For many people connected to Arsenal, it has been a time to remember the old line from Arsène Wenger. “We live in a society of ‘news’,” the club’s former manager once said, and by that he meant new things – the shinier the better.
Nowhere is the obsession more obvious than in the transfer market, when a club simply has to add new faces. These days, it feels as though some fans prefer them to be signed as late as possible in the summer window to ensure a positive narrative after the deadline; to maximise the potential to generate momentum. Recency bias is powerful.
Wenger’s tone was disapproving. The next big thing is not always thus. What you already have should not be undervalued or taken for granted. It struck a chord with Mikel Arteta, which everybody in the room for his press conference to preview Sunday’s home game against Chelsea could feel because it moved him out of succinct answer territory.
The Arsenal manager enters the match having won three out of three this season – including the Community Shield victory over Manchester City – without conceding a goal. His club, of course, ended their long wait for the Premier League title last May when they chased away all manner of demons. They are hot favourites to win it again.
At Aston Villa on Monday night, Arteta introduced two of Spain’s World Cup winning squad – Mikel Merino and Martín Zubimendi – from the bench. Plus the marquee summer signing, Bruno Guimarães. Plus Eberechi Eze. Plus another high-profile new boy, Ezri Konsa. Arsenal’s strength in depth is really something.
Their squad is surely stronger now than it was at the end of last season. Does Arteta feel that? “Yes I do,” he said. “We are better equipped. We have more players available. We have increased the quality and we have increased the leadership in the team as well, which is very important.”
So, why the angst among supporters after the transfer window closed, which was probably nearer to hysteria in some cases? “It’s human nature,” Arteta said. “When you talk to people and you ask them … normally, it’s: ‘OK, what is on your bucket list?’ People write a lot about the bucket list. And sometimes we forget the reverse bucket list, which is the things that you already have in your life that are incredible. But you put so much emphasis on them [the bucket list items] that nothing seems to be enough.
“It’s very important to value what we have, what we have created together. To have ambition is great, especially to evolve the things we already have within the club. But listen – don’t lose perspective to what we already have, which is amazing.”
Arsenal are indisputably better in defence with Konsa and in midfield with Guimarães. The worry is the front line where it has been one in (Christos Tzolis) and four out (Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus and Ethan Nwaneri).
The reasoning for each departure was difficult to fault. Trossard is 31, he had one year on his contract and Besiktas offered £15.3m. Tzolis felt like a fine replacement for him. Martinelli scored once in the league last season, although he contributed four in the FA Cup and six in the Champions League. Arsenal got £60m from Al-Hilal for him; a club record sale.
As an aside, Arteta mentioned how Arsenal had “made a move last summer” – a reference to their lavish spending – and there has been an acknowledgement within the club that there had to be a balancing this time.
Jesus started nine games in all competitions last season, scoring six goals. He, too, was into the final year of his deal, and he was one of the club’s highest earners. At one stage, it looked as though he might look to see out his contract and in the end, a £8.6m deal with Barcelona rising to £12.9m suited all parties. Nwaneri barely played for Arsenal last season, going to Marseille on loan in January. Another loan, this time to Borussia Dortmund, made sense, particularly as there is a January recall clause.
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Yet the weight of the outgoing numbers makes it hard to say Arsenal are stronger in this department and Arteta was in no mood to over-promise here. “It’s another question and we have to prove in that particular position whether we are better or not,” he said. “Let’s see. I understand the point of view [about the number of departures] but we have to understand as well the amount of minutes that those players played. And the ones that were injured last season, especially in the first six months. It is what it is.”There is the belief at Arsenal that Eze can in essence replace Martinelli on the left, albeit he is a different kind of player. Arsenal can perhaps play in a different way, with Riccardo Calafiori stepping up more from left-back. There is the hope that with a reshaped medical staff, the team can have a better run on the injury front – specifically with Bukayo Saka, Martin Ødegaard and Kai Havertz having uninterrupted seasons. The fear is that more problems will undermine them.
What has coloured the post-transfer window vibe is the failure to add a big-name attacker, to make a real statement signing. If Arteta did have a bucket list, then a game-changer for the front line would have been on it. Arsenal did try; they reached for stars such as Vinícius Júnior, Julián Alvarez and Morgan Rogers. Arteta even suggested that this kind of intent was progress. It is a tough sell when the glamour targets remain elusive.
There was a point in July when Arsenal thought there was more of a chance they would get Vinícius than not. Then Real Madrid made him a new contract offer and he signed it. Alvarez just did not want to come, and the case of Rogers boiled down to the numbers. Arsenal offered £80m to Aston Villa for him and no more. Chelsea ended up going to £117m. They overpaid. But then they announced a deal with Villa two days later to loan Alejandro Garnacho there with a conditional purchase obligation, valuing the winger at £40m. Chelsea found a way to get Rogers. Arsenal did not. He will be a major subplot on Sunday .
There were moments when Arteta dropped his usual ultra-positive outlook and offered little peeks behind the curtain, including when he suggested that reporters speak to the sporting director, Andrea Berta, or the co-chair Josh Kroenke about why it was so difficult to close deals for the very elite.
“To get these deals done in this market is complicated,” he said. “I don’t know how it looks from the outside but we have put in everything that we possibly could to make those deals happen and we made most of them happen. We have been very efficient with what Andrea has done in the market again. It has been incredible, the support of all the club and that’s it. It’s not perfect but it doesn’t need to be perfect.”
Arteta believes that Arsenal have enough.