Why Arsenal's January Transfer Window Was an Abject Failure

If, and when looks more likely, Arsenal do not win their first Premier League title in a decade, it will be hard not to look past the abject failure that was their January transfer window.

Arsene Wenger's failure to bring in a striker is strange to say the least. The fact that they signed just one player, 31-year-old midfielder Kim Kallstrom—who is injured into the bargain—makes the Gunners' January transfer dealings all the more bizarre.

Following Olivier Giroud's less-than-adequate first season, it was obvious to Wenger back in the summer that he needed to address the striker situation at Arsenal.

According to a vast number of sources, the Daily Star being one of them, the Gunners were linked with a whole host of strikers and big-money moves for the likes of Manchester United's Wayne Rooney, Liverpool's Luis Suarez and Real Madrid's Gonzalo Higuain.

Wenger even went as far as to embarrass himself and the club by making the now famous £40 million-plus-1 bid for Suarez. He later admitted to the Independent that the bid was "not the most subtle thing" the club has ever done.

It might have been embarrassing and it might have been less than subtle. However, what it did show to Arsenal's legion of fans was that the club were trying to move heaven and earth to bring in a top-class player.

Giroud, to his great credit, has grown in the face of this adversity. He was the obvious choice to miss out if Wenger brought in a striker. He knuckled down and worked incredibly hard during the summer.

The French centre-forward is arguably now Arsenal's most important player and his red-hot form means he is one of the first names on Wenger's team sheet.

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Given what had happened in the summer, the fact the club have only one striker of international quality, Giroud, and the fact that Arsenal currently lead the Premier League and are in a phenomenal position to actually win the league, Gunners fans, at the very least, expected a striker to be brought in to bolster the squad.

Nobody expected a top-player such as Suarez or Edinson Cavani to walk through the doors of the Emirates with a flock of white doves at his back as Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries played in the background.

What they correctly expected was a forward being brought in to give cover to Giroud. 

Before Arsenal's fans talk of there being adequate cover at the club, let me say this. Adequate is a word that should never be used in any professional football club, let alone a great club like Arsenal.

Nicklas Bendtner is not adequate cover. The Dane has been involved with the first team at Arsenal since 2005. He has only played 107 games in almost 10 years at the club and has scored just 24 goals. Those two statistics speak volumes about the 26-year-old.

Lukas Podolski and Theo Walcott are wide-forwards who can fill in a central role. They are not, however, the long-term answer through the middle.

But Wenger knows this already. That's why he tried to buy a striker in the summer.

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To cut a long story short, Arsenal's only concrete bid for a striker in January was a loan move for Miroslav Klose of Lazio, according to the Metro. Even though the German striker is 35 and past his best, this move actually made a lot of sense.

Klose has links with Mesut Ozil, Lukas Podolski and Per Mertesacker, and would have settled into the Arsenal way very quickly. He would have also accepted the role as back-up without question. 

What did not make sense was Arsenal's refusal to go above the £2 million loan fee after Lazio rejected their initial bid.

Two million. Yes, you read that right. At the end of the season, when Arsenal's fans will be tossing and turning after being denied their first title in a decade, they will ask: How much extra would it have cost to sign Klose? Would it have made the difference?

The simple answer is: Nobody knows. But the simple truth is that Arsenal had their fate in their own hands and they have now handed it to the footballing gods—and as we all know, they can be unforgiving.

So having being rebuffed for a 35-year-old dinosaur, who does Arsene Wenger turn to?

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He turns to 31-year-old Swedish journeyman Kim Kallstrom from Spartak Moscow, as per the club's official website.

This move was a shock to everyone, Kallstrom included. He told Arsenal’s official website:

"

Yesterday I was in Abu Dhabi with Spartak Moscow and I got a phone call asking if I would like to go to Arsenal on loan for a few months. I thought ‘Absolutely, why not?’

So I quickly went back to the hotel, got my stuff and went to the airport as fast as I could! I flew into London today.

Now I just want to settle down as fast as I can and prepare for the games ahead.

"

Except we now know that Kallstrom is out injured until the end of February as a best-case scenario, according to Arsene Wenger. He spoke to the club's official website following Arsenal's 2-0 win over Crystal Palace.

Le Prof was then asked if he had considered pulling out of the deal to sign the Swede and he gave him a ringing endorsement...

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"

Yes of course it crossed my mind. I would not have signed him if we had two or three more days to do something, but it was Friday night at five o'clock, so it was [a case of] you [sign] nobody or you do it under these conditions.

I decided to do it because we might, because of the number of games we have now in February, we might need the players in March or April. There is a possibility [that he may not play] but as well there is the possibility that he scores us the winning goal that might be vitally important.

At some stage in our job you have to make a decision. Are you wrong or right? You will only know at the end of the season.

"

One only has to read these quotes from Wenger and the one where he—at the same press conference—pointedly says, "Look, we are not against spending," to ask why didn't Arsenal pursue Klose a little more or more importantly: Why didn't they push the boat out for Julian Draxler?

Draxler's £37.8 million release clause was well published across the footballing media. The Express reported that Arsenal only bid £25 million and refused to go any higher. 

Thirteen million may sound like a massive amount of money to most clubs but not to the likes of Arsenal. The Gunners have recently put their ticket prices up 2.8 percent and have signed a £150 million kit deal with Puma, according to the Daily Mail.

Draxler is the real deal. He is just 20 years of age, has played more than 130 senior matches for Schalke 04 and has 10 caps for Germany. He is a star in the making. Arsenal had their chance to sign the kid for £37.8 million this January.

They won't get the chance next summer because the likes of Paris Saint-Germain FC, Bayern Munich FC, FC Barcelona and Manchester United are sure to become involved in the chase to sign Draxler.

Arsenal had the chance to sign one of the hottest players on the planet—and they blew it.

They also had the chance to sign Klose. It is hard to imagine Klose's transfer costing more than an extra £1 million. 

Arsenal could have bought both players and they would have both built for the future and strengthened for today.

As the deadline for the January transfer window neared, BBC reported that the Gunners' North London rivals, Tottenham Hotspur, have become mixed up in an attempted transfer fraud.

The real fraud that was carried out in the January transfer window was at Arsenal. 

They had the chance to decide their own destiny but failed miserably.

Come the summer, Arsene Wenger might just rue those decisions—and that is why Arsenal's January transfer window was a complete and utter failure.