Andrea Berta has been praised in some quarters as a “breath of fresh air” at Arsenal, but not everyone is convinced. One reader, Adrian, shared his perspective on the club’s new sporting director, and he has some concerns about how Berta’s methods might impact the Gunners.
Playing games or playing smart?
Adrian argues that while Liverpool and Manchester City conducted slick business early in the summer, Arsenal’s strategy under Berta appears slower and more complex. He believes Berta’s approach of working on multiple signings to secure the best deal for only one is inefficient and risks losing valuable targets and integration time.
He also warns that too much “smokescreening” could create distrust between Arsenal, other clubs, and even players. Integration, Adrian stresses, is vital, and Arsenal cannot afford to miss out on their top options by leaving things too late.
Another concern is the reported clash of preferences between Berta and Mikel Arteta. It has been suggested that Arteta wanted Benjamin Šeško, but Berta pushed for Viktor Gyökeres instead. There are also claims that Arteta had identified Eberechi Eze earlier in the summer, yet the move only materialised after Kai Havertz’s injury.
Questions over quality and readiness
Adrian highlights further doubts over recruitment choices, citing Hugo Ekitike as his preferred target, while remaining unconvinced by Gyökeres’ readiness after his subdued debut at Old Trafford. He fears Arsenal were fortunate to escape with a win in that game despite a limp attacking display.
Ultimately, Adrian believes Berta’s strategy needs to be questioned, with greater alignment between recruitment and Arteta’s vision. Time will tell whether the new approach strengthens Arsenal or proves too risky in a highly competitive transfer market.
Your thoughts welcome in the comments.
Adrian (Reader contribution)
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Adrian doesn’t know what he’s talking about
There is no ‘Adrian’./… made up person by the author for more click bait and pointless articles !!
There used to be articles posted by proper readers but just seems to be an endless daily stream of nothingness
I was thinking the same thing.
Best transfer window bringing in players for years; easily the best. Addressed the problems, with quality I might add, and covering the depth issue. I mean, 7 new players so far?
We have had nothing like that in terms of numbers AND quality for quite a while.
The selling part is the real test IMHO. Moving on players not in high demand, for good fees, based on wages Berta had no say in.
If he can accomplish that trick, then build him a statue outside the Emirates, the fella deserves it!
Sorry my response was meant as a reply to Timothy Adegbola, I clicked the wrong reply.
Hope is not citing with arteta
Leave Berta to do his work we’re seeing good future at the club. What i only agree with Adrian is it takes too long to finalize a contract, but let’s put our hands together and support our club this time
Best transfer window I have witnessed as a supporter and yet some are criticising Berta?
not sure what some fans want. always finding something negative
I think we have reached ultimate click bait with this article. 🤣
I’m guessing that Adrian loves the song I’m Not Like Everybody Else by the Kinks
Lola? 😊
An excellent sporting director should be able to sell fringe and squad-rotation players with great prices, as Chelsea’s sporting director did when he sold Havertz, Jorginho and Madueke to us
Berta is still not able to sell Vieira, Trossard, Nelson and Lokonga
He has also not signed any hidden gem yet as Edu did with Martinelli
The window hasn’t closed yet. And it’s harder to shift players on wages that someone else signed off on so give him a chance.
Trossard isn’t for sale and the others mentioned NOBODY has been able to give away. Nothing to do with Bertha. He inherited a massive problem.
And looking into your crystal ball, how do you know he hasn’t signed any gems???
Most would suggest Mosquera is going to be a gem
Also still 10 days or so until the window closes so how can anyone say that he hasnt had a good window selling players?
Reggie,
While I agree with you regards Berta inheriting a massive problem getting certain players out, and that it’s not his fault.
I will say though that the club still do highly questionable things regarding player wages.
Giving Trossard a wage rise, and there being no extension to the contract just doesn’t make sense. The contract he originally signed should have stayed the same, and if Arsenal wanted him to extend then a rise is normally what follows. But to do what they’ve just done, is another example in a long line, of bad decisions regarding players wages.
@gotanidea
You are the pure example of “people are hard to please” you particularly always has something negative to say every time, do you try positivity sometimes? Gosh!
GAI, other clubs are not stupid to hire flops like the we do………..err, I correct myself, like we used to do. Trossad had enquiries from the middle east, but Mikel retained him. Accept Viera and Lokonga are so poor that we overpaid for them and nobody wants to do us a favor – including Chelsea. Regarding the next gem, Mosquera is the one for the future.
Well the Arteta Fan Club has no excuses now, so articles are trying to find fault with Berta. Berta is loyal to his job, does what is best for the club. From the the way he has conducted himself he has no ego whatsoever and Gyoks was the best for Arsenal Football Club and he got him hired for a relatively low fee of 64M, compare that to 65M for a CFC flop of single digit goals, 130k/week compared to 280K/week.
You are mentioning total utter useless flops, Mikel dispatched some of the best players like Auba, Laca, Ozil for a big fat zero.
Berta is the next best thing for us after David Barry Dein.
