As the 2024–25 season winds to a close, Arsenal are once again staring at a trophyless campaign despite clear progress under Mikel Arteta. With Champions League football secured and the club’s foundations stronger than ever, the message heading into the summer is clear: it’s time to go all in.
Reports today suggest that Arsenal are making serious moves in the market, with Sporting CP striker Viktor Gyökeres emerging as a priority target. The Swedish forward has been in blistering form this season, notching up an astonishing 52 goals in all competitions. Gyökeres is reportedly keen on the move to North London, and with a £85m release clause in his contract, Arsenal may need to act swiftly to beat off competition from Manchester United and Chelsea.
Another name firmly on Arsenal’s radar is West Ham’s Mohammed Kudus. The Ghanaian international has impressed in his first season in England, offering versatility and flair in both midfield and forward positions. Arsenal are believed to be exploring a deal closer to £59m, despite his official release clause being higher. Kudus would add much-needed dynamism to the right-hand side of Arsenal’s attack, an area that has lacked depth when Bukayo Saka has been unavailable.
Elsewhere, links to Nico Williams and Anthony Gordon indicate that Arteta is determined to bolster his options out wide. With Gabriel Jesus struggling for consistent form and Trossard better suited to a rotation role, the addition of pace and unpredictability could be the missing piece.
It’s clear that Arsenal are planning aggressively this summer. The pressure to deliver silverware will only grow louder – are these the moves that could finally tip the balance?
Who would you like to see in an Arsenal shirt next season, Gooners?
Michelle M
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We have been aggressive all these years or else the spent money would not be 750-800M. Last season 72M+ on bang average Calaufori & Merino, the year before 65M on bang average Kai, 105M for another version of the original Rice and so on.
Stop dreaming, a CF will be signed only if Gab J moves and there is no silent whisper about the same.
A left wide player , yes, because Martenelli will move
A right wide player probably no as Saka will move to Pool next season to replace Salah
A left back and GK yes
Your comment belies your ‘name’. A CF will be signed whatever the situation, a left winger possibly too and Saka will NOT be signing for Liverpool, not now and never, I guarantee it!
GB, that TSRS is just a wind up merchant.
Herd .
Always the same one bringing up the rear .
VILE
Do you really believe your own posts?
Saka would rather move out of the PL than join Liverpool
Thought we had been spending big .
The key word should be spend right. We have spent quite wrongly and that has prevented us from winning a trophy.
Berta and Arteta has no option but to get the signings right this time else Arteta might lose his job if he goes trophyless again.
My dream starting 11 being ruthless –
Gyokeres.
Gittens. X Simons. Saka.
Rice. Zubimendi.
Hato. Gabriel. Saliba. Timber.
Raya.
I know this would be impossible because it would be too expensive and captain Odegaard will lose his place.
Hopefully he picks his form back next season. So he can be given another chance.
I’m done with Martinelli and Havertz.
SJ, If I was a betting man I would put money on Hato going to Liverpool.
Gittens I not so sure about. Like Adeyemi when he first burst into the BVB team, he looked really great, but seems to have gone off the boil.
I believe Hato would be difficult too so having a fit Calafiori and Skelly can both still do a good job there at left back.
Gittens is different from Adeyemi because Gittens is more of a dribbler while Adeyemi is more of a speedster and only speed does not help with production.
SJ, I’ve got a feeling Calafiori might head back to Italy this summer, shame if he does, as I like the way he plays.
That’s very true concerning the difference between the two players. Hopefully if we do sign Gittens he goes on to fulfill his potential with us.
SJ is right, it’s not the amount spent, but rather spent on the right type players. Calafiori was needless, Vieira was needless, Sterling was a gamble that failed to pay off. As long as there is an end to the endless carousel of LB’s and GK’s, address the areas of concern.
To be honest, Berta should be the one deciding on which attacking players, not Arteta. In 5 years Arteta has not signed a single attacker that has moved the proverbial needle.
