Former Spurs midfielder Jamie O’Hara has blasted Arsenal’s transfer activity, despite the Gunners recently sealing their club-record transfer of Nicolas Pepe from Lille for £72m.
Aside from Pepe, Unai Emery has added the likes of midfielder Dani Ceballos and youngster Gabriel Martinelli to the ranks – as well as French centre-back William Saliba, who has re-joined former club Saint-Etienne on loan for the upcoming season.
O’Hara feels that Arsenal should have focused on strengthening their defence – especially in light of Laurent Koscielny’s pre-season antics that saw the captain miss the team’s American tour – and had doubts over Pepe’s impact at the club.
He told talkSPORT: “Everyone’s getting a little bit carried away saying it’s going to be their best transfer window. Look, Pepe’s a very good player, but he’s not proven in the Premier League.
“They’ve signed Ceballos from Real Madrid, but they lost Ramsey, and for me, Ramsey was a big player for them, so all they’ve done is lost one, brought one in.
“I thought they needed to strengthen at the back – what happens? Koscielny wants to leave, and he’s their captain.
“You have to build from the back. They need a left-back and they need a centre-half, and their club captain doesn’t want to be at the club.”
How convenient for O’Hara that ‘everyone’ is supposedly of a view he disagrees with. To cite Pepe’s lack of Premier League pedigree is merely an empty and lazy remark from the ex-Spurs player. He said it himself – he’s ‘a very good player’ – so how relevant can his experience be? Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang certainly didn’t need any based on his scoring record for Arsenal.
As for criticising Arsenal for replacing a player in Ramsey (who sealed his move to Juventus back in February) – well, that is the entire point of the transfer window.
If these are the bases of O’Hara’s arguments, then perhaps there will be no pleasing the ex-Tottenham man as far as Arsenal are concerned.
