A week is a long time in football. One moment, you’re in a title race; the next, that dream is in tatters.
While Mikel Arteta insists Arsenal will keep chasing Liverpool in the hope of securing an unlikely league win, attention is already turning to the summer and what the club can do to reinforce an ailing attack while securing the long-term future of a number of key stars.
Who will oversee a growing to-do list remains unclear. Since Edu’s shock departure as sporting director in November, a major gap has emerged in the executive team, and concerns are mounting that failure to fill it soon could have lasting repercussions.
For now, Jason Ayto holds the role on an interim basis, laying the groundwork for whoever takes over permanently. He’s a strong candidate, seemingly favoured by Arteta, but risks being left in an awkward position if overlooked.
Former players Per Mertesacker and Tomas Rosicky are thought to have been interviewed, while ex-West Ham technical director Tim Steidten and Real Sociedad’s director of football Roberto Olabe have also been linked.
No doubt, Arteta will have a big say in the appointment but when asked for an update on Tuesday morning he wasn’t giving anything away.
“That’s a question for the club, they are in a position to give better answers in terms of timing and selection than I am,” he said.
Asked if he had a message for concerned supporters, he continued: “The club is doing all the process that we believe is the best, to try to find the person that is the best one for the moment that Arsenal is right now, and that’s what the club is trying to do.”
It’s been reported that Arsenal have already lined up a deal to sign Sociedad’s Martin Zubimendi in the summer – a coup if true – and that a striker and backup goalkeeper are next on the shopping list.
On the contract front, things are relatively under control although Arsenal fans know from experience, it only takes six months for player reps to wrestle back the initiative.
William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli all have contracts ending in 2027 and the Gunners won’t want negotiations to drag into next year with big-name suitors hovering in the wings.
In the short-term, Arsenal need to finish the current campaign strongly – at a bare minimum securing Champions League qualification for a third season in a row. A win against third-place Nottingham Forest on Wednesday would give the Gunners some breathing room.
Ethan Nwaneri is expected to be fit after cramping up in the closing stages on Saturday. Arteta also backed Mikel Merino to produce as an auxiliary striker after the Spaniard came back to earth with a bump on the weekend following his two-goal salvo at Leicester.
“Yes [he can still play there] – in relation to the opposition and the options we have, and then what the team generates as well,” said Arteta.
“Attacking players depend a lot on what the team is generating, the chemistry, the fluidity, the areas we are hitting, and how we interact with each other. It worked really against Leicester, but the other day there were a lot of things missing.”
Scary about those four with contracts coming up to re-sign. We need all 4 of them so needs to get sorted asap.
Of the four, I guess Saka is the least likely to have a problem. Martin’s current form isn’t good so it probably will be easy too. But both the defenders are going to be more challenging to convince. Gabriel will be in his most beautiful age in the next contract so he certainly will think very carefully before putting in name in.
Apart from madrid or bayern, there isn’t a club more attractive today than ours.
Just painful that Real have Saliba in their sights.
If he goes and we get a good fee (100 million +) or he decides to sign a new contract, I’m easy either way. I find it harder to connect with footballers nowadays and it’s a job for them at the end of the day. Footballers come and go and Arsenal will continue to exist either way. If we don’t invest properly this summer, you can probably say is a problem of our own making.
It’s worth pointing out that they had Alohonso Davies in their sights too, and he’s just signed a new contract at Bayern. Madrid wanting your players isn’t a done deal like it was 15 years ago – we can match their salaries for all but the Mbappe level players
Bayern? Really? They kind of lost their aura a bit last season. I think it’ll depend on their CL performance.
At present Liverpool might be most frustrating for us other than Real, as we may be going for similar targets, looking for players who are top drawer.
Liverpool currently have Salah, Van Dijk and TAA out of contract in June. City have many players either leaving or at an age that needs replacing. We’re are going into the summer with the most in-shape squad in the premier league, regardless of the shit storm of this year.
Leicester – they’re going down…
West Ham was always going to be harder.
(Last season *cough*!)
The one of the best men for the job already left. Edu oversaw some fantastic business for us with incoming players, although his record with outgoings was not the best. Those comments he made about getting rid of players made it harder to shift the likes of Pepe for anything at all. Hopefully we’ll find someone who has a track record of selling as well as having the necessary eye and contacts for incoming players.
Looking around the premier league at the moment we might want to try to snap up whoever has been doing Brighton’s business.
Dont expect much from this board/Owners. They clearly not in it to win the big trophies. If they come by some managerial miracle then good but they will not invest or compete. Their manager has brought the club close at least twice with a combination of youth and squad players from city/chelsea. They themselves (Owners) should/could easily say: ‘Mikel we have saved enough for 2 decades/stadium all that, now we want to be champions, we want 1st , for us for the fans for the Arsenal, who/what do you need’. If Arteta was offered to sign strikers and said no… Read more »