We were told on Friday that Zubimendi was in London, dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s on a deal that was apparently arranged in January.
The fact we reached the weekend with still zero confirmed incomings kind of sums up our transfer window so far.
Two weeks ago, media in Germany were suggesting it was a case of when, not if, Šeško became a Gunner.
Viktor Gyökeres has told everyone from Manchester United to his own family that North London is his chosen destination.
Yet as I write this, Arsenal remain one of only four Premier League clubs not to have made any kind of signing.
It was reported we had a £300 million war chest, which makes sense considering our net spend across the last three windows was approximately £15 million.
Now let me stress, all reports suggest that behind the scenes, Mikel Arteta and Andrea Berta are quite comfortable with how their business is progressing.
They remain in talks with their desired targets and are confident they will get these deals over the line.
While our peers might mock us, there is zero suggestion that our recruitment team is panicking or adopting a scattergun approach.
For whatever reason, there seems to be a lack of urgency in announcing anything to the public. But if we use Zubimendi as an example, it’s clear that if they wanted to, they could have confirmed his transfer a while ago.
Gooner expectations vs Arsenal PR strategy
It’s well documented that I doubt the level of ambition of our owners. Of course, they would love to be champions, but are they willing to go above and beyond?
Are they prepared to take that next step?
In the winter, their own manager said our attack was short and needed help.
Help that never arrived.
Even I thought if there was one summer we would fly out of the blocks, it would be this one.
Even from a PR point of view, I expected a statement signing. Something to get fans excited for the new season, a reason to renew memberships and rush out to buy Adidas’s latest merchandise.
Gooners are instead deflated that Liverpool and Manchester City look stronger, while we again stand still and let everything pass us by.
Yet how do you get someone who doesn’t care to care?
You don’t own the franchises the Kroenke family have in their portfolio without having thick skin.
Most billionaires can take emotion out of their convictions.
It’s worth pointing out that our first friendly on the Asia tour isn’t until July 23rd, another month away.
If a new striker is not on the plane to Singapore, then I think Gooners have every right to question our methods.
As things stand, there’s no real difference between announcing a signing three weeks ago, last week, or next week.
Unless you’re involved in the Club World Cup, all players are on holiday.
So there is actually no reason for Arsenal to rush their schedule. They could have a date circled in the calendar when they plan to unveil their new faces on the website.
Let’s say that day is next Thursday. Fans demanding updates just because they’re bored is not a reason for the club to alter their plans. That would be entitlement from supporters.
What contradicts that is the fact that there is clearly at least one mole at the Emirates leaking the club’s intentions. That is why we so often get these long-running sagas.
We were first linked with Benjamin Šeško and Viktor Gyökeres this time last year.
There are just too many sources to dismiss it.
Our Director of Football’s preference is reportedly Gyökeres, but he respects that Šeško has been long-term scouted, and reports suggest the 22-year-old has a higher ceiling.
The consensus was that both forwards were being negotiated with, to keep our options open. But Šeško has always seemed the more likely, especially with Sporting Lisbon seemingly breaking their promise and essentially pricing Gyökeres out of the move he wants.
The striker saga must end with clarity
So why is the 27-year-old Swede still insisting to those close to him that he’s heading to the English capital?
It could be defiance. An insistence that his employers will eventually honour their verbal agreement.
This is a major sports story in Portugal, and the latest twist is that he’s been invited by the Portuguese champions to a clear-the-air meeting, but has so far refused.
Of course, he can do that in the short term, but not when it’s time to report back to training.
The issue for the player is that it doesn’t matter whether he’s happy with the terms Arsenal are offering. If the two clubs can’t agree a fee, it’s irrelevant.
If it’s true that his bosses have gone back on their word, then while that may not be great morally, without anything in writing they are not obligated to sell for anything less than the figure they decide.
Then the press in Germany threw in a twist, with some outlets reporting that Šeško now wants a release clause included in his Arsenal contract.
