I’m not going to bother getting in to the stupid League Cup ball nonsense this morning. It’s simply another way to bash Mikel Arteta for answering a simple question. Meh.

What I am going to get in to, is the fact that we are almost a third of the way through this January window and by the sounds of it, there hasn’t been a single sniff about Arsenal and our potential to do business in the next three weeks.

That concerns me a little. I get that it’s only 9th January right now, that there are plenty of days left and that transfers are complex things that don’t happen overnight, but even the rumour mill feels like it’s ground to a halt. It doesn’t even sound like we’re scouring the market.

Perhaps I’m just overreacting. Hey, I’m a fan, I love the club and I want to see us improve. I’m prone to bouts of overreaction and because I don’t work in football I have no idea how it works. But in this day and age usually there’s so many eyeballs everywhere that there simply isn’t the ability for any club to keep any transfer truly quiet. The rumblings, the ITKs releasing info, the journalists talking about discussions with players or clubs, it all tends to trickle, then pour, then flood through the airwaves. And it’s the fact we haven’t seen even the slightest trickle that worries me.

“Transfers are hard. You don’t want us to sign any old duffer, do you?” Is a fair retort to today’s Thursday musings, but surely everyone involved in supporting The Arsenal must be thinking the same thing I.e. we need a lift of some kind, right? You can’t tell me that with all of the thousands of players out there, with the investment the club has made in its scouting network, that there is nobody who would improve us. “Who would you sign then?” Is a reductive retort as well, because I’m not paid to spend all my time finding players that will improve us. If I was I’d like to think I could have a shortlist of 30 players that would fit the bill. Of course, you have to have the selling club, the player, agents, etc all lined up, but there are definitely players out there who would provide a spark and that spark could lift the team.

I’d quite like us to have a chat to Brentford about Mbueno. We’ve done business with them before, we’ve struck the Raya deal and I suspect with them comfortably in mid table he’d be keen to make the switch. He’s a guy who would slot in to our team and hopefully not break the bank either. He’s supposedly on around £75k-per-week and has a year-and-a-half left on his current deal. It’s a funny one because right now it feels like a good move because he’s Prem-ready, but in the summer I’d be wanting us to cast our net wider for that big star. I guess I’m kind of contradicting my own argument today though, because I’m talking up a move now, whilst at the same time saying we need to go bigger in the summer. I guess it just underlines the tricky situation Arsenal – and most clubs to be fair – find themselves in. But a move for Mbueno still feels like it could be done to strengthen our forward line. Whilst also ensuring we have space for that big summer striker signing, so I hope the club is chatting to Brentford to at least find a price. TransferMarkt has him at €50million, whilst is about £42million. I suspect if you offer £45million to Brentford for him, they’d more than likely take it. Sure, they’d be reluctant sellers in January and sure, they’d miss his form and goals, which this season have been in abundance for him (13 goals and three assists), but they are a club with a model that would see that £45million as an opportunity to re-invest in multiple players and given they aren’t in a precarious position in the league (as I’ve already mentioned) I think now might be a good time to see if they budge.

What do you reckon though? Would you try to pull the trigger on someone like Mbueno?