Despite the disappointing end to last season, the vibes coming from Arsenal this summer are positive.
Two contract renewals have been completed, two new signings have been confirmed and supporters are excited by the names being linked as additional reinforcements.
Internally, there is also enthusiasm. Off the back of this week’s capture of Porto playmaker Fabio Vieira, technical director Edu has a feather in his cap and appears confident the Gunners, working to a long-standing plan, are well-placed to make further inroads in the transfer market.
“We are really happy to do what we are doing and looking forward to finishing the window, the way we planned it,” he told Arsenal.com.
“We as a club here internally are very, very excited to go and to keep going for the summer. I think we prepare very much well the strategy to go to the summer. There’s still something to do and we’re excited to keep going.”
He added: “What I’m always trying to say is that there are so many people working for one signing. We are working really hard because we have a lot of people around it.
“We have the guys from the scouting side, the analysis, the data, we have our CFO, we have our legal team, we have our CEO and we have our board. We have a lot of people engaging to make signings happen.
“When we faced this summer as we face it, we are really, really prepared to do almost everything as we did with Fabio [Vieira]. That’s why we move quite quickly because everybody’s really engaged, everybody is really focused to make the things happen.”
In the coming days, Arsenal will confirm the arrival of US goalkeeper Matt Turner and seem set on testing the resolve of Manchester City and Leeds United with new bids for Brazilians Gabriel Jesus and Raphinha. The likes of Youri Tielemans and Lisandro Martinez also appear to be on the shopping list.
“We have to go to the market and sign exciting, exciting players with the right age, right attitude, right mentality,” said Edu.
“We want to see a club like Arsenal with a young squad, an exciting squad with a big, big future. As I said last summer, the idea to have a young squad is to give them an opportunity to play together for two, three, four, five, six seasons together.
“We still have a lot to do, but we are really excited to start the season with the players that we targeted and the players we want to sign, as well.”
He ended: “I’m quite excited, I think we have some good conversations and positive conversations to be fair. I hope we can give to the fans some good news.”
It is hard to disagree that last summers recruitment wasnt excellent.
Where we lack is on the sales front but it is inevitable when the team has been in decline fir so many years.
I find it easy to agree last summers recruitment was pretty bloody good. Ramsdale, White, Tomiyasu and Odegaard.
Indeed. A slight worry on Lokonga though and his way into the team. We did spend around 15-20m on him. Would love to see him be integrated, but the road seems long especially if Martinez is signed (decent dm as well).
Lokonga will come good but even if he doesn’t, we didn’t spend so much that it is disastrous and he will probably be able to be sold for a decent chunk. That’s one of the reasons why buying young promising players on reasonable wages for reasonable prices makes so much sense – if it goes wrong, there is an escape route. Worst scenario, we lose out on 10 mil from his transfer
I completely agree that Lokonga will come good Giuseppe, it got a bit lost in all the noise about what happened and why at the time but I thought his debut against Brentford was outstanding, he had a decent run for a while earlier in the season but once he dropped out he found it difficult to come back in and impress but the guy’s got it in my view and I believe he will show it on a more regular basis next season.
He has Europa to get more playing time too and personally I think he’d be a better option as a Xhaka replacement in the 8 rather than a partey replacement in the 6
So a football club is an investment company? No top four achievement required as long as the financial losses are under control?
That is clearly not what Edu is saying, HC.
Gasslight alert! (and not even a good one).
Correct. Investing in footballers is a high risk operation because they can either appreciate or depreciate. It is therefore necessary to do as much due diligence as possible to minimise the risk of investment failure. (i.e. don’t spend £50m on a striker unless you are absolutely sure he’s the one!)
One of the stupidest comments ever. Nice work
I think Lokonga showed us enough flashes to give us faith in him. We were very light in numbers last season & we put a lot on his shoulders a few too many times. I think taking him out of the limelight for a bit was a good move & I’m sure he’ll start coming good this season. Those Europa games will be really helpful towards his development.
I thought our business last summer was brilliant. There was a clear strategy and we now have a young team that the fans are behind. Ramsdale, Tommy, Ofegaard and White were fantastic additions. Lakonga is one for the future and Tavares started well and went off the boil. If we have a comparable window this Summer I think that we will be in a very good place with a young group of players that will only improve.
I think you’ve accidently put a double negative in there
Yep. Don’t say he wasn’t not warned about those.
No pun left behind.
Thanks for noticing.
In my native grammar it is correct thats why I was confused.