If that’s some kind of guarantee that he can leave if a specific team makes a bid, then that’s not the best first impression.
We would be investing a lot in the Slovenian to be our marquee signing. We wouldn’t want him viewing Arsenal as a stepping stone already.
If all of this is true, then there’s a certain irony. Gyökeres clearly has his heart set on playing for us but cannot get Sporting to compromise. Meanwhile, Leipzig are open to talks, but now Šeško wants specific conditions.
I’m not qualified to tell successful businesspeople how to finalise multi-million-pound deals. But if contact was first made this time last year, and in January we declined short-term options because we were waiting on one (or both) of these forwards, surely by now we must have all the information we need?
Surely in the last year we’ve learnt the asking price, whether we agree with the valuation, and whether we have any desire to meet it?
Edu should have left all those facts neatly on his desk for his replacement.
It begs the question. If we’re still haggling and being indecisive in July, what were they doing for the past year?
When they rang Leipzig or emailed Sporting, what exactly were they talking about?
Arteta was asking for firepower in December.
It should have been addressed before then, but at the very least, throughout 2025, getting a striker ready should have been a priority.
I say this often, but that is literally someone’s job. Something they get well paid to do.
For a while now, our transfer policy has looked amateurish. We conduct ourselves in a way that makes us look silly.
Not that those behind the scenes at Arsenal will, or should, care what others think.
The ends justify the means.
As long as new signings are playing against AC Milan in July, it doesn’t matter when they are signed.
Equally, though, the longer this striker drama drags on, the less time there is to address other positions.
After a year, we need to get the choice between Šeško and Viktor Gyökeres right. Because with both players saying come and get me, and Arsenal sitting on so much money, it’s literally our choice not to take that next step.
Get it wrong after a year of talking, and we are a laughing stock.
Not that Stan Kroenke is losing sleep in America.
I bet he couldn’t tell you our first two fixtures or name our best eleven.
How do you make someone care, if they just don’t?
Dan Smith
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I don’t think many Arsenal fans now think the club shouldn’t sign a top-rate striker in this transfer window.
There aren’t too many options around as many clubs don’t want to part with their top players, particularly strikers. So, it beggars’ belief to think that Arsenal and their new Sporting Director don’t have a plan to bring one of those options in. That said, Arsenal can give the impression of dithering in their approach. It may, or may not, be true but it’s not a good look for the club when others are completing transfer business apparently with little or no fuss.
How have sentiments expressed in this article raised and they’ve been trashed by a shocking number on here?
Is Arsenal a big club? Sure, they are!!
Is their recruitment ad player management reflective of the big club that they are? Certainly not!! Wouldn’t be surprised if this window ended with neither Gyokeres nor Sesko and yet with another left back ……
The one thing related to me that keeps failing, is this Arsenal. Yet I can’t get my mind off them… wish fans do go on-loan
Maybe the immediate focus is on a marquee left winger and that will affect the funds available for the striker. Yes, it is a ‘given’ we are going to buy a striker but no one knows that will be our biggest outlay this window. We have plenty of time to get the business done, but in the meantime watching Liverpool power on is making most feel like we are being left behind. Surely, Berta hasn’t come in to sit on his hands, he is here to spend the money wisely.
They can’t hide behind lack of funds
Net spend approx 15 million in last 3 windows so if anyone suggests we lacks funds we have a right to ask where is the money gone then?
Agreed.
Not really, since Zirkzee and Vlahovic are still available
Arsenal shouldn’t pay over the odds for Sesko or Gyokeres, because there’s no guarantee that they will be suited to Arteta’s tactics
Surely they knew that a while ago ?
Which Zirkzee do you mean ?
Joshua Zirkzee who played well with Calafiori and Tomiyasu at Bologna
And he’s the guy you think wins Arsenal the Prem ?
We didn’t buy a striker in January because we were waiting for …..Zirkzee !!!
