Former Arsenal defender Martin Keown has been speaking on the TalkSport Daily podcast about the club’s transfer business this summer.
The Gunners have lost their opening two games of the Premier League season conceding four goals and scoring zero, having come up against Brentford and Chelsea. These results have come despite spending over £100 million this transfer window.
Would you be disappointed if Nketiah left Arsenal this summer?
Yes
No
Arsenal are the league’s highest-spending club so far this summer, splashing out on players such as Ben White for £50 million, Aaron Ramsdale for £25 million and an outlay of £31 million on Martin Odegaard, who re-joins the club following his loan spell last season.
Keown is not convinced by what Arsenal have done in the transfer window this summer.
“I just feel there’s a few red flags amongst some of these signings when you’re looking at Ramsdale – and by no means is it his fault – but when you look at [Emiliano] Martinez going to Villa, who’s now the Argentinian number-one goalkeeper, then you have to start to wonder about the wisdom of that particular decision.
“If you’re going to pay that kind of money for [Ramsdale], and by the way, he’s had two back-to-back relegations, but that doesn’t mean he’s not a good goalkeeper, but he would have played some part in that, in what was a failure, to be fair.”
TIF Thoughts on Arsenal’s transfer business…
It appeared that Arteta was starting to mould the team the way he wanted it to look, with young and promising signings such as White, Albert Sambi Lokonga and Nuno Tavares, however, having suffered back-to-back defeats and sitting second bottom of the league, things don’t appear to be as rosy at the Emirates Stadium as it may have seemed.
The Gunners finished outside of the European spots last season, so they only have the Premier League and two domestic cups to focus on, which should offer no excuses for Arteta and the team to be fighting for the Europa League at the very least, however, unless some leaders and proven players are brought in, that appears unlikely.