Eze for Havertz: Berta flukes ‘big’ summer but are giddy Arsenal *actually* worse off?
Ahead of quite the day of bombshells for Arsenal on Wednesday we weren’t convinced Andrea Berta had delivered on Mikel Arteta’s transfer window vow: “It’s going to be a big one and we are very excited about it.”
Martin Zubimendi and Viktor Gyokeres have joined as guaranteed starters, Noni Madueke looks set to battle for a first XI spot, while Cristhian Mosquera, Christian Norgaard and Kepa Arrizabalaga have added some decent depth to the squad.
Their attacking display against Manchester United raised doubts over their readiness to make the final push and win the Premier League title, but our guess is most Arsenal fans will have been largely positive about their summer transfer dealings. A B+ for Berta? Something around that mark.
The issue for Arsenal was that their “big” window had been significantly smaller in terms of outlay than that of the reigning Premier League champions Liverpool, along with ‘champions of the world’ Chelsea, with Manchester City not far behind them having made what at first glance appear to be several bargain signings.
If you took a straw poll on which Premier League title challenger had improved their squad to the greatest degree, Arsenal might just have come fourth.
Landing Eberechi Eze ahead of Tottenham will dramatically change that perception. Assuming there are no hidden hitches in negotiations and Eze completes the move, there’s a fair case to be made that the Gunners will have had the best transfer window of anyone.
He’s a wonderful footballer and also feels like a flop-resistant signing – we’re struggling to imagine a world in which he’s not brilliant for Arsenal.
But the question has to be asked as to why they needed Kai Havertz to get injured in order to make this move.
It’s claimed Arsenal had reached a broad agreement with Crystal Palace for Eze on August 10, at least a week before Tottenham were ironing out the finer details of their own deal.
But it sounds like without the combination of the Germany international being struck down this week and/or Crystal Palace’s Europa Conference League play-off on Thursday ensuring talks with Tottenham over Eze’s transfer were put in hold, Arsenal would currently be shrugging their shoulders at his move to Spurs.
They’re incredibly fortunate that Havertz’s injury came before the end of the transfer window and having clearly had the money to sign Eze, why were they willing to let him slip through their fingers?
It can only be because they either thought they already had everything they need to win the Premier League without the extra outlay – and we really wouldn’t have been that confident – or they had an alternative player in mind, and rumours aside from the Rodrygo pipe dream have been thin on the ground. Agreeing new terms with Leandro Trossard without an increase in the length of his contract points very much towards the former.
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All Arsenal fans will be delighted by the signing of Eze and therefore have to be thankful for Havertz’s injury. Grim though that is, we don’t blame them. We blame Arsenal for selling them all on Eze before inexplicably walking away from his signing and creating this sadistic situation. Just who has to get injured for them to sign Rodrygo?
Arsenal and Berta are already getting rave reviews from Gooners on social media, with various Spurs slams and laughing emojis accompanying the ‘when Arsenal knock, it’s a different knock’ tagline. And we understand this will be a particularly delicious hijacking of a hijack of your most bitter rivals. A transfer doesn’t get much better than that.
But they would still only have one striker. While Eze would have significantly moved the needle had Havertz not got injured, and still will do if Viktor Gyokeres proves a success, he’s not about to play as the No.9 if Gyokeres is also ruled out or continues to play like a pub player.
It’s now impossible to deny that Arsenal have indeed enjoyed a “big one” this summer, but the events of Wednesday could actually see Arsenal worse off despite the fans’ obvious and reasonable delight at what’s occurred, with Mikel Merino somehow still Arteta’s back-up striker after a summer in which the absolute priority was to avoid that being the case.
