Arsenal
Andrea Berta’s Transfer Ledger: Successes and Missteps from Atlético to Arsenal
Appointed in March 2025, Andrea Berta’s transfers range from Rodri and Griezmann to costly misfires.
Andrea Berta arrived at Arsenal in March 2025, succeeding Edu Gaspar and immediately bringing a résumé built at Atlético that mixed decisive finds with expensive errors. His time in Madrid was defined by an eye for potential and a willingness to back unconventional moves.
Among his clearest successes was Rodri. Released by Atlético as a youth, he impressed at Villarreal and was re-signed for around $23 million in the summer of 2018. Within 12 months Manchester City activated his $83.5 million release clause, beginning his transformation into a future Ballon d’Or winner. Marcos Llorente was another shrewd acquisition. Signed from Real Madrid in the summer of 2019 as a replacement for Rodri, Llorente had made just 39 senior appearances for Madrid and had been told by Zinedine Zidane that he was not part of his plans. For $47 million he became a perfect fit for Diego Simeone, making well over 250 appearances and becoming one of the manager’s most trusted players.
Berta also showed instincts for bargain flips. He helped Genoa turn a profit on Leonardo Bonucci in 2009, buying for $4.7 million and selling for $12.4 million within a month. The decision to sign Luis Suárez for $8 million in 2020 was unfashionable but effective; Suárez scored 21 La Liga goals in his first season to fire Atlético to the title and added 11 the following campaign. The Antoine Griezmann cycle remains perhaps Berta’s most impressive piece of business: sold to Barcelona for $141 million, recalled on loan in 2021, Atlético refused to trigger a $47 million option and eventually re-signed him permanently for $23.5 million.
Yet the record contains costly mistakes. Viktor Gyökeres arrived at Arsenal for $85 million in June 2025 and had an underwhelming start, with most of his seven goals up until Christmas described as flukes and Mikel Arteta deploying Mikel Merino up front in response. Atlético paid around $70 million to re-sign Diego Costa in 2017 only for his contract to be terminated three years later. Thomas Lemar, a near-target for Arsenal in 2017 after a failed $117.5 million bid, has struggled for Atlético and is on loan at Girona in 2025–26, with just 10 goals in seven seasons. Jackson Martínez, signed for $41 million from Porto after 92 goals in three seasons, lasted six months before being sold and prompting Atlético president Enrique Cerezo to say Martínez “was not at the level” of the club. Finally, João Félix’s $148 million arrival in 2019 produced a mixed four-year spell that never fully justified that outlay.
Berta’s ledger is unmistakably mixed: decisive scouting and spectacular value plays alongside high-cost gambles that did not always pay off.
Arsenal
Arsenal bring in throw-in specialist Thomas Grønnemark to seek marginal gains
Arsenal have enlisted Thomas Grønnemark to refine throw-ins as they chase marginal gains to win PL.
Arsenal have taken an unusual step to refine a specific area of play as they chase marginal gains that could decide the title. The club already benefits from a recognised set-piece specialist, with Nicolas Jover credited for an outstanding corners return. Arsenal have scored 14 goals from corners, the leading mark in the Premier League so far this season, and the club wants to build on that advantage.
According to The Times, the Gunners have engaged Thomas Grønnemark on a consultancy basis. The 50-year-old is best known for his work with Liverpool but has also worked with Borussia Dortmund and Ajax. Mikel Arteta’s side hope Grønnemark can help “weaponise” throw-ins and provide the extra edge required to deliver the club a first Premier League title in 22 years come May.
Long throws and a more physical edge are again prominent in the English game, 15 years on from Rory Delap and Stoke City. Grønnemark was a former long-throw world record holder during his playing career, and his methods extend beyond pure distance.
Grønnemark has been credited with clear improvements at the clubs he has advised. He described his impact at Liverpool to BBC Radio Merseyside in 2024: “When I came, data showed that Liverpool were 18th in the Premier League for throw-ins under pressure,” he explained. “In my first season, we improved from 45.4% to 68.4% and went from 18th to number one.
“People might think it’s only throw-ins, but there’s approximately 40 to 60 throw-ins in a match and they use up 20 minutes. It’s a gigantic thing in football. People have been neglecting this for many years.”
His recent work with Brentford has been visible in results. The Bees have scored nine Premier League goals from long throws since the start of last season, leading the division, with four each from Manchester United and Bournemouth the next best.
