Blog: Sam Oliver: Arsenal’s New Signings- The end, or a new beginning?

Sam Oliver casts his opinion on Arsenal's fleet of Summer acquisitions in his The Arsenal Feed début. Be sure to rate and give feedback on the article!

I write after the unconvincing 3-1 victory over Shrewsbury. New faces are clearly needed, and I’m going to voice my opinion over all of Wenger’s new signings. There isn’t too much happy reading…  

Gervinho 

Apart form that incident with Joey Barton, I really like what I have seen form this Cote D’Ivoire international. Most of Arsenal’s attacking wide men prefer a more tip-tap approach, with the ball being meaninglessly played around the opposition’s area, often leading to nothing. Gervinho, however, is a very different style of player. He is much more direct, often looking to beat his marker and get a cross in (the type of player we were hoping Theo to develop into, although he is one of the worst culprits of our typical tip-tap passes) Gervinho has looked promising in his very early Arsenal days, with a deft finish against Blackburn showing that Gervinho may be just what we are looking for.  

Carl Jenkinson

This Finnish qualified right back has been out of his depth so far, no doubt. However, this new nineteen year old will give 100% for the team that I have no doubt about. He is an Arsenal fan from birth, and in my opinion, we need more players like him who truly love the Arsenal. However, passion only gets you so far. Sadly, I don’t see him making it for a top team. I can imagine him being on the fringes for a few seasons and being shipped off to a borderline premiership/Championship. He is clearly lacking in positional sense and he has done well considering making his début for Charlton Athletic in February, but I have massive doubts over this right back. I hope I end up eating my words and I see him develop into a great defender, because you can tell how much playing for the Arsenal means too him, but, judging by the way Man United turned him inside out before being red carded, I just can’t see him cutting it, although I really hope he does.     

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain 

Another who looked out of their depth vs. United, (but lets be honest, who didn’t?) But I have high hopes for this young man. Several clubs were after him, but after some advice from his old man, Chamberlain was heading to Emirates. People have a right to be criticizing Arsene Wenger at the moment, but every football fan must admit he has done a superb job in forging our reputation as one of Europe’s best growers of footballing talent. Chamberlain will prove to be a great example. True, he was completely anonymous against United, but it wasn't the best conditions to make your Premier leagued début. But then I saw him destroy Israel for the England under 21’s. He instinctively knows when to get forward, and his passing, long or short, is superb. He got three assists and won a penalty with a fantastic dribble which took him past four defenders. Although I have admittedly seen little of AOC, I am very excited for what lies ahead for this £12 million midfielder.   

Joel Campbell 

I have the feeling this Campbell will turn out much like Vela. He’ll go on loan for three years to secure a work permit, we’ll hear great things about him, but after three years of playing for lower teams abroad, he won’t get any game time when he returns and end up leaving or spending several more seasons on loan. It’s a shame really, because I have heard great things. He is a Costa Rican striker, who is very strong. He picks his runs well and will get goals, but I can’t really see him breaking into the team. I imagine he’ll end up having a decent career with a mid table Spanish team, but I doubt apart from a few Carling cup appearances we’ll see much of him.  

Andre Santos

From what I’ve heard, a very good attacking left back. From what I’ve seen, a pretty dodgy defender who doesn't look comfortable on a football pitch. I write after the Blackburn game, and for one of Blackburn’s goals he was the furthest defender back by about two yards. It was more of a defensive diagonal than a flat line. He could maybe get away with that in the Turkish league, but the Premier League is a very different ball game. This Brazilian left back obviously has quality (he has 30 odd Brazil caps) but we can’t afford him to take too long to adapt to the English game. We need him to come out of his shell quickly, and we need big performances from this man.

   

Per Mertesacker

Funny one this. Obviously, this German giant is a good player, with 75 caps for Germany, but in the games against Swansea and Blackburn, two of the weakest attacking forces in the league, he has looked poor. He was often out of position and he has a similar turning circle to a Boeing 707. He has been exposed for pace far too often, but Sammi Hyppia and Carlos Puyol are both very slow and top quality centre backs. I think this 6 ft 6 in defender is going to be good in the premier league, as no bad player will represent Germany 75 times. But he looks like bambi on ice when strikers run at him. He also loses a surprising amount of headers for a man of his height, which is the last thing we need. But I believe after a few games in the premier league, he will develop into a superb ball winning centre back. I have high hopes for this German, but I don’t know how much patience fans will have at times like these…  

Park Chu-Young 

I haven’t seen much of this Japanese centre-forward, but I imagine he will provide good back up for our attack, and I guarantee he will give 100%. However, at his first press conference as an Arsenal player, he announced he was “stunned” we had signed him which surely is an indication as to how the quality of players we are signing is decreasing. And as he is third cousin of Manure’s Park Ji Sung, he will hopefully always score against them, as his cousin ALWAYS scores against us. I don’t think he will get too much game time but I'm looking forward to seeing the South Korea captain in action. 

Yossi Benayoun  

A decent attacking midfielder, but clearly not up to the standard of Nasri or Fabregas. He is a premier league proven player and he is similar in how he plays to Gervinho; more direct and not as many crappy little two yard passes. He will supply backup to Gervinho and Theo (I would prefer Yossi to Arshavin) and I would quite like to see him signed permanently after his loan deal if he plays well, which I imagine he will, because he’s been a good player in the premier league for years, and he will create chances like he always has. He’s a good signing, not a great one, but he’ll do. For now.  

Mikael Arteta

Great signing! That’s what I would be saying if we had signed him in 2009, but he’s still a great player. True, he’s not the player he was, but he was a world class player, and I imagine he’ll fit in well into the hole left by Cesc. Yes, we could have used him two years ago, and he is a little like a Cesc downgrade, but his signing also means Rambo won’t need to be playing every game, which is important at his age. It’s also encouraging to here that he was willing to take a pay cut to get to Arsenal. Despite times like these, he was still willing to take less money to play for Arsenal. We need big performances from this man. You have big shoes to fill, Mr.Arteta.  

So there you have it, my opinion on are new signings, and why our 1st 11 are has undoubtedly become worse, I believe our squad depth has actually improved. Here’s what should be the 1st team. Szszesny, Sagna, Vermaelen, Mertesacker, Gibbs, Frimpong, Arteta, Wilshere, Gervinho, Walcott, Rvp. So take a look at my opinion, agree, disagree, But let’s all get behind the team win or lose, because that’s what true fans do, win or lose.  Forward Arsenal.