Arsenal Manager Mikel Arteta and Technical Director Edu spent almost $150 million in the summer transfer window of 2021 which was among the highest in terms of cash outflow by any club.
When the ongoing English premiership season started back in August 2021, Arsenal Manager Mikel Arteta was under immense pressure as the Gunners lost the first three matches in succession against newly promoted Brentford, London rivals Chelsea and defending champions Manchester City respectively.
Though the latter two opponents were relatively heavyweights, but their extreme lackluster performance, conceding 9 goals and scoring none in those three matches raised many eye brows. Moreover, Manager Arteta and Technical Director Edu spent almost $150 million in the summer transfer window of 2021 which was among the highest in terms of cash outflow by any club. Some of these transfers were highly criticized by experts.
Like bringing Ben White from Brighton for a consideration of $50 million, despite having a dependable Bernd Leno under the crossbar the signing of Aaron Ramsdale from Sheffield United for a cost of $24 million was also unjustified to even many club supporters, let alone the critics.
However, the Board kept their confidence on the young Spaniard and it was paid off gradually. From September 2021 onwards, their performance started to improve and they were unbeaten in the next 8 EPL matches before eventually losing to Liverpool in November.
The young and dynamic midfield and forward line were playing some wonderful attacking football which was once used to be the hallmark under Arsene Wenger era. The combination of Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Emile Smith Rowe, Gabriel Martinelli in the attacking third became a real threat for the opposition defenders.
New signing Ramsdale has produced some dazzling display in the goal to relegate German Bernd Leno in the reserve bench. Another key performer in the central midfield is worth praising is former skipper Granit Xhaka whose presence is pivotal for the turnaround of the gunners. Mikel Arteta deserves full credit to retain the Swiss International after he became out of favor under former manager Unai Emery for doing some ugly gestures towards the fans after being substituted in an EPL match way back in December 2019.
Another setback during the current season was club captain Pierre Emerick Aubameyang’s dramatic departure from the club during January 2022 transfer window. The Gabonese International became pretty irregular & out of form from the beginning of the season and was not in the starting line up due to disciplinary reasons in many games. Subsequently he was stripped of the captaincy role which drew rumors of his probable departure from the club. Eventually he left the club by mutual consent to join Spanish giants Barcelona.
Now, in the fag end of the season, the gunners are standing 4th in the league table after 35 rounds of matches played, 4 points ahead of north London rivals Tottenham against whom a derby is to be played on 12th May 2022. If the gunners are able to finish in the top four, they will be playing champions league football next season after a gap of 6 long years which was literally unthinkable after the dreadful start of the season back in August.
