CW on transfers

"I couldn't sit here right now and say they're not going to sign anyone in this window, but it's not looking like that's going to happen from the word that I'm getting.

"Zubimendi, we all know that's pretty much done, but I think we're going to have to wait a little bit longer. He's away with Spain at the moment, but I still think that's going to happen, even if it doesn't happen in this window.

"Right now I'm looking more towards the main transfer window rather than the Club World Cup window for Arsenal to really get their business done."

"We're used to it! It seems like it's a problem area every single summer transfer window for Arsenal at the moment. It's just chop and change, chop and change.

"Garcia, I'm not surprised that's looking like it's going to end up the way it is. It's an incredibly hard sell; when he's basically named goalkeeper of the year in Spain and then you're going to say 'come to Arsenal and be number two' How do you sell that? He's just not going to make that move.

"It looks like he's going to be number one [at Barcelona]. But that leaves Arsenal with something to solve. They just about solved it at the end of the last window, but not in a very successful way. Neto came in, did the job, but literally played one game, couldn't play in the Carabao Cup games because they left it so late and he was cup tied.

"You want to avoid that situation, you want to give David Raya a little bit more rest and protect yourself slightly better. Arsenal are pretty lucky that David Raya stayed completely injury free; what we saw from Neto in his one appearance, had he been called upon for a six-week period, Arsenal would have really, really struggled.

"Karl Hein would be perfect for a season. But I can completely understand if he wants to go now, really crack on in his career and play week in week out like he did last season. I's another problem for Andre Berta to solve, one he's going to have to get clever with."

"Maybe. It looks like the more likely to leave would be Ter Stegen; Szczesny is probably going to sign a new deal. He would come with quite high wages, and with your number two goalkeeper, do you really want to invest those sort of wages? I'm not sure.

"I flip-flopped between it too - do you want a younger goalkeeper or an experienced Neto-like goalkeeper? It's a tough one, a real difficult situation for Arsenal to solve. But last summer, I was vouching for Szczesny.

"I thought that would be a really sensible move, so I wouldn't be against it if it happens now. But he retired at the end of last season - the only reason he went to Barcelona was because he was going to be playing.

"Is he really going to want to sit on the bench in maybe the final year of his career? I'm not sure. There's that romantic return feel to it, but when you try and look at it realistically, I'm not sure it's one for club or for the player."

Written by
Ben Knapton