After just under three months the madness of the transfer window has come to an end. Having finished just two points outside the Champions League places last season, it's no secret that this summer was going to be a particularly crucial one for Arsenal if they were going to continue the positive mood that was so abundant around the Emirates Stadium on the final day of the campaign.
From the outset Mikel Arteta was clear that he and Edu had been working for months on deals they wanted to get done. "We want to take the club to the next level," the Spaniard said at the end of last season. "That's the ambition. In order to do that we have a very clear plan again, how we want to do it and execute it, and there are no secrets."
Here football.london takes a look back on the summer transfer window, what happened, what didn't and how well it went for Arsenal.
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The big position that Arsenal needed to address going into the window was of course centre forward. Eddie Nketiah's contract was extended, but after the decision to allow Alexandre Lacazette to leave the club, a new number nine was needed. Despite his hard work up top the Frenchman had managed just four goals in the Premier League and after being outscored by fourth-placed Tottenham by eight goals a clinical finisher was clearly on the agenda.
Plenty of names began doing the rounds. In the window prior Dusan Vlahovic had been the main one, but going into the summer the likes of Tammy Abraham, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Alexander Isak were mentioned. Ultimately though it was the signing of Gabriel Jesus who Arsenal went for.
The deal made perfect sense on paper after the 25-year-old had worked with Arteta at Manchester City and with Edu at Brazil. It was sealed for £45 million just at the beginning of pre-season in July and with three goals in his first five matches that's looking like a bargain price with each passing game. Aside from just the goals though the Brazilian has totally revolutionised the Gunners front line, turning them from a predictable and static offence, to a high-pressing and intense attack. Jesus has also quickly established himself as a leader and is already one of the vice captains.
His arrival came after Arsenal had confirmed the signing of promising young winger Marquinhos from Sao Paolo and back up goalkeeper Matt Turner from New England Revolution. Fabio Vieira was also brought in from Porto in a surprise move that brought versatility and depth the to the Gunners midfield and wide positions.
Their fifth signing then came as Oleksandr Zinchenko followed Jesus in arriving from Manchester City. Again Pep Guardiola's old player has had an instant impact in north London, transforming Arsenal's left back position into a more tactically diverse threat and providing depth in an area where the club had struggled in recent seasons.
While they remained open to further acquisitions Arteta admitted that from that point on, players were going to have to leave if the club was going to achieve it's summer plan. “We have a large squad so we have to make some decisions as well on the players that we’re not going to be using consistently and be fair and straight with them and that’s a process that is going to start very soon as well," he told press on the club's pre-season tour of America. “We have a big squad and now we have to make things happen.”
In total 36 players ended up leaving the club in one shape or another. Youngsters like Joel Lopez and Jonathan Dinzeyi were released while Matteo Guendouzi and Dinos Mavropanos saw their options to buy in respective loan moves to Marseille and Stuttgart made permanent. A host of exciting youngsters like Charlie Patino and Flo Balogun also ended up going out on loan, but for Edu the main challenge was now getting unwanted players out of the door.
The Gunners had had a history of terminating the contracts of players deemed surplus to requirements like Sead Kolasinac, Mesut Ozil and Shkodran Mustafi to name but a few, and in an interview with football.london Edu opened up on the difficulties he'd faced in obtaining fees for these players. "When the player is 26-plus, (with a) big salary and he’s not performing, he’s killing you that kind of player because you don’t have a valuation to sell the player," the Brazilian said. "The player is comfortable – Arsenal, London, beautiful, everything is fantastic – and a good salary. How do you move this player?"
Despite the challenges, Arsenal were able to move on pretty much every player who was no longer part of Arteta's plans. Bernd Leno, Lucas Torreira, Hector Bellerin, Pablo Mari, Nuno Tavares, Runar Alex Runarsson, Nicolas Pepe and Ainsley Maitland-Niles all left in one form or another.
While in the cases of the permanent transfers Edu would surely have liked to have received bigger fees, it does seem as though the Gunners made some steps in the right direction when it comes to their selling record. Take the Bellerin deal for example where the Spaniard ended his 11-year association with the club on a free transfer, but football.london understands Arsenal were able to insert a 25% sell on fee into the deal, while also getting a significant salary off the wage books.
Having got that business done, Arsenal found themselves in a position where they explored bringing in more players before the close of the window. It appeared as though that initially would see them sign a forward, with Pedro Neto and Mykhaylo Mudryk both linked. However, a spate of injuries to Mohamed Elneny, Thomas Partey and Oleksandr Zinchenko late in the window meant that focus shifted to central midfield.
Youri Tielemans had been a long-term target, but it became apparent early on deadline day that that deal would not be happening despite the fact that the Leicester midfielder was in the final year of his contract. Danilo was also sounded out but Palmeiras made it clear that they did not want to sell the 21-year-old who football.london understands could re-emerge as a target in January.
This meant that the main target going into deadline day was Aston Villa's Douglas Luiz. The Brazilian had previously worked with Arteta at Manchester City and at just 24, fit the age profile of the type of player Arsenal wanted to go for. He also had just under a year remaining on his deal at Villa Park, but despite all those positive factors, it became clear early on that Villa did not want to sell. The Gunners put in three bids, but Steven Gerrard's side would not budge.
While there is disappointment that they were not able to bring anyone in, the Gunners ultimately stuck to their policy of not going for a player if he wasn't deemed the right fit, and did not go over what they felt their valuation for Luiz was. This is a bold strategy that is essential to the long-term project that Edu is trying to oversee at the Emirates Stadium.
However, what it does mean is that Arsenal find themselves in a position yet again where their squad depth is not where most would like it to be. Banking on the notoriously injury prone Partey to not sustain another problem when he recovers from his latest thigh issue is certainly a risk with Elneny potentially out for some time, while the lack of an obvious back up for Bukayo Saka after Nicolas Pepe's departure means the 20-year-old international will again be under quite a bit of strain to play in most matches before he heads off to the World Cup with England in November.
In this season of all seasons, where the fixture list is condensed and midweek breaks will essentially be a thing of the past, you do get the feeling that quality back up options could be a telling factor. As Arsenal seek to deliver on their early season promise and secure Champions League football for the first time in six years, they have left themselves open to falling foul of that predicament, regardless of the unfortunate circumstances that may have led them there.
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