Arsenal’s transfer window leaves one big question over their attack

Deadline day has passed for Premier League Champions Arsenal, and their summer transfer window has left fans divided over its success.

There is a lot to like from some of our signings. Bruno Guimarães is a huge addition, Ezri Konsa is one of England’s best defenders, and officially signing Piero Hincapié after his loan from Leverkusen helps Arsenal maintain their status as having Europe’s most secure backline.

But when you look at the attacking areas, it is difficult not to feel disappointed.

Going into the summer, the left wing and striker positions looked like the obvious areas where Arsenal needed to improve.

After another season where the team could score more goals and find that extra bit of quality in the biggest games, there was an expectation that a major attacking signing would arrive.

Arsenal had the money to make a statement

And part of that expectation was due to the fact that we had the money for a huge player.

Thanks to the performances of the 2025/26 season, Arsenal brought in the highest annual revenue ever recorded by a Premier League team, reaching over £750 million. The club clearly had the resources to make a statement in this window just gone.

And at the same time, our competitors were spending heavily while we were fairly casual. We spent just shy of £200 million, which may seem a lot, but in today’s market for a club of our success, is underwhelming.

Manchester City, in the midst of a charges investigation, spent almost £300 million more than the Premier League Champions. Chelsea and Liverpool also invested serious money into their squads.

Clubs with much less revenue, Aston Villa, Newcastle and Spurs, were comfortably outdoing the numbers of Arsenal.

You could say that as champions, there wasn’t a need to spend ridiculous amounts. But to establish ourselves across all competitions i.e. the UCL, we had the opportunity to get a player who could genuinely transform the attack.

Arsenal needed level-raisers

Two names in particular gave supporters hope that Arsenal were going to do exactly that.

Vinícius Júnior and Julián Alvarez were both heavily linked with the club at different stages of the window, and either signing would have represented a huge upgrade in attacking firepower.

These are the kind of the players you sign when you are trying to win the Champions League. They have already performed the at the highest level, and have an ability that many Arsenal players lack – they can decide matches by themselves.

The intent was there. We were willing for these transfers, and got our hopes up. But neither arrived.

Arsenal have now lost both Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli from their left-wing options, with Christos Tzolis the only senior arrival to replace both.

So, Arsenal’s most crucial position to improve upon prior to the window, has actually ended up looking slightly weaker.

The club strengthened impressively in other areas, but fans feel the biggest opportunity was missed.

Left-side situation – Eberechi Eze?

An interesting result of Arsenal’s inability to sign more than one attacker means that Arsenal could change the way they attack.

Eberechi Eze could now have a much bigger role on the left.

We got a glimpse of that against Aston Villa, when Eze came on at half-time and immediately looked bright. His ability to pind pockets of space with Calafiori bombing forward could make him a very useful option from the left-side.

Read More: Gary Neville says he will be “stunned” if Mikel Arteta doesn’t drop Arsenal for Eberechi Eze

Rather than having the Trossard-Martinelli rotation competing for minutes on the left, Arsenal have a different battle in Tzolis and Eze.

Tzolis has shown output and promise, and Eze has the individual quality. Right now it’s hard to see who will start on this side throughout the season because both are desperate to make the position their own.

You get the feeling though that we could’ve done with a superstar.