The Lead

Arsenal Sell the Summer and Back What They Already Have

Gabriel Jesus is a Barcelona player. Gabriel Martinelli is bound for Riyadh in the biggest sale the club has ever made. Julian Alvarez is still not an Arsenal player. With hours left in the window, the champions look leaner, considerably richer, and unbeaten.

There is a version of this deadline day in which Arsenal look like a club in retreat. Two forwards gone in twenty-four hours. A first-choice target who never wanted to come. A late alternative lost to Sunderland over a few million pounds. Read the outgoing column alone and you would guess the champions were dismantling something.

The table says otherwise. Arsenal have played three competitive matches since lifting the title in May. They have won all three, scored seven, and conceded none. They beat Manchester City 3-0 in Cardiff, Coventry City 3-0 at home, and Aston Villa 1-0 at Villa Park on Monday night without ever looking troubled.

That is the context for everything Andrea Berta has done this summer. Arsenal did not need to buy from a position of weakness, and they have not. Bruno Guimaraes arrived from Newcastle United for £75m on August 9. Ezri Konsa followed from Aston Villa for £55m on August 21. Neither was a panic buy.

The selling has been just as deliberate, and rather more brutal. Gabriel Jesus completed his move to Barcelona for £8.6m after four years, 123 appearances and 32 goals. He took a pay cut to go. Gabriel Martinelli is on his way to Al-Hilal for a fee that will comfortably break the club's record for a sale.

Two departures of that size would normally be balanced by a marquee arrival. That is where the summer has stalled. Julian Alvarez has been the target since the spring, and the pursuit has never once looked comfortable. Atletico Madrid will not sell to Barcelona, the club the player actually wants. Arsenal have spent weeks trying to be a destination rather than a fallback.

Sky Sports reported on Friday that Atletico had set the player a deadline to commit or engage. Chief executive Miguel Angel Gil Marin said publicly that Alvarez was "really struggling" and that "there were people who misled him, who left him confused." Not the language of a club expecting a clean resolution.

Deadline Day Churn

The reporting since has pulled hard in both directions, which is what deadline day does to a story. Spanish outlets suggested on Tuesday morning that Arsenal had stepped back and were assessing alternatives. Hours later, TEAMtalk and the Evening Standard were reporting the opposite: a green light at roughly £130m, a willingness to write a future Barcelona release into the contract, and help relocating the player's family.

Treat that second version carefully. It is single-sourced, it is not carried by David Ornstein or Fabrizio Romano, and it arrived precisely when deadline-day traffic peaks. What is solid is Romano's line that Barcelona now consider their incoming business closed after signing Jesus, and will not activate the €100m bid president Joan Laporta confirmed was still live.

Which leaves Arteta where he has been all summer: with Kai Havertz fit and scoring, Viktor Gyokeres unused, and a squad that has not yet needed rescuing. He was blunt on Monday night. "We are trying to improve the squad, and until tomorrow night we're going to try to do that." He also warned against selling for the sake of it.

The honest reading is that this window has been a success in structure and a frustration in ambition. Arsenal have upgraded midfield and defence, cleared £80m or more of wages and fees from players who were not going to start, and kept their powder dry on a striker they were never going to get cheaply. Whether that reads as discipline or as a missed opportunity depends entirely on what Havertz's hamstrings do between now and January.

Transfer News

Martinelli to Al-Hilal: the Biggest Sale in Arsenal's History

Seven seasons, 278 appearances, 62 goals, and a fee that pushes past Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's 2017 departure.

Gabriel Martinelli has been left out of Arsenal matchday squads since the season began, which is usually its own kind of announcement. He is 25. He arrived as a teenager from Ituano and leaves as a Premier League champion.

The fee has climbed as the week has gone on. Daily Cannon reported a verbally agreed £56.5m on Saturday. By Sunday, David Ornstein was reporting a €70m fixed fee, up from an earlier structure of €58m plus €8m in add-ons. James Benge reported that the two clubs had been working through a sell-on clause.

At any of those numbers it is a club record for an outgoing transfer, comfortably clear of the £40m Liverpool paid for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain nine years ago. Fabrizio Romano reported that Arsenal granted authorisation for the player to travel. Announcement is expected before the window shuts.

Certainty tier: fee agreed and personal terms done, awaiting official confirmation. Reported by Ornstein and Romano independently, which is about as firm as it gets without a club statement.

The Squad

Arteta Has Found a Midfield Two, and One Half of It Is a Left-Back

Myles Lewis-Skelly started alongside Declan Rice at Villa Park. A £75m midfielder watched from the bench until the 71st minute.

