Every word Mikel Arteta said on Arsenal vs Chelsea, injuries, Martinelli exit and transfer window

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta attends a press conference ahead of clash with Chelsea(Image: Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

Mikel Arteta faced the media ahead of Arsenal’s Premier League clash with Chelsea, in which he gave his reaction to all the latest breaking stories, including the closure of the summer transfer window. This is the first time he has spoken since the deadline.

The Spaniard was pushed on the decision to sell so many forwards without having brought in more than Christos Tzolis. He was further pushed on how difficult it is to sign players like Vinicius Jr and Julian Alvarez.

Plus, there were updates on the latest team news, including that of Cristhian Mosquera and Bruno Guimaraes, who both missed training on Thursday. Decisions need to be made, especially on the left, with both Tzolis and Eberechi Eze vying for a starting spot.

Here is every word Arteta said in the press conference.

There's no Bruno out there, we were allowed to film training yesterday. Everything OK?

Yeah, he had a knock against Villa in the previous game and he's been assessed. Hopefully tomorrow he will be okay for training.

Cristhian Mosquera wasn't there. He obviously came off, didn't he?

He was more a precaution than anything else, so we'll have to see tomorrow in the session how he feels.

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He's certainly available in the squad, so we'll have to make that selection.

Is it good to see Jurrien out on the turf?

Yeah, he's in really good condition at the moment. As I said, he's been now a few weeks on the pitch and he's been training with us now, so he's in a good place.

Is he going to be available for selection on Sunday?

We'll decide again tomorrow after training.

William Saliba has been named in the Champions League squad, so that's encouraging I guess?

Yes, we don't really know the amount of weeks he's going to be out because it's about a healing process in the beginning, it's a bit different. We know that we have to respect certain timings. The progression has been really positive in the last few weeks, but we need to wait and see how that one reaction will start to put a lot into it.

But it was an easy decision based on what you know at the moment to include him in that squad?

Yeah, it was and we have the space to do it as well.

It is what it is, we don't decide on it. We all know we had to make a decision when we wanted that window to be closed, and that's it. Now it's crystal clear, everybody is in the squad and where the focus has to be.

Particularly on the last day, there seemed to be a little bit of panic going on with some clubs, maybe paying more for players that maybe potentially don't seem to work that amount of money. But not Arsenal, have you now reached the level in world football where you can just pitch in the very elite pool and if the right deal is made you don't need to do it?

I don't know, I think every moment, every scenario and every situation is different. Sometimes you need to react because something unexpected happens as well and you need to be prepared for that. So I think every case is different.

With Ethan, I understand there's a clause that he can come back in January. Is that a likely scenario, is that a possibility?

Let's see, the focus now for Ethan is to go and play in an incredible club atmosphere, set up with Champions League in front of him and put all that talent at the service of Dortmund, and then we will see what happens.

And obviously potentially paying Arsenal in the Champions League as well.

That's a possibility now, it's now open, different rules to the Premier League.

Chelsea, their front three have become known as JP Morgan…

Yeah, so that's Palmer, Joao and Morgan.

Yeah, I get that. I got that quite quickly. Thanks for clarifying.

But with your defence you'll be banking on keeping them out.

Ah the banking… That would be obviously a team responsibility more than just the defensive one.

And I was thinking maybe an A for your front three, maybe the front three that finished against Villa. Oh, that's surprising. They had Saka, Eze and Kai, that's S-E-E-K, Seek. Is that quality the reason you didn't seek reinforcement?

I didn't go that far to make that analysis and afterwards that conclusion. But what I have to say is that I love the players that we have, that's for sure.

And sticking with banks and finally, obviously you've got golden-man Saka, Goldman Saks.

Yeah, he’s been very reliable in the first two weeks. I don't know how many weeks to go...

Hi Arteta… Mikel, sorry, I'm distracted by the whole bank thing, can I put that to one side? I'm definitely not going to attempt to stick to the football. But in terms of the game, looking at Chelsea, did you speak to Xabi when he was announced as manager?

I spoke to him before that, by a really happy frame, as I said. It's incredible because obviously we have the history that we have together, the same with Andoni, and to be facing each other in such a level and with the responsibility we have managing some of the top clubs in the country is a really beautiful thing to experience.

