Arsenal sporting director Andrea Berta and his ‘scattergun’ approach to the transfer window continues, with a fresh report claiming that discussions are now being held over a marquee Serie A star.
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He’s expressed what it will take for the Slovenian to leave Leipzig this summer.
Berta operates a different transfer strategy to his predecessor, Edu. Rather than identifying one key target to seriously pursue, the Italian is known to work on numerous deals simultaneously before landing on the best one for a key position.
“The best way of describing it is that Andrea Berta’s approach is different to Edu. If he was going to a party, he would lay out three or four outfits, try them all on and finally decide what to wear,” said reliable journalist Ben Jacobs on talkSPORT recently.
|
Arsenal transfer spending under Arteta (via Sky Sports) |
Money on new signings |
|---|---|
|
19/20 – winter |
£0 |
|
20/21 – summer |
£81.5m |
|
20/21 – winter |
£900k |
|
21/22 – summer |
£156.8m |
|
21/22 – winter |
£1.8m |
|
22/23 – summer |
£121.5m |
|
22/23 – winter |
£59m |
|
23/24 – summer |
£208m |
|
23/24 – winter |
£0 |
|
24/25 – summer |
£101.5m |
|
24/25 – winter |
£0 |
“With this race for a number nine, what’s happening is that both deals, for Benjamin Sesko and Viktor Gyokeres, are being advanced or ‘tried on’ before a bid is made. Andrea Berta is out in the market, effectively lining up both deals, whereas Edu tended to pick one and be very meticulous, and then discreetly try and get it over the line, often with a series of bids.
“It was either a very smart tactic because Arsenal had confidence that they would get that man, or it dragged on, and we got more summer sagas. We won’t see that with Andrea Berta.”
This was echoed by Sky Germany’s Florian Plettenberg last month, who revealed that Berta held talks over “numerous” transfer targets for the wide area.
Recent reports from Turkey state that one of the many wingers on Berta’s Arsenal radar is Juventus sensation Kenan Yildiz.
Yildiz was said to have emerged as a “prime” Arsenal target recently, and a further update has now come to light on their interest.
Arsenal in discussions with Juventus over signing Kenan Yildiz
As per news outlet Juve FC, the Turkey international commands a valuation of around £85 million, following an excellent 2024/2025 campaign where he finished the Serie A campaign as the Old Lady’s best-performer by average match rating, according to WhoScored.
It’s also reported that Arsenal have entered discussions with Juventus over signing Yildiz, despite their unwillingness to sell the 20-year-old, as they also try to tie him down with a new deal which could run until 2031.
Juve view Yildiz as a future star and cornerstone of Igor Tudor’s team, while the player himself isn’t exactly chomping at the bit to leave either, despite some contact made with his “close” circle.
The Turk is currently starring at the Club World Cup for Juve, scoring in their 5-0 win over Al Ain, and with £97 million worth of prize money on offer to the victors, Tudor won’t want to lose one of his star men before the tournament ends.
