The Athletic’s David Ornstein appeared on the latest edition of Sky Sports’ Sunday Supplement, during which he spent some time talking about Arsenal, the business that they’ve done in the January transfer window, and the behind-the-scenes plans for the future of the club.
Ornstein explained that “the overwhelming priority” for the Gunners in January was to get unwanted players out the door.
This month has seen the likes of Mesut Ozil, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Matt Macey depart from the north London club permanently, while Sead Kolasinac and William Saliba have left the Emirates Stadium on loan deals. Shkodran Mustafi, meanwhile, is thought to be set to leave the club by mutual consent.
Of those players, only Kolasinac hast started a single Premier League match this term – which perhaps indicates that these transfers were the kind that Arsenal came into the January transfer window hoping to get done.
After explaining that this was Arsenal’s priority, the journalist went on to shed some light on manager Mikel Arteta and the Gunners’ technical director, Edu Gaspar’s plans for the future of the north London club, saying: “I think [Arteta], as manager, and Edu, as technical director, really want to build around a core of the young, homegrown and international players – in terms of Gabriel Martinelli, for example – but then add this sort of sprinkling of top-class experienced players, too.
“So, yeah they are building the structure – they do need further additions and they do need to just work together for longer because it’s a club and a team that has gone through unbelievable change in the last few years. Now their priority is a bit of stability before they can move onto the future and hopefully, for them, bring success back to the club.”
Are you happy with Edu?
YES
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TIF Thoughts on what Ornstein said about Arteta and Edu’s plan…
In November and December, the Gunners went through a poor run of form in which, at one point, they failed to earn a win in seven straight Premier League games. However, during that run, Edu reassured fans of the north London club that all was well “internally.” Now, it seems like this claim has been backed up, with the Brazilian seemingly playing a pivotal role in helping his club to achieve their January “priority.”
Bar Saliba, of the players who have left Arsenal this month, you could argue that they don’t fit the apparent vision of a “young, homegrown” squad and with those players leaving, Arsenal went undefeated in the Premier League in January, so could the behind-the-scenes positivity that Edu referred to in December have rubbed off on the first-team? And is this turn in form an indication that their plan for Arsenal is a promising one?
With manager Mikel Arteta helping the Gunners to turn their poor form around and Edu ensuring that they got their “priority” transfer business done, it certainly seems like things are looking up for Arsenal and it will be interesting to see if they can go on to enjoy more success in the future as they enjoy more time to implement their plans for the future.