The XI at Villa Park was Raya; White, Mosquera, Gabriel, Calafiori; Rice, Lewis-Skelly, Odegaard; Saka, Havertz, Tzolis. A 4-2-3-1 in name, closer to a 4-3-3 in practice.

The interesting selection is Lewis-Skelly. He came through as a midfielder, was converted to left-back out of necessity, and is now being converted back. He was excellent on Monday, progressing the ball cleanly and giving Rice licence to push.

That has an immediate consequence for Bruno Guimaraes. Signed for £75m three weeks ago, he picked up a thigh problem in the Community Shield, missed the opener, and got 19 minutes at Villa Park. Reviewers liked what they saw: a different passing register, more forward risk. He is being eased in rather than built around.

Christos Tzolis is having the harder introduction. Excellent against Coventry, where he was involved in the first two goals, he was withdrawn at half-time at Villa Park after a poor 45 minutes. The Premier League's physicality is the standard first hurdle for a Belgian league arrival. Nobody at the club will be worried yet.

Eberechi Eze replaced him and changed the game. He was the link in the winning goal, receiving from Mosquera and finding Calafiori, whose low cross Saka turned in on 59 minutes. That is Calafiori's second assist in consecutive matches, and he is quietly the most productive left-sided player at the club right now.

The Number Nine Question

The number nine question has an answer, at least for now. Havertz starts. Gyokeres, who scored 21 goals in 56 appearances last season, has played 15 minutes all campaign and was an unused substitute in both league games. Arteta put it carefully on Tuesday: "Sometimes you have certain issues with players physically that you have to make changes, and I'm sure there are going to be minutes for everybody."

Odegaard is the other quiet subplot. Arteta was pointed about him last week: "He's fit and available, I think that's the baseline. Last season he had too many incidents where it didn't allow him to have any consistency." Two goals in three games is a start. He was withdrawn on 71 minutes at Villa Park, which reads as management rather than concern.

One theme worth watching all season is squad size. Arteta renewed his campaign against the 20-outfield-player matchday limit last week: "That's what I've been begging the Premier League. Every squad needs more than 20 outfield players, ideally, to sustain the level of demands, games, international games that we have." With eight Champions League league-phase fixtures plus two domestic cups, he will make that argument again.

Hale End

A Restocked Academy, a New Interim Coach, and Two Red Cards

Six recruits in a fortnight, a debut goal at Brighton, and an under-18 side that has not won a game yet.

The academy recruitment department has had the busiest week of anyone at the club. James Scanlon, a 19-year-old winger with 24 caps for Gibraltar, arrived from Manchester United. So did Habeeb Ogunneye, a 20-year-old right-back who spent last season on loan at Newport County, taking squad number 62.

They were joined by Axel Donczew, a 16-year-old Welsh winger from Cardiff City who signed scholarship terms and turns professional in February 2027, and Igor Tyjon, an 18-year-old striker from Blackburn Rovers with three senior appearances, wearing 64.

Both new arrivals went straight in at Brighton on Monday and both looked the part. Scanlon scored on debut after 24 minutes, set up by Ife Ibrahim. Ogunneye started at right-back. Marli Salmon, who signed his first professional contract on turning 17 last week, captained the side.

Brighton led 2-1 through Younes Ibrahim and Bailey Palmer before Evan Mooney equalised in the 88th minute. That is two points from two Premier League 2 games, after a 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace. The EFL Trophy has been less kind: a 5-1 defeat at Barnet on August 18.

The Under-18s

The under-18s are struggling more seriously. They lost 2-1 at Brighton on August 29 with nine men. Emerson Nwaneri, younger brother of Ethan, was sent off for a second bookable offence in the first half. Goalkeeper Jack Talbot followed late on.

Abraham Owusu-Gyasi had put the ten men ahead on 61 minutes before Daniel Rudin equalised three minutes later and Raffaele Oppong won it on 84. That leaves the under-18s with one point from three league games and no win in four in all competitions. Josh Smith has been promoted from assistant to interim head coach.

Out on Loan

On the loan front, Ismeal Kabia has settled fast at St Mirren, debuting the day after his August 17 move and playing 59 minutes in a 5-1 defeat to Rangers. Four academy players trained with the first team before the Villa game: Josh Ogunnaike, Ceadach O'Neill, Archie Stevens and Theo Julienne.

Arsenal Women

Slegers Rebuilds Around Stanway, and Finally Buys a Centre-Half

Seven in, ten out, a new build-up structure, and Elisa de Almeida arriving from PSG days before the champions open at Brighton.

