Arsenal Aim to Complete £75m Trio of Summer Signings Before Club Officially Sign a New Manager

​​Arsenal are ready to pull the trigger on three summer transfer targets which could cost the club up to £75m. The Gunners want to get these deals wrapped up swiftly - so swiftly in fact that they want to sign this trio of players before they officially announce the appointment of their new manager. 

According to the ​Sun, Arsenal are pushing to complete the signings of Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Caglar Soyuncu and Bernd Leno without the approval - or even the presence - of a new boss. 

​Mikel Arteta has emerged as the leading candidate to takeover from the departing Arsene Wenger this summer, but it looks like he will have little say as to who the Gunners recruit in the coming months.

Arsenal's head of recruitment, Sven Mislintat, is the man pushing the club in completing these deals. All three of these potential recruits come from the ​Bundesliga, where Mislintat continues to have a number of connections after previously working as a chief scout at ​Borussia Dortmund. 

Mislintat signed Sokratis to Dortmund back in 2013 from Werder Bremen. The Greek centre-back is believed to be closest to making the move to North London of the three players ​as the Gunners close in on a €20m deal for the player. ​

Arsenal's defensive shakeup is set to continue as they also pursue promising young defender Caglar Soyuncu. The 21-year-old from SC Freiburg is said to be hot on Mislintat's radar ​as the club prepare a bid for the play​er. The chief scout is also credited for bringing Konstantinos Mavropanos to Arsenal in January, who has so far been a hit with the fans.

The Gunners also seek someone to challenge Petr Cech for the number one spot between the sticks. Bernd Leno is the preferred target, but like all of the names mentioned here, he could be brought to the club without the approval of the next manager.