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Arsenal transfer window guide: Benjamin Sesko, Viktor Gyokeres, Nico Williams and Mikel Arteta's big summer

Arsenal transfer window guide: Benjamin Sesko, Viktor Gyokeres, Nico Williams and Mikel Arteta's big summer

Yahoo21 hours ago

It is a big summer for Arsenal, who plan to bolster their squad in the transfer market as they look to end their five-year wait for silverware next season.
New sporting director Andrea Berta has been in place since the end of March and will lead transfer negotiations during the summer transfer window.
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Mikel Arteta has been part of the planning process and, during the final weeks of last season, reiterated the need for Arsenal to add firepower to their squad.
Top priority
A new striker is top of Arsenal's shopping list after they failed to sign one in each of the past two windows.
The Gunners looked light on attacking options even before injuries hit last season.
Arsenal have long-term interest in RB Leipzig striker Benjamin Sesko (Getty Images)
For the first time since the 1923-24 season, Arsenal finished a league campaign without any players scoring 10 or more goals.
Arteta and the club are aware of the need for reinforcements. In January, they failed with a £40million bid for Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins. The Gunners cannot afford to be left empty-handed again this time around.
What else they need
A new goalkeeper to provide competition and back-up for David Raya is required, with Neto set to return to Bournemouth after his season on loan in north London.
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Arsenal also want to bring in a midfielder to play in front of the defence, because Jorginho is leaving for free after his contract expired.
A wide player is wanted as well as a striker. Raheem Sterling tried to fill that void last season, however he is returning to Chelsea after a disappointing loan spell.
Defensive reinforcements are a possibility, too, but that will be more dependent on outgoings.
Possible ins
Arsenal hold a long-term interest in RB Leipzig striker Benjamin Sesko and tried to sign him last summer.
They failed with a bid for Watkins in January, while Sporting star Viktor Gyokeres is believed to be another option on Arsenal's radar.
Sporting star Viktor Gyokeres is another transfer target (REUTERS)
Out wide, the Gunners have tracked Nico Williams for the past 18 months and he has a £50million release clause in his contract at Athletic Bilbao.
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Real Sociedad midfielder Martin Zubimendi is expected to join for £50m.
Arsenal are fans of Espanyol goalkeeper Joan Garcia, but his release clause of £21m may prove too steep.
Ajax defender Jorrel Hato is being monitored.
Possible outs
The departures have already started, with Jorginho and Kieran Tierney leaving due to their contracts expiring.
Thomas Partey's deal is also due to expire at the end of this month and it is unclear if he will agree fresh terms.
Left-back Nuno Tavares' loan move to Lazio is set to be made permanent for around £6m. Fellow full-back Oleksandr Zinchenko can go if the right offer comes in.
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Fabio Vieira and Reiss Nelson both spent last season on loan, and it is unclear what their futures may hold.
Jakub Kiwior has long-term interest from clubs in Italy and a big bid could test Arsenal's resolve.

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Thomas Tuchel's short tenure as England manager is by design – but is it starting to become a problem?
Thomas Tuchel's short tenure as England manager is by design – but is it starting to become a problem?

New York Times

time31 minutes ago

  • New York Times

Thomas Tuchel's short tenure as England manager is by design – but is it starting to become a problem?

So what has Thomas Tuchel learned from England's two exhilarating June fixtures against Andorra and Senegal? That, as England manager, you're liable to get booed whether you win or lose? That, ultimately, it's really hard to get even the most motivated footballers up for a couple of extremely low wattage games at the end of a long, tiring season? That he's got a whole heap of work to do before the World Cup in exactly a year? Advertisement Or maybe that he would have been better off not taking the job in the first place? There were plenty in the City Ground stands for the broadly dreadful 3-1 defeat to Senegal on Tuesday that would have agreed with him there. At the end, there was a pretty sad, understandably perfunctory tour around the pitch by the England players to applaud the few fans that had remained. The manager had already been booed down the tunnel, one disgruntled attendee bellowing 'TUCHEL OUT'. Was he regretting the whole thing? Are the FA regretting the whole thing? Or, perhaps a more nuanced question would be: are they all regretting how they have gone about the whole thing? Tuchel signed an 18 month contract when he took the job, starting in January this year. At the time, he explained the relatively short-term deal by saying it was 'important for me to have a frame around it because it's a little bit of a step into the unknown for me', and 'to understand that this is something that can really excite me to the fullest.' Aside from deciding whether he fancied it or not, he also said it would help the team to 'focus.' It's also worth remembering, without wishing to re-litigate one of autumn 2024's more irritating strains of discourse, that Tuchel himself contracted the time he'd have by electing not to start his job until January. There is a certain logic to the length of the contract. International coaches tend to work in cycles around international tournaments, and this one takes him to the end of the World Cup. But usually those cycles are at least two years, and a tenure this fleeting is starting to look like more of a problem. The manager will inevitably favour short-term solutions. Teething problems become outsized because they comprise a bigger proportion of the whole. There's less time to fix things. If it's a longer term project, there's more scope to get away with poor performances like this one, or the one against Andorra. Advertisement If you want to think of it another way, Tuchel has taken charge of four games so far. There are five more World Cup qualifiers. One friendly is already inked in, and let's say there will be another four before the World Cup, assuming England qualify. So that's probably 14 games, for him to go from never managing an international side before, taking on the weight of expectation and nonsense that comes with the England job and succeeding a manager that reached two European Championship finals and a World Cup semi-final, to his own World Cup. Would you expect a club manager to have things sorted after 14 games? There are different rules, different timescales for international managers, but unless you're Massimo Cellino, it would be absurd to expect results after such a small amount of games. So England were bad against Senegal. Really bad, in fact. Timid and incoherent in spells, defensively open, lacking in creativity, particularly in the first half. 2 – This was only the second time ever that England had opened the scoring in a home game and then gone on to lose by 2+ goals, after another 1-3 defeat in June 1995 versus Brazil. Collapse. — OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) June 10, 2025 It clearly shouldn't be ignored that while England were bad, Senegal were excellent. They were more dynamic, more certain in their movements, more creative, more clinical. The FIFA world rankings put them in 19th place. They are, most definitely, a good team. After the game, Tuchel asked everyone not to panic. 'We lost a test match,' he told the media. 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Why U's fans shouldn't be fearful of midfield ace ‘transfer rumours'
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Yahoo

timean hour ago

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Why U's fans shouldn't be fearful of midfield ace ‘transfer rumours'

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