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Cape Town - Arsenal’s summer transfer window was a success, according to chief executive Ivan Gazidis, who sent a rallying email to the players and staff last week.
Johannesburg-born Gazidis, 52, emailed all the players and staff at Arsenal after the close of the transfer window, which saw them fail to sign Thomas Lemar and hang on to the want-away Alexis Sanchez.
Gazidis sent the email at 10.18am on Friday claiming all the negative reaction to their transfer efforts was down to the “unacceptable” performance in the 4-0 defeat at Liverpool.
He claimed the Gunners had an “improved squad” can now challenge for the Premier League title and claimed he wanted “to give some perspective on the transfer window amid all the hysteria”.
In an email revealed by the Daily Star, Gazidis wrote: “At the end of the window, reviewing all activity, we have once again improved the quality and depth of our squad.
“Everything is coloured by results…a positive performance at Liverpool would have coloured this transfer window very differently.
“We have had a poor start to the season but have the quality to turn it around and turn around performances and compete for the title. It is time to get back to what it is all about, the football.
“The manager and players know that the performance at Anfield was not good enough and they will be focused to put that right after the international break.”
Gazidis also wrote that keeping hold of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil was “a clear statement of our ambitions and should help refute suggestions we are just about the money. That is simply nonsense”.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Kieran Gibbs, Lucas Perez and Gabriel all left in the summer with just Alexandre Lacazette and Sead Kolasinac arriving, giving the club a £62m profit in the window.
The report also claims Gazidis “offered to meet worried players and staff in the canteen for a chat and a cup of tea if they wanted to quiz him about the club’s actions”.
