Arsenal technical director Edu has not acted in accordance with his own transfer claim this summer as Arsenal aim to overhaul a number of positions within the squad.
Mikel Arteta has been at the helm as manager since December 2019 and has been entrusted to mould the team in his image, with plenty of money being spent during the Spaniard's reign. During the summer window of 2021 alone, the Gunners boss was permitted to fork out just under £140million on six new additions - all of whom have been a success to varying degrees.
Due to the amount of money spent and the sheer number of players signed this time 12 months ago, many expected that the summer window of 2022 would be a particularly quiet one for Arsenal. Even boardroom chief Edu admitted the Gunners would be taking a different approach.
The mid-season window passed Arsenal by in January without a single incoming. The decision to not dip into the transfer kitty was heavily scrutinised, particularly with the departure of talismanic forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Speaking to ESPN in April, Arsenal chief Edu said: "We're going to focus on signing one or two players. After last summer's revolution, we need the next step. We've [got] our strategy ready."
And then Arsenal capitulated. The Gunners were five points clear, occupying the much-coveted fourth spot with just three games to go but failed to hold their nerve and were pipped to the Champions League qualification post by their most fierce rivals Tottenham.
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It appears as if that heartache was the catalyst for Edu to backtrack on the club's strategy, with Arsenal having already made more than "one or two" signings before the end of July. In fact, the Gunners look on course to go well above that number of new faces by the time the window slams shut.
As of mid-July, talented teen Marquinhos, Porto playmaker Fabio Vieira, American shot-stopper Matt Turner and four-time Premier League champion Gabriel Jesus have all pledged their allegiance to Arteta and Edu's Arsenal project.
Jesus' former Manchester City teammate Oleksandr Zinchenko is on the verge of being unveiled as the club's fifth addition after being spotted donning Gunners training gear and attending Arsenal's pre-season clash with Orlando City.
This all stems from Arteta's desire to right the wrongs of the back end of last season. By the way many of the current crop withered under the white-hot spotlight of top-four pressure, it is clear the Gunners needed to bring in some new characters and that is exactly what the manager has done.
Arteta is all too familiar with both Jesus and Zinchenko from their shared time together as a trio at the Etihad while the Spaniard was operating as an assistant coach to Pep Guardiola.
Leicester midfielder Youri Tielemans is also odds on to join Arsenal before the window closes, while the club are also aiming to bolster their options on the right wing to provide golden boy Bukayo Saka with sufficient competition.
Should both of those deals be completed the club would have made a whopping seven signings - five more than Edu expected and one more than last summer's shopping spree.
With that being said, Arteta has also recognised the need to cull the squad before it becomes too bloated. He explained: "We have a large squad, so we have to make some decisions as well on the players that we're not going to be using consistently and be fair and straight with them and that's a process that is going to start very soon as well."
Pressed for comment on any outgoings, Arteta went on: "We have to. We have a big squad and now we have to make things happen."
