Whatever happens between now and the end of the season, Mikel Arteta acknowledges Arsenal face an important summer on the recruitment front as they look to build a squad capable of balancing the rigours of Champions League football with domestic responsibilities.
Thanks to an impressive Premier League campaign, the Gunners will feature in Europe’s premier competition for the first time since 2016/17 and are now priming themselves to take advantage of the financial benefits that come with qualification.
While Arteta doesn’t feel like he’s been unduly hamstrung in the transfer market in recent years, the added cachet of the tournament certainly won’t hurt his cause.
“We are really lucky because when you open the doors of Arsenal and you talk about Arsenal to any player, they want to come,” he told the media ahead of Tuesday’s clash with Chelsea.
“My experience has been that, regardless of Champions League [football].
“Champions League helps, because every player wants to be involved in that competition and it’s going to help us, because we are going to have to nail the recruitment, because we know that we are going to have play a different level and the demands are going to be even higher.”
A number of high-profile targets have already been linked with a move to Emirates Stadium including England’s Declan Rice, Mason Mount and Marc Guehi.
Currently playing for West Ham, Chelsea and Crystal Palace respectively, the trio spent seven years together coming through the ranks at Stamford Bridge.
Speaking to The Athletic, ex-Gunner Ian Wright revealed the club are confident of getting players who can add quality to a side who have improved greatly in the last two years.
I went to the training ground the other day and I was with Edu and Mikel, and what’s happening now at the club is we’re not having to go out and cajole other people to come and join Arsenal. They can see what we’re doing.
“Edu is saying his phone is ringing off the hook and they’re very confident about the calibre of player they’re going to sign. If you’re going to challenge this City team, you’re going to have to come correct.”
Still need that alternative “B plan” striker plus a real quality centre back & a right back tbh ! Rice would be a great addition & it’s his character I like ! Caicedo less so as I think it’s the “run through a brick wall attitude” we need & Rice has that ? Keep what we have and add 4 of quality in the summer
I think probably the midfield and defense need more attention. Not much wrong with the attack, we still need another right winger.
Midfield and defense are the positions that keep costing us.
Mental Strength is the conceptual position that is costing us.
Not a lot of room in the squad at the top end of the pitch with Nelson, ESR, Balogun & Pepe. We probably need to turn those 4 in 2 usable options.
I think Rice can even play CB at a push too so that adds some depth if we were to lose a CB and bring in a RB.
At this moment in time, I would be sorely tempted to throw my lot in with Balogun starting up front and Jesus on the bench in the Premiership and maybe Vice Versa in the Champions League (so long as the former has a top pre season and starts smashing them in from the off) Big step up for the lad, but he could potentially save us an absolute fortune in the market. Balogun is one massive opportunity we do NOT want coming back to bite us in the Gnabry fashion. Elsewhere, the need to strengthen the defensive midfield, right back,… Read more »
I too would like to see Balogun in the squad next season but competing for minutes and getting them. I rate him above Eddie, he’s got more variety in how he can score and impact a game. I don’t see Arteta just slotting Balogun into the starting position unless Balogun doesn’t give him any other option in preseason or training. Jesus, Balogun, Martinelli, Saka, Trossard and another right winger of quality for me next season. I would sell Reiss and Eddie. ESR can compete for left 8 or be sold if Arteta doesn’t rate him compared to where the side… Read more »
Step 1 – bring in great players. Step 2 – look up definition of “rotation” in dictionary.
I don’t really get the downvotes here. We had no business risking any first teamers in the Europa League. Failure to prioritize has almost certainly cost us our first PL title in 19 years.
and also some rotation in the Premier league to adjust the squad tactically
Interesting that it sounds like they are prioritising English players- potentially to replace some of the ‘British core’ who might be out of the door this summer
Proven premier league talent also
Lavia from Southampton could be an hand to glove fit to replace Partey. Moreover Southampton being likely to get relegated, he could come at reasonable sum.
I thought he was on loan from city
No, but shitty have a first refusal buy back clause. Whether he’d go back to keep Phillips company on the bench is another matter, but I bet they’d offer him a lot more filthy oil money than he was on when he left.
* quotation marks missing (i think) for the first paragraph of the Ian Wright quote.
I’m sure almost everyone wants to join Arsenal these days, especially young talents, just like Mudryk did. Just hope they won’t all be led astray by greedy agents and state-owned clubs who can always offer them more than we can, like Mudrik was.
I get what you are saying but it’s a different and unusual situation when your country has been invaded and part of the fee is going to support your country. Hard to make individual demands especially when you know your not worth the money. Big hype machine transfer and we are lucky to have dodged a bullet.
No more Chelsea cast offs this summer please
I’m coming around to the idea of Mount as a backup for Odegaard.
or Xhaka
Have the Youri Tielemens rumours started yet?
Karim Benzema anyone?
Tony Cottee? 😂
Or …. sebastian frey omg..
I think with the champion league football and once again a title threat we’re finally well placed to get those Yann Mvilla and Steven Nzonzi deals done.
Chris Samba says “hi”
Julian Draxler? Not yet 30 years old!
I was actually thinking a Jamal Lascelles’ kinda deal.
About time too!
I think he can leave on a free, so a lot less time pressure. Interesting that he has worn the captain’s armband for Leicester recently.
No amount of arguments will convince me to sign Mount
No more old Chelsea cast offs please. Very worrying stories about Kante, who can barely manage a run of games for these days.
