And here were we assuming that, after missing out on European football for the first time in 25 years while counting the cost of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Mikel Arteta would be expected to rebuild the house that Arsene Wenger built with little more than a paintbrush and a bag of nails.
According to 90Min, the Arsenal manager instead has been handed a summer budget akin to that of the GDP of a small nation.
If the Kroenkes want to win over their many critics, breaking the bank on the likes of Ben White, Sambi Lokonga, James Maddison, Eduardo Camavinga and Tariq Lamptey in a £250 million spending spree would go some way to airbrushing the failed Super League power-grab from history.
Arsenal are reported to have submitted bids for a number of targets over the last few days.
While a ball-playing centre-half, a commanding midfield dynamo and a defence-splitting number ten appear to be the priority as it stands, the sudden availability of a striker who appeared to have slipped through Arsenal’s grasp won’t go unnoticed either.
Could Arsenal land Odsonne Edouard as Leicester look elsewhere?
Fabrizio Romano reports that Leicester City have backed away from a deal for Celtic talisman Odsonne Edouard, deciding instead to prioritise the latest wonderkid to fall off the Red Bull Salzburg production line – Patson ‘the new Thierry Henry’ Daka.
So, two weeks after the Times reported that Arsenal had been pipped to the post by Leicester, there is a growing confidence amongst an increasingly excited fanbase that Edouard may be showcasing his unique brand of skill, style and dead-eyed ruthlessness in North London rather than the East Midlands.
Second chances don’t come around often. And this feels like an opportunity too good to miss.
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