Joao Pedro was one of the attackers Arsenal considered adding to their squad in the last transfer window after they missed out on Julian Alvarez.
Their main focus had been convincing the Argentinian to join them, but at some point, the Gunners accepted that he would not make the move and turned their attention towards signing other strikers.
Kai Havertz is injury-prone, while Victor Gyokeres is nowhere near the level of performance the Gunners want from him, which is one of the reasons they opted to make a move for another striker.
After admitting defeat in their bid to sign Alvarez, the Gunners turned their attention to Pedro and discussed a move for the Brazilian internally. BBC Sport says Mikel Arteta was not convinced about adding him to his squad.
The manager assessed him and was not convinced that the Brazilian would fit his system, so Arsenal opted against making an approach for him.
Arteta was not convinced by Pedro
Pedro remains a key player at Chelsea, and he recently signed a new contract, so there is no guarantee that the Blues would have allowed him to leave the club this summer.
Arsenal therefore faced uncertainty over whether a move could have been completed, even if the Gunners had decided to pursue the Chelsea attacker more seriously.
The decision ultimately came down to Arteta’s assessment of whether Pedro would fit the system he wanted to use. The Arsenal manager was not convinced, meaning the Gunners chose not to approach him.
Pedro could have pushed for Arsenal move
However, Pedro may have pushed for the move if Arsenal had shown strong interest and convinced him that he would start at the Emirates.
That could have made the situation more complicated for Chelsea, particularly if the player had been keen on joining the Gunners.
Despite that possibility, Arsenal decided against pursuing Pedro after Arteta assessed his suitability for the team. The Gunners instead continued their search for a striker who could provide the level of performance they wanted.
Pedro remains at Chelsea, while Arsenal’s decision shows that Arteta was not prepared to pursue a player unless he was convinced that the attacker would fit his system and strengthen the squad.
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Mikel’s very picky about his players and for good reason. Looking back I doubt he ever pushed for Norgaard in the first place, and we already know it’s Berta who insisted on Gyokeres who Mikel doesn’t favor anymore. I do still think we have to make a move in January if we want to have a chance at UCL, so am wondering who Arteta thinks can improve the forward line. Mikel’s preference should definitely trump Berta’s. Not to downplay Berta, who did sell well this summer, and push for the Hincapie signing last summer.
Totally agree. Arteta is closest to the players, and has 20+ years of experience in the Premier League. As a manager he’s constantly assessing and evolving match tactics and how they will impact the match day squads he’s responsible for. So he needs to have a veto on incoming players or we end up potentially underutilizing expensive signings.
Looks like this is what happened here, so seems like the system we have is working pretty well overall.
Admin where are the player ratings for our last game? I enjoy reading player ratings especially when we win.
M A quite rightly should have the final say on the players that Arsenal sign.
However, he was very keen on Isak last summer, who Liverpool paid £125M for.
A B was keen on Gyokeres, and Arsenal signed him for £64M.
Comparing Isak and Gyokeres in terms of their first Season impacts with Liverpool ( 5th ) and Arsenal ( 1st )…..
Who had the better season?
After 1 season – who has been best value for money?
As a Team, making Transfers happen, M A and A B are working well together, and it shows on the pitch.
Obviously Isak had a terrible time of it last season, was crocked for several months, on top of which Liverpool were in transition with lots of new players and a declining Salah, so it’s not all on him.
I think its generally considered that Isak is fundamentally a better all-round player and proven in the Prem. Which is why he was considered so valuable (also Liverpool are willing to pay much more for players than we are generally). Who knows how he would have performed under Arteta?
Isak has a long history of missing games, surely Liverpool knew this.
For sure, Isak was a bullet dodged. Sesko was the primary target the club had worked on for ages though before Berta came in. Hopefully Mikel is smiling we missed out on Isak though and sees never to overpay for a player that has a horrible injury record even if they are very good. Things worked out the way they were supposed to with Gyokeres even if it wasn’t according to Mikel’s initial plans