Auba, Laca and Ozil were finished!
You probably just don’t like Arteta and Havertz but Havertz understands Arteta’s style and there’s just no amount of hating that’s going to change that – you’re probably among the lot that also thinks Arteta should strip Odegaard of the Captaincy and hand it to Rice!
CFC sold us a finished Jorginho and Chech for 10M. Auba scored 11 goals in 17 games for Barca, 17 goals for Marseille and has just returned back.Laca returned 27,19 and 15 goals last season. Your theory of them being finished is rubbish. If Mikel and Edu were smart (i mean had business acumen) dirty linen would not be washed in public and get them undervalued then and go for nothing. You are free to sing praises for Arteta, I will sing him praises when he wins us silverware, for me the club matters, not the manager’s ego or his laxity towards trophies.
I wish the captaincy be given to Gabriel, the man who is closest to Tony Adams in leadership on the pitch. That would be good for the club as it would free Odegard and he would return to his creative best.
Humble request, please support the club, the club came into being in 1886, Mikel joined 133 years later!
@Gai, we need to be patient with Berta. Imo, he did well trying to buy the numbers he bought. He hasn’t stayed long on his job. Also, not even Edu was able to sell Nelson that account for why he’s been going in loans, Lokonga hasn’t impressed in Europe and Trossard age a big factor and complicated. Above all let’s see what happens before the transfer period is over. I will judge Berta if he doesn’t make at least a sale.
Some of u are just too terrible and pathetic to say the least.
When did Bertha assume his role that you’re expecting him to have already sold all our fringe players at a substantial amount?
@gotanidea what else do you want for God sake. Do you really love 💕 dis club? They buy players you complain, they don’t buy you complain. If arsenal eventually win trophy 🏆 i know you will still complain and if they don’t win anything again you will talk.. hahaha 🤣🤣🤣
Who the heck is Adrian and why does Adrian rely on a biographer to do his dirty work? This is not an article?
Reggie,
It isn’t Adrian Durham from talk sport is it. Now there’s a person with a serious chip on his shoulder when it comes to the Arsenal. And the irony is, I believe his wife’s an Arsenal supporter. 😂🤣👍
Nobody knows for sure whether Arteta wanted Sesko over Gyokeres, it’s just speculation. Also, is Adrian really judging Gyokeres after 1 game at Old Trafford. How about we judge him after 10 games when he’s had a chance to intergrate with the other players. Personally I’m excited about this transfer window and think Bertha has done well albeit we haven’t managed to shift anybody yet but that is down to the previous regime giving out ludicrous contracts to ordinary players.
Yes he did but it diwork out and we got Gyokores. Sesko was hard to get done because of the situation. Gyokores was doable. End of.
I always liked Edu, hard not to like Edu, everyone likes Edu as he is an all round nice guy but Berta seems far better at the job. He got most of the business done early negotiating shrewd deals but when he needed to act quickly with Eze he did not mess about
Adrian gone nuts or probably he’s just ill inform.
It is understood Danny Levy is coming under intense pressure from fans, this must be awful on the poor fans.
Hopes the subsequent hijacking as reported of Eze doesn’t add any flames to the local derby.
Gunsmoke, Spurs’ fans have good reason to turn on Daniel Levy. He has invested minimal capital into strengthening the football team, fails to get the players the managers want ad then sack the managers, when they fail to meet “his expectations” (Champions League) every year. What is the total of ex managers now.
Even if a manager such as Ange Postecoglou wins the Europa League and gains Champions League admission by that route, he is sacked because League form was sacrificed due to a thin injury impacted squad. Let alone the achievements of Ponchettino!
Surely the spotlight must be on Levy because of the Club’s ongoing “failures” under so many highly competent managers?
The truth is that nobody (Adrian or otherwise) outside of a small group at Arsenal – probably including Josh Kroenke, Arteta, Berta and Stuart Wisely the CFO – knows what the transfer strategy is or what the plan is to go about it. After all, it’s very sensitive information.
Personally, I don’t buy the story about Arteta “wanting” Sesko and Berta, only weeks into the job then as SD, just overrules the long-established coach like that. That’s not to say that Arsenal wasn’t interested in Sesko, but I don’t see them spending £60m+ against the background of a major disagreement between two (very) key people at the club.
Also, I don’t see there’s evidence that Arsenal has lost out on targets, not those consistently reported in the media anyway – and who would know about the ones not reported?
As for Eze, with all the media speculation it’s likely he was identified a while ago and the injury to Havertz (and Sp*rs relatively belated interest, I suspect) do look to be factors in deciding to bring him in as quickly as we saw. Needs must, surely.
Where I do query Berta’s otherwise very successful strategy somewhat, so far anyway, is that Arsenal isn’t conducting (can’t conduct?) buying and selling at the same time over the transfer window.
If you compare us with, say, Liverpool (although it applies to other clubs), both have spent hugely this summer. So far, Liverpool about £280m and Arsenal about £250m (with Eze’s expected arrival). However, Liverpool has already sold about £210m of players, whereas Arsenal has raised £4m so far, and there appears to be several players Arsenal wants to offload.
