Arsenal’s January signings make useful additions to the squad, but there are still other areas that need addressing in the summer.
Could any academy players fill the gaps?
Going into the winter window, many supporters thought Arsenal needed a new centre-back, goalkeeper, defensive midfielder, winger or full-back, depending on who you asked.
Instead, Arsene Wenger signed a striker and an attacking midfielder.
The manager did bring in a defender in Konstantinos Mavropanos, but for now he’s not ready for first-team action.
In Wenger’s defence, Theo Walcott, Olivier Giroud and Alexis Sanchez all left in the same window. Not signing a couple of attacking players to replace them could’ve been just as disastrous.
Nonetheless, it means Arsenal still need to look at all the positions mentioned above in the summer.
With so many positions to look at, maybe Wenger should try and promote from within to save money for major signings.
Here are the six players worth considering to make the step up:
Eddie Nketiah
Arsenal have now broken their club-record transfer fee on strikers in two consecutive windows. Yet the squad doesn’t have any more centre-forward options than it did before.
In 2016/17, Giroud, Sanchez and Danny Welbeck rotated up front. Now, Welbeck, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette have that honour.
Welbeck’s contract expires in 2019, so he might move on too at the end of the season. Rather than spending big on a striker again, maybe Wenger should look to Nketiah.
This season so far, the 18-year-old has nine goals and two assists for the Arsenal u23s in 11 matches.
He also has eight goals and one assist in seven appearances for the England u19s.
Youth strikers often struggle to make the step up with Arsenal, but Nketiah took just 15 seconds to score on his senior Emirates debut.
He’s done everything he can to deserve an opportunity.
Reiss Nelson
One of Arsenal’s brightest young talents, Nelson can carry the ball well, beat a man with pace and trickery, and he’s a clinical finisher on top of that.
That ability to take players on is something the current squad lacks to an extent.
The winger is yet to open his goalscoring account with the senior side, and he was mostly played as a wing-back in the Europa League group stages.
For the u23s, he has seven goals and two assists in nine matches.
Promoting Nelson to the first-team would cover the wide-forward position and let Wenger focus on other areas.
The only concern is getting him tied down to a new contract, as his deal expires in 2019.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles
This is an easy one.
Maitland-Niles hasn’t played for the u23s since September, and Wenger has pretty much already promoted him full-time to the senior squad.
Rather than filling the left-back position though, I’d like to see the 20-year-old in midfield.
Maitland-Niles defends well, makes good recovery runs, and he’s good on the ball. The Englishman can also dribble past opponents impressively.
He doesn’t have the biggest physical presence, but N’Golo Kante shows us that’s not always necessary for the role.
It’s not as if the u21 international hasn’t played there before. He got 90 minutes as a defensive midfielder in Arsenal’s 5-0 FA Cup win over Southampton last season.
Hopefully he gets another chance soon.
Krystian Bielik
Bielik has had a bit of a strange career so far. From 2012 to 2014 he was a defensive midfielder in Lech Poznan’s youth academy. Then he moved to their rivals, Legia Warsaw, to make his senior debut at 16 years old. He even appeared in the Europa League before his 17th birthday.
After that, Arsenal signed him, but he’s only made two senior appearances for the club in over three years.
Now he’s a centre-back, on loan at League One Walsall, after an impressive spell with Birmingham City last year.
The only thing really holding him back is his injury problems. That’s why he didn’t go back to the Championship this January, and why he missed the chance to play in the Europa League or League Cup in the first half of this campaign.
He’s improving year-on-year on the pitch, he just needs to be on it more often.
With all the centre-back issues Arsenal are having, it might be worth giving Bielik a shot, if he can stay fit.
Stephy Mavididi
Mavididi is another option to fill the gap as a back-up to Lacazette and Aubameyang.
Just like last season, he started his loan spell with Charlton Athletic very impressively, before picking up a hamstring injury.
This time he had two goals and one assist in four league games before the strain.
The 19-year-old is starting to look a bit injury-prone, but he’s clearly very talented.
His raw pace and finishing ability saw him score tens of goals for the Arsenal academy.
Maybe next year he can get his first-team debut.
Matt Macey
Macey plays in one of the positions Arsenal really need to fill, goalkeeper.
The 23-year-old made his Arsenal debut this season, playing against Norwich City, and then Red Star Belgrade. In 210 minutes he conceded just one goal.
The 6’5″ keeper also kept three clean sheets in five matches for the u23s this campaign.
He hasn’t played as much as he normally would, thanks to call ups to the first-team bench, but with the way David Ospina and Petr Čech are playing, maybe he should get more chances next season.