Mikel Arteta says Arsenal’s winning start to the season doesn’t alter his ambitions in the transfer market but he insists the club won’t do business for the sake of it.
If the Gunners loan Nicolas Pepe to French side Nice in the next few days, it’s believed they will look to sign another winger before the window shuts on 1st September.
While there are no concrete links at this point, Villarreal’s Yeremy Pino appears to be a player of interest. Leicester’s Youri Tielemans is another name that constantly crops up.
After watching his side cruise past Bournemouth, Arteta was quizzed on whether he’ll add to his five new signings.
He said: “We don’t like reacting, we like to get the players we want and we believe will make a big impact on the team and if we can do that, we will try to do that.
“If we cannot, we will stay with the players and the squad that we have.
He added: “It hasn’t changed but we know where we are short and where we have to add more firepower. If we can do it, we will do it.”
In addition to letting Pepe return to France, the club are open to offers for Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Reiss Nelson and Hector Bellerin.
Arteta wouldn’t be drawn on their specific situations when asked if their absence from today’s squad meant anything.
“There are a few players that we have to leave out of the squad, unfortunately.
“It’s painful but we’ll try to bring the team and the squad that is in the best condition to give us the chance to win the game.”
At this point, the Spaniard is no stranger to moving players in and out of the club. The team he fielded against Bournemouth this evening was, Bukayo Saka and Granit Xhaka aside, a world away from the team he took to the Vitality Stadium for his first game in charge on Boxing Day 2019.
“From the players that we have today to the players that we had at the time, it’s been a massive massive change, and I’m happy,” he noted.
“Everyone feels more attached to the team, the club and the way we’re playing, and we’re winning football matches.”
Argh, I don’t know how to feel about all this. I was such a Tielemans guy all summer but then I watched Lokonga come on today and thought how seriously his path would be blocked by another CM signing.
And as for Marquinhos, well, I don’t know if his path to the first team should be blocked by a new WF either.
I just love these lads so much and feel like they all deserve their chance.
I know, I’ll leave it to Edu and Mikel. They probably know better than me.
This is why it’s so good that we have Europa League this season. Guys like Eddie and Sambi and many others will get sustained time on the pitch, which will mean they’re sharper when called upon in the PL. Last season, we had to call on Sambi and especially Eddie after they had had almost no game time for months, and their rustiness showed. But you could see how well Eddie was playing by the end after getting longer minutes with regularity.
The other option is to combine those two targets into one person, so that we don’t add too much competition for a single position.
Youremi Pielemans.
😂😂😂
Love it!!!
Five subs in the Premiership should mean gametime goes around for all
happy days where strategy is well-aligned between the pitch and the club’s offices! shades of Dein-Wenger dynamism with what we have with Edu and Mik. it does seem Kroenkes were willing to invest when they got full control – makes a world of difference when there’s some plan on how to do that.
credit where it’s due.
I expect Arteta to use Marquinhos in Europa and Carabao, and then loan him out in January. I don’t think he is ready to start regularly in the PL. Ideally we need stronger competition and cover for Saka. Not the end of the world IMHO if we don’t sign anyone – and I like the idea of Marquinhos getting more minutes – but I have a feeling the right signing at RW could gain us a few extra points over the season. Needs to be the right player though, we want to keep this amazing chemistry! Very enjoyable performance and… Read more »
Adding an additional right winger will reduce the stress on Saka and prevent unwanted injuries and keep him fresh (especially with the world cup inbetween)
I’m just refreshed by this sustained approach and feel like Arteta is mainly responsible for it since coming to the club with Edu. Long-term vision and strategy is set, no deviations from it due to short-term results because this of course is panicking. Arteta was literally a panic signing following 8-2 defeat from United, this worked out but shows even during the late Wenger era we lost our way from time to time and I find myself wondering a lot about how Wenger lost his way towards the end. I remember when he signed Aubameyang thinking, this is not a… Read more »
Auba for me was a totally amazing signing up to the point he was not, which was, immediately after his renewal…not sure what’s the actual reason behind it but that does not matter anymore ..it is what it is. Anyway I have no idea if Auba is Wenger type of signing or not, or whether Wenger was for or against it ..But I think the likelihood was that Auba joined Arsenal through the recommendation of Sven, who was already at Arsenal at the time. This is becoz I noted that Auba arrived barely two months prior to Wenger departure was… Read more »
I think the Kroenkes stepping in with the audit that led to Don Raul being shit canned laid the foundation for what we see now. Had that not happened we would still be weighed down by expensive but mediocre players dropped on our doorstep courtesy of his dodgy agent connections.
I am shocked how Xhaka has survived. I would have thought he would be the first to go. Credit to him he has been playing much better and no red cards yet.
Don’t tempt fate…
I can’t think of a player who’s available in the market who’ll improve our team to be honest.
or disrupt the team spirit….
True that.
I would bring an AM over a RW in since vieira and marquinos can play right wing.
I keep dreaming of Milinkovic-Savic… He’s probably too old for the board to spend this much on him.
But I feel like there aren’t many players in the world who could be as good as him in this new role Xhaka has.
The idea we might add another player to what we have is frightening. Everyone at the club deserves so much credit for quickly they’ve turned things around. Life is so much better when arsenal are doing well 👍