After seeing Leandro Trossard come off the bench to help us grab our late winner against Manchester United last weekend, Mikel Arteta has lauded his “beautiful impact”.
Having arrived from Brighton & Hove Albion just 48 hours earlier, the Belgian attacker was thrust into the thick of the action against the Red Devils with the score locked at 2-2, and he got involved in the build-up to Eddie Nketiah’s last-minute strike to thrill his new manager.
Reflecting on that moment, Arteta said: “That’s what I like. I see a player that is willing to make things happen and he is especially composed in the final third and is something we needed to add to the team.
“Straight away he had a beautiful impact on the team to help us to win."
Leandro was quickly followed through the door by Jakub Kiwior, with the Polish international putting pen to paper on his new contract on Monday. Just like his fellow January recruit, he could be in line to make his debut in a big game with Friday’s FA Cup fourth-round tie against Manchester City on the horizon.
Having spent his career playing as a holding midfielder, central defender and left-back, Mikel feels his versatility will help, but is more relieved about the prospect of having another centre-back at his disposal for the second half of the campaign as he continues to look for ways to improve his squad with the transfer window slamming shut next Tuesday,
When questioned about Jakub, Mikel said: “We’ve been with three central defenders for the first part of the season which is very short, and we’ve been lucky with injuries. We needed to recruit in that position and we’ve done it.
“Jakub plays different roles and is a versatile player, and he’s going to strengthen the team. If anything else is available that can make us better, we’ll look at it.
“We need some more cover in midfield ideally if we can, but in this market, it is pretty complicated to do that. As I always say, the most important thing is that we get the performances and the time on the pitch that we need with the players that we have available today that are already really good.”
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