I hope you all have a happy Saturday.
Let’s start with an interview with Mikel Arteta yesterday on the official site of the Marbella training camp, where he talked about what he wants to instill for the upcoming season, in a summer where the return of players is mixed due to international competitions. He said:
“The players who arrive first will set the tone for the players who come back later. They really have to feel it because there are four different groups coming in at different stages in the preseason.
“The best thing for me is when they come here on day one and see us, see their attitude, see their preparation and hear the rhetoric we use to prepare for this season.
“Then they say, ‘Wow, this is another step up. So what I did last season wasn’t enough. If I want to play and compete for this team, I have to do something more.'”
As I said before, Arsenal need to break the record again if they want to do better than last season, and the better they get the harder it gets to improve. But I take some solace in Arteta’s persistence. I don’t know how to put it another way. He’s always had a good game and (most of the time) been able to back it up. We all know about ‘foggin estandards’ and it’s further proof that no matter how good you get, it’s not enough for him unless you bring him silverware. That’s been the bedrock of his time at Arsenal so hopefully he can do it again.
Side Note: In a world where everyone is looking for marginal gains for a little extra, have we stumbled upon something? A mid-season trip to Dubai worked wonders, and we are now in Marbella, heading to sunny California and the US in a few weeks. Could vitamin D be the problem?
Arteta also commented on the transfer, making it clear that the Euros and Copa America had influenced it.
“The summer with the Euros and the Copa America is very different. You can see that everything is a little bit slower. With the market and the new rules, there are a lot of restrictions that have made the clubs more cautious and a little bit more delicate in doing business the way we have done in the last few seasons.
“We have adapted to it and we want to deliver what we want throughout the transfer period, to create a much more competitive team and improve the squad in every aspect.”
But most of the chatter so far has been about player departures, with Nuno Tavares and Albert Sambi Lokonga expected to leave this weekend, and there has been talk of moves for the likes of Emile Smith Rowe, Reiss Nelson and Eddie Nketiah.
There have been rumors and stories about the influx, but nothing particularly significant beyond the official arrival of David Raya, which actually all happened last year. The story about Riccardo Calafiori has also been very quiet. He was never as close as some people have reported, but I guess reporting that he was close has helped others. Or maybe I’m just too cynical, and these things take time, especially in the summer. Maybe a little bit from column A, a little bit from column B.
With the Copa and Euro finals this weekend (though only Arsenal are interested in the latter), I hope things will improve. There is a strong suspicion that a lot of things will be done late in the transfer window. It is not ideal, but it is something we have to deal with. Looking at the opening games of the season, there is a possibility that the players who got us so close last season will be given more responsibility, but there may be one or two reinforcements before that. Fingers crossed.
Okay, that’s it for this morning. Have a nice day.
