The productivity of Arsenal football club in the 2022 summer transfer window has attracted a series of praises to coach Mikel Arteta and Edu, the club’s technical director. But Edu has made it clear that he and the club’s coach shouldn’t take credit for the completed transfer deals.
Arsenal have already spent £121.5million on five players this summer. No Premier League club has spent so much on players so far this summer which goes to show how determined the Gunners are to make an impact in the 2022-2023 season.
Earlier this summer, Arsenal bought 22-year-old Portuguese attacking midfielder, Fabio Vieira from FC Porto for a transfer fee worth €35million. Afterward, a 19-year-old Brazilian right-winger, Marquinhos joined the club from São Paulo for a transfer fee worth €3.50million.
Also, 28-year-old American goalkeeper, Matt Turner joined Arsenal from New England for a transfer fee worth €6.36million. As if that is not enough, Mikel Arteta and Edu convinced Gabriel Jesus to snub a Champions League playing club, Chelsea, for Arsenal, a team that managed to qualify for Europa League last season.
Arsenal’s most recent signing is 25-year-old Ukrainian and ex-Manchester City’s left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko who the club paid €35million to acquire in July.
Interestingly, the new signings have started changing things positively at the club as coach Mikel Arteta and his boys recorded no defeat in four preseason games this summer.
The sweetest part is that Gabriel Jesus who was not trusted by coach Pep Guardiola at Manchester City has been unstoppable at Arsenal so far in the club’s preseason games. The Brazilian striker has scored three goals for Arsenal so far.
The icing on the cake for Mikel Arteta and Edu this summer was the 4-0 victory over their London rivals, Chelsea, in the Florida Cup last weekend.
Arsenal’s new signings and performance in the preseason campaigns have made many fans of the club to have the belief that the Gunners could win at least a major title and probably finish in the Premier League top four in the coming season.
When asked whether Mikel Arteta played a part in Arsenal’s new signings this summer, the club’s technical director, Edu who is in charge of buying and selling players at the Emirates Stadium said yes. He however stressed that he and Arteta should not be praised for the club’s successful business in the transfer market so far.
“I’m never going to sign a player which Mikel is not comfortable with, never. That’s not my style and for sure it’s not the Arsenal style”, Edu told Sky Sports.
“If we decide to work together then the decision needs to be together. It’s not Mikel’s signings, it’s not Edu’s signings, it’s the Arsenal signings so that for me is the most important thing for people to understand.
“I always say people sometimes give the credit to me or Mikel, but the credit has to go to Arsenal. We are Arsenal, we are working together and the decision we make is together.
“Around one decision is not only Edu and Mikel, it’s a lot of people around those decisions. The most important message to the fans and for people to understand is that we sign players for Arsenal and [they are] Arsenal’s decisions.”
🗣 "I'm never, ever going to sign a player which Mikel is not comfortable with, never. It's not Mikel's signings, It's not Edu's signings. It's Arsenal's signings."
— TheAFCnewsroom (@TheAFCnewsroom) July 25, 2022
Edu says that the credit for every signing goes to the club and not an individual.
pic.twitter.com/nvfQ2EppfA
On whether Arsenal could make more signings this summer, Edu added: “I think we have to be prepared for every situation. We still feel the transfer window is open and the most important thing is to be prepared for everything, every scenario because opportunities can happen.
“Clubs can approach us, players probably want to go on loan, so there’s still lots to do, but again, being prepared for me is the most important [thing] and for sure we are very much prepared for almost everything.”
"The project is not linked with the Champions League" 👀
— The Sun – Arsenal (@SunArsenal) July 25, 2022
"Arteta is doing a great job" 👍
Arsenal's Technical Director Edu outlines the club's ambitions for this season and his relationship with Mikel Artetapic.twitter.com/G3Bat01wtG
Arsenal are expected to play the Emirates Cup final against Sevilla at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday, July 30, 2022, at 12:30 UK time. After that, Arsenal will kick off the 2022-2023 Premier League campaign against Crystal Palace on August 5.
"We're going to succeed for sure." 🤩
— Arsenal FC News (@ArsenalFC_fl) July 25, 2022
Technical director Edu says the direction the club are going in is 'clear' under Mikel Arteta's management 🙌 pic.twitter.com/do74X4Ah8j
