wholeheartedly believe the former Gunners midfielder will have the team challenging for the top four in the near future.
That optimism was in part down the then imminent window, in which fans expected Arteta to begin to lay the groundwork for the vision of his team by bringing in plenty of reinforcements.
That, however, hasn’t come to fruition – despite Arteta’s best efforts.
Despite suggestions he’d bring in at least three or four new faces, Arteta only managed to make two additions to his underperforming squad.
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The Gunners are currently toiling in tenth place in the Premier League table and are closer to the relegation zone than they are fourth place.
Arteta’s troops are a staggering ten points behind fourth-placed Chelsea and have shown no sign of closing the gap on their London rivals.
Despite having the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Nicholas Pepe and Alexandre Lacazette at their disposal, the Gunners have only scored 32 goals so far this season.
Arteta will have known full well his side haven’t been as prolific in front of goal as they have in years gone by when he took the job and should’ve done something to address the issue. Instead, from the outside looking in, it seems he made no concerted effort to quell his side’s biggest problem.
Given the club’s need to return to the Champions League – which they’ve missed out on for the last three seasons – and receive the windfall that comes with competing in Europe’s elite club competition, one would’ve thought the 37-year-old would’ve made overtures to sign a new attacker.
The decision not to do just that is a major gamble, especially considering the juncture the club currently finds itself at. And gambles are something Arsenal cannot be taking at this moment in time.
Perhaps Arteta will prove the detractors of his first transfer window wrong and turn things around in the coming weeks and months by getting his troops firing on all cylinders.
But if his first nine games – in which Arsenal have only won two matches and scored 11 goals – are anything to go by, it’ll take him a long time to do just that.
