Transfer deadline day: Arsenal sign fewer players than any other Premier League club despite fans’ call for new striker

With the transfer window deadline looming, Arsenal fans were frantically refreshing their Twitter feeds and monitoring Sky Sports News in the hope of seeing their side add new players to their ranks.

 

As things currently stand, Arsenal have signed fewer players than any other Premier League side this summer, with the Gunners bringing just four new players to the Emirates Stadium. 

 

In contrast, our transfer map demonstrates that Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United have made six signings this transfer window, Everton have made seven, while Liverpool top the pile with 11 new players.

 

 

 

After Olivier Giroud was ruled out for up to four months with a broken leg last week, it seemed that Wenger would be left with no choice but to dip into the transfer market once again in order to sign a replacement striker. The 64-year-old Frenchman currently has Yaya Sanogo, Alexis Sanchez, Joel Campbell, and Lukas Podolski at his disposal in forward positions, with Theo Walcott nearing a return from injury. Yet of those players, only Sanogo (who has never scored a Premier League goal) is recognised as a traditional centre-forward.

 

To add fuel to Arsenal fans’ frustrations, the club reportedly withdrew from the race to sign Loic Remy this weekend, who has now joined Chelsea for £10m.

 

Could this prove costly for Arsenal fans? Even with Giroud available, many would have suggested that Arsenal were still in need of an elite level striker if they were to mount a serious title challenge this season.

 

Giroud will certainly be a big loss for Wenger’s side. He has the best goals-to-game ratio in Arsenal’s armoury at 0.39 goals-per-game. Yet that record is comfortably beaten by many of the mean leading the line at Arsenal’s rivals. Everton, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham all have strikers with a superior Premier League scoring record.

 

 

Will Wenger pull something out of the hat between now and tonight’s 11pm deadline? It’s not looking likely. He’ll be at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome this evening to help out at the Interreligious Match For Peace organised by Javier Zanetti and Pope Francis.

 

It’s an admirable cause, and it could be argued that it's refreshing to see the manager shun the garish splurges so common to many of his contemporaries on transfer deadline day. However, for Arsenal fans that may be may mean they’ll have to put up with Sanogo’s scuffed shots for four more months at least.

 

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