Mikel Arteta admits Arsenal were disappointed not to add to their squad during the January transfer window but accepts he’ll have to get creative with his frontline in the final months of the season.
The Spaniard was very open about his desire to recruit in attack after losing Gabriel Jesus and Bukayo Saka to injury but didn’t ever look like getting a deal done after a half-hearted flirtation with Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins came to nothing.
From the outside, it appeared the Gunners were torn between keeping their powder dry for a summer – they’ve been linked with big-money moves for Benjamin Sesko and Alexander Isak – or spending over the odds on a player capable of providing short-term cover.
Sporting Director Edu’s departure in November won’t have helped, leaving his team member, Jason Ayto, to pick up the slack at a crucial point in the season. Whether the club’s failure to finalise a deal in the final days affects Ayto’s chances of securing the role permanently remains to be seen.
Facing the media ahead of Wednesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final versus Newcastle, Arteta said: “We had a clear intention, which is always there when a window is open, to explore the opportunities to improve our squad with players that can impact it.
“We haven’t achieved it so we are disappointed in that sense but, as well, we are very aware that we only want to bring certain kind of players and we have to be very disciplined with that as well and I think that we were.”
Pressed on whether he’s been left frustrated and if failing to sign a player will have an impact on the club’s season, he added:
“No, because when you try your best and you do things with the right process, and you see people that all share the same intentions and will, and after you don’t achieve it, [it’s] ok.
“For sure, there are things to learn, there always are, but you have to move on and that’s a piece that was important in the moment and now we have to move on and nobody knows whether it is better to have done it or not, we’ll know probably at the end of the season.”
Clearly reticent to shed more light on the situation, he continued: “I wouldn’t like to go into much detail, we couldn’t do it for certain reasons and we have to accept it, that’s it. It was a combination of things [that stopped us].”
Given that Kai Havertz has led the line without a break for much of the season, Arteta acknowledged that other attackers may have to help ease the burden of the Germany international. One option is to ask 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri, who is in a rich vein of scoring form, to play as a number 9.
“We’re going to have to be very flexible in the front line and now the ones that we have on our feet make sure that they stay fit and they keep contributing,” said Arteta.
“Leo [Trossard] can play in that position, Raheem [Sterling] has played in that position, Ethan [Nwaneri] I think can play in that position, [Gabriel] Martinelli can play there, so let’s see in relation to how everybody is, the moment, the opponent, but at some point I think we’re going to have to try something different.”
Asked if tackling the business end of the season with a squad currently made up of 18 fit senior players and two teenagers, is a gamble, he responded:
“It’s not a gamble, it’s reality. I think we have to face the reality as well that we have.
“We have players that we have, some of them are on loan, we’ve never had a squad of 35, 40, 45 players. So many other clubs have 45 players in their list, we don’t have that size at the moment.
“It’s our reality. We’ve had to do so much in the last few years, that’s where we are. So we’re going to have to evolve there as well and have more, and have more players from the academy and the ones that are here need to be fit for longer.”
As a consequence of this new reality, it’s perhaps unsurprising that Arteta is now entrusting his coaching staff with the task of maximising his current options.
“We talked very openly from my side, the club’s perspective, about the intention to improve the squad if we have the capacity to do it,” he said.
“And then, most importantly, [we want] to keep improving the team, to keep improve the individuals within the team because it’s the ones that we have and we love [that are available] and that’s it.
“Now there’s no discussion about it [signings] and we focus on the things that we have continued to do even though the window was open.”
I wasn’t sure 100% about getting Watkins.
I was. I really wanted him.
If Liverpool fuck up now and we don’t capitalise, this will go down as one of the all time great mistakes in our history. (Alongside letting Leicester win the title. Fucking Leicester!)
The only way it makes sense that we didn’t sign a forward this window is if we are sure we can get Isak in the summer.
If we delayed in a bid to land Sesko I’ll be fucking furious.
What Leicester did that year was incredible and they were full value for their title win. They were better than us and everyone else. We finished a full ten points behind them too and not once during the season did we look like challengers. We didn’t hand them that title, they took it for themselves.
Meh – we beat em twice that year. Fucking Leicester. I’ll hate them forever.
My point really isn’t about the worth of Leicester as champions, but about needing to take an opportunity when it is handed to you.
Leicester were first in the table from the end of January right the way through until the end of the season. During that stretch we were more or less consistently third until the very end when we pipped Spurs for second. There was no missed opportunity. Regardless of the two wins over them, Leicester were consistently the better team and deserving of their title.
Ye, like with the chicks
They were better than us because we needed a defender, a striker and a DM and we eneded up only signing a Chelsea reject GK. We did then exactly what we did this window. Clear needs not met.
Exactly, Leicester won because they were better than us.
