There was never anything to worry about was there? Arsenal fans spent much of the summer voicing their concerns over why Arsene Wenger had failed to strengthen his squad in the required positions after he previously failed to sign an outfield player last summer. Petr Cech’s impressive arrival at the club in June 2015 was somewhat overshadowed by the fact that Wenger felt his paper-thin squad was good enough to mount a serious title challenge. This summer, however, he did exactly what he wanted and the supporters can feel positive for what could be the most competitive
Premier League in history.Granit Xhaka became the first signing of the summer after joining from Borussia Monchengladbach for a fee of £30 million. The transfer was already wrapped up before Xhaka travelled to Euro 2016 with the Switzerland squad and it showed significant promise of what was yet to come for Arsenal in a competitive window. Twenty-three-year-old Xhaka brings an aggressive, tough-tackling bite to the Gunners’ midfielder, which they’ve previously lacked, as well as the necessary leadership qualities.Wenger had identified his targets early on in the window and discussed them with his transfer negotiation team of Ivan Gazidis and Dick Law. He took everyone by surprise when it was confirmed that Arsenal had activated Jamie Vardy’s £20m release clause, giving the Leicester striker a huge decision to make ahead of his Euro 2016 excursions with England.
Vardy, who had just scored 24 goals as the Foxes won the Premier League title in stunning fashion, talked over the potential move with his family and representative before announcing that he wanted to stay at Leicester - signing a four-year contract extension worth £100,000-a-week. It was a crushing blow for Wenger, who felt at the time that Vardy would have offered a unique attacking threat to complement Olivier Giroud upfront. The attempted move for Vardy also emphasised what kind of player he was looking to sign - a pacey, dynamic forward who knows exactly where the back of the net is.Another area of weakness for Arsenal in the 2015-16 season was their defence, and despite having one of the best records on paper, it became obvious that many of the mistakes were down to lapses in concentration and poor protection in midfield. Francis Coquelin’s injury when playing against West Brom was an understated reason as to why the club’s title challenge went on to fall apart, but the Frenchman has proven to be a crucial part of Arsenal’s midfield since returning from his loan spell at Charlton two years ago.With defence in mind, Wenger targeted 20-year-old Bolton defender Rob Holding, a player who was voted as Wanderers’ Player of the Season and quickly touted by many as a future England star. Having played alongside Calum Chambers at the Toulon Tournament, Holding’s mind was quickly made up and he joined the club at the end of July for a fee of just £2.5m. The plan was to bring in one young centre-back and another more experienced defender, while Calum Chambers would be loaned out for the season to Middlesbrough in a bid to get more game time.
In the midst of Arsenal’s more high-profile acquisitions, there were two new faces also heading to the club in the form of Takuma Asano and Nigerian youngster Kelechi Nwakali, for fees of £800,000 and £2.5m respectively. Asano, a 21-year-old forward, has been labelled the future face of Japanese football and comes with a burgeoning reputation in his homeland, while Nwakali’s protracted move to Arsenal has been on the cards since January. Both players have since been sent on loan ahead of waiting on work permits, with Asano joining Stuttgart and Nwakali spending the season with MVV Maastricht.As Euro 2016 came to an end, pre-season got underway and clubs looked to have assembled their squads, there was a feeling of deja vu in north London as Arsenal had still failed to land their experienced centre-back and goal-getting forward. A bid of £29m for Alexandre Lacazette was rejected by Lyon while an attempt to sign Valencia defender Shkodran Mustafi was similarly rebuffed by the Spanish giants, who figured that they could cash in for their German international due to the increased buying power of Premier League clubs.
Instead, Arsenal played a waiting game with Los Che. Their clever tactics of negotiating with another major European club over signing a much coveted centre-back worked and knocked almost €10m off the asking price. At the same time, a deal for Deportivo La Coruna’s Lucas Perez was in the works as Wenger identified the Spaniard as the ideal man to bolster Arsenal’s forward line. Both players arrived for a combined fee that amounted to around £52m. Fans who were chanting 'spend some money' during previous games were quickly realising that the Frenchman had spent a figure close to £100m on transfers this summer. The trend of targeting hard-working players who possess leadership qualities and aggression in their game is another sign of how Arsenal's transfer policy had changed direction for the better.
Even Jack Wilshere demanding a loan move due to a lack of game time couldn’t sour the mood as Wenger knew he had done shrewd business. From fan unrest to £100m spent, it will be up to the new players and the rest of his squad to prove that they are finally ready to go one better than last season and show consistency across the pitch.
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