In English, a double negative makes a positive. But a double positive cannot make a negative. Yeah, right!
So one Willian plus one Squilachi makes a Vieira!
Same in Maths
Also last summer was a massive risk where both Edu and Arteta put their jobs/reputation on the line. Now that the dust has settled I think 5th was a good result bringing in 23yo or under. They could of easily spent the 150million on 3 50million 28 yo’s on high wages and left the club in a huge mess.
So all in all kudos to them – right now a manager and technical director would be licking their lips to get into arsenal exactly where we want to be
What was it, 4 out 6 Signings last season came straight into the squad and became mainstays… I challenge any club to do better when not signing out and out world beaters.. I for one like the idea of building a team round a vision, rather than one of two players.. the later format always leads to chaos when the get injured, or leave.
Are we trying to have a young, exciting and unbalanced team like Leeds have had the last three years? Buy in the position where the market allows you?
Why is the team unbalanced? Secondly when have Leeds had a young exciting team? 🫣
Isn’t Raphinha an example of young and exciting? We have ESR and. Odegaard and bought Viera. We have Martinelli, Saka, Pépé (Odegaard and ESR who can be deployed on the wings) but we are after Raphinha. We have no world-class striker and above all no “best player” (who in a good year can score 30 goals).
how many teams in the league have players who can score 30 goals? 2? 3?
It’s only happened twice in the last decade in fact. Suarez in 2014 and Salah in 2018 I think it was.
Xhaka. Need upgrade to play alongside partey. Could it be Fabio
Xhaka’s ok for now. His experience will be his strong point.
It’s Cedric and Tavares that we need immediate replacements for now.
In that order. (Assuming we’re eventually going to sign Hickey).
You mean you don’t remember David O’Leary’s “Moi young lads”….?
Referring to your second question, when our former player Dave O ‘ Leary was their manager many many moons ago…, .Leeds indeed had a very exciting young team. spearhead by the likes of Viduka and Kewell . Pity that shortly after making the Euro Semis the team was broken up and they later went into bankruptcy.
It all went wrong for them because they spend stupid money on one ’30-goal-a -season’ striker (Robbie Fowler).
Let’s not make same mistake with our own exciting young squad!
He sounds excited.
Just wanted the write the exact same comment 😄
Three years later, the message didn’t change. Hopefully the content does.
https://arseblog.news/2019/07/be-excited-josh-kroenkes-message-to-fans-over-transfers/
I’ve got time for edu right now. Hope he delivers
Yes, I like what Edu is grilling up this summer, even better if he delivers! On the flip side, I hope he doesn’t skewer our hopes now that he’s fanned the flames for signings of rare quality, including for the flanks. If he gets the timing right, we’ll all be saying “well done!”
You sound hungry.
I don’t like that he’s still mates with Raul Sanhelli – no more holiday snaps from that gangster’s yacht please!
Take a shot everytime he says “excited”
😂
Personally I think we should pay the money 💰 that Leeds and Manchester City are asking for because otherwise they will go somewhere else
Exactly. In other words, play the game. Arsene tried and tried and tried to buck the trend – but now it’s a choice of we either spend big or we get left behind. Unfortunately, we all exist in a world inhabited by billionaires and greedy cunts. But we have to get on with it. Same with football – no one with a modicum of decency would deny that football long since threw away it’s financial moral compass. But, as we all want the best for our loved ones in an imperfect world, so I, as a Gooner, also want the… Read more »
I don’t get the aversion to buying players. If the money’s available, would be delighted with see jesus raphina and Martinez join. If we can get rid of the players we don’t want would like to see a few more marquinhos type signings as well.
Exactly what me I was thinking! Both those signings require the gunners to push the boat out.
Do you honestly believe we should be paying £50 million for a striker, who’s goal ratio is no better than Lacazette. True Jesus is a better player but not the clinical striker we need.
He has a much better goal to game ratio than Lacazette in the PL…
Yes, he’s better than lacazette on and off the ball. If 50 million is the going rate we should pay it. Arteta knows the player well and he immediately improves the team.
Mate. Now is definitely NOT the time for penny pinching. This is a pivotal time in this club’s history. What happens now could have serious repercussions for the future of this club. We have to give ourselves the very best chance of making a success of this young side, getting in the players we need and giving those clubs above us something to really think about. We need to get these deals done quickly and over the line. If it costs X amount, just fucking do it As I’ve stated elsewhere, I too hate the obscene amounts of money being… Read more »
Who is this mystical clinical striker you speak of that we can realistically obtain?
