Arsenal: Mikel Arteta drops exciting new transfer hint as huge summer window beckons | OneFootball

Signing an elite striker is top of the Gunners’ to-do list under new sporting director Andrea Berta

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Mikel Arteta says he is excited about a “big summer” ahead in which Andrea Berta will help to improve both the depth and quality in Arsenal’s squad.

Italian Berta was officially announced as the Gunners’ new sporting director on Sunday. He succeeds Edu, who left the role in November.

Arsenal’s hopes of finally getting over the line and sealing the Premier League title under Arteta appear to have passed them by again this season, with Liverpool primed to finish as champions.

That places great pressure on the Gunners’ hierarchy to get their summer recruitment right, including signing an elite striker - something that is top of their to-do list.

“The way we planned the five first summers, they were going to be very big and they were going to have different objectives because the turnaround of players and the objective of those windows was going to be different,” Arsenal boss Arteta said.

Arteta, speaking at his pre-Fulham press conference on Monday, was asked whether that meant Arsenal map out their summer windows five years in advance.

“Yeah, [we mapped out] what we expected,” he explained. “In the beginning there were a lot of players with three-, four- or five-year contracts, so the turnaround of the squad and how you visualise the next three, four, five years are very dependent on what is going to happen here.

“The way you evolve, you start to master certain things and compete for certain things, then the changes cannot be that much. That’s where we are. The line now is thinner, the margins are smaller. But the cost of that, as well, increases. So it goes a little bit in a different direction.

“It is not only about investing. There are certain positions where probably we didn’t expect to have someone like Ethan [Nwaneri] or Myles [Lewis-Skelly] contributing, which has been great. If we have more of those, beautiful. There were some turnarounds on players that is quite evident that it was going to happen for different reasons, and you have to plan that.

“The last five [summers] were big [windows]. Every summer is big because it is an opportunity. But it’s a big summer for many things because, first of all, we have to maintain the good foundations that we have and then, obviously, how can we improve and evolve the team?”

Arteta was also asked how confident he is that the Gunners will secure the striker of their choice this summer, now that former Atletico Madrid stalwart Berta is through the door.

“What I’m very confident about is how he’s going to make everybody better,” the Spaniard said. “That’s my confidence, because of the way he is, the personality he has, how passionate he is and what he does — that’s what we need.

“We need new blood with people that are so ambitious that they are so attached to the football club and what we already do but want to add value.”