Arteta’s remarks come after another strong season for the North London club, although they remain short of their ultimate goal: securing a first league title since 2004
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has hinted at an exciting and crucial summer ahead for the club, as he looks to strengthen his squad in a bid to finally end their long wait for a Premier League title. With the Gunners set to finish second in the league for the third consecutive season, Arteta and new sporting director Andrea Berta are both focused on bringing in the right players to help propel the team to the next level.
“It’s going to be a big one, and we are very excited about it,” Arteta said of the upcoming transfer window. “When you are going to go again, we want to increase the depth of the squad and the quality and the skills that we need to go to the next step.”
Arteta’s remarks come after another strong season for the North London club, although they remain short of their ultimate goal: securing a first league title since 2004. Despite improvements in recent years, Arteta understands that there are still key areas where the squad needs reinforcement to compete with the best.
The Arsenal boss stressed the importance of building on the strong foundations that have been laid in recent seasons. “Every summer is big because it is an opportunity, especially because of the number of players we have in the squad right now, that is necessary,” he said. “But it’s a big summer for many things because first of all, we have to maintain the good foundations that we have, and then obviously how can we improve and evolve the team.”
Since Arteta took over at the Emirates Stadium in December 2019, the club has seen significant progress, with the manager bringing a new level of discipline and cohesion to the team. However, Arteta is well aware that as the squad improves, the margins for further development become smaller. Gone are the days when major overhauls were necessary, as the manager now faces the challenge of fine-tuning an already strong squad.
“In the beginning, there were a lot of players with three, four or five-year contracts, so the turnaround of the squad and how you visualise the next three, four, five years are very dependent on what is going to happen here [with those players],” Arteta explained. “So I think they were very different [windows, compared to this summer]. The way you start to evolve, you start to master certain things and compete for certain things, then the changes cannot be that much.”
Now, the focus is on making those crucial, targeted additions that will give the squad the extra edge needed to compete for the title. The Spanish manager emphasized that the club’s evolution will be measured in smaller steps, with each signing needing to enhance the team’s existing strengths.
“The line now is thinner, the margins are smaller. But the cost of that, as well, increases,” Arteta acknowledged.
The summer ahead, he believes, represents a pivotal moment in Arsenal’s development, where careful decisions must be made to ensure that the team continues to progress. As Arsenal prepares for what promises to be a decisive transfer window, Arteta’s words suggest that the Gunners will be looking to strike the right balance between strengthening their squad and maintaining the unity and quality they’ve worked so hard to establish in recent seasons. With a squad on the cusp of greatness, this summer could prove to be the one where Arsenal finally take the next step towards ending their Premier League title drought.
