01 February 2023 , 14:46
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Arsenal headed into the January transfer window in a strong position at the summit of the Premier League.
However, Mikel Arteta knew that the Gunners needed to act in the transfer market after Gabriel Jesus was forced to undergo knee surgery.
It was expected that the former Manchester City man would miss up to three months of action after sustaining an injury at the World Cup. But when you factor in that Arteta had already set his sights on adding a wide attacker and a midfielder to bolster his squad, the pressure was on Arsenal to get business done in January.
Although he insisted that the funds were there for sporting director Edu and the Arsenal hierarchy to get deals done, Arteta was keen to stress that the club still had to target the right kind of signings rather than just concluding deals for the sake of it.
Speaking at the end of December, Arteta said: "Can we afford not getting the player that we want? That is my question. We can afford to get a striker for sure if we want one, I don't know if he plays in League Two, in League Five, in Spain, in Portugal, in Africa. We can get a striker I can guarantee you that. But what we can not afford to do is get a player here that is not for us. This is what we can not afford, that is for sure.
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"We don't need a body, we need players that make the team better. I think personalities that have the mentality that we want to win. And we have to focus on that. We have to be very strict with what we have done and the policy we have had to make the team successful."
So, how did Edu get on? The Gunners chief did manage to wrap up three permanent deals before Tuesday night's 11pm deadline: Leandro Trossard, Jakub Kiwior and Jorginho have all been signed up and will join Arsenal's title tilt.
Join the debate! How would you rate Arsenal's January transfer window? Let us know here.
Mikel Arteta outlined his transfer demands to Edu before the start of the January windowBut the Londoners also missed out on key targets; they were beaten to a deal for Mykhaylo Mudryk by Chelsea, while Brighton midfielder Moises Caicedo also proved to be unattainable. It was widely reported that Mudryk was Arsenal's top target in the build-up to the window, but the Gunners were unwilling to meet Shakhtar's excessive demands.
Crucially, Edu and the Arsenal hierarchy have used the funds that were available for Mudryk wisely in recent weeks. A £21million deal for Trossard, a proven Premier League forward capable of filling an array of forward roles already looks particularly shrewd. And Jorginho, a serial winner from his trophy-laden stint at Chelsea, will provide the winning mentality that Arteta craved before the window opened.
It hasn't been the perfect transfer window for the Gunners, who have chosen to keep faith with Eddie Nketiah in Jesus' absence, but Edu has lived up to expectations.
Arsenal are stronger now than they were at the start of the month. Whether their business is enough to end an agonising 19-year wait for a domestic title, though, remains to be seen.