Joe Mardon
Closed shut on Jim White hyperbole and fourteen-year-old kids playing football agents on Twitter. Sixth-form kids and grown men scuttle away from behind news presenters in front of stadiums, waiting for a job or a Big Brother eviction.
That the window finishes with The Arsenal spending £42.5m on the wonder of Özil makes the days preceding a little easier to digest, albeit without full forgiveness.
It started with the noise of much promise and a genuine interest in Rooney, Higuain and Suarez. Anyone can be interested. The Higuain deal still rankles. Having identified him as a target and initially agreeing a fee with Madrid, I believe we should have followed their goal posts when they were moved by £7m. That's £7m that we got back for Gervinho. Free money in that respect.
It's £7m which insures against the situation we are in now, by securing a top-class centre forward, rather than relying on Giroud. It's also a signing that could have been wrapped up months ago. Added to the money spent on Monday, it would have left us in a seriously good position from which to challenge. Perhaps we still are.
Disgusted by Madrid's escalation in their value of the Argentine, our eyes were distracted by the potential of signing Luis Suarez. Any businessman worth his six-figure salary and bonus would have asked to see the contract and the clause which encouraged us to bid such a precise figure as £40,000,001.00. It didn't take an idiot like Gordon Taylor long to read the contract and realise the clause was worthless, our bid subsequently antagonising by its suggestion that we knew something we didn't. It was amateurish by Arsenal, and allowed Napoli to move in and secure Higuain, whilst Liverpool stood firm and insulted. Despite his public plea to be released, Suarez would have gone to further extremes to get away had Real Madrid's interest been firmer, a future dilemma for Liverpool to face. I tally up the wasted hours of moral debates as to whether signing such a man was worth the hassle considering the player.
Gustavo was identified as the man to carry out defensive midfield duties, only to turn us down in favour of Wolfsburg and higher wages. Money, a guarantee of first team football and a chance to stay in Germany saw our advances rejected. Despite the reasons offered, I am left disappointed that any player would choose Wolfsburg over Arsenal. Our pull ought to have outweighed the comforts of Germany. The wages we offered ought to have matched those on the table from Wolfsburg. I heard people say that Gustavo should not have been the top paid player at the club. He wouldn't have been for very long.
As the club shed its wage bill of those who’d failed to contribute, the squad was in need of padding out. I'd never heard of Emiliano Viviano, brought in on a season-long loan from Palmero. But if the Italian international is capable of deputising for Gianluigi Buffon, then let’s hope he can do the same for Szczesny and provide the Pole with further competition.
The cheap option was also taken in the re-signing of Mathieu Flamini. Should we not have been interested in Fellaini? This 'signing' agitated in its short-term fix appearance. It fell into our laps and was hardly the move of a club crowing financial clout.
Can Flamini still cover the ground he did in the San Siro and throughout that season? He certainly offers versatility. Who can forget his stint at left-back en route to the Champions League Final (suggesting he could do the same at right-back too)? It didn't take long for me to warm to the signing, as Flamini thunderously flew into tackles against Spurs and barked orders throughout his appearance. I did enjoy Arsène Wenger's apology for Flamini not costing £25m, and, on the face of it, the signing of an AC Milan 29-year-old defensive midfielder wouldn't be so ridiculed had he not been free and followed the well-trodden path of Sol Campbell, Jens Lehmann and Thierry Henry.
Ivan had talked of the club’s capabilities to excite the fans with new signings. Until transfer deadline day, you'd have thought he was taking the p***. Tensions increased as Spurs spent their Bale money on seven internationals whom Arsène seemingly ignored as they didn't improve on the little we had.
On Sunday, I caught wind of Arsenal's interest in Mesut Özil, as a couple of texts came through from friends with a credible source and without 'in the know' bollocks.
"Özil is done". And so it was late on Monday night.
Firstly - let's pinch ourselves; Arsenal Football Club have spent £42.5m on a world-class German midfielder from Real Madrid. Let’s also thank the special partnership forged between Spurs and Real Madrid which paved the way for Özil's arrival, despite the best efforts and delays of Daniel Levy.
Özil spoke in glowing terms of his discussions with Arsène Wenger. A sign that the world’s top players maintain a respect for our manager that many fans have long since lost. The signing also cements the importance of Champions League Football. A player like Özil doesn't sign for a club because they've won the Capital Milk Cup.
On its own, the signing is probably not enough to propel Arsenal to title-contenders with a squad still creaking with flaws. The bigger picture demonstrates a club emerging from the restraints of a mortgage with intent, fuelled by an increase in commercial income.
As wonderful as the signing of Özil is for the immediate season ahead, it's also significant because it proves we can attract players of such stature again in the future. In doing so, the club can really start to challenge for the top honours again, rather than just the top four.
I look out of the closed window and see Özil and Santi taking the p*** out of Stoke City and I hold the hope that the Arsenal are on their way back.
***Follow my Arsenal ramblings on Twitter @TheArsenal_
(Ed’s note – Apologies we were offline for most of yesterday. This was to do with a bandwidth problem which caught us unawares)
