Arsenal director Josh Kroenke believes the club’s recent transfer business proves it still has “the aura” needed to attract top players and says further signings remain a possibility in January.
Arsenal was one of the busiest recruiters in the Premier League this summer, with Gabriel Martinelli, William Saliba, Nicolas Pepe, Kieran Tierney and David Luiz arriving on permanent deals, and Dani Ceballos also joining on loan from Real Madrid.
Arsenal fans had called on Stan Kroenke to end his “passive” ownership of the club earlier this summer, accusing the American of a lack of investment in the squad, but Josh Kroenke insists those protests did not affect the club’s transfer policy.
“I would say that if you’re reacting and doing club-record signings based on public opinion, you’re not going to go very far as a club,” Kroenke told BBC Sport.
“We weren’t reactive this summer, we were actually proactive.”
He added: “As for January, I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves.
“We’ve got to evaluate some things in the short term and figure out where we might need to address going forward, so when January does roll around we’re going to be proactive again.”
Kroenke admits the heavy defeat to Chelsea in the Europa League final in Baku did force Arsenal into altering their transfer targets this summer.
However, he insists the Gunners remain one of the most attractive clubs in the world – despite a lack of Champions League football this season.
“As the second half of the match unfolded, understanding the position we were in and some of the targets as we headed into the summer from a transfer standpoint, we had to rethink some of our strategy based on that last 45 minutes,” he said.
He added: “Without Champions League football, we weren’t exactly sure [what was possible], but I encouraged our football operations department to be aggressive and when Arsenal Football Club knocks on a player’s door, it’s a different knock.
“This summer, even though we weren’t in a position of strength coming out of Baku, I think there were a few people caught off guard that Arsenal Football Club still has the aura that it does.
“We’re excited to keep pushing that now and into the future.”
