Heading into the 2025 summer transfer window, Arsenal fans were expectant. They were promised an unprecedented summer and despite the slow pace with which a deal for Viktor Gyokeres was completed, the Gunners indeed had a crazy summer.
That striker deal was finally wrapped but Andrea Berta strengthened Mikel Arteta’s squad in every single position possible.
At the back, Kepa arrived from Chelsea in a £5m deal while Cristhian Mosquera and Piero Hincapie, two of the most exciting young defensive talents in Europe, both signed.
In midfield, Martin Zubimendi was the marquee addition but he was joined by former Brentford skipper, Christian Norgaard.
It was the forward line that was bolstered most, however. Gyokeres, of course, was the big addition but beside him came Noni Madueke – a signing that sparked controversy – and one that had the whole fanbase unified; Eberechi Eze.
What those signings have done is take this squad to the next level. It’s another phase and level of progression for Arteta’s side and even with a whole host of injuries – namely to William Saliba, Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka – they swept aside Nottingham Forest with ease on Saturday.
It’s not the first time that Arteta has chosen to take the team in a new direction; Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko are testament to that.
The Jesus and Zinchenko sagas at Arsenal
In the summer of 2022, Arteta knew he needed something to take his project to the next level.
In order to do that, he signed Jesus for £45m and Zinchenko for £30m from Manchester City within just a few weeks of each other.
Proven winners, players he knew from his days as assistant head coach to Pep Guardiola, this was a strong recipe tor success and indeed they changed the game when they first arrived.
Zinchenko allowed a huge level of tactical progression. The left-back is one of the finest inverted full-backs in European football which allowed Arsenal to gain more possession and control the tempo of a game more efficiently.
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How about Jesus? Well, he brought spice, he brought trickery and he brought goals. The Brazilian’s first few months at the Emirates Stadium were a sight to behold.
A proper Brazilian forward, Jesus was spellbinding. He beat players for fun and, importantly, he scored goals. In his first nine Premier League outings, he bagged five times and also registered four assists, proving to be a unique all-round threat.
Signed for
£30m
£45m
Games
91
96
Goals
3
26
Assists
5
20
Mins played
5,282
5,461
The trouble is, while Arsenal got better as a squad, the importance of Zinchenko and Jesus became less and less.
The Ukrainian, for all of the good he brought in possession, was a liability defensively and Jesus, well, he just can’t seem to stay off the treatment table.
We all got a reminder of just how good the 28-year-old is when he scored six goals in the space of five games over the 2024/25 festive period, including a hat-trick in the Carabao Cup against Crystal Palace.
Yet, his season was turned upside down when he ruptured his ACL in the FA Cup defeat to Manchester United.
Even before that, however, he was beginning to be phased out by Arteta. Kai Havertz was now the golden striker.
At left-back, meanwhile, Arteta upgraded on Zinchenko by adding Riccardo Calafiori to the fray. The emergence of Hale Ender, Myles Lewis-Skelly, also bumped him further down the pecking order.
Arsenal’s game-changers were no longer game-changers; they were merely spare parts in this squad.
The same is now happening for two of Arteta’s most trusted forward players at the Emirates. It would be a surprise if they started games regularly again.
£66m Arsenal duo are going to suffer this season
What a transfer window Arsenal had. Yet, unfortunately for two players in the forward line, they may well find themselves reduced to bit-part figures, just like Jesus and Zinchenko in the last few years.
The players here are Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard, key components of the Gunners’ forward line for a number of seasons now.
Unfortunately for Martinelli, he doesn’t look as though he’ll ever live up to his sky-high potential. Once described as a “talent of the century” by Jurgen Klopp, it feels like a long time now since the Brazilian netted 15 Premier League goals in a single campaign.
It also feels like a long time since Trossard’s 17-goal haul in 2023/24. That season, only Bukayo Saka scored more goals for Arsenal.
It’s safe to say that 2024/25 was not one full of too much success for either player. While Martinelli did score inside the Bernabeu, he and Trossard both ended the term with ten goals apiece from 51 and 56 games respectively.
It’s not an awful tally, but you need more, particularly when Arsenal were contending with injuries to the likes of Saka, Havertz and Jesus.
So, over the summer of 2025, Arsenal have undergone another level of progression, one that could spell the end for any thoughts both Martinelli and Trossard had of gaining regular starts.
Indeed, with Madueke and Eze having entered the fray, immediate upgrades have been sourced on the £270k-per-week duo. We saw that first-hand during Arsenal’s win over Forest at the weekend.
While Madueke didn’t leave the pitch with a goal or an assist, he was relentless down the right-hand side and showcased why he will be the most natural back-up and competition for Saka. He completed five key passes and also registered five successful dribbles.
As for Eze, he was a breath of fresh air on the left-hand side of the attack. Jinking past players for fun, he was the player who registered the assist for Gyokeres’ goal.
Running in behind, the Hale Ender was picked out by Calafiori. Eze did not need a touch to set himself, ultimately sliding the ball into the path of the big Swede who couldn’t miss from a matter of yards out.
It was a performance that evoked memories of the 2022/23 side, one that Jesus and Zinchenko were part of. The football was slick, it was sweeping and it got past the Forest defence with ease.
Unfortunately for the £66m-rated pair of Trossard and Martinelli, it’s not good news. Still, for fans of the club, it was incredibly refreshing to see a pair of wingers with the desire to beat their man.