Gyokeres vs Sesko, Eze hijack and Berta masterclass

Arsenal’s transfer window has come to a close with an astonishing eight signings made over the course of the summer. The club have spent more than £260million on seven of those players, with an eighth player joining on loan, including an option to buy, which would have taken the potential expenditure to more than £300million.

It has been a summer where the new sporting director Andrea Berta has led the recruitment for the first time since his appointment in March. football.londonreported earlier in the summer that the Italian would bring a new approach to the club's transfer methods.

Succeeding Edu Gaspar, Berta set to work with a holistic approach, which typically targeted positions rather than specific players in the first phases. This incorporated discussions regarding multiple targets for positions that the club was keen on strengthening.

At the beginning of the window, several positions were labelled as necessities. These included a striker, a defensive midfielder - with the expected absence of Jorginho - a wide player, a versatile defender, and a backup goalkeeper.

Another priority was to complete the bulk of the business as early as possible while still trying to get maximum value for the players they would sign and continue to aim to work comfortably within UEFA Financial Fair Play regulations. While the Gunners are understood to have more freedom in line with the Premier League's Profit and Sustainability rules, the European body’s standards for participating clubs are much stricter.

The club quickly discovered the release clause in Kepa Arrizabalaga's deal at Chelsea and moved swiftly to tick off a position that proved troublesome the year before. Neto joined on loan on deadline day following a late exit for Aaron Ramsdale.

Martin Zubimendi was announced after his compatriot, but in truth, the deal had been all but done some time before the window opened. Though football.londonunderstands that Real Madrid made a late attempt to understand the parameters of his move to the Gunners, but by then it was too late.

With Zubimendi in, Thomas Partey's contract expired, and he left the club, prompting the need for a response in the market. Mikel Arteta, a big fan of Christian Norgaard, got his wish, and Andrea Berta secured a very good deal for £10million with £2million in add-ons, although he is yet to play this season, having suffered an injury issue just before the season kicked off.

With three signings secured, the club continued to focus on the attacking signings, and discussions having taken place with RB Leipzig around the conditions of Benjamin Sesko, football.london understands. However, now only multifaceted in his approach to deals but ruthless too, Berta led the club's pivot to Viktor Gyokeres, who had been a target of Berta's but also of Arsenal's before the Italian's arrival as far back as before the 2024 summer window.

While the negotiations with Sporting CP appeared long-winded and painful to supporters, the club had made the decision to advance on Gyokeres and secure his signature in less than a month and, importantly, before the end of the pre-season tour. All the while, also pouncing on a market opportunity for defender Cristhian Mosquera.

The Spaniard, allowed to get into the last year of his contract at Valencia, was enamoured by the interest from Arsenal and, despite remaining professional, training with the Spanish club despite rejecting contract renewal offers, would be rewarded after a deal in the region of £15million was brilliantly agreed by Berta. Mosquera was a player on the Italian's radar from his time at Atletico Madrid and with Takehiro Tomiyasu released, they had both replaced and upgraded.

His performance against Liverpool, having replaced the injured William Saliba, is believed to have impressed the whole team and manager Mikel Arteta greatly football.london understands. While Saliba's injury at Anfield is hoped not to be too serious and he left the ground without the need for crutches or a protective boot, although he did have a slight limp, confidence in Mosquera meant there was no need for a deadline day response in the market.

However, prior to both was the signing of Noni Madueke from Chelsea. This was another swift deal, and the club sees it as having been completed for below his market value despite the scrutiny from many outsiders at the time.

The stigma of signing another player from Chelsea, the second of the summer, has been tough to shake. But there is a belief within the club that they were right to go back after their opening offer was shut down and that the depth to cover for Bukayo Saka, who spent so much of last season injured, was a priority above a signing on the left.

Considering Saka's hamstring injury against Leeds United and Madueke's encouraging display starting in his place at Anfield, the move has already got early justification. Supporters certainly clamoured for an upgrade to the left flank, but with both Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli expected to stay internally, barring a crazy offer for the latter, which never came, there was calm about the deal that would eventually take place for Eberechi Eze.

Eze had featured heavily on the Gunners' radar throughout the summer, but its early peak came while negotiations with Ethan Nwaneri were ongoing. The youngster had interest from Premier League clubs and those abroad, such as Borussia Dortmund.

