Arsenal laying groundwork for 2025 signings after fruitful summer
The north Londoners spent just above £100 million on five key additions before the summer deadline, with David Raya, Riccardo Calafiori, Mikel Merino, Neto and Raheem Sterling all putting pen to paper on moves to the Emirates Stadium.
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Merino joined Arsenal for £32 million, having decided to swap Real Sociedad for the Premier League, but Arsenal's most headline-grabbing transfer deal came right at the eleventh hour on deadline day.
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Alongside back-up keeper Neto, Arsenal agreed a season-loan for ex-Man City star Sterling from Chelsea, who Arteta knows very well from his time with the Sky Blues.
Raheem Sterling's all-time stats for Chelsea
Goals
19
Assists
12
Yellow cards
13
Red cards
0
Minutes played
5,335
The Englishman made his debut for Arsenal on Sunday, coming on for 10 minutes during their 1-0 North London Derby win away to Tottenham, and there is hope he can resurrect his career in north London following a lacklustre two seasons at Chelsea compared to previous years at City.
While plenty of business was done over the summer, with Arsenal also agreeing a host of outgoings, Edu is on record stating that transfer planning is always ongoing behind the scenes.
“You can’t sign for the sake of signing. It has to be a process that takes weeks and weeks," said Edu on Arsenal's recruitment policy in an interview with Estadao earlier this year.
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"On my desk, I have reports of over 180 pages on one player. It’s really detailed stuff. Physical, technical, mental profile, whether he has Premier League experience, whether he’ll be able to adapt. Everything. We analyse our deficiencies, where we can improve, where we can invest and then we go in search of that new name. We’ve been discussing what I’m going to do now since January. It’s not my decision or Mikel’s. It’s a group decision.”
According to recent reports, Arsenal are targeting Jonathan David as his Lille contract expires in 2025, making him a potential free agent option. As well as this, Edu is believed to be eyeing Alphonso Davies from Bayern Munich, with the Canadian star also out of contract next summer.
Another Bayern Munich star in winger Leroy Sane is attracting rumoured Arsenal interest too, so it appears Edu's planning could be firmly underway for 2025.
Edu prioritising Arsenal deal for RB Leipzig star Benjamin Sesko
According to CaughtOffside, while David is a player who the Gunners admire, RB Leipzig striker Benjamin Sesko is top of their agenda once again.
Arsenal failed with a proposal to sign Sesko in the summer, who rejected their advances in favour of a contract extension at Leipzig. However, it is believed that the Slovenia international has a "gentleman's agreement" to leave the Bundesliga side in 2025 or 2026 (Fabrizio Romano), meaning a future move to Arsenal remains on the cards.
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CaughtOffside claim Edu is prioritising an Arsenal deal for Sesko next year, so this could be one to watch. The 21-year-old scored 18 goals in all competitions last season and has got off to a good start this campaign with a goal and two assists from his first four games.
There are suggestions that Sesko's new contract includes a £63m release clause, but it is unclear whether Arsenal would be open to paying that figure.
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