Mikel Arteta has insisted Arsenal showed enough ambition in the transfer market this summer despite missing out on signing a top class forward.
The Gunners were willing to make Vinícius Júnior their highest-paid player before the Brazil winger chose to sign a new contract with Real Madrid, while they ultimately failed to convince Julián Álvarez to leave Atlético Madrid.
Sources have told ESPN that Arsenal also held a firm interest in Morgan Rogers but were reluctant to pay Aston Villa‘s asking price, only for Chelsea to swiftly agree a £117 million ($158m) deal last month.
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The Gunners spent £200m on five new signings with Bruno Guimarães, Ezri Konsa, Christos Tzolis and Illan Meslier while making Piero Hincapié’s loan move from Bayer Leverkusen permanent.
Arteta stated after the club’s Champions League Final defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in May that Arsenal needed to be “very ambitious, very fast and very smart” in the market and when asked if their summer window had satisfied that criteria, he said: “Yeah, 100%. The outcome after can be different to what you expect but the intention is certainly there which is in my opinion what I value the most.
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“It doesn’t depend on you only. I think Andrea [Berta, sporting director] is better, or Josh [Kronke, co-chariman], to talk about that [how hard those deals are to do], because I am not in those negotiations. They know much better than me. These are questions that are related to the market and all aspects that I think it is better they speak about it.”
When it was put to Arteta that prices for players had increased, he replied “it looks like it” before adding: “I’m sure that when this happens, it is because there has been an analysis behind it that this is going to be sustainable and other resources will appear, or the valuation of every player will be then much higher and it will be done in a sustainable way.
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“But again, that is something for the Premier League and the owners to look at and evaluate.”
Arteta revealed that Bruno Guimarães picked up a knock against Aston Villa but is expected to train on Saturday, when Cristhian Mosquera will also be checked over after he was substituted at Villa Park with a muscular issue as a precaution.
