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With just a month to go until the closure of the transfer window Arsenal find themselves far from where they would want to be going into the new Premier League season.

Only one signing has been made and the addition of young Brazilian Gabriel Martinelli from Ituano was one with a clear eye to the future. The 18-year-old is highly-regarded but aside from the EFL Cup he is not expected to feature on a regular basis in the first team over the coming months.

Emery's squad has been further reinforced by a host of the best young products from a stellar cast in the Arsenal Academy and the Spaniard has been encouraged to make the most of his young players by the club hierarchy. Freddie Ljungberg's move to assistant head coach will allow the Swede to champion the cases of Bukayo Saka, Eddie Nketiah, Joe Willock and others, all of whom are likely to play more prominent roles this term than they did last.

Yet the club are acutely aware that to compete for Champions League qualification next season they must invest shrewdly in the transfer market, making the most of a starting budget of just £45m that has already been partly used up by the £6m addition of Martinelli.

Outsmarting the market

Arsenal's head of football Raul Sanllehi said before the start of the window that the Gunners' "need to outsmart the market".

"We need to make the right signings, do the right sales, the coaching staff needs to prepare the games properly like they do.

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"It just means hard work and outsmarting the market. That’s the two, I would say, essences of success, if we want to be there."

That has proven to be easier said than done.

Agents who work with Arsenal describe progress over deals as being agonisingly slow - football.london is aware of one leading youth prospect who is yet to have a meeting with the club hierarchy over their plans for him next season.

As this publication reported last month, multiple weeks can go by with no contact between a player's representatives and the club, something which is true both for those already at the club and those Arsenal may wish to sign.

It has not helped that Arsenal still do not have a technical director - Edu's appointment is expected to be confirmed imminently and whilst the Brazilian had been in contact with his soon-to-be colleagues before Brazil's Copa America had even begun, discussing transfer strategies and his view on players in the squad, it does not aid the Gunners' cause when the man supposed to knit together the disparate strands of the organisation is not in place.

The same is true for the head of recruitment. Francis Cagigao will take on the job permanently that he has been doing on an interim basis since Sven Mislintat's departure in February yet that is still to be formally confirmed.

It is perhaps little surprise Arsenal appear to be making heavy weather of a transfer market when two of their leading figures in recruitment are not formally in place.

There is hope that greater progress will be made during the tour of the USA that begins this week, not least because much of the club hierarchy will be in the same place at the same time, able to thrash out the specifics of deals face to face.

Meanwhile those who are already at the club find themselves spinning all too many plates at once, trying to trim back a squad with too many players whose performances don't match their earnings whilst also securing discounted deals for the players they want in the transfer window.

New additions

Top of Emery's wishlist going into the summer was a new winger and Arsenal have had multiple irons in the fire in an attempt to secure a player who can bring the pace and directness that the side lacked so often last season.

Prior to missing out on the Champions League Arsenal were optimistic that they could snare boyhood fan Wilfried Zaha from Crystal Palace but many at the club and outside assumed that their hopes of signing him had vanished when they lost 4-1 to Chelsea in the Europa League final in Baku.

(Image: Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Ultimately Arsenal resolved to do what they could to sign Zaha, though a £40m bid structured over multiple years was dismissed out of hand by Palace, who feel that the Gunners are attempting to unsettle their star player. Unless Sanllehi et al can get much closer to the £80m price tag - either by selling fringe players for a lot of money or convincing owner Stan Kroenke to directly invest, both of which seem tough asks - it is hard to see how they can get their man.

Should the move for Zaha stall Arsenal do have alternate irons in the fire, most notably Ryan Fraser. Where the Scottish international is concerned the hands of his suitors only improve as the transfer deadline approach.

Fraser has made clear to Bournemouth that he does not intend to sign an extension to a contract that expires in less than 12 months time. Still the Cherries want in excess of £30m for his services; Arsenal would hope to get a deal done for around £20m.

Yannick Carrasco and Lucas Vazquez have been linked with moves to Arsenal though the club have done little beyond exploratory work on either of those two. At the time of writing they are not viewed as serious targets at the Emirates.

Free agent Yacine Brahimi could be a fall-back option, as is a loan approach to Barcelona for Malcom. Arsenal's ability to get a deal done for the latter has been hampered somewhat by the struggles of Denis Suarez at the Emirates Stadium.

The Spanish champions would not look favourably on similar terms to those they agreed with Suarez, where they reluctantly accepted Arsenal's demands for a purchase option rather than commitment and soon found themselves reunited with a player they were desperate to sell.

To get Malcom Arsenal would likely have to commit to a mandatory purchase option. Barcelona reportedly want to receive the full £36.5m they paid Bordeaux.

Arsenal's priorities are clearer when it comes to two defensive reinforcements: centre-back and left-back. For the latter position they want Celtic's Kieran Tierney, who carries a £25m asking price.

(Image: Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

The Gunners' solitary bid so far in the transfer window for Tierney was a £15m offer immediately rejected by Celtic. Napoli's growing interest in the Scottish international is likely to focus minds at the Emirates Stadium but there is optimism that a deal can be done swiftly as and when needed.

Tierney is believed to favour a move to the Gunners, who are expected to offer him a £70,000-a-week deal. Personal terms should not be an issue.

Though Arsenal are reluctant to meet Celtic's valuation in full there is a compromise figure that can be found in excess of £20m, a shrewd investment for a player who has rivalled Liverpool's Andy Robertson for a starting role in the Scotland side.

Meanwhile the Gunners have been in lengthy talks with Saint-Etienne over a move for centre-back William Saliba but as of yet there has been no breakthrough. The French side are insistent that the 18-year-old be loaned back to them for the 2019/20 campaign.

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"He will stay at the club this season," club president Roland Romeyer said.

"It is an imperative condition should we come to an agreement for his transfer. It is also William's wish."

Arsenal do not particularly wish to spend £27m on a player who is unavailable to Emery for an entire season, particularly with the defence having struggled so much this season. However they may not have much choice.

The Gunners also want a midfielder to replace Aaron Ramsey but finding the money to do that is no simple task.

Trimming the squad

Mesut Ozil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan were the highest-earners Arsenal were keen on, though there was an acceptance that both players would both hard to shift due to their respective wages of £350,000-a-week and £200,000-a-week.

Elsewhere Arsenal are yet to find a buyer for fringe players Shkodran Mustafi and Mohamed Elneny and received only £4million for Colombian international goalkeeper David Ospina, though that was a relative success as Napoli had been hoping to negotiate down on the purchase clause they had previously agreed.

So far Ospina has been the only sale to add to the transfer budget. Centre-back Calum Chambers, a young English player on a long-term contract, could command a high fee, particularly in a market where Aston Villa are prepared to part with £20m for Tyrone Mings.

Southampton are among the clubs with a long-standing interest in the 24-year-old, who returned to pre-season training with much of the squad on Friday. That served as a stark reminder of how close the new season is.

In just 34 days' time a decisive Premier League campaign begins for Emery's side, who must make real progress this season or run the risk of many more years in Europa League purgatory. There is much work to be done in the transfer window to prepare Arsenal for the task ahead.