Why Andrea Berta is gaining 'hero status' at Arsenal with eighth summer transfer in the works

WithArsenal interested in adding an eighth summer signing to their list after a record spend already having been achieved, the club’s sporting director Andrea Berta is gaining quite the hero status from supporters. Already around £260million has been spent on seven players, but the club are not yet finished.

There is a week to go in the transfer window and there could yet be as many as six transfers to be organised, football.london understands. Piero Hincapie would become the eighth summer signing for the club, but his arrival is tied to a deal with Porto, who are understood to be pushing hard to sign Jakub Kiwior.

Both clubs could sort loans with obligations to buy for the players which would help the Gunners find a way to navigate the already restrictive UEFA Financial Fair Play barriers in place. The signing of Eberechi Eze was accelerated after Spurs’ ambitions of signing the England international became public, while the injury suffered by Kai Havertz also impacted things.

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Berta has shown the ability to secure deals at speed. While the Viktor Gyokeres deal felt like it dragged on some time, the move was secured in around three to four weeks well ahead of the new Premier League season and after initial hopes of signing Benjamin Sesko.

However, not to be lured into overspending, as Manchester United have since been accused of doing for the Slovenian international, Berta helped to arrange a move for the Swede at an incredibly reasonable figure well below the player’s €100million (£87million) release clause.

Once finding out the Kepa Arrizabalaga release clause of just £5million, the Gunners were quick to secure the player and convince him of the project despite playing regular first-team Premier League football the previous season. Once it was understood that Thomas Partey would leave with the end of his deal, knowing Martin Zubimendi was already on his way, Christian Norgaard too was quickly signed for another very reasonable fee just north of £10million.

While it drew some scrutiny, and despite having an offer knocked back by Chelsea, Arsenal secured a deal for Noni Madueke below the market value of wingers who had also moved in the summer. Mohammed Kudus, Anthony Elanga, Jamie Gittens, and potentially the likes of Savinho, who could still move, are all involved in higher fees.

The Eze deal itself is a mastery in swift action. Now, the club, looking likely to move on Kiwior, has identified a long-term target of both theirs and Berta’s from his time at Atletico Madrid and is trying to tie down a move that works financially for all parties.

While the work done by former sporting director Edu Gaspar, who had his critics, helped build the Gunners back into a side under Mikel Arteta’s guidance that would again compete for the biggest honours, the hope is that Berta’s influence will take them to the next step—becoming champions. So far, he has shown everyone that trying to level up Arsenal is a mission he aims to complete.