Mikel Arteta is now going into his third summer transfer window at the club having been appointed way back in December of 2019. The club sliding down the Premier League in terms of quality, competitiveness and certainly their activity in the market.
It has been a monumental task to turn things around for Arsenal but from 11th where Arteta took the reins, the Gunners were agonisingly close to a first top four finish since 2016. With the business this summer, it is a very real possibility that the majority of the squad will be, either, signings made under Arteta or players developed from the academy and refined under the Spaniard’s coaching.
In fact, with the likes of Nicolas Pepe, Hector Bellerin, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Lucas Torreira and Bernd Leno expected to leave this summer, only six players will remain signed under either Arsene Wenger or Unai Emery.
READ MORE: The game that sold Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta on Oleksandr Zinchenko’s midfield quality
Granit Xhaka, Rob Holding and Mohamed Elneny would be the remaining contingent of the Frenchman’s group. Whereas Kieran Tierney, Gabriel Martinelli and William Saliba would continue having been brought in under Emery.
This summer Arsenal have already signed five players. The latest, Oleksandr Zinchenko, is a player of both high quality and versatility.
The £30 million man can play both at left-back and in central midfield; the latter often occurs for his national side Ukraine. And it is these positions which could certainly end Wenger’s influence on the current squad and put a serious dent into Emery’s.
Xhaka and Elneny could potentially lose out should Arteta wish to use Zinchenko in the left-eight role. The pair are two of the more senior members of the group, an attribute for which they are valued, but at 25, Zinchenko becomes a focal point to the even younger players around him.
Plus, his experience of winning league titles, with Gabriel Jesus who also joined from Manchester City, outranks that of the two Arsenal midfielders. However, the likelihood is he initially starts at left-back.
This is where the majority of his games for City were played and considering Tierney’s inconsistent fitness problems, Zinchenko could find a route into the side much simpler than it seems on paper. Tierney travelled to the US but has so far not taken part in the matches having aggravated his issue in a small cameo against Nurnberg.
However, Emery’s influence is likely to live on through Martinelli and Saliba. The latter is reportedly close to signing a new contract with the club whilst the Brazilian has become a key feature for Arteta.
That said, the squad is now in a place where any players still with the team at the close of the window can surely be attributed to the current Arsenal manager. This is his squad and now the pressure to deliver goes up yet another level.
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