Arsenal made four first team additions this summer, with Riccardo Calafiori, Mikel Merino, Neto, and Raheem Sterling all joining the North London club.
Neto has come in to offer back up for David Raya between the sticks. However, the other trio of new faces will all be competing for regular game time.
There will be plenty of competition for game time throughout Mikel Arteta’s squad.
Calafiori is expected to play at left-back predominantly for the Gunners, though he is also able to slot in at centre-back. However, the likes of Jurrien Timber, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Jakub Kiwior, and Takehiro Tomiyasu will all be vying with the Italian for the full-back role.
Meanwhile, Merino will be determined to make the third midfield slot, alongside Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard, his own.
However, Merino picked up an injury in his first training session at Arsenal, meaning fans of the club will have to wait to see him stake his claim for a starting berth.
Sterling will struggle to displace Bukayo Saka in Arteta’s regular starting XI on the right flank, but he certainly has the capacity and pedigree to make the left-wing berth his own ahead of Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli, if he can produce the kind of form that saw him dazzle in his time at Manchester City.
Sources speaking exclusively to Arsenal Insider have now provided an insight into how the club’s hierarchy feel about the incoming business that was done this summer.
There is a feeling at the Emirates Stadium that at least two, if not all three, of Sterling, Calafiori, and Merino will have established themselves as regular starters by Christmas.
If that expectation comes to past, the Arteta and sporting director Edu Gaspar will be considered to have once again excelled in the market.
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Of course, if the likes of Merino, Sterling, and Calafiori are to rise in the ranks, then there will be players who find their stock falling in turn.
For instance, Trossard has struggled to usurp Martinelli in the pecking order. The Belgian could now find that he is pitted in a fight with Sterling.
Trossard and Arteta have clashed in the past, and if the former Brighton man finds that his opportunities become limited due to the Chelsea loanee’s arrival, that could cause problems for the manager.
Equally, Kiwior is already on the fringes of the squad at the Emirates Stadium, and Calafiori’s impact could confirm that the Poland international’s future lies elsewhere.
There has been interest in Kiwior from Chelsea, amongst other Premier League clubs, meaning a January exit could be on the cards.
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