Compared to the Arsenal which signed Declan Rice, Kai Havertz, Jurrien Timber, and David Raya before the end of pre-season in 2023, Edu Gaspar's summer activity last year was much less efficient. Hampered by Euro 2024, Arsenal failed to make a single addition before July 28.
That came just over two weeks ahead of the Premier League resuming. For a team that had just gone close to winning the title in a second consecutive season, it proved frustrating.
Mikel Arteta was without a key group of players during the bulk of his summer with Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice away with England. Kai Havertz lasted until the quarter-finals in Germany, whilst David Raya was on the bench for Spain in the final.
So too, it transpired, was Mikel Merino. He would have to wait another month before moving to the Emirates Stadium. In the mean time, a lot of effort was spent watching Nico Williams. Riccardo Calafiori joined but did so with fitness doubts and not until the tour of America was coming to a close.
The work done prior to pre-season was largely with a focus on Benjamin Sesko. He decided to pen a new contract at RB Leipzig and Arsenal didn't find an alternative deemed suitable.
A lot of the summer work has since been ridiculed. Perhaps with a sense of hindsight, because Arsenal were still tipped highly at the start of the season, but also with logic.
Arsene Wenger alongside Lauren, Freddie Ljungberg and Kolo Toure during an Arsenal training session on March 23, 2004 (Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
Merino was a risk as a 28-year-old box-to-box midfielder not excelling at either end of the pitch and Calafiori filled a role Arsenal already had covered. The problem areas were up front and on the wing. Neither hole was properly addressed.
In goal, Arsenal's continued pursuit of ball-playing Spaniard Joan Garcia dragged on. The answer was two desperate loans on deadline day.
Neto, coming in from Bournemouth, has acted as backup to Raya. He has done what is needed in being available, although there was a hitch with his Carabao Cup eligibility which did not end up mattering by the end.
Arsenal will need at least one new goalkeeper over the summer when Andrea Berta comes in as sporting director. It is expected that he will do so before Arsenal play again. They might opt to promote Tommy Setford or Jack Porter (both teenagers) to third choice instead. Garcia is still on the club's radar.
Being drawn into deadline day signings is never a good sign, though. Arsenal were not emitting calmness or organisation. In the January 18 months earlier they had been left to bring in Jorginho and Leandro Trossard late on. Both have been useful without ever fully exploding.
It was the final summer move for Raheem Sterling which is really under the microscope and cannot afford to be repeated here. Sterling came in on loan from Chelsea having been cut out of Enzo Maresca's squad on the eve of the season. He was stranded with nowhere else to go and Arteta took the bait to try and add a spark to his career.
Mikel Arteta, Manager of Arsenal, interacts with Raheem Sterling of Arsenal during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Tottenham Hotspur FC at Emirates Stadium
Raheem Sterling has often found himself benched by Mikel Arteta since joining Arsenal (Image: Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
Only paying a fraction of Sterling's wages, Arsenal took a low-risk punt on a player over two years removed from his best form. As a senior pro, the thinking was that Sterling could provide backup at worst and competition at best on either side. He could impart knowledge to those around him and rekindle a relationship with Arteta that had been so fruitful at Manchester City.
The reality is that Kieran Tierney, a left-back with even less future at Arsenal than Sterling and who was injured until December, has been preferred in attack of late. Ethan Nwaneri entered the season as a prospect and has overtaken Sterling on the right.
A half-fit Gabriel Martinelli is ahead of him on the left and Merino is the go-to unorthodox No.9. Sterling hasn't done enough to prove that even the minor cost of having him was worth it.
That is, ultimately, what happens when the shopping is left so late. For Berta, it is a mistake that cannot happen under his watch. His first summer window is going to be under immense scrutiny given the impressive way in which Edu largely moulded this squad extremely well into hardened title contenders.
In 2022 and then 2023 he identified the talent needed and wasn't afraid to spend big to get it, getting a reward for plenty of groundwork on Rice as well as acting instinctively in the opportunistic move for Havertz. Arsenal had ample time to adjust with their new signings in both summers and it showed with strong starts. This year was the complete opposite.
Without an international tournament to worry about, Berta's short run-up to the summer leaves little room for error but once again the demands are clear and the path is at least empty. It is easier said than done to complete high quality transfers in good time and no team plans on working deep into the window, but Neto and Sterling are two of the more confusing pieces of business Arsenal have done in recent times.
Berta will need to assert himself quickly and with clarity at the Emirates Stadium. Do that and Arsenal should be in a position to get stronger again.
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Arsenal Manager Mikel Arteta, Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Jesus with the Arsenal Therapy Dog Win during the Arsenal Men's team group shoot at London Colney on September 18, 2023
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