I agree about not paying over the odds but sometimes it looks to me like any bump in the road and Arsenal’s plan to sign “Player X” often appears to be derailed so it’s time to think again.
Liverpool was rebuffed twice for Wirtz before signing him on their third attempt, so they weren’t put off as he was obviously the player they wanted. Also, as it turned out, they didn’t pay over the odds for him, compared to the price that other clubs had been quoted anyway.
I get the impression that its Arsenal approach that’s the problem.
In my opinion, Liverpool paid too much for a right-footed AM like Wirtz, despite his achievement at Leverkusen
I doubt Wirtz will become a game-changer for Liverpool, since he’s not as pacey as De Bruyne was and not as ambidextrous as Cazorla/ Dembele
Only time will tell about Wirtz. If Liverpool go on to, say, retain the league and, possibly, win a cup then his signing will be considered a success. If they fail to win any silverware, then probably not.
I think the point still stands though that Liverpool identified who they wanted and got him after a relatively short period of time at a price that was no greater than the one quoted to other clubs. I don’t get the impression that Arsenal generally does business that way.
@Gai,
Surely you really haven’t been watching matches of some of these Strikers. Sesko would suit Arteta’s tactics he works hard and Gyokeres can’t be bad oevernight at scoring goals. (Pls watch his non penalty goal against City again) I bet you can’t guarantee Vlahovic performance after watching a few of his games for Juventus. And from what I have seen of Zirkee in ManU shirt he isn’t impressive imo, can’t even keep a regular shirt for Holland.
Our best would have been Isak or Osimehin if we are ready to go extra miles to pay. I don’t know how ambitious Arsenal is concerning winning major trophiesnext season.
;Selling clubs and their greedy players are trying to capitalize on Arsenal’s perceived desperate need for a striker to charge above-market fees/wages.
Arsenal on the other hand is trying to avoid derailing her transfer budget by bowing to the sharks.
That’s where the stalemate is. Very soon common sense will prevail when the anticipated price war for players is not forth-coming; then there will be sensible talk.
What you mean the selling clubs that have taken a chance on these players ,trained(coach) them ,”the cheek of them “asking for a transfer fee at all .
What a pipe you suggest ?They do all the hard work and we just get them for free .
What would you suggest *
That we pay reasonable fees for players we buy. I never said we get them for free. That these clubs train the players does not mean they can keep shifting the goal posts because it’s Arsenal calling.
My point is ,that they have every right to ask what they think is a fair price ,they took the chance on him we didn’t .
And we are desperate for a striker,and who’s fault is that .
I have the same question as well. When we called in Jan for Sesko what did we say? I mean we clearly got the information about his release clause and some stats about him. If we were prepared to make an approach for him then why are we taking our time now? He is clearly our #1 target. I think a lot of us fans really want the club to sign or announce someone, because we are very uncertain about this window. We are concerned we will sign another underwhelming player and be told *We did everything blah blah blah*
Also the us being confident we can get a deal done is not reassuring a lot can happen. I mean surely we are not the only team bidding for those players.
I don’t like Sesko’s approach here. Vlahovic said no to Arsenal, which for some reason means we must never, ever approach him again. Yet, Sesko gets to say no and also start demanding he be able to leave when he hasn’t even joined yet.
Personally, I would always pick the player who wants to play for the club (not Ollie Watkins!). Sesko may have a ‘higher ceiling’ which actually counts for nothing, when Gyökeres is doing it now.
Right now my first choice would be Gyökeres. My second choice would be Vlahovic, as he has a better track record than Sesko and could really bully defences next season. I cannot understand why Jonathan David isn’t getting a sniff, but I’m also not surprised because Arteta seldom seems to make sense.
