Mikel Arteta struck a cautious note when discussing Arsenal’s January recruitment plans, emphasising that finding the right quality to improve the squad is easier said than done.
With Bukayo Saka sidelined, recent struggles against low-block defences, and the frustrating missed chances against Newcastle on Tuesday, fans are urging the club to open the chequebook and bolster the attack.
So far, potential signings have been few and far between, and Arteta seems increasingly doubtful that the conditions are right for Arsenal to make the moves they need.
Facing the media ahead of Sunday’s FA Cup clash with Manchester United, he started by addressing what he’s looking for: “First of all, someone that can impact the team, bringing in bodies doesn’t help at all, it’s just about somebody that can impact immediately performance and can bring something that we don’t have, and that, in this market very, is very difficult to achieve.”
“We always have discussions with the ones above, discussing how we can improve the team, always, whether the market is open or closed, because we have to plan for what the necessities are right now and what the necessities are mid and long-term.
“The circumstances changed because we have certain injuries of some big players. So there’s always that possibility [to sign a striker], but always if we believe that it’s somebody that really is going to make us much better.”
One of the key reasons why there’s been so much clamour for the Gunners to sign players who can make an impact in the final third is because in recent years Arteta has spent the majority of his budget plugging other holes, namely in goal, defence and midfield. Basically everywhere else.
Interestingly, he wasn’t shy about pointing this out when asked if he was looking for something specific this time around.
“In the front position, comparing to what other clubs have done and the expenditure that we have there, we are very far from it [their levels] over the years.
“For different reasons, first of all, because we have already very good players and because we had many necessities in the squad to achieve in that period.
“We’re very aware [where we’ve spent money] because we have certain limitations and we have a lot of gaps and a lot of things to cover to become the team that we want. And then the availability of those players, can you afford them as well? Even if you want to. And sometimes it’s been not possible.”
So what happens if Arsenal can’t find their bargain-bucket 30-goal-a-season striker in the next three weeks? Well, as always, Arteta insists he’ll have to look at internal solutions; which sounds a bit like opening the fridge hoping to find something delicious when you know too well you’ve not been to the supermarket in a month.
“Yeah, 100 percent,” he replied when asked if he believes his players can start putting chances away.
He added: “If you look at a sample of a game or two or three, that’s a very short sample, you cannot use that.
“We don’t use any short samples because they don’t correlate to team performance. When you look at a year or two, team performance, scores, the amount of players that are involved, then there is no discussion that we have to focus on our players.”
Pressed on bigger sample sizes also suggesting Arsenal have an issue in attack, he said: “When we were the team that scored more goals in the calendar year in the Premier League, I don’t think that can be a problem.”
The attacker we’re looking for has to have the right profile, has to be very very good, has to be very very cheap, and can’t demand huge wages… Are we looking for an unicorn or a centaurus? because all that stuff together simply don’t exist in real life, you need to compromise on something or else you will be always searching for something that really isn’t there. And if we take too long to realize that, we may see some stars leaving in search for a more ambitious club, which will bring this problem to more positions… I really though… Read more »
Agree. And if we couldn’t do the big star striker in the summer, Mbeumo or a similar level of signing *in the summer* would’ve still helped hugely with the situation we’re in (and not overplaying Saka).
The truth is not that we’re hunting for unicorns, but that KSE have a notional amount of risk they’re willing to take on, and it consistently stops short of title winning levels.
I don’t think we will bring anybody in to be honest. The only one that wouldn’t shock me would be Mbeumo but I think there’s less than a 10% chance of getting that done in January. The one thing I’ll say about Arteta despite any of his faults, you get the sense that he’s aware of any issues and not in denial. I also sense that he cares about the club as much as us- a trait shared with Wenger.
Maybe he’s aware now, but it’s very difficult to explain this summer and reach the conclusion that he saw what we all saw. Shipping out all attacking backup and bringing in yet more defensive-minded players makes it abundantly clear that he did not see our glaring issues in attack. He has to wear that.
I realize people will respond with “but we went for Sesko first,” but, in my opinion, that makes it clear that they were only prepared to sign attackers if they were a bargain while happy to overpay for mediocre players elsewhere.
Spot on. The summer transfer business (in and out) was a disaster and he has to be accountable for that. BTW, this narrative that’s emerging that he didn’t really want sterling because he never plays him…bollocks…he has final say on every incoming/outgoing. He was lavish in his praise of sterling when he arrived and we can only assume sterling’s performance in training is so dire that he will never get near the starting xi unless we have no one else fit.
And then there’s merino…
Spending money on Calafiori and Merino is increasingly looking like misplaced investments. Neither has really improved the team significantly, whilst Partey is playing better and staying fitter, and Lewis-Skelly has been a very capable stand-in at left back. The forward line however was in dire need of reinforcement but only Sterling came in, which has not had the desired impact. A top striker or winger was needed last summer, but instead Arteta went for the safer option of bolstering defence and midfield. It looks like a missed opportunity that could cost Arsenal a shot at a major trophy this season.
I’d really love us to spend on a super attacker – not downplaying the need there – but what would our lineup have been in games where we were short on defensive options if we hadn’t brought in those two?. No one loves TP at RB – but he was able to shift there and as so far stayed fit this season because we have another pretty decent option. Cali + MLS are the new cover for the left side because we are missing our play anywhere Tomi. It’s kind of like trying to prove a negative – but I’d… Read more »
In theory there should have been enough cover in both full back positions, with Timber, White, Tomi at right back and MLS, Zinchenko, Tierney and Kiwior at left back. Injuries have depleted the ranks, but you should not normally need more than three options for any one position. The injury problems with certain players has been long term and probably needed to be addressed some time ago.
The problem is we are so rigid in playing “system” football meaning unless the player fits exactly the plan down to centimeters on the pitch where they have to run to/position themselves etc then they won’t get a look in. When injury crisis hits this inflexibility really bites us on the arse.
The problem is modern scouting and recruitment. All these big clubs have the same player pool they look at. Alot of it is agent driven and not scout driven too. If we can’t compete financially with these Oil clubs then we need to be more innovative and creative in our recruitment strategies than anyone else.
May I ask where this information comes from?
Arsenal has tried to cut ties with agent-based transfert since we got rid of Sanllehi and his friend Kia Joorabchian which is the opposite of what PSG is doing with Mendes and Sissoko for example.
Also, may I dare to mention data analysis to help scouting department in allocating its ressources to efficiently scout ?
Everybody uses the same data analysis software, the same metrics, the same conclusions and unless you have the cash to spend massively then 9 times out of 10 you are going to get outbid by the oil clubs.
We don’t need another striker. We just need the right ball. Once we find the right ball, we can achieve many beautiful things.