Arsenal are expected to continue a recent trend of being extremely active when the transfer window reopens in the summer. This has been the case ever since Mikel Arteta and Edu joined forces, so there are reasons for supporters to be excited.
In both windows this season the Gunners have been busy. Last summer the focus was on incomings, with the club spending almost £150m to bolster the first-team squad by signing Aaron Ramsdale, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Benjamin White, Nuno Tavares, Albert Sambi Lokonga and Martin Odegaard.
Then at the beginning of the year, it was all about trimming the squad as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Calum Chambers, Pablo Mari, Folarin Balogun, Sead Kolasinac and Ainsley Maitland-Niles were all allowed to leave Arsenal in some capacity - whether it be on loan or on a permanent basis.
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Now the focus is on what business the north London outfit can get done at the end of the season with a couple of glaring holes in Arteta's squad that must be addressed if the side are to take the next step and, as confirmed by technical director Edu, plans for the summer transfer window are already complete.
"The budget we used last summer, we prefer to use it to rebalance the squad, there was no point in hiring one or two players [in January], the squad was not prepared to absorb two players, we needed to rebalance the squad," he told ESPN Brasil. "Maybe next season we can go to one or two players.
"Today we find a much more balanced squad. Our planning has already been done, it has already reached the owners. It's a matter of step by step, how we are going to finish the season and to put in plan the planning that I'm very excited about."
As Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah are out of contract in June, it's no secret that signing a striker - or two - is a priority for the Gunners this summer and football.london understands that Manchester City's Gabriel Jesus and Roma's Tammy Abraham are on Arteta and Edu's shortlist.
In fact, Jesus' representative has held talks with Edu over the past few months, but with the Gunners expected to lodge a bid in the region of £35million this summer, the 25-year-old may get more minutes between now and the end of the season as City look to increase his potential transfer fee.
Considering another forward signing and bolstering his option in central midfield is high on Arteta's agenda, despite Stan Kroenke's plan to back the Spaniard with funds this summer, there's no reason Arsenal can't get creative by raising extra cash by selling first-team players deemed surplus to requirements.
With that said, football.london have already revealed two deals already in place that will officially be announced in the summer, with Matteo Guendouzi joining Marseille permanently for a fee in the region of £10m, as per the Evening Standard and Konstantinos Mavropanos sealing a move to Stuttgart that could see the Gunners bank £2.5m if the German side avoid relegation.
Another deal expected to go through is that of Lucas Torreira to Fiorentina, as an option to buy for around £13million is included in his loan agreement and the Serie A outfit are currently in negotiations over making the move permanent.
Once these three deals go through Arsenal will hope to have raised £25.5m - a sum that could increase to £48m in a dream scenario based on Hector Bellerin (£18m) and Pablo Mari's (£4.5m) market value on transfermarkt if they join Real Betis and Udinese, respectively - which may go a long way to funding a deal for Gabriel Jesus.