I think there’s been or two bigger mistakes mate
The Isaks and the Sescos of this world are NOT guaranteed to fit the Arsenal way and are giving the worong impression of their so called talents because they do not play in anything like the EPL. The team at the lane buy duds which is why they have been shit every year since 1962.
plenty of options other than Watkins…its a maths thing ..we need goals and luck to get over the line. Some will come from the team as a collective like against City but in crucial times it has to be that out and out no.9. A naturally instinctive finisher. It was the same case last time out…the only difference is this season we had a higher incentive for doing it given our lack of depth and loss of key players. We acted the same
Crazy not to at least add a offensive player to this thin squad we have!! Club let him Down this window
real bad.. the board let down the team again. Raises serious questions when the time for renewals come. Most of our key players contracts end in 2026 and 2027
I think the big let down was in the Summer. Jan was always going to be hard. It’s not just Raheem, who I do understand, but mainly Neto. We should have signed a decent permanent reserve leaving us room for a loan in January. And he can’t even play Carabao!!! Terrible- it wasn’t like we couldn’t foresee Ramsdale leaving! We spent all summer chasing that Spanish keeper who we always knew was gonna be too expensive. I think we’ve got to shape up a bit on the recruitment strategy front.
Absolutely. Inaki Cana’s influence on GK recruiting has got to be reigned in. Look at the amount of money and time we’ve invested in goalkeepers during his time at the club. We did get Raya in the end and for what looks like a bargain now, so that’s fair enough. But we spent way too much time going after that Spanish goalkeeper over the summer, forcing us to waste a premier league loan on a cup-tied Neto as you mentioned. Have to think Hein would’ve been happy being promoted to backup keeper this season and playing some cup games, if… Read more »
Exactly, not having that second loan slot open is strategically naive to say the least. There were a number of prem loan reinforcements available that we could not capitalize. Like Rashford, Ferguson, just to take some minutes off our main players.
Sometimes a bad choice is worse than nothing. We have … er … Sterling proof of that.
Indeed we do, but what was out there that we could have got? That Tel guy has gone to toilet town on loan with an option to buy? If that’s the case, maybe he would have been worth a punt?
Fail to understand the small but noisy minority who do not and will not accept or support Sterling and for that matter Havertz when he arrived.
Bad choices are simply that but this is Arsenal not Sp*rs or Man ure.
I liked Havertz when he arrived. I also thought that Sterling would have been better than he’s turned out, but his name provided a play on words.
you genuinely thought Raz was gonna be better based on what? look at his output and perfomance since his last days at City. Look at his Chelsea days…there was nothing to be hopeful about it..At the back of my mind i always hoped he’d be the one for dead rubber games..but somehow y’all viewed him as a dependable reliable early 20s mid 20s Raz. Wow
So you’ve accepted that we will once again finish trophyless unless miracles happen and Pool lose 3 in the next 14? Assuming we win all 14 and stay fit till end of season.. Sterling was a wrong option should have banked on Nwaneri as Saka’s prodigy and got someone who’s wants more with their career than an already established “done it all” player. May God help us
Lose one to us, another one, and draw two. That could well happen. Winning all our games is the less likely part.
But is Sterling worse than nothing? He is at least a body that does a decent job. Imagine if we didn’t have him!
This was the real test of our ambitions and we folded back to the old Arsenal. Now we have to rely on miracles and perfection to win a silverware otherwise it’s another trophyless campaign which if it continues in a year or two, it’s another rebuild. Golden squad/generation with nothing to show for it. Kinda like England in every tournament
Neto was the bigger mistake
I actually trust the process on this.
Let’s get some sun on our backs, have some returning players rejoin, and go again.
What process? How many windows do we let pass, trying to fill a gap but failing to do so? Seriously last window we failed to add to attack, and then last minute took a punt on Sterling. 2 windows and the best we can come up with is a last minute loan of a guy with zero confidence. It’s pathetic.
Why have a scouting network if that’s the best we can do. I feel for Arteta – if the club can’t back him we will always fall short.
exactly… 3 times we’ve been in within a chance of changing our destiny twice in the driving seat and all times we’ve done nothing to actually do that. The players are watching the board’s actions, you only have 1 career right and we can’t expect the same level of loyalty from our homegrown players as everyone else. Bar a miracle, We’ll live to regret it
and hope Liverpool drop 9 pts while we stay perfect in the next 14 games?
Everytime we leave ourselves to fate, we set up ourselves for an edgy ending. It makes it even easier for PGMOL to screw us up, we do the major part to ourselves
Agreed. And watching Arteta in his interview it is clear he is pissed with the club.
If not getting Watkins or another forward player now means we’re better placed to sign our primary targets like Isak or Sesko in the summer then I’m glad we kept our powder dry. I can’t see us finishing outside the top four regardless and it’s better to suffer in the short term so we can reap the benefits of a clear and cohesive squad building plan for the seasons to come.
I respectfully disagree.
