Press conference

Arteta on the new season, White, Auba: transcript

A new Premier League season is upon us - and Mikel Arteta has been back in front of the media to preview the campaign.

Our manager discussed how he wants to see us develop, the transfer window in general and the likes of Ben White and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Read on for a full transcript:

on our transfer window so far…

Well, in this first period of the transfer window I think we’ve done a few things we wanted to do and it’s going to help us to get the squad in a much better place. There is still a bit of the window to go, so I’m sure things will happen either way.

on how many more players he would like to sign…

I’m willing to work with the players that I have at the moment and get the best out of them, and we will see what we can do.

on what would represent a successful league campaign for Arsenal…

Our goal is to get the best version consistently that’s going to bring us closer to winning football matches. That’s what I want from the team. If we do that consistently in every single match, we’re going to be in a good place, but that’s something we haven’t done, consistently give the best version. That’s something we must control and we must do, and I think if we’re able to do that, then the results will be the consequence to that.

on whether he has a particular league finish he’s aiming for…

On Friday, win against Brentford, then we will be in a strong position in the league. That’s what we have to do and then the rest will come.

on whether Brentford will be cautious…

No, if you look historically at what they’ve done in the last few years there’s a very clear direction. I think from top to bottom of the club they know what they want to do and they execute it really well. I think they will be a really tough opponent for every team in the Premier League.

on what he likes most about Brentford’s style of play…

The clarity in what they do. They’ve been doing it for a long time together and you can see they have that fluidity and chemistry between them, and they believe that the plan they’ve put in place works for them. I think that’s a big strength for any team.

on Ivan Toney….

Yeah, he’s shown his quality, that’s for sure, but every recruitment they’ve done in that position over the last few years in that position has been pretty successful, so it’s the player, but I think it’s also the system and how they work with their players.

on our business so far and whether we will do more…

Well, we identified what we wanted to do and how we can strengthen our team short, medium and long term, and what we needed to achieve that. We defined the profile of player that suits the model that we have at the moment at the club that can sustain our financial position, and we made three movements in relation to that.

on whether we’re close to signing a goalkeeper…

I cannot tell you, I have no answers to that.

on the number of signings that would make him happy…

That the team puts in place what we’ve been working on and the spirit that they have and the energy that they’ve been training with and in games more consistently, because we’ve had some very good patches against both teams in the last two games against Spurs and Chelsea. It’s how we compete in matches to get the wins, which is the most important things. 

on Joe Willock…

The situation is that he’s our player and we’ve held some conversations because it’s not only about what we want to do, it’s the player’s interest and the role that a player can field in a squad and in a club. What he’s done is put himself in a really strong position where he can choose a little bit with more options of what his future could look like, and this is what we’re trying to define right now.

on whether Willock will be here in September…

I don’t know. In football I’m not going to do that because if not, you will come with the quote that you said at the end of last season, so I would prefer not to answer to that.

on whether now is his time to deliver…

It is always. I think the demands of this football club are so high and the expectations are so high. Whether they are to the level and the quality and the capability that we have is a different matter. We have to cope with that.

on how Aubameyang is feeling ahead of the season…

Since he came back he looked in the right mindset and he’s trying to put last season, which was difficult for everybody and not just for him, for many different reasons, and go back to the level that he can achieve. Because he knows and we know that with his level, this team can achieve much better thing.

on whether the transfer window has been underwhelming....

It has been really busy and you've just named a few names but that tells you as well how much we've had to do from the position that we started the window. We are talking about probably the most difficult transfer market in this industry over the last years for sure and we are trying to adapt. The club, the owners and myself, we all have the same interests, which is to make this team much stronger and we know that we still have things to do to get what we want.

on if he still has the time to achieve that...

It is but things take time and there are all the time different parties and different interests there to get deals done. For sure we are trying to do what we can and as important as that is to make sure that the squad is healthy and we have the stability within that squad, which is something that we certainly missed last year after December so that is important as well.

on if players need to leave before new arrivals can come in...

[Money is tight] for every club at the moment, we have an ownership that is willing to invest in the team and they want to get the team better and with bigger aims and we are trying to find the balance because at the same time we need to be really careful because we need 100 per cent a position that is sustainable and will help the club.

on how good Ben White is...

I am very excited. He is a player that we have looked at for a long time. He fitted the profile of exactly what we wanted and he's settling in really well.

on Thomas Frank...

There are always different ways [into management]. I think what he's done is remarkable. I will share with you the opinion that they are a very exciting team and the way they have come up after a few disappointments in the last few seasons, on the last day, and the way they have reacted tells a lot about them and what Thomas has done there it's fantastic.

on the transfers activity of Lionel Messi and Jack Grealish...

It is certainly really good for the entertainment. You want to see these teams play with the quality of those players. It's something that is probably unprecedented in the days of PSG, probably. This is what they are, they can afford it and they will enjoy it for sure.

on supporter concerns at our transfer activity compared to our traditional rivals...

Absolutely, [fans] need to be excited and they need to see a team that is capable of competing with those teams because our history is related to that. Nobody can deny that. That's the aim and that should be the objective.

on if it is frustrating going into the new season with uncertainty around transfers...

It is how the others develop. It is something at this time that is not possible to do on August 12 but is possible to do on the last day. Whether you are happy bringing the player in or not is more important, with Thomas Partey we managed to do it at the end [of the window] but the difficulty with him is how long he has been injured and only being able to participate because of the impact he would have on the team. That is the disappointing thing.

on if he expects to be busy right up to the deadline...

Anything is possible and there is still a lot of things to be done and a lot of clubs involved and you can see that things have started to move at a different speed in the last week or so. It's been a really difficult transfer window and probably a lot of things will happen in the last week or so.

on Emi Martinez and the goalkeeping position at the club...

What happened with Emi again it's different parties involved in that decision and at some stage, you have to make a decision based not on what we want as well and the players objectives and the history of the player that was here for 10 years and the role that he wants to have in the team. Then you try to do something and maybe you are not able to do what you want to do. Sometimes it's financial, sometimes a player doesn't become available and you have to adapt. I wish that all the time it was always the way you plan it or want it.

on if he had to pick one position to fill before the deadline...

No [it would not be the goalkeeper position], I wouldn't say that. It is trying to do what we have to do and it's not about the player or the position it's about where the squad should be finishing. That's what I would pick for the squad, the squad that we're going to have at the end of this transfer window. That is what I would be doing.

on players departing in the window...

I think everything is related to who we bring in, who is out, our capacity to hold foreign players in the squad. There are a lot of question marks still to be resolved. It's still pretty open.