Agree with this completely
“Vlahovic said no to Arsenal, which for some reason means we must never, ever approach him again.” – I have the same thoughts on this – you get one chance with arsenal fans apparently. He chose to go to juventus, one of the biggest clubs in Europe, because he felt they were a better fit, it’s not like he rejected us for spurs or something, and he wasn’t disrespectful to arsenal from what I remember. Don’t know if he’s the right player for us tbh, but I wouldn’t not sign him just because he said no to us in the past. It’s petty.
Don’t think Arteta and the club are put off by Vlahovic saying no in the past, and that’s what matters.
But would he be the right choice?
1. His injury record is a serious off-putter for me. He spent 40 days injured last season.
2. He didn’t carry over his red hot form from Fiorentina to Juventus. He’s had 2 seasons there and hasn’t scored more than 16 goals in a season. He’s obviously good when fit, but the EPL has an even higher intensity, so chances are it would not work out well.
At this point I would actually be really happy with Hojlund, certainly over someone like Watkins. I think he has been woefully treated and misused by MU. He’s big, he’s fast, he’s strong, he works hard, and he finds space in the box. For whatever reason it hasn’t seemed to work for him at MU but that doesn’t mean he is a bad player.
I’ve always looked hojlund actually but I think they’ve broken him – he needs to go to a smaller club with less pressure to regain his confidence imo. I’m not sure that would happen here, though it arguably did happen for havertz (he looked a bit broken early on after he joined us)
Mr. Kroenke wouldn’t lose his sleep and Arteta is pilling millions in salary and the fans are the ones to pay? I don’t get this part at times. Why fans have no standing in decision making & management. I now understand the reason some say they prefer the systems in Spain and Germany.
Arsenal has never been a serious club under the Kroenkes and I don’t think it will ever be they sooner anybody accepts that they better 4 them.
I am not their biggest of fans, but since taking full control of the club and letting Josh take the lead, we’ve only improved, coming from a consistent period of regression.
And we would have won a couple of league titles by now if we weren’t up against a state funded club, and probably the the best team we’ve ever since in English football history.
Yeah, it’s true that since Josh took over the reigns we have improved but now that improvement we witnessed has not bared any fruits, Yes it took us from 8th to 2nd (thrice) but now a big statement is needed to show we have ambition to win, because even with that state funded club we still came 2nd to City twice, that to me shows we can compete with them,we just need to get serious quality and require our current team players to drastically improve their levels. The time to be indecisive is not now.
More whining. What a bunch of entitled babies us fans can be. I like a new signing as much as anyone but the literal demands that the club gets on with signing new players just sounds like a spoiled kid at Christmas who hasn’t had the presents he wants.
Zubimendi is done, everyone knows why it hasn’t been announced (accounting year in July). Kepa appears to be done. Work is very clearly being done on a striker. The club is obviously working hard on transfers.
Honestly, I feel like I’m so out of touch with modern fans. It’s the close season, I’m happy to let the club do what it needs to do and then I’ll be happy to see them playing again in a couple of months for the new season, hopefully with a stronger squad.
Yup
Whining ?
Spoilt?
We been asking for a striker since this time last year !!!
Our own manager said in January we were short in attack and needed help
It’s will be 22 years since we won the Prem
Given the prices we pay for tickets I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that after a year they should by now have a striker lined up.?
Whining ,lols .
You only just started following football ?
Your not Wrong! Wonder what the Club would do? if all season ticket holders,who were being asked to pay up asap,perhaps Next season We all tell them Money will be paid at end of July,WHEN WE ARE READY!
I couldn’t agree more. Fans were complaining BEFORE the window had even opened!
It literally makes zero difference whether we sign players now or in a few weeks time. Just as long as they’re all or the bulk of them, in by the first pre season friendly is all the counts.
@Scrubbychubby
They were complaining because we didn’t do any business in January so understandably think by now a striker should be lined up
Especially if the ambition is to be Champions
Exactly. We haven’t lost a single one of our known main targets to the pace of negotiations yet. We’d all like to see big announcements, but pre-season is still a month away.
