Arsenal have taken the very rare step of confirming they expect to make more signings in an official statement on the club’s official website, as hopes of securing the capture of Newcastle skipper Bruno Guimaraes skyrocket.
It’s been a difficult summer window to date for Mikel Arteta’s reigning Premier League champions, with a number of top targets snubbing a switch to The Emirates.
Indeed, Atletico Madrid striker Julian Alvarez has decided against a return to English football and continues to hold out for a move to Barcelona, while Arsenal were also gazumped by London rivals Chelsea in the race to sign England attacker Morgan Rogers.
Then there’s the Vinicius Junior mini-saga, with the talk of the Brazilian making a spectacular switch to north London now looking increasingly like it was a ploy to land a lucrative new contract at Real Madrid.
Arsenal have, however, managed to get two new additions through the door, with Greece international winger Christos Tzolis, who is effectively a replacement for Leandro Trossard, and back-up goalkeeper Illan Meslier both arriving.
Despite that relative slow progress in the market, the Gunners took the unprecedented step of updating fans on Wednesday evening with the promise of further additions being imminent.
In an article previewing Saturday’s friendly against Girona, an excerpt read: “Two new signings have also joined the group this pre-season – goalkeeper Illan Meslier and forward Christos Tzolis – with more expected to sign before the end of the transfer window.”
As for who the first of that ‘more’ signings may be, our sources indicate that Arsenal are making good progress in their chase to sign Newcastle and Brazil star Guimaraes.
Indeed, our insider Graeme Bailey revealed that club-to-club contact between Arsenal and Newcastle has already taken place, and one source, speaking to TEAMtalk on condition of anonymity, admitted there is now an expectation inside football that the move will happen.
“Everyone believes Bruno is leaving now,” the source said. “Things are progressing and there is a feeling it will happen sooner rather than later.”
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Arteta insists Arsenal need fresh blood
“A lot is happening,” Arteta added in an interview with Arsenal.com. “We all know about the context of this transfer window.
“From ownership to the board, the sporting director and myself, we know that we want to take this club to a different level.
“That is going to require a better squad, better individuals. We have identified where we have opportunities to grow and to improve and to evolve our game and what is going to be needed to achieve that.
“Hopefully very soon we can start to put things in a very concrete way.”
When asked if the current members of the squad were up for and refreshed enough to begin the challenge of attempting to defend their Premier League title, Arteta added: “One hundred per cent.
“This has to be the start and this has to be the standard. Excellence has to be our standard and this has to drive to attack the future.
‘”The way we behave daily with more and more determination and ambition because we’ve shown that we’ve got it.
“Now we have to show that we belong to this level and we want to increase and take this football club to a different dimension.”
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