It was very clear who Arsenal wanted to sign during the transfer window. Sporting director Edu led a charge for two expensive options but in the end the Gunners came up short and needed to pivot to other alternatives before the market closed.
Several bids were placed to Shakhtar Donetsk and Brighton for their young stars Mykhailo Mudryk and Moises Caicedo. However, Arsenal were unsuccessful in signing either with Chelsea swooping for the Ukrainian winger and Brighton refusing to let go of Caicedo.
Arsenal pivoted for Leandro Trossard and Jorginho respectively and Mikel Arteta was happy with the club’s business. However, questions were raised when the window slammed shut whether Edu should face criticism for missing out on yet more priority targets for the Gunners.
READ MORE: Every word Mikel Arteta said on missing January transfer priorities, Everton and Partey injury
Over the course of his tenure, Arsenal have approached the likes of Jules Kounde, Dusan Vlahovic, Lisandro Martinez, Raphinha and now the January duo mentioned above. Failing with moves for these players, Edu has responded well to sign plenty of quality that sees Arsenal sit top of the table.
This window though did see a shift from the strategy of targeting solely young players with Jorginho, 31, and Trossard, 28, bucking the trend. football.london asked Arteta in his pre-Everton press conference what needs to change in order to get the players the club target initially through the door.
"I’m really happy with what we’ve done, for what you plan and what you can actually do in this industry normally it doesn’t happen, so you have to mould and adapt, and we’ve done that,” he replied. “At the end the most important thing is that the profile of the person, and the qualities that we bring into the squad, and I have no doubt that we’ve done that."
At the end of last season, Arteta spoke of Arsenal having planned what they wanted to do and with the acquisition of Gabriel Jesus they certainly followed through with that. Although missing out on Martinez, the signing of Oleksandr Zinchenko again showed the quality pivoting that continues in the market.
However, with Arsenal potentially entering the summer transfer window as either Premier League champions or at the very minimum, established title challengers, the expectation for the club to sign their main targets will be far higher. football.london understands that Declan Rice is the club’s number one option for the summer as the midfield remains the focus of long-term rebuilding as Granit Xhaka and Thomas Partey progress through their early thirties.
There is sure to be further interest in other positions as Arsenal attempt to combat the ever-present Manchester City and the growing financial threats of Chelsea and Newcastle. Despite strong work in pivoting to alternatives, should these threats be the sides to steal away the number one targets, it will only become more difficult to battle this challenge.
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