Donnie Darko, he’s from the pine barrens of new Jersey . His xg and xa are off the charts. Plus no one on here has ever seen him play. Makes him worth at least 85 million. Would like to see Scott’s analysis of his progressive passing stats though before we make a bid. His heat map could obviously change his value, but there’s a lot of people on Twitter who rate him, so we should definitely go all in and get him.
We’ve put Cedric in charge of the match day programme sellers?
Or are big spenders Stan and Josh about to spend a little time on Arsenal?
Whatever it is, I’m all for good news. We Gooners could do with some GOOD NEWS.
Bring it on guys. I’m all ears. 🥂🍾
Looks like Jesus is coming then?
Gospel ?
The internet is not ready for the rapture
The internet is still busy spinning the bullshit story that we’re actually pursuing that hapless lump Morata.
He hasn’t been the same since his Juventus days. You might say he’s been living under a shroud of Turin ever since. Everyone knows his talent is a fake.
Morata has a very good agent though, look at the list of teams he’s played for and the money he’s earned.
….because they don’t want us linked with Gabriel Jesus.
…..because he’s good.
…..and because if we sign him, we’ll be good. Bloody good…..😉
The amount of crosses Cedric puts in, Jesus will be useful.
The smile on his face when he was asked what we should expect in next few weeks… 👀
Positive conversations eh… Sounds like they want 90% of the deals done by pre season/first game… Now that is exciting…
I read somewhere last night that Arteta wants the squad all signed up & ready to go for 6th July so they can be integrated into the team on the US Tour. Be nice to get our shopping done early for a change rather then hunting the bargain bins on Deadline Day
I‘d imagine there are players that they definitely want to sign and they will try to have them around when pre season starts (Jesus, Martínez and Raphinha seem to be on that list). But I think a few transfers that could happen will depend on how successful we manage to move players on and I’m under no illusion that we‘ll have sorted that out by the time pre season starts. So i assume once we‘re done with all the outgoings, we‘ll probably go back to the transfer market and see what will be possible with the generated money. Think the… Read more »
It looks like Deco’s convinced Edu to submit a bid for Raphinha just to start a bidding war that suits the player and Leeds. Having started it, we should have the sense to let others finish it and go pursue some serious striker and central midfield targets.
thw14 cannot understand why we are bidding for Raphinha unless perish the thought ‘Saka’ is leaving. If he’s refused to sign a new contract we will have to sell him in the next year. maybe not convinced by our project or had his head turned etc. A citeh fan posted a comment in the Guardian where he listed all the outgoings Sterling, Jesus etc etc incomings he put down Saka.
I assumed Fabio was the rotation for Saka, he could just as easily be rotation/competition for Odegaard. So then we still need rotation for Saka.
I agree with the blog today that he’s a good player and we could always use more of those. It’s just the language being used by all reports around this story – it seems like motivated briefing rather than leaks from a negotiation process.
So we can give Saka a rest and replace him with Raphinha instead of Pepe.
We have the league, Europa, FA Cup and carabao, why would we not need a player very similar to Saka?
Both Ornstein and Romano have mentioned outgoings to be important yeah
Romano only reports stuff that has been reported by actual journalists before. He’s the biggest fraud around if you ask me.
Yes, yes, yessss!!! How nice would it be to go into pre-season with most of our signings done. The amount of times we’ve dragged things out in the past cannot of helped us. I’m starting to feel as excited as Edu.
As well as the excitement surrounding the first team and possible additions, its also really exciting to see the quality that is emerging from the U23s. I hope a few of them are given their big breaks this season. The future is bright!
It’s just like watching Brazil!
As long as you don’t mean the Terry Gilliam film. 😂😂
Good movie that.
Ahhh Edu! When he’s on form he’s unstoppable. Reminds me of that spell when he kept Gilberto out of the starting lineup. He just kept scoring and scoring. That curled shot on his weaker foot at Celta Vigo is still fresh in my mind.
And just before my excitement dies out over the signing of Vieira, he goes ahead and raises my interest and expectations in the market. Long may his form continue
& what about the way he bossed the midfield in the cup game at Old Trafford, that was a great day too.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/fa_cup/2740035.stm
He was superb that day
Thanks The Optimist. I’ve almost forgotten what it’s like in those days. Hope we see those days of bossing it in enemy territory back soon🙏🏼
I know he didn’t score many but there’s 3 goals of his I remember, penalty in his last game at Highbury, the one in the Mauling in Milan & that Celta one was definitely the pick of the limited bunch. Plus with Edu talking, you get a sense of we’re actually going all in on this window whereas when Josh speaks, it’s an attempt to get everyone off his old man’s back
The man could have broken the glass celebrating that goal at inter.
