Mikel Arteta admitted he was disappointed by Arsenal’s failure to sign a striker in the January transfer window.
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Arteta “disappointed” in Arsenal’s lack of move
Arteta emphasized the need for attacking reinforcements following injuries to Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Jesus.
However, the Gunners failed to sign Ollie Watkins after Aston Villa rejected their £40 million offer.
“We had a clear intention which is obvious. There is a window open to explore the possibilities to improve our squad with players that can impact it. We haven’t achieved it,” he said.
“So we are disappointed in that sense but as well we are very aware that we only want to bring certain kind of players. We have to be very disciplined with that as well and I think we were.”
“I wouldn’t like to go into too 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.”
Despite the lack of signings in the January window, Arteta believes the club need to stay “very disciplined” to remain on track.
“What I mean about that is in everything, in the kind of profile, in the kind of player that we believe can really make us much better,” the Spaniard said.
“Financially. In a lot of ways, there are a lot of things that we must stay in the lane that has taken us this far and from there, try to improve.”
Still, Arsenal faces the reality of not signing a striker last summer or this midseason, leaving them “short” in terms of numbers.
“It is not a gamble, it is reality. We have to face the reality as well that we have. We have the players that we have,” Arteta said.
“Some of them are on loan. We have never had a squad of 35, 40, 45 players. So many other clubs they have 45 players on the list. We don’t have that size at the moment. It is our reality.”
“We have had to do so much in the last few years that’s where we are so we will have to evolve there as well and have more, more players from the academy and the ones that are here to be fitter for longer. That is a job that is permanent and it keeps evolving. We need to be on our toes.”