Were you surprised by the signing of Emi Martinez?

No, obviously. I know Emi really well, so we have him here as a top goalkeeper. It's clear what he's going to bring to the team, and I think it's a really smart decision.

There's so much talk about their front three and how they look world-class. Many are questioning if Arsenal have world-class attackers. Do you think Arsenal does?

I love my players, that's all I can say. In the bracket, how you want to put them, I don't know. I think at the end of the season we'll put everybody in their place, and let's trust them. Let's make sure that we are right behind them and we'll do everything we can to help the incredible talent that they have.

You mentioned Xabi Alonso and Andoni Iraola. You were very close to Iraola, you were talking very well about him last season. Alonso, do you share that same kind of close friendship where you maybe would meet him or talk to him outside of when Arsenal play Chelsea?

Yeah, now it would be tougher to meet because of the schedule that we both have, but of course that relationship goes for many, many years and we share some great moments together. That's natural, but now it's the competition and when you face each other, you know what happens.

We saw with the transfer window, a lot of money was spent, especially in the last few days of the transfer window, on a lot of foreign players. The club in this country that tends to really lean hard on its academy is Arsenal. Bukayo Saka, Max Dowman, Myles Lewis-Skelly. Does that come from you in particular? Does it come from the relationship you have with the academy?

It comes, I think, with the quality you have in the academy and someday just a generation that can fit in the right moment. It's about timing as well, the needs that you have and I think as a club we want to provide the opportunity to our academy players to shine and to be at the level that we believe they can be and so far, obviously, they've been really, really good.

I saw an interview yesterday with Richard Garlick about the success Arsenal had here last season, and it very much backs up your mentality that you always talk about, and that's not the end, that wasn't the end of the story, that's actually page one of the story. In terms of that, how difficult is this season going to be keeping everyone in the club on track with the fact that what you did last season was just the very beginning?

That's easy. I think the message was clear from day one so if you think differently, I don't think you have to be here, you have to go somewhere else.

And finally, I've seen pictures online from Chelsea today of other players that have been using rugby pads to bump into because they think they're going to have a very physical... Yeah, you know, they hold up pads, and they run into them at height because it's going to be really physical. Your team, apparently a very tough, very physical team.

That's something that a lot of clubs, we use those pads as well. Everybody uses those pads in circuits, I think that's something very, very common. Thank you.

Gabriel Martinelli has left now. I know that we were asked last week. I know it was an emotional decision to let him go, what he's done in the club, just some words about that process and him leaving.

With Gabi, gratitude and it's been a pleasure to work with him, to be part of this journey with him. The Gabi that I met and the Gabi that just left, it's a huge transformation, both in the personal side and in the professional side. I think the impact that he had for the club, his ambition, his love for the game and the way he has, I think, helped us to grow and achieve our goals. I think he's been a critical player. So, yeah, the story ends and we wish him all the very best in a different one. This is part of football.

Also about the transfer window. I've seen lots of talk about a forward not coming in and maybe chat around that externally from Arsenal. Is it too extreme to say that it's a missed opportunity to not bring in a new world-class forward? As you come into this season as champions?

I don't know, these are just opinions. The window is closed, and I prefer to look at all the incredible things that we have in the squad and not to spend any more time on the things that are not part of us right now. So, that's it, and that's my main responsibility.

I'm sure you have a vision of how Xabi Alonso plays football and how Chelsea might play football. Their first two games were very low-possession, really open games. As Xabi said, that's to do with the game state. I just wonder, how do you go about preparing when you've got your idea of how Alonso might play and what you're seeing on the pitch so far?

That will depend on a lot of factors and game state is a massive one, especially because the two games that they played, they scored very, very early and that changes the momentum and the shift of the game. But they are capable and he's capable of playing in various ways. He’s been a really successful manager so far.

Could you just reflect on the inspiration that you and Xabi and Andoni have taken from each other? I think especially what Xabi did at Leverkusen, showing that even without the biggest wage bill in a league, you can do something amazing. What inspiration did you take from that?

