Berta may not have the power he needs at ArsenalBerta may not have the power he needs at Arsenal
Berta may not have the power he needs at Arsenal | Arsenal FC via Getty Images
Arsenal may still not have learned a key lesson after appointing Andrea Berta as sporting chief.
Arsenal have a new sporting director, but one of the club’s biggest issues may not have been fixed. A huge summer awaits for the Gunners as they look to close the gap on Premier League champions Liverpool.
The Gunners drew with the Reds on Sunday but go into the last two games 15 points away, ending the season without silverware. It has been a hugely disappointing campaign for the Gunners, and while injuries haven’t helped, there are big questions to be asked about the club’s recruitment in recent years.
Arsenal have spent big money on players, spending hundreds of millions, even spending more than £40million on a full-back they arguably didn’t need at the time in Riccardo Calafiori. But they decided in the summer that they didn’t need a striker, a decision they stood by and paid the price for in January.
This summer, Arsenal still need to improve a number of positions and add serious depth despite having spend hundreds of millions that should have gone towards building a close to complete squad. At this point, Arsenal should be adding a sprinkle of quality to an already solid squad, but they find themselves needing depth in the majority of positions.
It seems as though Mikel Arteta has had a big say on signings over recent years, with Edu Gaspar walking away from his role as sporting director, with reports suggesting he did so on the count of Arteta having too much sway in the club’s recruitment decisions.
Andrea Berta has now been appointed as Edu’s successor, and it looks as though Arteta will continue to hold his current level of power, pointing to the danger of Berta being a yes man to the Spaniard.
Fabrizio Romano told GiveMeSport when speaking about Arsenal: “Mikel Arteta is still having a big voice in terms of transfers and planning for the future steps. It's going to be a very huge and important summer at Arsenal.
"A new striker; of course, we know about that, but I'm told that Arsenal will also bring in a new winger for sure, that's the intention. They are also looking at defenders and more, so it's going to be very busy at Arsenal."
If Arteta has had a big voice over transfers in recent years, as is though to be the case, it hasn’t landed Arsenal in a brilliant situation. While the Gunners have undoubtedly made some very good signings, they haven’t spent money wisely enough to wind up with a balanced squad that has enough depth to compete for title on all fronts.
Edu saw a problem at the club, and Arsenal don’t seem to want to rectify it. Now, if Arteta wants to have control of transfers and the Gunners want to continue to trust him, then fine. But the club can’t continue to ignore the lack of balanced spending, and Arteta must be judged on his decisions.
The Spaniard has done a good job overall, but the Gunners must now raise their expectations to match their investments. Titles must be the expectation on the back of recent spending, and if Arteta is in charge of the spending and still doesn’t deliver titles, the lack of true success cannot be ignored.
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