Here is every word Mikel Arteta said after Arsenal win over Girona in their pre-season opener
Mikel Arteta spoke to the media after Arsenal beat Girona
Mikel Arteta spoke to the media after Arsenal beat Girona(Image: Alex Caparros/Getty Images)
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Mikel Arteta spoke to the press, including football.london in Girona after their pre-season win. The game took plenty of focus with Max Dowman and Ethan Nwaneri both featuring heavily in the game and taking a lot of attention.
But naturally, there was also attention on transfers. Both Bruno Guimaraes and Vinicius Junior are heavily linked with moves, with the former close to a move to the club ahead of their next game in Dublin against Real Betis.
Now champions, there is a still a desire from Arteta to upgrade the squad and find another level and another standard. Arteta spoke of still wanting to see his side evolve.
Here is every word from the post match press conference...
You must have been, after a fair few weeks off, chomping at the bit to get back onto the field. How was that?
It was great. It was a different summer in terms of the time off that we had. Obviously, last week, we played a game in-house, and I was very pleased with that. And today as well, I think I've seen a lot of things that make me be very, very positive.
A year ago, Max Dowman had an incredible pre-season, burst onto the scene. This time he's starting, assisting, scoring. People are going to have a lot of expectations for this season on him.
That's what we want. When you play for Arsenal, the expectations should be high and should be expecting really good things. We know what he's capable of doing. We want to be more consistent in terms of the performances and the actions that he can deliver. But I think today he had a really good game.
Just on Christos Tzolis, obviously, first time we've seen him play for Arsenal. What have your first impressions of him been? And what are you looking for from him this season?
Well, I'm very pleased with him. First of all, the way he has adapted to the club, to the team. The connection he's already generating with the boys. And I think you're going to love the player. A player who's very direct. He's got the goal between the eyes. I think really good linking up. He has a lot of similarities with Leo in a lot of the things that he can do and the spaces he can occupy. And then the work rate that he has. He's a boy that comes with so much hunger as well. He wants to prove himself, it's a dream for him. And we are here to help him.
And Ethan, back in midfield today. Do you have any kind of goals for him this season? Obviously, last year maybe didn't go as well as you guys would have wanted. But what are your thoughts on him?
On the pitch, he didn't because a lot happened in Marseille. But when you just stand in front of him, you sense the maturity. And it looks like a different man.
So, yeah, the experience on paper, it was an idea. But I think he went through something that is going to help him a lot in his career.
There’s obviously a lot of excitement after last season. And even more excitement after your comment the other day about upgrading the squad with special players. All the fans are asking outside about one Brazilian player, Vinicius Junior. I know you probably don't want to talk about him specifically, but can the fans still expect more signings before the start of the season?
Well, we are really active, trying to improve and evolve the team. That's clear. We expect to have movements in the next few weeks, obviously, because we want to get better like anybody else. And you can just see it. The transfer market and our opponents, what we are doing, we won't sit still. And we are very ambitious in what we want to do.
You're Premier League champions, finalists in the Champions League. Why is it so important to upgrade yet again? You've got such a good squad.
Because the margins are very small. And because we want to get better and the level is going to increase, we need to increase the competition internally. We need to make sure we identify the things that we don't have in the team, to have bigger margins. And that's the way we have to think.
I don't want to take on too much of a tangent, but it would be remiss of me in such a big week for football not to ask. Just your thoughts on what's happened with FIFA in the past week.
Yeah, I think I prefer to stay away from that. I think it's enough noise around it. And I prefer to focus on what we do.
In terms of the performance there, are you already looking at the team who have gone out there today and some of the academy players and looking and thinking who could be maybe pushing on to the first team this season?
That's a great opportunity to see them live. They've been almost two weeks now with us. It's great to see how they react to actually a competitive match. I'm really happy with what I've seen.
We normally see you in pre-season having come second again. This time you're a champion. You look like a different man. Can you feel that now that you're a champion?
No, I think we have even more responsibility and more ambition than before. We know what is ahead. We know the qualities and the capacity that we have to compete with any other team. But we need to prove that we belong to this level.
And I must ask you, when's Vini joining?
Thank you so much.