SWANNY'S WORLD OF SPORT: The Gunners should have signed Dwight Gayle

Dwight Gayle sat around doing nothing on transfer deadline day.

But for all that time. I had to sit at my desk monitoring Twitter (a far speedier, more reliable information service than Sky Sports) just in case Barry Fry worked a miracle in either persuading Mark Tyler to come home or tempting Leeds United to splash out a couple of million on Marcus Maddison.

My points, transfer deadline day is boring.

It’s boring for those poor old Sky reporters stationed outside top-flight training grounds trying to avoid having sex toys thrust in their ears.

Russell Martin is going down with Norwich City.

It’s boring for those fans gullible enough to be fooled into thinking massive deals will be struck and the biggest names in football will be coming to the Premier League.

Actually that did happen, but ace manager Pep Guardiolo’s arrival has been a bigger racing certainty than Arsenal’s post-Christmas collapse.

The Gunners are one team who should have done business in January. The weakest Premier League in recent memory and Arsene Wenger has blown it again by keeping an apparent £200 million war chest firmly under his mattress.

Buying Dwight Gayle =on the cheap from Crsytal Palace would have been better than doing nothing at all. There’s even a good chance Gayle would be lethal if serviced in front of goal by Ozil and Sanchez.

Transfer windows are manna from heaven for agents and clubs in a panic, like Norwich City.

Following their late burst to promotion to the Premier League last season, Norwich weren’t smart enough to strengthen in the summer when it was obvious that relying on Cameron Jerome for goals and Russell Martin for clean sheets wasn’t going to work out in the top flight.

Watford were clever enough not to sit on their laurels after they came up and they are reaping the benefits. It was also never going to be a problem for billionaire-backed Bournemouth, but the Canaries have been caught out and eight January transfer window signings won’t save them.

I presume the new boys were available on Tuesday when Norwich let in a first minute goal and lost 3-0 at home to Spurs?

The best-run Premier League clubs hardly moved a muscle on Deadline Day.

But Stoke splashed out the biggest fee, a whopping club record £18.2 million on Giannelli Imbula from Porto.

Who? is a reasonable question to ask at this time.

It’s perhaps appropriate that a largely unknown midfielder (unless you play Football Manager) topped the price list.

A deflating fact when you’re geared up for Liverpool trying to spend their way out of trouble as the £200 million they spent on their current squad has clearly been a waste of time and money.

A bit like deadline day itself.