Posting on X in December 2025 as @ThomasThrowin, Grønnemark outlined his approach. “I work with throw-in tools,” he said “Throw-in basic training, throw-in small sided games, [teach] the players to scan, make the right types and length of run, reading the opponents defending pattern, use individual throw-in supers powers, throw-in sequences, unlimited space creation and much more. ]”
Arsenal
Saka’s New Five-Year Deal Makes Him Arsenal’s Top Earner and a Premier League High-Drinker
Saka’s five-year deal to 2031 reportedly raises his pay to about £300,000 per week.
Bukayo Saka has agreed a new five-year contract at Arsenal that will run until the summer of 2031 and, according to The Guardian, lift his weekly pay to roughly £300,000. That figure would make him the club’s highest earner and place him among the best-paid players in the Premier League.
Saka was thought to be on £200,000 per week under his previous deal, which was due to expire in 2027, meaning the reported increase represents around 50 percent.
The Guardian’s reporting also identified Kai Havertz as Arsenal’s previous top earner, on about £280,000 per week. Saka, still only 24 and a homegrown player, has emerged as a clear leader at the club and regularly wears the captain’s armband when Martin Ødegaard is unavailable.
Club contract planning appears to continue beyond Saka. Ødegaard is set to be one of the next in line for fresh terms as his deal expires in 2028, while Declan Rice has been billed as the extension priority. Rice is described in reports as an all-action midfielder, “arguably the club’s most important and best player, transforming the complexion of the team with his inclusion.” Those same reports contrast the drop-off between Saka and Noni Madueke, or Ødegaard and Eberechi Eze, with the more marked difference when Rice is not on the pitch.
Saka will not eclipse Arsenal’s highest-paid player ever. Mesut Özil reportedly had six months remaining on a deal worth about £350,000 per week when he left the club in January 2021.
On the wider Premier League stage, Saka’s reported wage still sits below the division’s top earners. The Telegraph reported Mohamed Salah’s extension would see him earn up to £480,000 per week with bonuses and a base rate near £400,000 per week. The Guardian reported Erling Haaland’s nine-and-a-half-year deal as worth around £500,000 per week. Even among English players Saka is not the highest earner: Jack Grealish is reported to earn a similar £300,000 per week at Manchester City and Raheem Sterling about £325,000 per week, per The Times. The draft report notes that neither Grealish nor Sterling have been capped for England by Thomas Tuchel and are yet to play a single minute of Premier League football for their paymasters this season.
Arsenal
Saka Agrees Five-Year Deal to 2031 as Arsenal Secure Another Academy Pillar
Saka agrees a five-year deal to 2031 as Arsenal tie down another academy talent and core players 24.
Bukayo Saka has agreed a new five-year contract at Arsenal on an improved salary, keeping the 24-year-old firmly in the club’s plans and out of reach of several unnamed suitors.
Asked in November why he appeared relaxed about the situation, the Arsenal boss said: “I prefer that word, I think it is confidence,” he told assembled media. “What Bukayo has transmitted to me and the club, and Emeka [Obasi, Saka’s agent] as well, is that they want to continue to be here. “It’s a very healthy and powerful relationship. The journey that he has had at the club and what he has become is something we want to maintain. That is something that is going to leave a legacy at this club and he needs to fulfil that role.”
The Athletic reported the new deal runs until the summer of 2031. The exact figures were not disclosed, the report saying the wage will “recognise his standing” in the game.
The same report added that, should he ever become attainable, Saka is “wanted by the biggest clubs in world football.” For now, the prospect of the winger leaving the club he joined aged seven appears remote.
Arsenal have moved to lock down a group of academy graduates and key defenders in recent months. Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri were tied to 2030, while William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhães agreed new deals in the last seven months. Jurriën Timber is thought to be next in line for a renewal.
On the field, Saka’s form has had peaks and troughs. He teed up Arsenal’s first two goals of a 5–2 win at West Ham United on Nov. 30, 2024, taking his season total to 10 Premier League assists, but he did not register another top-flight assist until the 1–1 draw with Chelsea on Nov. 30, 2025. This season the regular penalty taker has three goals from open play and three top-flight assists, a return that Leeds United’s Brenden Aaronson can better in the Premier League.
Statistically Saka remains influential. FBref shows him fourth for xG+xA per 90 (0.60) among regulars, behind Erling Haaland, Jérémy Doku and Enzo Fernández and ahead of Hugo Ekitiké, correct as of Jan. 9, 2026.
His display against Liverpool underlined both his threat and recent frustrations, repeatedly skirting past Milos Kerkez and creating chances that teammates failed to convert. A first prolonged spell in the treatment room coincided with a dip in output, yet he has two assists in four appearances since Christmas Day. The presence of Noni Madueke should allow Arteta to manage Saka’s minutes and ease fitness concerns while adding competition.
