The clock is ticking - Andrea Berta might not escape the wrath of Arsenal fans

There are still a few days to go in his first transfer window, but it already seems the honeymoon period is over for Andrea Berta.

He arrived at Arsenal in March with a fearsome reputation; a tough, highly skilled negotiator whose many years of high-profile dealings at Atletico Madrid cast him as a perfect choice to direct our ‘unprecedented’ summer business.

However, his blistering start (six players signed before the pre-season tour) has fizzled out and the Gunners bandwagon is ground to a halt, with news of a pay rise for 30-year-old Leandro Trossard and injury to Kai Havertz suggesting the wheels might soon come off altogether.

The latter update makes the former more palatable, offering a good reason for Arsenal to effectively rule out a Trossard sale this month – an understanding of that decision had been quite hard to come by beforehand.

Andrea Berta is running out of time to keep Arsenal fans happy

Yet the fact that Trossard and other, more peripheral stars are still at the club signals a realisation of fans’ worst fears: not even someone as experienced as Berta can change our dreadful selling record overnight.

In his defence, he was dealt a terrible hand. That much was spelt out in The Athletic in their transfer deal-sheet on Tuesday, where they hinted at Stuttgart seeking a loan + obligation-to-buy move (for just £17m) for Fabio Vieira – a poor offer which would represent a huge financial loss for Arsenal – and how Levante might consider our pitiful £3-5m valuation of Karl Hein to be “high”.

Perhaps one way to alter it is to stand firm on valuations and wait until a serious bid comes along. It worked for RB Leipzig (re: Benjamin Sesko) and might explain why we are yet to complete a sale this summer.

And Berta could still pull it out of the bag; Fulham want to sign Reiss Nelson and will only get more desperate as the deadline looms (they have plenty to spend after a quiet window). Meanwhile, the boss confirmed a fortnight ago that he is “actively looking at options” and some players will maybe “have to leave as well” – perhaps Albert Sambi Lokonga will be another one to find a new ‘forever home’ soon.

In any case, the fans are getting restless. The big summer we expected might yet close without any big departures and possibly without the arrival of a world-class left winger – a terrible prospect given our years of neglect in that position as well as the ‘title-or-bust’ mood around the club ahead of this campaign.

Few are more qualified to claim that happy ending than Andrea Berta; he has less than two weeks to make it happen.        

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