Former Gunner Nigel Winterburn believes Arsenal’s summer business has been a resounding success, with Eberechi Eze just one of many to prove his value already.
Arsenal had one of their biggest-ever summers of spending earlier this year, investing in eight new first-team signings despite not bringing in very much from player outgoings.
The only player to leave for a significant fee was Jakub Kiwior to Porto for a package worth around £23m, and even then that fee was deferred to next summer and included at least £1.5m of add-ons.
So Arsenal’s investment was only possible with significant backing from the club hierarchy, perhaps creating some pressure for the new signings to hit the ground running and perform.
Thankfully, that’s just what the new players seem to have done, with Eberechi Eze perhaps the most notable current example given his north London derby hat-trick at the weekend.
Speaking to Daily Cannon this week, former Arsenal defender Nigel Winterburn had plenty of praise for the former Crystal Palace midfielder.
“Eberechi Eze deserves all the plaudits for his performance against Spurs in the North London derby,” Winterburn told Daily Cannon in an interview facilitated by BetBrain.
“I loved watching Eze when he was at Crystal Palace and could see he had the quality to become one of the Premier League’s most sought-after players.
“Now that he’s joined Arsenal, he’s gone to the next level, and it proves that the club made the right decision to intercept his transfer before he joined Spurs.
“To score a hat-trick in the North London derby is simply incredible, and it hasn’t been done for almost fifty years! There was some doubt over whether he could fill Martin Odegaard’s shoes in the no.10 role, but I think those doubts have been settled!”
Yet Eze is far from the only Arsenal signing to have performed well so far, with Winterburn highlighting that even some of the signings whose transfers were initially criticised have ended up impressing.
“Arsenal made some great signings in the summer, and they’ve proven to be vital to the club’s success so far this season,” Winterburn added.
“There were questions over Noni Madueke’s price tag and arrival from Chelsea, but he’s been brilliant when he’s played on the wing and has eased the burden on Bukayo Saka.
“The centre-back pair of Cristhian Mosquera and Piero Hincapie have shown they can put in a shift in the absence of Gabriel and William Saliba.
“The difference is – in comparison to previous seasons – if a key defender gets injured, the performance of the team doesn’t drop because there’s confidence throughout the whole squad.”
Some of Arsenal’s business wasn’t quite as flashy as signing a Premier League midfielder for £60m or snatching a promising winger from Chelsea, with the likes of Christian Norgaard and Kepa Arrizabalaga joining as experienced backups.
But both have played their part so far as well, and Arsenal seem to be benefitting from the flexibility to make changes as and when players need rests.
Time will tell if Arsenal did enough in the summer market to bring some long-awaited trophies, but it’s hard to argue with the results so far.