Arteta claims to have ‘a very clear plan’ ahead of summer window | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta spoke to the press ahead of Arsenal’s final match of the 2021-22 campaign, claiming that he and his team have a ‘very clear plan’ of what they want this summer.

The Gunners have earned a return to European football for next season, with the possibility of playing in the Champions League still a possibility if the planets fall into place come Sunday.

Regardless of how the season ends, our transfer window will likely be focused on the same areas of the team, although you could be forgiven for believing we may want a larger squad of senior options if were to qualify for the elite European club competition, and the manager insists that his backroom have a clear idea of their plan this summer.

“So we are back in Europe,” Arteta told Arsenal Media. “We don’t know where, it will be decided. Hopefully, it will be Champions League. I believe that we’re going to do what we have to do. We are going to be cheering for Norwich to do what they can do, for sure, and after that, we want to take the club to the next level.

“That’s the ambition. In order to do that we have a very clear plan again, how we want to do it and execute it, and there are no secrets. We need resources and we need to increase the quality and the depth of the squad as long we maintain in the same way who we are as a club and the people that we have next to us.

“That’s going to be the challenge the following season, but hopefully in front of our people, we can live another great day.”

I find it interesting to hear that Arteta believes that his have things clearly planned out, as I always imagine that the transfer window is anything but routine. You go into the transfer window with the idea of which players you are going to keep, and a list of players which you believe will improve your squad, only to find that certain players on your list are also being targeted by other strong sides, creating something which I would imagine is anything but straightforward.

Should we miss out on the Champions League, which at this point seems an extremely likely scenario, our window should be that bit more difficult also, but I just hope that they do manage to strengthen those key areas of our side sufficiently.

Am I misreading Arteta’s comments somehow? Could we already have the framework in place for some key signings?

Patrick