Mikel Arteta has delivered a detailed explanation in how Arsenal operate as a club during the transfer window. The Spanish manager spoke in great detail on how the club’s recruitment team work.
Mikel Arteta said: “This is club recruitment and it goes from the top – with ownership, with Stan and Josh, all the way with all the board, Edu, myself, all the academy, we are all together in this. It’s not a decision made my myself. We try to expose a plan that we want to execute and every case is different.”
The All or Nothing: Arsenal documentary from Amazon Prime has given supporters an interesting insight into the work that goes on behind the scenes at the club, with particular scenes highlighting the discussions that Edu has with other staff members on how to reshape the squad, looking at areas with lots of depth and those that lack quality and cover. Arteta is a big believer in the current method the Gunners use to decide upon which players to pursue and which players to try and move on in the transfer market.
Mikel Arteta continued: “We discuss it, we come together and we make a final decision based on that. And when that decision is made, don’t look back. It’s made, it’s not my decision, this decision is our decision and we will continue to do that because I think it’s working pretty well.”
Mikel Arteta also has demanded Arsenal star Bukayo Saka becomes a ‘ruthless winner’ with the manager confident that the England international will sign a new contract. Speaking to football.london, Mikel Arteta laid out the key things he wants to see Saka do in the next three to five years with Arsenal.
Mikel Arteta said: “He has to be a ruthless winner. That’s it. Simple. That’s his mentality, that’s what he needs to do. He needs to win football matches on his own, he needs to be living this profession: tomorrow I’m going to kill the opponent. And that’s what I want from him.”
Arteta made it clear he knows the level Saka is capable of now, but is keen for the 20-year-old to become one of the Premier League greats. That will only be achieved if he begins to embrace the pressure of being the main man at the Emirates Stadium, similar to how Thierry Henry continued to perform time and time again, taking games by the scruff of the neck and being the deciding factor for the Gunners.
Mikel Arteta said: “He has this ability now he’s going through a place in his career and he needs to go to the next level right now. And I think he has the right environment to do it – he has the right people around him to do it and he’s very willing to do it. So that’s what we have to demand.”
There is no hiding the fact City and Liverpool are closely following Saka’s progress and the ongoing situation regarding his contract, with the England international’s current deal at the Emirates Stadium set to expire in 2024. Arteta remains relaxed and confident that all parties involved in negotiations can come to an agreement ahead of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar later this year.
Mikel Arteta added: “I am very confident that we as a club and Bukayo, his family, his agent, everybody, we are very much aligned in what we want to achieve, and now it is about putting it on a piece of paper. I would like that to get done, because I don’t want the player or anybody distracted while we are in the middle of the season. But those things take time and they have to go through the right process, and I think the process has been really good.”
