technical director Edu insists there remains ‘a lot to do’ in the transfer market for his club this summer as attention begins to turn to offloading players deemed surplus to requirements by Mikel Arteta.
The Gunners ambitious close season recruitment drive gathered pace on Friday following confirmation of Oleksandr Zinchenko’s arrival from Premier League champions in a £32million deal.
The international represents Arsenal’s fifth summer signing following the earlier additions of Gabriel Jesus, , Fabio Vieira and Brazilian teenage winger Marquinhos.
Arsenal remain on the lookout for further signings having missed out on Raphinha to Barcelona, while they remain linked with a move for Leicester City midfielder Youri Tielemans.
Arteta, meanwhile, has spoken previously of his desire to operate with a first team squad comprising of 22 players and work must now begin on trimming Arsenal’s playing staff if that wish is to be fulfilled.
The likes of Hector Bellerin, Lucas Torreira, Folarin Balogun, Pablo Mari and Ainsley Maitland-Niles were all loaned out last summer and all are expected to be on the move again before the window closes.
Bernd Leno, meanwhile, is hoping for a swift resolution to his future with negotiations over a move to Fulham having stalled, but Edu insists there is a plan in place for every member of Arteta’s playing staff.
‘We have a plan for every single player in the squad and that’s why I said there’s still a lot to do in this transfer window because we have to balance the squad in the best way possible,’ Edu said when asked about possible outgoings.
‘For the players who probably aren’t going to have a lot of minutes here, we have to expose the players to have minutes in another place to keep developing the player, keep the player’s valuation et cetera, so that’s the way we plan it.’
On the business Arsenal have done so far, he added: ‘I’m pleased, but to say how close is difficult because there’s still a lot to do, we are in the middle of the transfer window and things can happen.
‘What we have to be is really focused and be prepared for every single situation, opportunities maybe can happen, clubs can sometimes come to us to see if there is a possibility to get players on loan or buy players.
‘We just have to be prepared and I think we are very much prepared for almost everything.’
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