Kante obviously has injury concerns–but every time he is on the pitch, he is Chelsea’s best player by a long way. If you don’t need him to score goals (as Lampard apparently does!), and he is willing to become a situational player, we could do worse.
To be clear–this assumes we get Declan Rice too.
no issue with stealing the players they want to keep, provided he still has the legs
Rice would be an excellent signing but at what cost? A bidding war could push his value to around 100 mil including add on’s. We aren’t like chavs playing fantasy football and we don’t have the endless oil money that shitty and newcastle have. I’m sure it’s not a popular view but it concerns me the club may have blinkers on already in the way we have been overtly courting Rice. Could the depth of the squad be better served with 2 or 3 quality players, probably from overseas with out the English player inflation, than lumping a lot of… Read more »
It’s always going to be a risk for us for sure, there are a number of clubs who can blow us out of the water financially when push comes to shove. I’m pretty sure the club are aware of that of course, we just have to be smart and organised, and ready to pivot where necessary. Bye the way I like the idea of the rice basket 🙂
Mmm a Rice Basket is probably an Eastern delicacy with a delicious broth and lots of fresh yumminess.
I guess it comes down to where Rice wants to play and how determined he is. I agree that we shouldn’t be paying stupid money for him.
2-3 mediocre players or 1 world class player? It’s the latter all-day every day. Talent value skews exponentially for a reason. Is Rice that player? He seems pretty bloody good and clearly we’re interested (our interest is not likely because we think he’s mediocre). At this point we need a world class midfield addition (i.e., a Rice type). Not a player that looks promising – we need another Partey level talent – a player that can step in immediately and improve the team. I’d also be open to bringing in another midfielder on top of that – a promising talent… Read more »
I suppose that’s my point really, if we do pay 75-100 for rice will we be able to bring in as many other quality players to provide back up and depth for a Prem and C/L campaign? Will one world class player mean less depth to the squad… I guess the only people who really know the answer to that is Edu, Vinnie and KSE…
Rice is proven PL quality player. I wouldn’t be singning him for £100m+ but when you look at Viera and Lakonga, that lack of PL ‘experience’ (more like lack of experiencing if they can handle the PL) has cost us £50m.
Fair point re the money we’ve “lost” on those deals. However Tross v Mud proved there are quality p/l ready alternatives to bank breaking blockbuster deals. Just food for thought (hopefully rice baskets)
‘..lumping a lot of our eggs in the Rice basket.’ LoL! Well, I can confirm that hard-boiled eggs do often go well with rice.
Think a strong CF like toney or watkins to challenge jesus would be great. It’s the no. 8 role that needs a massive upgrade.
I’d throw Calvert Lewin in that discussion
Please, throw him out! We have Tomiyasu already: no more sicknotes.
Watkins is interesting, could likely play on the wings as well
I’d take Tony as an alternative but not for mad money, plus he’s getting 6 month ban minimum..
People talk about English players being expensive but the premium is really for anyone who has proved themselves in the premier league. If you buy a player from abroad there are no guarantees. He might hit the ground running, he might take time to adapt or he might never adapt. Arsenal probably can’t afford too many gambles if they want a squad capable of fighting on two fronts next season. There’s no point in a lucrative champions league campaign if you drop out of the top four so bringing in young talent to develop for the future is not really… Read more »
Right. We were lucky with Tomiyasu who worked out right away. Partey took a while–and Pepe never did. Rice is now–not theoretically–one of the best players in the Premier League, against all the same opponents he would face as an Arsenal player. Very good range of passing, carries the ball forward, tall, very intelligent player, and captain of his team. Can rotate/compete with/replace both Xhaka and Partey. Might be our Van Dijk.
It could be argued we need first team improvement in midfield and striker, but the focus ought to be on quality squad depth.
Arteta needs to be able to feel happy to rotate players out according to form and fitness, but realistically he only seems to do that for right back (Tomiyasu) and one of the forward positions (Trossard), everywhere else on the pitch there is potential to upgrade the squad.
It says a lot about our improvement this season that, after totally transforming the whole team into one that is challenging for the PL title, some of us are now wondering whether our first striker is a position where we need further improvement. I agree, not a top priority for next season, but I do like that we’re still being linked with Vlahovic and others who could challenge for that spot.
Vlahovic? No thanks. He was scathing about Arsenal when he went to Juve and he’s been shit for them all season. Let him and his attitude rot there.
That Willian feller is doing well over at Fulham. Give him a five year contract.
William, Mari, Cedric, Runnarson, Tavares, Lokonga, = Flops
Gabriel, Partey, White, Odegaard, Tomiyasu, Ramsdale, Trossard, Jesus, Zink, = Great
Vieira, Marquinos , Kiwior Jorginho, Jury still out,
You’re a sick puppy 😉
It’s a hard exercise. Is Tierney leaving? Can we count of Saliba and Tomi, generally, not to be injured simultaneously? Can ESR play the 8 and stay fit? Is Balogun the real thing or a Ligue 1 bully? Do we need a formation rethink given Partey’s inconsistency?
We need upgrades in every position to compete in champions league next year.
I didn’t know the three guys linked with us all, at one time, played for Chavski!!! How revolting!!!
I see Kroenke will give 200m. Yes to Rice but how about Bellingham too? Yes it costs a lot but he would be a real statement about where we want to get to. Almost like buying Bergkamp back in the day