"I am really delighted with our work."
That's how Unai Emery summed up our activity in the transfer window when he sat down for his first press conference of the Premier League season - a matter of hours after seeing our fifth and sixth summer signings arrive at London Colney.
Our head coach was asked about the new arrivals, his goals for the 2019/20 campaign, and his possible line-up at Newcastle.
Here's a full transcript:
on his squad...
Good afternoon. Yesterday we finished the transfer possibility and also we did progressively with some players to sign and also led to some players to leave. I am really delighted with our work. The club did everything to get the best players to help us and to make our squad stronger. Now we start on Sunday and I'm looking forward to watching our players respond. Now we're only working on that game.
on defensive reinforcements...
They are coming to help us, to give us different options. Tierney is a left back and David Luiz is a centre back. Both have experience and have played a high level. They will cover us. They're in the squad with other players, taking confidence and knowing each other, and after that to give us the performance.
on who his main captain is...
As you can understand, we are changing players at the last moment and also with Laurent Koscielny, he was the first captain, and he left us five days ago. Also, we have had other players come in. Now we have the squad and we have finished the transfer market, but it's still open in other countries. Unfortunately, we can achieve the last moment finishing yesterday with some players but now in the next 25 days we could lose some players. It's the reason I want to close my squad clearly [before I decide my captains]. At the moment we have three captains: Xhaka, Mesut and Nacho, and I want to take two more because my opinion is the same as it was in the pre-season with five. I want to be with my squad clearly to have two more. At the moment we have three captains and I think they have the capacity to give us possibilities as captain.
on his goals for the season...
Realistic? We are happy and we are delighted with our players, our squad and our team. We know it's difficult, but really our ambition and our motivation is to do the best we possibly can in every competition. The Premier League is the most important competition and we are going to start on Sunday and it is going to give us the regularity and consistency in 38 matches. It’s the first way for us to achieve our targets and objectives to be in the top four, but we know it's going to be difficult. Last year we reduced the distance with some other teams and at the moment I think Man City and Liverpool are stronger than others at the beginning, but we want to reduce the distance to them and compete with them. We want to reduce the points difference with them. After, Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester United have the same objective as us. Last year there were less points difference between us and this year is another challenge for them and for us to achieve the top four. Other teams are coming back and signing very good players and working very well. Everton, West Ham, Leicester, Wolves, Watford... The Premier League is the best competition in the world. We are going to work and be with a big challenge to compete in this competition to find the top four.
on which players he's excited to work with...
All of them and I want to show and say to our supporters that I am very excited to work with Pepe, David Luiz, Ceballos, Martinelli, Kieren Tierney, and with Willock, Nelson, Bukayo and Xhaka, Lacazette, Aubameyang, Leno, Emiliano, Matteo. We need every player and I want to achieve with every player our best performance. My challenge and objective is to achieve some titles in my present and future here. I want to achieve the top four to get into the champions League, but above all my first and top challenge is to improve each player in his career.
on whether any other areas need strengthening...
The same answer I am giving you [as before]. I am excited with the new players, the players we have here and the young players who had the opportunity to be with us. They have the opportunity in the present and future to be with us in our squad. I'm as excited about them as everyone else.
on Nicolas Pepe and Alex Lacazette's fitness...
We played pre-season progressively and included some players later. We are going to start Sunday with players who I am very convinced can perform now at 100 per cent. For some, that's impossible for them to achieve that performance for us because they arrived later or started training with us after injuries. Lacazette for example trained yesterday and today but I don't know now about Sunday. Tomorrow we are going to check whether he can play or not. The same is with Pepe, he's been working with us for one week. Also progressively, I want him to feel good with his team-mates, with the coaches and with us training. It's different how we train here compared to how he trained at Lille. I want to give him the best moment to play with us, to make his debut with us. Maybe it can be Sunday, but I am going to decide on Sunday.
on our record against Newcastle and what he's expecting...
They've changed a lot. They've changed their way of playing with a new coach. I've watched some matches and they're playing very well. Their coach has a big experience and has played here too. He likes to play with a big combination, very offensively and it's going to be very difficult for us. Afterwards, I know that the first Premier League match at St James' Park for them is very important and their supporters push a lot to help them. It's going to be difficult. My expectation is that I am going to be optimistic but we know it's going to be difficult. We need to prepare in the best possible way and use all our ability to give the best performance individually and collectively. We need to be efficient with the ball, we need also need to be strong defensively. I know our supporters are going to be with us too. We are very excited and ready with a big ambition for the start of the season.
on David Luiz and what he'll bring to Arsenal...
We worked for two months together at PSG and then after three matches, the club and he decided to sign for Chelsea. Now is the same. It's a very good and big opportunity for us and also the fact that he decided to change Chelsea for Arsenal is an important step. He wants to do something important with us, to help us do something important in the present, in the future. He has experience, he has quality in the build-up and he's a good defender. He's coming here to help us with his capacity and quality.
Copyright 2024 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.