Arsenal vindicated in transfer approach as Caicedo deal continues to struggle

“Speed up! Just pay the money? A big club would have signed them already!”

Phrases I saw frequently and in similar forms throughout the transfer sagas for both Declan Rice and Jurrien Timber. Now, after the conclusion of the US tour, Arsenal have given debuts to both, with Kai Havertz also able to make his first appearance in the trip to Germany and Nurnberg.

There’s something about the transfer window which sparks anger right from the off. Arsenal enter the summer almost always on the back foot with signings expected from the first minute and despite months of planning and work behind the scenes, this simply isn’t possible.

The discussion around how ‘big clubs’ operate in the window was levelled at Arsenal during the Rice saga in particular. Many of the club’s critics even thought that once Manchester City came in that the race was done. “No one beats City to a player.”

Well, Arsenal did. They outmuscled the mighty Man City, not just with the work done on a player level but financially too.

Look to Chelsea. The Blues were seen to be the bane of Arsenal’s January transfer window when they paid well over the odds to sign Mykhailo Mudryk.

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The Ukrainian was a player that Mikel Arteta very much wanted and the club tried to make it happen but their valuation fell well below what Shakhtar Donetsk wanted. Even when they went well over what they likely wanted to pay, Chelsea managed to agree on a deal.

It was seen as a big blow to the Gunners and again claims of “big club Chelsea” came out as they announced the deal at Stamford Bridge. Fast forward six months and the Blues are trying to get a deal for Moises Caicedo done.

A deal Arsenal were also keen on but always saw Declan Rice as the main priority. Brighton have put a £100million price tag on Caicedo, ironically, in response to Arsenal’s deal for the former West Ham captain.

Four bids have gone in, but Chelsea for all their wealth and crazy spending of the last year have so far fallen £20million below the asking price and all offers rejected out of hand. Are they now not a big club? Of course not.

This is simply the new age of the transfer window and clubs have to deploy different tactics to get the deals done. Arsenal managed to secure Rice, Timber and Havertz for prices below what the selling clubs had initially valued their players at.

Chelsea initially wanted £70million-plus for Havertz, Ajax wanted €60million (£51.4million) for Timber and West Ham supposedly valued Rice at around £120million. The Gunners lowballed and saw bids rejected for all three until eventually an agreement was found, the players signed and money, in some ways, saved.

Arsenal have acted only like that of a club that means serious business. Before mid-July, they got their primary business done and in time for the full preseason tour with five matches to be played before the Gunners kick off their campaign against Nottingham Forest on Saturday 12 August.

The transfer strategy has been vindicated and the club should be rightly praised. It is time to put some faith in their methods and instead of starting on the back foot, the perception can be one of hope, optimism and excitement.

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