There are some days left in the window and there may well be a late rush of Arsenal sales, but the closer 1st September gets the more likely that small hitches or extended haggling could scupper some sales. Perhaps it’s just the way Berta works, and if it works who cares? We’ll see over the coming days.
The fact that nobody in Europe wants to pay that much for our fringe players, shows how badly business was done in the past. As GAI mentioned above, Gabby M for 7M was great, but check the fringe players and the amounts we paid for them, make Edu/Mikel look foolish. Liked Edu as a player, thank goodness he has gone.
I think you’re right to an extent, but given Arsenal are reported to be open to selling six or seven players, I would have thought there would have been one or two sales by now. Anyway…
The issue with Edu and the ones before him was the wages the gave players which is now hindering us from selling players. There was no need to give Jesus and Zinchenko the wages they got.
Our opps are able to sell well mainly due to wages.
It’s probably true for some players – I think Arsenal will have to have fantastic luck to sell an injury-prone Jesus (currently on a reported £14m a year) or, to an extent, Zinchenko who is on just under half that amount.
However, it doesn’t look that obvious for, say, the likes of Reiss Nelson on a reported £4.5m a year or Albert Sambi Lokonga at around £2.6m.
Let me tell you something unbelievable that I heard about zinchenko deal. I was told he was on £20,000/wk but Arteta and Edu signed him on £150,000/wk.
Where else will go and get such obscene increment in wages. That is 750% increment.
You also forget the fanfare and enthusiasm with which we received Zinchenko; he was the player that we needed at that time and he was very instrumental in turning Arsenal around; the Club has just moved on from him but he was worth every penny at the time!
👍
What do you think Arsenal should have done to guarantee that every player bought was a success, cost very little and was on a relatively low salary?
Recruit the scouting department of Brighton would be a good start since you are asking.
Seriously though, I get your sarcasm, but that is the real question though isn’t it? Not so much identifying and getting the “gems,” but moving on players that did not work out, rather than loaning them out until their value drops.
Chelsea have done well considering; Havertz for 65 million, Mount to Utd for 70 million, Madueke for 50 million, that is good business for players who are not prominently featuring in their starting 11.
You’re using a Chelsea Club with almost 3 equally good players for the same position as a yardstick for good business – I bet you’d still drop it on here if they sold Murdryk for upwards of £50m
Either their fringe players were/are better than ours or we were stupid to pay those amounts. By the way, Mount Mason has touched more silverware than Mikel has done in his playing and managerial career.
We would not have got Eze had Edu still been at the club took forever to get deals done and then lose out on most of the targets and end up panic buying OAPs from Chelski
Has there ever been a time where some fans are not looking for NEGATIVES?
We could win the Title, CL, FA, Carling Cup, Super Cup, Club world cup and the Community shield all in one season and you would still have people Doom / Gloom mongering.
They we will be say things such as: “I know that we have won all the available silverware, but isn’t it a concern that we did not end World Poverty while doing all this winning? Blah blah”.
🤓🤓
Exactly ! Ridiculous and its still only week 1
That’s the issue mate
I bet you if we won the title people wouldn’t be negative
Not winning it in 22 years might be the reason some are negative
I just read today the weekly comments from Arteta, and is all compliments to the work that A.Berta had done for the team.
So where is Adrian now ????????
In relation to the sales, there is not interest in players with high salaries an questionable qualities.
To the Adm. please try to filter some poor articles.
Adrian, thhe man with a problem for every solution,it seems.
That’s why we are ridiculed by other fans. Whiny, pessimist miserable section of fans we have who make the most noise.
In my very recent experience. what fans of other clubs ridicule Arsenal for, if they do ridicule Arsenal, is spending a fortune since 2019 yet still having exactly the same trophies that Crystal Palace has won in the space of the last couple of months.
The problem might be that Arteta does not give game time to players he wants to offload. Even if you want to sell a player find games to use them as you market them to potential buyers.
I don’t understand why we bought Mosquera when we have Kiwior and Ben White? Had we only bought Eze, Gyokeres and Zubimendi it would have been enough considering the players we are failing to sell.
So you think we should not upgrade the squat because we have to give time for players that are not good enough for the team needs?
Every team do this at every window ;get rid of some and buy a better replacements.
We are an ambitious club and finally we are building a team to win things.
Mosquera is a young right foot central defender and getting ready to cover for Saliba and right back position. Kiwior is left footer.Ben White is right back only, not agressive enough to cover for Saliba.
What are you saying? Do you even understand what I am saying? Did I say we must downgrade. Read to understand and not to juat answer
As far as I am concerned, Bertha will have had a sensational Transfer window if he rounds it off by bringing in Rodrygo.
I think Rodrygo will be the cherry on Arteta’s cake.
The so-called Adrian is a confused man. The Sporting Director”s approach is top-notch and so far, has proven very effective. I don’t know why some people are always dropping mischievous and unnecessary criticisms.