Arteta has provided an injury updateplaceholder image
Arteta has provided an injury update | AFP via Getty Images
Arsenal signed well in the summer but Mikel Arteta is looking to strengthen his midfield again with a familiar name on his shopping list.
Mikel Arteta couldn’t have dreamed of having Arsenal in a better position with the New Year a matter of hours away.
The Gunners spent a lot of money, but they spent it wisely, and in areas where they needed to strengthen and where they needed depth. The midfield was addressed with the additions of Martin Zubimendi and Christian Norgaard which has been pivotal in keeping Arsenal at the top of the table when injuries have hit. As a former midfielder himself, Arteta appreciates the importance of a powerful and athletic engine room that is also capable of playing football.
Arsenal consider move for Aleksandar Stankovic
Arteta has always given credit to his time at Rangers for making him better equipped as a player who can look after the ball as well as look after himself. In the Premier League, every team has to earn the right to play first which is why Arsenal are being linked with a move for Club Brugge powerhouse Aleksandar Stankovic.. Son of former Inter Milan and Serbia legend Dejan Stankovic, the 20-year old has earned a growing reputation either at centre-half or as a defensive midfielder.
A UEFA technical report after a European Under-17 Championships described Stankovic via the UEFA website as having set-piece delivery that would “be a menace to any opponent” and a “blend of finesse and fight in midfield [which] makes it clear why he wears the captain's armband.”
On paper, Stankovic reads almost as a word for word description of Declan Rice who is equally adept at winning the ball back and defending his own box as he is of creating chances at the other end of the park. Midfielders who have a natural aggression and defensive nous are hard to come by and Arsenal could land Stankovic for as little as £30m with Italian outlet Gazzetta dello Sport claiming: In London, enquiries have come from Arsenal and Tottenham, followed by Newcastle.
“And in Germany, both Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen have inquired. Inter Milan could even decide to bring Stankovic back to Milan and then sell him on for a higher fee than agreed with Club Brugge (due to a buy-back clause). But everything remains unclear, except Aleks' dream. Which is always the same: to play and win with Inter, like his father Dejan.
Are Arsenal going to get the cheque book out?
Arteta has hinted that more new faces will arrive in January and the hope will be that Arsenal kick on rather than hold on, via the club’s website: “The thing is, we’ve had more injuries than expected, some of them not avoidable, I would say, but we want to be better, and we know how important the part of having the right availability with players is going to play in the season,” reported the club’s official website.
“The window is there. We're Arsenal and we have to be looking at it and saying ‘OK, what do we need?’ We have to be actively looking, and then can we do it or not? That's a different story, but our job is to always be very prepared because something can happen.”
On departures, he added: “Again, we assess every situation. I leave that much more to Andrea [Berta] to understand what's happening in the market and then the individual players obviously. We have to assess where we are with each of them and get the best situation.”
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