Mikel Arteta's old comments may reveal why he wants to sign both Fabio Vieira and Youri Tielemans this summer.
The Gunners are closing in on a deal with Porto for young midfielder Fabio Vieira, football.london understands as the north Londoners look to qualify for the UEFA Champions League for the first time since 2016. Still, according to transfer guru Fabrizio Romano, Arsenal are still keen to sign Leicester City playmaker Tielemans.
Arsenal have been tracking the Portugal under-21 international for some time and have now agreed a €40 million (£34 million) deal with Porto whilst the aforementioned Romano has still reported that Tielemans remains the club's 'priority' despite Vieira's imminent arrival at the Emirates Stadium. And looking back to an old interview with Arsenal boss Arteta, it is clear why the Spaniard wants to bring in two players to bolster options in the centre of the park.
READ MORE: Who is Fabio Vieira? The £34m-rated starlet who is 'flying to London' to agree Arsenal transfer
Speaking about the club's midfield woes to Sky Sports back in the summer of 2020, he said: "Remember which players we played earlier in the position of (Mesut) Ozil and (Matteo) Guendouzi? This is (Santi) Cazorla, (Tomas) Rosicky, (Andrey) Arshavin, (Aaron) Ramsey, (Henrikh) Mkhitaryan, (Jack) Wilshere.
"There are no such people in the club now. We must resume this cycle, because otherwise there will be no more such players at Arsenal.
"And they are an important part of any team." Since then, the former Manchester City assistant coach has brought in Martin Odegaard, Thomas Partey and Albert Sambi Lokonga as midfield options, with Granit Xhaka and Mohamed Elneny also penning new contracts over the last 12 months.
Those five players will likely battle it out with Tielemans and Vieira, providing the duo do arrive this summer, for three spots in Arteta's favoured 4-3-3 system.
