Mikel Arteta has become a victim of his own success at Arsenal.
Since his arrival in December 2019, Arteta has transformed the club both on and outside the field, thereby restoring the ambition and identity of the Gunners after years of under performance. But football moves at a ruthless pace and your efforts are quickly forgotten if you don't have silverware to show it.
That is the danger that the Spaniard is now confronted with, with his greatest critics who are easily lurking to point his finger at him, should his side fall short of winning the Premier League for a third consecutive season. But for all Arteta, some of his decisions regarding transfers contributed to the fact that Arsenal has now contributed seven points behind the Liverpool competition leaders with only 13 games to play.
The biggest failure of his decision -making is the current forward nightmare of the Gunners, where they are completely lacking of firepower and figures after an injury crisis. And we are now looking deeper into some of the largest transfer errors of the 42-year-old tactician over the years the players he has sold, signed and not countries who have led so far.
Drawing Willian
Willian is one of the worst arsenal signs in recent memory, and not because he was signed at Bitter Rivals Chelsea. At a time when the Gunners screamed for more attacking options, the club made the astonishing decision to sign a 32-year-old Willian for a three-year-old deal with a value of no less than £ 240,000 a week.
The Brazilian scored only one goal for Arsenal in 37 performances in the 2020/21 season, before he decided to demolish his contract and leave for only one year in his deal. Willian himself revealed how Arteta had convinced him to participate by saying that he would be part of a three -year plan – a stunning plan given that it could see that Willian was far beyond his best everywhere in the Emirates Stadium.
Even more astonishing was that Willian, after leaving for Corinthians, revealed how Arteta wanted him to stay for another year. Willian's free transfer, one of the first deals of Arteta as Baas, would only be one of the foreign decisions of the manager if it concerned signing.
Granit Xhaka's departure
Arsenal narrowly missed the title of the final Treble winners Manchester City in 2022/23, but that summer proceeded to sell one of their best artists in Granit Xhaka. As a veteran in the dressing room of Arsenal, the captain of Switzerland had enjoyed a Renaissance, scored nine and helped seven in a more attacking role under Arteta.
Xhaka, who entered into the last year of his contract, understood that his involvement would be limited in the future with the arrival of Declan Rice and expressed his own need for a new challenge. But it soon became clear that the Gunners had made a mistake by letting him go for £ 21.4 million and had fought harder to hold him, because he played a crucial role in Bayer Leverkusen who double an unbeaten inland double in the season 2023/24 completed.
He clearly had much more to offer in North Londs in terms of quality. And although the conviction at the time was that Arsenal would upgrade, they did not do this despite the splitting of £ 65 million on Kai Havertz and £ 31.6 million on Mikel Merino – neither of them made the position their own position.
Not signing a correct No. 9
Gabriel Jesus' £ 45 million signing from City in the summer of 2022 initially seemed to be a master, until repeated injuries derailed the career of the Brazilian. Arteta had decided to bring in Jesus about long goal Alexander Isak from Real Sociedad – a decision that all fans of Arsenal Rue, because the Newcastle Forward now costs more than £ 100 million.
Havertz, after he was not inspired as a left-hand midfielder, was moved to the false nine position in the absence of Jesus, where he was more effective in the second half of the 2023/24 season. Yet it was clear at the end of the campaign that Arsenal and the then director Edu Gaspar had to sign a world -class striker – one that would add a clinical lead in their title activities.
They did not do this, rejected by their number one goal – Slovenian younger Benjamin Sesko – who chose to sign a new deal with RB Leipzig. It meant that Arteta started the current season with Merino and defender Riccardo Calafiori as his only signs for Outfield, so that Arsenal was considerably left in quality in advance, while their rivals only strengthened.
Losing two target machines
Together with the failure to add reinforcements, Artetas blocked trust to start the new campaign with Havertz, not traditional no. 9, and the injuries searched Jesus, also a path for some of their young talented attackers.
Talented Danish striker Mika Biereth was sold for only £ 4 million last summer, in the conviction that his “playing time was far away”. Since then, Sturm has left Graz for Monaco, the 22-year-old has scored seven in his first five games since January, causing Arsenal supporters to scratch their heads about how such a talent could leave N5.
Another amazing decision was the sudden departure of the 17-year-old Academy Preview Chido Obi-Martin in the same summer, which signed for Rivals Manchester United who had held similar concerns after 32 goals in 20 U18S matches. Arteta could certainly have made a greater effort to integrate Biereth or Obi-Martin players who may have added crucial goals this season in the absence of a fit first team striker.
2024 Summer window
Even ignoring the failure to sign a much needed striker and allow the prospects of the academy to leave, the 2024 summer transfer window was undoubtedly a disaster. Edu tried to streamline the team by discharging creative players, such as Fabio Vieira, Emile Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson.
But he and Arteta have not replaced them, which means that Martin Odegaard was the only real central playmaker who entered the season. That lack of creativity was all too clear when their captain missed two months of action due to injuries, so crucial points were dropped in the first half of the season.
Instead of securing their main goals, an aging Raheem -star was brought in the transfer window, effectively as a panic sign. Just like Willian, he has looked at a shadow of his former self, whereby the signing becomes synonymous with poor team planning.
The signing sessions of Merino and Calafiori, while adding a greater depth and firmness to the team, emphasize the biggest shortcomings of Arteta as Arsenal manager. Compared to the hundreds of millions through Rivals City to Forward, Arteta's some recent acquisitions Leandro Trossard, Jesus and Sterling were on loan.
With that in mind there will be a clear reason if Arteta is inadequate in the title race, after he had not added the required firepower to bring his team to the next level.
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