Something highly suspicious is happening in North London, something even the most optimistic Arsenal fans are struggling to comprehend.
Say it quietly, but it looks as if Arsenal are good at transfers now.
The summer transfer window has been a traditionally traumatic time for Gunners fans in the Emirates Stadium era.
They are scarred by those penny pinching years, when they missed out on signings like Xabi Alonso by quibbling over relatively trivial (for football clubs) sums of a few million pounds here and there.
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Let’s not even mention the infamous £40 million and one pound offer for Luis Suarez. Gunners fans have had to endure countless summers of being linked to good players only for it to never materialise. How many times have we looked at Arsenal and said they’re one or two first team players away from being competitive?
In the mid 2010s the club did start spending money, just not very well. They approved the £50 million plus signings of Lacazette and Aubemeyang just six months apart only to find they couldn’t play together in the same team.
Then there was the club record £72 million signing of Nicolas Pepe, a left footed right winger with no Premier League experience when then-manager Unai Emery wanted a right footed left winger from the Premier League.
Add in the recruitment of faded stars like David Luiz, Sokratis and Willian, and the squad quickly became a jumbled mess.
The fans were working themselves up into their annual frenzy last summer when pictures of Technical Director Edu on holiday and not signing players circulated online. Then, the club signed Ben White, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Aaron Ramsdale and Martin Odegaard – four young players who instantly became pillars of Mikel Arteta’s new team.
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Edu then gave an impressive interview to Sky Sports outlining the club’s plan to reconstruct the squad. That work continues in earnest this year, with the signing of young attacker Fabio Vieira already completed.
They are also linked to Gabriel Jesus, Raphina, Lisandro Martinez and Youri Tielemans. Not only are they fantastic players at a good age, but it’s easy to see exactly how they fit into the team.
The ‘banter era’ appears to be over and not a moment too soon. Given the grotesque wealth of the Premier League, any team that wants to compete needs to be intelligent.
It’s still no guarantee of success, but by making the right moves, Arsenal are giving themselves a fighting chance.