Like Arteta rightly said after the NewCastle game, we are nowhere near CL quality. Had we qualified, we would have strengthened the team and may be it would have been more attractive to the star players who are looking for a change. But realistically, we would struggle to get past group stages in CL. It also mean significantly less game time for up and coming youngsters in the current team. To me, this particular season in Europa is going to be hugely significant in the history of Arsenal. This is the year we get our team for the next 5-10… Read more »
Not sure I agree. It would have been a big step up for sure but we would have strengthened the squad (as we have been doing) and we’d be in pretty good shape to give it a good go. I also think that the premier league is in such a dominant position that the majority of premier league sides could give most CL sides a decent game, bar maybe one or two teams. If Arsenal can outplay City at home, they can compete with whatever else Europe has to offer on their day.
I don’t think we would have struggled to get past the group stages.
I think it would be a challenge yes, but there’s only 3 teams who walk the group’s these days.
same song every year
Even if we would have struggled in the group stages, we would at least have managed to get 3rd and would be in the Europa League then as well. But we would have generated more money by finishing 3rd in the group stage than we‘ll get for reaching the Final in the Europa League I think. So I definitely regret us not participating in the CL. Also think someone like Jesus would already be here if we would play CL. Can‘t underestimate how important it is for top players that their team plays CL football.
I still feel a central midfielder is essential. Hoping youri comes in. Also I seem to be the only gooner not crazy excited by Jesus coming in. But fair play to edu for the work done so far.
The biggest compliment I can give this new Arsenal is that it is the first time in years that we are trying to be more than a cup team. We may or may not be able to compete with City or Liverpool anytime soon, but the intention has to be there.
Trophies are really important. I was just too young to appreciate ‘89 but have immensely enjoyed and cherished every single pot since then.
But I have to say, this current team, from the subs to Edu has me reinvigorated and fully invested, even though the likelihood of winning anything major is far, far off.
Football for me has become a toxic sludge of greed, corruption and inequality.
This incarnation of arsenal has put the soul back in the game and returned me to what it’s really all about… believing in and loving the 11 blokes in red
Up the arsenal.
Such a good comment Fezec
The Ugly Game with precious moments of Beauty
Great post Fezec
I believe that all of last summer’s signings were good, including Lokonga and Tavares, they were all bought for the immediate but more importantly the future, some had better first seasons than others but all good signings and that seems to have carried on with Vieira and hopefully will also do so with Jesus. With Saliba coming as what feels like a new signing in the same mould, likewise resigning Eddie and hopefully welcoming Balogun back into active squad duty I feel we will put in a decent top four challenge if we get luckier with injuries and can work… Read more »
I’m keeping it short…
Edu is the man!
I just hope our next signing is as fun as our first 2. They are both already trolling Tottenham and their fans. Got a good laugh watching Matt Turner not sign a jersey for a fan with a spurs jersey on.
Signing players is like an army preparing for war. The real good news is when battles are won, and in our case, the trophies start rolling in.
Arsenal should target to win trophies in the coming season.
EL would be my first target, even if we make top 4.
GASPAAAAAR!!
Wow, can Edu BE more excited??
He is bigging up the work done so far. But we also need him to focus on keeping our talented youngsters together. As a club we also have some history of selling off youngsters as they really blossom and prove their credentials. Just because the owners seem to be piling in cash now. It still doesn’t mean that they want the best for the club. The difference I feel is Mikel, he has really focussed everyone and I mean every single employee to want what the owners should be wanting… on field success and the huge financial gains/efficiencies that will… Read more »
The most exciting news would be if Edu and Mikel left and we hired competent people in their place. Now selling Pepe for peanuts is a travesty, without him really getting a chance. Too many examples of their incompetence but I can’t be bothered to revisit them.
I don’t quite get where Arsenal get their money from. £30m on Vieira, £42m on Jesus, now sky reporting they’re going back in for Raphinha which would be £60m (and appalling news for us!)…and looking at their squad you’d imagine they’ll be looking at CM and a defender as well. How?! They spent massively last year too, and don’t seem to be making much back in player sales. I know there’s Saka rumours but I’d be stunned if that happened