Perhaps when it comes to Arsenal there's a certain level of stupidity in management that has existed during the Wenger years and continued since then. Did it exist during this transfer window? We'll see.

Historical Stupidity

This part warrants its own post but Arsenal has become a good source of criticism in the last 10 years, to say the least. Last season was a mess that somehow made a decent team by the end of the season. It was an accumulation of messes actually.

Arsenal signed Ben White for 50 million, cool. It is an understandable signing as we needed a ball-playing center-back and Pablo Mari was more familiar with the hospital nurses than he was with Arteta.

Then we signed Lokonga and Tavares. Good youngsters who aren't familiar with the Premier League at all, they seemed like a good signing for the future. There was also the random signing of Takehiro Tomiyasu.

Finally, we have Aaron Ramsdale and Martin Ødegaard, I will be talking about the latter's captaincy in a later post. However, those signings made sense somewhat as we lacked chance creation and a better goalkeeper.

They all made additions except for one thing.

What Were They An Addition To?

Arteta was planning to get rid of Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang by the end of last season anyway. At least that was the rumor when the pair were benched regularly.

Before counting this transfer window, Arsenal has spent 470 million ever since Guardiola joined Manchester City, that's the net spent. That ranks Arsenal in third place in terms of net spent throughout that period.

Assuming Arsenal kept up with Manchester City since Guardiola arrived, Arsenal would have an extra 300 million, give or take. Would that 300 million be enough to make up for the lack of quality between Arsenal and Manchester City? Arsenal needed a right-back, another winger, a striker, and another midfielder who all needed to be world-class. Who are the players who meet the criteria that would put Arsenal on Manchester City's level? And most importantly, would they cost 300 million?

Luck

It's very important to realize that Arsenal got extremely lucky last season. Their signings had little vision to them, even if they worked out the way they did, we still lacked vision. What happened was Saka, Rowe, Martinelli at times, and Takehiro Tomiyasu performing much better than they were expected to. And of course, Martin Ødegaard stepping up the way he did so well that he is now the team's captain.

Going into the season, it felt like Arteta was the only thing making the squad work. That's what prompted me to give him an 8.5/10 rating in my review of Arsenal's season.

There was little rhyme or reason behind those deals. That is the pain of Arsenal.

What About This Transfer Window

I feel like this transfer in specific is Arteta tailored. He's looking for a more fluid team, hence Jesus Gabriel who is good at moving to the sides and creating space, I also believe he'd have a better scoring record, not because of his performance during friendliness but because of my theory regarding Guardiola and Manchester City.

I think that players learn the most under Pep but lose their personalities in the process, and I think Jesus will regain that, if he hasn't already, under Arteta. I also have a similar theory with Sterling in Chelsea, I believe both will be scoring more goals from fewer chances this season.

Oleksandr Zinchenko is a left-back who would also be an addition in midfield, that was just a theory for me until I read that Arsenal is moving for Benfica's Grimaldo which confirms it in a way. Until that happened he's treated as a left-back.

Then we have Fabio Vieira who I assume would be a substitute for Ødegaard, but to be honest, I don't see him getting many minutes this season.

Rumors

As I mentioned, Arsenal has Grimaldo in mind. As well as Youri Tielemans in the midfielder. With Zinchenko in mind, one of them is enough but both would be a prize. With how lucky Arsenal got that the positions they needed to fill had players stepping to fill them, it looks like one deal is left for Arsenal to become whole.

The Hope

Despite excusing Arteta's performance and Arsenal's overall, it was quite a good sign to see how unsatisfied everyone is with the end result. A while back, we were in a state of submission and satisfaction with mediocrity. That is no longer felt, at least based on what I have seen and read. The squad as a whole seems to have a point to prove.

My Prediction: 4th

In my prediction post for Tottenham I spoke about how Tottenham and Conte did what was necessary to score a few more goals and concede fewer goals than last season, Arsenal has done the same. Manchester United is far from being a stable team that competes for the Premier League title, but more on that in a later post.