On the eve of the start of the new season, The Arsenal have made just one new senior signing – Riccardo Calafiori. That increases to two if you include the David Raya deal being made permenant.

Understandably, some Arsenal fans have got their knickers in a twist with our transfer business this summer. And I do get it.

In recent years, we have seen a lot of new players come into the club, with over £500m spent in the last 3 seasons on 19 new players. So it feels a bit underwhelming that we have spent just £65m on two players, one of which was with us last year.

But the lack of new players is indicative of where we are as a club and where Mikel Arteta is with his squad. Clubs competing for big honours tend not to make a lot of signings.

Lets look at this summer so far:

Liverpool: 0 new signings
Manchester City: 1
Arsenal: 2
Brentford: 2
Fulham: 3
Crystal Palace: 3
Everton: 4
Manchester United: 4
Tottenham: 4
Wolves: 4
Leicester City: 5
Newcastle United: 5
Bournemouth: 6
Brighton: 6
Ipswich: 6
Nottingham Forest: 6
Aston Villa: 8
West Ham United: 8
Chelsea: 9
Southampton: 12

Liverpool have yet to make a signing. Manchester City have made one. Whilst Arsenal have signed 2.

Of the 3 players that have joined, one was at their club last season (Raya) and one was already owned by the clubs group (Savinho).

And this not just in the Premier League – Real Madrid have also only made two signings this summer; Kylian Mbappe and Endrick.

So why are top clubs doing very little business?

Smaller pool of top players

It is fairly simple logic, but the better you are, the less players exist that would improve you. And those players that would improve you tend to already be at top clubs.

Take the striker situation at Arsenal.

Yes, we are in the market for a new striker, but how many strikers in world football would actually be a better option than Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus?

Of the 10 most expensive forwards to move this summer, I would not have taken any of them above the two we have.

Some will make the case for Julian Alvazrez, but he is just a less proven Gabriel Jesus at the same age. And has gone for huge money. Endrick meanwhile is clearly a talent, but again completely unproven.

He could become the next Neymar, he also could be the next Alexandre Pato or Gabriel Barbosa.

When inferior strikers like Dominic Solanke are moving for £65m, then you begin to understand why Arsenal have not made a move. And why Manchester City are going into the new season without a striker to cover Erling Haaland.

As we continue to improve, the pool of players that would improve us shrinks. And we should only be spending to improve the squad. Not spending for the sake of spending.

Less urgent to improve

Not only is the pool of potential transfer targets smaller the better you perform, the need to make large improvements also reduces.

The saying “you stand still in football, you go backwards” is true. But when you are in and around the top of the tree, there is a less need to make drastic improvement’s and make big steps forward. You only need to make a couple of tweaks here and there.

Sir Alex Ferguson always lived by the philosophy of making just a couple of big transfers a season that would improve your first team. In turn, the 2 players they replace become squad members, and therefore improve the squad depth.

This summer, we would be looking to make 2 or 3 new signings who would come in and improve the starting XI. That would in turn improve the squad.

Calafiori is already through the door, and Mikel Merino is imminent. The 3rd signing will be a forward, if one comes available that actually improves us. Beyond that we do not need to do any business.

We are good with the defence we now have. Further forward in midfield we are well set with Declan Rice, Thomas Partey, Jorginho and Merino. Further investment will happen next season when Partey and Jorginho depart.

if we get a new striker, Gabriel Jesus then becomes the 4th option on the wing. If we get a new top winger, we might see Gabriel Martinelli operate as the 3rd striker. We probably do not need to by both a winger and striker this summer.

Moving forward, it will be 2 or 3 new signings a year. And that is something fans will have to get used to!

Final thoughts

When assessing our transfer window, I always look at the players that have joined other clubs and ask my question “would I have wanted them at Arsenal”. With my superior brain power, I also take into account whether I would have wanted them at that transfer fee and wages, and if they would have actually have joined us.

So yes, I would have like Kylian Mbappe at Arsenal. But that deal was never going to happen. But I would not have wanted julian Alvarez or Dominic Solanke. Nor would i have wanted us to sign Pedro Neto or Joao Neves. Amodou Onana would have been nice, but only if Partey had departed. He has not.

When you look at the top transfers across world football, who would you actually have wanted us to sign? Realistically we were never spending £50m on Michael Olise as backup to Bukayo Saka. Douglas Luiz is in the same boat as Onana. Dani Olmo is no where near as good as Martin Odegaard.

Consider this team:

Vlachodimos
Mazraoui Yoro Kilman Maatsen
Nevez Onana
Neto Alvarez Diaby
Solanke

That is the 11 most expensive players transferred this summer by position – excluding the lads that joined Arsenal. The cost nearly £500m to buy combined. How many make our strongest XI? And how many would our strongest XI beat them buy?

Now I am not saying here we do not need to buy anyone. It is more that we are in a new future where we need to expect only a couple of new signings a year. and we as fans need to get used to that.

That endorphin hit of new transfer will happen less often. But those players will buy will be of a higher quality. Players that will improve us.

What we do not need to be doing is spending £150m a summer on players that do not improve us. That are not better than what we have.

Tomorrow we face Wolves. We do not need those negative Nancie’s from the 2010s to refund their voice. We do not need “Spend some fucking money” heard. Because remember, those fools do not care who we buy, they only care about how much we spend.

Keenos