Arsenal facing transfer nightmare after Julian Alvarez twist and two big misses
It remains to be seen if Arsenal will sign Julian Alvarez
With just over 24 hours remaining in the summer transfer window, Arsenal still have work they would like to do. Unfortunately, whether that is completed or not appears to be outside of what Mikel Arteta and Co would have hoped for at the beginning of the summer.
In the last 24 hours, Arsenal have successfully agreed to the sales of three players. Gabriel Martinelli will join Al Hilal in a deal worth in the region of £60million; Gabriel Jesus will join Barcelona in an £8.6million move with around £4.3million in add-ons; and, lastly, Fabio Vieira will join Hamburger SV in a move worth £7.7million.
This will take the club beyond its benchmark for a summer window regarding player sales and set a new record in the region of £120million when adding the funds brought in from the departures of Jakub Kiwior, Leandro Trossard, Christian Norgaard and Karl Hein. This has helped to offset the investment just north of £200million spent on Bruno Guimaraes, Ezri Konsa, Christos Tzolis, Illan Meslier and making Piero Hincapie’s loan move permanent as per the agreement with Bayer Leverkusen in 2025.
Andria Bartishvili is also expected to become an Arsenal player, but not until January when the move can be formalised.
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Despite this, there remains work left unfinished. The chases for Morgan Rogers, Vinicius Junior and Julian Alvarez have proved unsuccessful with the latter understood to have made his desire not to leave Atletico Madrid for Arsenal. The striker wants a move to Barcelona and has made that clear to Arteta.
Arsenal spent plenty of time on the aforementioned trio. The side were not quick enough with Rogers, in the end falling victim to how the market has evolved into some of the most inflated fees the sport has ever witnessed, with Chelsea willing to go to £117million where Arsenal were not.
Andrea Berta is facing some scrutiny for the club’s failure, so far, to find and successfully sign the upgrade to the wide left role. Some may point to a lack of options; 12 left forwards have been signed by Premier League clubs so far in the window: Jaidon Anthony, Morgan Rogers, Dwight McNeil, Tyrique George, Elliot Stroud, Daizen Maeda, Bradley Barcola, Victor Munoz, Mathys Detourbet, Jeremy Monga, Bazoumana Traore, Savio.
Barcola was a player liked by Arsenal but the fee totalling north of £120million did not interest the club whatsoever. Monga was another player the club liked a lot and made offers to sign but were unwilling to match the asking price which Man City were. Besides Rogers, the others most would argue are not of the level required to push the needle at the North London side.
Iliman Ndiaye is likely to leave Everton. He's another player the Gunners have been credited with an interest in, and at £60million a far more reasonable price. But again, the club, football.london understands, will not move for a player they do not believe is right.
While not signing a left winger to join Tzolis and replace to two departing wide men will no doubt been seen as a failure. It will have been a bigger mistake to sign the wrong player, and fill a space that cannot be remedied in the winter at the earliest.
football.london understands Arsenal had been offered Malick Fofana who has been chased by several Premier League clubs but has his eyes set on a move to a top-level club.
Failing to sign someone would leave Arteta with Eberechi Eze as the obvious candidate to support the Greek international – the 24-year-old has started the season in great form. Ethan Nwaneri therefore looks the likely depth for Martin Odegaard centrally, unless of course he leaves before the deadline.
football.london understands that Borussia Dortmund who came close to landing the 18-year-old on a permanent deal last summer, are keen on exploring a loan move. However, this would thin the attacking options for Arteta even more without reinforcement.
Arsenal will remain on the lookout for options until the window closes. For now, attention turns to Villa Park and claiming another three points.
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