Arteta on Arsenal sales, squad limits, Odegaard, Saka and Emery
In the second half of Thursday’s pre-Aston Villa press conference, Mikel Arteta discussed Arsenal’s need to sell players before the transfer window closes, shortly before it emerged that Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli, Reiss Nelson and Fabio Vieira were all on their way out of the club.
The manager also reflected on the importance of keeping Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka fit, praised Unai Emery’s work at Aston Villa and once again made the case for the Premier League to increase the number of outfield players permitted in matchday squads.
On Odegaard looking back to his best…
He’s fit and available; I think that’s the baseline. If you are fit and available, you have a chance to perform. Last season, he had too many incidents where it didn’t allow him to have any consistency. And for a player like Martin, and the relationships that he has around him, it’s extremely important, so I’m very, very pleased with what I’ve seen in the first few weeks, and we know he can maintain and improve that level.
On the importance of Odegaard’s relationship with Bukayo Saka and Ben White…
I think it’s the whole team. The more relationships, the more unpredictability we have, and the stronger those relationships are, the better, because when one part closes, another one will open, and we have to be able to identify what the opponent is trying to do to just attack some of the weak areas that they will leave if they want to protect some others.
On whether he was told Arsenal need to make sales before the end of the window…
That question is more for Richard [Garlick]; that’s what we are trying to get as a club, but the balance has to be right, and there are areas that we have to improve to hit those numbers. And if it’s not with sales, because we have to sell what we want to sell as well, not just to sell [for the sake of it]. And then [when] we want to sell, we have to be very careful because some of the assets, after maybe they grow, and we still want them. So maybe we can grow in other areas across the club as well. Commercially, we’ve done incredible, and the fan base that we have is incredible, our match revenue is incredible, and there are other ways to grow, and that’s the club’s strategy, but we want to improve in all of them, obviously, because it’s going to give us a bigger room to be stronger financially.
On Arsenal potentially signing another striker after bringing in Viktor Gyokeres last summer…
That’s the expectation and the level that we have created at the club. The expectation, always, has to be better and it always has to be more, and that’s ambition. I think that comes from the desire of each individual, each fan, each supporter, each of us to get better, but let’s acknowledge again the incredible players that we have already.
On whether he’s surprised by Aston Villa’s summer sales…
I don’t know. I think each club will have their own strategy. I think the way they have operated and the results that they got are incredible. I think they deserve huge credit for what they’ve done over the last few years, and I’m sure they are really clever. They have some very smart people in this football club. It’s really well operated and I’m sure that they are very clear about what they want to do.
On Unai Emery’s ability to rebuild Villa…
His skill as a manager is unquestionable for anybody [to see] in the clubs that he’s been. He has always exceeded the expectations that he had, which is a massive quality.
On the prospect of leaving players out of matchday squads and how he will manage it…
Yeah, that’s what I’ve been begging the Premier League [to implement]. We can extend those numbers just for the welfare of the players, which is the most important thing, because I think every squad needs more than 20 outfield players, ideally, to sustain the level of demands, games, international games that we have. But these are the rules, and within the rules we have to play; otherwise, we would play tennis, where you’re guaranteed that tomorrow you’re going to play and you don’t like yourself, and unfortunately the next day you have to play again. So we need to take it naturally. Obviously, we need to be very close to the players to explain the situations in the right way, for everybody to feel important, because they will be. And all the clubs, because I’ve done the research with all the top clubs in Europe, we are no different to anybody. Most of them, 90 per cent of them, they have more players than us. So we are going to have to deal with that.
On whether other Premier League managers support increasing matchday squad sizes…
Yeah, but I think more than for anybody, I think the question has to be to the players. What do they want? If they raise their hands and say, no, I prefer to stay at home and not travel, I think we have an issue because then they don’t love what they do, which is the matchday. But I’m sure that if you ask the players, everybody would like to be part of the squad on matchday, because that’s the way that they can fulfil themselves. Otherwise, you have to tell somebody you are not even part of this matchday. And that’s really, really tough. And it doesn’t help anybody. It doesn’t help the club, it doesn’t help the valuation of the player, it doesn’t help the player feel part of something. It’s, in my opinion, a real issue that has a really, really simple solution.
On Bukayo Saka’s determination to prove his doubters wrong…
Yes, because we had an excellent season as a team. But he knows that he can do much more than what he did last year in a lot of aspects. And that’s the players that we want – that they are not satisfied that they won’t match more. And Bakayo said something that looks with a real edge this season.
On Saka missing out at the PFA Awards last week…
It tells you how strong the team was. And to have half of the team there representing the club, it’s a really proud moment. And it tells you the story of the season as well. That we had some of our best attacking players out for five and six months and we still managed to accomplish what we did. Which is a huge credit to the rest of the boys.
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