Arsenal reportedly feel they are in a difficult market this summer, whilst also facing an awkward position on player sales.
The Gunners have just missed out on a potential deal for RB Leipzig striker Benjamin Sesko, and it’s not yet clear who their priority targets are for other positions, according to The Athletic.
The report explains that Arsenal could be interested in an attacking midfielder signing, but feel it is a difficult market at the moment, meaning there’s not necessarily a clear list of priorities emerging at the moment.
On top of that, The Athletic claim that Arsenal feel they could do with a strong sale to start the summer, as they look in need of offloading some players, though it remains the case that a lot of the likely candidates to sell have perhaps not increased in value at all since last summer.
Arsenal facing difficult summer transfer window?
It’s certainly not easy for Arsenal when clubs will know that they need to sell, and it’ll be fairly obvious which members of their squad could be available.
Names that come to mind will be players like Emile Smith Rowe, Aaron Ramsdale, Kieran Tierney, Albert Sambi Lokonga and Nuno Tavares, but the north Londoners might struggle to get big fees for them.
Smith Rowe and Ramsdale have barely played in Mikel Arteta’s team for some time now, so clubs might not gamble on big-money moves there, while Tierney, Lokonga and Tavares didn’t exactly do much to impress whilst out on loan.
This looks like a really important summer for Arsenal after they came so close to winning the Premier League title in 2023/24, taking the title race down to the final day of the season, only for Manchester City to hold on and finish two points ahead of their rivals to lift the trophy.
The right signings, aided by the right sales, could be enough to close that slender gap next season.
Arsenal were never interested in Sesko, it was Agent fake news spread with the aim of getting Sesko a better contract at his current club. He is no better than Havertz and never fit the Arsenal profile as he often gives the ball away more than completing a pass.
An Arsenal striker needs to fit the profile as a team player and have good technical abilities to link play etc. Also have at least a history of two good seasons.
Players like Santiago Gimenez or WIRTZ or Martinez, clever team players that are also clinical and consistent 20 goals plus a season.
Havertz had that profile before Chelsea corrupted his play and Arta new this, and it paid off, but we can do better with a more technical Finnisher.