Arsenal get back to business this week.

We have one more game left of preseason.

12 more days until the start of the season.

2 more players to buy.

About 7 that need shifting on.

Edu has a wide-ranging interview in The Athletic authored by James. There’s some nice bits in there, it feels like Arsenal are trying to get ahead of the PR this season, versus waiting like they did last year.

Some points that I thought were interesting:

He confirmed what I told you last season, Champions League was a stretch goal, making it back to Europe was the objective. It was totally fine to feel pain because we blew top 4 from a good position, but the whole purpose of goals and objectives is that you don’t change them. If the club thought Europe was a good enough target for the youngest squad in the league in their first season, then pivoting to top 4 when it’s doing well would be unfair. The corporate equivalent would be reducing a salesman’s commission when they sell too much. You don’t punish overperformance, you applaud it.

This season though, Edu has made it clear, he expects the club to move to the next level because all the pieces are in place.

There was also a bit of a dig at Unai Emery, Edu basically said it’s really hard to recruit for a manager that doesn’t have a clear plan. Don Unai was indecisive on the pitch, he was indecisive with player management, so there’s no reason to think he wasn’t indecisive with the players he wanted to sign.

There was a story a few years ago that Unai Emery brought a magical presentation to his interview, that might have been the case, but it was Arteta the struck first with a detailed analysis of exactly what he wanted to do.

At the second attempt, Arsenal hired Arteta. I think Don Raul stepped away from that decision and put it on Arteta. He needed a fall and likely realised putting more of his stooges at the club might not be good for career longevity.

Mikel is ruthless about how he expects Arsenal to built to a title challenge, he knows how he’s going to play, the types of players he needs to make it work, and Edu is happy bringing that to life.

It’s clear that when he arrived, the club was a bag of shit… just look at where the line-up was.

Edu is quite specific about the problem he inherited. A group of older players on massive salaries that didn’t give a shit about greatness. It’s hard to sell players that don’t have value. Schalke took on Mustafi and Kola and they joined a coup within a month. That’s what you’re dealing with. Europe knows the eggs we’re trying to sell have mostly been bad. That’s why we can’t get cash for them.

Edu has shifted 16 first-teamers since the Bournemouth game. He hasn’t gotten a lot of money. But he basically said terminating deals for shitty players is better than letting them stink out the dressing room. Remember when the players tried to down Arteta? Bad eggs are toxic, they bring everyone down, when you kill them, their absence oxygenates an environment and allows new leaders to emerge. I think the biggest issue for Arteta was some of the biggest names were the most problematic. If you have massive talent, you’ll always carry an outsized weight in a dressing room, that’s just how sport tends to work… so when your World Cup winners have downed one manager, why not the next?

That’s part of the reasons Arsenal didn’t sack Arteta during that shocking run. If they had, you create a club culture where the players know the downing of tools will get them another roll of the dice with a potentially more favorable manager. Football is a game of emotions, managing them when pressure is coming from all angles is difficult, but when you have a plan and an agreed vision… you can shut the noise out.

Edu and club leadership needs to be commended for working through the kinks. The whole point of signing Arteta was that 1) he was already one of the best young coaches in the world 2) if he could hone his management skills under us, we’d be getting a next-generation manager at the start of their career 3) if we could rough out the learning process, we could have ourselves a gem before bigger clubs find out.

This is the season when we find out if that theory will hold.

What we know already is this:

1. The coaching is really paying dividends. If you can get a team of 23 yr olds to 69 points without a striker, something is happening that is working.
2. The reputation of what is going on is traveling around the Premier League. Gabriel and Zinchenko don’t give their best years to a project that isn’t going anywhere. They are here to win, they are a level of signing that is a hard indicator that the footballing world gets that the Arsenal approach is a good one
3. Our best young players are signing new deals. We’ll likely finish the summer with Saka, Martinelli, and Saliba committing to the long term. That is huge for a club that had been on a very poor run with contracts.

My favourite part of the piece was when Edu was talking about Gabi J. He said he wanted him to join, but not the player of last season, he wanted the Gabriel that shines.

I love that. No blowing smoke, just pure honesty, because last season Gabi J was trailing Lacazette for goals up until March with roughly the same minutes.

It would seem that so far, we have an invigorated player, and we might just see a side of him this season no one has witnessed before.

The business we have to do is clear over the next two weeks.

We need to sign an experienced #8 that looks like Tielemans.

We need to sign a Nico Pepe replacement if we can shift the Ivorian. I’m a little worried the player has ‘I’m committed to Arsenal’ posts rolling up, obviously the realisation no one will pay him what he seeks, but I’m sure we’ll come to a deal and shift him on loan somewhere. He’s just not suited to what we’re doing and he needs to play at some point.

Pablo Mari has a lot of interest, Lucas Torreira might end up at Valencia, Arsenal are moving out Bernd Leno to Fulham… Ains, Reiss, and Runarsson will all find homes.

Then we’re cracking.

This season is going to be immense. Spurs, hate them or hate them, have signed decent players. Chelsea will add more names but might be weakening. United have a fancy hip coach. City and Liverpool added top tier talent. We are in for a helluva ride, but I feel ready, and the hope IS real this time.

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