Arsenal's Director of Football Reveals Gunners' January Transfer Window Plans

Raul Sanllehi, Arsenal's director of football, has revealed that the Gunners are unlikely to make any additional signings in the January transfer window. After

Raul Sanllehi, Arsenal's director of football, has revealed that the Gunners are unlikely to make any additional signings in the January transfer window.

After Unai Emery's appointment in the summer, Arsenal went about their summer transfer business swiftly and effectively, bringing in Lucas Torreira, Stephan Lichtsteiner, Matteo Guendouzi and Bernd Leno. 

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After a poor start to the season, losing their opening two matches against Manchester City and Chelsea, Arsenal have roared into life and now sit in fourth place having gone on a seven-game winning streak in the Premier League.

These performance levels have contributed to Sanllehi's decision to not invest in January, according to the Mail on Sunday (via the Daily Cannon). 

In Rob Draper's report, the director of football said: “I don’t believe much in the winter window but there are exceptions. But if you have the right planification (sic) in the summer and the team are performing at the level you expect, you should not go to that window or try to avoid it."

He added: "It’s there for emergencies, a big injury or if something is really not working and you need to recover there. I give much more importance to the summer windows.

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“We invested (this summer) very early because we understand this market as being inflationary, so the longer you take to make the signings the higher the prices normally become. We did all the homework beforehand, I would say from February, March.”

Despite the planned lack of expenditure in January, it is still expected that Arsenal will only have £40m to spend in the summer window, with Stan Kroenke reportedly unlikely to invest any of his own money.

However, Sanllehi's refutes the claim that Kroenke will keep his money in his pockets no matter what. He explained: "They [the Kronkes] would definitely listen. Let’s cross that bridge when we get to it. They have proven to us that they are extremely reasonable, and passionate about this project.

“We have a direct line with them, we talk constantly and they are very intelligent people. If there is a very clear opportunity, we would definitely talk to them about it.”

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Arsenal's monumental wage bill is contributing to a major outlay at the club. The extortionate wages given to the likes of Mesut Özil, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrich Mkhitaryan have led to other Gunners' stars demanding higher salaries. 

However, despite this, Arsenal are still committed to maintaining a self-sustaining system. Sanllehi said: “It definitely puts stress on efficiency. We need to be very, very efficient in the design of the first team. We need to be very efficient in the way we play and the way we generate the income to put more fuel into the machine.

"There are other clubs financed by other means. That’s not our case and it’s not our model. Every club have their own way of doing things.

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“Definitely, Arsenal are at the world level, where they can compete with everybody. Your level is not only a case of how much you can pay your players. We need to do things very well, yes. We need to do things sharp. But I believe we can compete with anybody.”

The Gunners next face Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park in Sunday's 13:30 kick-off. Arsenal have surprised many with how quickly they seem to have adapted to Emery's style and look to be mounting a serious challenge for a top four finish at least.