Out-of-Touch Arsenal Chief Executive Hails Transfer Window 'Improvements' After Diabolical Summer

Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis emailed the club's players and staff after the transfer window closed last week, hitting out at suggestions that the summer had been a poor one for the north London side. 

The Gunners failed to strengthen in a number of areas, shelling out only on the signing of Alexandre Lacazette while also bringing in Sead Kolasinac on a free transfer - leaving the window with a net profit while title rivals Manchester United and Manchester City pumped well over £100m net into their squads. 

Image by Chris Deeley

In the email, quoted by the Daily Star, Gazidis claimed: “At the end of the window, reviewing all activity, we have once again improved the quality and depth of our squad.”

The Johannesburg-born businessman also insisted that the 4-0 hammering at the hands of Liverpool in their last Premier League game made the situation look worse than the reality, saying: “Everything is coloured by results...a positive performance at Liverpool would have coloured this transfer window very differently”

He added: “We have had a poor start to the season but have the quality to turn it around and turn around performances and compete for the title. It is time to get back to what it is all about, the football. The manager and players know that the performance at Anfield was not good enough and they will be focused to put that right after the international break.”

Gazidis pointed to a refusal to sell Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil as a 'clear statement of our ambitions' - despite a willingness to sell Ozil if a replacement could be procured and a lack of interest from other clubs in Sanchez - calling suggestions that the board were concerned only with money 'simply nonsense'.