Arsenal transfers: do we spend enough? 20 players currently being tipped

What that table suggests is that simply spending money doesn’t actually buy success.   It can do of course – as with Manchester City, but it is not guaranteed – Manchester United have in fact won the league just once in the last ten years, while Manchester City have won it five times and Chelsea twice.  Everton and Villa rather carelessly don’t seem to have won it at all.

Indeed there must be a certain amount of unhappiness at Everton and Aston Villa over all that money spent.  As a result of that money Everton have been FA Cup runners up once, and as for Villa, nothing since the Intertoto Cup in 2008.

Thus money spent on transfers helps but doesn’t guarantee success, but still the media make transfers their prime talking point.   But, as we’ve often pointed out that rarely does the media get 3% of the rumours right, and as we can see here, that is only half the story.  Spending money on transfers itself isn’t a guarantee of success, because selling players is also important.

The top three selling clubs are Chelsea (1201 M€), Liverpool (781 M€) and Manchester City (715 M€).

It is having the nerve and the money to keep on dealing in the players that gives those three clubs success.  The ceaseless refreshing of the team, and willingness (and finance) to take risks based on the notion that transfer costs will continue to escalate, is what gives them the edge.   

But that approach is a risk, because although prices have continued to escalate one day the market will implode, since the value of players is only notional.   Manchester City and (until now) Chelsea have been able to take that risk.   Liverpool are confident in their manager and so are carrying on.  Clearly Arsenal are also in that category now as well, given the spending we made last summer.

So we turn to the players Arsenal are expected to buy this season, according to the pundits.  There will of course be many more to be added in days to come.

I should add, the window is not yet open.  It opens on 9 June, with June transfers being formalised on 1 July.

No	Player	Source	Club	Notes
1	Armando Broja	Mirror, Caught Offside	Chelsea (loan at Southampton)	Forward
2	Dominic Calvert-Lewin	Express, Mirror, Mail	Everton	Forward
3	Reyes Cleary	Foot365, Canon.	WBA	17 year old forward
NEW	Phillipe Coutinho	Mirror, Give Me Sport	Aston Villa	£33.57m
NEW	Danilo	Teamtalk	Leeds	Defensive midfield
6	Jonathan David	Express, Mirror, Foot365, PBR	Lille	Forward; agent confirms he’s leaving
7	Joao Felix	Football London, Daily Canon, HITC	Atletico Madrid	Replace Lacazette
NEW	Erling Haaland	HITC, Sky, Express	Borussia Dortmund	Age 21.  £250m
Update	Alexander Isak	Express, Mirror,	Real Sociedad	Forward, £75 release clause
NEW	Robert Lewandowski	Express	Bayern Munich	Striker
11	Jesper Lindstrom	HITC	Eintracht Frankfurt	Attacking midfield
12	Lautaro Martinez	Caught Offside	Inter Milan	Forward. WHU interested
Update	Darwin Nunez	Mirror, Standard, Express	Benfica. £67m	Forward
14	Lucas Paqueta	Hard Tackle	Lyon	PSG, At Madrid also want him
15	Yeremy Pino	HITC	Villarreal	Release clause worth €80m.  Forward
NEW	Michael Olise	HITC	Crystal Palace	£24m
17	Marcus Rashford	90 Min, HITC, TalkSport, Daily Cannon.	Man U	Forward
18	Sergi Roberto	Football London	Barcelona	Right back
19	Renato Sanches	Sun, Mirror, Sports Mole	Lille	Midfield.  Juventus want him
20	Djed Spence	Hard Tackle	Middlesborough on loan at Forest	Full back

Leaving Arsenal

No	Player	Source	Club	Notes
1	Dan Ballard	News at Den	Millwall	Loan
2	Eddie Nketiah	Evening Standard	Crystal Palace

Only 20 so far on our list but plenty more out there waiting to be added.