I've seen mixed reviews on the window. In my opinion, those that are not happy with the window I imagine would think it was a successful one had we singed one more forward player. From where I stand, I am satisfied with the window and think we did some much needed business.
If we take the squad as a whole at the start of the window, we see areas that needed revamping and areas that needed reinforcing. The two areas that needed revamping were CB and CM.
We brought in 2 experienced, quality CBs in Coady and Tarks - probably the best we could get in our circumstances and both cost next to nothing. We now have 5 CBs competing for 2 or 3 spots. Much more quality and depth.
CM needed a complete overhaul. For me, it was the most important area to improve on during the window. Gueye will bring experience and tenacity, along with Onana's energy and drive. I think Garner will be introduced slowly, but another option and young exciting player who can develop here. Iwobi feels like a new singing and will hopefully be a main stay in midfield for us. We again have more depth here too, Doucoure, Allan, Davies all fighting for a place in the starting line up. This now gives us 7 players fighting for 2 or 3 spots.
In the wide positions we have Grey, Gordon, McNeil and Townsend, along with Maupay who has played in wider positions during his career. Admittedly, this area appears a little light in depth. It would have been nice to add another forward to the squad before the window closed, however we have addressed a lot of major issues this window and I believe we have recruited the right personnel. I'd much rather the club spend time recruiting and getting it right, than buying for the sake of it like we've seen in the past (even as recently as Rondon, El Ghazi).
In a way we have replaced Richarlison's goals with Maupay. Although whether or not he starts along with DCL is yet to be seen. For me this adds a lot more pressure on wider forward to score goals. I don't think we will see buckets full from McNeil, which for me adds expectation on Grey and especially Gordon. We've seen Gordon take a lot of shots on so far this season, and despite Dom returning I expect this to continue.
In an ideal world, I'd hope to see DCL hit 15 goals this season if he stays fit, Gordon 10, Maupay 7-10, and at least another 10 between Iwobi, Townsend, Grey and McNeil. With a much more rounded midfield and defence, I'll be more confident against us conceding 63 goals this season like we did last. My belief is we probably wont score more than 50 goals this season, because we don't have the personnel, but I hope we can win a lot more games with a much more balanced squad.
In Conclusion, net spend is roughly £25m in total, but the squad is a lot better off in terms of quality and depth. We've also freed the club of some expensive wages such as Sigurdsson, Richarlison, Tosun, Gomes, Delph, Alli, Gbamin - most of those players we're likely on £80k+ per week. Gueye and Tarks are the only two players we have signed who I can see us being close to that wage. I think we've improved the squad drastically (minus losing Richy) whilst also improving the finances and wage structure of the club.
