Arsenal have been one of the busiest sides in the Premier League in the early stages of the summer transfer window, but they still have lots more work to do. So far the Gunners have brought in four new players to bolster Mikel Arteta’s squad ahead of the 2022/23 season, when they will hope to break into the top four.
Gabriel Jesus joined Fabio Vieira, Marquinhos and Matt Turner in signing for the Gunners on Monday after a £45million transfer went through. The deal represents a major coup for Arsenal, who moved decisively to land a proven top-flight goal scorer who already has a strong relationship with Arteta from his time at Manchester City.
Jesus was Arsenal’s priority target for the summer window and Arteta and sporting director Edu will be delighted to get the transfer over the line. But while the new signings are now bedding into Arteta’s squad during pre-season training in Germany, Arsenal cannot afford to rest on their laurels. More signings are needed to give Arteta the squad dynamic he is seeking.
If recent reports are to be believed then Arsenal are considering the addition of another central midfielder, with Lazio’s Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Leicester City’s Youri Tielemans linked, while a wide forward is another potential area of movement.
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The rebuilding process will involve outgoings as well as incomings. Goal reports that 11 players could leave, either permanently or on loan. Bernd Leno, Alex Runarsson, Hector Bellerin, Pablo Mari, Lucas Torreira, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Reiss Nelson and Nicolas Pepe could all be sold, while Arthur Okonkwo, Nuno Tavares and Folarin Balogun could be loaned out.
All of that adds up to create a coherent transfer strategy in north London – something that has not always been the case, even in the recent past. Rewind just two or three years and the Gunners were being lambasted by pundits for their slap-dash, agent-influenced transfer approach.
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Back in December 2020, when Arsenal were 15th in the Premier League after a rotten run of form, there were many calls for Arteta to be sacked. But speaking about the overall picture, Jamie Carragher blamed the overarching strategy, not the manager, for the club’s malaise.
“I really like Mikel Arteta,” Carragher said on Sky Sports. “There’s a lot of nonsense around the club – bringing players, buying players. I think some signings were a joke. In terms of bringing Willian in, [David] Luiz in, Cedric [Soares] in. Is Kia Joorabchian making signings at the club?”
Super-agent Joorabchian used to have very close links with Arsenal and represented all three of the players Carragher mentioned. Willian was handed a contract reportedly worth £200,000-a-week after joining from Chelsea. Luiz was signed under Unai Emery, but saw his deal extended under Arteta. Cedric was signed permanently from Southampton in the summer of 2020 after an initial loan spell at the club. Of the three, only Cedric – the lowest paid of the trio – remains at the club and it’s hard to imagine such a deal being struck any more in north London.
Thankfully Arsenal now have a clear plan. Long before the window opened they knew what their approach would be this summer and they executed it. Supporters will hope that the days of a player signing because his agent recommended him are long gone.
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