BREAKING NEWS: Arsenal finally get Viktor Gyokeres transfer greenlight as four deals can be completed this week
Arsenal finally get Viktor Gyokeres transfer greenlight as four deals can be completed this week
One week later and Arsenal can yet again complete transfers. From Monday, the summer window will open for good. No more waiting or playing with early deadlines. It’s down to the real business.
This is two-and-a-half months of season-defining activity. Most players are only just starting their holidays and breaks but now is when the recruitment teams make their money.
For Arsenal, Andrea Berta and Mikel Arteta know there is a lot to do with some huge decisions set to be made. Nothing for Martin Zubimendi is expected to be formalised until July for accounting purposes, but the big calls in attack will now get heightened attention
Making serious progress with either Viktor Gyokeres or Benjamin Sesko was always going to be a tough ask in the 10 days at the start of June, but now that there is a lot of time and space ahead, movement will be expected. It is a little over one month until Arsenal fly out to Singapore ahead of their first friendly, and Arteta will be desperate to have the bulk of the transfers done.
Players return to training at London Colney at the start of July for provisional testing and initial preparations. If Arsenal can firm things up by then then it will be even better.
Many supporters turned their attention to the summer as soon as the full-time whistle blew in Paris after the Champions League campaign came to an end. The debrief focused on how Arsenal would need to revamp this squad.
Having missed chances without a true striker in both legs, most of the narrative continued to be around the need for a striker. That has not changed. In the weeks following, analysis of the midfield and winger options has cranked up as well.
The Champions League exit with nothing left to play for domestically has provided an extended runway into the summer for Arsenal which only adds to the sense of uncertainty that little has happened so far. Talks with Thomas Partey over a new contract have gone quiet whilst there is much deliberation over two names up front.
It remains a choice between Gyokeres and Sesko, although others are regularly thrown into the mix, including Ollie Watkins and, more ambitiously, Alexander Isak. These are complicated transfers to complete with big financial packages, plenty of competition, and, maybe most importantly, selecting the right profile and fit for the team.
Arsenal do know that should they make substantial inroads on either front, they would at least be able to register the transfer through FIFA and finish it off from Monday. They have until September 1 to do that, so there is no rush, but time is of the essence.
A decision over Gyokeres and Sesko becomes all the more pressing with each passing day. Supporters have been waiting a while, as mentioned, already, and are growing frustrated with the lack of tangible developments.
Their thirst for a transfer will surely be quenched when Zubimendi arrives. Kepa Arrizabalaga might beat him to it after talks with Chelsea over a £5million move for the backup goalkeeper started last week.
That would address two of the four main areas Arsenal needed to look at. The striker is a third whilst a winger must also be found. As with the No.9, though, it is not a simple one.
Arsenal have to weigh up the cost, availability, and type of wideman they go after with Anthony Gordon, Rodrygo, Nico Williams, Rafael Leao, and Morgan Rogers among those of interest. All of those would be heavy on cost and also therefore require intricate negotiation.
That is what Berta has spent much of his first few months at Arsenal doing. Coming in late ahead of the summer window, he has had to hit the ground running in order to make sure this crucial passage goes well
