The appointment of Andrea Berta as Arsenal’s new sporting director was seen as a rather ‘unArsenal’ type appointment. Bringing in the experienced head of the Atletico Madrid transfer project and someone with serious links to some of the world’s major agents, too.
Edu Gaspar, his predecessor, was a personable character with good links in the game, but Berta is seen as a much more hands-on and less public-facing candidate. It is certainly unlikely that there will be as much talking from Berta, but as long as he brings the players the club needs and the fans want, then there will be no complaints.
Speaking of which, Arsenal’s end to the season and the Champions League angst of the 1-0 defeat to PSG have only raised further desires for the summer. A fully-fit Paris Saint-Germain team were able to bring on more than £100million worth of attacking talent in Bradley Barcola and Goncalo Ramos on Tuesday evening, while the Gunners had 18-year-old Ethan Nwaneri and an unused substitute in Raheem Sterling.
However, the key area where complaints have arisen surrounds the captain, Martin Odegaard. His form has not been the same as what we have expected, the two-time player of the season winning displays we know he is capable of.
There is little doubt in my mind that the Norwegian needs the summer, a break, a reset to find his best form again. But the reason that it cannot come sooner is that Arsenal have very little in the way of a viable alternative.
The aforementioned Nwaneri is very talented, no doubt, but he too has had some struggles of late. It could be, like we saw at the end of the first leg, Nwaneri moves to the right, and Saka comes inside.
But in the summer, the mission should be clear: upgrade the squad. All the focus is mainly on the forward line, the centre forward and left wing, yet Odegaard too needs to have competition.
We know this is something Mikel Arteta has wanted; he signed Fabio Vieira. But this time it needs to be a true competitor and of the ilk of Eberechi Eze, for example.
A player with versatility who can play instead of or even with Odegaard when necessary. It is sure to be an incredibly expensive summer transfer window but that is what is required should the Gunners wish to go on to win a major title.
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- Source: NEWHD MEDIA
