Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has revealed that the club is still working on bringing in another defender following their 3-2 defeat to Borussia Dortmund in the Emirates Cup final.
The Gunners conceded three goals in the pre-season clash, with Arteta admitting that the team must improve defensively ahead of the new campaign.
“We conceded some poor goals today in the way we competed, especially. But that’s a very collective responsibility. So we need to improve with the players that we have. And we want to improve, for sure, we want that,” he said.
When asked about the possibility of adding another defender, Arteta made it clear that Arsenal were actively considering their options in the transfer market.
“That’s what we’re trying to do. It has to be the right player in the market to make us much better. We are very much looking forward to that.”
Arsenal’s defensive concerns have been heightened by the absence of William Saliba and Jurrien Timber.
Arteta said Timber is making progress in his recovery but still has several weeks before he can return.
“Jurrien is progressing really well. He’s on the pitch, he’s doing quite a lot right now, but it’s still weeks away. I cannot tell you how much.”
Saliba, meanwhile, has been given time to recover from an aggravated injury.
“William Saliba is in rest mode at the moment for two weeks. He had to do almost nothing, an aggravated injury, so it’s going to take some time to heal. We know that. And as soon as we have more news, we can inform you.”
Arteta admitted that losing key defenders has affected the team but believes Arsenal have dealt with similar situations before.
“Yes, we have experienced that in the past, unfortunately. And when he’s been available, he’s hit home and the stats are incredible.”
“So we know that we lost a massive player, the same with Jurrien, some of the seven or eight players that weren’t here today with us. So we know that the context is very, very particular.”
Despite the defeat, Arteta believes there were encouraging signs from his players and that the result should be viewed within the context of pre-season preparations.
“And there were so many other positive things. It could have been a very different result, to be fair. And I don’t want to lose sight of that. But losing has to create pain. That’s inevitable.”
The Spaniard also expressed his satisfaction with new signing Bruno Guimaraes, praising the midfielder’s attitude since arriving at the club.
“I’m delighted to have him. Why? Well, we see very clearly, especially the energy that he brought immediately to the training ground, the hunger, the desire to come here and create a big history at the club.”
“And that’s the ambition that we need. We want to go to the next level and very, very much convinced that we’re going to need players with such a personality, desire and character to push everybody inside the organisation to go even higher.”
Arteta believes Guimaraes will offer Arsenal more options in midfield while also contributing creatively and offensively.
“On the pitch, versatility to play in two different positions in relation to what the opponent or we do.”
“A player who obviously has tremendous timing and intuition to win the ball back and progress play very, very fast.”
“He’s a player that is very comfortable putting people through, pulling between the lines, pulling behind. And then he’s a goal threat. He’s got a smell and a really good timing to get in the box and he has the capacity to finish the actions.”
Arteta also urged Arsenal fans not to read too much into the pre-season setback, noting that several players were still unavailable or working their way back to full fitness.
“No, I mean, I think it has to, it has to hurt when you lose a football match, it has to hurt when it is a friendly match, a test or whatever you want to call it.”
“But yes, we know where we are. We know that we are missing still a lot of players and some players that haven’t had enough training. And yes, sometimes it’s good.”
Several players have already returned from international duty, with Arteta expecting the rest to resume training shortly.
“Some of them were back today, already watching the game. Some of them, David and Bukayo, were back yesterday, a bit earlier than expected, which is great to see.”
“I think it’s a really good sign and tomorrow everybody will be available to start the training programme.”
Asked if the returning players would be ready for the start of the season, Arteta replied: “Yes, I think so, yes.”
The manager added that Arsenal would continue to carefully manage players with different fitness levels as preparations for the new campaign continue.
“Yes, that’s something that we’ve done in the past. Obviously, we have some long-term injuries with people coming back, but today we have done that with certain players.”
“Martin played 30 minutes, we made an incredible amount of changes against Betis. It was the same 45 minutes. You wouldn’t recognise, obviously, the team that played last season.”
“So this is part of the preparation and a really specific preparation that, if we don’t see the result right now, makes sure that we see it in a week when we start to compete for the major trophies,” the coach noted.