Andrea Berta approaches immediate Arsenal role change as Viktor Gyokeres transfer shift explained

There have been plenty of positive noises around Andrea Berta since his arrival at Arsenal earlier this year. Replacing Edu Gaspar as the club's sporting director, there were big shoes to fill.

However, the way this season has played out, with Arsenal falling short after injuries and holes in the squad being exposed, has added intrigue and hope in there being a better summer ahead.

The lack of striker depth, plus Mikel Merino's struggles as a midfielder, have all left Mikel Arteta fighting to keep up. Berta's arrival promises to change that.

Through his time in Spain, Berta showed he has all the skills to form title-winning sides which compete at the very top. There is also similarity between Arsenal's physical style and that of Diego Simeone's.

There is now optimism at Arsenal that the former Atletico Madrid guru can help push Arsenal onto the next level. Since his arrival at the end of March, plenty of the feeling coming out of London Colney has been good.

Arsenal are already working on their summer additions and appear to be looking in the right areas with a striker, midfielder, and winger all on the shortlist. , who football.london knows Arsenal are extremely interested in.

The summer window, after all, does not open until June 1.

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There will be a small break less than a fortnight in after changes made to the scheduling ahead of the Club World Cup, and then the window will open for good with almost three months of fun to follow. For Berta, that is when he will truly be judged.

Although Edu's work was conducted over a number of years with the need for wholesale changes to the squad in terms of personnel and culture, . He is there to essentially get the club over the line and to deliver elite-level team building.

He must find the finishing touch after all the changes made by Edu and Arteta across five years. Whereas Edu and Arsenal looked longer term with the integration of William Saliba and signings of Gabriel Magalhaes, Ben White, and Martin Odegaard, Berta is now seeking first-team ready improvement straight away.

His runway to this summer has been shortened by the circumstances around his appointment, but it does not seem to have made a massive difference. After Sunday's final Premier League game of the season, the attention will turn once and for all from footballing action to transfers.

Right now, Berta can still operate without the full gaze being on him. Arsenal may not have anything to play for as they travel to Southampton but once the season is done, there will be very little time before supporters are asking for tangible evidence of Berta in the market.

That will see him come under the microscope imminently. Most of the Arsenal narrative is already around transfers even with one game to go. When that really is out of the way it will leave very little room to hide for the recruitment setup and Berta.