The pre-season has begun and not much has happened at Arsenal in terms of improving the side. So far it’s been the typical transfer window, a bunch of rumors and links but no signings. A bunch of excuses and dithering around on possible targets, along with a lot of conflicting information coming from the club. Fans are already frustrated because this has all been seen before.
Mikel Arteta and Edu came out at the end of last season and claimed that they have a “clear plan” of how they were going to approach the window. So far, not so good. The club are said to be close to two signings, Nuno Tavares and Albert Sambi Lokonga. While Tavares is said to be a done deal, the club has seemingly dragged its feet when it comes down to Lokonga with reports claiming that the deal has been “close” for weeks but still not complete yet.
So far there has been no official signing, a month into the transfer window. That’s not a good sign given that the club finished eighth and with this so-called “clear plan”, should’ve been out of the blocks quickly when the window opened. Furthermore, these are two signings that are not expected to have a huge impact on the club’s first eleven, with Tavares being brought in as a backup left-back to Kieran Tierney, which to be fair is a position that is needed but again, will not have the impact of a major signing.
The same goes for Lokonga, a young midfielder who is being brought in and expected to get time to develop and most likely won’t feature a lot in the first eleven. The Gunners have also been rumored to be close to the third signing in center-back Ben White, but in typical fashion, the club have not moved with a sense of urgency and now Chelsea and Man City are rumored to be in for the center back. With the fore-mentioned duo offering Champions League football, the deal could possibly be in jeopardy.
Arsenal have also failed to move out players as well. The only players that were moved on were those who were not with the club last year in Matteo Guendouzi and Konstantinos Mavrapanos. Granit Xhaka, Hector Bellerin, and Sead Kolasinac are a few of the bigger names the north London club have been said to want to move on but nothing has happened on that front either. What have this club been doing in the last month? What has happened to Arteta and Edu’s “clear plan”?
It feels like the fans are about to be duped all over again. So far the only thing that has happened so far this window are excuses, conflicting information, and a bunch of transfer rumors that will never happen. Let’s look at the main excuse for the club’s inactivity. It is claimed that nothing of note has happened so far because of the Euros and Copa America tournaments. That is a tired excuse. Question? Is Jadon Sancho not at the Euros? How about Gianluigi Donnarumma? Is Rodrigo De Paul not at the Copa America?
Somehow all of these players have completed moves to new teams and that’s just naming a few players that have done so. Meanwhile, Arsenal fans are being told that the Ben White deal hasn’t been completed yet because he’s at the Euros, even though he hasn’t even been in the squad in England’s last few games. Just a poor excuse for a club known for its ineptitude in the transfer market.
Then fans hear reports of a 250 million pound “war chest”, but then also hear that the club has to sell before they can spend 20-25 million pounds on rumored target Houssem Aouar. Conflicting information is very frustrating for fans. What about outgoings? Were Hector Bellerin and Sead Kolasinac at the Euros? Why haven’t they been moved out of the club? Kolasinac has approached the club about terminating his contract.
That should be easy to do knowing that they want to move on from him and get his big wages off of the books. What about Emile Smith-Rowe? Why hasn’t he been tied down to a new contract? Arsenal again moving too slow for no reason and now it seems possible the club could lose Smith Rowe to Aston Villa, who have seemingly managed to turn his head. Smith-Rowe wasn’t at the Euros so what was the hold up on tying him down to a new deal?
Between Kroenke’s apparent lack of care for the club, along with the seeming novice management of Arteta and Edu, this club is moving in the wrong direction. Getting the right transfers in can turn the club’s fortunes around fairly quickly as the Gunners are not that far off from the goal of a top-four finish. Hopefully, it’s not panic time and the club has a few tricks up its sleeve to lift the spirit of the fans before the season starts.
Read More: Arsenal fans react to masterclass from Emiliano Martinez
