Arsenal January transfer targets assessed: Arda Guler move, Randal Kolo Muani interest, Fabio Vieira recall?

The pleas from fans are incessant, but Arsenal seldom pull off a big-money transfer during the January transfer window, always a difficult one for the hierarchy to navigate as teams try to retain their prized assets for the remainder of the campaign.

However, that is not to say that the London Colney doors are closed completely, and Arsenal have welcomed several new additions to the club in winter windows gone by, including marquee moves, cut-price bargains and short-term loans.

Some such as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Leandro Trossard and Nacho Monreal proved to be huge hits, while others such as Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Denis Suarez are best consigned to the back pages of the Arsenal annals.

Together with Gunners expert Charles Watts, Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at what to expect from every position in the January transfer window for Arteta's side.

ATTACK

All of Arsenal's January transfer eggs should be in the attacking basket, Watts believes, as the Gunners will be without Bukayo Saka for two months due to a hamstring injury and have also lost Raheem Sterling due to a knee problem.

During their 1-0 win over Ipswich Town on December 27, Ethan Nwaneri was the only offensive option on the bench for Arteta, who held off on making a move for a new striker in the summer thanks to the form of Kai Havertz and presence of Gabriel Jesus.

Mid-season deals for the likes of Alexander Isak, Matheus Cunha and Viktor Gyokeres are seen as almost impossible, but Randal Kolo Muani of Paris Saint-Germain could be a viable option for the North London club, who will apparently be given the chance to sign him on loan.

The France international has as many goals as he has starts in Ligue 1 this season - two - although Watts has warned that Arsenal will not be the only club competing for his signature amid talk of AC Milan preparing a swoop.

[Kolo Muani] has not had a great time of things at PSG but is clearly a talented attacker," Watts said. "I think there's going to be lots of interest in him as well. If Arsenal are in the running, we'll have to wait and see.

"But I've seen Milan being heavily linked as a possible destination for him in January. So there's going to be lots of clubs sniffing around. Everyone's going to be looking at the same sort of player in January."

MIDFIELD

Unless Jorginho or Thomas Partey are sold this month before their deals run out in the summer, Arsenal are well-covered at the base of the midfield, but the same is not entirely true of the more advanced engine room positions.

Due to Arteta's reluctance to start 17-year-old Nwaneri in the Premier League or Champions League, Arsenal had no like-for-like replacement for Martin Odegaard when the skipper was out with an ankle injury, something that Watts believes the Gunners could rectify by repeating their original transfer trick with the Norwegian.

Arsenal signed Odegaard from Real Madrid on loan in January 2021, and four years later, the Gunners have been tipped to do the same with Arda Guler, the 19-year-old Turkish protege who is struggling for regular starts in the Spanish capital.

"Arda Guler is always one that I come back to who there have been links to in the past," Watts said. "I've not actually been able to substantiate myself whether the interest is genuine or not, but if it is genuine, that's the sort of potential market opportunity that maybe they could exploit.

"A player who's just on the fringes of things at their clubs, is clearly very talented and can do it at the highest level. He's shown that internationally and for Real Madrid when he's got an opportunity. Could you go out and maybe get him on a loan until the end of the season? I think it is a very interesting one to keep an eye on."

Arsenal did not help themselves in the summer window by letting both Emile Smith Rowe and Fabio Vieira leave for Fulham and Porto respectively, but there have been rumours that the latter could be recalled from his loan to alleviate the Gunners' attacking shortages.

Fuel was added to the fire when Vieira was left out of Porto's squad to face Boavista on December 28, but it has now been confirmed that his omission was due to technical/disciplinary reasons, which Watts cannot see going down well with Arteta.

"They weren't ready to wash their hands of Fabio Vieira," Watts said. "That's why they didn't include any sort of purchase clause in the loan deal with Porto. They wanted him to go out there, find himself a little bit and then come back in the summer.

"To hear that things haven't been going great behind the scenes, I don't think Arteta especially will be happy with that. But in terms of coming back and fixing the issue left by Saka's injury, no. He's more of a central player anyway, I don't like him when he plays on the right-hand side. So from my mind, that was never an option."

DEFENCE

Arsenal's only move of the January transfer window so far has been defence-related, as 20-year-old right-back Josh Robinson departed on a permanent deal for Wigan Athletic on New Year's Day.

Arteta has had to chop and change back fours all season long due to injuries, and neither Takehiro Tomiyasu nor Ben White will be seen for some time, but Jurrien Timber is keeping himself fit and there is an embarrassment of riches on the left-hand side.

At present, Riccardo Calafiori, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Kieran Tierney are being kept out of the starting XI by academy graduate Myles Lewis-Skelly, the 18-year-old "revelation" with an "aura" about him.

Thanks to Lewis-Skelly's rise, Watts believes that the backline should be the least of Arsenal's priorities in January, adding: "He's been absolutely fantastic, Myles Lewis-Skelly. He just looks so calm, composed, strong.

"I love the fight that he's showing, like in the game against Ipswich, [Liam] Delap tried to really rough him up, get in his face. Lewis-Skelly stood up to it all, going eye to eye to him, pushing him away.

"One of the Ipswich players shoved Gabriel off the pitch into the hoardings and then when he came back on, Lewis-Skelly was there, getting in his face, protecting his teammate. And this is an 18-year-old kid, he's just got that aura about him and confidence about him.

"He's just been an absolute revelation since he's come into the team. I think he's certainly fixed an issue for Arsenal - I look at that defence and I think they've got enough there."

Written by

Ben Knapton