The son of Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke has said that the club's heavy spending at the end of the transfer window was not due to pressure from supporter's groups earlier this summer.
Kroenke, and the Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE) company that owns Arsenal, was criticised by club supporters' groups in July in a two-page letter that labelled the American billionaire "passive" and "absent" and claimed that he was using the club as an "investment vehicle."
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But Kroenke's son Josh, a director at Arsenal, told BBC Sport that fan unrest was not the reason for the late-summer arrivals of defenders David Luiz and Kieran Tierney, as well as record signing Nicolas Pepe for €80 million -- taking their summer spend beyond £100m.
"I would say that if you're reacting and doing club record signings based on public opinion, you're not going to go very far as a club," Kroenke said. "We weren't reactive this summer, we were actually proactive.
"It was unfortunate that the summer unfolded publicly the way it did with some of the supporters groups. I tried to answer some of their concerns to the best of our ability.
"We identified key targets, worked on those deals and over time we were able to execute them.
"That's hopefully a sign of encouragement for Arsenal fans that, when we're out in the market place, you might never know what we're thinking and you could be surprised by some of the names that come up."
When asked whether the club maintained their infamous self-sustaining business model or if KSE made financial injections into the club, Kroenke said: "I'm not going to go into too much detail -- people can read between the lines of being aggressive and what that might mean.
"It's going to be a private matter for us here at the club, but I hope our fans understand that by being aggressive that's exactly what we were."
Arsenal signed a total of six players this summer, including midfielder Dani Ceballos on a season-long loan from Real Madrid, Brazilian winger Gabriel Martinelli, and defender William Saliba for €30m before loaning him back to St-Etienne.
Arsenal are second in the Premier League after winning their opening two games of the season against Newcastle and Burnley.