After years of deadline day panic and having to sit through that baron January earlier this year, Arsenal are getting busy with the cheque book early this summer.
I think it’s fair to say that all Gunners supporters were blown away by the potential of bagging both Gabriel Jesus and Raphinha in one transfer window.
But as we’ve become accustomed to over the years, all dreams must be hit in the ribs with a hammer blow of reality and in this instance, it comes in the form of Spanish giants, Barcelona.
Whilst things have gone quiet on the Raphinha front, it looks as if Barcelona are now in direct talks to try and work out how many piggy banks they have to smash in order to find the funds for their star signing.
Personal terms are all good and despite the Chelsea bid of £60m upfront, it looks as if the Brazilian has his heart set on playing within the Spotify Camp Nou (nope, that doesn’t sound right).
But anyway, whilst heartache is a regular on the menu of Arsenal fans, we’ve managed to become experts at dusting ourselves off and immediately finding something new to obsess over.
I’ve had a go at selecting a number of players that could realistically be an alternative signing to Raphinha as Mikel Arteta looks to bag some competition for Martinelli, Saka and Smith Rowe.
1 – Serge Gnabry (Value: £58m)
I think I speak for the majority of Arsenal fans when I mention Gnabry’s name in this article, with a move for the former Gunner not as unrealistic as some may think.
The 26-year-old is leaving Bayern Munich sweating a little bit as he enters the final year of his contract with no intention to sign an extension any time soon.
That leaves the Bundesliga champions with a decision to make this summer which could very well play into the hands of Arteta and Edu, who would be fools to say no if the option was ever presented to them.
Depending on who you get your transfer news from and where those journalists rank on your reliability rating chart, everyone seems to be saying something different around Gnabry.
But with his versatility to play on either wing and impressive record which sees him bag a goal every 161 minutes, Gnabry answers a lot of the problems Arsenal currently have in their attack.
The only thing Arsenal would need to be wary of is the forwards wage demands, who would look to upset the hierarchy by coming in as the clubs highest earner with around £220k per week currently being quoted across many outlets.
But that’s the price Arsenal will have to pay if they want to land a guy who’s giving up Champions League football as he enters his prime years.
In March 2019 Gnabry told a German news outlet that if we were ever to return to England then Arsenal would be ‘favourites’ – so I think we’ll hold on to that as absolutely something to get overexcited by.