This has been the most aggressive summer Arsenal's women's team has had in years, and it needed to be. Renee Slegers won the WSL last season with 51 points from 22 games, lost one match all campaign, and won the inaugural FIFA Women's Champions Cup by beating Corinthians 3-2 in February. Then she lost half her spine.

The Turnover

Beth Mead left for Manchester City after nine years. Katie McCabe went to Chelsea, Victoria Pelova to Tottenham, Laia Codina to West Ham, Manuela Zinsberger to Borussia Dortmund. Jenna Nighswonger, Rosa Kafaji, Laila Harbert and Vivienne Lia also went.

In came Georgia Stanway from Bayern Munich, Ona Batlle from Barcelona, Misa Rodriguez from Real Madrid, Geraldine Reuteler from Eintracht Frankfurt, Selina Cerci from Hoffenheim, Lisa Baum from RB Leipzig and Isabella Damm from Brondby. Kim Little, Steph Catley, Leah Williamson and Caitlin Foord all extended.

The Signing

One hole stayed open all summer, and it is being filled this week. BBC Sport's Emma Sanders reported on Tuesday that Arsenal have agreed a deal for Elisa de Almeida, the 28-year-old France defender, from Paris Saint-Germain for around £550,000. Arseblog News sources say it is in the final stages.

She would be the first centre-half Arsenal have signed since Codina in 2023, and she is needed. Katie Reid is recovering from an ACL injury, and in the Charlton friendly Slegers was reduced to playing midfielder Smilla Holmberg at centre-back. The women's window stays open until 11pm BST on Thursday.

Pre-season Form

Pre-season suggested the rebuild is coming together. Arsenal beat Paris FC 1-0 on August 23 through an Olivia Smith goal in the 91st minute, then beat Charlton Athletic 5-1 on August 26. Stanway scored her first Arsenal goal, with Mariona Caldentey from the penalty spot, Kyra Cooney-Cross, Smith and Frida Maanum adding the rest.

Cooney-Cross' goal was the one that mattered. The Australian returned to competitive football after five months away on compassionate leave following her mother's terminal cancer diagnosis, and marked it with a long-range strike. Slegers called her "amazing" since coming back.

How They Will Play

Tactically, the interesting change is Stanway's role. She is dropping between the centre-backs in build-up with Kim Little ahead of her as a shield, a 3-1-6 shape that takes progression duties off Little and Mariona and adds a genuine long diagonal passer. Arsenal are also shooting from range far more often, a direct response to their trouble breaking low blocks.

"We had more shots and more end product," Slegers said. "That is something we spoke about." The other pattern to watch is the rotation between Holmberg and Baum, both 19, on the right: one holds the touchline while the other inverts as a right-sided ten.

Individual honours arrived last week too. Alessia Russo, Emily Fox and Mariona Caldentey were all named in the PFA WSL Team of the Year, and Olivia Smith won the PFA Women's Young Player of the Year award for a second consecutive season. Russo scored 24 goals in all competitions last term.

Gunners Abroad

A Rare Week With Nobody Away, and a Diaspora That Keeps Growing

The post-World Cup calendar pushed the first international window to late September. In the meantime, the list of Arsenal players plying their trade elsewhere has grown by five in a fortnight.

There is no international football this week and none next. Because the World Cup ran into July, UEFA pushed the opening Nations League league-phase window into the second half of September. The headline fixture of that window is England against Spain at Wembley on September 26, a game likely to feature Arsenal players on both sides.

So this section belongs to the departed and the loaned. Ethan Nwaneri is now a Borussia Dortmund player for the season, and will be in Germany when Arsenal host his loan club in the Champions League on November 24. He remains recallable.

Ismeal Kabia is the only other current Arsenal player out on loan in the men's game. He has played once for St Mirren, 59 minutes in a heavy defeat at Rangers, which is exactly the sort of chastening Scottish Premiership afternoon a loan is for.

Among the recently departed, Jakub Kiwior is at Porto, Leandro Trossard at Besiktas, Karl Hein at Werder Bremen, Fabio Vieira now at Hamburg, Gabriel Jesus at Barcelona and Gabriel Martinelli heading to Al-Hilal. That is a lot of recent Arsenal football scattered across Europe and the Gulf.

On the women's side, Sophie Harwood is at Sheffield United and Jessie Gale at Newcastle United for the season, with Cecily Wellesley-Smith at FC Rosengard in Sweden until December.

Numbers of the Week

In Brief

What to Watch

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