There is also the facts that a good portion of our fanbase is fickle and easily baited. That’s why the media, the supposed IKA with “insider info” and rival fans are having a field day with them. You just type some rubbish, watch them take the bait and spread it all around social media. Just take the Arteta/Sesko vs Berta/Gyokeres rumor or the most recent with Sesko being greedy on wage demand and a RC.
Lucy78
You are saying state funded club but what about last season when they were struggling and yet somehow we still failed to win the league.
Not sure if you watched any of last season, but 6 decisive red cards, 7 decisive games in total where we finished with 10 men, colossal injury crisis all season, our best attacker out for 4 months, and no striker at all for the final 4 months.
I think that may have just played a role in the outcome, not to mention the fact that the team that won the league were full of players that had won everything at club level.
But majority of red cards was a consequence of poor defending or decision making
Last 4 months without a proper attack was clubs choice
I agree. I think some colleagues are trying to fit the facts to the narrative, rather than the other way around.
One stat does stand out for me from the last league season. Arsenal had 14 draws, more than any other team until Crystal Palace down in 12th position, and the second highest in the entire league after Everton (in 13th). The inability to finish more teams off in 37% of their games did for Arsenal.
“Last 4 months without a proper attack was clubs choice”
You’re not wrong, everyone knows we’ve been looking to add another striker for some time – going back 2 or 3 seasons now. For much of that time the pathway to starting very week for a young specialist striker wasn’t obvious to potential recruits (look at Nketiah’s chances), so we couldn’t convince some of the known targets (Vlahovic, Sesko, etc) to come. Isak’s initial asking price was 75m, which was deemed too risky at the time (exact same debate is going on about Sesko right now…). Newcastle got him eventually, as they were willing (more desperate?) to take that risk.
Mike Biereth was an internal option. But adjudicated not right to lead the line for Arsenal in the EPL. It’s easy to say “but he went on to score lots overseas!!”, but we simply don’t have all the internal analysis, and anyway, he wanted first-team football.
As for elite, experienced strikers, the competition across Europe is brutal. In England, Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham have all obviously struggled with the same issue in recent seasons. City and Newcastle are the only EPL clubs that have been successful with recruitment for this particular role. We balked at Isak. If the argument is “we should have gone for it”, then that’s really an argument for paying what may be over the odds for Sesko.
Yeah I am noticing that the same Gooners who defended zero ambition in January and who told me 300 million war chest , net spend would be over 200 million suddenly we are back to …….we need to find vale , wages are too big or attitude is not right
There are available deals right now (like Osimhen at 100m+) that I probably wouldn’t go for either, even if I really liked the player. As fans we all want a marquee striker, of course, and I don’t think anyone has a lack of ambition – but the club doesn’t operate emotionally. It operates as a business.
Let’s look at the situation:
We don’t know exactly how much the recruitment team really has the green light to spend. Let’s say for argument’s sake they have been given 200m, with 250m at a stretch. They’ve already spent about 55m on Zubimendi and possibly 5m on Kepa, both being necessary acquisitions. Meaning they would have roughly 150m left. Maybe another 50m if they can convince the hierarchy it’s 100% worth the gamble (a more known quantity like Rodrygo might be a candidate there).
70-80m on a striker gives them around 70-80m left to level up the team with:
– a better left wing than Martinelli (easily 70m in itself)
– potentially another defender (30-50m)
– a quality 6 to cover for Partey if he goes (if they get this young guy in Spain for only 20m, that would be amazing, otherwise we’re looking at 30-40m+).
So they are naturally looking to do deals at the moment where they don’t have to fork out such large lump sums at the start of the window, and lose all their flexibility too soon. If we need to spend big sums faster, then the answer is that the owners need to offer up probably another 100m.
Hazertz and Martinelli got injured after the window closed. That wasn’t the club’s choice.
But yes, the board should have listened to their manager and got at least one attacker in though.
The red cards were poor decisions by the players and were avoidable.
