Paul Merson slams Arsenal transfer policy

Paul Merson has slammed Arsenal for their transfer policy, claiming that the Gunners lack the vision in the transfer market to become a big club.

In his column for Sky Sports, Paul Merson has critically scrutinised Arsenal for the decisions they have taken in the transfer market in the ongoing window. The former Arsenal midfielder has also added that the Gunners lack the vision in the market to bridge the gap to the top teams in the Premier League.

Arsenal have been by far the busiest club in the transfer market this summer, at least as far as the big-name clubs are concerned. The north London giants have invariably spent the most money as well, signing as many as five players while spending over £100 million on them.

Bizarrely, though, only one of the five incoming players go some way in addressing their abysmal creative and attacking options, namely Martin Odegaard. Oddly enough, Arsenal have instead chosen to focus on adding more to their defensive options, with the likes of Nuno Tavarez, Ben White and Aaron Ramsdale joining the Gunners.

Such a decision making has not gone down well with Paul Merson, who has lambasted Arsenal for their transfer policy this summer. Writing in his column for Sky Sports, Merson said, “Where is the recruitment, where are the people behind the scenes, what work are they doing? Every single player on Chelsea’s bench on Sunday – every single player – would have been on the pitch if they played for Arsenal’s first team.”

“Why is someone like Danny Ings not playing for Arsenal? You cannot tell me he’s not good enough. Why are Aston Villa getting players like Ings, Emiliano Buendia instead of Arsenal? Who is making these decisions? Surely these players would have been on Arsenal’s radar. Arsenal have just let Joe Willock go for £25m. What for?”

“Surely, he had a future at the club, surely the coaches at Arsenal could improve him. Why have Willock on the books in the first place if you don’t rate him? Then there’s Granit Xhaka, who has just signed a new contract. It seemed like he was out of the club two years ago, then he was going to go to Roma this summer, and now he’s signed a new contract after his good performances at the Euros.”

“I’m not having a go at Xhaka, he performed well at the Euros and has been one of Arsenal’s better players, but Arsenal’s recruitment is safe and lazy. They have panicked after the Euros and not had any vision or conviction in the transfer market to progress.”

Merson’s comments make a world of sense as Arsenal have hardly made any progress under Mikel Arteta while seemingly not doing enough to address the obvious issues in his team. Nevertheless, the Gunners seem to be sticking with the Spaniard and it will be interesting to see if their new signings do anything to hit back on Merson or if his comments are vindicated instead.