Arsenal have undergone an impressive rebuild under the management of Mikel Arteta.That rebuild began when Arteta came in as the man to replace Unai Emery in 2019 and is still very much a work in progress, but there are times when it's acceptable to look back and realise how far they have come.The Gunners narrowly missed out on a fourth place finish last season and have bolstered their squad tremendously this summer, aiming to return to the top four and the Champions League following a hard reset.
Arteta's reset at Arsenal
Arsenal's squad was inflated with underperforming players on excessive wages and it felt like the club was truly stuck in a rut, following the departure of Arsene Wenger and the changing of the guard.
It's taken time and there is still plenty to do with the Premier League kicking off this weekend, but Arsenal are now in a much more stable and sustainable position, with the wage bill decreased and the squad more carefully constructed, following the departures of several key stars.
Arteta and Edu - Arsenal's technical director - deserve credit for orchestrating such a sudden rebuild in such a short amount of time. While they are nowhere near the finished article just yet, the strides they have made in the last few years are actually quite surprising.
That progress has been highlighted on Twitter, with user @Ahmed91Gooner posting what appears to be a list of Arsenal's best paid players from 2020. The list, displaying the Gunners' nine top earners from that year, is striking. Let's take a look.
Only three players remain from Arsenal's nine highest earners of merely two years ago. And what's worse is that two of them - Nicolas Pepe and Hector Bellerin - could still leave before this summer's transfer window shuts.
By the end of the summer, that number could be down to just one player remaining out of nine. A seriously astonishing turnaround, when you take a step back.
Players that have departed
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang left the club in January 2022 to join Barcelona after his Gunners career began to fizzle out, blitzing what was left of a contract worth a total £13 million per the tweet and Spotrac.
Willian signed on a free transfer from Chelsea in 2020, but left just a year later after a dismal singular season as a Gunner. David Luiz left in the same summer while Sead Kolasinac left on loan, although the latter has since left permanently this summer.
Bernd Leno is set to complete a transfer to Fulham per David Ornstein, which leaves just Bellerin, Pepe and Thomas Partey as Arsenal's remaining top earners from two years ago.
Chelsea hijack Cucurella deal (Football Terrace)
It's wild to see just how much the club were spending on players who clearly couldn't take them forward, but credit to Arteta and his colleagues for identifying the issue and effectively orchestrating a turnaround.
The next big challenge is making good on the foundations that have been laid. Missing out on the top four last season was a shame, but not a goal the Gunners were expected to achieve. They now have a squad fully capable of breaking back into those top spots, and must ensure they deliver this time around, especially after such a strong pre-season showing.