Arsenal have built the team most managers dream of – and that’s a big reason why they’re the reigning Premier League champions.
Mikel Arteta has not been afraid to spend big money in recent seasons to lift his team from eternal second place to finally break a 22-year drought last season, while also missing out on his first-ever Champions League title in a penalty shootout against Paris Saint-Germain.
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The Spaniard went big on the market again this summer, bringing in Ezri Konsa, Bruno Guimarães and Christos Tzolis for over £150 million. The team has started very well with six wins in their seven games in all competitions.
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Their arrivals, plus the fact that Arteta wants to create a more attacking style at the Emirates Stadium, have led to changes in the way the team lines up and the players he chooses.
Star striker Viktor Gyökeres is yet to start a game in the Premier League this season, despite being the club’s top scorer in all competitions with 21 goals – Kai Havertz is preferred as the ninth. Alongside him, winger Noni Madueke is yet to start in the top flight, with Bukayo Saka and Tzolis preferred on the wings.
Now, according to The Telegraph, Champions League clubs Juventus and Atlético Madrid are showing great interest in the English winger ahead of the January window due to his lack of playing time.
Madueke joined Arsenal in a £52m deal from Chelsea in the summer of 2025, starting 16 games in the Premier League last season when the team won the title – and secured a place in Thomas Tuchel’s England squad for the World Cup.
He started five games in the tournament when England finished third, but his lack of game time this season left him out of the squad for the Nations League squad – which could lead him to look for a transfer to regain his place.
Arteta wasted £52 million on Madueke
Madueke clearly has talent, and he’s a player who – in the right environment and circumstances – can be a really dangerous weapon.
But Arsenal spent £52 million on the winger when he only had 18 months of Premier League experience behind him, having been a supporting role at Chelsea, and with limited experience at PSV Eindhoven before that.
It was clear at the time that he had some obvious weaknesses in his game, and he hasn’t developed much since moving to North London. He is still very frustrating in the final third, not offering enough to justify a place as a regular starter.
But his arrival hampered the development of Ethan Nwaneri, who has since been loaned out twice – and Madueke is now probably just as far behind teenage sensation Max Dowman in the hierarchy.
Letting Madueke go mid-season would be a gamble unless they could bring in a replacement immediately. But it would also show that Arteta made a big mistake by signing him in the first place – because he wasn’t, and isn’t, good enough.
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