Arteta’s transfer strategy good or bad? by Benedict
Ever since Mikel Arteta has taken over at Arsenal and partnered with Edu to both oversee and negotiate transfers, Arsenal FC has developed a very clear transfer strategy and one that we have never seen before.
So, what is this new strategy?
We currently buy young players with big potential and medium price tags, this is how we manage our incomings and it’s a strategy that has worked, we have the youngest squad in the league and yet are hot favourites for the fourth spot.
Our whole current team will only improve as the players hit the mid-twenties and the prime of their careers, especially with a reported huge transfer budget we will be guaranteed if we make the Champions League spots.
The team is hungry yet also has little ego, players like Odegaard for example are the type of professionals that we need in a rebuild, a professional that is a leader already and someone we can build the team round.
Edu’s signings have also been good fits, Tomiyasu was a fantastic signing, he fits into the first team perfectly and is the most defensively sound right back we have had in years.
We have also imported a lot of English talent. Ramsdale and White both add to our strong English core of players and are creating a huge claim to start in the winter World Cup if they continue their fine form, alongside Saka and ESR.
However, Arteta also brings in a strategy for outgoings, which seems to be letting the older players on big wages ‘end their contract with mutual consent’ and then join another team on a free.
This current strategy I’m not the biggest fan of…
I do recognise that there is a positive in this, offloading expensive big players like Auba saved us nearly £30 million in wages and avoids another Ozil situation, where a player earns loads while just sat on the side-lines.
Offloading ego is clearly not easy to do either and many have praised Arteta for managing to ship so many of these types of players off.
However, I cannot see how this football model is sustainable in the long term, all the top sides have a strategy but normally they make money from it, and we clearly don’t at all.
The obvious example of a club with a sustainable model would be Liverpool, they have a strict wage limit and even Salah doesn’t exceed it, they don’t offer 30-year-olds more than a year extension and they splash out when they really need depth in certain positions.
It is a very effective, smart transfer strategy.
I feel like we can be smarter with our money here, sell some of the quality that we do have and give us the extra cash in transfers to get deals done, like Alexander Isak in January.
Guendouzi for example, is going for £12 million, a young proven midfielder who will be playing in the French national team and we barely get anything in return, he is the type of player Chelsea would ship off for £30 or £40 million.
Barcelona was originally going to buy Auba but when the transfer broke down, we simply terminated his contract and let him join for free, he has gone on to score five times in seven games and clearly still has a lot of quality regardless of age.
Surely, we could have got a couple million for him, but we left it too late in the window.
I like what Arteta is doing and I really love the team we play every game, but I do fear that this current strategy is unsustainable. Especially if we want to be a top four side year after year.
Until next time Gooners.
Benedict
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Mikel Arteta’s FULL press conference after Watford win –