The perception of Arsenal’s transfer window varies depending on who you speak to but there will be no disagreement from anyone at the Emirates Stadium over how crucial their next expected signing will be.
With the market closed until January, the club are now in the process of finalising an agreement with manager Mikel Arteta over his protracted new contract.
Well-placed sources indicate those discussions have moved forward recently amid full confidence from those involved in talks that the Spaniard will renew.
Indeed, Arteta moved unequivocally last month to remove any lingering doubt over his future: “Everybody feels comfortable that the timing of the contract is not going to be an issue because my will certainly is to be here and I’m very happy here.
“My feeling from the club is the same one. That’s why everyone is doing things in a very organic way.”
Similarly, Arsenal’s chief executive Richard Garlick has said it was merely a “matter of time” before Arteta’s new long-term deal was confirmed.
Arteta can expect to become one of the best paid managers in world football once his new contract is signed – Arsenal committed to significantly improving on his current deal, worth £10m a season plus an extra £5m upon Champions League qualification.
Arteta already the longest-serving manager in English football
For Arsenal supporters, the official announcement can’t come soon enough, particularly given his current deal now has just nine months left to run.
Since his appointment in December 2019, Arteta has transformed Arsenal from a club that had lost its Champions League status to one that won the Premier League for the first time in 22 years last season.
They are overwhelming favourites to retain their domestic crown and are fancied to win their first-ever Champions League this season.
With that success comes power. Like Arsene Wenger before him, Arteta is categorically the most influential figure, certainly from a football perspective, at the club.
People will say that the manager or head coach should always be the most authoritative figure at any football club – the reality is that is rarely the case.
Arteta’s fingerprints are all over the club – and most importantly the squad. Nothing happens from a first-team perspective without his approval.
When Arsenal tried to sign Julian Alvarez and Vinicius Jr last month, it was Arteta who was at the forefront of the club’s charm offensive.
With that in mind, the thought of removing Arteta from that dynamic, certainly for Arsenal’s ownership, is the unthinkable.
One day, Spain will come calling – and a return to his homeland may attract Arteta, although he knows he is unlikely to be afforded the same authority at either Real Madrid or Barcelona – clubs that are historically entrenched in internal politics – than he is now.
But at this moment, the attraction for Arteta is with Arsenal.
This is a squad that has flourished under Arteta’s tutelage. The average age of the squad (26.2 years) is one of the oldest in the Premier League. It’s a group at its peak and primed to build a legacy on.
Beyond the new financial terms and into footballing ambition, Arsenal are buying into Arteta’s vision.
The summer arrivals of Bruno Guimaraes and Ezri Konsa were sizeable investments given both turn 30 next year, while the albeit failed pursuits of Vinicius Jr and Alvarez provided Arteta with evidence that the club’s American owners are willing to spend heavily on elite talent.
It’s the sort of ambition Arteta is understood to have made clear he wanted to see as talks over his contract progressed.
Arteta’s six years at the Emirates already makes him the longest-serving manager in the Premier League and EFL by some distance – his new deal will take him closer to a decade in north London.
Yet there appear to be no signs of Arteta taking his foot off the gas.