Former Arsenal target told he’s not ‘good enough’, Edu was so wrong to shortlist him

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Arsenal will be thankful that they didn’t sign one player who was on the Gunners’ transfer shortlist. 

The 2025 summer transfer window was a huge success for Arsenal, seeing Andrea Berta get off to a flying start as the club’s sporting director. 

Arsenal now boast one of the best squads in Europe, which has significantly bolstered Mikel Arteta’s chances of winning silverware. 

One of the most important signings Berta made in the summer was the capture of Viktor Gyokeres, who ended Arsenal’s long wait for a seasoned goalscorer. 

Edu Gaspar wasn’t able to sign a striker the summer before, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t any on his radar, with Evan Ferguson one player who was of interest in North London. 

• READ MORE: Five of the best and worst Edu signings at Arsenal

Roma manager Gian Piero Gasperini is not impressed with Evan Ferguson

Edu had a three-man striker shortlist in the 2024 summer transfer window at Arsenal, made up of Ferguson, Santiago Gimenez and, ironically, Gyokeres.

After impressing at Brighton, it was unsurprising to see Ferguson shortlisted at the Emirates, but Arsenal will be so glad they didn’t work harder to sign the Irishman.

Now on loan at Roma, Ferguson has been a player on manager Gian Piero Gasperini’s mind, but not for the right reasons.

Gasperini isn’t afraid to voice his opinion on his players, something the 21-year-old has learned in Italy.

Before Roma’s clash with Sassuolo, Gasperini was asked where Ferguson stands, to which the manager gave a painfully honest review.

“On the pitch, he’s always tried, although at the moment the result is not always good enough,” Gasperini said before revealing that the youngster hasn’t been training well.

“If I have to be honest, for the first time this season, yesterday I saw him train the right way.

“He’s 21, and he’s come here after a few not exceptional seasons when he didn’t play much, so we need to be patient with him.”

Though the coach showed support for the Brighton loanee, his review wasn’t glamorous, going on to leave Ferguson as an unused substitute in the match that followed.

What happened to the other strikers on Edu’s 2024 shortlist?

Since the 2024/25 season started, Ferguson has scored once, giving Arsenal an insight into what could’ve unfolded had Edu gone in strong to sign the striker.

There’s no doubting the Ireland international’s quality, but things haven’t clicked for some time, which is startling considering that Arsenal were told to pay £100m to sign Ferguson.

Things aren’t going well for Ferguson, which can also be said for Gimenez this season, who joined the Irishman on Edu’s transfer shortlist.

As Gyokeres continues to find his feet at Arsenal, Gimenez is waiting for the goals to flow at AC Milan, and Ferguson has a long way to go to get back into Gasperini’s good books.

Arsenal will be so relieved that they didn’t pull the trigger to sign the striker in 2024, a transfer that always had the potential to be incredibly risky.