As we hurtle ever-faster towards our season-opener at Crystal Palace (a little more than two weeks away!), the pace of preparations at Arsenal have started to ramp up in kind.
Despite progress made, however, it feels like there’s still plenty more ground to cover before we line up at Selhurst Park on 5 August in search of a win to kick-off what could be a breakthrough season for Mikel Arteta and a squad increasingly crafted in his image.
With wins over Nurnberg and Everton under our belts, the focus turns on Thursday to our next friendly against Orlando City before the Florida Cup clash with Chelsea on Sunday, fixtures that will offer precious opportunities to get this squad in shape ahead of a busy first few months of the new campaign.
The Orlando clash may well be little more than an exhibition but the Chelsea encounter will offer a more rigorous examination of the team and a chance to measure ourselves against quality opposition, albeit far outside of the white heat of Premier League competition.
Between now and then, we could well see the arrival of our fifth summer signing in the shape of Oleksandr Zinchenko from Manchester City, which would be a boon not only to our defence but also to the midfield. The Ukrainian international has four Premier League titles, four League Cups and an FA Cup in his trophy cabinet and will add serious technical quality and winning mentality to a fast-improving squad.
And the transfer incomings may not stop there.
The manager has spoken of more work to do and it would be nice to see at least one more player come in before the transfer window closes – if not two. Talk of Youri Tielemans from Leicester seems to have substance and, again, I think he would add a lot of quality to an increasingly dynamic-looking midfield.
His arrival may depend on some outgoings, however, with a few peripheral figures stuck in limbo while clubs on the continent continue to plead poverty. The likes of Hector Bellerin, Lucas Torreira, Bernd Leno, and Pablo Mari could all generate much-needed revenue for the club and, hopefully, Edu and his team are working hard to get some deals done. That shouldn’t mean having to give away the family silver for pennies, though.
If needs must, I think it may be better to make use of some of those players in the Europa League and League Cup fixtures rather than let them go for paltry amounts. Some may argue that small revenue is better than no revenue but, in truth, protecting our first team from having to risk injury in relatively unimportant fixtures will be of greater value to us than two or three million pounds from the sale of Bellerin, for example.
In an ideal world, our transfer business will be wrapped up before hostilities commence early next month and preparations will continue to run smoothly but don’t be surprised if these next few weeks throw up a surprise or two as the pace of preparation reaches warp speed.
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