Andrea Berta has helped take Arsenal to a whole new level.
The Italian was appointed as the new sporting director of the club in March, replacing Edu Gaspar, who resigned from his role to take up another job.
Berta’s experience spoke for itself, but there is always some nervousness when a new name takes over your club ahead of a very important transfer window.
Now, it is safe to say that Berta has exceeded all expectations after eight new signings, and one of them could go down as a massive bargain.
People inside Arsenal think they have ‘won the jackpot’ with Cristhian Mosquera
Arsenal signed Cristhian Mosquera from Valencia in the summer for an initial fee of just £13 million.
The Gunners weren’t in desperate need of a new centre-back, but Mikel Arteta knew that he could do with a player to provide cover for William Saliba.
Arsenal were linked with big names like Dean Huijsen and Marc Guehi, but in the end, Andrea Berta used his knowledge of La Liga to strike a deal for Mosquera.
The Spaniard has impressed almost every time he has played in Saliba’s position, and those who see his quality every day in training think they have struck gold.
That’s according to Fabrizio Romano, who said on the Here We Go podcast: “There have been many top signings for Arsenal, of course, and the fans are very excited about that. From Gyokeres to Madueke and Eze – all of them really were quite special; (also) Zubimendi, who is fantastic, in my opinion.
“But Arsenal really believe they won the jackpot by signing Cristhian Mosquera.
“Because signing a player like Mosquera for £15 million, £14-15 million, it’s a really fantastic opportunity they got on the market to get a top centre-back, very fast, physical, with big potential, super young. These kinds of opportunities are very difficult to find on the market nowadays.”
Cesc Fabregas was ready to hijack Arsenal’s Cristhian Mosquera deal
Cesc Fabregas is the manager of Como in Italy, and he is doing a fine job there.
The Spaniard’s aim was to avoid relegation last season, but he exceeded expectations by leading them to a 10th-place finish in the Serie A.
Over the summer, Fabregas was keen to bolster his squad, and Mosquera was a player he was ready to spend big on. But the defender only wanted Arsenal.
Romano said: “I can reveal something here. There were two Italian clubs prepared to sign Mosquera if Arsenal were not able to get the deal over the line. One was Como.
“Como were prepared to pay even more than €25 million to Valencia immediately to sign Cristhian Mosquera. And so you can imagine, obviously, for Valencia was a big opportunity, but Arsenal were the only project wanted by the player.”
Romano revealed that Inter Milan were the other club that wanted to sign Mosquera, but they didn’t stand a chance against Arsenal either.
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