Despite a £70 million deal, Arsenal was unable to sign Moises Caicedo; nevertheless, Edu and Mikel Arteta do not need to make another outrageous transfer attempt and should instead look to Martin Odegaard for inspiration.
Arsenal entered a transfer market world they had only previously experienced once with their pursuit of Moises Caicedo in January, which came after their pursuit of Mykhailo Mudryk. The previous recruitment regime, which was led at the time by Raul Sanllehi, saw the record deal for Nicolas Pepe as a failure.
The club has constructed a professional and shrewd team that is five points ahead thanks to Edu stepping out from under the shadow of the Spaniard to lead the transfer process alongside manager Mikel Arteta, now club co-chairman Josh Kroenke, and the larger recruitment team. Ben White, who joined the team waging a title campaign for £50 million from Brighton, is the most expensive player.
Meanwhile, two transactions for Leandro Trossard at £27 million and Jorginho at £12 million, both with guaranteed fees that sum up to just £30 million, have boosted the effort to win the title. Steve Barber, the CEO of Brighton, joked that the Ecuadorian would only be worth "half" of the £70 million Arsenal offer in an interview with The Beautiful Game podcast.
Even if the Seagulls had a strong position that he was not for sale, some supporters may have wanted to see the Gunners spend triple digit millions, but they have already shown they do not need to. Although having only initially cost the club £30 million, Martin Odegaard has a chance to win league player of the year.
equivalent to the upfront payment made by the team to Manchester City for Oleksandr Zinchenko. Gabriel Magalhaes, a Brazilian who joined Lille for £3 million more, was Arteta's first significant summer acquisition since taking over the club in December 2019.
After multiple offers that ranged up to, guess what, £30 million from Sheffield United, Aaron Ramsdale was accepted. The operations carried out in this area show clever talent identification, which directly affects the club's success.
No matter how the season is resolved, this will continue. Arsenal will undoubtedly spend somewhat more than £30 million on players, and that is entirely appropriate. Nonetheless, there have been suggestions that the Gunners should spend over £100 million on a player like Caicedo, following the example of several other clubs in the league, which now appear to have made mistakes.
Every decision must be carefully considered; nothing should be done in a hurry or under duress, as it almost was with Caicedo and Mudryk, or by paying much more than necessary because of the position taken by a club or the presence of competing bids. There should be no more Pepe bargains in this world.
Odegaard and company serve as a potent reminder of what may be accomplished by making contextually more modest investments and letting talent develop. There will be another time when patience is required, but there have already been more than enough reminders to avoid passing judgment on this group and their manager too quickly. Fabio Vieira and Jakub Kiwior might end up being the next two.
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