What other signings do Arsenal need to compete next season?

What Arsenal need to compete in 2022/23 by Konstantin Mitov

Well lovely Arsenal people, it’s another transfer window, and I think the end of last season highlighted the need to improve in various areas to compete.

The most notable transfer so far is of course Gabriel Jesus. We need to score more goals, that’s kind of obvious, and Jesus’ total of 14 pl goals, doesn’t set the world alight, but still a massive improvement of the combined total of around 10 between Eddie, Laca and Auba.

I’d still get another striker though. I’d like to get the option to cross it in the box and have a big target man to hit. An Olivier Giroud type of player, especially with 5 subs next season is something that might help us break opposition teams down.

Liverpool signed Nunez, City signed Haaland, I think you can see even Pep and Klopp realized the need for that. Even an Ivan Toney kind of signing that would give us an extra option up front is something I’d take.

I’m not overly impressed with the Eddie deal and giving him the number 14 shirt based on 5 goals in the end of last season when it was clear Laca wasn’t cutting it. For me we are 1 striker injury away from another crisis, with more games to play this year, but I doubt we will actually go for more strikers.

We’ve been linked with Lisandro Martinez, who is a versatile player that is most likely our choice to cover left back, which has been a huge problem for us. Nuno is clearly not the answer, and Tierney’s injury record means a left back is most needed. The problem is United are likely to pick him up, because of Ten Hag, and we should have an alternative lined up if this deal doesn’t work.

Then there’s midfield where we desperately need an improvement on Granit Xhaka. The guy is the anchor of our midfield, because for years we’ve neglected the need to improve there drastically. We’ve been linked to Tielemans and honestly, I wonder why we haven’t just coughed up the 25 million to wrap the deal up.

One Partey injury and it’s back to Elneny and Xhaka. This is not taking us back to the champions league, I’m sorry, they’ve been here 6 years, it’s time we splash the cash on an area so pivotal in modern football.

We’ve been also linked with Milinkovic-Savic. This player has been highly rated for a long time, and I’d take his presence in the squad, but Tielemans is younger, has only a year left on the deal, if we went with a real bid, we could wrap it up.

I’d like to see the main players ready before we go on tour, and seeing training pictures of Bellerin, Torreira and Pablo Mari is not very encouraging. If we seriously want to challenge, I’d go as far as to say, we need 2 midfielders, not one, and also a right back. Tommy missed a lot of games and Cedric is a target in our defense.

I also understand the bid for Raphinha. Too much pressure last season fell on the shoulders of Saka, ESR and Martinelli. That shouldn’t be the case, and we should ease their burden by adding more experienced players around them. It’s not about “limiting” their playing time, it’s about having options when the game isn’t going your way, and there are again the 5 subs.

We’ve also signed Fabio Vieira, who we’ve all seen pictured with that protective boot. I don’t know what the injury is and also, I don’t know the player, and I don’t trust YouTube scouting, because it can make any player look good. But again, I feel like there is a recognition that we don’t score enough goals, thus the need to reinforce the forward line.

Then there’s a bunch of players who need to be sold like Bellerin, Mari, Torreira, Holding, Pepe, AMN, Leno and so on who are likely not going to feature too much.

In an ideal world I’d like us to sign 2 CM, 1 more striker, 1 winger, and also left and right full backs. In a reality though I doubt we’ll spend so much, and a LB and a CM seem the most likely. I wouldn’t mind adding some experienced faces too. Hopefully we’ll do our business quick.

The draw for the start of the season has been kind to us, but we need to be prepared. Our record at Palace is terrible lately, we need to erase that. The first 3 games of last season should be a stark reminder why we should have a fully fitted squad of players capable to win football games.

We finished 2 points off of 4th having lost more than 10 games. That number has to be massively reduced. We also exited the cups far too early. The competition is tough. Spurs signed some good players sadly, Chelsea are yet to show what their new owner is all about, Liverpool and City bought two of the hottest strikers around, it will be tough, and we need to move fast.

Now we also have Europa league, and my expectations are top 4 and a good run in the cups for a bare minimum. The Kroenkes won both the super Bowl and the Stanley cup. They’ve also backed Arteta more than any of his predecessors, but if they really want us back in contention, we might need to go over 150m in spending this season. Also, this will be Artetas 4th season here.

No more excuses for me. The Arsenal must deliver.

Konstantin

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