Arsenal: Expect more Lucas Torreiras and Matteo Guendouzis

LONDON, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 02: Lucas Torreira of Arsenal celebrates his team's victory after the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Tottenham Hotspur at Emirates Stadium on December 1, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 02: Lucas Torreira of Arsenal celebrates his team's victory after the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Tottenham Hotspur at Emirates Stadium on December 1, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images) /
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Unai Emery and Raul Sanllehi are making plans for Arsenal’s summer transfer window. Expect more Lucas Torreiras and Matteo Guendouzis than the high-profile splashes that fans dream about.

The summer transfer window looms. With it, a myriad of business deals will obviously be done, with Arsenal looking to continually retool the squad for the ushering in of the post-Arsene Wenger era. And naturally, being fans, there is an immediate surge of hope with the prospect of a slew of shiny, new toys arriving at the club.

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Sadly for Arsenal fans, rarely does the transfer window actually yield the high-profile acquisition — this, incidentally, is why, I believe, Gooners tend to be the most obsessed with transfer rumours. The club is run in such a manner that it tends to veer away from the splashy signings of other teams. And I expect this to continue this summer.

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While it is nice to dream about Nicolas Pepe or Wilfried Zaha, in reality, it is much more likely that Unai Emery turns to more economical options, players that are not on the tips of everyone’s tongues and can instead be signed for genuine value in an increasingly explosive market.

This, after all, is what the club did last summer. While Liverpool were signing Fabinho, the Gunners signed Lucas Torreira for half the price; while Chelsea broke the transfer record for a goalkeeper, Bernd Leno arrived in north London for almost a quarter of the price; Sokratis, Stephan Lichtsteiner and Matteo Guendouzi all arrived on cut-price or even free deals.

And because there are still plenty of needs that require investment, as well as the same financial restrictions that have put Emery and Raul Sanllehi in a bind thus far, I expect this more frugal approach to continue.

There may be plenty of talk of players like Ben Chilwell or Ismaila Sarr or even Matthijs de Ligt, but, in the end, these players who are attracting interest from some of the best teams across Europe will go for fees and wages that far outmatch what Arsenal can compete with.

In reality, Emery and Sanllehi are more likely to target Torreiras and Guendouzis, young players with tremendously high upside though perhaps with a few issues, those that have great potential but are cheaper than the true stars that everybody is talking about. Expect to see signings from players playing for teams away from the elite European clubs and out of the general discussion.

Because there are still plenty of positions that Arsenal want to invest in and there is a limited budget to do so, reportedly as little as £45 million, if Champions League qualification is not attained, spending efficiently is absolutely critical, and that often means finding those players that are a little out of the conversation.

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That may all sound rather underwhelming. But it is a frank assessment of where this club. And it does not have to mean that their spending will be poor. After all, Torreira and Guendouzi turned out alright.