It’s been a little over a month since Arsene Wenger’s dramatic signings of 5 players in Chu Young Park, Per Mertesacker, Mikel Arteta, Andre Santos and Benayoun in the last 2 days of the transfer window. But how well have they done so far in the red and white jersey since? Click on the names of the players to find out!
The former captain of Werder Bremen has been without doubt, our best buy of the 5 signings. Many have criticized him for not having any pace or for not winning enough aerial battles given his height advantage, but for me, he’s been absolutely brilliant. Having played in 7 games this season with Mertesacker, Arsenal have conceded 10 goals. This many not look good defensively, but if we negate that 4-3 defeat at Blackburn which was a one of a kind defeat – that’s 6 goals conceded in 6 games with 2 clean sheets. Not bad for the adjusting Mertesacker who now has Koscielny to partner with and in a few weeks, Vermaelen – which many fans have dubbed as the perfect center back partnership. Other than goals conceded, Mertesacker hasn’t really had any problems with opposition who have pace to burn. This, along with his ability to read the game well has made him a vital signing for Arsenal.
Though we all expected him to overtake Gibbs in the pecking order for left back, it’s not exactly been that way, but with Gibbs’ recent injury in the 2-1 win over Sunderland, we may be seeing more of Santos. When Santos has played however, he has not put a foot wrong at all. He’s made important tackles, caused loads of attacking threats, and has a good range of passing. He may not be able to take a free-kick well but he can take on players, given his attack-minded nature. While Gibbs may be more defensive, Santos is certainly more attacking, which might leave him exposed at the back but an effective attacking full-back is as important. Wenger has also claimed that Santos can play at right-back, making Santos versatile, being able to play in 3 different positions, along with being a winger. Oh and how can I forget, he’s already scored his first goal, against Olympiakos in the Champions League which means which means he has already scored half as many goals as Clichy did in his 8 year career at the club, in only 3 games. Though full-backs aren’t meant to score, this statistic will make every Arsenal fan feel better: Andre Santos has scored more goals in 2 Champions League games for Arsenal than Clichy in 42 Champions League games for the Gunners.
Not much can be said on this signing. With Bendtner going on loan to Sunderland, and Chamakh being unavailable in January for the African Cup of Nations, Park was brought in. The South Korean captain however, has made only one appearance, in the Carling Cup against Shrewsbury, in which he did show glimpses of why Wenger sought for this striker. However, as he’s not played for Arsenal, he’s been performing brilliantly for his national team, recently scoring an impressive 5 goals in 2 games. Known for his free kicks and ability to be in the right place at the right time, Park can be an instrumental signing for Arsenal in the near future and with Chamakh leaving and rumours amidst about Wenger preparing to let him go in the winter window, we may be seeing more of Park Chu Young soon, who will depart in 2 years’ time for military service!
Yossi Benayoun, on loan from Chelsea, a signing which shocked people rather than excited them, has shown that he could be useful for the Gunners. His creativity, tricks and vision can help break down negative defenses which always frustrate Arsenal and his versatility can also help this injury-prone Arsenal team. Brought on as an impact substitute of late, Benayoun can certainly play in the Ramsey/Rosicky role and we can hope that he plays a key role this season, scoring vital goals like he already has, against Shrewsbury in the Carling Cup! Wenger has also hinted recently that he may sign Benayoun permanently.
Dubbed as our best signing, many fans have compared him to Fabregas, though he’s 5 years older than him, he has certainly shown that he can fit in at Arsenal. Taking a pay cut to join the red and white of North London, the uncapped Arteta impressed in his first game itself, with many key passes and interceptions – he played as if he had been in Arsenal all his life! Also scoring his first goal – a beautiful counter-attacking goal against Blackburn, Arteta, with plenty of Premier League experience, can really help this Arsenal team achieve things with his creativity, directness and vision. Though he may have “Barcelona DNA”, we won’t be expecting them to take away another one of our players! But who knows!? If Arteta performs well this season, we may see him finally in the national team of Spain, playing in the EUROs this summer! Oh and he looks better than Samir “Na$ri” in the number 8 jersey!
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All in all, these players have not been flop signings at all, even though majority of Arsenal fans (including myself) would call them panic buys, they have performed extremely well, especially the ones from outside the Premier League and as they gel more and more with the current team, we may finally get some consistent wins under our belt and move up the table!