The injury crisis most likely is because Arteta’s training and beasting the players. It is a well known fact that Arteta does not care for the health of the players.
Arteta bought Jesus at the same time Isak was bought by Newcastle. He has NO ability to spot talent in the forward line, thus our attacking problems. Why did he never put Osimhen into the mix?
“It is a well known fact that Arteta does not care for the health of the players”
What? Does Arteta rely too much on his first team, especially Saka, or fail to rotate at the right times? Sure, you can argue all that. But that’s not at all the same thing as *not caring*.
Like every other coach, Arteta plays his best players when they are fit and they want to play. When they’re not, he leaves them out. He has stated that he believes in maintaining match fitness so pushes them pretty hard, yes. The real problem though is the lack of depth in several positions, and that’s more an issue of recruitment at club level.
“Arteta bought Jesus at the same time Isak was bought by Newcastle. He has NO ability to spot talent in the forward line, thus our attacking problems. Why did he never put Osimhen into the mix?”
Here’s where that club recruitment comes in again. Arteta has actually always wanted Isak, since his days at Sociedad, but the *club* decided he was too expensive. Same thing (more or less) happened with Vlahovic.
We also met with Osimhen and agents last June. They wanted 130m for him, upfront, plus 350k a week! You can imagine the reaction.
I will happily criticize Arteta when he gets it wrong – especially tactically – but he’s not at all solely responsible for recruitment decisions, so let’s at least try to understand what’s really going on before leveling accusations at him about things he has little to no control over.
Long long time to go yet and I for one am prepared to wait a few weeks more before I start to panic but I’m looking forward to the new season and I honestly think we will win the Premier league next season but we just need Arteta to rest players and don’t over play them before they get injured but that’s just my opinion
Arsenal’s decision making is questionable. They re linked with so many players at one time. That complicates decision making. They should try to improve their policy on this aspect. It’s frustrate fans and the players they are linked with as it takes too long to conclude deals.
Paul,
While it can be frustrating waiting for something to happen. The amount of player’s there linked with is out of their control. That’s the gutter press in this country for you.
They seem to have a scattergun approach when it comes to transfers. They connect us with enough player’s they’re bound to get one right eventually, seems to be their aim.
And lets face it, why let the truth get in the way of a good story seems to be the motto they live by.
So, I to agree with you regards Arsenal’s decision making being questionable. But the amount of links isn’t really anything to do with them to be fare. 👍
Most articles “linking” us with players are just clickbait to drive views and advertising revenue. Misinformation. Nothing to do with the club. They have no first-hand or inside knowledge of whats really going on. There are fairly reputable observers and analysts, like David Ornstein, but they tend to be less dramatic and not jump on every rumour.
I’m sure the Zubimendi deal will be signed, sealed & delivered by this time next week Dan, but as for the other two, it looks less likely as time passes. I think we should look closer to home…much closer.
Who exactly Jax?
Not Villa for sure Sue, but Mateta of Palace.
Odd how there’s no transfer rumours on Jonathan David who is free any time now. I did read that he has a preference for Spain, but you’d think a striker of his quality would be relevant.
I think what Berta is trying to get is an early agreement with both players- if-one-deal-falls-through-we-can-get-the-other sort of deal. However, if we don’t get either, that’s when we know we have a problem, as rightly stated by the article.
Romano has confirmed that we are still working on a deal for both Sesko and Gyokeres- but remembes most clubs will want deals done start of July to start the financial year (unless you are city115), explaining why Zubimendi hasn’t been “confirmed” yet despite the “here we go”.
We shall just have to wait and see how this saga plays out.
Imo, i think Arteta and the kroenkes are one and the same thing. They lack ambition to win trophies. This may sound odd. If arteta identified a player that would help him succeed, he should let the club owners knows about it or he resigns. Big coaches does that.
But it’s easier to blame the owner Henson Gunner!!
Yeah , a company that constantly fails to meet it’s objectives
Can never be the owners fault lol