Eberechi Eze
via Reuters
Arsenal have some major decisions to make on some of their biggest 2025 summer signings next year.
Looking back at the 2025-26 summer transfer window, it's fair to say that the majority of their additions aren't starting for Arsenal consistently, and they clearly have a lot still to prove to manager Mikel Arteta.
The main talking point is probably Viktor Gyokeres, who looked to have solved the Gunners' centre-forward issues when he joined from Sporting Lisbon in a deal worth £64m.
After a solid first season at the Emirates, he has found first-team minutes hard to come by this term under the Spaniard.
The Sweden international has only played 207 minutes of football across eight matches for the north London outfit, having made 55 appearances last term.
Gyokeres was linked with a summer move away from the club, with a potential swap deal involving Atletico Madrid's Julian Alvarez mooted, and with Fabrizio Romano already confirming that Arsenal will look to sign a striker in 2027, it's hard to see a way back for the 28-year-old.
Martin Zubimendi is another 2025 summer addition who is struggling to get into the XI ahead of the likes of Declan Rice, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Bruno Guimaraes, while Noni Madueke very much remains a squad player in attack, when the club's first-choice options are all fit.
Perhaps one of the biggest disappointments from that summer though is Eberechi Eze, following the excitement around the boyhood Gooner rejecting Tottenham Hotspur to move to the Emirates instead.
The playmaker had been one of the Premier League's best performers in his position for Crystal Palace, but the consistency simply hasn't been there since he made the £60m switch across London, and his spot could soon be under further threat.
Arsenal Offered Chance to Sign Dani Olmo
Dani Olmo (Spain) with the World Cup
Dani Olmo (Spain) with the World Cup
According to TEAMtalk, Arsenal have been offered the chance to sign Barcelona attacking midfielder Dani Olmo in the January transfer window.
The Gunners, along with the top six Premier League rivals, are said to have been contacted by intermediaries who have suggested that the Spain international could be available in the New Year, even though he is seen as one of Barca's important players.
The 28-year-old has only started two of the Catalan giants' seven LaLiga games so far this term, but his overall record and three assists in 259 league minutes this term show the impact he can make.
Olmo has established himself as one of the best playmakers in European football in recent years during spells with RB Leipzig, Barcelona and Spain, for whom he was outstanding in their 3-2 win against England at Wembley on Saturday night.
The £50m Spaniard, who says he was called a 'magician' by Leipzig fans, has won a World Cup and the European Championships, as well as two LaLiga titles, and has the pedigree to come in at the Emirates and make an immediate impact.
Meanwhile, Eze is still struggling to show where he fits in to this Arteta side.
He would ideally like to play in the No.10 position behind the striker, but with captain Martin Odegaard currently fit and firing, regular starts in that position are simply unrealistic.
Eze has also been used on the left wing when needed, but he has failed to show that he is capable of performing strongly there, even though there is an opportunity following the summer exits of Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard.
While his record of 10 goals in 59 games for the Gunners isn't too bad, it's worth noting that half of those came in two matches against arch-rivals Tottenham.
Eze's Record for Arsenal vs Tottenham:
3 goals (Nov 23, 2025)
Fans will love that fact, of course, but five goals in 57 matches looks a much worse record, and Arsenal need to see the version of Eze that loves playing against Spurs far more consistently.
But if Olmo signed in January, it would only serve to move the 28-year-old further down the pecking order at the Emirates and, given his age and Arteta's current stance on playing him, it would be hard to see him coming back from that point.
Mikel Arteta
Mikel Arteta