Andrea Berta is set for a busy first transfer window as Arsenal’s sporting director as he looks to refresh Mikel Arteta’s squad to give him the tools to make that last push to win a major trophy next season.
A report on Monday claimed he’s ‘exploring’ deals for 12 forwards – four No.9’s and eight wingers – in a bid to sign two this summer, having already agreed to trigger Real Sociedad midfielder Martin Zubimendi’s £51 release clause, and we’ve ranked them by the chance of them arriving at the Emirates this summer.
12) Alexander Isak (Newcastle)
The promise of Champions League football at St James’ Park appears to have persuaded him to stay for at least another season and if he was going to leave it would be to Liverpool
11) Alejandro Garnacho (Manchester United)
Probably the third funniest team after Liverpool and Manchester City for a United player to leave and inevitably thrive at as they all seem to do these days, but we can’t see Arsenal taking a punt on a guy whose reputation is murky at best right now, whether that’s his own fault or that of his bizarrely blameless manager. He looks set for Napoli.
10) Rodrygo (Real Madrid)
Gooners were understandably getting rather excited until Xabi Alonso let the air out of the transfer balloon in his first press conference as the new Los Blancos manager.” Rodrygo? He is a Real Madrid player. He is a spectacular player and we will need him.” Damn
9) Bryan Mbeumo (Brentford)
If anything should put Arsenal off it’s the thought of shopping in the same market as Manchester United, who have ‘held talks’ with Mbeumo and are now reportedly ‘ready to test Brentford’s resolve’ with a £50m bid
It would be a strange move for Arsenal in any case given Mbeumo plays almost exclusively on the right wing. Maybe if they have enough cash left to sign a Bukayo Saka backup, but competition for Gabriel Martinelli on the left is the priority.
8) Jamie Gittens (Borussia Dortmund)
“We’ll be having discussions soon. If offers come in, we’ll have to deal with them,” Dortmund sporting director Sebastian Kehl said on Sunday when asked about Gittens’ future, before insisting “we have to reduce wages”.
The 20-year-old wants to leave having grown increasingly frustrated by his peripheral role under Niko Kovac during the second half of the season, but we don’t think Gittens would offer the immediate improvement to the starting XI Berta is after.
7) Rafael Leao (AC Milan)
Reports claim Milan have dropped their asking price from £84m to £67m having missed out on European football altogether, which is a more reasonable amount for an infamously inconsistent footballer, but probably still too much.
6) Mohammed Kudus (West Ham)
We’re pretty convinced he could go to any top club and be brilliant, and while doubts after an inauspicious second season in the Premier League should be pretty well curbed by him having to play for West Ham, that poor form has come at the wrong time to help persuade Arsenal into spending £70m on him.
5) Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton)
We have spent an inordinate amount of time this season replaying his wonder goal against Chelsea – featuring one of the best touches in Premier League history – in our heads, and would love to see him diddling full-backs in the Champions League. Bayern Munich have supposedly made him their top target though and have already made ground over his transfer after talking to his representatives.
4) Joao Pedro (Brighton)
He’s a very good footballer, but we’re a bit surprised that seemingly all of the Premier League clubs able to offer him a step up from Brighton are apparently willing to shell out the £59m required to sign him. Pedro feels very like Kai Havertz and would thus be a strange signing as Arsenal clearly want a striker who is distinctly not Kai Havertz
3) Benjamin Sesko (RB Leipzig)
His representatives will be busy pimping him about after RB Leipzig missed out on the Champions League and it’s been made pretty clear through reports across at least the last year that he’s a big favourite of Mikel Arteta’s, if not Berta’s, and appears to still be second on their shortlist, or third if we’re including Isak.
2) Nico Williams (Athletic Club)
He’s been their reported top left wing target for a little under a year after Arsenal tried to tempt him to leave Athletic Club after Euro 2024. The strength of Williams‘ love for his boyhood club that prevented a move then still remains, and the Basque side’s qualification for the Champions League provides an added magnetism and barrier for Arsenal to overcome. But Berta and Arteta appear to be aligned in still believing he remains their best bet and we wouldn’t disagree.
1) Viktor Gyokeres (Sporting)
While Manchester United live in a decade-old fantasy world in which they believe they have the pull to sign one of the best goalscorer in the world, everything appears to point to Arsenal actually signing one of the best goalscorer in the world.
And any weird sniffiness over where Gyokeres has scored those goals or what type of goals they’ve been, seems to have been quite rightly dismissed by the Arsenal decision-makers
