Arsenal could be set to sign one or two seven-figure players for the u21s in the final week of the transfer window, according to James Benge.

Arsenal's Spanish manager Mikel Arteta applauds supporters on the pitch after the English Premier League football match between Crystal Palace and Arsenal at Selhurst Park in south London on August 5, 2022. - Arsenal won the game 2-0. - (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images)
Arsenal’s Spanish manager Mikel Arteta applauds supporters on the pitch after the English Premier League football match between Crystal Palace and Arsenal at Selhurst Park in south London on August 5, 2022. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images)

With a week left of the transfer window, Arsenal’s primary focus is on trying to sign a winger, whether that’s Pedro Neto or someone else.

Yet that might not be the only business the club do in the final days. Speaking to the Arseblog podcast, James Benge suggested he’d heard whispers of a possible lower-profile deal or two for Arsenal this week.

“I would just keep an eye out on whether they might just take a couple of flyers around the £1-2m level, for players to go in the [u21s],” Benge said. “Just whispers I hear, but we shall see if anything happens there.

“It wouldn’t shock me to see a player, or maybe even two players like that arrive.”

Arsenal’s recent business with low-cost u21 signings seems to have gone pretty well, with Marquinhos making a fantastic start and Mika Biereth and Lino Sousa doing very well after their moves from Fulham and West Bromwich Albion last year.

Then there are players like Omar Rekik and Nikolaj Moller, also out on loan this season, as well as Salah-Eddine Oulad M’Hand, who was brought in on a free transfer and has just moved to Hull City on loan with an option to buy.

If Hull activate that option, it’s a profit for Arsenal on a player they signed for nothing.

LONDON, ENGLAND: Salah Oulad M'Hand of Arsenal (R) is congratulated by teammates Joel Lopez (L) and Omar Rekik (C) after scoring their team's second goal during the Premier League 2 match between Arsenal U23 and Brighton & Hove Albion U23 at Emirates Stadium on October 01, 2021. (Photo by Alex Burstow/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND: Salah Oulad M’Hand of Arsenal (R) is congratulated by teammates Joel Lopez (L) and Omar Rekik (C) after scoring their team’s second goal during the Premier League 2 match between Arsenal U23 and Brighton & Hove Albion U23 at Emirates Stadium on October 01, 2021. (Photo by Alex Burstow/Getty Images)

We’ll have to wait a couple more years to get a longer-term view of how this strategy is working, to see whether any of these late-teen signings end up in the first team or making big-money moves away.

But you only need one or two of them to fetch you £10m before you’ve paid back your investment. So it seems like a low-risk strategy.

It’s one to keep an eye on in the final days of the summer window.