Published: June 21, 2021 4:37 pm
Last Updated: June 21, 2021 7:48 pm
Arsenal: A move in the right direction
Arsenal fans are very used to seeing the club linked with a whole host of players by the media during the transfer window.
Some genuine, some quite farfetched and others leaving Gunners supporters scratching their heads at how, why and sometimes “who on earth?”
However, the summer of 2021, although still only in June, has left some very interesting and hopeful signs of a change in the club. Having struggled to recruit effectively over the last decade, some worrying statistics have also come out about the way the club sells their players.
Since 2013, Arsenal have failed to sell any of their starters for a profit with only Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Olivier Giroud sold for more than what they cost in the last 10 years from the club’s starters.
Since 2013, Arsenal made over 30 FIRST TEAM signings (excluding free agents) and are yet to make a profit on the sale of a single one of them. The last 2 players Arsenal signed for money and made a profit on was Giroud (signed 2012) and Chamberlain (signed 2011).
— LTArsenal™ (@ltarsenal) June 11, 2021
With this in mind, it is very obvious that Arsenal need to target players that have significant sell-on value and that does appear to be the case this summer.
So far Arsenal have been linked with players such as 21-year-old Sambi Lokonga of Anderlecht, Brighton’s 23-year-old Ben White, 24-year-old Wolves midfielder Ruben Neves, James Maddison of Leicester who is 24-years-old and 25-year-old Andre Silva of Frankfurt amongst others. With few being of the similar age bracket to the Willian, David Luiz and Cedric-esque players of this world signed in the recent past.
It isn’t to say that experience isn’t important, it is, but for Arsenal to change there is going to need to be big moves, and this shift hints towards a positive outlook.
Arsenal: Is it just all talk?
The end of the last Premier League season brought with it one of the most controversial incidents in not just Arsenal’s history, but that of the entire sport.
The club were one of 12 founding sides aiming to introduce a Super League which included the other dubbed big 5 of England’s ‘big 6.’ The top 3 Spanish clubs in addition to the Milan giants and Juventus.
CONFIRMED: Six Premier League clubs have agreed to join a breakaway European Super League with a total of 12 founding teams.
Milan
Arsenal
Atletico
Chelsea
Barcelona
Inter
Juventus
Liverpool
Man City
Man Utd
Real Madrid
Tottenham pic.twitter.com/9IYSWwOD5E— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 18, 2021
The plans quickly broke down thanks to huge backlash from supporters of the 12 clubs and millions of fans from other sides globally.
Yet, something from an Arsenal perspective which spawned from the fallout was a Fan Forum in which people from various Arsenal supporter groups had a Zoom meeting with Josh Kroenke, son of owner Stan Kroenke and club executive, and Vinai Venkatesham.
In the meeting, Josh said that fans could expect ‘big plans’ to invest in the club when questioned.
The sums which Arsenal are being linked with do seem to indicate a significant amount of spending could be on the horizon. Speculative reports of £250 million war chests have done the annual rounds too.
90 : Arsenal have been given a massive summer transfer budget with nearly £250m available to spend on new players!
— 90min (@90min_Football) June 18, 2021
Yet, less than a month away from Arsenal’s first preseason match and, whilst some bids have been rejected, no marquee, big-money deals have been struck.
Only time will tell if once again Arsenal fans will be duped into trusting what they are told, or if the club and its owners have the ambition to turn the club into a competitive force once again.
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This article was edited by
Josh Barker.
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Premier League table
| # | Team | MP | D | P |
| 1 | Arsenal London | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | Aston Villa | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Brentford London | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Burnley FC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | Chelsea London | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Crystal Palace | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | Everton FC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | Leeds United | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | Leicester City | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | Liverpool FC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | Manchester City | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | Manchester United | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | Newcastle United | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | Norwich City | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | Southampton FC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | Tottenham Hotspur | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | Watford FC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | West Ham United | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Player | Team | Red Cards | Yellow Cards |
|---|