Are we all just assuming Man City have spent nearly £200m on players to be this shit again next season? “Pep is a fraud, he only does well when given unlimited resources”. Uh oh. And now he’s got the rest of the league season to bed in his new players without any pressure, ready to hit the ground running in September.
If we don’t land a significant pot this year and City get their shit together to complete another 99 point season next year we’re going to look like cunts.
We should have gone for it.
£200 m on what? Players who might fit the likes of city. Thoose who played on sunday justified the tag “waste of money” because they were shit!
AFC bought no one and won 5-1.
Did Citeh load up in January knowing that a transfer embargo is imminent?
I suspect that was very much in their minds. Sure they spent 180M, but on what? 65M on Marmouch (sp?) makes me laugh, the guy’s scored what, four goals all season at Germany and he’s supposed to be a forward? What a waste of money!
How are you going to maintain the current crop of stars? another speech of our so-called ambitions.? Clubs covet our players and Silverware is a big part to keeping a quality squad put as well as attracting those primary targets. Players only have 1 career
Not sure Watkins is the right man. Seems to me that some fans will have anyone just to show a signing on the books. He may want the move but he is not what we are after. He is not prolific and probably too close to thirty to be anything other than a rash decision.
I think he could have been the exact right man for 35 mil. 60’s a bridge to far.
Agree 100%
I think Watkins could have been a good addition but once Duran went to Arabia, we were never going to get him. As for his age – isn’t there a 33-year-old leading the league in scoring right now?
60M is too high a price, though. 35M-45M would seem about right to me. Perhaps he’ll be available for a better price in the summer.
The first few glimpses we got of Martinelli was in attack and he was really good. I’d love to see him there again, to see if he can do it.
I understand why Arteta & some of our fanbase are disappointed that we didn’t make any signings in the winter transfer window, and on some level I am too. At the same time however, I’m glad that we didn’t sign players just for the sake of spending money, because we all know that, long before they would have even kicked a ball in Arsenal colours, they would be considered & described in certain quarters as being “deadwood”. So in that sense, it’s a good thing that we’ve ultimately chosen to save and spend what limited transfer money is available on… Read more »
Are you saying there was no one in the market that could have made a difference in our current squad? Osimhen, Sesko, Vlahovic, Watkins, Kvicha, Gyokeres, Marmoush were all available …difference is with Arsenal, when push comes to shove, when its Go Time, we always fold. It’s been the history of the club. Guess we’ll just have to rely on favours and PGMOL luck otherwise its another trophyless campaign
It’s easy to sign squad players to raise the floor during an injury crisis.
It’s much harder to get rid of them when you sign a new starter to raise the ceiling and they are left even further behind.
Every year it’s a case of Same old Arsenal, can’t go al out and do whats needed. Clearly theres is a lack of cohesiveness between the board and the football side of things. Everyone including Arteta and the players wanted a new signing to boost the goals. It’s always a gamble but you can’t win the jackpot if you don’t buy the raffle. Now Arteta and his staff have to think about adapt, make due which will mean players playing out-of position. Chances are we’ll only get so close…but yet far away. 3 consecutive January windows facing the same problem… Read more »
A few months ago MLS or Nwaneri weren’t even considered as first team players, now look at them! I’m a little disappointed but I don’t think we’re in a bad a shape as many people seem to think we’re in.
While I’m disappointed we didnt get reinforcement, it also important we dont just bring extra bodies for the sake of it. i hope we had learnt from the summer with neto/sterling loan. We dont have such resources like oil money citeh or american’s chelsea to spend crazy money and discard players if it doesnt work. Look at the noisy neighbor, they had to pay few millions for a 19 yo kid for a loan fee. Its desperation. We aren’t that either. If anything, we actually do look like a well run football club.
We can be proud of how we didn’t give into the temptation of signing a panic buy and how we go by the rules. But we have been going by the rules since Arsene years, where has the ffp ever been sanctioned on any title challengers. The 115 charges against city by the league exists but the same league also employs PGMOL. I don’t like boehly, but then if I was a billionaire and my team has been close to title challenges for last three years, I would have wanted to invest just to cross that line for once. The… Read more »
And where has that 1.5 billion pounds Chel$hit spent got them? A squad of 40 that they can’t fully register, playing in the Conference League in Europe. And now to balance the books they’re having to sell off players for half what they paid for them. “Creative” isn’t the word – it’s “spendthrift”. They’re like the kid whose rich dad takes him to the toy store and buys every toy, and the kid then doesn’t know what to do with them all.
I like our business model a lot better than theirs.
If it’s true that not signing someone is purely down to caution, and not wanting to make a bad signing, I fully support it. Doesn’t make it any less disappointing, but if it means we can splash on a big striker signing this summer it will have been worth it. Now if summer comes and we’re balking at 75 mill or whatever Sesko will cost (or likely over 120 mill for Isak) then it will be clear it’s more down to spending power. With Jorginho and Tierney leaving, maybe Zinchenko, we shouldn’t need to sell before we buy. I really… Read more »