Arsenal Transfer News: How Do Gunners' Deadline Deals Impact Hardware Hopes?

Arsenal has had a very busy 48 hours leading up to the transfer deadline. They have brought in Andre Santos, Park Chu-Young and Per Metesacker with negotiations for more additions still ongoing. The next question becomes, how will these acquisitions impact the Gunners' quest for a trophy?

Andre Santos

Santos was brought to Emirates from Fenerbahce with hopes of bringing some experience to the squad. He will fill the spot vacated by Gael Clichy earlier in the summer and while he's not nearly the player Clichy had become for the Gunners, he's better than no addition at all.

Santos spent the previous two seasons with Corinthians and has spent time with the Brazilian national team, although he wasn't selected to the World Cup squad. The 28-year-old left-back has played in plenty of big games and should help some of Arsenal's young players develop.

Here's what Santos said about the move (via ESPNsoccernet):

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"I am delighted to have signed for Arsenal. It was one of my dreams to play for a major European football club and I have accomplished this. I am very happy to be part of this team. All the Brazilians who came to this club spoke wonders about it and I am delighted to be part of the Arsenal family."

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Fenerbahce has been embroiled in a match-fixing scandal that cost them a spot in the Champions League. While Santos said that situation didn't affect his decision to leave for Arsenal, it's hard to take those comments at face value at such a low point for the team. He wouldn't want to pile on.

All told, Santos is an average addition by manager Arsene Wenger. He won't be able to fix all of the defensive issues Arsenal have endured by himself, but he'll be a consistent option that can be trusted to perform under pressure.

Per Mertesacker

Mertesacker joins Arsenal from Werder Bremen in his home country of Germany. The 26-year-old defender has played a total of 297 games over the past five seasons for Die Werderaner and the German national team, including at least 50 games each of the last three campaigns.

Durability like that is essential to being successful in the Premier League. The game is so physical and moves at such a rapid pace that it is hard to remain in top form if you are in and out of the lineup with various medical issues.

While the center-back is a stay-at-home defender for the most part, he usually chips in a handful of goals throughout the season. He'll provide the Gunners with some much needed relief in the center of defense after a poor outing by young Carl Jenkinson against Manchester United.

Arsenal paid a pretty steep price (£10 million according to Setanta) to pry the veteran away from Weserstadion, but Wenger made it clear that price was no object when it came to improving the squad after the departures of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri. 

Park Chu-Young

The first addition to the team was Park Chu-Young, a striker from the recently relegated Monaco in France. The 26-year-old forward gained notoriety for his strong play with South Korea during last summer's World Cup.

Here are his thoughts about the transfer (via ESPNsoccernet):

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"I am very honored and I feel very happy to be at Arsenal. It is a dream to be here and I am really proud to be an Arsenal player. Now I just want to show how good I am and prove myself.

"In my opinion this is a great club, now I have to show what I can do on the pitch. I will do my best, I will never give up, I will show heart, I will give everything and I hope [the fans] will support me."

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Park scored 11 goals in 33 games in Ligue 1 play last season and should provide some support up top behind Robin van Persie and Gervinho.

It is also possible that Wenger may mess around with the lineup and formation a bit during scoring slumps in order to get all three strikers on the field. As for now though, Park will get his feet wet as a second-half substitute in all likelihood.

According to The Telegraph, Arsenal swooped in late in the negotiations between Monaco and Lille to steal the striker away. On top of that intrigue, Park may have to return to South Korea for military service in 2013.

How Wenger got the deal done is irrelevant now and it'll be up to Park to produce.

Yossi Benayoun

While the deal is not yet official, it looks like Benayoun is leaning toward joining Arsenal on a season-long loan, according to Sky Sports. The midfielder was previously with Liverpool from '07-'10 before joining the Blues.

Chelsea has been very active in talks over the past few days and Benayoun is one of the odd men out at Stamford Bridge. With so many question marks in the midfield for Arsenal, he would find much more playing time at Emirates.

The biggest knock against Benayoun is that when an opposing player gets physical with him, he tends to disappear in games. When he's fully engaged in the contest though, he tends to make things happen.

At the end of the day, there will be a combination of emotions in North London. While Wenger making additions to the club in an attempt to stop the bleeding is nice to see, it's impossible to overlook the key losses that occurred earlier in the window.

Although they won't use the word themselves, Arsenal is in a rebuilding phase now and it will probably take some time before they are back in trophy contention.

The longer it takes to get back in the mix, the more likely it will be without Wenger leading the way.