Why Arsenal didn't panic at end of summer transfer window as CEO Richard Garlick speaks out
Arsenal CEO Richard Garlick with Josh Kroenke (Photo by David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
Arsenal CEO Richard Garlick has insisted the club try and conduct transfer business "sensibly" as the summer window slams shut.
The Gunners ended up welcoming five new players to Emirates Stadium, with Christos Tzolis, Illan Meslier, Piero Hincapie (loan made permanent), Ezri Konsa and Bruno Guimaraes all joining. Mikel Arteta also said goodbye to seven senior players, with Karl Hein, Jakub Kiwior, Christian Norgaard, Leandro Trossard, Reiss Nelson, Fabio Vieira and Gabriel Jesus leaving permanently, while Ethan Nwaneri joined Borussia Dortmund on loan. Gabriel Martinelli is also set to leave the club and join Al-Hilal but that move is yet to be confirmed.
It could have been much more on the incoming front, however. Andrea Berta was keen to strengthen the forward line further and had eyed a mega-money swoop for Vinicius Junior, only for the Real Madrid man to stay with the Spanish giants.
FOLLOW OUR ARSENAL FB PAGE! Latest Gunners news, analysis and much more via our dedicated Facebook page
They considered Malick Fofana but weren't willing to go all-out for the Belgian, while Juventus' Kenan Yildiz is admired but it became clear the Italian side did not want to let the 21-year-old leave this window. Julian Alvarez was an option and Arteta spoke to the player but the Argentina international had his heart set on a move to Barcelona, which Atletico Madrid blocked. The north Londoners were offered a handful of players in recent days such as Eintracht Frankfurt's Jean-Matteo Bahoya but never bit.
Instead, it seems as though there will be scope to reassess the landscape in January. If they still want to add to their squad in the winter, they will have the funds to facilitate that, even if it's a tough market mid-season.
Still, it has left some supporters frustrated with many expecting the club to sign a world class forward to aid another Premier League title bid and Champions League push. The club's CEO Richard Garlick is involved in the process of buying and selling players, although co-chairJosh Kroenke and sporting director Andrea Berta are slightly more at the forefront of negotiations.
Interestingly, with the transfer window now shut, Garlick explained what exactly is classed as a good negotiation and spoke of the process the club go through before signing a player. He told the Men in Blazers YouTube channel: "Well, I think you need to go in with a clear idea of what you want to achieve and you need to keep your eyes on the prize, but you need to do it in a principled way and try and stick to the principles that you have as a club and we would have as a football leadership team.
"We try and do things sensibly but you want to get the job done. Usually people say in a good negotiation everyone comes out slightly unhappy because that's the place where they want to be. Ultimately we want to have a player at the end of that transaction that's going to come in and be very, very happy.
"Maybe it's their agent that's not so happy or maybe it's us that's not so happy with the agent. But in the end we want a happy player."
The words principles, sensibly and happy player are rather telling. Perhaps, in the last few weeks of the window, the stars simply did not align and so the Gunners did not force through a deal like in the years before. Raheem Sterling's loan move from Chelsea is the best example of this.
Instead, the Premier League champions will wait until January and perhaps even next summer before looking to the market to improve the squad once more. Garlick, Berta, Arteta and the Kroenkes will no doubt already be talking about their next targets.
Choose Football London as a 'Preferred Source' on Google News for quick access to the news you value.