Josh Kroenke has given Arsenal fans hope of more new faces arriving at the Emirates Stadium in January despite being happy with their “strong summer”. The Gunners’ director, and son of owner Stan, came under fire from sections of the supporters earlier in the summer as the north Londoners struggled to get new faces through the door to bolster a squad that finished fifth in the Premier League last term.
There was the added media claims that boss Unai Emery had only been given a £45million transfer kitty after the 4-1 Europa League final drubbing against Chelsea in Baku condemned them to another year out of the Champions League.
However, the club dug deep to spend over £100m in bringing in Gabriel Martinelli, Dani Ceballos, William Saliba, Nicolas Pepe, Kieran Tierney and David Luiz. The deal to sign Ivory Coast international, Pepe, from Lille involved a club-record transfer fee of £72m with Arsenal successfully agreeing to pay for some of their new signings in instalments to enable them to do more business in the window.
Kroenke insisted that he wanted to be “aggressive” in the transfer market to bring in their chosen targets and feels that has paid off, while he claims the club still possesses “the aura” needed to attract top players despite their lack of Champions League football.
And, while they managed to recruit six signings, it appears that the Arsenal hierarchy are already looking towards January with a view to adding more new faces with the main aim being to break back into the top four. “This summer, even though we weren’t in a position of strength coming out of Baku, I think there were a few people caught off guard that Arsenal Football Club still has the aura that it does,” he told BBC Sport.
“We’re excited to keep pushing that now and into the future. “I think we had a very strong summer. We addressed certain areas on the pitch for this season and in the years ahead. We had certain age profiles that we were after. “Without Champions League football we weren’t exactly sure, but I encouraged our football operations department to be aggressive and when Arsenal Football Club knocks on a player’s door it’s a different knock.”
Kroenke also rebuffed suggestions that the club were spurred into action in the transfer market following fierce criticism from the fans. He added: “I would say that if you’re reacting and doing club record signings based on public opinion, you’re not going to go very far as a club. We weren’t reactive this summer, we were actually proactive.”
