The summer verdict must be one of failure, late flourish or not. It was all left far too late, the boss and indeed the board too had the chance to get our house in order well before the start of the season after a shambolic late winter and spring. Look back over 2011 and there have been a handful, literally, of victories. Very little else. The squad went from talented to desperate.

Five signings later it looks much more healthy – however – those of you hoping that Wenger has abandoned his youth based approach are very much incorrect.

Experienced players are vital in any approach, they help guide the younger players and are priceless in the dressing room. The reaction of Jack Wilshere to the signing of Arteta and that of Benayoun, shows that young players love nothing better than a challenge and a more experienced campaigner to learn from and look up too. At least, those young players with the correct attitude, look at a hard-worker like Park, an approach like his should help inspire the right attitude among younger players.

In the center of midfield, Arteta will shelter Aaron Ramsey who is not yet ready to play week after week, it is still too early in his development and he was exposed in the opening weeks of the season. Arteta is a fighter but one with a lot of quality, he is now the most experienced Premier League player in our squad and that speaks volumes.

When I heard the deal was initially off I was not happy at all, especially with Benayoun looking like our only addition on that day. Don’t get me wrong, Benayoun is a decent squad player but we needed much more than that, and whilst Arteta isn’t a glamour signing, we maybe needed a player of this ilk more than a £30m superkid.

Another benefit of the players we have brought in is that it will give the squad some belief again, you could tell against United and Liverpool that this team didn’t really believe, it looked like it was just going through the motions – we now have two very experienced Premier League campaigners, a vastly experienced German international and the captain of the South Korean national team to help instil belief. Anyone who thinks these characters will not have an impact in the dressing room is wrong.

Andre Santos will help guide Kieran Gibbs, and also bring even more pace into the squad. At times last season the squad looked so slow and one dimensional, Cesc was slow, Nasri was nippy with the ball, van Persie is pretty slow and Arshavin seems to have lost a yard of pace. The only real pace we had was in Gael Clichy and his end product was usually dreadful. We now have Gervinho, Park, Walcott, Wilshere, Chamberlain and Santos – he will be a real threat on the left hand side by the looks of things.

A few thoughts on our signings individually:

Per Mertesacker: He is slow, so what? You don’t get many people with Usain Bolt’s speed when you are as tall as him. Many point to his decline since 2006 and say he is past it – well, if you are past it at age 26 I might as well give up now.

The German psyche is pretty unique, they are strong as hell mentally and boy do we need a bit of that. With Per and Vermaelen at the back we have a very strong paring, add the class of Bakary Sagna to that and we have what looks on paper, I add, one of the best defences in the league. They have to gel though, and fast.

Andre Santos: He is a player that I don’t know all that much about. Brilliant going forward it seems, the ability to make dangerous late runs and take it past players with ease. He will probably add another dimension to our attacking play and offer a threat from set pieces, something we really need to improve on. Defensively I hope he is good, we need a bit of stability at left back. The only concern I have is that we will have two players adapting to the Premier League at a time where we need them to hold strong. If they line up; Sagna, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Santos -  then I think the experience and leadership that Sagna and Vermaelen bring will get them through and help them adapt quickly.

Yossi Benayoun: A very handy player to have in the squad, he is versatile and can score goals. He brings with him experience that is not to be sniffed at. Experienced, talented and exactly the type of player we need on the bench.

Mikel Arteta: A brilliant signing in my book, as I said above. He brings with him a ton of experience and quality – around better players I think he will step up and deliver, he wants to prove himself at the highest level and this is his chance. He jumped at the chance to join Arsenal, he should jump at the chance to show his talent.

Thoughts on the departures:

Nicklas Bendtner: A shame. He is going out on loan but has no plans to ever play for Arsenal again. Bendtner is a talent and a goalscoring talent at that – he will go onto big things and will probably be looked on as one that got away. He will do well at Sunderland.

Armand Traore: Thank goodness he has gone

Henri Lansbury: I doubt he will be returning, sadly. Maybe he isn’t good enough bit as a local lad it will surely hurt him that he will be spending the season at another club yet again. Good luck, Henri.