Wanting to be across the loss of an attacking asset, while certainly keen on Eze regardless, as football.londonbroke in May, Berta's approach to the market again has the Gunners primed. However, when Nwaneri renewed his contract, the potential for a move for Eze was paused and interactions rolled back as the need to sell became greater.

However, an injury to Kai Havertz, combined with steps taken by north London rivals Tottenham to try and sign Eze, changed things drastically. Arsenal returned, sealing a deal in less than 48 hours. It was always Arsenal for Eze, and he got his wish.

Other names, such as Rodrygo and Anthony Gordon, were mentioned and considered by Arsenal throughout the summer, but neither became a realistic opportunity for the Gunners or any other club. Yet they spoke to Berta's awareness of always being ready to pounce on an opportunity, which would again happen late in the window.

The deals that were done at this stage, though, put pressure on the club financially to a degree which meant sales became paramount. Yet Jakub Kiwior's desire to leave and his desired destination of Porto, who preferred a loan with an option to buy, put even more weight on the club to find a smart solution with the Pole needing to be replaced.

While Riccardo Calafiori has returned and impressed, his fitness record is simply not reliable enough to trust, and Gabriel Magalhaes returned only at the start of this season from a significant hamstring issue. However, once again, Andrea Berta found a smart solution, and yet again the draw of the Arsenal was enough for them to steal a march on the competition to sign Piero Hincapie.

The Ecuador international was another player who had interested Tottenham, although football.london understands this interest was earlier in the window. A loan with an option which all parties expect to be paid next summer in the region of £45million was agreed, allowing the deal instead to apply to next year’s accounts while benefiting from the player’s presence in the current season.

Yet even the magic of Berta couldn't solve all Arsenal's ills in the window. Reiss Nelson, Fabio Vieira and Oleksandr Zinchenko couldn't be sold. Both Nelson and Vieira have left on loan to Brentford and Hamburg with options to buy, whilst the Ukrainian’s wages proved too big a stumbling block for him to find an exit to Marseille. But at the 11th hour, Nottingham Forest came in to agree a loan move on deadline day and will help save the Gunners significantly across the season in addition to the benefits from a loan fee football.londonunderstands was included.

Albert Sambi Lokonga has, however, found a permanent exit, also joining Hamburg; and Berta did manage to secure a sale of Marquinhos to Cruzeiro early in the window, recouping much of the €3million (£2.5million) paid to Sao Paulo during Edu's tenure. Nuno Tavares meanwhile joined Lazio permanently in a deal that had been pre-agreed from the summer before.

One other area of frustration, which is much less on Berta and more so on the club's academy and loan managers, is that of the Under-21s squad. While both Lucas Nygaard and Ismeal Kabia will benefit from some senior football after securing moves late in the window, the Gunners have not seen anyone else leave.

Josh Nichols, Maldini Kacurri, and even Charles Sagoe Jr., who is now 21, will continue to feature for Max Porter's side. Porter is taking on the role from Mehmet Ali, who departed and benefited from Jack Wilshere's decision not to return to the club's youth coaching setup at the highest level, although he is yet to find a senior-level job.

Overall, the squad looks much stronger than it did last season. Mikel Arteta's problem, however, remains his frustration that many of his team members are already suffering.

In addition to the issues mentioned already with Bukayo Saka, William Saliba, Kai Havertz, and Christian Norgaard, there have also been issues with Martin Odegaard, Benjamin White, Leandro Trossard, and the ongoing absence of Gabriel Jesus, who is now back working with the ball on the grass and expected back toward the end of the calendar year. The hope is that many of these will be returning or close to returning at least after the international break.

The defeat to Liverpool on Sunday was painful despite the fact that the Gunners didn't play particularly badly, and could quite easily have snatched a victory. Instead, a moment of magic from a former Arsenal-linked player, Dominik Szoboszlai, proved the difference on the day. Arsenal can come back strong now with three more tough games against Nottingham Forest, Manchester City, and Newcastle United.

Win all three, and that will be 15 points from 18 in what was, on paper, the toughest start of any of the top six clubs. Arteta remains under pressure, and dwelling on defeat for a fortnight will do little to alleviate that. However, there is no doubt in the window that this time around, he has been unequivocally backed, and the arrival of Andrea Berta is at the centre of it all.

Click here to read article