Arsenal's big London rivals and likely competitors in the Premier League top-four race next season have each made a huge announcement over the past week that will have a major impact during the summer transfer window.
After pipping the Gunners to fourth place on the final day of the 2021/22 campaign, as first revealed by football.london, Tottenham Hotspur have received a £150million cash injection from owners ENIC to help fund Antonio Conte's summer spending spree as they look to compete in the Premier League and Champions League next season.
And already Spurs are closing in on the signing of Ivan Perisic and they hope to bring in Alessandro Bastoni from Inter Milan with the Italy international said to be keen on playing under Conte having done so at the San Siro for a couple of seasons prior to the former's departure last summer.
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Meanwhile, in west London, Monday was a massive day for Chelsea Football Club. After 19 years, the Roman Abramovich era at Stamford Bridge is officially over now that the takeover of the club by the Todd Boehly/Clearlake Capital consortium has finally been completed.
Upon addressing Chelsea fans for the first time after the takeover was completed, Boehly issued a statement outlining the vision from the consortium - and his words could prove ominous for Arsenal.
"We are honoured to become the new custodians of Chelsea Football Club. We’re all in – 100% -- every minute of every match," the statement reads. "Our vision as owners is clear: we want to make the fans proud. Along with our commitment to developing the youth squad and acquiring the best talent, our plan of action is to invest in the Club for the long term and build on Chelsea’s remarkable history of success. I personally want to thank ministers and officials in the British government, and the Premier League, for all their work in making this happen."
Chelsea acquiring 'the best talent' won't be anything new to Arsenal. But the club's new owners will likely want to stamp their authority with a big signing this summer. So that coupled with Spurs' owners making a huge statement of their own might increase the pressure on Stan Kroenke to issue a response.
Speaking on behalf of his father in the final Arsenal matchday programme of the 2021/22 season, Josh outlined what supporters can expect in the summer transfer window.
"On a recruitment standpoint I will always defer to Edu and Mikel but I know they have a blueprint of the type of player and specific positions that we need to reinforce heading into the summer, so I’ll defer to them and support them in every way that we can in their pursuit of elevating the quality of the squad and also ensuring that we have the right mentality of player coming in," he said. "We only want players who are passionate about Arsenal Football Club."
To KSE's (Kroenke Sports and Entertainment) credit since being in full control of Arsenal, they have overseen as many as 18 permanent deals and a spend of over £350million across almost three years and seven transfer windows. Furthermore, at least £130million has been spent in two of the last three summer windows which may indicate another big spending spree is imminent to ensure Arteta has the perfect platform to ensure the side can challenge the top teams next season and beyond.
But after seeing Tottenham's owners pump £150million into the club and Chelsea's owners make a big promise after completing the takeover in the past week, the best response from Arsenal's owner Kroenke - albeit via his son - can be to make a major statement of his own in the coming days, whether that be releasing funds for a big signing as early as this week or announcing how much Arteta and technical director Edu will have to spend.
