A month and three days has passed since the final match of the Pre-mier League season and many Arsenal supporters are becoming increasingly fidgety about their club’s quiet start to the transfer window. Around £700 million has already been splashed by Premier League teams this summer, but none of it by Arsenal.
This growing restlessness in some sections of the fanbase has been exacerbated by the eye-catching business that has already been done by Manches-ter City and Liverpool, Arsenal’s closest rivals in recent years. City have spent more than £100 million on three players, while Liverpool have added Florian Wirtz Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez at huge expense. Reports have it that Liverpool are planning to hijack Gyokeres bid.
It would be a mistake, though, to equate Arsenal’s lack of sign-ings with a lack of effort or de-sire to strengthen Mikel Arteta’s squad. Arsenal know this is a crucial summer and they have ambitious plans in the transfer market. Andrea Berta, the new sporting director, is currently pursuing a number of different targets in a several different po-sitions.
What, then, is going on be-hind the scenes? The first thing to note is that Arsenal are close to finalising two first-team sign-ings. Supporters should expect official confirmation of Martin Zubimendi’s arrival from Real Sociedad, in a deal worth more than £50 million, within the next few weeks. Arsenal are also in the process of finalising the £5 million recruitment of Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.
The capture of Zubimendi, a Spain international and a Liv-erpool target last summer, is re-garded internally as a move of huge significance — even if it has not yet generated the same feverish excitement within the club’s fanbase. With Jorginho departing on a free transfer and also Thomas Partey, the early acquisition of Zubimendi this summer is considered to be vital.
It is a measure of the midfield-er’s quality that he was recently the subject of a string of head-lines in the Spanish press, which suggested that Real Madrid want-ed to hijack the deal. Arsenal, it is safe to say, were not concerned about these reports. They have known for some time that they have got their man.
With a new midfielder and back-up goalkeeper effectively sorted, the most pressing priori-ty for Berta has been the pursuit of a centre forward. Arsenal have made clear their desire to add an-other striker to their squad, hav-ing tried and failed to do so in the previous two transfer windows, and Berta has been working on potential deals across the conti-nent.
This is where it gets complicat-ed. The question that every sup-porter is asking is: which striker do Arsenal want? The answer has so far remained a closely guard-ed secret, and for good reason. Telegraph Sport understands that Berta is effectively working to price up different deals before Arsenal decide to pull the trigger and execute one of them.
The two leading candidates are believed to be Šeško, of RB Leipzig, and Gyökeres, of Sport-ing CP. Sesko is a long-term tar-get, who was on Arsenal’s radar a year ago, while Gyokeres is the Swedish goal machine who has laid waste to the Portuguese league in the past few seasons.
Telegraph Sport understands there are important figures within Arsenal who have long championed Sesko, the younger option at 22. Berta, meanwhile, is known to be a huge admirer of Gyökeres, who turned 27 this month.
Arsenal arguably cannot make a truly informed decision with-out knowing the cost of both players. Berta has therefore been working on the two deals simul-taneously, and trying to keep all parties sweet. It speaks volumes that German reports have re-peatedly said Sesko is the pre-ferred target, while Portuguese reports have said the same about Gyökeres.
Spinning plates is not an easy task, however, and there is clearly a certain amount of risk involved in this strategy. A well-connected source in Germa-ny confidently told Telegraph Sport last month that Sesko was “absolutely” the preferred candi-date, but that same source rowed back a few weeks ago by saying the situation had become, from his perspective, a “mess”.
It is also messy in Lisbon, where the Sporting president made a public statement amid reports that Gyökeres was furi-ous with his club. The striker and his agent are said to feel that a gentleman’s agreement, which supposedly said he could leave for £59 million, has been disre-spected. Frederico Varandas, the Sporting president, vowed the club would not bow down to “blackmail and insults”.
It is entirely possible, of course, that Arsenal are pursu-ing both deals — and masking the truth about their preferred target — only because they want to strengthen their negotiating position for the striker they re-ally want. They would be in a stronger position to sign Sesko at a lower price, for example, if Leipzig firmly believed that a deal was also on the table for Gyokeres.
Given the various machina-tions and complications, it is perhaps no surprise that a deal has not yet been concluded. It is also no surprise that all involved in the pursuit are keeping their cards extremely close to their chests.
Could Arsenal yet choose to prioritise an alternative cen-tre-forward? It is still possible. They have continued to be linked with Ollie Watkins, the subject of a failed bid in January, but sources insist another offer for the Aston Villa striker is now un-likely. Arsenal have also looked at Brighton’s João Pedro, as re-vealed by Telegraph Sport earlier this summer, among other attack-ers in Europe.
As well as signing a No 9, Arse-nal also want to strengthen their attack by adding a new winger. Long-term target Nico Williams is seemingly heading elsewhere, although any move for the Span-iard was always going to be ex-tremely complicated financially.
If there is a deal to be done for Real Madrid forward Rodry-go, Arsenal would be keen to do it. The Brazilian international is seen as one of Europe’s most exciting wide players and his fu-ture at Madrid is far from clear. A move for the 24-year-old, if Arsenal are encouraged to make an offer, would not be expected to happen until much later in the window.
Another potential winger target could be Chelsea’s Noni Madueke. Telegraph Sport re-vealed last week that Madueke is on Arsenal’s radar, although the strength of their interest re-mains unclear.
Arsenal would almost cer-tainly need another new central midfielder if Partey leaves the club as a free agent this summer. The 32-year-old ideally wants to stay at Arsenal but, as it stands, no agreement has been reached over a new deal. Partey is known to have interest from other clubs in Europe and in the Middle East, and he may find a more lucrative contract in another league.
For all the focus on new sign-ings, Arsenal are also keen to use this summer as a chance to reward their existing stars with new deals. Bukayo Saka and Wil-liam Saliba are both in line for extensions, while Arsenal have finalised a new contract for teen-age sensation Myles Lewis-Skel-ly. Ethan Nwaneri, another acad-emy graduate.
The departure of Kieran Tierney and uncertainty over the futures of Jakub Kiwior and Oleksandr Zinchenko will likely necessitate a defensive signing, too. Arsenal are long-term admir-ers of Ajax defender Jorrel Hato (Telegraph Sport first reported on their interest in January 2024) and have been linked with mak-ing another move for the Dutch-man this summer. It remains to be seen whether they choose to rival other clubs for Hato’s sig-nature.
Clearly, there is plenty of work to be done this summer. Arsenal may not have announced any signings yet, but their supporters should not worry. The wheels are in motion.