Anyway, January was a failure

The January transfer window is now complete. Arsenal has recruited only one player, Denis Suarez. In every way, it was a failure.

Arsenal entered January's transfer window to engage three players: a versatile defender, a midfielder and an attacker capable of playing on both wings. In the end, they only have one.

Signing to Denis Suarez a six month loan with a summer purchase option may not seem like a bad deal, and this is not an option in isolation, but it would be naïve to think that its acquisition alone makes this month of January a successful transfer window for gunners. In fact, from all points of view, it was a complete and total failure.

Let me start with the words of Unai Emery. This week, he was asked how many players Arsenal wanted to sign. Here's what he said:

"We were talking about the possibility of taking three players, but only if they can come here with our conditions, and also if we think that they can help us with good performances, better than the players we have right here."

So, Arsenal wanted to sign three players and only had one. No matter how you want to decide it, it's not a particularly brilliant affair. And although the players they've targeted may not have been so popular among fans, you can not pretend they were not loved by the club. All players prosecuted in January were actively wanted. Only was finally signed.

Inter Milan had a completely different badessment of Ivan Perisic, requiring a purchase obligation in the summer and not a loan. Yannick Carrasco was a brief target at the beginning and the end of the window but the charges were still a problem. Politics played its role between Thomas Tuchel and Paris Saint-Germain regarding a possible agreement with Christopher Nkunku.

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It is not for lack of trying that Arsenal has not signed more than Suarez. According to David Ornstein, to avoid the need to buy in the summer, they even offered loan agreements with an option to buy with a penalty penalty if they did not take this option. It's fair to say that the gunners wanted more than Suarez, as Emery acknowledged.

And at the heart of it all, there is the growing discontent within the club's management structures, the breakdown of relations and the impending departure of Sven Mislintat, head of recruitment, and now the serious lack of rudder unhindered. Not only did the club fail to sign the players they wanted, but the people in place began to fracture, with the most important piece of the puzzle gone.

No matter how you want to cut it, January's transfer window was a failure for Arsenal. They may have signed the player that many wanted. They may not have signed the player or players that many did not want. But what they tried to do, they failed. Add the departure of Mislintat and all this has been a rather messy month.