Mikel Arteta is desperate for reinforcements, but he has now conceded that Arsenal are unlikely to make many big signings in this year’s January transfer window
Mikel Arteta has admitted Arsenal may struggle to deliver a big January signing.
Gunners boss Arteta is desperate for reinforcements after his squad has been hit by injuries and illness this season. Bukayo Saka is out at least until the end of February, while Ethan Nwaneri is out until the end of the month.
Ben White has also been missing since undergoing knee surgery in November. It has left Arsenal fans crying out for a new signing to boost their title and trophy chances this season.
But while Arsenal have got cash to spend, targets like Atletico Bilbao’s Nico Williams and Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo are unlilkely to be allowed to leave in the January window. Arteta also says that trying to find a player who will improve the squad makes it tough to actually get a deal done this month.
Arteta said: “First of all, someone that can impact the team, bringing in bodies doesn’t help us all. It’s just about somebody who can immediately impact our performance and can bring something that we don’t have. To find that in this market is very difficult to achieve.
“We set very high standards and we really only want to have players, if they come through the academy or we have to sign those players to really elevate and impact the team, otherwise bringing bodies it doesn’t help us.
“If you look at a sample of a game or two or three, that’s a very small 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, and the team performance, scores, the amount of players that are involved. There is no discussion that we have to focus on our players.”
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Arsenal legend Ian Wright has suggested that the Arsenal board need to do more to help Arteta. But the Gunners boss has insisted he has been given everything he needs by the club’s higher-ups.
“We always have discussions with the ones above about how we can improve the team, whether the market is open or closed because you have to plan for what the necessities are right now and what they could be in a month,” he added. “Those discussions are always open. I have so much support from the board, and I continue to have it. We are all sitting and willing to do the same; just to win the maximum amount of football matches in the way that we want to play.
“And achieve ultimately the goals that we want to achieve which is to win trophies. That support to continues to be there. Every manager when he is appointed is for a reason, but the reasons can be different.
“Sometimes it’s just to improve a football team and get more performance out of certain players, sometimes it’s to transform to the football club. That’s a totally different dimension of a job, and if I have to relate to mine at that time, it was more towards that than the previous one I mentioned.”
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