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It has been a quiet summer window for Arsenal as they have completed only one signing, that is Gabriel Martinelli from Ituano. However, the links with players like Kieran Tierney, William Saliba, Wilfried Zaha, etc are strong but there has not been any sign of progress. The transfer window closes in a couple of weeks, and will the Gunners sign more reinforcements for the new season to compete for the title?
The limited transfer budget has certainly affected the board's plans. For example, to buy Wilfried Zaha, Arsenal would require nearly £80 million, whereas their reported budget is around £45 million, which is probably fake as Arsenal have submitted their first bid of £40 million for Zaha. The London-based club have a limited budget but certainly more than 50-60 million, and therefore, they need to negotiate for every player they are willing to sign.
So, how should Arsenal move forward with such a small budget, plenty of deadwood, and big clubs raiding their star players? Let's take a look at a few things Arsenal should do before deadline day.
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#4 Offer Aubameyang and Lacazette new contracts
The first and foremost thing to do should be to offer Arsenal's two best players, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette, long term contracts which will see them pen down new deals at the Emirates.
The striking duo of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette have caused havoc in all of England, as the pair have scored more than 60% of Arsenal's goals this season. The former won the Premier League Golden Boot 2018-19, as he scored 22 goals, equalling Sadio Mane's and Mohamed Salah's tally. On the other hand, Alexandre Lacazette was named Arsenal's Player of the Season, as he has undoubtedly been a leader and a player whom the players and the fans have looked up to in time of need.
Impressive goals, clinical finishing, brilliant chemistry and some eye-catching celebrations sum up Aubameyang and Lacazette's seasons at Arsenal. If there are two players Arsenal should build the team around, it is them.
They are the hottest players who are available in the market right now, as Aubameyang's contract expires in two years and Lacazette's in three. Both the strikers are yet to sign new contracts and top clubs like Barcelona and Real Madrid have shown interest in signing them.
No Champions League football can be a big reason of concern for the Gunners, and the fact that both their star strikers are in their prime years, they might look to move on in order to play top-level football. I believe they should be offered similar contracts, and should be part of Arsenal's projects for the future, as both are absolute fan favourites and have proved what they are capable of.
#3 Reliance on youth
Freddie Ljungberg, Arsenal's under-23 manager, has been promoted to the first team to work alongside Unai Emery as his assistant coach to help him learn about the best academy talents at Arsenal with Steve Bould working alongside Per Mertesacker at the Arsenal academy.
This move is certainly to help more academy players break into the first team regularly. And, considering Arsenal's transfer spending and budgets over the past years, reliance on their youth products is the only viable way.
Following the Ajax philosophy, Unai Emery has shown great trust in his young players like Alex Iwobi, Matteo Guendouzi, Maitland Niles, Nketiah, Joe Willock, etc as they have been getting regular chances in the first team for Arsenal this term. With Reiss Nelson and Eddie-Howe Smith also offered a first-team role for the upcoming season, Arsenal's squad depth looks decent and the youngsters might get a chance to prove themselves at the big stage.
#2 Bring Kieran Tierney to the Emirates
Arsenal has been criticised and trolled for their terrible defensive performances, especially away from home. They have shipped in nearly 50 goals in the league alone, which is a big reason to worry. Unai Emery had a pretty torrid time managing this team, and injuries to Rob Holding and Hector Bellerin, Emery's two most important players, saw Arsenal's form drop at an unbelievable pace.
Of course there is a need for a quality centre back, but what's more important is to bring in a fullback who can defend efficiently as well as attack. Sead Kolasinac is highly rated as a left-wing-back but the Bosnian international cannot defend. He fails to track back, and offers a mediocre work rate to the team, often leaving the centrebacks on their own whilst defending a counter-attack. On the other hand, injury to Bellerin saw Ainsley Maitland Niles take up the right-back spot, and the Arsenal academy graduate cannot defend efficiently either.
Both Kolasinac and Niles are brilliant as wing-backs, but Unai Emery's preferred formation is a 4-2-3-1, which demands high workrate from every player, especially the fullbacks, something Arsenal's current squad terribly lacks.
Kieran Tierney is one of the brightest prospects in the current world of football. The Scottish international is often tipped to be the 'Next Robertson', and that is exactly the type of player Arsenal need right now. Tierney is just 21, and if Arsenal can get him, Bellerin and Tierney can form a robust partnership and can lock down the fullback spots at Arsenal for nearly a decade, if not more.
#1 Offload Mesut Ozil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Arsenal has been heavily interested in signing Wilfried Zaha. They have also kept regular tabs on Malcom, Nabil Fekir, Hakim Ziyech, etc, but the sad truth is, they cannot complete those transfers if they fail to offload either one of Ozil or Mkhitaryan, due to their unbelievably high wages.
It is an open secret that Mesut Ozil and Unai Emery are not big fans of each other, and the board have a tough job on deciding who they are willing to keep for yet another year. Unai Emery has probably made it clear that he does not want the German to be at the club for more years, taking into consideration his inefficient and inconsistent performances this season along with the massive pay he bags every week.
Reportedly, Ozil earns a whopping £350k-per-week and has a contract with Arsenal till 2021. That is big, big money spent on a player who arguably was the most inconsistent player in the Arsenal squad this season. With two years left on Ozil's contract, Raul Sanllehi and co will have to make a decision on whether Ozil must be sold, sent on loan or must be offered a new contract so that they do not lose him for free after two years.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan is another player who clearly has not justified his wages, as the Armenian pockets nearly £180k every week. Unai Emery took up the Arsenal job knowing that his transfer budget every year will be limited and he will have a small budget to work with as compared to other top dogs in the PL.
Offloading players like Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Mesut Ozil is not as easy as it sounds, as both the players have two or more years left on their contract. And none of the top tier clubs across Europe are willing to match their massive wage demands, which makes it even more difficult to sell them. So we will have to be patient and see how things work out between the club and the players they are looking to move on from.
