The Gunners have made just one major signing this summer, with the purchase of Switzerland global Granit Xhaka from Borussia Monchengladbach for £35million.
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“We’ve been really consistent and disciplined over the last three or four years in being very selective about the players that we bring in and not making too many compromises along the way”, Gazidis added.
Speaking about the Gunners struggles in the transfer market this summer, Arsenal Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis stated that the club are continuously focusing on the long-term development of the squad but that the market has drastically changed in recent years.
Ivan Gazidis has indicated that Arsenal must continue to be careful in the transfer market as they are unable to “outgun” their Premier League competitors.
“That means we can’t afford to make huge mistakes in the transfer market”.
“We can’t afford to outgun competitors that have far more money”.
Although, Arsenal have failed to strength their squad as bid for Jamie Vardy and Alexandre Lacazette have both been rejected by Leicester City and Arsenal respectively.
The Frenchman is exactly the kind of frontman Arsenal need to provide competition for the consistently disappointing Olivier Giroud, having netted 48 goals in 67 Ligue 1 appearances over the past two seasons, per WhoScored.com.
While that is a huge sum of money, it is nearly exactly the same fee Arsenal paid for Mesut Ozil in 2013 (£42.4 million) and is not an unreasonable demand from Lyon in the current market.
That offer is believed to be lower than the figure West Ham offered to try and sign the French striker earlier this summer, with Gazidis suggesting the club’s prudent transfer policy will only be justified if they starting winning the game’s top prizes. “But in terms of this week, I don’t think there will be any radical surprises”.
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The Gunners finished 2nd last season in the premier league and qualified to the champions league and in that process, Arsene Wenger became the only Arsenal manager in history to qualify for the European tournament in 17th consecutive season.
