goon wrote:
We're not really talking about credit in terms of scouting or discovery though, we're simply talking about the decision to actually sign those players.

I think with Emery's era there was a lot more fog surrounding what was down to him and what was not, it sounds like most of our signings were forced on him. With Arteta I get the impression he signed who he wanted to sign, if nothing else the only other person you could say made that decision is Edu, and I don't buy that he's making these decision independent of Mikel.

It works both ways, I never bought the idea that it was Raul and Edu who brought in Cedric and Willian either, I'm almost certain Arteta was happy to take on both.

I think this may be more true now, but I suspect Arteta has had very little decision making in terms of transfer targets prior to this current transfer window. Yes he was seen to have approved the signings but in reality it was little more than a PR rubber stamp as being the public face of the club at that time despite only being the Head Coach.
Despite his departure in August IMO Sanllehi was still the major player in regards to our summer transfers, both directly and indirectly.

The decisions re Mavropanos, Cedric, Mari & Luiz(?) were all made prior to Sanllehi's departure whilst Arteta was still Head Coach.
Willian and Gabriel were both signed around the time Sanllehi departed so he would have been involved in both along with Edu, as Arteta wasn't promoted to Manager until September.
Sanllehi would have also been involved in the negotiations re both Partey and Aouar prior to his departure, after which I suspect there was a void that derailed our summer business in terms of the required/intended clear out and rebuild.

The decisions made after Arteta's promotion were Partey and Runarsson incoming, the departure of Martinez and the loans for Torreira and Guendouzi.
I think Arteta would have pushed hard for at least 1 rebuild signing, which saw KSE give approval to activate Partey's release clause at the end of the transfer window. That said I think both Partey and Runarsson were last minute decisions with the window about to close. This was due to the initial void following Sanllehi's departure and then the prioritisation of the need to reduce the wages. Martinez was sold to raise revenues and that general discussion likely began before Sanllehi's departure, whilst Guendouzi and Torreira were loaned out to reduce wages. I'm not sure if they were loaned as a result of the failure to remove the likes of Ozil, Sokratis, Mustafi etc or if they were simply the only part of the process that was achieved at the time.

Bottom line for me is that our transfers this season have still been primarily reactive rather than proactive. Whilst Partey has been proactive in terms of quality and the rebuild I still think the way it was eventually done was reactive to the ending of the transfer window. Likewise I think the current transfer window is all about continuing the failed clear out from the summer & the strategy that was determined prior to Arteta's promotion.
TBH I think much of the summer transfers will still be as much about outgoings and reducing the wages, as it will about any rebuild other than trying to address immediate needs. I don't think Arteta will be in any position to really look for players he WANTS until 2 summers from now UNLESS KSE provides a transfer kitty in the summer for the rebuild.