This January is Mikel Arteta’s 11th transfer window as Arsenal manager. He has recently passed his fifth anniversary in charge. In total, he has signed 30 players for a gross spend of £714million ($896m).
Despite two-and-a-half years of competing for the Premier League title, there remains a nagging sense that Arsenal are still a couple of finishing touches away from truly completing the transformation of the squad.
The one area of particular focus in this regard is the forward line. Arteta has six options — Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus, Leandro Trossard and Raheem Sterling — for three positions.
The manager’s mantra has always been that they can win without relying on a superstar goalscorer, as Liverpool have in Mohamed Salah or Manchester City possess in Erling Haaland. But the decline in open-play chances over the past two seasons has called the theory of collective firepower into question.
In this context, it is interesting to reflect on a major idiosyncrasy of Arteta’s five years in charge — the lack of investment in the forward line.
He has signed just six wingers and strikers in that time — one of whom was then-32-year-old Willian on a free transfer in the summer of 2020, who left a year into a three-year deal. Another was Marquinhos, who was signed at 19 for £3m and has played just one minute in the Premier League. He is currently on loan at Fluminense.
In comparison, he has signed five goalkeepers, 11 defenders and eight midfielders. In both volume and cost, Arteta has invested more than double on those tasked with stopping goals versus those charged with scoring them.
Using figures reported by The Athletic at the time, he has spent £299.2m on the first (or defensive) third of the pitch and £275.4m on the middle. Just £140m (19 per cent of Arsenal’s spending) has been put into the final third — and that figure includes £65m on Kai Havertz, whose signing was predicated on the idea of him playing in midfield before happenstance aligned him with the No 9 role.
