Deadline Day

          It's here again. The day that football fans dream of. It comes around twice a year and fills a day of tedium at work with excitement around football. At the time of writing, 11:22am to be exact, Arsenal have just confirmed Aubameyang as their latest signing, at a record fee for the club. but what else will the day bring? Who's next? Giroud to Chelsea? Batshuayi to Borussia Dortmund? Who knows? What I do know is as we get later in the day, the fee will increase...

The man of the moment (For now.) But where does he fit in the Arsenal side? More importantly, what's his squad number?

           Right, I'll level with you. I started writing this on Wednesday, with the intention of finishing it on Thursday, once the deadline had passed. That's not really worked out though. I went out on site at work rather than sitting at my desk, hence this not being written until Friday. So rather than trying to write about stuff in chronological order I'll just talk about some of the major Premier League deals.

THEO WALCOTT - Arsenal to Everton £20m

          This move on paper looked to be excessive in value. Walcott has struggled to be effective in the last few seasons for Arsenal. But £20m could turn into good business. Since his debut he's had a solid impact, assisting on his debut and scoring twice for Everton in their game on deadline day. This resurgence in his form could see him make a late push for the England World Cup Squad.

OLIVIER GIROUD - Arsenal to Chelsea £15.3m plus £2.2m add ons

          I didn't see this one coming. Chelsea were linked to some absolute gash in January. Ashley Barnes, Andy Carroll and Peter Crouch were names bandied about. Mention of Dzeko returning to the Premier League lasted a while but the signing of Giroud from Arsenal can be seen as good business. For one thing he knows where the goal is and has scored some important goals in the past. Can he do it in blue? We shall see.

AYMERIC LAPORTE - Athletic Bilbao to Manchester City £57m

          This is a top top signing. Alan Pardew described him as a serious threat when his side played Manchester City on Wednesday night. The Frenchman is the second most expensive defender ever, behind someone further down this list. He's the latest star studded edition to the Citizens squad. Another younger player, joining Sane, Sterling, Jesus, Mendy, Stones and Ederson on the list of young stars playing under Pep Guardiola.

ALEXIS SANCHEZ & HENRICK MHIKITARYAN - Swap between Arsenal and Man United

          Hard to say who got the better end of the deal really. Arsenal got rid of someone who wanted out and brought in an exciting player in (I can't spell his name so I'll call him Henry) Henry. Sanchez has started well at United but I wouldn't say the transfer makes sense for them. Obviously I'm not stupid enough to think United fans won't disagree with me, but with Mata, Rashford, Martial, Lukaku, Ibra and countless others who all play in similar positions and are, in some cases, younger.

VIRGIL VAN DIJK - Southampton to Liverpool £75m

          Who'd have thought that it'd be Liverpool, out of all the teams in the Premier League, to break the record for the most expensive defender? Liverpool did well to bring in their man, but the fee was definitely inflated. With Liverpool getting £142m for Coutinho I would have thought that they'd have signed a few more players during the window. But Van Dijk is definitely one of the Leagues top centre backs.

LUCAS MOURA - Paris Saint Germain - Tottenham Hotspur £25m

          A lot of people will call this bad business. Saying "who wants to sign a player who's not been playing for his previous club? How could he improve yours?" but come on. How many players could turn up in Paris now and take the places of Cavani, Neymar and Di Maria? The answer is very few. Spurs have signed a younger winger, with plenty of Brazil caps to his name, he's played 40+ games in each of the last three seasons and has been a good player during those years. Spurs have done well.

         Honourable mentions must go to the sides that have brought in some very good players on loan in this window. West Ham signing Joao Mario on loan is amazing business and will bolster their midfield. West Brom will look to go Daniel Sturridge a route to the World Cup in his loan spell their from Liverpool. Should he remain fit then he'll do well for the Baggies. Finally, Gerard Deulofeu joins Watford on loan from Barcelona and the tricky winger will look to have another good spell in the Premier League, having previously lit the league up with Everton.

That's all for now folks. When the dust settles I might even mention Forest's crazing window.

Until next time,

Craig