The last week of Arsenal's transfers has been filled with the competition that has run rife in the Gunners' new-look recruitment plan. Chelsea, Barcelona, Tottenham, Barcelona and Juventus have become regular battlers for targets.
Although frustrating, this is a good sign for Arsenal as previous players had criticised the club's targeted opportunities instead of those in high demand for their quality. The problem with quality is the competition to get hold of it.
Strangely, however, Arsenal cooled their interest early on in the one summer priority of which there was a lack of competition for the player. Youri Tielemans was a well-documented priority transfer target for the Arsenal central midfield.
READ MORE: Arsenal’s Youri Tielemans interest can take priority once again after Raphinha transfer failure
Admired by Mikel Arteta for many months and with personal terms, not expected to be a problem. However, a bid never arrived for the player, and the club reportedly moved on to other targets such as Raphinha and Lisandro Martinez.
This has now opened to door for other clubs to come in, and Arsenal may find that having missed out on Raphinha and potentially Martinez too, competition for the likes of Tielemans has emerged. The latest indications seem to support this too.
CBS Sports' Ben Jacobs has reported that there is a 'growing feeling' that Newcastle will push into the market for the Belgian. The club's recruitment specialist Dan Ashworth has already made enquiries.
A window that started so brightly for Arsenal and with four players already through the doors is beginning to turn. The benefit of the early business is that the Gunners have plenty of time to look for alternatives to their primary targets if their pursuits are unsuccessful.
Yet there will be justified criticism if Edu and company fail to address the priority positions of central midfield and a versatile defender before the season's start. Especially when Edu publicly stated the club had a plan for the summer.
"The budget we used last summer, we prefer to use it to rebalance the squad. There was no point in hiring one or two players [in January]. The squad was not prepared to absorb two players. We needed to rebalance the squad," Edu told ESPN Brasil. "Maybe next season we can go to one or two players.
"Today, we find a much more balanced squad. Our planning has already been done; it has already reached the owners. It's a matter of step by step, how we are going to finish the season and to put in plan the planning that I'm very excited about."
Having come out and confirmed the owners had seen it to not follow it through would be a public relations disaster. Let us see where this one goes.
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