It is expected that Andrea Berta will become Arsenal’s new sporting director, taking over from Edu Gaspar who resigned before the midway point of the season. Mikel Arteta knows that the summer of 2025 is thought to be a major one for the club in terms of transfers.
It will be the job of Berta to fulfil the Spaniard’s desires for his squad in the market with several key areas needing to be addressed. The centre-forward position is certainly a primary goal, but there are other vital reinforcements and replacements needed.
Regarding the latter, the midfield is set to see both Thomas Partey and Jorginho depart at the expiration of their contracts. The club had lined up a summer move for Martin Zubimendi,football.london understands.
A willingness to pay his release clause in the region of £50million or even perhaps paying slightly above the buyout and on more favourable terms for the Gunners rather than an upfront commitment. However, reports in Spain have suggested that Real Madrid’s interest has formalised too and are looking to gazump Arsenal in any potential move.
Zubimendi has already pulled the plug on what looked to be a progressing deal with Liverpool in the summer of 2024, so it would not be entirely surprising although there has been a sense of confidence from the Gunners of getting a deal done for the Spanish international. He is seen as the best candidate to play the deep midfield role alongside Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard – reuniting with former La Real teammate Mikel Merino.
For Berta, seeing the first major target well-known among the Arsenal fan base leaving for another club would be a serious blow to the start of his tenure at the club. At Atletico Madrid, there were players who made similar decisions, such as Lautaro Martinez who Atleti were keen on but eventually watched him join Inter Milan instead.
Berta would go on to complete many major deals after this and will certainly be confident of doing so in north London. But the wait goes on for the official appointment as anxiety over the summer begins to grow in supporters.
His predecessor Edu built something of a reputation for missing out on key Arsenal targets such as Lisandro Martinez, Raphinha, Mykhailo Mudryk and Benjamin Sesko. Berta will want to start the summer strong after his potential selection and losing out on Zubimendi who many believed was on his way would bring back memories and raise comparisons to the man he is expected to replace.
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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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