New Arsenal sporting director Andrea Berta has been chucked straight into the deep end at the Emirates.
Before Andrea Berta took hold of things at Arsenal, interim sporting director Jason Ayto was in charge for the January window, one that appeared very calm from the outside looking in
However, the same can’t be said for the summer ahead — Arsenal have already agreed to sign Martin Zubimendi and his £51m move will only be the start.
Berta and his team are determined to find a striker to win Arsenal trophies, and they’ll be putting similar effort into finding a new left winger and left-sided defender too.
It’s all go in N5, and Arsenal fans will be hoping that Berta makes up for one or two of Edu’s shortcomings, a sporting director who oversaw a poor effort last summer.
Andrea Berta is using ‘unusual’ tactic to sign Arsenal a new striker
That being said, Mirror Sport have now shared an interesting insight into Berta’s tactics behind the scenes this summer.
The Italian has a glowing reputation for getting deals done in Europe, explaining why Berta signed so many strikers for Atletico Madrid.
And according to the report, Berta is already deploying an ‘unusual approach’ of keeping multiple targets on the go all at once.
As we know, Berta is said to be under ‘big pressure’ to sign the right striker for Arsenal and the club are currently somewhat in the mix for all of Benjamin Sesko, Viktor Gyokeres and Ollie Watkins.
Split image of (L) Viktor Gyokeres applauding the fans after a Sporting CP game and (R) Benjamin Sesko celebrating during an RB Leipzig game
Credit: Eurasia Sport Images/Image Photo Agency via Getty Images
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Berta is keeping all options alive, perhaps in a slight twist from Edu’s tactics, who might have been more ‘all in’ on one individual.
And whilst it’s just speculation, perhaps that explains why Arteta’s squad wasn’t boosted by the arrival of a striker last summer once Sesko rejected Arsenal.
Arsenal might be using Viktor Gyokeres interest to sign Benjamin Sesko
Right now, Berta appears to be very cleverly playing Sesko and Gyokeres off of each other somewhat, or perhaps it’s more accurate to describe it as Arsenal keeping both RB Leipzig and Sporting CP guessing.
Either way Sesko is itching to join Arsenal and he’s aware that the club are in talks with Gyokeres’ camp too.
Berta clearly has been down this road several times before, and it appears that Arsenal are in safe hands.
Fans can probably rest assured that Arsenal won’t be sanctioning late deals for past-their-best players like Neto and Raheem Sterling on deadline day this summer.
And the more time goes on, the more Edu’s shortcomings at Arsenal are being exposed.
Of course, Edu does deserve credit for his hand in Zubimendi’s move to Arsenal — he did a lot of the good foundation work there.
But Berta has an opportunity to change the course of Arsenal’s history this summer, and sources seem confident that he’s leaving no stone unturned.