Arteta: 1st phase is done, January 2nd phase begins | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta says they’ve more or less completed the first phase of the January window, and they’re now focusing on the second.

With 11 days to go until the end of the Premier League’s January transfer window, Mikel Arteta claims Arsenal are now moving into the second phase of their plan for the month.

The first step was moving players on, which is going pretty well so far. Matt Macey has departed permanently, Sead Kolasinac and William Saliba have gone on loan, whilst Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Mesut Özil are terminating their contracts with the club.

Now that they’ve almost sorted all of that, Arteta says they’re moving on to look at incomings.

“We are in that process right now,” Arteta said. “We’ve done the first part [selling players] more or less and now we are focusing on the second phase.

“Obviously, this market and the context makes it really difficult but we are looking at options and we will see what we can do. We want to process every decision really carefully and then when we are clear about an opportunity, then we will try to do it.”

There are a few key areas Arsenal might look to address in the remaining days of the January window.

They need a goalkeeper, with Bernd Leno and Runar Alex Runarsson the only senior options right now. They need a creative midfielder, arguably the current priority, with Martin Odegaard linked with a loan transfer.

The club are also potentially on the market for a left-back, with Arteta admitting “the option (to sign a left-back) is open and we will look to see what is available”.

It’s very unlikely they manage to bring in all three, particularly if there are no further outgoings. Even now, the non-homegrown portion of the Europa League squad is completely full once you include Gabriel Martinelli.

But any possible additions in those areas would certainly be welcome.