Arsenal are expected to challenge for the title again this season after two second-place finishes, and they are unrecognisable from where they were three years ago.
On August 13th 2021, Arsenal faced Brentford in the opening game of the Premier League season, and the home side’s first-ever game in the competition, and fell to a dismal 2-0 defeat.
It was a makeshift squad, with Mikel Arteta missing a lot of players due to illness, but it was nevertheless a poor display as his side struggled to threaten going forward, and were calamitous at the back.
It came after an eighth-place finish in the previous season, with Arsenal missing out on European football for the first time in over 20 years, and Arteta was under serious pressure.
However, some could see what he was trying to instil in the club, with Arteta and Edu Gaspar building a younger squad in a long-term plan. Manchester United legend Gary Neville was not one of these people, and after the Brentford defeat, he caused intense debate among fans by questioning the recruitment process at the club.
Gary Neville questioned Arsenal’s recruitment in 2021
Speaking on Sky Sports after the Arsenal defeat to Brentford, Neville claimed that there was a lack of a clear plan when it came to Arsenal’s recruitment under Arteta and Edu.
“I don’t know the plan at Arsenal. The recruitment to me has been really poor,” he stated.
“They’re poor at it compared to other clubs, they just are. They’ve been poor in the last few years.
“I don’t get the strategy, I don’t get the direction of how they’re taking the team.”
Arsenal suffered a disastrous start to that season, but Arteta’s new signings helped begin a new era at the club, with the youngest team in the league, and the core of the current side was built.
Edu Gaspar’s long-term Arsenal plan was evident in 2021, Gary Neville could not see it
In the summer of 2021, Arsenal recruited young but recruited well. Martin Odegaard joined on a permanent transfer after an initial loan spell from Real Madrid, whilst Ben White, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Aaron Ramsdale were the other successes in the window.
Arsenal had cleared out older players such as Sokratis Papastathopoulos, David Luiz, Willian and more in the previous few windows, and there was fresh energy from the younger signings, as well as Hale End stars Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe.
Arteta had begun to build a team playing his brand of football, and the Emirates crowd was behind his project, with the likes of Ramsdale, Kieran Tierney and Gabriel Martinelli also becoming popular figures.
Speaking recently, Edu explained his long-term strategy at Arsenal was to build a younger team.
“First of all, we have to see the age of the player, and then you have to see the salary of the player, and the third you have to see the performance of the player,” he stated.
“So if you have a player over 26 or 27 years old, you need attention. If his salary is high, you need attention and if he’s not performing, you’re dead.
“If you have a player, 27 years or 28 years old, on big salary, but he’s performing, you can accept.
“What you cannot accept if you have those three elements, and one of them when over 28 you started to be uncomfortable, it’s better to you to move on, because maybe this player is blocking someone younger as an asset to help you.”
Edu Gaspar has proved Gary Neville wrong over Arsenal strategy
Just one year after Neville’s comments, Edu and Arteta recruited Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko, who alongside returning loanee William Saliba, transformed Arsenal into a side which would lead the Premier League for most of the season.
The strategy of recruiting younger players who could instantly improve the first-team has paid off. Odegaard and White are now crucial stars, whilst Tomiyasu is also a top performer when fit. Ramsdale performed well, but looks set to leave after losing his place to David Raya.
Even if it did not instantly show in results at the time, Arsenal’s plan under Edu and Arteta is a lot clearer than it was under previous regimes, and the club are now well placed to win a first title since 2004 if they can go one step further in the race with Manchester City.
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