Arsenal season hinges on Arteta & Edu’s eye for talent

Six signings in, three games down and international break over, the season starts now for Arsenal. That is the way it will be framed as in north London as Mikel Arteta aims to spark a remarkable turnaround.

It’s a Premier League season in which Arsenal have been given a three-game handicap. That’s one way of looking at it.

Actions speak louder than words though and with Norwich up next nothing else will suffice other than three points and a commanding display. At a point where watching Arsenal feels more like a chore than enjoyment, there is reason to be excited about the meeting.

Dread remains, of course, but with at least three of the summer additions due to take to the Emirates turf with a couple of home Premier League debuts thrown about, fans cross their fingers that a truer representation of Arteta’s team will be on show.

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Arsenal season hinges on Mikel Arteta & Edu’s eye for talent as six new signings simply have to be a standard good enough to elevate the team

A central defensive partnership of Gabriel and Ben White, Albert Sambi Lokonga due for a spot in midfield and Martin Odegaard adding a creative buzz further forward brings us closer to Arteta’s ideal.

Takehiro Tomiyasu may come in but it’s unlikely, as Arsenal’s new young guns get another chance to impress.

The question is whether they will impress. Signing a very specific profile of player with two aged 21, two aged 22 and two aged 23, the emphasis on talent for the mid to long-term is the strategy the club have opted for.

Whoever led the vision – whether Kroenke, Edu or otherwise – has ensured everyone is on board with it and pining for its success. But while there is a clear direction taken, the success of this season for both the immediate and the forthcoming term rests solely on whether they’re actually talented players.

It doesn’t matter if they’re 21 years old or 28 years old, the defining factor in where Arsenal can go hinges on Arteta and Edu’s talent ID. The pair will live and die by that sword.

https://twitter.com/Arsenal/status/1434944152521822208

Sadly, their track record isn’t great and while analysis has been undertaken and opinions forged from what has been seen of the new crop already, it all comes down to what they do on the pitch in red and white.

Should they not become successful components of this team then Arsenal can’t reach the heights they aim for. It’s as simple as that.

Indications are, based off of their careers so far, that Odegaard and White have the potential to reach an elite level of talent. Nuno Tavares is less important, per se, while Sambi is already making strides and despite the seamless fit into Arteta’s system, Tomiyasu is one who could end up in any which way.

Aaron Ramsdale also could go either way.

But it doesn’t matter what their ages are, what their transfer fees were, how big their salaries are or whether they’re homegrown etc: these are all secondary elements for now so long as the actual talent is there. If it isn’t then the money parted with will be rightly brought into question. White cost £50m but if he turns Arsenal into a solid defensive unit and progressive beast from the back the price tag will be forgotten about.

Whoever is sat in the dugout won’t achieve anything with a group of signings who aren’t at the standard of the European outfit Arsenal hope to be.

Arteta and Edu have their futures on the line. Everyone knows the ability of the players’ inherited from the academy, and the less than desirable ‘senior‘ core, but with a whole six new arrivals, what comes next boils down to have effective the pair are at spotting talent when they see it.

Tactics and systems take a backseat. It’s that simple.