Arsenal transfer director Edu Gaspar has warned the rest of the Premier League that the Gunners will no longer settle for competing for fourth place, and that they must aim for titles and trophies in the coming seasons.
Following the arrival of Oleksandr Zinchenko from Manchester City, the Gunners have now spent the most money of any side in the Premier League for the second consecutive season, having added five players this summer.
Zinchenko joins Gabriel Jesus, Matt Turner, Fabio Vieira and Marquinhos in making the move to London this summer.
🚨 Zinchenko 35
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And Edu, who has played a key role in all of the transfer business, has explained that his plan is not to build a team just to compete for Champions League qualification, but instead to challenge for trophies, claiming that a club of Arsenal’s size is ‘not building to be fighting for fourth place.’
“Champions League, OK — I accepted that, because I want to be realistic”, the former Invincible told The Athletic. “But here in my head, I want to win. A club like Arsenal, at our size, is not building to be fighting for fourth place. I’m sorry. We have to realistic — there’s City, Liverpool, etc — that’s fine, I accept that. But also, you cannot accept that. Here, when you join this club, when you see our size, we cannot accept it.”
“That’s why I was really, really hurt when I arrived. I said, ‘That’s not the mentality of this football club. What’s happening? Everybody’s comfortable, everybody’s OK…’
“Fuck you, ‘OK’. ‘OK?!’ No, I don’t want to lose games, we have to be there again. And I want to see the physios, I want to see the scouting, I want to see everyone with that kind of feeling, where you say, ‘Fucking hell, now we are going to really go for things’. And I think we are changing. Again, it doesn’t happen overnight, but I think we are changing and putting some good mentality in the squad. Characters.”
Transfer business not yet complete
Meanwhile, despite already adding five new faces, Edu was clear that more business is expected to be conducted, both in and out.
“There’s still things to do. The transfer window is open”, the Brazilian explained. “The most important thing is to be prepared for everything.”
🗣 “There’s still things to do. The transfer window is open.”
Edu Gaspar on the summer transfer window for Arsenal.💰
— Connor Humm (@TikiTakaConnor) July 25, 2022
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