GARY NEVILLE has ripped into Arsenal for their dodgy transfer decisions late in the transfer window.
In particular, Neville was critical of the club’s decision to wait until deadline day to bid for Aston Villa’s Douglas Luiz.
Gunners boss Mikel Arteta admitted in early August the club were still looking to do some more business, but they did not end up signing anyone else.
Following on from Arsenal’s 3-1 defeat to Manchester United, Neville, appearing on The Overlap YouTube channel, questioned the strategy.
He said: “We asked Mikel Arteta on the first game of the season, we said to him ‘are you going to do any more business?’
“He said he did, in midfield. Why did they wait until transfer deadline day to bid for Luiz? Why did they wait that three, four weeks?
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“I thought midfield yesterday [against Manchester United] was the one area where United looked like they had more, at times, passing through the lines.
“I know that Arsenal did really well in midfield, but when there was a moment to open up the game – I know Odegaard can do that – I felt they did lack a midfield player.”
Arsenal submitted three bids for Brazilian Luiz before the deadline passed.
They had also been linked with a move for Youri Tielemans throughout the window, but pulled out of the deal to sign him due to “losing belief” in the player.
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Fresh reports have also emerged which have revealed Arsenal were left frustrated in their pursuit of Pedro Neto by Nottingham Forest.
Forest’s purchase of Morgan Gibbs-White prompted Wolves to up their asking price of Neto to £50m, which was too high a fee for Arsenal.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk