Mikel Arteta probed about Arsenal transfers after friendly win over Brentford
Mikel Arteta has claimed he is “very pleased” with Arsenal’s business in the transfer market this summer after “16 or 17 transactions”.
The majority of the deals were outgoing transfers and with a number of windows still, there could still be more departures.
Mohamed Elneny is understood to be interesting Besiktas, while Sead Kolasinac is also believed to be a target for clubs in Turkey.
Arteta though did get to improve the spine of his side with goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, as well as centre-back Ben White and Albert Sambi Lokonga signing. While, Takehiro Tomiyasu arrived from Bologna for £17.2m on deadline day to leave Arteta more than content.
“It was a really complicated market,” said Arteta after his side defeated Brentford 4-0 in a behind-closed-doors friendly at London Colney
“We had a lot of things to do, I think we had 16 or 17 transactions in total, which is a lot.
“The club has made a big effort. We had support from the owners to try to do it and we had to recruit in the terms that we could. And I am very pleased.”
Asked about the number of young players with experience, he said: “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.”
‘Good work-out’
The Gunners boss said he was happy to see the close of the window: “Yes there has been a lot going on. Obviously we had big things to do. A big transfer window and compliments to the boys because I think the team has done really well to try to satisfy what we could.”
Ben White and Gabriel started in a three-man central defence on Thursday afternoon and the latter broke the deadlock early in the second half.
Alexandre Lacazette scored the second with a brilliant, curling free-kick before Cedric scored twice late on for the Gunners.
“Yes we had the possibility to play Brentford again. And we had quite a lot of players who needed some minutes. Some of them coming back from injuries, some of them after Covid. So it was a good test and a good work-out,” said Arteta, who was happy to see some of his injured players returning.
“Yeah, really good. We don’t have any big injuries as well, they have the minutes. We could work on some things, so it was a good idea to play the game.”
Arteta was also happy to have plenty of players to work with despite the international break.
“Yeah, again because some of them are coming back from injuries. Some of them had Covid and could not travel with the national team, so we worked with them,” he added.
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