It was a successful window for Arsenal this summer after they splashed out £155m on some key personnel such as Nicholas Pepe, Kieran Tierney and David Luiz.
However, there were also some notable departures from Arsenal, with standout names including club captain Laurent Koscielny and attacker Alex Iwobi.
Things moved fast in terms of the latter. It was reported on Wednesday morning that Everton had made a bid of around £30m to land the 23-year-old.
The Toffees had been heavily linked with a move for the Crystal Palace attacker Wilfried Zaha, however it remained to be seen whether deadline day would bring any further movement on that potential deal.
As it turned out, Zaha ending up staying at Selhurst Park while Everton came back in for Iwobi and eventually landed the attacker for £28m on a five-year contract.
While there is no doubt Iwobi is a talented footballer, the deal looks to be a good piece of business for the Gunners.
Iwobi played a fairly substantial 3042 minutes last season across four competitions for Arsenal, yet there is still a feeling that he lacked a starring role within Unai Emery’s side and seemed to underwhelm at various points throughout the campaign.
So what does his departure mean for the players still at the club and who is set to benefit?
First and foremost, his departure should bestow summer signing Nicolas Pepe the time to settle within the starting 11 and give him time to build on the pitch relationship's with his team-mates. The former Lille man netted 23 goals last season and proved a blistering asset in attack. However, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to anticipate he may require a period of adjustment.
While unlikely, if the forward took a little bit longer to impact the side than what Emery and his staff may have hoped, there may have been the pressure or even temptation to bring Iwobi back into the side at the expense of the Ivory Coast international. The same could have then potentially proved detrimental to the forwards bedding in period, thus adding pressure on him to succeed when playing less minutes on the pitch.
However, the player most likely set to benefit from Iwobi’s departure will be Reiss Nelson. The arrival of Pepe this season means that those vying for a role in the Arsenal attack will have to be patient, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette expected to link up with the Gunners newboy to form a formidable front three.
The 19-year-old was down on the pecking order behind Iwobi and would have most likely struggled to secure any regular game time within the first time. However, the door now looks to have opened for him to feature for the senior side at various stages over the up and coming season.
Arsenal fans have already been granted an opportunity to see some of his attacking prowess across this summer's pre-season as the youngster was bestowed plenty of minutes for Unai Emery’s side.
Nelson has played 275 minutes over Arsenal’s friendly fixtures this season, which was around a third of the number of minutes he played in the Bundesliga on loan at Hoffenheim last season. Notably, the bulk of those minutes came on the left of Arsenal’s attack.
Within those matches, he proved nimble with the ball at his feet an averaged 4.6 dribbles per 90 minutes with a success rate of 41%. Just for comparison, Iwobi was averaging 3.1 dribbles per 90 minutes last season.
He also proved a great carrier of the ball across these matches, averaging 2.6 progressive runs per 90 minutes. Again, for comparison, this was one of Iwobi’s best assets that ranked him very high in the division last year, but he was averaging just 3.3 progressive runs per 90 minutes.
Although that number still bettered Nelson’s output, it’s worth remembering Iwobi is four years older than the teenager. And while the Arsenal man was competing in friendly fixtures, they were still against some of the top sides across Europe including Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.
He capped off his fine pre-season with a goal against Angers. However, his Expected Goal (xG) numbers of 1.81 from those pre-season fixtures suggested he could have bagged more than just the one goal given the chances he created for himself.
Whilst this maybe highlights some subpar finishing - not unusual given his age, it does demonstrate he clearly understands how to position himself cleverly in key attacking areas.
As his finishing skills improve in senior football in the coming years, expect to see his goal return rocket.
Overall, there is no ill-feelings aimed towards Iwobi following his departure. Arsenal fans will be happy to see him do well at Goodison Park, but there is a sense that they are more than equipped in those attacking areas to fill the void left by his move.
With that in mind, don’t be surprised to see Nelson play a more substantial role for the Gunners this season.
