Arsenal must build on promising season with productive transfer window

Arsenal got through the 2021/22 season – one without European football – better than most thought they would when the season began. The August losing skid to begin the year only reinforced the notion that Mikel Arteta – were he even to keep his job – would be in for a long slog to rebuild this team to the positions it once held in England and European competitions.

Now, with fifth place, Europa League football, and a bigger budget secured to accompany a young, cohesive team, the Gunners are gunning for a better roster to accentuate their current squad.

This means that players will be coming into the club, leaving, and returning from loans. With all that the summer entails, Arteta and Edu have their hands full in keeping this season’s momentum flowing into the next campaign.

Arsenal need a massive Summer and look likely to get it too

Gabriel Jesus of Manchester City is definitely on the radar, as is Victor Osimhen of Napoli. Dominic Calvert-Lewin of Everton will likely be considered, also, as he knows so many of the young Gunners from national team duty, and that’s just speaking about the strikers.

Money will be moving to and from Arsenal this summer, as players like the aforementioned look to come in, while current squad members like Cedric Soares, Nicolas Pepe, Alexandre Lacazette, and Bernd Leno look to greener pastures in England or the rest of Europe.

Ruben Neves, Youri Tielemans, James Maddison, Houssem Aouar, and other midfield names have also been linked to this club, and while last season was a year of steady building, I predict this year will have splashier moves. While supporters were rightly disappointed that this team fell out of fourth place towards the end of the year, meaning that they would play in the UEL and not the UCL, the hierarchy of the club saw an overachieving team with bright young players, a marvellous young coach, and a lot of opportunities still before them.

The Gunners will buy and sell, and they will be more successful next year. They will have the money coming in from a multitude of sources, and they will bring in names that fans can really get excited about. Meanwhile, at the backend, Gabriel and Ben White will finally be joined by William Saliba, who was a gift of the Unai Emery Era.

Saliba has offered his own take, and while the player says he’d like to stay in France, Arsenal need him as a solid piece of their backline puzzle going forward. After Gabriel and White, things were often shaky for the Gunners’ defence. With Saliba, one of the best young centre-backs in Europe, Arsenal would be deeper and harder to break through across an entire match or a string of matches.

Names like Hector Bellerin and Ainsley Maitland-Niles will be returning from loan as well this summer, and unless each is offloaded, they will be able to contribute to strengthening the backline. Yet both could very easily be sold for money which will go towards some of the aforementioned – and unmentioned – players that this team covets.

Arsenal Next Season: A Markedly Improved Club

The Arsenal that appeared shaken at the end of the season for those two matches before the final match against Everton will not be the same Arsenal side that returns to the Premier League later this summer.

Gooners have seen how an Arteta team improves over these summers from a tactical and playing standpoint, and this summer should be no different. The players will be better, wiser, and healthier; ready to go again. Kieren Tierney, Thomas Partey and Takehiro Tomiyasu will all be back or returning to proper fitness too.

Yet the investments that will be made this summer will accentuate what already exists for this lot. The talent that shows itself week in and out will be sharpened by the talented strikers, midfielders and defensive players that are recruited and brought to Arsenal by Edu and Arteta.

Names like Osimhen, Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko should bring smiles to the faces of Gooners everywhere. Arsenal are on the come up, and this summer will have a lot to do with the successive steps that they can then take.