“Very ambitious, very fast, and very smart.”

That was manager Mikel Arteta’s aim for Arsenal‘s transfer dealings following their defeat by Paris St-Germain in the Champions League final in May.

The Gunners won their first title in 22 years last season by seven points and did not lose a game in the Champions League during normal time, with their only loss in the competition coming to Luis Enrique’s side on penalties.

But it was clear coming into the summer transfer window that the club were looking for a game-changing attacker to lift their forward line.

Viktor Gyokeres – a £64m signing last summer from Portuguese side Sporting – scored 21 goals in his first season for Arsenal but his performances still raised questions about whether he is the best fit for Arteta’s side going forward.

The same debate was posed on the left wing with Leandro Trossard’s form dipping after starting the season well and Gabriel Martinelli, despite scoring six goals in the Champions League campaign, scoring just once in the league.

And now both of those players have left the club.

But finding an attacker who could elevate a squad that almost won a domestic and European double proved difficult.

Arsenal want to be one of the best clubs in the world.

In an interview with the Times, chief executive Richard Garlick said that joining the world’s super-clubs is “the goal – that’s the ambition”.

In that same interview, Garlick acknowledged that the “pool of players is smaller now than it was a few years ago if we’re going to improve”.

And unfortunately for the Gunners, they have found that out this summer.

Sporting director Andrea Berta is known for speaking to multiple targets at once while preparing the deals simultaneously.

The Gunners went into this window with interest in Morgan Rogers, Bradley Barcola, Julian Alvarez and Vinicius Jr.

They didn’t sign any of them.

Arsenal‘s pursuit of Vinicius Jr turned public and was shaped around his contract situation at Real Madrid.

Ultimately, the Spanish club offered him a bigger package than they had done before Arsenal‘s interest stepped up.

But inside the club, there was a period where they thought they were going to be successful in bringing one of the best wingers in world football to north London.

Questions will be posed as to why the club did not go big for Rogers, but Arsenal stuck to their valuation of £80m before Chelsea then paid £117m for the former Aston Villa forward.

That left Julian Alvarez as the only available target in the window after Liverpool succeeded in bringing in Bradley Barcola.

Arsenal always had reservations about paying the fee needed to get Barcola too.

It appeared Alvarez’s only way out of Atletico Madrid was Arsenal, after Atleti were adamant that they would not negotiate with Barcelona.

However, Alvarez returned to training with the Spanish side and, despite Arteta’s best efforts laying out plans to the player, the deal did not come off.

Arsenal showed the strength of their squad in their win over Aston Villa on Monday night.

They brought in Newcastle captain Bruno Guimaraes for £75m, Ezri Konsa from Aston Villa (£55m), turned Piero Hincapie’s loan deal into a permanent one (£34.5m) and signed Christos Tzolis from Club Brugge for £34m.

Tzolis struggled in the win but has already impressed in the Community Shield victory over Manchester City and the opening day Premier League win over Coventry.

Guimaraes is being described by some as one of the signings of the window, and Konsa was statistically the best defender in the league for ground duel success (73.1%) and passing accuracy (95%) last season.

Konsa, although he brings the number of senior defenders in Arsenal‘s squad to eight, was brought in because of the injuries to William Saliba and Jurrien Timber.

A big part of Arsenal‘s window has been who they have let go too.

Gabriel Martinelli is close to completing a move for around £60m to Al-Hilal, which would be a record sale for the club.

Leandro Trossard has moved to Besiktas (£15.3m), while Christian Norgaard was sold to Everton (£7m).

The main worry from supporters is that they have let two forwards go who play on the left wing and brought in just one to replace them.

There is no denying that Arsenal wanted a game-changing attacker this summer – if there was one available.

Not signing one this window does leave them with the chance to act again in January or wait completely until next summer to try to bring in a new forward.

But there will be uncomfortable conversations about why there hasn’t been one during this window, even if the football leadership team are content with the business the club has done.

Questions will of course be asked of Arteta, Berta and co-chair Josh Kroenke as to why, after Arsenal‘s success, such an attractive club weren’t able to get one of their targets over the line.

However, there is no denying that Arsenal‘s squad is one of the best in Europe. Their bench for the win over Aston Villa contained nine full internationals with two of those – Merino and Zubimendi – World Cup winners.

Gabriel Jesus has moved to Barcelona for £12.8m, and although he was not an integral part of Arsenal‘s team because of selection and fitness issues, he still made 27 appearances in all competitions, scoring six goals.

With Martinelli and Trossard both gone, there will be more opportunity for Eberechi Eze to play from the left wing, a position he shone in at former club Crystal Palace.

Eze played in some of the biggest games of Arsenal‘s last campaign on the left wing and put in an impressive appearance in that role in the win over Villa on Monday too.

Last season, Kai Havertz missed large parts of the campaign with injury, while Mikel Merino, another option to play at striker, missed a chunk of the season too but both have started this season fully fit.

Those injuries last season meant that Gyokeres had to lead the line for long periods without back-up in his first campaign with Arsenal, but despite that test, it does not take away that the Swedish international’s suitability is still in question.

It is also intriguing that Gyokeres has not played a minute of the opening two Premier League matches so far.

Arsenal are still looking like the early season favourites and have the potential to defend their title, but criticism surrounding the lack of a new forward will be tough to avoid if goals start to become hard to come by.