Mikel Arteta's spending to reach nearly £600m but sales have generated less than £70m

The manager has overseen some major changes to the club since taking over in December 2019.

That has included a significant turnover in players with Arteta keen to bring in his own squad of young, hungry stars to replace a cohort of underperformers on high wages.

It saw players such as Mesut Ozil, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Shkodran Mustafi and Alexandre Lacazette leave and Gabriel Jesus, Martin Odegaard and Benjamin White have arrived, to name a few.

They have generated around £70m from sales of unwanted stars, but Arsenal's spending department have gone into overdrive this summer already with one transfer confirmed and more to come.

Kai Havertz was signed from Chelsea for £65m, a record deal under Arteta, while Jurrien Timber and Rice are on the way.

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The fee mooted for Rice has been stated at £105m while Timber could arrive for £40m, taking this year's spending to over £200m alone.

And in total, that would amount to £591.5m - just shy of £600m worth of transfers spent by Arteta during his Arsenal reign.

The Gunners were leading the race for the Premier League for much of the campaign last season.

However, a late stumble saw them relinquish top spot to Manchester City, who lifted their third Premier League successive title as a result.

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With the added weight of Champions League football, Arteta has been keen to bolster his squad.

With so much spent, expectations have been raised around the Emirates as they look to end a long wait for success in the Premier League.

Next year will mark 20 years since the legendary 'Invincibles' campaign, the last time Arsenal won the Premier League.

But while Havertz, Rice and Timber might be on their way, there are more transfer mooted.

Southampton star Romeo Lavia and Bayer Leverkusen ace Jeremie Frimpong are also on their radar.

With the news that Granit Xhaka will depart for Leverkusen and rumours that Thomas Partey could leave for Saudi Arabia, Arteta will be keen on another midfielder.

Moises Caicedo nearly joined in January but Chelsea are making strong progress over a move.

And that means that Lavia could be brought in after a fine season despite Southampton's relegation.

The 18-year-old played with maturity beyond his years for most of the campaign and has also been linked with Liverpool and Manchester United.