Arteta has done very well building our defense, however our offense has suffered. 4 1/2 years without a backup for Saka is negligence at best; and our strikers are not strikers. Interesting to see how Arteta uses any new striker we bring in.
Play to their strengths and ability to score, or have them helping in buildup, dropping into midfield, and positioning all over the pitch?
Durand, if Berta signs a striker that Mikel doesn’t want and that striker is a flop, whose head is on the chopping block ? Pretty sure it won’t be Berta’s.
Fair point, but it is the manager’s job to “manage” players, after all. Sorry but the man that brought us Jesus as striker, Havertz as striker because he was not working out in midfield, does not inspire much confidence.
Add to that Willian, Vieira, now Sterling, that is a lot of misses, including our current non-striker strikers.
Arteta has done wonders building our defense; one of the best I have seen since Graham. However, I question if Arteta knows a true game changing attacker, and if he would utilize him properly in his system of play.
So far he has almost gone out of his way to avoid playing striker’s in their “traditional” role, meaning scoring goals, and opted instead to make them interchange, buildup play, and help out with the midfield.
To his credit, it helped us be competitive and get into the top 4 again. Unfortunately, I don’t think we can take that crucial next step without one. We were desperate for a finisher in both legs against PSG. Players worked hard, created chances, but no one could finish.
Arsenal had their highest goal total in a season last year. The previous record was the year before. Stagnating with the two highest goal totals by the team ever?
I think Arteta believes traditional strikers have big egos and he is not willing to manage any player with a big ego and that is where he gets it wrong because those are the kind of players that give you trophies.
Sometimes I think Arteta is trying to defy tradition and conventional wisdom with his style of play. Inverting fullbacks instead of overlapping is fine, but now that it has been sussed, he has not adapted yet.
He tries to play strikers in unconventional ways almost like he is trying to prove something, rather than strikers being the tip of the attacking spear.
Square pegs in round holes, wingers as strikers, 10’s as strikers, everything but a traditional striker with the purpose of scoring goals and finishing chances.
Eerily similar to Wenger and his stubborn refusal to replace and field a DM in midfield. We went 10 years without a replacement. So far, we are 4 years with no striker under Arteta.
Arsenal has a good enough squad that doesn’t need destabilising in my opinion. All we need is a few right signings to fix obvious imbalances and replace departing players
1. A good striker to supplement Havertz
2. A replacement for Jorginho
3. A replacement for Tomiyasu to supplement Saliba
4. A goal keeper to replace Neto
Unless any of the other first-team players are out the door, we’d be good for next season with a bit of luck on the injury front
Depends what you mean by Big? if Ipswich can net spend 130m last summer, would us spending 180 or something really considered big. The gulf in revenue is enormous between the 2.
Our current starting 11 with the addition of a better left winger and Striker should be enough to win the league or atleast hit the min 89-90pts needed to really compete. Having the option to bring on Martinelli, Havertz, Trossard and Nwaneri would be game changing compared to this season. Zubimendi been reported by Fabrizio
Starting 11
David Raya
Jurrien Timber
William Saliba
Gabriel Magalhães
Myles Lewis-Skelly
Thomas Partey
Declan Rice
Martin Ødegaard
Bukayo Saka
ST
LW
2nd team
Karl Hein
Ben White
Takehiro Tomiyasu
Jakub Kiwior
Riccardo Calafiori
Martin Zumbimendi
Mikel Merino
Ethan Nwaneri
Leandro Trossard
Kai Havertz
Gabriel Martinelli
Having the option to bring on
*Having the option to sell and bring other players to improve other positions will depend on our budget.
An additional creative option in MF may also help. The team is heavily reliant on Odegaard. Nwaneri may have more of a role next season but he can’t yet control a game as Odegaard at his best can. At this point he also seems to be more of an understudy to Saka.
The biggest issue with your lists is the injury situation. Far too many will still be out for months and we don’t know what levels they will reach when they return.
Only tomi will not be ready until mid season. Gabriel should be available after the 1st few matches. Excluded Jesus for that reason.