Arsenal find themselves working hard to try and secure players on deadline day once again. Takehiro Tomiyasu was the player last summer and Douglas Luiz appears to be the man this year, although Aston Villa have rejected two offers already according to reports.
This however does not follow what the club had seemingly initially planned prior to the window opening many weeks ago. The preparation that has gone into Arsenal’s search for a new player has seen them secure top talent in the past two and a half years.
However, the planning in 2022, despite landing the likes of Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko, has been unable to secure the wide player and central midfielder they wanted. After pursuits for Raphinha and Lisandro Martinez failed in the early stage of the window, the Gunners find themselves trying to persuade Aston Villa to sell them Douglas Luiz.
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Edu spoke ahead of the transfer window about the club’s summer plan. He detailed not only wanting to balance the squad but also have 22 available outfield players. At present, the 22 might not be exactly what he was looking at.
"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 on April 23. "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." Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta wants to bring in a new forward, central midfielder and winger with several first-team players set to leave the Emirates Stadium in the coming months.
"The Champions League and the Europa League both require a much larger squad because the number of games is much bigger," he said.
"If we can afford it financially and we don’t have to do the turnaround in the squad that we’ve had to, what I want is 22 outfield players and three goalkeepers. A lot of things have to be put in place and that takes time, so I am expecting a busy summer.”
Despite the potential for Arsenal to still add the vital midfield addition this summer, the wide role is certainly not going to happen. Considering Nicolas Pepe was allowed to leave for Nice on loan it has left the club very short on the right.
Bukayo Saka is the only natural option with significant senior experience. Reiss Nelson and Marquinhos are also potential options, but the former is currently injured and could have left were it not for being sidelined this summer whereas the Brazilian remains unproven having joined this summer from his homeland.
The club clearly has a bar regarding quality and having missed out on players, Raphinha in particular, it is obvious they have struggled to find a player who meets their strict criteria. A good policy but potentially risky if deadline day sees them finish empty-handed.
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