Morning all.
Let me start by saying this post is the very essence of opinion. I’m sure Andrea Berta, an experienced executive, will have his own to-do list when he arrives at Arsenal. He’ll have his own ideas, the club will have their ideas and priorities, Mikel Arteta might have some input here and there (*cough*), but from the outside, these are the things I think he’s got to sort out.
Please note this list is not exhaustive. There’s probably some stuff I have forgotten or not considered. In which case, please fill out our complaint form here and customer services will respond in 28 days (or later).
Recruitment
The obvious place to start. Arsenal are going to need to do some incoming business this summer, and top of the list will the attack. ‘Striker, striker, my kingdom for a striker!’, cried Richard III back in the day, and SPOILER ALERT, it didn’t end well for him. He was given a horse instead then run-through with a long-sword. Typical.
Everyone wants Arsenal to sign a striker. Names like Alexander Isak, Benjamin Sesko, and Hugo Ekitike have been doing the rounds. I strongly feel like Isak is as un-gettable as a player can be, partly because of price and especially so if Newcastle finish in the Champions League positions. The other two should be doable from an Arsenal perspective, but who knows who else might be on the radar?
I also think a left-winger would be a useful addition. ‘Bring me Nico Williams or bring me death!’ etc etc. I think the age of Leandro Trossard and the plateauing of Gabriel Martinelli mean we could use an upgrade in that position. One stays, one goes – and given previous Saudi interest in the Belgian, and the fact he has one year left on his contract, that might be the obvious one.
After that, you look at midfield and I’m pretty certain both Jorginho and Thomas Partey will leave this summer. That leaves a gap at the base of midfield which I think you could fill with Declan Rice, but we hear a lot about Martin Zubimendi coming in. Personally, I could find room for more than one midfield arrival, and I’d like to see a more creative/flair player added to the mix. We ask too much of Martin Odegaard as it is, and while we could talk about existing players being shifted around to do that job, the lack of creativity during Odegaard’s injury and his subsequent issues with form have been a major issue for me.
In terms of the defence, I think it’s more about trimming the left-back surplus than any kind of addition, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we had our eye on a Tomiyasu type player who is versatile enough to play across the back-line (without the unfortunate injuries the Japan international has endured).
I think Neto will go so we’ll need a goalkeeper, with ‘smart money’ being on a move for Espanyol’s Joan Garcia. He seems to be the favourite of goalkeeping coach Inaki Cana, but him being wedded that specific player left us in a difficult position at the end of the summer window, and perhaps this is one area where the new Sporting Director needs to show his authority. More on that below.
Departures
I’ve already mentioned players like Trossard, Partey and Jorginho, and there are others whose futures need to be sorted. Kieran Tierney is off to Celtic, that’s basically done and dusted; Jakub Kiwior won’t want to sit through another season without playing very much; and Oleksandr Zinchenko will have one year left on his contract and has become a bit-part player. It’s time to recoup what we can for him in terms of a transfer fee.
There are loan players too. I think Nuno Tavares has done ok at Lazio, starting his spell there with a flurry of assists, but nothing since. Not dissimilar to his spell at Marseille (a flurry of goals then a falling out with the coach). I’ve seen reports about Lazio making it permanent for a very reasonable fee, but Arsenal retaining a large sell-on fee.
Fabio Vieira has found a bit of form at Porto of late, so as we ponder another creative midfielder, do the club feel he can fill that gap or do we try and sell him? Reiss Nelson’s spell at Fulham has been beset by bad hamstring injuries; Albert Sambi Lokonga has done ok at Sevilla but it remains to be seen if they take up the option; while Karl Hein has played week in, week out for Real Valladolid. Perhaps, if we need to prioritise our spending in other areas, the experience he has garnered there means he returns to play back-up to David Raya rather than throwing £20m+ at a second choice keeper.
What I think is interesting about this section is that it has been generally perceived that we’re not great at selling. It wasn’t just on Edu, as a club we really don’t have a great track record of garnering big fees for players we let go. When you look at the names of potential departures, I can’t see that change significantly this summer, but over the course of Berta’s tenure, it will be be fascinating to see if that’s something we can improve.
There was one summer at Atletico Madrid when their sales were enormous, making huge profits on three sales in particular – but those players were Lucas Hernandez (a product of their Academy), Rodri (who they bought from Villarreal for €20m), and Antoine Griezmann. Big money sales = big name departures. Not something we necessarily want to see, but perhaps there’s a balance.
Contracts
As per yesterday’s post, there are talks beginning with Bukayo Saka, with William Saliba and Gabriel the obvious two after that. As I said, I think Gabriel has earned new terms to put him on a par with our highest-paid players, he is that important. All three of these players have deals which run until 2027, so it’s pressing but not necessarily urgent. Saka and Saliba both renewed with 12 months to go last time, but for peace of mind you’d absolutely want to tie them down as quickly as possible.
Martinelli’s current deal also expires in 2027, so perhaps that’s one that needs some attention – beyond that though, there’s nothing pressing. It’s about the centre-halves and Saka, and hopefully those are situations he can sort out.
Profile
I guess this isn’t the most important thing, but Edu was a very public face, a familiar one too. He was charming, avuncular, and well known to fans because of his history as a player and an Invincible. He did interviews, he met the press, we got to understand his thinking in the role of Sporting Director.
From everything I’ve read and heard about Andrea Berta (you can listen to our Patreon podcast about him here), he seems much more comfortable in the background, just doing his work and letting that do the talking. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of ‘access’ we get to him, even in the initial stages when he is announced. That seems like a good time to get across his message, such as it is, before operating in the shadows again.
Ultimately, he’ll be judged on what he does and how he shapes the team/squad rather than what he says, but building some kind of relationship with those the most important external element of the club – the fans – could be useful.
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He’s gonna be a busy man for sure, but that’s the job! Right, I’ll leave it there for now, we’ll have an Arsecast for you a bit later on so stay tuned for that.
