Arsenal are fishing in an ocean this summer when they might have been expecting another trip to the pond. This has been coming, though.
When Mikel Arteta, Edu Gaspar, Josh and Stan Kroenke all joined forces to sanction deals for Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus the writing was on the wall. Here were seasoned professionals - even for their age - leaving the reigning champions to join a team without Champions League.
It debunked the myth that finishing fourth means quality additions are ungettable and also demonstrates how important a genuine footballing project is for new signings. Ahead of Chelsea, Arsenal moved in to secure Jesus but it was Zinchenko's near perfect role as emergent leader and inside fullback that perhaps caught the eye even more.
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After a successful summer that followed a surprising window of exploring relative juniors at the top level, Arsenal were dark horses to make a move up the table and they certainly delivered. Even the most optimistic fans wouldn't have predicted a 50 point opening half to the season, though.
It was why striking when the iron was hot in January was a key message and the decision to pursue Moises Caicedo and Mykhailo Mudryk painted the picture of a club attempting to do just that. So far the winter recruits have done well but still have a point to prove in the long-term, there hasn't been as much excitment for a summer window for many a year, though.
Arsenal are seriously interested, and a very real possible destination, for some of Europe's most attractive players. They are a club with an environment that fosters youth positivity and their potential work is frightening for opposition teams.
Take Ilkay Gundogan, for example. He is yet another ex-Manchester City player being looked at by the Gunners as he enters the final months of his contract at the Etihad Stadium. This is not merely another example of Arteta 'copying' Pep Guardiola as some would coin it, but it is proof of where Arsenal have established connections and how they have moved up in the football pyramid.
Arteta, often crowned with being a key man in Guardiola's coaching team, and for good reason, has worked with Gundogan as he had with ZInchenko and Jesus. He had rubbed off on them as players and also grown admiration for their characteristics, weighing them up from personal experience.
He is able, here, to add a player that has been one of the most underappreciated in his position for the past decade for no transfer cost. It would also take away and weaken Guardiola in a way that the former Barcelona boss won't be expecting. Guardiola has always had complete control over his City squad and allows players to leave when others wouldn't, this would be different.
Bernardo Silva, Gundogan, Joao Cancelo, Raheem Sterling, Jesus and Ruben Dias were amongst those pushing for a move away in 2021, let alone 2023. Some of them have already moved, to mixed success, and the others have just been crowned champions for the fifth time in six years.
Gundogan is the equivalent of Arteta to Guardiola, but on the pitch. He is not someone that would be as easily replaceable and Ally McCoist sees him as being the biggest coup possible. “Interesting this one. What a statement that would be. It would be a bigger statement than Jesus. It would be a bigger statement than Zinchenko, for me, he explained.
“Pluses, you are getting a brilliant player. The age factor doesn’t really come into it, nowadays, for 32-year-old boys. They have kept themselves meticulously fit and they are great pros. And he is certainly that.
“The only negative is that you don’t have a sell-on. But that’s balanced by the fact that you are going to get him on a free transfer.
“He is a big occasion player, that’s exactly what he is. Everybody will be after him.” For Arsenal to beat the competition, of which there is plenty, especially with Barcelona lurking, would be testament to not only their current position but also the speed and efficiency of progress.
It would also start to answer one of Arteta's biggest demands. “We have to compete with those teams," he said earlier this month when asked about how to keep up with state-funded sides. “That’s for sure because we are Arsenal football club. The demands are to be the best in everything that we do so we have to find a way to do that.”
Even though it would be without a transfer fee, signing Gundogan and finding value in avenues other clubs haven't or aren't accessing is certainly one way to do that.
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