Mikel Arteta says that there are issues within his squad he has to sort out, both in terms of incomings and outgoings and, unsurprisingly, says the club are still active in the transfer market to make those deals happen.
The window is open until October 6th, still plenty of time for players to come and go, and although the Arsenal boss acknowledged the difficulty of doing business in this current market, he insists Arsenal’s business is far from over.
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Premier League opener against Fulham at Craven Cottage, he said, “We are still active in the market, we are looking at different options.
“I would say we are active in the market for players in and out, at the moment the squad balance is not the ideal we want to achieve so there is still some work to do.
“Some positions are overbooked, I said some others, in terms of specific qualities that we need, they are still not there.
“We have to bear in mind the complication with this transfer market and the complexity and the timing, because you can see that clubs are behaving in many different ways and it is a little bit uncertain how this will work in the next few weeks.”
However, he did sound a bit of a warning to those who expect everything to be done before the deadline next month.
“It is going to be very difficult to achieve what we want in one window or two windows,” he continued.
“It is a process, it has to evolve and most importantly it has to be a sustainable model that we can consistently feed in using our academy players.”
Having brought in Gabriel, Willian and Dani Ceballos (again) during this window, as well as adding William Saliba to the squad, there have been some reinforcements.
The issue isn’t really about the amount of players we’ve got, but the overall quality – and that’s something we can try and improve as long as the window is open.
I think the team that starts against Fulham on the opening day will be considerably different to the one that ends the season…
That is surely the norm. Only when oy have a really successful team it will remain stable.
If we can just get Aouar and keep Bellerin I would be so happy with that. I am quietly and cautiously optimistic but worried at the same time because I fear missing out means Arteta is not being backed as promised, sucks to be a self-sustaining club. At least we have the best kits in the league.
At least we fixed our defense (all being well). That’s actually quite a big deal.
And looks like we might keep the best striker for a few more years.
Yep the attack looks sorted too
Yeah true, finally. But reading into what Arteta is saying here, I am not sure if this means we’ll buy Auour this summer and Partey the next, Arteta will be given time but he needs a decent midfield to get top 4. This season whatever happens, Arteta is the man, but top 4 would really help us.
Lampards reward for getting top 4 and losing a fa cup final is a 200mil spend, Arteta deserves at least a couple of players in that he wants, surely its not too much to ask for.
Chelsea had a ban tho and sold Hazard. They were sitting on a pile of cash.
As much as I agree with you I hate this media narrative that Chelsea were sitting on a pile of cash. They spent 80+ million on Kovacic and Pulisic. So they had about 60m profit, which is okay. I see everyone on the internet talk about the Morata sale, but they got what they paid for him. The reason they’re spending big is that they have a rich-ass oligarch who’s happy to loosen the purse strings every now and then.
We spent 200m+ on our attack in recent seasons, plus other additions
They have more money than us for sure but we’re not as tight as we used to be
I think you’ll find we still need to balance the books. Remember, we occasionally paid (read overpaid!) with good money for the time for the likes of Ozil and Mustafi, to name but two. And, more recently, we also splashed out over £100 million last summer – albeit largely on installments.
The biggest lie in football. Made £80 selling hazard, spent £100 on Kovacic and Pulisic…
Only £50m off the Hazard deal, but well done for trying. Google is your friend (C. £130m, not £80m). Add in Morata for under £60m, and there net spend is not significant over the past two windows
Yes, ultimately they are an exception to the rule when it comes to finances (along with City) as they have Comrade A as the safety net, but Chelsea sell well – not every time of course (who does?), but generally they manage to shift the necessary player(s) to finance new purchases. Clearly we can’t compete with them in the transfer market – haven’t done for years and never will do probably – so Arteta and Edu have to be clever and cunning in who they buy. That said, I’d like to see more players “out” so we can get a… Read more »
Well, it’s been almost one way so far (when it has been anything). We’ve failed to shift a single, established, player to anyone to date. If the books didn’t balance before, and they didn’t, they certainly don’t at present and that’s before Auba’s much heralded “bumper” deal is added to the pot. Possibly Martinez or Bellerin or “Player X” may start things moving again both ways.
I don’t know why you are voted down…. There is co-relation between selling and generating income and buying. Completely right. OTOH worth noting of course this is a strange window and most sales tend to come late on so jury somewhat still out. I think at the moment if they can shift one for 20m ++ they will have more confidence taking in a player and commiting. realistically we need to sell 3 for big price tag…that would be one of the strikers at 30m mark, and then the keeper or fullback at say 20m mark or both (particularly since… Read more »
i think it’s interesting that mikel talked about “sustainable” development (at least) twice during the press conference today.
maybe this is something the leadership team have talked about together – not wanting to make short-term gamble signings anymore, and trying to progress in a more sustainable way.
maybe the use of this word is not a coincidence with him now as the “first-team manager”
i have not really heard him use this word before as arsenal manager. but twice today
We can’t afford to splash cash we don’t have and with no CL income for the fourth season, we can’t run the club as if we had it (not even mentioning the effect of Covid on receipts etc.). The truth (still unpalatable to a few Gooners) is that we were never a really wealthy club. Yes, we made pretty good profits over a few years but they were mostly down to player sales and/or property sales. And CL income, which was almost taken for granted, was a big help as well of course. Those “income streams” have largely dried up… Read more »
It’s good to see him talking about academy players though, cuz you do want to believe there’s a way in for an Emile-Smith Rowe and that seemed a difficult task if he was vying with both Aouar and Ceballos for that midfield role.
If arsenal are to return to former glories a few things are going to have to happen. Firstly Arteta will have to be kept at all costs, I can see the Koeman Barca experience turning sour. Secondly kroenke is simply going to have to invest at least 100m of his own capital to strengthen the team not depending on sales. It’s all well and good to have optimism but every club has this at the start of every season. Look at the likes of Chelsea strengthening (who at the end of 2020 season were similar enough to us). We can’t… Read more »
There’s no reason to keep Arteta at all cost. he has to perform in league first and foremost. Jury still out. Cup wins were good for him but proof in the pudding will be league finish. Considering Chelsea and United spending and players coming in for them, if we have to compromise bc we cannot sell (Thanks to a relatively inexperience transfer team), we will carry more risk to get back into top 4. This is not something a club in our position should be putting itself in. continued A for effort but out of CL for another season will… Read more »
Won’t get Aouar bc we can’t sell, And we now want to sell top asset at fullback with a lot of risk since defensively as is bedding in 3 Cbacks. Does not seem congruent. We need to sell Martinez for 20m but not spend on another keeper (Promote Macey AND Iliev). Peripherals need to generate 40m (Torreira 22m, Kola 12-14m say) Then only if Laca or Auba sell (for 30m+), can we go for solution at either of Dm or LCM (we cannot afford two unicorn signings) Remember we already spent 20m on Pepe and Saliba plus another 24m on… Read more »