Sick of the sight of silver medal after silver medal in the Premier League title race, Arsenal fans implored the powers-that-be to splash the cash in an unprecedented summer of spending, and splash the cash they did.
Gone are the days of the Gunners being conservative in the transfer window under Arsene Wenger, whose former captain Mikel Arteta sanctioned a record-breaking period of spending, as Arsenal forked out over £250m on new acquisitions all across the pitch.
A couple of Arsenal's rivals spent more than the three-time Premier League champions, but the Gunners' perpetual inability to sell means that they had a far higher net spend than any of the other 19 teams in the division, and only time will tell whether such a significant outlay was really worth it.
Here, Sports Mole analyses Arsenal's summer transfer window and determines whether their market activity was successful, or not.
Arsenal summer transfer window: Andrea Berta means business after incoming madness
Arsenal's Eberechi Eze pictured on August 23, 2025
The glass-half-empty brigade of every fanbase will always have complaints after every transfer window.
As far as Gooners are concerned, some may be hung up on the fact that their side did not go all out for Alexander Isak - whom they could certainly have afforded based on their recent activity - or did not make a concerted effort to make a similar blockbuster signing a la Rodrygo or Rafael Leao, instead opting for another Chelsea capture in Noni Madueke.
However, every single position in the Arsenal squad that needed to be addressed, was addressed.
When it came to the 'housekeeping' side of things - capturing a new second-choice goalkeeper and Jorginho replacement - Arsenal brought in Kepa Arrizabalaga and Christian Norgaard without a hitch. When it came to the utmost priorities, the Gunners had a deal for Martin Zubimendi in place for some time and eventually got their way with Sporting Lisbon in talks with Viktor Gyokeres.
The Gunners paid less for the more experienced Swede than Manchester United did for the embryonic Benjamin Sesko, and from an admittedly very small sample size, the former has taken to the Premier League better than his Slovenian compatriot so far.
Upgrading the left-wing position was of paramount importance too owing to Gabriel Martinelli's decline, and boyhood Gooner Eberechi Eze will bring a completely new dimension to that side of the Arsenal attack; the fact that the Gunners pipped Tottenham Hotspur to the post on that one makes the deal all the sweeter.
Also making incredibly astute acquisitions in defence, Cristhian Mosquera could prove to be a bargain buy if his composed display against Liverpool is anything to go by, while Bayer Leverkusen Invincible Piero Hincapie is ostensibly the perfect cover and competition for Gabriel Magalhaes, whom Arteta can now afford to rest more often.
Sporting director Andrea Berta hit the ground running in a manner maybe few expected, but no-one should be questioning the Italian's ability to get deals done, and the summer window of 2025 ought to go down as one of Arsenal's most exciting in recent memory - at least on the incomings front.
Arsenal summer transfer window: Same old story on the selling front
Porto's Fabio Vieira reacts on October 3, 2024
While Liverpool and Chelsea combined their lavish spending with high-profile exits, Arsenal did their reputation as a poor selling club no favours whatsoever; it was another forgettable summer on the outgoings front at the Emirates.
There is still some confusion over how much Albert Sambi Lokonga was sold to Hamburger SV for - fees from £2.5m to £10m have been banded about - but the true amount makes little difference to the situation overall.
Lokonga was one of just three players to be offloaded on a permanent basis alongside left-back Nuno Tavares - Arsenal's most expensive sale to Lazio for £7.6m - and Brazilian winger Marquinhos, who joined Cruzeiro for £3m three years after a confusing transfer to begin with.
Meanwhile, Jakub Kiwior, Fabio Vieira and Reiss Nelson were loaned out in moves that could become permanent next year, while Oleksandr Zinchenko will spend the 2025-26 season on loan at Nottingham Forest before a likely free transfer in 2026.
Giving Arsenal and Berta some benefit of the doubt, it can be argued that Arsenal lacked true 'sellable' assets this year; many of the players who left had been ostracised by Arteta and/or had struggled with serious injuries in recent times.
But take the Lokonga transfer as an example. The Belgian featured regularly for Sevilla when fit last season, and has allegedly been sold for just £2.5m. Meanwhile, Tyler Morton was largely invisible under Arne Slot at Liverpool, spent the second half of the campaign out with a shoulder injury, and was sold to Lyon for £13m; his Under-21 Euros success did boost his value, but surely not to the point where he is worth five times more than Lokonga.
Meanwhile, Porto could eventually pay up to £23.5m for Kiwior through add-ons and sell-on clauses, but a defender who shut down Real Madrid in last season's Champions League is surely worth more than that. Hamburg triggering their £17.4m option to buy Vieira can be seen as unrealistic right now too, and either way, that would represent another £13m loss for the Gunners.
Remember Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain? The former Liverpool man remains Arsenal's most expensive sale of all time with his £35m switch to Liverpool in 2017, closely followed by Nicolas Anelka's Real Madrid move in 2000.
Rival clubs know that Arsenal are poor sellers, and it will take some time for the Gunners to shake that reputation, but eight exceptional arrivals mean that a lack of income generated through exits can be forgiven this time around.
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