Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has said he and his recruitment team will have to make "tough decisions" when it comes to the transfer market this summer. The Gunners are gearing up for a huge few months as the next window looms, with some key areas that need to be strengthened.
The plan will be to close the gap to Manchester City, who currently lead the north London outfit by two points in the title race, while creating long-term success. There's also Champions League football to throw into the mix after the club confirmed their return to the top European competition last month.
When asked if he was proud of the progress made so far, Arteta told the press: "Yes, but that’s what I started saying that I am incredibly proud and thankful for what everyone has contributed to bring Champions League football back to this football club with five, six games to go, something that hasn’t happened in over a decade in this club. So congratulations and thank you so much for everyone who has contributed to that and thank you for still being upset and not accepting that the Champions League is not enough and we want more. Because this squad is going to demand to get where we want."
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With the transfer market offering an opportunity to strengthen further, there could be some incomings and outgoings that are required to balance the squad. football.london understands that Declan Rice is a top target for the summer, while reports have linked Moises Caicedo and Mason Mount with a switch.
When discussing the difficulty of the transfer window this summer, Arteta told Sky Sports: "They are always tough decisions, whether it's to recruit, or other decisions. Some players sometimes don't want to continue with us, some staff members.
"It's always tough, especially when you have good relationships with those individuals, but we are here to win. That's the purpose of everybody at the club. We have to win and to win we have to do it in our way and to do that we have to make decisions."
The transfer plan has worked so far for the side, who have made a whole host of changes in the previous four windows to get them competing once again. "We are very happy with what we've done," Arteta continued. "We have tried to maximise what we could do.
"We have to stretch ourselves all the time to seek the best and we have to continue to do that. We have to be really humble to recognise that we have to be better, but knowing who we are, the resources we have, the team we have, the potential we have. If we do that we will be in the right place."
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