I think you're being very unfair on the club. Ten Hag was eventually backed in the summer, albeit after the club hierarchy realised how poor some of the starting players were at the time. Ten Hag's signings have been really good. The club overspent in the summer, which was necessary to give Ten Hag a chance of top four, and as a result there is now no money in January. Also, the club is for sale.
In a way I think that there is a simplified narrative spread about our transfer strategy that can be a bit destructive.
It is of course not ‘easy’ to get good results in negotiations for player transfers. Both sides are ruthlessly trying to get the other side to bend over. How do you avoid that?
A negotiation is all about leverage. Nothing else. If you want to make good transfer signings, you must find ways to get leverage in the negotiations.
Arsenal have leverage in the Mudryk negotiations, because the player desperately want out. The player was refused a transfer in the summer. Shaktar need the money. But Shaktar is not without leverage. Arsenal want to make the signing now, the earlier the better. Shaktar got a month. Shaktar might also find an alternative bidder of course, but Mudryk has committed to Arsenal.
So, the most important thing when negotiating a transfer is picking the time for the negotiation. It speaks for it self that you need to have planned ahead and consistent long term strategy to be able to do that. You also need flexibility. If a guy you will buy in the summer all of a sudden becomes available in January for a better price, you can make a good signing if the budget is flexible.
Sometimes you also must be very patient. Bayern is definitely very patient on the transfer market — which is a core reason for their success. They really need a striker right now for example, the reason for them not buying one is obviously because they didn’t find the exact right target for them and the opportunity to get that player for a good fee. Instead they bought De Light all of a sudden, despite perhaps not being desperate for a CB. But De Light was available for a good price.