Arsenal’s Possible Transfer Strategies From 2020/21 Season Onwards

Modern football is rapidly becoming a complicated legal jungle where players and clubs need to be extremely careful and creative with their preferred transfer strategy to ensure that they come out on top. Arsenal are no different.

With complex multi-million pound deals being the norm and players finding it more lucrative to run down their contracts rather than seek for a transfer, being savvy in the business side of football is important for survival.

A large number of clubs are struggling financially to make ends meet, with only a small slither of top clubs walking away from the global pandemic and its impact relatively unscathed. Arsenal are one of those clubs who still seem to have the money to close out major transfer deals, though they have garnered some flak for some of their recent announcements.

With Mikel Arteta and Edu Gaspar handling the footballing side of Arsenal (at least for the near future), I would hope that Arsenal are able to plot their long-term strategy while also propelling the team forward in the interim. Here is a look at a few strategies that Arsenal can take with respect to managing their players.

The Romantic Transfer Strategy: Being an Academy Focused Club

There is something fundamentally satisfying about watching an Academy player fulfill his potential and perform at the highest level. Be it the days when an injury-free Jack Wilshere bossed Barcelona or when Alex Iwobi first broke into the Premier League, watching one of our own reach those levels, is epic.

Arsenal are one of the better clubs when it comes to promoting academy talent. Arsene Wenger often used the cup competitions as the proving grounds to understand the quality of the younger players. Both Unai Emery and Arteta also continued giving opportunities to youngsters, albeit a select few. Ainsley Maitland-Niles among those to have enjoyed first team minutes of late.

The strategy here would involve Arsenal completely embracing the Hale End Academy graduates as their primary talent pool, much like Barcelona did with their La Masia starlets during the mid-2000s.

Much of Barça’s dominance between 2008-2015 came from a robust set of players rising through the ranks. While the club has since faltered in promoting more talent, during that period, Barcelona were practically unbeatable.

Arsenal would need to revamp the youth strategy to ensure that we do unearth the Saka-esque talent, while also not allowing a Serge Gnabry to fall through the cracks or a Jeff Reine-Adelaide to be written off too quickly.

Why this transfer strategy may work – It ensures that the club seldom has to shell out large sums of money to solve issues given the ready made (albeit inexperienced) solutions from the academy. More academy players in the senior team also entices a greater number of prospects to see Arsenal as the ideal stage to further their development.

Why this transfer strategy may not work – The honest truth is, many academy graduates never reach the soaring heights that they were originally tipped for. There is also a very real possibility that players would leave the club as soon as they feel they can earn bigger salaries elsewhere. Arsenal have also been guilty of persisting with the wrong academy players, while better prospects slipped out of their grasp.

The Business Smart Transfer Strategy: Buy Cheap, Sell Big!

Ousmane Dembele (Photo by TF-Images/TF-Images via Getty Images)

With football clubs having to abide by Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations, being able to deliver solid revenues and good profits have become paramount to the existence of a club. Many top clubs, Arsenal included, are privately owned and thus a strong balance sheet is a necessity.

This strategy is what I would like to label ‘The Borussia Dortmund Strategy’.

The Dortmund strategy involves buying promising youngsters at low transfer fees, giving them a lot of playing time, ensure they make the transition into becoming top class and then selling them for massive profits. Die Borussen have done this so many times over the past decade or so that, effectively, they are the pioneers.

Transfers of Ousmane Dembele, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Ilkay Gundogan, Shinji Kagawa and many more have fetched millions of pounds in profits for the club; those funds then used to purchase the next crop of exciting youngsters. There is no doubting that Jadon Sancho and Erling Haaland would/will fetch astronomical fees when they’re moved on.

Why this transfer strategy may work – Despite their recent troubles, Arsenal still have a high standing in the footballing world, and Arteta should be able to convince most players to be part of his project. Arsenal could also be able to manage the funds for such a strategy, but significant departures would need to take place first. KSE would also be onboard if it meant making a healthy profit further down the line.

Why this transfer strategy may not work – A lot of the tough work behind this strategy comes from Dortmund’s exemplary scouting network. The club also has a hierarchy that swiftly closes deals when they smell opportunity. With Arsenal recently disbanding a large part of its scouting network and their general lack of speed in the transfer market, the club would more likely be left with instances of ‘almost signed him’. It may also leave a club as perennial rebuilders, something that Dortmund seem to also be stuck in.

The Efficient Purchase Transfer Strategy: Sharp Deals in the Premier League

Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United have often raided fellow Premier League teams for their best players. When City started their journey under Sheikh Mansour’s ownership, they purchased some of the best players Arsenal had at that point. Chelsea brought in Leicester’s lynchpin, N’Golo Kante, and subsequently won the league title. As an Arsenal fan, thinking about Robin van Persie’s instant impact for United is still excruciating.

Even with the above examples, Liverpool have been the true masters of this strategy over the past few seasons. Liverpool largely focused on the best players that relegated teams had to offer; they purchased Jordan Henderson, Andrew Robertson, Georginio Wijnaldum and Xherdan Shaqiri for respectable fees.

This ensured that they only spent big when it was absolutely necessary. All of the aforementioned players, and some shrewd free signings like James Milner, have been significant in Liverpool’s journey to the upper echelons of England and Europe. Most of these players could also be sold for tidy sums should the need arise.

This transfer window, Arsenal could have focused on the likes of Abdoulaye Doucore, Emi Buendia and Ismaila Sarr to address various needs within the team. However, none of these players seem to feature in Arsenal’s transfer plans, or even match current speculation.

Why this transfer strategy may work – It gives Arsenal PL-ready players, often at lower prices. This also ensures that if the player does well, a profit could be earned from their eventual sale. Most of the players also perform at high levels as they are often not burdened by heavy price tags.

Why this transfer strategy may not work – The base prices have definitely shifted. After the success of players like the ones Liverpool purchased, most relegated clubs play hardball for their most prized players. This leads to situations where a club like Manchester City pay £41 million for Nathan Ake to be no more than a rotation player. This level of outlay negates responsible transfer market spending.

Conclusion

Arsenal are firmly a team in transition. Arteta is building the side he wants, one that entails making curious transfers like David Luiz and Cedric Soares, while still looking to invest in more defenders. While Arsenal’s player strategies have shades of all the aforementioned points, it is important to strike the right balance. A balance that sees more Gabriel Martinelli’s, with only an occasional David Luiz.