Arsenal’s summer transfer list with 21 players got leaked, and it even includes two players from Spurs!
Here’s a friendly summary of Arsenal’s summer transfer plans. Mikel Arteta and his team had a list of 21 players they were interested in signing, with targets from big clubs like Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, and Tottenham Hotspur.
According to Sami Mokbel from BBC Sport, Arsenal’s shortlist included players like Morgan Rogers, Bradley Barcola, and Yan Diomande. Unfortunately, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Real Madrid snapped up some of these players before Arsenal could, and the Gunners’ only attacking signing was Christos Tzolis from Club Brugge.
Arsenal also looked at three players from their London rivals: Joao Pedro from Chelsea, and Cristian Romero plus Micky van de Ven from Tottenham. Alongside Tzolis, Arsenal managed to bring in Bruno Guimaraes, Piero Hincapie, Ezri Konsa, and Illan Meslier to strengthen their defense and midfield.
Bruno Guimaraes was easily the standout signing of the summer. Interestingly, Arsenal also briefly chased Elliot Anderson, who eventually moved to Manchester City for a big fee. Once it became clear Anderson was off the table, Guimaraes became the main focus.
Tottenham’s defenders Romero and van de Ven were seen as backups in case Arsenal couldn’t sign Konsa from Aston Villa. Konsa was Arteta’s top choice—especially since he can also play right-back—and Arsenal got their man in a £55 million deal, despite Villa initially wanting more.
Arsenal were also confident they had a good chance to sign Vinicius Junior from Real Madrid, but he ended up renewing his contract. Meanwhile, their interest in Julian Alvarez was less serious, as the Argentine showed little interest in moving.
Arsenal chose not to match Chelsea’s huge bid for Morgan Rogers, sticking to a much lower offer than the £117 million Chelsea paid.
Here’s the full player list Arsenal targeted this summer:
– Morgan Rogers (Aston Villa)
– Bradley Barcola (PSG)
– Kenan Yildiz (Juventus)
– Yan Diomande (RB Leipzig)
– Nico Paz (Como)
– Eli Junior Kroupi (Bournemouth)
– Elliot Anderson (Nottingham Forest)
– Joao Pedro (Chelsea)
– Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid)
– Julian Alvarez (Atletico Madrid)
– Malick Fofana (Lyon)
– Sandro Tonali (Newcastle)
– Alex Scott (Bournemouth)
– Amadou Onana (Aston Villa)
– Jeremy Monga (Leicester City)
– Louis Page (Leicester City)
– Ivan Fresneda (Sporting Lisbon)
– Cristian Romero (Tottenham Hotspur)
– Micky van de Ven (Tottenham Hotspur)
– Jacobo Ramon (Como)
– Tarik Muharemovic (Sassuolo)
It was a busy summer for Arsenal as they worked hard to build a stronger team!