Whilst Mikel Arteta continues to remain in focus as the season draws to a close and Arsenal’s title challenge fades into a second-place finish in the league, a shift is coming in just a couple of weeks. With the conclusion of the Premier League, the attention will shift more onto sporting director Edu Gaspar.
The Brazilian is tasked with delivering the best summer transfer window of his career so far and expectations are very high. Suggestions already have the Gunners looking at spending around and even more than the £200 million mark, but depending on player sales the end figure could be higher, only time will tell.
Where Edu faces scrutiny is two-fold. Firstly is in the sales department with Arsenal struggling to generate figures akin to that of Liverpool and Chelsea when moving players on from the club.
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However, the second is the one that draws arguably greater focus for the forthcoming summer even above the sales element. In January Arsenal moved for both Mykhailo Mudryk and Moises Caicedo but ended up with Leandro Trossard and Jorginho.
The latter pair have done well, however, this did not allow Edu to escape from criticism surrounding the failure to secure the priority target. After a season whereby Arsenal ran Man City very close but fell short due to a number of factors, but of which included a lack of strength in depth, it is clear that this summer the Gunners must secure those at the top of their wanted list.
Declan Rice for instance is a name known to be at the top of the midfielder targets football.london understands. Whilst positions in the forward line and defence have seen a variety of names mentioned and standout appears less certain at this stage.
Last summer it became apparent through bids for Lisandro Martinez and Raphinha that these were two players that Arsenal really wanted. Neither player arrived in the end.
If Arsenal begin to see their pursuit of targets become public in the form of bids the attention will quickly turn to Edu from the fans. There will be an expectation for Arsenal to be more successful in getting these deals done after qualification for the Champions League and the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool, who could rival the north London side for targets, finishing well below the Gunners.
Rice and Moises Caicedo look to be the players between the crosshairs for fans. Should both end up elsewhere in the country during the window, Edu’s palms might begin to sweat as the pressure increases.
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