With the news that Gabriel Magalhaes is inching ever closer to the Arsenal, the recruitment of The Gunners has been put into sharp focus. Raul Sanhelli’s departure threw up a plethora of questions. The responsibility of Arsenal’s transfer window will fall heavily on the shoulders of Mikel Arteta and Edu.
Recruitment and Excessive Wages
With several high earning players at the club failing to feature heavily in Arsenal’s first team, big changes are a necessity. The likes of Mesut Ozil, Sead Kolasinac, Sokratis and Lucas Torreira are unlikely to see regular game time in Arteta’s 20/21 campaign.
The question of wages paid to players at the club has been a financial and mental issue. The latter highlighted by the behaviour of Matteo Guendouzi during the club’s 2-1 loss at Brighton. Reports indicated the Frenchman had been boasting about his pay to opposition players – one of several incidents which have left Guendouzi out in the cold.
Gabriel has been earning a meagre wage at French side Lille and is expected to see a significant rise should he make the move to north London. The Brazilian would also follow in the footsteps of former teammate Nicolas Pepe. The Ivorian joined Arsenal for a sizeable £72 million fee and although the deal will be segregated into instalments, fans have still queried the significant outlay.
A Lille Success Story
Lille have successfully navigated the loss of big stars through clever recruitment. The goals of Pepe were quickly replaced by Victor Osimhen. The Nigerian forward has now too left for Napoli and the French side wasted no time in bringing in Jonathan David from Gent. The Canadian forward was linked to the Arsenal earlier in the window.
Lille’s finances in 2018 were in a worrying state. Even having raised over £60 million and spent just £8 million they still needed to sell. The following summer saw Pepe leave alongside Rafael Leao, Thiago Mendes and Anwar El Ghazi. The total fees equating to more than £120 million.
The club reinvested £90 million in the same summer. Which led to Lille finishing just 1 point outside the Champions League qualification places.
Arsenal need to look at clubs like Lille and to a lesser extent RB Leipzig. The players they sign are done so through clever recruitment of low risk and high reward. Arsenal need to become the next link in the chain for players at these breeding grounds. The consequence is waiting and paying for it.
Instead of signing Pepe and Gabriel from Lille, Arsenal should have poached them earlier in their careers.
Past Mistakes
I am not saying that Arsenal should never spend big on players and look only to snap up young talent. Signing players in their prime who can make an instant impact is very much imperative to a big club’s success.
However, these signing must be measured and low risk. The signing of Thomas Partey for €50 million is one such case. However, the club’s financial position means spending large amounts of money on players like Mustafi, Lucas Perez, Danny Welbeck and Sokratis needs to be reduced.
The combined fee of these four players is over £80 million. The money in this situation could and should have been spent more wisely.
With the benefit of hindsight, Arsenal should have bought Virgil Van Dijk, N’Golo Kante, Caglar Soyuncu and Steven Bergwijn. Combined, these player’s fees into the Premier League were far less than £80 million.
Arsenal were linked with Van Dijk before he joined Southampton. Soyuncu was linked with a move from Freiburg before moving to Leicester. And it is well-known Arsenal could have pursued Kante more aggressively before he left for Chelsea.
Arsenal have failed to find players from niche areas who have burst onto the scene in the Premier League for a long time.
The club’s last half decade has been dominated by big fees for older players: Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and David Luiz. Aubameyang is the standout for obvious reasons but the latter 3 much less so.
There is Hope
Kieran Tierney has been a revelation since arriving from Celtic both in quality and attitude. William Saliba’s move from Saint-Etienne has been lauded by French experts as a real steal. If Arsenal can begin to replicate these moves for players more consistently, the fortunes may change.
Willian arrived from Chelsea on a ‘free’ transfer. A hopeful sign that Arsenal will not be paying high fees for older players in the future. These should be done in combination with sparse marquee transformative players – such as Partey. But signings targeting younger players of burgeoning quality and high sell-on value should be the bulk of business.
To close, it would be unlike me to not suggest a few names for the reader to consider. Dominik Szoboszlai is no longer a hipster’s choice but impossible not to mention. Malang Sarr’s free agent status makes the Frenchman an incredibly attractive prospect. Marc Roca saw his Espanyol side relegated but was a diamond in a rough season and could be available for a much lower fee than his £35 million release clause. And keep an eye on Salzburg’s Karim Adeyemi.
I wish Arsenal could be signing Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech and Kai Havertz but it is just not realistic. Until the club position themselves into a much healthier financial situation, we need to be smarter with recruitment and to stop wasting money.