Arsenal: 2 players take transfer step to seal summer moves

The Premier League season starts in less than one month and Arsenal are nowhere near where themselves and the supporters would have liked them to be in terms of signings and sales.

The mitigation comes in the form of a crippled European market, two major international tournaments taking place and the obvious one, an inexperienced and ever-changing club hierarchy.

Nonetheless, only Nuno Tavares has walked through the doors and seeing the squad that played against Hibernian feature an uncomfortable amount of deadwood and players set for summer sales is inching fans towards the fine line between calm and panic.

While the window doesn’t close until the end of August, there are sections of the support who’re already envisaging the ‘didn’t get a full pre-season’ excuses for whichever signings make their way to north London.

Arsenal: 2 players take transfer step to seal summer moves as Mikel Arteta eyes sales and signings as pre-season begins

There is still time though, and we know of one for definite who is making his way to Arsenal in Albert Sambi Lokonga. Once isolation is over he’ll be officially confirmed.

Apart from the midfielder it’s Ben White who everyone is still waiting on. His involvement (or lack thereof) with England at the European Championships slowed down his future being resolved with Gareth Southgate making an agreement with the players to put all transfer talk on hold.

With that now concluded, the Three Lions squad, including Bukayo Saka, will be granted three weeks’ time off to rest and recover after a heavily congested season and tournament.

However, Ian McGarry of the Transfer Window Podcast has revealed White will cut his holiday short to 12 days in order to prioritise his career, a move that will help speed up Arsenal’s pursuit.

Harry Clarke made his non-competitive debut for Arsenal in the heart of defence against Hibs with Pablo Mari to his side, and put in a solid shift with the more experienced Spaniard marshalling him across the pitch.

Pre-season is an exciting time to get a look at Hale End in senior(ish) action but without them the squad is looking bare. William Saliba will join Marseille before the end of the working week and Gabriel is currently out injured, leaving just Rob Holding an Mari as the senior options. Calum Chambers can fill in but is more suited to right-back.

To give the fans and the squad a boost, acquiring a statement player like White will help beyond his obvious talent.

White isn’t the only one taken such measures to push through a transfer, with another player taking the same measures.

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