Arsenal's Summer Transfer Targets Revealed

Winning the Premier League title is no excuse to stand still, and Mikel Arteta knows that

Having come so close to a Champions League title as well, the Arsenal boss will be more than aware of the need to improve his side ahead of next season

But who will he go for? From a Premier League up-and-comer to a bona fide European superstar

plus a lesser-known Spaniard, here are five players Arsenal should be looking at this summer

Now Alex Scott into the box, shoots! And scores an absolute beauty

First off, we're going to start with two home-grown talents. English lads, Premier League proven and therefore costing a huge amount of money

The first is Alex Scott. Yep, the same guy who supports Spurs and bagged what could have been a costly winner against Arsenal for Bournemouth during the title run-in

I'm not sure this rumour would have gone down to or had that altered the outcome of Arsenal's Premier League charge

but it didn't, so I think most will be able to gloss over it. At 22 years old, the midfielder actually sits in the perfect age range of a Mikel Arteta signing

In fact, since joining the club, of the 35 permanent signings the manager has made

16 of them nearly half are in the 21 to 24 age range they aren't so young that a lack of experience

may hinder their minutes on the pitch and not so old that they are stuck in their ways and

potentially unable to soak in all the tactical info Arteta gives them but age aside it's his

positional sense and carrying ability that really speak to what Arsenal could do with if you look at

this table from Opta you'll see that he's described as a midfield catalyst strong in areas of press

resistance, ball carrying and a creative threat. In fact, 21% of his carries last season were

progressive, putting him fourth amongst all defensive midfielders in Europe's top five

leagues. He's also in the 86th percentile for possession one in Europe's top five

All this to say that he offers more than just being a defensive midfielder. He can defend

and drive forward at a similar level to Rice, progress the ball like Zubimendi and has bags

more experience in the middle of the park doing it than Myles Lewis Skelly. And for that good

reason not only is he a good squad option to take the position of any midfielder during the crazy

schedule that comes with fighting for trophies on all fronts but he also allows Arteta to change

the attacking shape of his team mid-game. If you need forward thinkers get him and Rice as a double

pivot knowing that either of them can sit and block the counter. If you need possession and

control play him alongside Zubimendi. The fact that he can also pop up with a goal or two is an added

bonus but that's normally left to the attackers in this gunner's machine one of whom could be a

new signing and that is the second player on the list. This is Morgan Rodgers

Oh, it's a pitch! And it's Morgan Rodgers. Now, I will say from the off that getting him out of Aston Villa may cost upwards of

£80m and doing so one year after signing Eberreche Eze may seem like overkill in that

department but like I mentioned standing still gets you nowhere in the footballing world And actually despite the fact Eze signed last summer Rodgers offers something different in that he has the attacking output to match the threat Both are creative 10s slash left and although Rodgers spends more time on the left

he still penetrates the box at a higher rate than Eze in the Premier League. I'm talking more shots per game, more key passes per game, more goals, more assists, more dribbles

This isn't to say that Eze is a bad player, of course, but Rodgers is much more heavily involved

in an Aston Villa side who play with similar principles to Arsenal. Disclaimer here, they are not the same, but it's similar types of style from Emery to Arteta

Both managers like a high press, a controlled box in the centre of the pitch that allows for overloads out wide

And although Emery's side do play with a little bit more directness and verticality

it's not just Eze who should be worried about the prospects of Rodgers joining. Because the truth is, he looks comfortable playing anywhere in the attacking midfield area

and that's what makes him so attractive to Arsenal. Odegaard's in different seasons seems to have left the number 10 roll up for grabs, as it were

Eze hasn't claimed it 100%, so Rodgers could slide in there. But the left-wing role is also, let's say, open to interpretation

Martinelli's inconsistent. Trossard has been vital for Arsenal over the course of the season

but isn't getting any younger and is entering the last year of his contract. And to be honest, when you think of some of the best left-wingers in the world

or even the league, I'd feel fairly confident in saying that if you ask an Arsenal fan

which areas they need to buy in, left-wing would be one of them, nine times out of ten

It's just not Trossard. Which leads me nicely to my next player

It's almost as if I've wrote this script myself. A player who would be an absolute statement signing for the ages

A left winger that does fit the bill of being one of Europe's finest. And a player whose nationality holds a special place in the history of Arsenal Football Club

French players in Arsenal Football Club are as old as time, or as old as the mid-90s

Anyway, you get my drift. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying he's the next Thierry Henry here

but if he pulls off anything like what Robert Pires was doing in his prime, right backs up and down the country could be in big big trouble but before we get to the exciting

bit of how good he could potentially be in an Arsenal shirt let's get the realities out of the

way first and that is that Barcola plays for PSG a team on top of Europe as Arsenal well know and

not exactly short for cash they don't need to sell for financial reasons and now they've got

all the footballing glory to offer the 23 year old in terms of trophies but maybe not in terms

of minutes the arrival of Kvitschek for Atrelia means that he isn't seeing as much action in recent

months and Arsenal's left wing represents an opportunity for him to go and be a certified

starter. I mean just look at his heat map from last season in Liga. He's about as left wing as

they come, holding the space out wide and allowing for those in the middle to control the game

