It can be very dangerous to make sweeping statements, and I try not to make a habit of it however, I feel confident in saying that, by and large, the Arsenal fanbase have been relatively happy with the Summer 2025 transfer window.
I don’t think anyone is throwing around the word ‘perfect’ and there were a few deals that raised eyebrows at first and maybe a few lingering doubts still persist but even if fans haven’t been wholly satisfied with the purchase we’ve made, there has been a clear rationale behind each deal that most fans can understand.
Kepa and Christian Norgaard aren’t the sort of deals to wow fans but I think everyone can see why the club brought these two to the club. Experienced, Premier League proven, good characters, leaders and so on. The signing of Martin Zubimendi might have not gone the fanfare that it probably deserved, due to the prolonged period between when Arsenal fans were told this was happening (in early 2025) and when it actually happened. That said, the general consensus of the footballing world is that Zubminedi is a serious footballer and one that most clubs would love to have and as a result the Arsenal fanbase were fully behind this deal.
Noni Madueke definitely caused a stir and that ridiculous trending hashtag aside, this is one signing that probably divided the Arsenal faithful the most. I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t pleased when this was first announced as I’ve never been really impressed with what I’ve seen at Chelsea. In any case, I was convinced this deal would get done as it seemed very similar to the Kai Havertz deal from two years previous, so I quickly got my head around it and was soon onboard. The fans who were most against this deal argued that the funds should be better used elsewhere and were therefore concerned that due to the price of the deal, that this would have an effect on who we could bring in as our star striker signing. We’ve all been arguing for the last two years that we needed a back up to Bukayo Saka so we can’t be too critical on Andrea Berta and the club for bringing in a Premier League proven player to fulfil this role. Therefore I think the main issues with this deal were related to the timing of the deal (if we’d already brought in a striker prior to this deal, the outcry may have been far quieter) and the fact that we’re buying another player from Chelsea!! Surely we’re getting used to buying them by now aren’t we? If we had bought ten Willian level signings from them in the past few years I’d understand the anger but I think we’ve actually picked up some good deals from them in the past and I loved it when Havertz put a couple past them at The Emirates to silence the doubters.
The striker debate went on for what fell like an eternity but in the end, the fans asked for a top class goal scorer and we brought in the leading marksman in Europe, so complaints were quickly trampled down by the relief pouring out from the fanbase of the arrival of a ‘proper number 9’ at last.
Cristhian Mosquera looked like sound business from the off and fit a profile that all fans could get behind so there were no qualms about that deal at all.
Up to this point, Arsenal fans might not always have been happy with the player that we brought in, but we could all see why the player (or at least that profile of player) had been brought in and we could all see the squad depth filling out nicely, especially in historical weaker areas of the squad, so all was well. Not many of the deals completed to this point set the pulse racing, but we’d added quality depth to an already exciting group so there was no doubt we had strengthened the squad significantly.
The next deal however…was the deal for a certain Eberechi Eze. This took the window one step further and unified the fanbase in a way that I can’t remember the last time a previous transfer dealing had done so in recent memory. (maybe Mesut Ozil in 2013?) When Eze was linked earlier in the window, the twitter talk from the reliable Arsenal based journalists was that the club saw him as a central player, so there were a few fans who questioned the deal and offered the opinion that a natural left winger would be a better option. These opinions were fairly balanced and had sound logic attached to them but fast forward a few weeks and throw in an impending move to the dark side of North London for Eze and these opinions had completely disappeared into the online ether. In their place, a combination of excitement, ecstasy, relief and laughter emerged out of the tunnel alongside Eze wearing the famous number ten shirt at The Emirates.
This then brings us to the aforementioned Piero Hincapie. At the time of writing, the Ornbomb has been dropped and the deal is in place for Hincapie to join Arsenal on an initial loan deal with an OPTION to purchase at the end of the deal for around £45m. From what I can see, this ‘option’ is similar to the David Raya deal from a few years ago in which a gentleman’s agreement likely exists in which Arsenal have confirmed to Bayer Leverkusen that they will definitely take up this option.
Now I think I’m in the majority of Arsenal fans when I say – I love it when we bring in new signings. Especially when it’s ones that I don’t know that much about. It’s all very exciting, especially as we’ve brought in so many this summer, with this being potentially the eight to sign for the club. However, what separates this deal from the previous seven for me, is that I can’t understand the ‘why’. Why have we done this deal?
Let the record show, this is not a complaint, I’m still very excited about this deal but I’m just not sure why we have done it.
At the start of the summer, it did seem highly likely that both Jakub Kiwior and Oleksandr Zinchenko would leave the club this summer, due to lack of minutes and generally not being at the forefront of the Manager’s thoughts. The signing of Eze compounding this feeling as the need to balance the books seemed to becoming a real priority. These potential departures did fill me with a bit of concern regarding the left back position given Calafiori’s recent struggles with injuries and the still relative inexperience of the excellent Myles Lewis-Skelly.
It just felt like that if we sold both Kiwior and Zinchenko and Calafiori picked up an injury, we were putting a lot on the shoulders of an eighteen year old who has only played this position for around two years of his fledgling career.
With these concerns in mind, I thought the club might tell one of them that unfortunately their personal aspirations for extra minutes and a new start were due to take a back seat as we needed the cover, so they would have to stay.
Alternatively, I thought we might pick up a prospect in this position, such as Luiz Benedetti from Palmeiras, who is a nineteen year old left sided defender who’s stock is on the rise in Brazilian football.
It therefore surprised me to read of our sudden interest in Piero Hincapie, a player who I had heard mentioned a few times in recent years with strong links to other Premier League clubs and as someone who I believed was predominately a centre back and very much a first choice one at that.
The more I read about Hincapie, the left back option came into clear focus and I could see where he would fit into the squad however, this very much feels like a first eleven signing on the surface. I know we have taken great lengths this summer to really add depth to our squad and as a fanbase it feels like we’re slowly coming away this thought of a ‘first eleven’ and thinking more of a squad mindset. Despite this change in mindset, it still feels like in defence we have a first choice back four and then back up players providing the depth and the real rotation mindset applies more to the forward players, as they are often substituted and rested and so on.
I suppose the contrast to this point would be the right back situation on the opposite side of the defence with it difficult to pick out who is the ‘first choice’ player out of Ben White and Jurrien Timber. These are two players who feel very much on a par with each other and I could see them being rotated often throughout the season. What makes the left back situation different is that it seems as though Mikel Arteta really likes Calafiori and speaks so glowingly about him and given how he has started the season, it just feels unlikely that he will then be shifted into a rotation with another player. Hincapie has also been an undisputed first choice in a recent title winning side in Bayer Leverkusen and with the deal becoming one of the clubs most expensive defensive signings ever, it seems like he jump to the top of the list when Arteta is thinking of left backs. Through Myles Lewis-Skelly’s new five year deal into the mix and it really does start to get messy! All of that aside, I believe in the current Arsenal setup, in terms of recruitment. We wouldn’t be spending such a significant sum on a player if he didn’t raise the level of our squad and that is definitely something that I can always get behind so I look forward to seeing Hincapie running out onto The Emirates pitch in the famous red and white shirt.