The Gunners have had a horrid start to the Premier League this season. Mikel Arteta’s side have lost all three of their league matches for the first time in 67 years, and their performances have raised a lot of questions.
The North London outfit have spent £145 million in the summer transfer window, which is the most by any club in the Premier League this season.
Despite the results, Arteta was very pleased with all the players that Arsenal managed to rope in during the last few months. The Spaniard has brought in young players reinforcing the team as he chalks out a long term plan.
Arsenal have also allowed several players to leave the Emirates:
| Player | Club | Fee | Deal |
| Willian | Corinthians | – | permanent |
| Joe Willock | Newcastle United | €29.4m | pemanent |
| Lucas Torreira | ACF Fiorentina | €1.5m | one-year loan |
| Matteo Guendouzi | Marseille | – | one-year loan |
| Hector Bellerin | Real Betis | – | one-year loan |
Arteta expressed his delight on the club’s official website as he said,
“It was a really complicated market. We had a lot of things to do, I think we had 16 or 17 transactions in total, which is a lot.
Quizzed on whether he purposely looking for young talents in the transfer market, he revealed,
“Yes, different experiences, some had experience in the league, so abroad, and some have been coached in other ways, but they are players we have followed for a long time that we knew could fit in the model we are trying to implement at the club. So we are pleased.”
The Spaniard believes that the new players will need time to make their mark for Arsenal as some of them have not even trained with the other players. Hence he feels that he will need some time to integrate all of them together.
“Again, it is 16/17 changes to the squad – it is a lot. You have to blend them all together, some of them haven’t even trained with us yet because they have still to come in the next week or so.
“As quick as possible. We have a good group, they will help them to adapt as quick as possible and get them to work with us and see when we can integrate all together,”
Arteta added.
Arsenal’s latest inclusion in the summer transfer window was roping in Japan international Takehiro Tomiyasu from Serie A outfit Bologna. The Japanese defender has been linked with several Premier League clubs.
Tomiyasu has shown great promise at Bologna and despite being a centre back he can also put in a shift as a right-back or even play as a right-sided defender in a back three. Hence Arteta lauded the talented defender.
“Again, we followed him for a while. We needed a full back who could be very versatile, can play as a centre back, can play in a back three, Tomi has this capacity,”
“He is 22 years old but he has some really good experience in Serie A and at international level and with the qualities we are looking for.”
he said.
Arsenal started their campaign in a devastating fashion losing the Premier League opener 2-0 against newly-promoted Brentford. The Gunners were again beaten in their second match as they went down in the London derby against Chelsea. The Blues’ new signing Romelu Lukaku opened the scoring while Reece James doubled the scoreline in a 2-0 win over the North London outfit.
The misery did not stop there as the Gunners were simply obliterated against reigning champions Manchester City. They were swept aside by Pep Guardiola’s men losing 5-0 after Granit Xhaka was sent off around the half-hour mark in the first half.