In fact, if you look at Saka's heat map from last season, he holds almost identical width on the

right hand side This is key for Arsenal as it allows the wings to receive the ball in space and have a split second more time to decide whether to dribble pass or link up with a teammate to work their way into the box and a potential goal opportunity

Which, funnily enough, are all in Barclay's wheelhouse. He's in the 86th percentile for attempted dribbles, the 88th through chances created

and the 93rd percentile for touches in the box, all of them per 90

His excitement, flair, speed, and output all rolled into one. I guess the same could be said for another player on this list who would definitely cost the club a record amount of money

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It's not a bad hit, and it's a great chance. And Sporting have the lead

Before we get to that potential record-breaking player, though, let's have a look at the arguably less sexy side of the game, the defence

Because despite the fact that Jurgen Tembe is one of, if not the best right-backs in the league

Arsenal need more than just one and with a long-term injury only casting further doubts over Ben White's future at Arsenal

they need someone else to fill in. Now I haven't seen so many strong transfer links recently

it seems to be just confined to Arsenal message boards but Ivan Fresneda is an interesting name

He apparently rejected the club a few years ago to join sporting from Real Valladolid

and now at 21 has obviously done well enough that both Newcastle and Man City have reportedly kept tabs on him

Is he the real deal? not yet defensively he seems to play the part these stats here show his competence in winning

defensive and aerial duels as well as ranking very highly in progressive carries however going

forward he leaves a lot to be desired now obviously judging fullbacks on their goal

contributions isn't the smartest tool of assessment however one goal and zero assists this season is

alarming for such a dominant team in the division out of his 27 attempted crosses in the champions

league just two have found a teammate that's a little over seven percent success rate still

The guy is 21 and what I think he has going for him in the transfer market is that Sporting don't appear to be holding out to get his full £69 million release clause

And from a squad depth level, he knows he'll get enough minutes throughout the season to develop as a backup to Timber

And for Arteta, he won't have a selection headache with a young player stepping up to the Premier League, beating down his door, demanding to start every game

Not in the first year or two at least And then finally we come to the game changer The one who would break the bank and people minds simultaneously were he to sign on the dotted line for Arsenal Julian Alvarez

I've got to point out at this point that there are very strong rumors linking him with Barcelona

but indulge me for a minute here because I think he could be the guy that Arsenal need

Now just from a player profile perspective, I think he's the complete player. There's like

nothing he can't do, aside from being a physical bully. But Arsenal signed one of them last summer

and if that had gone so well, we wouldn't be sitting here discussing other strikers. Also, as a side note, there's rumours that any deal seeing Alvarez head to the Emirates could

involve Jokeres going the other way. Anyways, for Alvarez, I wouldn't put him down as a prolific

goal scorer, as in he won't challenge Haaland for the golden boot. But if he's not scoring

his link-up play and ability to work with the other attacking talents around him is second to none

This season, 27 goals and 9 assists in all competitions is excellent, but it's complemented by being in the 92nd percentile across Europe for chances created

That's only just below Odegaard's 94th percentile, and Avris is a striker

For me, it's important because it represents an option that Arsenal didn't have last season

and that is someone with the goal-scoring and creative ability higher up the pitch to break down low blocks

The initial plan with Jokeres was that Arsenal had a focal point. They had someone who could run behind and stretch defences, leaving space for those behind to work in

The issue there was that many teams sat deep and didn't allow Arsenal that room. Hence their over-reliance on set pieces and physically forcing the ball into the net

It also limited how effective Jokeres could be. In Alvarez, Arsenal would have someone with the ability to score goals

but also to unlock the stubborn defences from closer to the goal, where you can see he happens to be creating many of his chances from

Having a more fluid centre-forward who moves centre-backs out of positions, who links up well with other attacking minor players

is more in the Havertz realm. However, statistically, he is worse than Alvarez in every way

And the reason that this is important is because it could allow Saka and a potential new left winger to move beyond their fairly static areas of influence

If you look at Odegaard's heat map, he's spending much time in the right half space

but rarely goes beyond the striker. We've seen Saka staying out wide

Eze's in the left half space. There is nobody really box crashing or making darting runs in

and Arsenal need more of that. They need the sacker from a few years ago who was hitting 15 plus goals in the league by getting into those dangerous positions

Having so many deeper attackers renders them ineffectual. Alvarez's tactical and individual profile could change all of that

Now, it should go without saying that Arsenal are unlikely to sign all of these players. But given how much they've spent in recent years and the knack of the club having recruited really, really well

I would have put it past them to get a couple in at least and build on their Premier League title next season