Has Arsenal's transfer window been a success?

As the transfer window closed at 6PM on September 1st, many Arsenal fans were left in disbelief, another window gone were Arsenal failed to make a real impact, or hadn’t they?

Going into the window, the number one position that needed strengthening was the goalkeeping position. Arsenal over have the years have had good goalkeepers, but no one exactly in the world class department not since the days of the Invincibles over a decade ago where the Gunners had Jens Lehmann in between the sticks.

The final piece?

Many 'keepers were rumoured with a move to Arsenal. Iker Casillas, Bernd Leno of Bayer Leverkusen and even Hugo Lloris were all rumoured with a move to the Emirates, but of course, the player that everyone wanted was Petr Cech, and to the shock of many, Arsene Wenger got his man for a reported fee of £10million a few days after the transfer window had opened.

The signing of Cech got everyone talking. “Can Arsenal win the league now?” “Is Cech the last piece of the puzzle?” were questions that were frequently thrown around by pundits and fans following the signing of Cech. But, after 61 days of the transfer window, Cech remained Arsenal’s only signing of the entire transfer window.

With many clubs in the Premier League throwing money around left, right and centre, and Wenger looking to have turned a new leaf in terms of spending, it seemed a bit odd to only see Petr Cech as Arsenal’s only summer recruitment.

Many forget to see that the signing of Petr Cech will strengthen the Arsenal side greatly. The former Chelsea number one is one of the best keepers the Premier League has ever seen, and Cech will only improve the Arsenal defence with his commanding presence and incredible goalkeeping ability.

After a shaky Premier League debut against West Ham, that saw Cech make two errors that led to an opening day defeat to the Hammers, Cech redeemed himself in the following home game for Arsenal against Liverpool, were the 33-year-old pulled off a Man Of The Match performance in a thrilling 0-0 draw.

Missed opportunities?

Could have Arsenal done more in this window? Yes. At the end of the drama, Arsenal remained the only team in Europe’s top five leagues not to sign an outfield player. That is one shocking fact considering that Arsenal are always up there as one of the best teams in England, and one of the most popular teams in the world.

The options were certainly there for the taking. Morgan Schneiderlin was rumoured with a move to Arsenal for the past two years, but eventually, the Saints defensive midfielder moved north to Manchester United. Geoffrey Kondogbia was another defensive midfielder linked with a move to the Emirates, but again, the mountain midfielder moved to fallen Serie A giants, Inter Milan.

Are too many jumping on the banwagon?

So was Arsenal’s transfer window a success? It depends on what your perspective of how the window unfolded. On one hand, you have Arsenal filling in a huge gap of their starting XI that has been needing some maintenance since 2006, whilst also offloading a lot of dead wood and sending multiple youth players out on loan. Whereas on the other hand, you have Arsene Wenger doing what Arsene Wenger does best, and spend as little as money as possible whilst everyone around him spends money as if it’s Christmas Eve.

Arsenal did what they set out to do at the start of the window, which was to improve on the goalkeeping position, but Wenger was just simply not eager enough to improve other areas of the team. Could Wenger’s undoing be his downfall this season?