Mikel Arteta, Edu and director Tim Lewis have spent the last few days in Los Angeles meeting with Arsenal owners Stan and Josh Kroenke.
The delegation from London were invited to SoFi Stadium to watch the LA Rams – another KSE owned sports franchise – face the Seattle Seahawks and later went out to dinner.
It’s natural to assume that Arsenal business was on the agenda with a transfer window looming and a contingency plan needed if striker Gabriel Jesus is going to be sidelined for three months.
The Gunners currently top the Premier League table by five points after a fantastic start to the campaign and are hoping to continue the form into the second half of the season when matters resume on Boxing Day.
It’s not unusual for Arteta and Edu to make the jaunt across the Pond. In addition to last summer’s pre-season tour, Arteta visited the Kroenke family in late January as a decision on the future of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hung in the balance.
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On that occasion, the club opted not to get involved in the transfer market despite signing off on their star man’s departure.
If reports are to be believed, there is a transfer kitty available this time around but it’s unclear whether the priority will be more strength in depth up top, on the wing or in central midfield.
The Gunners should find out in the next 24 hours whether Jesus needs surgery. The Brazilian injured his knee in last week’s 1-0 defeat to Cameroon and has already been ruled out of the rest of the World Cup.
Arteta and Edu, who is really racking up the air miles in recent weeks after also visiting Rwanda recently, are due to fly straight to Dubai where Arsenal have already begun a warm-weather training camp.
The club confirmed a 27-man squad for the trip, which includes friendlies against Lyon and AC Milan.
We have final confirmation that Stan and Josh don’t know football when Stan tells Arteta, “I heard you loud and clear on needing a new striker, a winger, and a back up to Tim Party. Fortunately, I just met this guy here called Cecil. He told me that he can play all three positions and can run around for hours. How about you give him a try?”
Technically speaking, the Kroenkes don’t need to understand football; they just need to trust Edu and Arteta’s judgement when we need to spend big and duly come up with the conkers to do so.
Slagging them off after the best part of three hundred million has been put up for us to spend in the last four or five windows is missing the point and ultimately biting the hand that’s currently feeding us quite well.
We hope they dole out the cash for January shopping spree.
Frenkie De Jong !!!!!
Would be too expensive.
I like the look of Endo for Japan. He is comfortable with the ball at his feet, is a workhorse, screens the defense well, and much like Tomi, is ambipedal.
Would be a good rotational option for TP5, in my opinion.
It appears Arteta only has one outfit. That’s the same thing he wears on the sideline, lol.