From Vinicius to Alvarez: leaked list of the 21 players Arsenal tried to sign this summer

Ambition without limits

Arsenal won the Premier League title last season and reached the Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain. They had no intention of settling for that.

The club used the recent summer window to strengthen several positions, offloading Gabriel Martinelli to Al-Hilal, Leandro Trossard to Besiktas and Gabriel Jesus to Barcelona, along with Fabio Vieira and Reiss Nelson. Ethan Nwaneri went to Dortmund on loan.

William Saliba's serious injury pushed the club to reinforce the defensive line too. Even after an outstanding European campaign and that title triumph, Arsenal showed real ambition in the market. Their pursuit of Vinicius Junior dominated proceedings for weeks before the Brazilian stayed at Real Madrid and renewed his contract.

All told, Arsenal wrapped up some good business this summer, even if they spent less than many of their direct rivals such as Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester City and Liverpool.

The London club spent 87 million euros on Bruno Guimaraes, 60 million euros on Ezri Konsa and 40 million euros on Christos Tzolis. Illan Meslier arrived on a free transfer from Leeds.

These moves form part of a wider strategy. The "Daily Mail" revealed that Arsenal drew up a list of 21 targets during the recent window, including some big names.

Alongside Vinicius Junior, the Gunners identified Julian Alvarez, Joao Pedro, Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero, Bradley Barcola and Yan Diomande, players valued at or near 100 million euros.

Here is Arsenal's full list of summer targets:

1. Morgan Rogers (Aston Villa)

2. Bradley Barcola (Paris Saint-Germain)

3. Kenan Yildiz (Juventus)

4. Yan Diomande (Leipzig)

5. Nico Paz (Como)

6. Eli Junior Kroupi (Bournemouth)

7. Elliot Anderson (Nottingham Forest)

8. Joao Pedro (Chelsea)

9. Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid)

10. Julian Alvarez (Atletico Madrid)

11. Malick Fofana (Lyon)

12. Sandro Tonali (Newcastle United)

13. Alex Scott (Bournemouth)

14. Amadou Onana (Aston Villa)

15. Jeremy Monga (Leicester City)

16. Louis Page (Leicester City)

17. Ivan Fresneda (Sporting Lisbon)

18. Cristian Romero (Tottenham)

19. Micky van de Ven (Tottenham)

20. Jacopo Ramon (Como)

21. Tarik Muharemovic (Sassuolo)