Arsenal ended a dramatic deadline day without adding fresh firepower to their attack, leaving manager Mikel Arteta to rely on the squad he already has as the champions push for silverware on multiple fronts.
While Manchester City made headlines by matching the British transfer record to sign Enzo Fernández from Chelsea for £125m, Arsenal took a markedly different approach. The club allowed both Gabriel Jesus and teenager Ethan Nwaneri to depart without bringing in direct replacements. Gabriel Martinelli is also expected to complete a move to Al-Hilal before Sunday's Saudi deadline, in a deal that could be worth up to £60m and would make him the club's record sale.
Arteta had made his feelings clear before Arsenal's win at Aston Villa, revealing he had lobbied the Premier League to allow larger matchday squads. Speaking about the need for depth, he said: "We know that the depth has to be really big when you are fighting for four competitions in the manner that we play as well, so we're going to try to do that."
Despite those comments, no attacking reinforcements arrived. Arsenal reportedly considered a move for Lyon winger Malick Fofana but ultimately stepped back, with suggestions Arteta was not convinced the Belgian would strengthen the squad. Fofana instead completed a switch to Sunderland, who beat Crystal Palace to his signature in a late twist. Everton's Iliman Ndiaye, another name on Arsenal's radar, ended up joining Manchester City for £65m instead.
The inactivity in the final hours of the window has led some supporters to question the club's summer strategy, particularly after Arsenal missed out on Morgan Rogers to Chelsea and were unable to land higher-profile targets such as Vinícius Júnior and Julián Alvarez, the latter reportedly only interested in a move to Barcelona. Juventus, meanwhile, were unwilling to sell Kenan Yildiz. Much of the scrutiny has fallen on sporting director Andrea Berta, whose arrival from Atlético Madrid in March 2025 had initially been seen as a major coup after a summer of aggressive spending exceeding £250m net on players including Eberechi Eze, Viktor Gyökeres and Martín Zubimendi.
This time around, Arsenal moved early to replace Leandro Trossard with Christos Tzolis and added Bruno Guimarães from Newcastle in midfield, along with defender Ezri Konsa as cover for the long-term absent William Saliba. However, the failure to bolster the attack stood out given Bukayo Saka's heavy workload over the past two injury-affected seasons.
Financially, letting go of high earners like Jesus and potentially banking a club-record fee for Martinelli would reduce Arsenal's net spend to around £78m — lower than Brentford's outlay and well below City's net spend of £162m, with the champions of Manchester having spent more than £300m reshaping their midfield. By comparison, Arsenal's net spend over the last five seasons sits at more than £680m, the second highest in the league.
Notably, on the same day Arsenal's window closed quietly, parent company Kroenke Sports Entertainment confirmed a $4bn (£3bn) purchase of Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Angels, underlining the scale of the Kroenke empire, valued at an estimated $26bn.
Arteta will now turn to existing options to fill the attacking void. Eze, who is competing with Tzolis on the left, played a part in Saka's winning goal against Villa after replacing the Greek forward. Martinelli, who once scored 15 Premier League goals in the 2022-23 season, has struggled to reach those heights since, though his pace as a substitute proved a useful outlet late in games. With his departure looming, that specific attacking threat will be missing from the squad. Sixteen-year-old prospect Max Dowman, yet to make a senior appearance this season, could also see increased opportunities.
After years of heavy investment, Arsenal are banking on the depth and continuity built over previous transfer windows to sustain their title challenge, rather than late-window reinforcements.
Based on reporting from The Guardian.