Open your eyes, Arsenal fans. It’s all over.
The transfer deadline day of fans’ nightmares has come to a close and following a day filled with the hope of game-changing signings, the Gunners can boast a grand total of zero arrivals on Thursday.
Arsene Wenger managed to hang on to Alexis Sanchez but it continues to be debated whether or not it’s a good thing that the club will keep a player who clearly doesn’t want to be there and one who can leave for free next year.
The £92 million Hail Mary for Monaco’s Thomas Lemar smacked of desperation and, with the player on international duty for France, the approach was just too late in the day to get anything done.
The timing was almost comical https://t.co/nP4ekoarOF
— JOE (@JOE_co_uk) August 31, 2017
But the failure to bring Lemar in was just one of a number of shortcomings for Arsenal in the window.
Over the past three months, the Gunners had been linked with several players in every position and, having lost Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Gabriel Paulista and Kieran Gibbs, the club could have done with reinforcements.
We’ve taken the liberty of scouring the headlines over the summer and compiling an XI of players who were linked with the Gunners but failed to make it to the Emirates.
https://twitter.com/SportsJOE_UK/status/903367949607735298
In June, it was reported that Stoke goalkeeper Jack Butland was identified as the ideal long-term successor to Petr Cech but that never came to fruition.
Versatile full-back Djibril Sidibe was believed to be one of many Monaco players who were the subject of Arsene Wenger’s interest while Inter Milan beat Arsenal to the signing of Brazilian left-back Dalbert.
Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly was said to be one of the Gunners’ top targets and the North London club was one of a handful of Premier League sides interested in Jonny Evans over the summer.
Wenger is a long-time admirer of Blaise Matuidi but he opted to join Juventus from Paris Saint-Germain instead.
There was said to be contact between Arsenal and midfielder Mario Lemina but he ended up signing for Southampton in early August.
Ross Barkley came within a whisker of signing for Chelsea on deadline day but Arsenal were also understood to have been monitoring the situation with the Toffees man.
Talk about a change of heart https://t.co/tjrAYmWS4I
— JOE (@JOE_co_uk) August 31, 2017
A £92 million offer for Thomas Lemar arrived far too late and Arsenal were never going to be able to match PSG’s financial clout when it came to the pursuit of Kylian Mbappe.
Supporters will be less concerned about the situation up front as, to be fair, Alexandre Lacazette came in but Wenger was also reported to have been interested in Torino centre-forward Andrea Belotti.