First of all, the courage. Obviously, we've known each other for so long. We have experienced different countries, different moments. Just to go abroad and deliver what he's done, the same with Andoni as well, I think it's remarkable. He shows you that, I think, doing what you feel and how you feel it and being able to translate that to a club, to play and ultimately achieve the goals that you want, is possible, regardless of where you are born and where you're from.

This was the first summer since 2021 that Arsenal haven't signed a player from Chelsea. What do you feel about that? Whether you were of it or not. No, I wasn't. What was it about Chelsea's players that attracted you so consistently to sign them?

I need to make that reflection, but there is an opportunity and obviously a need that the club or the team has, and the opportunity comes, and this can happen. So, yeah, it's a stat, it’s a good stat.

Just to take you back to the room in Budapest when we had that press conference after the final, there's been a lot of focus on a particular quote from afterwards where you said you hoped that you'd be ‘Very, very ambitious, very fast and very smart.’ If you were to look at those three as kind of tick boxes for the window, do you feel that all those three were ticked?

Yeah, 100% ticked. 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.

Just from a numbers perspective, the club have obviously sold Martinelli, Jesus, and Trossard this summer and has brought in Tzolis. Do you consider that to be a risk in any sense?

I understand the point of view as well, but we have to understand as well the amount of minutes that those players played and the ones that were injured last year, especially in the first six months, and the data shows something completely different. But it is what it is. It is what we have, and as I said before, we already have some very, very good players.

When it comes, I guess, to the final few days of the window, then it's clear you're maybe not going to sign another attacker. Does any regret start to come in about selling Martinelli or sanctioning some of those departures?

No, the sale of players can come from different aspects as well. It's not always the same one, and that's part of the responsibility that we all have at the public club.

Following on from Tom's question about ambition in the market, is that about intent as much as outcome for you?

Well, yes, because it has to depend on you.

I know you won't talk about specific players, but when you're linked with Vinicius Junior, Julian Alvarez, players right at the top of the game, can you just give us an insight about how hard it is to pull a deal like that off?

I think Andrea [Berta] is better for us to talk about that, or Josh, because I'm not in those negotiations.

But you're going to know better than us.

Well, I hope so. But they know much better than me, so I think these are questions that are related to the market and all the aspects that I think it's better that they speak about.

Just finally on the market then, just in general, it seemed as though the prices went up.

It was like it. Do you think there's any wider concern in that, just for the game in general, that it's pushing clubs to maybe risk more and spend to an unsustainable levels?

Well, I'm sure when this happens, it's because there's been an analysis behind it that this is going to be sustainable, and all the kind of resources will appear, or the valuation of every player will be then much higher, and it will be done in a sustainable way. But again, that's, I think, something for the Premier League and the owners to look at and evaluate.

Just on the Villa game, the midfield, you completely changed it in the second half and the quality didn't seem to drop at all with Bruno, Mikel Merino and Martin Zubimendi coming in. I think last year you spoke about wanting to kind of have the ability to change profiles a lot more within games. So how important was, I guess, having the ability to do that on Monday?

Yeah, that was really useful. And we discussed that game by game and then on matchday as well in relation to what the needs of the team or the moment requires to bring different kind of profiles to help us to win through all matches. And on Monday, that's what I said, that it was a squad victory because everybody contributed and very specific qualities helped us to win the game at the end.

With that, would you see those kind of two, three midfields that started and finished the game as set partnerships or can they all play in different combinations?

Yeah, there are multiples. I started to do combinations, and you cannot finish doing them, and that's the beauty of it, because they all complement each other, and because they all have the mindset to be able to play and occupy different spaces throughout the game, and that's what we need from our midfielders.

And just finally, when we've spoken about the state of football, you've mentioned the Bayern vs PSG game quite a lot from last season and one thing that stood out to me and I don't know if it stood out to you was PSG using two wingers on the same side of the pitch and it seems like Saka and Tzolis have done that a few times this season already. Is that something you would ask them to do or is it just them feeling the game?

That is a very random situation. Sometimes not something as a game plan but the chaos of the game or certain actions within the game because of a previous moment can lead you to those two wingers to play closer to each other because there are moments, even if you want to, the speed of the game doesn't allow you to make those movements because you're going to need time in order to bring players that are 60 metres apart closer together so it has to do a lot with the dynamic and the opportunities that the game offers.

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